"This..."
Lu Yuan was a little surprised.
The other man's appearance was completely beyond the bounds of what a normal person could comprehend.
He stood two meters tall, his muscles knotted and bulging. His right arm in particular was like a thick stone pillar.
Even from a distance, Lu Yuan could still feel the power it held.
"I've sacrificed my life and taken a forbidden drug. My strength is dozens of times greater than normal."
"Now that you've seen what I look like, you're as good as dead."
Captain Zhao still retained a shred of reason, but the look he fixed on Lu Yuan was vicious, like a beast's.
His words had already passed a death sentence on Lu Yuan. With his current strength, he was no match for an ordinary person. Even if the world boxing champion stood before him, Captain Zhao was confident he could kill him in an instant.
In this state, his defense, speed, and strength were all terrifyingly powerful.
After he finished speaking, he didn't waste another breath. He attacked at once.
Thud!
With one leap, he crossed dozens of meters in an instant.
The ground beneath his feet was crushed into a deep crater.
His right arm drew back, gathering force, then swung straight down at Lu Yuan.
The punch was so powerful it created a sonic boom. If it hit an ordinary person, their body would be reduced to a bloody pulp.
"Going to compare strength?"
Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly and stood still.
He bent his knees, drew back his right fist, and punched straight at the enormous arm.
The medicinal essence from the Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu had already tempered his body to rival that of an Awakened who had reached the Initial Realm after undergoing mutation. His opponent's condition might be strange, but he was still made of flesh and blood.
So when it came to physical strength, Lu Yuan had absolute confidence.
More importantly,
he had lived two lifetimes. His combat experience and every other aspect of him were beyond ordinary.
Boom!
The next moment,
their fists collided.
The tremendous impact rang out around them.
The clash of their strength sent a wave of air surging outward.
The earth beneath Lu Yuan's feet sank half a meter, and the ground around him began to crack apart.
One could imagine just how immense that force was.
And yet,
Lu Yuan's body didn't budge in the slightest. He held his original stance.
Captain Zhao, by contrast, stared in shock. The force had been so great that the blood vessels bulging in his right hand had burst.
"H-how is this possible? Is that guy even human?" Captain Zhao was stunned, unable to believe what he was seeing.
He had taken a drug to gain this kind of strength. But what about his opponent?
He looked like an ordinary person.
"Was that your full strength?"
Lu Yuan suddenly spoke, then continued, "Then it's my turn."
As soon as he finished, his right hand changed from a fist to a palm. He grabbed Captain Zhao's fist and threw him over his shoulder.
Boom! Boom!
The two-meter giant
was thrown to the ground with ease.
The terrifying force split the earth beneath him apart, forming a crater dozens of meters wide.
Captain Zhao couldn't withstand it. Blood spilled from his mouth as his body trembled.
He struggled to get up,
planning to use his strongest weapon, his right hand, to force his enemy back for a moment.
But Lu Yuan only needed to twist his wrist slightly. With a sharp crack, the arm, thick as a millstone, snapped clean in two.
Lu Yuan had held back. Otherwise, tearing the arm off would have been no trouble at all.
The gap between them was simply too great.
"How about it? Got anything to say now?" Lu Yuan asked calmly, looking at him.
He didn't know what the pill was, but at most, it was a product of modern technology.
And him?
He had fused with the essence of an immortal's legacy pill.
"Y-you... what are you? How can you be so strong?" Captain Zhao was in pain all over, but fear overwhelmed everything else.
The man before him was too strong. Even after taking the company's drug, Captain Zhao hadn't been a match for him. He'd been defeated and subdued with ease.
Full of doubt, Captain Zhao was certain the man before him wasn't human.
"I didn't ask you that."
Lu Yuan shook his head. "Answer my earlier question."
As he spoke, he stepped down and snapped one of Captain Zhao's ribs.
He wasn't softhearted. If he didn't get an answer, he wouldn't hold back.
Seeing the coldness in Lu Yuan's eyes, Captain Zhao knew he wasn't joking. He gritted his teeth and said, "Then you have to guarantee you'll spare my life."
"That depends on whether what you tell me interests me," Lu Yuan replied.
"Fine."
Captain Zhao stopped struggling and spoke at once. "I'm from Chang Sheng Gene. They trained me as a special combat operative. This time, our mission was to collect the Extraterrestrial Meteorite and bring it back to the company. The people at the top take it very seriously."
Now, he told Lu Yuan everything he knew.
That included the number of teams collecting meteorites and more.
In short,
the company behind him had planned this operation long ago.
They had originally intended to buy this Farm, but someone had gotten there first, so they'd acted in secret instead.
"Chang Sheng Gene?" Lu Yuan's brows furrowed. As far as he knew, it was a major domestic company with tremendous influence, but the identity of the person controlling it was a mystery. Outsiders had no way of finding out.
As the name suggested, Chang Sheng Gene researched the genes of living things. It reportedly held numerous patents and had achieved a great deal.
He had heard before that the company bought the remains of old monks and Daoist priests who had passed away.
It also paid out large sums of money
to seek out elderly people and investigate the secrets of longevity.
In Lu Yuan's memories, after the global mutation, Chang Sheng Gene had risen rapidly. It had secured a place for itself in the early years of the chaotic new age, with many Awakened under its command. It was a force that couldn't be ignored.
"So Chang Sheng Gene must have noticed the mutation and started preparing long ago."
"They must have discovered something while researching life genes. Otherwise, they couldn't have created a large number of Awakened out of thin air."
He murmured to himself, understanding what had happened. No wonder the man had gained superhuman strength from a single pill. That had to be one of the company's research breakthroughs.
"What else?"
After a moment, Lu Yuan pressed on.
"The company told us to withdraw as soon as we got the meteorite. They said a lot of people had their eyes on it, including Wuzhou Group, Tianshen Technology, and Beidou Biology." Captain Zhao didn't dare hold anything back.
Well, would you look at that. They were all among the country's top corporations, and they were also hegemon-class forces after the mutation.
Hearing this only strengthened Lu Yuan's certainty.
The global mutation.
Certain people at the top hadn't merely known about it; they'd started preparing long ago.
Perhaps
this world was far more mysterious than he'd imagined.
And there was Wuzhou Group, a familiar name. Its reach was long indeed. It had even set its sights on him.
"I-I've told you everything I know. You promised to let me go." Seeing Lu Yuan fall silent, Captain Zhao spoke up at once.
Lu Yuan came back to himself and released his grip on the man. A smile began to appear on his face. "Mm. You did well. But... you still deserve to die!"
As he spoke, he clenched his right fist and slammed it into Captain Zhao's face.
Boom!
The earth cracked open again.
Captain Zhao's body had sunk completely into the ground, and this time, he didn't climb back out.
As for Lu Yuan, he merely wiped the blood from his hand.
His expression was calm and unruffled.
Before you continue