Sea Tiger Blast Punch

The genuine Doctor Death had been one of Shocker's three top officers not only because he was a scientist who oversaw the development of Shocker's monsters, but also because he was a formidable Squid Monster in his own right.

This Doctor Death might have been a knockoff, but he was actually Wei Xiuming in disguise. With the power of Magnetic Field Rotation amplifying him, his strength was terrifying.

Doctor Death swept aside his ridiculous cape and clenched his right fist. As his power surged, his suit sleeve quivered incessantly. Then he punched the Fang Vampire charging at him. "Electric Current Propulsion, Sea Tiger Blast Punch!"

Dodging the Fang Vampire's spear-like appendage, Doctor Death struck its torso with a punch. The surging force blasted into its body and blew it apart from the inside. The vampire's pulverized remains sprayed in the direction of Doctor Death's punch, decorating the room with flesh and splintered bone. Shattered pieces of its exoskeleton stuck to the walls, their mottled colors forming a grotesque mural.

Thanks to the Amazon Cells, the Fang Vampire had astonishing vitality. Even after being smashed to pieces, the scattered bits of flesh began to gather around a central point. A minute later, they had reformed into a crude humanoid shape. It looked like a horrifying creature from a horror movie, flayed of its skin, but the details of its body were steadily taking shape as the flesh came together. It probably wouldn't be long before it was restored to its original condition.

Electric Current Propulsion was an inevitable stage for a superpowered individual, as well as a prerequisite for Magnetic Field Rotation. Though Wei Xiuming was cautious about his own life and already possessed the power of the magnetic field, he had still gone through the process of developing Electric Current Propulsion.

The Sea Tiger manga said that Electric Current Propulsion generated power by using one's consciousness to make the body's cells rub together at high speed. Wei Xiuming had tested every method he could think of, but none worked. In the end, he could only achieve the effect by controlling his magnetic field.

Fortunately, using different types of electric currents to treat illnesses and regulate the body was a common form of physical therapy, with plenty of established theory and practical experience. Wei Xiuming got through this stage smoothly. That was a good thing, too: his power had grown gradually, allowing him to control it at will instead of pursuing destructive force above all else.

Otherwise, with Magnetic Field Rotation's ability to directly extinguish life, even Electric Current Propulsion alone would have been enough to kill the first Fang Vampire to make an official appearance in this world. Every cell in its body would have had no choice but to be utterly destroyed by the force of the punch.

As for techniques like Sea Tiger Blast Punch, Wei Xiuming didn't think he had Bai Junlang's terrifying talent. Bai Junlang could master the basics and forge his own martial path using nothing but introductory books and movies. Wei Xiuming, on the other hand, relied on modern technology. He collected 127 traditional, modern, and military and police combat styles from around the world, then fed them into a computer along with knowledge of biomechanics and other fields, as well as information about his own body. After running simulations, he successfully created a martial art that belonged to him alone.

He couldn't perfectly recreate the astonishing martial arts of the original Four Greats, but he could simulate them fairly closely.

"Now then, Mr. Victor, can this product of mine change the balance of power in vampire society?" Doctor Death looked at Victor on the tablet screen. Still carrying the menace of having just killed the Fang Vampire, he asked in an unquestionable tone.

To be honest, Wei Xiuming wouldn't have wanted to deal with vampires if he hadn't needed to make good on the boast he'd made to Nick Fury and recoup his investment. After all, they were vampires. Draining people dry might not be part of their usual feeding habits, but it wasn't far off.

Creating a Fang Vampire clan and conducting human experiments was easy. He could just find some sleazy, filthy bar and he'd be sure to find low-level vampires looking for prey. He'd only need to send more people to cover more ground.

"Fascinating. I haven't seen anything this interesting in ten years," Victor said. "I'm still willing to trade an oil field for the Amazon Cells data!"

Victor was skeptical of this unknown technology. He wasn't particularly eager to use it on himself, but that didn't stop him from wanting it in his possession. If the success rate was high, he could use the Amazon Cells to strengthen a small team and make them serve him. Humans could twist someone's will through brainwashing and other methods to create killers and fanatics. The famous Winter Soldier was one such example. The vampires had to have similar methods, or ones that were even more effective.

Changes in power rarely happened peacefully, especially among long-lived beings. There, they were even more brutal. Ancient emperors didn't even trust their own children when trying to secure their thrones. They raised them as worthy heirs while keeping a close watch on them, lest they be forced into a coup and "willingly" become retired emperors.

Victor considered force a necessary measure. Even as he prepared to overthrow the Thirteen Pureblood Elders, he needed to guard against those below him doing what he planned to do—killing the person above them and taking his place.

Hearing that Victor was interested in working together, Wei Xiuming knew he'd taken the bait. He smiled. "This technology is the product of my life's work. I could never hand it over to someone else. The only thing I can sell is the finished product. But I can take custom orders, and you can choose which plants or animals to use for filtering and optimization. For instance, bats would be more suited to vampire tastes."

"So, what exactly do you want?" Bill, the human tool, turned around and pointed the tablet at Wei Xiuming so Victor could speak with him face-to-face.

The vampires' internal conflicts had been building for decades, even centuries, and had reached a terrifying level. But the gap in power between individuals had always suppressed dissent against the Thirteen Pureblood Elders. That had begun to change in the new century. The world was developing in ways that were becoming increasingly hard to understand.

There were the Insects that had come with the meteorites, to say nothing of the steady advances in human technology, which were increasingly challenging the vampires' power. Those who craved longevity no longer served the vampires. Instead, they had begun developing technology, and the products that followed had made the vampires' situation even more dangerous.

Heroes emerged in troubled times. Amid upheaval on a scale unseen in a thousand years, the vampires' ossified order began to shake. Everyone wanted to challenge the established authority, and Victor, with the best chance of seizing power, was the most impatient of all. Otherwise, Wei Xiuming's message wouldn't have drawn him out.

Wei Xiuming answered without hesitation. "Money. A lot of money. I think you can tell, Mr. Victor, that I belong to a large organization with a well-established system. One person alone couldn't handle the security, infrastructure, research, and everything else."

"Once a system becomes entrenched, it can become sluggish. There are always a few fools who can't keep up and insist on getting in the way. I'm sure you know that better than most, Mr. Victor. I'm a researcher, not an absolute authority within my organization. The people who hold the real power are those who've been around since World War II, and they object to my research."

"Even though they've stayed young by using my products, they've grown rotten on the inside. They're unwilling to make progress, spending their days caught up in internal power struggles instead of venturing out and expanding. After I was gradually pushed aside, the organization's leader sent me out to work independently. I brought some people and research with me to establish a branch. While the organization is still in its infancy, we need major clients to invest funds—and you, Mr. Victor, are my best choice."