Shock and Anger (Part 1)

Zheng Zha sat quietly on the bed with his eyes closed, feeling the faint movement of Internal Force in his dantian.

Twenty-nine days had passed since he returned to the real world. Ever since he entered the Main God's space, these had been the most peaceful and carefree days of his life.

During the day, he either chatted and went for walks with his parents or played and went shopping with Loli. He had also cut the platinum into smaller pieces with his dagger and sold a great deal of it. At least two families would be able to live comfortably and prosperously for decades to come. These were also the days when he had felt most at ease. Without the troubles of the Main God's space, this life really was no less than paradise.

But the sword of Damocles hanging over his head was all too apparent. As soon as these thirty happy days ended, he would return to the Main God's space and continue the cycle. He might face terrifying creatures like the Aliens, corpses everywhere like in Resident Evil, or perhaps demons and monsters. In short, once he returned to the Main God's space, he would once again be staring death in the face!

So even during these thirty days, he had no choice but to diligently train his Internal Force every day. Every night, he practiced stabbing with his dagger. It was the only way he could think of to train.

It had to be said that with four times an ordinary person's strength and superhuman reflexes, plus the boost from Internal Force, Zheng Zha had already reached a level of strength ordinary people could hardly imagine. To put it vividly, a dozen burly men wouldn't last a minute against him. If they were a dozen special forces soldiers, they might hold out a little longer, but he would still be the one to win in the end! And he wouldn't be badly injured, either—of course, that was assuming neither side used weapons.

Zheng Zha wasn't particularly skilled with firearms. He could maintain a decent hit rate within fifty meters, but once the distance increased or the target moved faster, his accuracy became pretty dismal. Close combat remained his strongest fighting style.

Especially after he acquired the High-vibration particle cutting dagger, Zheng Zha's close-combat ability had reached a terrifying level. The dagger looked utterly unremarkable: a pitch-black blade about thirty centimeters long. He had no idea what it was made of. With the slightest swing, it began to vibrate faintly. Its power extended from the hilt all the way to more than half a meter beyond the tip. People said it could cut through iron as easily as mud, but in front of this dagger, cutting iron was as easy as cutting air.

When Zheng Zha cut the platinum ingots, he couldn't feel any resistance at all. A gentle stroke sliced right through them. It didn't matter what the object was—even something as hard as a platinum ingot was no different. Its only drawback was that if an object was too large and the dagger got stuck inside it, the moment the vibrations stopped, it became nothing more than an ordinary dagger.

Besides becoming more proficient with the dagger, Zheng Zha had also gained a better understanding of how to use Internal Force. He could circulate it to increase his strength and speed, but he had also learned to concentrate it in a specific part of his body. That area would become far more resistant to blows and gain explosive destructive power. For example, if he concentrated Internal Force in his palm and used it to throw an iron rod, the rod would hit with far greater force than if he threw it while circulating Internal Force through his entire body. Yet whenever he practiced this, he couldn't help thinking of that spaceship... and the unbelievably terrifying Alien aboard it.

Aside from these improvements, he had spent the last few days testing a new way to use Internal Force: mixing it with Vampire energy.

In the horror movie Alien One, aside from using Vampire energy by unlocking the Gene lock at the very end, he had also accidentally wrapped Internal Force around Vampire energy when he killed an Alien earlier on. Internal Force mixed with Vampire energy had been intensely corrosive, and its power had been almost inconceivable. But apart from that one time, he hadn't been able to use Vampire energy again.

"Phew, still no luck."

Zheng Zha drew his Internal Force back into his dantian and smiled wryly as he shook his head. He had been testing it for several days straight, but the Vampire energy in his mind remained completely motionless. Instead, his Internal Force had grown a little. Just as the Main God had explained, Internal Force could be exchanged for in the Main God's space, but it could also grow through training. Given enough time, perhaps he really could become like the heroes in martial arts novels, soaring through the air with a light cloak and a long sword. Of course, first he had to make it back alive from the horror movies.

Just then, a knock came from his bedroom door, followed by a little girl's sweet, syrupy voice. "Big pervert, are you still in bed? You promised to take me to see your school today~"

Even the "~" that people loved to use in online chats had made an appearance. Zheng Zha knew at once who was outside the door. It could only be the little girl, Loli.

Zheng Zha got out of bed and opened the door. A little girl hurried inside, then began looking around. He asked fondly, "What are you looking for?"

"A woman." Loli wrinkled her cute little nose. "That kind of scene comes up all the time in movies. A man takes too long to open the door and looks nervous, so there must be another woman in his room—or he has the phone number of some strange woman on his cell phone."

Zheng Zha smiled wryly. "Where have you been watching all those ridiculous movies? Directors just make that stuff up. How could a man in real life be so careless?"

Loli immediately put her hands on her hips and pouted. "From the way you said that, it sounds like you really were on the phone with some woman. I just don't know about it, right?"

Zheng Zha hurriedly embraced her. "How could that be? I don't even have a cell phone right now. You rummage through my things every time you come over, so you know better than anyone whether I have one... All right, all right. Don't get jealous over nothing. Let's go have breakfast first, then I'll take you to see my old high school."

As soon as Loli was in his arms, she went weak all over and clung tightly to him, smiling sweetly. "I'm jealous precisely because I know you don't have a cell phone. If you were only talking to those foxes from before, I could understand. But if I really found you hiding women in your room, then just you wait..."

Zheng Zha knew there was no point reasoning with a woman, especially a young one. He could only carry Loli out of the house. He had been staying at his parents' home these past few days, and after a few steps they reached the living room. Four older people were sitting together, chatting. When they saw Zheng Zha and Loli come out, they all smiled knowingly.

At the sound of their laughter, Loli's face immediately turned red. She pulled Zheng Zha toward the door and ran. Behind them, Zheng Zha's mother called out, "Lili, have something to eat before you go!"

"Maybe next time, Auntie! Zheng Zha and I will eat in the school cafeteria. We'll get there just in time for lunch... Dad, Mom, Zheng Zha and I will be back tonight..." As she spoke, her voice faded into the distance.

As soon as they reached the street, Loli immediately pouted. "It's all your fault, all your fault! Look, Uncle and Auntie, Dad and Mom—they're all laughing at me. Ugh, they must know about the two of us. This is so embarrassing. How am I supposed to face them now?"

Zheng Zha smiled and was just about to reply when a strange sense of dread suddenly seized him. He knew the feeling all too well. He had felt it several times in the horror movie Alien One. It was a premonition of danger, and it had saved his life more than once.

Without thinking, he scooped Loli into his arms, then rushed to the roadside and hailed a taxi. Only after it pulled away did he finally let out a deep breath. That was when he realized his back was drenched in cold sweat.

Loli was very sensible, too. She gripped Zheng Zha's hand tightly. "What happened? What just happened?"

Zheng Zha shook his head. "I don't know. For a moment, it felt like something had its eyes on me. It felt dangerous, like something was... aiming at us. Yes, aiming! As if someone had us in the sights of a sniper rifle!"

On the roof of a tall building not far from Zheng Zha and Loli, several people with sniper rifles lowered their weapons and shook their heads. One of them picked up a communicator and said coldly, "The target is in a car. The license plate is... His senses are extremely sharp. I suspect he might be an elite agent from another country. He sensed something was wrong as soon as we aimed at him. He's highly capable. Let's go with the second plan."

Sitting in the back of the taxi, Zheng Zha gradually calmed down. He began to think of every possible enemy he might have. The most likely possibility was the city's underworld. During this period, he had sold about a million yuan worth of platinum through an acquaintance. He had passed it through several hands, but that didn't rule out some well-connected criminals tracking him down. There was one thing that didn't add up, though: why would criminals have sniper rifles? Come on, this was China!

That was one thing worth praising. China's gun control was among the strictest in the world. As a result, Chinese criminal organizations could hardly get their hands on advanced weapons—especially firearms capable of killing someone from a great distance. The government would never tolerate criminals owning those. So the odds that the underworld was after him were very low.

Who else could it be? Could it be a state power? Why? Had the amount of platinum he sold attracted the attention of the government? What a joke! A million yuan or so worth of platinum was enough to get the government involved? The population would have to be only a few hundred thousand for that to make sense!

Zheng Zha slammed a fist into the front seat of the taxi. With a muffled thud, his fist punched right through it. The driver's eyes flew wide open as he stared at the fist suddenly jutting out beside him. The sight nearly scared him to death.

Loli hurriedly grabbed Zheng Zha's arm and cried out, "What's going on? What happened? Big pervert, what's going on? Don't hide it from me!"

Zheng Zha forced a reassuring smile. "It's all right, Lili. I'm here. It's just that we might not be able to say goodbye to our parents. Once midnight passes tonight, the thirty days will be over... Lili, do you trust me?"

Loli was so worried she was almost in tears, but she still nodded earnestly.

"Then no matter what happens, you have to believe that I won't leave you behind. No matter what happens!"

The enemy was in the shadows, and Zheng Zha didn't even know who they were or why they were attacking him. Had he imagined it, or was it real? Were they targeting him... or Loli?

Today was the final day before he returned to the Main God's space. Zheng Zha desperately tried to think through what to do next. Should they find somewhere secluded and wait until midnight, then head straight to his company's office? Or should they hide near the company now and wait until midnight before going inside? Whatever they did, he and Loli had to return there before midnight. Otherwise, once the deadline passed, they would be erased completely!

Just as Zheng Zha was anxiously thinking things through, the traffic ahead suddenly came to a standstill. At first, he didn't pay it any mind. They were on a busy main road, and traffic jams were common here. But as the taxi inched forward, he finally realized something was wrong. A temporary roadblock had been set up several dozen meters ahead, and several detectives had approached the windows.;