Titan Blood

Storm Abyss - A7 District front line, advanced to the 41-kilometer mark.

Although the main force had surged forward like a flood, madly fighting over territory and beacon naming rights, Vanguard Across the Realm's five-man squad had unusually stopped.

On a newly cleared calcified highland, Thunder King and Data Maniac stared nervously at their experience bars.

"99.9%..."

Even Thunder King's staff was trembling. "Just one more monster."

"Don't rush. This one is yours."

Brute Force Yields Miracles grinned, grabbing a badly injured [Flame Poison Larva] with his massive Lava Gauntlets and handing it to Thunder King like he was carrying a chick.

Thunder King took a deep breath and fired a bolt of electricity.

Crackle!

The larva turned into white light.

[Congratulations! Level increased to LV.10!]

[Congratulations! Level increased to LV.10!]

Two golden beams of level-up light flashed simultaneously within the party.

"Finally..."

Data Maniac adjusted the nonexistent glasses on his nose, his voice carrying a barely noticeable tremor. Watching his teammates change classes one by one and gain "new life" in reality one after another had been pure torment for him.

"Let's go back to the city."

Vanguard Across the Realm did not waste words. "We have enough money, right?"

"Enough! With the dividends from that regional lord just now and what I've saved these past few days, I have 3,800 points!" Thunder King said excitedly.

"I have 4,000." Data Maniac was calmer, but the fingers gripping his staff had gone white.

Coordinates: Sighing Corridor - Watcher garrison.

[Watcher Zero] still stood in the biting wind.

Thunder King and Data Maniac were both Spirit Pivot Envoys. One was preparing to become a Thunder Lord, while the other was preparing to become a Mind Hacker.

When the last two elite members without advanced classes stepped before the Watcher, Gu Yuan smiled faintly from his High-Dimensional Perspective and tailored trials specifically for them.

[Thunder King's Perspective]

Zero's ghostly blue soul flames watched him. "Spirit Pivot Envoy, you command the Titan's neural pulses. But mortal nerves are too fragile to bear the thunder of gods."

[Advancement Trial: Overload (Thunder Lord)]

[Objective: Travel to the "Heart - Pacemaker Node" (High-Voltage Zone), connect yourself to the "Bio-Electric Grid," and endure 500 volts of electric shocks per second for 3 minutes while remaining conscious.]

"Electrotherapy?"

Thunder King looked at the mission description and gave a bitter smile. "Fine. I'll treat this as Professor Yang's special training!"

He was teleported to an area near the heart that was thick with blue electric arcs. This was the edge of the Titan's sinoatrial node, where enormous bioelectric currents poured down like waterfalls.

Thunder King gritted his teeth and thrust his conductive staff into the node.

Blue lightning instantly engulfed him.

[Data Maniac's Perspective]

Zero turned toward Data Maniac. "Your mental strength is different from ordinary people's. You always try to analyze the logic governing this world. Then let me show you the true 'mind of a god.'"

[Advancement Trial: Mind Maze (Mind Hacker)]

[Objective: Infiltrate the "Nerve Fiber Cluster" and, amid a mass of chaotic "viral interference signals," use logical decryption to find the correct neural pathway within 5 minutes.]

Data Maniac's vision blurred, and the world became an ocean of code made of countless green and red lines.

"This isn't magic at all..."

He looked at those complex waveform charts, fervor flashing in his eyes. "This is clearly a biological algorithm! This is exactly what I'm good at!"

Ten minutes later.

Two brand-new pillars of light rose in the Sighing Corridor.

Violent purple lightning coiled around Thunder King's body, and his original staff had become a floating [Thunder Magnetic Floating Cannon] (bio-electromagnetic structure).

[Class advancement successful: Thunder Lord]

Data Maniac's eyes turned into eerie streams of data light. He held no weapon, yet the air around him seemed to warp beneath his psychic power.

[Class advancement successful: Mind Hacker]

"Buy the medicine."

Vanguard Across the Realm had already been waiting nearby for quite some time.

The two rushed into the Gene Shop. Seeing that only two vials of [Titan Blood (Diluted Version)] remained in stock, they clicked purchase without hesitation.

"Log out. Same as usual, see you in half an hour."

There was a hint of anticipation in Vanguard Across the Realm's voice. "I hope you can see the miracle too."

Blue Star, the real world.

Shen City, Dragon Kingdom, a high-end technology park.

Inside a futuristic apartment, countless complex lines of code scrolled across a huge curved screen.

Li Zihan (Data Maniac) removed his helmet. His eyes were clear, and he showed none of that sickly pallor.

As a genius hacker, he was in excellent health, nothing like the stereotypical frail academic. Still, he had grown tired of this world's "computing power."

He calmly waited for his body to change. There was no rush of heat. Instead, an ice-cold chill instantly wrapped around his brain.

It was like pouring a bucket of liquid nitrogen over an overheating CPU!

Bzzz—!

Li Zihan's eyes flew open.

The world had changed in his eyes.

The ticking second hand on the wall clock, the paths of traffic outside the window, the drifting dust in the air... his brain instantly captured, analyzed, and modeled every piece of information.

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"This feeling..."

Li Zihan sat up straight and placed his fingers on the keyboard.

Clatter! Clatter!

The keyboard clicks became a blur.

Complex algorithms that had once taken hours to run now yielded optimal solutions in his mind in an instant. He felt as if his brain had become a quantum computer.

"If I had to use one word to describe it, it would definitely be overclocking."

Li Zihan looked at the firewall that had been breached in an instant on the screen, a feverish smile curling at the corner of his lips.

"Titan Blood... it is the key to evolution."

But then he frowned slightly.

"Where does the power of evolution come from? What is the price?"

Dragon Kingdom, outskirts of Jingdu City, Thunder Tactical Shooting Range.

Only monotonous gunshots echoed through the empty range.

Lei Zhen (Thunder King) removed his helmet and walked out of the lounge.

His bare upper body was covered in scars, medals left behind from his time serving at the border. He was healthy, built like iron, a textbook tough guy.

"If this is fake, I'll smash this helmet."

Lei Zhen had never believed in ghosts or gods, but after spending several days together in the game, he trusted Chen Feng's judgment.

A tyrannical sensation of electric current instantly swept through his body. Every muscle trembled and contracted.

Lei Zhen let out a muffled groan as veins bulged across his body.

This was not healing his scars. It was more like forging him.

A few minutes later, the trembling stopped.

Lei Zhen clenched his fist and felt as though a tyrannosaur lay dormant inside him.

He walked to the firing position and picked up a pistol fitted with tactical accessories.

He took a deep breath.

He opened his eyes.

In his field of vision, the movement of the target fifty meters away became incomparably slow. Even the flow of air was clearly visible.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The three shots almost merged into one.

In the distance, three high-speed clay targets exploded in midair.

[All bullseyes.]

[Time taken: 0.21 seconds.]

Lei Zhen looked at the timer, a flash of shock passing through his hawk-like eyes.

This was a reaction speed absolutely impossible for humans to achieve.

"Is this the legendary breaking of the Gene Lock..."

Lei Zhen put down the gun and looked at his palm, where the tingling sensation of commanding lightning in the game seemed to linger.

"Titan: Genesis... what kind of world is it?"

A bloodthirsty smile curled across Lei Zhen's lips.

"But this feeling of becoming stronger... isn't bad at all."

After closing his eyes to savor the sensation for a moment, he picked up his phone and dialed a number.

"Old squad leader, it's me."

Half an hour later. In the game.

When the five-person squad gathered again, their aura had completely changed.

If they had previously been a group of patients huddling together for warmth, they were now truly a team of superhumans.

Chen Feng had recovered to his peak and far surpassed it. Li You had regained control of her nervous system, as if she had been reborn. Wang Daqiang's strength had greatly increased. Lei Zhen had surpassed human limits. Li Zihan's brain had been developed to an extraordinary degree.

"Looks like everyone got what they wanted."

Vanguard Across the Realm looked at Thunder King and Data Maniac as they returned to the team.

Lei Zhen's aura had become sharper, like a blade drawn from its sheath. Li Zihan's gaze, meanwhile, had grown deeper, as if he could see through the essence of data.

"How do you feel?" Vanguard Across the Realm asked.

"My brain is now faster than a supercomputer." Data Maniac adjusted his glasses. "I've already started building a more efficient beacon network model."

"My reaction speed has broken past human limits." Thunder King flexed his wrist. "In reality, I could take on ten of my former selves."

"Good."

Vanguard Across the Realm nodded, then looked beyond the fortress.

By then, the battle line had pushed deep into A7 District.

Fifty thousand players were fighting an endless army of viruses there.

"Since everyone has finished strengthening themselves, we can carry out the next phase of the plan."

Vanguard Across the Realm opened the map and pointed at the Crimson Route that had just been cleared.

"The system announcement said we need to guide the 'Crimson Boat' into the front line."

"But the route is now full of Corrupted Spore Flying Insects."

"Ordinary players are locked in a hard fight there."

"Let's go lend them a hand."

Vanguard Across the Realm drew Shadow Fang, and the cloak behind him fluttered without wind.

"Move out! Objective: air superiority!"

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