So Many Xenomorphs Left, Who Will Kill Them?

Wang Zhen cast a glance at Zheng Zha from the corner of his eye, then took a quick look at Zhang Jie beside him. Seeing that this old fox wasn't paying him any mind, but was instead staring intently at Zheng Zha, who was twitching like a seizure patient, he felt relieved.

As expected, Zheng Zha is truly Zhang Jie's one and only love! Wang Zhen muttered to himself.

Knowing he hadn't drawn Zhang Jie's attention, Wang Zhen felt he needed to level up his game; otherwise, this was damn frustrating. With this kind of "scraping" damage, who knew when he'd finally whittle down that sliver of health!

Because he couldn't cast instant transmutation circles, Wang Zhen's combat power was severely diminished, to the point where he didn't even dare to significantly increase the temperature of his flames.

However, the moment he realized Zhang Jie wasn't watching him, Wang Zhen couldn't hold back any longer. After all, the longer things dragged on, the more likely other variables would arise.

Wang Zhen snapped his left fingers lightly, and nearly fifty flame spikes instantly materialized before his eyes.

These flame spikes were identical in size and length to the previous ones; only the color had changed.

They were blue-white flames.

At this moment, fifty spikes condensed from blue-white fire hovered in front of Wang Zhen.

"Whew..."

"2,000-degree flames should be enough, right?"

"After all, steel melts at around 1,500 degrees. I refuse to believe the Xenomorph's carapace is harder to melt than steel!"

Wang Zhen flicked his hand, sending the high-temperature spikes—forged via the Flame Transmutation Circle—hurtling toward the Drone Xenomorph, which had been teetering on the brink of collapse but stubbornly refusing to fall.

"Pfft..."

"Boom..."

Previously, the 1,100-degree flame spikes had at most left a dark red smear on the Xenomorph's dark, greenish-black carapace with no other reaction. But this time, as the 2,000-degree spikes struck, the tough, thick armor was instantly pierced, leaving a fist-sized hole.

As the spikes bored into the creature's body, the blue-white flames reacted violently with the corrosive, viscous bodily fluids, triggering an instantaneous explosion.

Although he had already caused several explosions and had even begun to develop a fondness for the art of detonation, Wang Zhen feigned shock at the sudden blast to mask his true strength.

This explosion not only blasted the three-meter-tall Drone Xenomorph into a pile of scrap, but it also successfully drew the attention of Zhang Jie, who had been closely monitoring Zheng Zha's condition.

"What the hell are you doing, kid? Isn't your superpower 'Fire Control'? How did you manage to cause an explosion?" Zhang Jie hadn't seen Wang Zhen upgrade his output, so he was quite bewildered by the sudden blast.

"Brother Zhang, I'm not sure either! I was just using my 'Fire Control' to shape the flames into spikes and shooting them at the Xenomorph, and then... I don't know what I hit, but it just blew up!" Wang Zhen was a seasoned veteran; he naturally knew how to make others believe him.

That was to tell the truth.

Only by honestly telling the truth could one make others believe them.

Wang Zhen had been carrying out assassination missions since he was ten, so he knew this little life hack well. Every word and every punctuation mark he spoke was as true as could be. Even if every sentence he constructed was factual, they only represented a portion of the truth; the rest was either false information or incomplete data.

Moreover, because he had done this for years, his heartbeat, expression, and even his pupils remained unchanged while he spoke. Thus, even Zhang Jie believed his explanation.

After all, this was everyone's first time fighting a Xenomorph. Wang Zhen was the only one who had exchanged for the "Fire Control" superpower, so Zhang Jie didn't know the specifics of it. He only knew that this dirt-cheap ability couldn't generate its own fire—it had inherent flaws—so it was easy to counter and not worth worrying about.

Furthermore, the fact that Zheng Zha had unlocked his Gene Lock for the second time, could do so autonomously, fight for extended periods, and display combat power at the double-C rank bloodline level truly shocked Zhang Jie.

He had seen many newcomers deemed to have high potential by the Main God, but none had managed to unlock their Gene Lock in their second plot world, let alone do so autonomously and maintain that state for prolonged combat.

Such an inconceivable rate of advancement made even Zhang Jie, who possessed the powerful A-rank mental-type skill "Psychokinesis," feel a sense of dread.

As a man with the dual identity of half-human and half-Guide, Zhang Jie knew better than anyone how troublesome this status was. Especially now that Zheng Zha had unlocked his Gene Lock, it was essentially a freshly minted death warrant.

Because the Guide identity came with a task that could neither be canceled nor refused: the Zhongzhou Team Leader Trial.

The first activation condition for this task was... a member of the Zhongzhou Team unlocking their Gene Lock.

It could be said that the moment Zheng Zha unlocked his Gene Lock, Zhang Jie's life began its countdown. The final stage of the Leader Trial involved using the Guide as a blood sacrifice to boost the team leader's strength; that was part of the reward for the trial.

Therefore, Wang Zhen understood perfectly why Zhang Jie was so fixated on Zheng Zha.

After all, who wouldn't want to stab the person who rang their death knell?

"Brother Zhang, when will Zheng Zha recover? What if two more Xenomorphs show up? I might not be able to hold them off!" Wang Zhen put on an expression of deep concern for Zheng Zha, though in reality, he was indeed concerned.

Because only with Zheng Zha acting as the MT (Main Tank) to draw aggro could he safely and boldly play as a pure DPS and output his full power.

Wang Zhen had tried to "fish" earlier, but he'd nearly come up empty-handed. He realized that with a big bait like Zheng Zha around, he couldn't compete. After all, the Xenomorphs were actively pouncing on Zheng Zha—who could compare to that?

"The backlash from the Gene Lock will pass in a moment. Don't worry! It won't affect his combat effectiveness. Even if there are more Xenomorphs, we have nothing to fear... we have Zheng Zha!" Zhang Jie continued to stare at Zheng Zha, who was gradually calming down, his voice sounding strange and hollow.

"That's true! Zheng Zha exchanged for a double-C rank bloodline enhancement, and his mutated vampire bloodline has incredible survivability. He'll definitely pull through a little Gene Lock backlash!" Wang Zhen nodded in agreement.

"But... Brother Zhang, what exactly is this Gene Lock?" Wang Zhen asked casually.

"Ever seen those stories where someone is about to die and suddenly has a burst of power to turn the tables? You see it in anime all the time. The Gene Lock is just like that. For example, if you were about to be intimately embraced by a speeding truck, you'd suddenly explode with power, as if blessed by the gods, and jump from the front of the truck to the back in an instant..." Zhang Jie replied offhandedly, helpfully providing an example for Wang Zhen.

To Wang Zhen, this was an exceptionally vivid example.