Vajra

Crack... crackle... creak—

The scratching from freezer S-01 was like icy steel needles, relentlessly boring into the eardrums. It also carried a sinister mental assault, trying to stir the deepest fears within.

The temperature throughout the morgue seemed to drop several more degrees with the sound.

Fang Gang stood before the massive freezer S-01, the Bronze Battle Halberd resting on his shoulder.

The heavy metal door was covered in thick frost. Black mist seeped from its seams, churning like a living thing, denser and more viscous than before.

That cold, filthy aura bore down on him with intense malice, almost tangible.

The dark resentment-eye mark on his left arm was writhing violently!

The dark-gold vertical slit at its end had opened to the size of a grain of rice. An incomparably cold, crazed intent of greed surged wildly from it, aimed directly at the inside of the freezer!

The mark seemed to possess an extraordinary craving for whatever was inside!

"Looks like a tough one." Fang Gang's eyes were icy. Not only was he unafraid, the mark's abnormal reaction stirred even greater fighting spirit within him.

Anything that could make this bizarre mark "excited" would definitely provide plenty of Evolution Points!

He had no intention of looking for a key, much less slowly picking the lock. Power instantly gathered in his right fist!

Beneath his dark-gold skin, his muscles bulged like coiling dragons!

His fist was like a red-hot branding iron, shrieking as it tore through the air and smashed viciously into the frost-covered alloy door!

Clang—!!!!!!!

The deafening metallic blast instantly drowned out the scratching! The entire freezer shook violently, and the heavy door caved inward under the blow!

Spiderweb cracks spread across the door in an instant! The frost coating it fell away in flurries!

Yet the door was not completely blasted open! The seeping black mist was like living, viscous glue, clinging tightly to the cracks and somehow withstanding a punch powerful enough to shatter tank armor!

"Roar—!!!"

A roar far more savage and bloodthirsty than that of the Purple Zombie came from within! The scratching abruptly stopped, replaced by a scalp-numbing grinding sound, like a beast gnashing its teeth!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Fang Gang's gaze sharpened. Without hesitation, he threw three more punches in succession! Every blow landed on the same dented spot!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The explosive clang of twisting metal rang without end! After enduring the fourth punch, the extra-thick alloy door finally let out a groan of collapse!

With a piercing shriek of tearing metal, the lock and hinges snapped completely! The entire twisted door was blasted inward by the violent force of his fists!

Whoosh—!!!

Thick as ink and freezing to the bone, black mist surged from the broken freezer door like floodwaters bursting through a dam! It instantly swallowed Fang Gang's figure!

The black mist carried powerful corrosive properties and Mental Pollution. Countless venomous curses and shrill wails instantly rang in his ears!

The dark-gold protective aura around Fang Gang instantly ignited like blazing golden flames, firmly blocking the invading black mist three meters away!

When the black mist met the golden flames, it hissed violently, sending up great clouds of green smoke, yet it could not advance even an inch!

By the light of the golden flames, Fang Gang saw the sight within the freezer clearly!

A body far larger than an ordinary zombie was slowly rising from the frost!

Its skin was a sickly, ghastly white, covered in thick white fur like steel needles!

It was a level above the Purple Zombie—a White Zombie (D-rank)! The ghostfire in its eyes was icy white, filled with pure bloodlust and madness!

Most eye-catching were its hands! The nails on its ten fingers were not black, but an eerie dark cyan. Half a foot long, they resembled ten poisoned bone hooks!

The tips of its nails glinted with a cold, ghostly light. The aura they emitted was even more sinister than the black mist from the freezer! These clearly were not something an ordinary White Zombie could possess!

"Weapons?" Fang Gang's gaze swept over those poisoned bone claws, and the ferocity in his eyes intensified. Very good. Now this was more like it!

"Roar!!!" The White Zombie seemed further enraged by Fang Gang's protective golden flames. Its pale body lunged out of the freezer! It was nearly twice as fast as the Purple Zombie, bringing with it a foul gust of wind!

Both claws shot out. Ten poisoned bone claws tore through the black mist with a piercing whistle, stabbing straight for Fang Gang's chest and throat!

The claw wind was razor-sharp, carrying the faint force to rend steel and iron!

This pounce was fast! Ruthless! Poisonous! Far beyond the Purple Zombie from before!

Facing this deadly assault, Fang Gang's eyes were cold as iron. He neither dodged nor retreated!

He did not even lower the Bronze Battle Halberd from his shoulder!

"Vajra Indestructible!"

A deep roar exploded in Fang Gang's mind!

The Indestructible Golden Body was pushed to its limit! The dark-gold hue beneath his skin instantly became as solid as metal!

A vast, heavy, unbreakable will that defied all laws erupted from his body!

At the same time, the newly formed golden-red Nine Yang Inner Breath within his dantian was drawn out with all his strength!

Though weak, its supremely yang and unyielding nature instantly merged into his protective aura! The dark-gold aura flames suddenly surged higher, golden-red light flowing through them as they radiated a scorching presence that could burn away all evil!

He was actually going to use the newly achieved perfected realm of the True Vajra Indestructible Body to take the White Zombie's full-powered poisoned bone claw strike head-on!

In that flash of lightning!

Hiss hiss hiss—!!!

Ten poisoned bone claws stabbed viciously into the dark-gold aura around Fang Gang's chest and throat!

A teeth-grating screech of friction erupted instantly! It was like ten red-hot iron nails scraping across the hardest alloy!

Dense sparks burst from where the claw tips met the aura! Thick blue-black corpse poison corroded wildly, trying to bore through!

However!

The dark-gold aura fused with the Nine Yang Inner Breath was like an eternal, indestructible barrier!

The poisoned bone claws penetrated less than half an inch into the aura before seeming to strike billions of layered titanium alloy plates, unable to advance any further!

The violent corpse poison struck the flowing golden-red light like snow splashed with boiling water. It hissed even more violently as it was rapidly evaporated and purified!

"Roar?!" The icy white ghostfire in the White Zombie's eyes flickered violently, revealing disbelief for the first time! Its specially refined poisoned bone claws could tear apart ordinary magical artifacts! Yet they could not break this bald man's protective energy?!

Now!

Ferocity flashed in Fang Gang's eyes! He had been waiting for this exact instant, when the enemy's old force had faded and its new force had yet to arise!

"Get lost!"

With a furious roar, his free left fist, already drawn back and ready, erupted like a dormant volcano!

The dark-gold aura around his fist compressed to the extreme, faintly condensing into the phantom of a roaring savage elephant!

No fancy tricks—just the purest, most violent straight punch! It struck after yet arrived first, smashing viciously into the White Zombie's fur-covered chest, exposed by its lunge!

Bang—!!!!

The terrifying dull impact was like a warhammer striking a drum! The White Zombie's chest, tougher than steel, instantly caved inward into a massive crater beneath absolute crushing force! Dense cracks of breaking bone rang out like popping beans!

Hiss—!!!

The extremely compressed dark-gold aura, mixed with the scorching power of the Nine Yang Inner Breath, was like billions of red-hot steel needles as it violently pierced into the White Zombie through its collapsed chest!

Wherever it passed, the dense white fur instantly shriveled and burned! Its tough muscles, tendons, and bones screeched as though being smelted by searing heat!

"Aaaaooo—!!!"

The White Zombie let out a heart-rending shriek mixed with agony and the burning of its very source! Its massive body flew backward off the ground as though struck by a speeding train, crashing viciously into the cold wall behind it!

Boom!

The wall cracked into a spiderweb pattern! The White Zombie was embedded in it, its chest a charred mess as dark-cyan, viscous corpse blood mixed with shattered organs sprayed wildly from its mouth!

The white ghostfire in its eyes swayed frantically, filled with pain and... instinctive terror!

The poisoned bone claws it had been so proud of now hung limply at its sides. Fine scorch marks and cracks had appeared at their tips!

One punch! Just one punch! The D-rank White Zombie was critically injured and on the verge of death!

Fang Gang shook out his left fist, feeling the terrifying suppression the Nine Yang Inner Breath had over sinister forces, as well as the absolute defense brought by perfected Vajra. The gleam in his eyes grew brighter.

This feels... great!

He strode toward the White Zombie embedded in the wall, still twitching and howling.

"Nice bone claws." Fang Gang's voice was icy. "Too bad they're a little brittle."

"Next time, remember to take some calcium too."

Before his words faded, he raised his right fist again. The dark-gold knuckles aimed at the White Zombie's white-furred head!

Just then!

Woooo—!!!

That eerie flute sound suddenly rang out again without warning!

Sharper and more urgent than it had been at the chemical plant! It was like countless needles viciously stabbing into his brain, carrying intense mental interference and an intent to control!

The heavily wounded White Zombie, whose eyes had held only terror moments ago, suddenly saw its white ghostfire surge at the sound of the flute!

A violent, chaotic, utterly reckless aura of destruction exploded from its body!

It actually tore itself free from the wall, spraying organs and shattered bones. Like a crazed beast in its final burst of life, it opened its fang-filled mouth dripping foul blood and desperately bit for Fang Gang's throat at point-blank range!

It was even faster than before! This was a completely suicidal attack!

At the same time, the dark resentment-eye mark on Fang Gang's left arm gave a violent tremor the instant the flute sounded!

The dark-gold vertical slit at its end instantly expanded to the size of a mung bean! An incomparably cold and greedy intent surged out like floodwaters bursting through a dam!

This time, its target was no longer the White Zombie, but... the direction from which the flute sound came!

A cold gleam erupted from Fang Gang's eyes! Killing intent boiled over!

"You're courting death!"

His right fist continued on its course, even faster than before! The power of the savage elephant erupted without reserve! His dark-gold fist was like a falling meteor as it smashed viciously toward the White Zombie's biting head!

At the same time, the five fingers of his free left hand spread wide. Carrying the force to tear everything apart, they shot like lightning toward the pair of poisoned bone claws stabbing at him! He intended to snap them off by force!

Boom!!!

Splat!!!

His fist exploded its head! The bone claws snapped!

The White Zombie's head burst like a rotten watermelon! Fang Gang also broke the poisoned bone claws off at the wrists! Foul blood and bone fragments sprayed everywhere!

Ding! Killed 'White Zombie (D-rank)'! Evolution Points +20!

Ding! Absorbed pure yin fiend energy, converted to Evolution Points +8! Current Evolution Points: 25 + 28 = 53!

The flute sound stopped abruptly the moment the kill was completed! Only a strand of cold, venomous intent lingered in the morgue like a poisonous snake for an instant before completely dissipating.

Fang Gang did not even glance at the thoroughly ruined White Zombie corpse on the floor. He suddenly raised his head, his icy gaze like tangible blades piercing through layers of walls and space, stabbing toward the last direction from which the flute had sounded—a location above ground at the crematorium!

After the flute sound vanished, the resentment-eye mark on his left arm gradually stopped writhing. Yet its opened slit did not fully close, and the cold greed within remained firmly locked onto the source of that flute sound!

"Found you..." Fang Gang licked a trace of cold foul blood splashed onto the corner of his mouth. His low voice brimmed with towering killing intent.

The corpse-puppet-controlling flute and this bizarre mark had finally given him a lead!

Outside the old crematorium in the west of the city.

An inconspicuous black SUV was parked in the shadows at a street corner.

Inside, a woman in a black skintight combat suit stared at a palm-sized custom tablet.

The screen was divided into several feeds, showing the final footage sent back by surveillance cameras at several key locations inside the crematorium!

The images shook violently and flickered with static, clearly having been hit by powerful energy.

But one feed clearly captured the earthshaking scene at the entrance to the underground morgue—the heavy alloy fire door exploded inward as if blasted apart!

Amid the billowing smoke and dust, a figure with a Bronze Battle Halberd on his shoulder and a striking dark-gold bald head stepped inside like a demon god!

Another feed showed the heavy iron door marked "Morgue" at the end of the second underground floor corridor being punched through like cardboard by a fist covered in dark-gold radiance!

As the woman watched the bald young man casually rip apart the alloy freezer door and blow apart the White Zombie's head with one punch, her coldly beautiful face remained expressionless. Only a barely perceptible gravity and... astonishment flickered deep in her eyes.

Her gaze ultimately settled on the bald young man's skin, gleaming with a metallic sheen in the dim light, and the scene of him taking the White Zombie's poisoned bone claws head-on without suffering the slightest injury.

"Vajra Indestructible Body?" The woman's red lips parted, uttering several cold words with a trace of uncertainty. "No... it seems stronger..."

Her fingers slid rapidly across the tablet, bringing up an encrypted file. The photo in the file was unmistakably Fang Gang! Beside it was the codename: "Iron Head (suspected body cultivator, danger level: B+)."

The woman looked at the file, then at the humanoid weapon on the surveillance footage. Her fingertip lightly tapped Fang Gang's bald-headed photo on the screen, her gaze as sharp as an eagle's.

"Looks like the file needs updating..."

"Codename: 'Mingwang'?"