Gene Warriors

When zombies and mutated creatures first swept across the globe, scientists from several nations joined forces to improve humanity's chances of survival.

After ten years, they finally succeeded in developing the Biochemical Gene.

Once ordinary people were inoculated with the Biochemical Gene, they could gain power beyond that of normal humans.

Every Gene Warrior possessed different abilities, such as enhanced strength, enhanced speed, control over plants, communication with insects, telekinesis, and more!

These people were collectively known as Gene Warriors.

There were two ways to become a Gene Warrior: receive a Biochemical Gene inoculation, or be born to a Gene Warrior. But the latter had only a ten percent chance of success.

That made every Gene Warrior an extremely valuable resource, kept firmly under the control of the Four Great Main Cities and the Eighteen Bases.

"Not only can we not run, we have to stay and try to recruit him!"

"Boss, we were just trying to kill him and steal his supplies. Why would he ever agree to join us?"

"A Gene Warrior must have some compelling reason to show up in a place like this. Besides, if he wanted to kill us, he would've done it when we put down the speakers!"

Han Bing's eyes gleamed as he laid out his reasoning methodically.

Most importantly, they had no other choice left.

If they failed to gather the supplies Long Tai demanded before the deadline, every last one of them would die.

They were dead either way. They might as well take a chance!

His men exchanged glances, all convinced Han Bing had gone mad.

Thud!

Han Bing walked up to the building and suddenly dropped to his knees.

The sight left his men utterly stunned.

What was the boss playing at?

"Young man, we only tried to steal your supplies because we wanted to survive. We had no idea you were a Gene Warrior! Please forgive us!"

Han Bing called out loudly.

"That's right! We failed to recognize someone so important! We must've been blind!"

"As an esteemed Gene Warrior, surely you wouldn't hold a grudge against ordinary people like us, right?"

"As long as you forgive us, we'll do anything you ask!"

His men chimed in from behind him.

Liu Feng walked onto the balcony and looked down at Han Bing and the others, his gaze full of distrust.

Still kneeling, Han Bing shuffled forward two steps and looked up. "Long Tai is forcing us to gather a month's worth of survival supplies for forty people within a week. Every place in White City that might contain supplies has already been searched!"

"We had no other choice, so we thought of taking supplies from other people!"

"Please save us!"

Han Bing sounded utterly sincere, not as though he were lying.

Liu Feng had no intention of getting involved, but asked curiously, "What is this Gene Warrior you keep talking about?"

"You... don't know you're a Gene Warrior?"

Han Bing froze briefly, then quickly ruled out the possibility that Liu Feng had received a Biochemical Gene inoculation.

The only possibility was that Liu Feng was the child of a Gene Warrior who had fled here and awakened his abilities afterward!

Across the Four Great Main Cities and the Eighteen Bases, there were only three insect-type Gene Warriors!

Only one of them was over forty; the other two were barely into their twenties!

Could... could he be the Insect King's son?

Han Bing was dumbstruck, a chill running down his back.

If the Insect King found out about what they had just done, he could turn every one of them into nutrients for his insects in minutes!

Little did Han Bing know that if Liu Feng learned he had imagined him to be someone else's son, he would surely slap him dead on the ground!

"Gene Warriors are..."

Han Bing explained in detail, then added another question. "May I ask your surname?"

"My name is Liu Feng!"

His surname is Lin!

Thump!

Han Bing's heart plunged into an icy abyss, as though Death had laid his scythe against his neck.

Smack!

Smack!

Without another word, Han Bing slapped himself twice, consumed by bitter regret!

His surname is Lin!

He really is the Insect King's son!

If I'd known, I wouldn't have dared lay a hand on the Insect King's son, even with a hundred times the courage!

His men couldn't understand why Han Bing's attitude had changed so drastically. They crowded around him and asked, "Boss, what's wrong?"

"Hurry up and kneel! Bow your heads and apologize! The man in that building is the son of the Gene Warrior known as the Insect King!"

"What? H-he... he's the Insect King's son?"

"But we just... if the Insect King finds out, we're all dead!"

As though struck by a bolt from the blue, his men dropped to their knees and knocked their foreheads against the ground until blood streamed down their faces.

"Uh..."

Liu Feng stared at them blankly, with no idea what had happened.

Still, he stood by his decision. "Go back. I have no intention of joining any faction."

Liu Feng couldn't be bothered with them. After eating and drinking his fill, he lay down on the bed and enjoyed a good sleep.

When he woke, he began studying his newly unlocked swarm—the Parasitic Insects!

Parasitic Insects were only one-tenth the size of Iron-toothed Insects. They had no offensive capabilities and were extremely fragile.

Their only function was to infest hosts, consuming their nutrients to reproduce in large numbers.

That was all. They seemed rather useless.

So Liu Feng deliberately fired shots and tossed grenades from the rooftop for fun, making noise to attract zombies.

"Summon Parasitic Insects!"

As soon as Liu Feng spoke, a swarm of Parasitic Insects appeared out of thin air at his feet.

The Parasitic Insects' base summoning interval was one minute. He could summon a hundred per minute, up to a limit of ten thousand!

Since Liu Feng's summoning level was currently LV2, however, the Parasitic Insects' limit was a hundred thousand and their summoning interval was thirty seconds, the same as the Iron-toothed Insects.

These Parasitic Insects were fast. In moments, they crawled from the rooftop to the other side of the perimeter wall.

The zombies had no awareness and knew neither pain nor fear. When they saw the Parasitic Insects, they stepped on them.

Squelch!

A single stomp crushed over a dozen Parasitic Insects into pulp.

But many others burrowed into the zombies' flesh. At first, nothing changed.

After a few minutes, Liu Feng could clearly sense the number of Parasitic Insects increasing exponentially!

What surprised Liu Feng most was that once a zombie's body was completely occupied by Parasitic Insects, he could control its movements remotely!

In other words!

The zombies had become his puppets!

If Liu Feng wanted, he could build an entire zombie army!

"This is incredible!"

Liu Feng was awestruck.

The zombies' flesh contained too few nutrients. If the Parasitic Insects burrowed into living humans, they could reproduce at least three times as many!

Liu Feng suddenly found himself eager to discover what strange abilities the Exploding Insects would possess when he unlocked them at LV3!

Time flew, and five days passed in a flash.

Liu Feng had gained a basic understanding of everything in the Apocalypse World.

This was a world of clearly defined territories, where strength reigned supreme!

People from the settlements had already scavenged practically all the daily necessities in Summer City.

That was why Liu Feng had searched desperately for half a day five days earlier, only to find nothing.

Everyone understood that if they relied solely on scavenging, their supplies would eventually run out.

To survive, some of the more powerful settlements attempted to produce their own necessities and become self-sufficient.

Wanderers like Han Bing, however, had no means of supporting themselves and could only plunder other survivors!

Or be plundered by other survivors!

It was cruel, but that was the reality!

(End of chapter)