Knot Chrysalis

Lin Shen was enduring pain so indescribable that even having his tendons pulled and marrow hammered could not compare. If he had been able to make a sound, he would probably have howled his throat raw.

Unfortunately, he could not even move his lips or eyeballs. Forget shouting—he could not even blink.

Lin Shen had heard before that the gene mutation process resembled the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly.

The process by which an insect became a butterfly was called complete metamorphosis. Its bodily structure underwent earth-shaking changes, as though one form of life had evolved into another.

Some even said that a caterpillar was actually just a mobile placenta, and that once the butterfly growing within it reached a certain point, it dissolved and absorbed the placenta.

Naturally, there was no basis for such a claim. The process of human gene mutation was likewise a restructuring of the body. The shell of the Gene Mutation Egg melted, broke down, turned into threads, and formed a chrysalis. The genetic fluid within fused with the human body, constructing a new Steel Body.

The process was like grinding rice into powder, then mixing it with other ingredients to make rice noodles. The pain involved was easy to imagine.

Of course, Chrysalis Transformation did not truly require the body to be crushed apart. Yet the process of genetic fluid permeating the entire body was just as agonizing, enough to make one wish for death.

The higher the quality of the Gene Mutation Egg, the more painful the process became.

Lin Shen had only heard that gene mutation was painful. He had never imagined it would hurt this much.

Fine white threads grew from within his body, weaving together and gradually forming an oval white chrysalis.

Wei Wufu's expression was somewhat complicated. Before Lin Shen, not a single human who had attempted gene mutation using the Fourteenth Original Seed Egg had reached the stage of Knot Chrysalis. All of them had died shortly after swallowing the Original Seed Egg.

The fact that Lin Shen could form a chrysalis meant that the Original Seed Egg's shell had already melted and broken down within his body, becoming a new structure. He was already halfway to success.

What remained was to see whether Lin Shen's body could withstand the fusion with the genetic fluid. It could also be understood as whether he could coexist with an external virus.

As Wei Wufu stared at the chrysalis formed by Lin Shen, he suddenly seemed to sense something and turned to look at the mutated creature that had been immobilized.

The mutated creature began to tremble slightly, making Wei Wufu frown.

After a brief hesitation, Wei Wufu slammed both hands against the ground and propelled himself into the air. Unfortunately, everything below his waist dangled uselessly, completely refusing to obey him, greatly affecting his speed.

Wei Wufu lunged before the mutated creature and jabbed a finger at the hollow in its waist—the very spot Lin Shen had struck before.

The power behind his finger was countless times greater than Lin Shen's, pressing that depression even deeper.

Unfortunately, when Wei Wufu looked up at the mutated creature, he found that its trembling had not stopped.

What method did he use? Why could he do it while I could not? Wei Wufu sighed inwardly. He braced both hands on the ground, launched himself up once more, then clapped his hands violently, shoving the mutated creature's body away.

The mutated creature rolled more than ten meters across the ground before stopping. The gravity here was too strong; sending it that far was already no easy feat.

Wei Wufu only wanted to buy as much time as possible. According to the records, humans who underwent gene mutation using Original Seed Eggs did so very quickly.

They died quickly too. If they succeeded, they succeeded quickly as well; they did not need to remain within a chrysalis for days or months like with Gene Mutation Eggs.

Most completed their gene mutation within three to ten minutes after forming a chrysalis, directly breaking out of it.

Wei Wufu only needed to hold on until Lin Shen broke out of his chrysalis. With Lin Shen's miraculous methods, along with the Steel Body formed from the Original Seed Egg, defeating this mutated creature might still be difficult, but their hopes of escape would increase dramatically.

Wei Wufu looked at the mutated creature lying in the distance, its body trembling constantly, calculating how long he could delay it if it regained the ability to move first.

"Not enough." Wei Wufu glanced at the watch on his wrist and muttered to himself.

The mutated creature's trembling grew increasingly violent, as though it could regain its mobility at any moment.

Less than a minute had passed since Lin Shen formed his chrysalis. No matter how fast he was, he would still need at least three minutes.

Wei Wufu pressed his hands against the ground again and crawled toward the distant mutated creature.

When he reached the mutated creature, whose body was shaking violently, Wei Wufu pushed against it, continuing to shove it farther away.

He had not pushed it far when the mutated creature's body suddenly jerked. Then it raised an arm, and its body began to move as well, though it looked somewhat stiff, like a robot performing in a breakdance.

Without another word, Wei Wufu rolled behind the mutated creature and locked his arms around its neck in a rear naked choke.

Used on a human, this move could press on the carotid arteries, depriving the brain of blood and causing unconsciousness within a short time.

Naturally, it did not have such a good effect on a mutated creature. On top of that, Wei Wufu could not use his legs to lock around it, making the move even less effective.

This was Wei Wufu's helpless choice. Fighting the Mutated Creature head-on was not an option; it would only make him Dies Fast.

Behind it, at least its claws and legs could not easily reach Wei Wufu. Like a human, its arms could not bend backward—at least, not all the way.

Wei Wufu only hoped to delay it for as long as he could. As long as he could hold on until Lin Shen broke out of the chrysalis, that would be enough.

The mutated creature's body quickly returned to normal. Ignoring Wei Wufu choking it from behind, it used one hand to pull the Leaf Blade embedded in its eye out and tossed it aside.

As the Leaf Blade was removed, the injury to the mutated creature's eye healed at a visible speed, quickly returning completely to normal.

That was why Wei Wufu had said it could not be killed. During his battle with the mutated creature in the sea, he had severely injured it many times.

Yet the mutated creature recovered too quickly. It simply could not be killed.

In the end, Wei Wufu had used a life-saving ability to wound the mutated creature until it was nearly torn into quarters, making it unable to recover for a time. Only then had he temporarily frightened it away.

Unfortunately, Wei Wufu's own body had also developed problems from using that power. After crawling onto the beach, he had fallen unconscious, and his legs were still difficult to recover for the moment.

The mutated creature reached back with one hand to grab Wei Wufu's head. Its dagger-sharp nails grazed Wei Wufu's cheek before stabbing into the sand.

Wei Wufu kept hold of its neck, swaying his body from side to side and dodging the mutated creature's repeated swipes.

The mutated creature threw away the fork with its other hand and reached for Wei Wufu behind it as well.

Seeing that he could not dodge, Wei Wufu could only release the arm locking its neck. He pressed hard against the sand, and his body rolled away.

"Come, kill me." Wei Wufu tried to provoke it with his words and draw the mutated creature's attention.

The mutated creature had emotions too. By all rights, after what Wei Wufu had done to it, it should have wanted to kill Wei Wufu first.

Yet for some reason, after glancing at Wei Wufu, the mutated creature picked up the Red Fork from the ground and, without the slightest hesitation, turned and charged toward the chrysalis formed by Lin Shen.

This was beyond Wei Wufu's expectations. His reaction was swift enough, though. Pressing both hands to the ground, he erupted with all his strength and caught up to the mutated creature like a cannonball skimming the ground. He wrapped both hands around one of its legs and twisted violently, wrenching the mutated creature off its feet.

The mutated creature kicked backward with its other leg. Wei Wufu's legs could not move, so he had no way to dodge. He could only release one hand and grab its other leg as well.

He had thought that after being tormented like this by Wei Wufu, the mutated creature would surely fly into a rage and fight him to the death.

Who would have thought that, after raising the Red Fork in its hand, the mutated creature—its legs held by Wei Wufu—did not stab it toward Wei Wufu. Instead, it hurled it with all its strength, and the Red Fork tore through the air toward the chrysalis formed by Lin Shen.