Chapter 106: Captured

Admiration aside, an enemy is an enemy. Though Liu Chang was not particularly sharp, he could at least distinguish that much.

With his rifle raised, he scanned his surroundings while keeping a lookout for Li Qingshui. Due to the concussion, the bandages on his face felt as if they were splitting, and he felt dizzy and disoriented.

This was the result of the trauma to his brain. If he had sustained such heavy injuries from so far away from the blast, he reasoned that the Synthetics closer to the epicenter could not have fared much better.

With this thought in mind, Liu Chang gripped his rifle and carefully, laboriously searched the area for both his comrades and the enemy.

The first person he found was a soldier from an elite squad. Perhaps because they had been close to each other and hit by the force from the same direction, they had landed in roughly the same spot. However, the man's injuries were worse than his own; he had lost an arm, his face was covered in blood, and his rifle was nowhere to be found.

"Buddy, are you still with me?" Liu Chang walked over, knelt down, and patted the man’s cheek.

"Hmm!" The man shook his head violently, but his pupils failed to focus on Liu Chang’s face. He seemed to have lost his grip on reality.

"Can you still talk?" Liu Chang asked.

"Yes," the man managed to cough out, spitting a small piece of flesh from his mouth.

"Did you see any sign of the Synthetics?"

"No, they must have all been blown to bits. They were so close, and there were so many explosives." The man tried to push himself up from the ground, but after a few attempts, he gave up, his body trembling with spasms. "I'm done for. Explosion after explosion... those Synthetics must be dead. Hahaha..."

"This time, Chief Li owes me a favor. When I get back, I’ll make him perform the reconstructive surgery himself." The man rambled incoherently, his eyes glazed over, and he showed no sign of stopping until Liu Chang hurriedly cut him off.

"Did you see where Chief Li went?" Liu Chang kept watch on the surroundings. He couldn't see any living creatures within his line of sight, but he didn't believe all the Synthetics had been killed by his blast.

After all, the final charge of those beings might have seemed irrational, but it had hidden a formation meant to encircle them. Furthermore, the Synthetics carrying the explosives had been on one side; even if everyone on that side had been wiped out, those on the other side were further from the blast and could not have taken such heavy damage.

"Did you see Li Qingshui?" Liu Chang continued to ask.

"Yeah, he flew that way!" The soldier pointed vaguely in a direction.

"Good." Liu Chang nodded, gently laid the soldier back down, and then, with his machine gun leveled, began to sneak cautiously in that direction.

He moved carefully for about a hundred meters, and sure enough, he spotted Li Qingshui—or rather, a silhouette—suspended in the air. Someone was holding him by the throat.

The one clutching Li Qingshui’s neck was an incredibly robust Synthetic. This one was three or four times thicker than the others nearby, with grotesque bones and knotted muscles. While it shared the same basic form, it was clearly more than twice as formidable as its listless companions.

But that was not what made Liu Chang feel fear. What truly terrified him was the even stronger presence standing beside that Synthetic—a figure over two and a half meters tall, with perfectly balanced muscles that seemed to contain even greater power. This individual was less monstrous than the others, yet it radiated an aura that struck Liu Chang with a primal fear, much like a rabbit encountering a tiger. Even seeing Li Qingshui captured, he didn't dare to act; he knew that if he made a sound, he would be pulverized instantly.

He took one glance and immediately ducked into a nearby thicket, using his long-range vision to peer into the clearing, hoping to find a glimmer of hope for Li Qingshui in this desperate situation.

Just as he hid himself, Li Qingshui’s calm voice rang out across the clearing.

"Zhao Zhuo, you really did modify yourself as well. How insane." Even with his neck gripped by the monster, Li Qingshui looked at the larger, more powerful figure beside it.

"Heh, yes, why wouldn't I?" The tall, well-proportioned monster spoke in a voice Liu Chang recognized—a voice filled with a mad intelligence. It was definitely Zhao Zhuo. After speaking, the monster displayed its perfect physique like a bodybuilder. "A perfect combination of strength and intelligence. If I, having already undergone cerebral mutation, were to add the most superior genetic segments of biological life, what kind of perfect shell would it produce?"

"It’s a pity the experiment is still incomplete. If I add the genetic fragments of that super-organism you lured here, I believe my body will become even more perfect." The monster in the clearing laughed maniacally. "You were the one who lured that Yellow River monster, weren't you? Haha, I found a sonar device at the bottom of the water where the creature appeared. The sound waves it emitted were at an ultra-low frequency that only massive species could hear. I guessed it was you the moment I saw it. What a petty little trick!"

"A petty trick, yet you still fell for it," Li Qingshui’s voice remained steady. "You desired the genes of a superior organism too much, didn't you?"

"Yes. My human modification project has only just begun. Without the help of a talented individual like you, and without the genes of the most powerful organisms, how could progress be fast?" As the creature that was Zhao Zhuo spoke, the skin and muscles on its surface squirmed irregularly, like the body of an earthworm. This disgusting transformation reminded Liu Chang of the fission of loathsome cnidarians. Accompanied by strange gurgling sounds, the form of the Zhao Zhuo monster slowly shrank and shifted until it returned to his previous, refined appearance.

"Don't worry." Now standing naked on the ground, the transformed Zhao Zhuo smiled at Li Qingshui. "I won't kill you. I’ll keep you alive and use you, because with you here, my research will progress much faster. You should be grateful for your own value; it is your capital for survival."

"Of course, this time, I won't give you as much authority as before." Zhao Zhuo stepped forward and patted Li Qingshui’s cheek. "Because for a grasshopper tied to a string, I only allow it to jump once, don't I?"

"Haha." Feeling the light touch on his face, Li Qingshui let out a strange laugh. "Zhao Zhuo, aren't you being a bit too arrogant?"

"Yes, I admit it. I am arrogant, and that is the biggest difference between you and me." Zhao Zhuo flashed his trademark smile. "You should know what the biggest difference between us is, right?"

"Yes, the Theory of God," Li Qingshui nodded. "You are of the school that seeks to conquer nature, while I am of the school that seeks to utilize it."

"The biggest difference between us is that I treat the environment as God, while you—you treat yourself as God! Am I right?"