Chapter 146: The Limit of Tier-3 Life Evolution (Part III)

Now that the invasion rules have changed, the most frequently appearing entities are colorful octopuses. However, in the worst-case scenario of abysmal luck, a siren might appear, against whom probably more than a dozen evolved beings would be powerless.

Even if one could withstand its sonic attacks, combat effectiveness would be drastically reduced, not to mention that tier-2 evolved beings would be completely unable to resist it.

The most terrifying thing is that the siren's sonic manipulation range is extremely vast, and it forces survivors hiding in the shadows to walk out voluntarily, eliminating the need to search for them.

The only reason survivors manage to stay alive is precisely because they remain hidden in the shadows.

"This creature is too terrifying; it must be eradicated."

"I wonder if the other teams have encountered a siren."

"We must not let the siren enter the city."

While these people expressed such sentiments with their words, their bodies reacted very honestly by retreating.

With Qin Hao blocking the front, they were not required to fight; yet even without Qin Hao, these people presumably would not have dared to advance.

This was the epitome of generosity with other people's resources—giants in speech, but dwarfs in action.

Disregarding the thoughts of the others, Qin Hao stood directly in front of the siren, bearing the brunt of the attack. His mental tentacles unfurled, forming a colossal protective umbrella.

Under such conditions, even the siren was incapable of controlling Qin Hao.

In truth, the siren was not actually beautiful. It merely possessed seaweed-like long hair cascading from the top of its head, a slender upper body, and a fish tail for its lower half. Combined with a song that could bewitch human hearts, it closely resembled a legendary creature from the Blue Planet, hence its name.

Given such morphology, it was destined that the siren's mobility would be extremely restricted.

From the moment it appeared, it remained seated upon a turtle shell, continuously unleashing sonic attacks.

Qin Hao located its position, commanding his mental tentacles to drive the force of chaos forward.

In an instant, the two forces collided. The sonic power proved utterly incapable of resisting the force of chaos, allowing the latter to drive straight through unchecked.

Sensing this development, the siren naturally reacted by using its mental power to summon seawater, forming towering waves that plummeted from the sky.

The force of chaos collided with this watery might once more, producing a muffled, booming resonance.

随后混沌之力穿透海水，打在了鱼美人的身上。 (Translator's note: Translated dynamically as per context)
Piercing through the seawater, the force of chaos struck the siren directly.

Simultaneously, the descending torrent of water crashed toward Qin Hao.

The ground beneath Qin Hao's feet suddenly elevated, lifting him up. Although the waves surged past, only scattered splashes managed to dampen his shoes.

Meanwhile, the siren's neck was cleanly severed, resulting in its immediate demise.

In this head-on clash, the victor was crystal clear.

At that moment, the pitch-dark sky gradually receded, and sunlight spilled downward, dispersing the gloom.

The spatial black hole finally spat out a sufficient number of hunting creatures before vanishing completely.

A full ten thousand giant turtles and ten thousand colorful octopuses had been slain by Qin Hao. Their corpses now piled up into a hill over ten meters high and spanning a hundred meters in circumference.

"Gene Devouring Art!"

Qin Hao's mental tentacles enveloped the small mountain of corpses.

In an instant, rivers of blood gushed out from the mountain of carcasses.

The giant turtles possessed massive bodies and correspondingly immense vitality. Were it not for Qin Hao's destructive power, their sheer defensive capabilities would have rendered them invincible.

Qin Hao continuously absorbed the surging blood. Soon, he felt his vitality swell to an explosive degree—a bloated sensation that made every single cell in his body feel stuffed to the brim.

"Blood Sacrifice Demonic Physique."

Qin Hao began to evaporate his own blood, condensing the power within his cells.

His bloated physique started to shrink once more. To the naked eye, Qin Hao's swollen muscles diminished, and his entire frame grew slender.

Yet, as more of the vast, river-like blood was absorbed, Qin Hao once again grew robust and muscular.

Triggering the Blood Sacrifice Demonic Physique repeatedly in this cycle, Qin Hao alternated between being as robust as an ox and growing lean again.

Amidst this process, Qin Hao was also absorbing the genes of these hunted creatures.

Among the blood genes of the ten thousand giant turtles, that trace of a unique gene was instantly pinpointed by Qin Hao.

Longevity Gene—a god-tier gene fragment.

The giant turtle was a native organism of the Kaya civilization, boasting an exceptionally long lifespan. A giant turtle that survived for one hundred thousand years would inevitably become a god-tier hunting creature.

Regrettably, the Kaya civilization never granted them such an opportunity. Instead, they utilized them for hunting, altered their habits, and catalyzed them with stellar energy to ensure continuous reproduction and multiplied numbers.

However, racial genes remain unaltered. This god-tier longevity gene fragment was successfully captured by Qin Hao.

Filtering out the exterior morphological genes, Qin Hao shattered the gene fragment and integrated it into his own body.

Next came the regenerative genes of the colorful octopuses. Within the blood of the ten thousand colorful octopuses, Qin Hao actually discovered three god-tier regeneration gene fragments.

He shattered these gene fragments, fused them together, and synthesized an even more powerful gene fragment, which he then assimilated into his body.

At that moment, Qin Hao perceived that his flesh and blood could rapidly reorganize under his conscious control. Even if every fiber of his body were torn apart, as long as his consciousness remained, the regeneration gene could restore flesh to bare bones.

After absorbing the ordinary genes of the scaled snakes and the siren, the mountain-like pool of blood was completely assimilated into Qin Hao's body. At this juncture, Qin Hao found that no matter what he tried, he could no longer compress the life force within him.

A sweet, melodic system prompt echoed in his ear.

[Ding! Life force has reached the limit of a tier-3 evolved being.]

Qin Hao channeled his inner power, assaulting the barriers of every single cell.

"Boom!"

A muffled roar seemed to resonate within his body, and an intensely powerful aura expanded, soaring straight up into the clouds.

Breaking the tier-4 genetic lock.

Without the need for any potions, once the limit of life force was reached, a single thought was all it took to shatter the genetic lock.

At this instant, the genes within Qin Hao's body also roared, undergoing rapid changes and enhancement.

Every breakthrough of the genetic lock represented an evolution of all his god-tier gene fragments.

The power of a tier-3 evolved being naturally differed vastly from that of a tier-4.

Qin Hao commanded far too many god-tier genes.

Strength, speed, physique.

Skeletal load-bearing, razor-sharp teeth, multitasking, devouring power, immortal genes.

Wind, fire, water, earth, metal, wood, lightning, ice, poison, darkness.

Pain amplification, longevity, regeneration.

Even if an organism possessed merely a single god-tier gene, it could grow continuously; yet he possessed more than a dozen.

As his strength grew, the effects granted by these genes naturally grew ever more potent.

Clenching his fist at this moment, Qin Hao knew his punch possessed the force of a 1,000-ton hydraulic press, capable of flattening an iron ball into a disc with his bare hands, and shattering a massive building with a single shockwave.

Tier 4 constituted the middle tier among evolved beings, establishing an immense gulf between them and tiers 1, 2, and 3.

Quite a few people who opened the hero system to check the combat power rankings coincidentally noticed that the data for Qin Hao, who ranked first on the hero combat power list, had changed.

[Hero: Qin Hao]
Life Force: Tier-4 Evolution.
Mental Power: Tier-3 Evolution.
Combat Power Rating: D+

He had evolved to tier 4!