Chapter 15: Gene Fragment of the Fanged Demon God

“No!” the fans cried out, but in the next moment, some of them found themselves staring down the barrels of guns and dared not move an inch further. Firearms were lethal weapons; it had already taken immense courage for them to challenge these officers. To speak up again with guns aimed at them was beyond what their nerves could bear.

The soldiers quickly stormed into the grand hall, securing every major exit. In addition to the first floor, there was also a balcony reserved for VIPs on the second level, which some of them occupied as vantage points, both to maintain control and ensure their own safety.

“Do whatever it takes to guarantee the safety of these two citizens.”

“Yes, sir!”

With the order given and positions secured, the soldiers finally found their chance.

A barrage of automatic rifle fire erupted. In the live broadcast, behind Qin Hao, the serpent demon was riddled with bullets, blood spraying in great crimson arcs. The serpent demon’s head jerked violently under the hail of bullets, pain disrupting its movements and preventing it from devouring Qin Hao.

At that moment, Qin Hao manipulated the metal on the ground, sending it hurtling upward to pierce straight through the serpent demon’s skull, impaling its brain at the base of the neck. The creature’s body went limp, collapsing thunderously to the floor.

Another serpent demon had been slain.

Gunfire continued to roar, targeting the other two serpent demons, who were swiftly dispatched under the relentless firepower.

But just then, from the spatial black holes, more serpent demons began to slither out.

Qin Hao’s expression changed.

He knew all too well—according to the rules of the mission, the more survivors there were, the greater the number of monsters that would appear.

There was even a saying, popular in these apocalyptic times: Heroes always walk alone. The more people around, the more monsters come; it's best for a hero to fight solo.

Before time had been reversed, Qin Hao had been locked in a detention cell—because he was alone, only two Fang Demons appeared around him.

Double the numbers.

Originally, the four serpent demons were meant to be the targets for Qin Hao and Zi Hui. But with the military involved, that number naturally increased.

Double the Fang Demons was of little consequence. But double the serpent demons was truly terrifying.

From the four black holes, new serpent demons began to emerge.

“Please fall back. The military will handle this area,” the captain called out loudly, urging Qin Hao to retreat.

Qin Hao frowned deeply. At this moment, he was still flesh and blood—he couldn't withstand bullets. What if there was friendly fire?

In the end, Qin Hao withdrew to a corner.

Seeing this, Zi Hui also moved away.

“Control the serpent demons again,” Qin Hao’s voice reached Zi Hui's ears.

“You don’t think they can handle it?” she asked, somewhat surprised.

Qin Hao nodded, and the ease in Zi Hui’s heart vanished.

She released her mental tendrils, using the power of darkness to control the corpse of a slain serpent demon, making it coil protectively around her as she hid in a corner.

Four serpent demons crawled from the spatial black holes, sniffing out the scent of heroes, and prepared to pounce on Qin Hao and Zi Hui.

But at that moment, gunfire erupted, and countless bullets riddled the oncoming monsters. The serpent demons howled in pain, writhing on the floor. One of them, sensing danger, darted aside with incredible speed, crushing chairs and Fang Demon corpses beneath its bulk as it scaled a massive stone pillar to the second level.

In the next instant, its tail lashed out violently, striking three special forces soldiers and sending them, along with the railing, plummeting to their deaths.

The livestream’s camera angle didn’t capture this, but the viewers heard the sudden gunfire, the soldiers’ cries of alarm, and the crash of bodies.

Hidden in a corner, Qin Hao didn’t intervene directly. Instead, he used his mental tendrils to draw blood from across the theater toward him.

Blood from both Fang Demons and serpent demons began to gather, thousands of genetic fragments being selected, sorted, and then fused into Qin Hao’s own genes.

Having previously absorbed bovine genetic fragments, his foundation was solid, so this time the process was much smoother than before time reversed.

Even so, as fresh blood poured into him, more impurities were expelled from his body, forming red-black clots at his feet.

So much, in fact, that to an onlooker, it appeared as if blood was streaming from every orifice.

Zi Hui, initially focused on the battle, was soon overwhelmed by the stench of blood. When she turned, she saw Qin Hao bathed in gore.

“What’s happening to you?” Zi Hui asked in shock.

Qin Hao waved her off, continuing to absorb the surrounding blood.

His physical strength was growing.

The greatest strength of the Fang Demons was not their speed, but their razor-sharp fangs. Moreover, their bones were built for combat, unlike human bones, which were designed merely to bear weight. Theirs were far tougher.

Qin Hao absorbed those genetic traits.

Countless fragments unraveled in the blood, and then, unexpectedly, some of them combined to form a unique gene, one that gleamed with a divine light.

Qin Hao froze in surprise, then joy flooded his face.

A divine gene.

This gene wouldn’t instantly make him a god, but it was like a seed—while other seeds might grow five meters tall, a divine seed could reach five hundred. As Qin Hao grew, so too would this divine gene.

He hadn’t expected such good fortune. After slaying two thousand Fang Demons, he’d acquired a fragment of their divine gene.

Qin Hao fused this gene fragment into himself.

Instantly, a wave of agony crashed over him. The difference between the Fang Demon's genes and his own was immense—there was a real risk of his own genes being overwhelmed.

He felt his bones twisting, his teeth sharpening unnaturally.

He grabbed a stellar energy drill and gripped it tightly. In a surge of star energy, he channeled both that power and his mind to control the mutation of his own genes.

“Merge!” he growled.

The divine gene fused into his own, finally uniting with it.

In the next moment, his bones underwent transformation under the infusion of stellar energy.

He coughed up blood—no, not just blood, but fragments of bone.

Blood spurted from his limbs; a great volume was expelled, and soon, Qin Hao felt his skeleton growing stronger, more resilient.

The Fang Demon gene had fully merged, and there was no stronger bloodline for him to absorb now.

Next, Qin Hao began to integrate the serpent demon’s genes.

The serpent demon was more powerful than the Fang Demon, but with the foundation of the divine gene, there were no major obstacles—the serpent gene was absorbed without incident.

His power soared once again.

Meanwhile, on the second floor, more than half of the special forces had already been killed or wounded. They finally managed to slay the serpent demon that had climbed up, but the lives of their fallen comrades could not be reclaimed.

Commander Bai Zhiyi, watching through the surveillance feeds, felt a chill in his heart.