Liam stared at Lucas like he was an idiot, his voice dripping with contempt. “Put it down? Are you brain-dead?”

  “Pretty boy, if you’ve got the guts, fight me one-on-one!” Lucas snarled, his eyes blazing red. Elijah wasn’t his blood brother, but they’d grown up side by side—closer than real siblings. Now that Elijah was captured, Lucas wanted nothing more than to tear Liam to pieces.

  Liam picked up the girl, scoffing. “One-on-one? Don’t make me laugh. First you tried to kill me, then you ambushed me, and now you still delude yourself into thinking you can take me down? There’s a limit to how stupid you can be.”

  Just then, the black armor emerged from the ditch behind them. Liam immediately grabbed the girl and hauled Elijah onto the armor’s back.

  “Don’t follow me,” Liam shot Lucas a cold glance. “Or I’ll kill him right now.” With that, he told the black armor to race south as fast as it could.

  Lucas watched the black armor fade into the distance, then let out a roar of rage that echoed toward the sky.

  “Idiot! The next time I see you, I’ll kill you!” Liam suddenly laughed, then drove his tail into Elijah’s neck.

  Lucas’s eyes were sharp as a blade. Even from far away, he could clearly see Elijah twitching uncontrollably. His own eyes turned blood-red, and he took off running—though he stood no chance of outpacing the black armor. In the end, he could only watch as it grew smaller and smaller, until it vanished from sight.

  “AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!” Lucas dropped to his knees, screaming like a madman. ………

  Liam watched the forest fade behind them, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

  But he didn’t dare sleep—not yet. The danger wasn’t fully gone. Who knew if Lucas would suddenly catch up?

  Liam had drained most of Elijah’s blood, leaving him a gaunt, skeletal figure—but he wasn’t dead yet. The red dot on his forehead, however, had dimmed to nearly nothing, a clear sign that his time was running out.

  “To be honest, I never wanted to be enemies with you,” Liam said calmly. “You forced my hand.”

  Elijah’s dull eyes flickered toward Liam for a moment, but he said nothing.

  Liam sneered. “I know you don’t believe me, but it’s the truth. Killing you gives me nothing. I never liked doing things that are more trouble than they’re worth. If you hadn’t set the forest on fire and ambushed me, I would’ve never come after you.”

  After hearing Liam’s words, Elijah slowly closed his eyes. He knew he’d died fairly. Liam had only been defending himself—while they’d acted out of greed……

  They say people relive their entire lives in their final moments. Elijah realized just how much he’d changed. Once, he’d been an honest, law-abiding citizen. How had he become so bloodthirsty?

  Had the apocalypse changed him, or had he fallen willingly……

  Elijah slipped into darkness, filled with confusion—never to wake again.

  Seeing that Elijah had no more signs of life, Liam drained the last of the blood from his corpse, then tossed the dry, lifeless body aside. Liam didn’t like killing, but Elijah had been too dangerous. With Elijah assisting him, Lucas would’ve been unstoppable. So from the moment Liam captured Elijah, he’d never intended to let him live.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  In the apocalypse, kill or be killed. Some people just had to die.

  “Girl, I’m going to rest for a bit,” Liam said. “Keep an eye on our surroundings. Wake me if anything happens.” With that, he closed his eyes and slipped into a dormant state.

  Once dormant, his body continued to mutate, spurred on by his previous severe injuries. A silver film formed over his bony tail, and his hair changed from grayish-black to a dull, jet-black color—its toughness increasing as well.

  A small red gem had also begun to protrude slightly just above his brow, glowing with a mysterious light as if it were absorbing photons from the air.

  By noon on the third day, the girl shook Liam awake.

  She pointed ahead—they’d reached the edge of an abandoned city. Unsure whether to go in, she’d woken Liam to let him decide.

  “Wait a minute before we decide,” Liam said, patting the girl’s head with a faint smile. “First, I need to check my body’s condition.”

  He was stunned by the drastic changes. His tail had transformed dramatically—when he tried lashing it at a tree, it sliced through the trunk with a smooth, clean cut. Both its strength and hardness had increased.

  His hair was also far tougher, and he could control it with even greater ease. With just a thought, his hair moved as if it had a mind of its own, doing exactly what he wanted.

  Finally, he touched the gem on his forehead, feeling a slight tingle. A translucent light screen appeared in front of him.

  Five options were displayed on the screen: Body Check, Creature Detection, Terrain Detection, Substance Detection, and Flashback.

  Liam focused his thoughts on Body Check, and the screen immediately showed several lines of text.

  Name: Liam

  Status: Healthy (Slightly Hungry)

  Age: 23

  Gender: Hermaphrodite (Ability Note: Can self-reproduce parasites)

  Constitution: 37

  Strength: 95

  Agility: 68

  Cell Activity: Fluctuating

  Reaction Speed: 55

  Overall Combat Power: 115 (Calculation: Constitution + Strength + Agility ÷ 2 + Ability Bonuses = Overall Combat Power)

  Abilities: Devour +1, Self-Optimization, Parasite Spawning, Free Hair +10, False Night Mist, Information Integration +1, Basic Healing +2, Basic Fire Breath +1

  It was the first time Liam had seen his status so clearly, with detailed explanations for each ability—just like in the online games he’d played before.

  Devour: Absorb living cells into the body to satisfy hunger; also has a certain offensive power. +1 Combat Power.

  Self-Optimization: The body automatically adjusts its state and can integrate excellent genes into the gene chain without collapse, possessing absolute stability and assimilation.

  Parasite Spawning: A recessive female gene ability. Produces absolutely loyal offspring that can parasitize living organisms and possess Basic Self-Optimization.

  Free Hair: Can freely control hair, with flexible offensive and defensive capabilities. +10 Combat Power.

  False Night Mist: A special gas secreted by air sacs. Can be used once a week; long-term accumulation will transform it into a deadly poison. No accumulation currently, so no Combat Power bonus.

  Information Integration: Auxiliary ability, Level 1 Optical Brain. Can detect surrounding conditions through photons and split into five sub-abilities: Body Check, Creature Detection, Terrain Detection, Substance Detection, and Flashback. Improves combat quality. +1 Combat Power.

  Basic Healing: Can quickly recover from injuries; no need to worry about inflammation or bacterial infection. Improves combat capability. +2 Combat Power.

  Basic Fire Breath: Produces flammable gas in small quantities, so it can only be used as a fire starter—but can also serve as an offensive tool in emergencies. +1 Combat Power.

  Liam then clicked on the explanations for the five sub-abilities of Information Integration.

  Body Check: Scans the user’s body to intuitively display their condition and strength to the maximum extent.

  Creature Detection: Detects the condition of surrounding creatures and their attributes.

  Terrain Detection: Scans all geographical conditions within a 3-kilometer radius.

  Substance Detection: Detects the composition of substances, including their hardness, melting point, plasticity……

  Flashback: Refracts photons through water molecules in the air to peek into the other side of space wormholes, allowing the user to see events that occurred within a 100-kilometer radius in the past.

  Liam gasped. The abilities he’d gained from Elijah weren’t directly offensive, but they were absolutely powerful auxiliary skills—especially Flashback, which was nothing short of a godly ability!