The Strongest Gene
chapter-26

The next day, Chen Feng reached the Gene Production Association early in the morning.

The three-day period was up and everyone had made their preparations. Xu Fei’s whole body was shimmering with a faint light, not unlike those rich people who had upgraded all their equipment to +13 in online games.

Xu Fei noticed Chen Feng looking at him and stated with his back straightened, "It was made from a mutated black python beast’s skin."

"Nouveau riche!"

Without restraint, Zhou Ling derided, "Other rich people are all low profile in their lavishness and possess inner beauty. Who would wrap themselves up like a zongzi[1] like you."

"Safety comes first."

Xu Fei was immeasurably proud of himself.

"Scram."

Zhou Ling stared at him. "Let me tell you. The mutated beasts there are all very sensitive. If you do not conceal your aura, you will probably get surrounded."

"Alright."

Xu Fei concealed the glow he was radiating in an unsatisfied manner.

Chen Feng couldn’t help but to laugh at this.

Next, everyone introduced themselves.

There were four people in the party, with Xu Fei being the captain, Zhou Ling being the deputy captain, a skinny youngster dressed in black and standing behind them that only mentioned that his nickname was Monkey, and a tall and sturdy guy called Tie Shi who, from his appearance, should have a genetic ability related to body enhancement.

"How do we go?" Chen Feng asked.

"Follow me."

In a mysterious manner, Xu Fei brought everyone to the 36th floor of the Gene Production Association. It was the parking lot, and a delicate looking flying vehicle was parked in front of them.

"Stormtech’s latest flying vehicle, Specter 7."

Xu Fei proudly introduced it. "The strongest chip of their company is installed within. Able to race, able to go invisible, possessing a certain amount of reconnaissance and anti-reconnaissance capabilities, built with sturdy materials, and able to resist attacks! When we leave, it will be able to conceal itself automatically. It is the best choice when going on an exploration."

Chen Feng exclaimed in admiration, this was totally a fully armed tank!

"Stop bragging."

Beside him, Zhou Ling said faintly, "It is said that this flying vehicle has a bad anti-interference capability, causing it to be easy to intercept. There were already a few accidents before. Hence, even its name, Specter, was changed to Hearse instead."

"..."

Everyone was silent.

Chen Feng suddenly felt a chill.

"That was number six, six! This is number seven, the latest product. How many times do I need to repeat that?"

Xu Fei rolled his eyes before waving his hands. "Fine, fine. Everything said by this big mistress here is correct. I will stop bragging. Would that do? Go, go. Everyone, let’s get in the car and depart."

Narrowing her eyes, Zhou Ling laughed. She merely couldn’t stand seeing this Xu Fei fellow flaunting his wealth.

They all got in the car.

The translucent roof closed and the vehicle bolted out like a rocket.

"Whoosh!"

The Specter 7 pierced the air as it moved.

Chen Feng’s eyes were shining. This was actually a true flying vehicle. Despite the fact that there was a fixed virtual route when flying within the city, it still gave off an amazingly stunning impression.

The speed of the flying vehicle was extremely fast.

Their journey of 100km was finished in a short amount of time.

Getting close to their destination, the speed of Xu Fei’s vehicle slowed instinctively.

"Be careful."

"This is not a peaceful place."

Xu Fei reminded them. "Although this is only the outer layer of Dragon’s Passing Mountain, the amount of mutated beasts around here is not low. Naturally, the scariest things at this outer layer are not those mutated beasts. Instead, they are human! Those genetic warriors hanging around nearby are the scariest thing here."

"Understood."

Everyone nodded their head slightly.

The Specter 7 flew quietly, reducing its speed greatly without raising any billows. With the operation of its chip, not a trace of the sound of the wind could be heard.

From this, it could be seen how accurate the name Specter was.

"We can go down in front."

Xu Fei told everyone, "At that time, Monkey can start scouting, while Tie Shi is in charge of protecting Chen Feng."

"Understood."

Everyone slightly nodded. Even Zhou Ling, who always liked to go against Xu Fei, did not joke around.

"Whoosh!"

The flying vehicle moved quietly.

Just as Xu Fei prepared to stop, the control panel within the flying vehicle started to tremble frantically. Countless warning windows popped up and red lights started flickering within the vehicle.

"Not good!"

Xu Fei’s expression turned unsightly. "Interference! Jump out of the car!"

"Ding!"

Xu Fei pressed a button. "Damn it, the roof won’t open."

What?

Everyone’s expression changed greatly.

"Let me."

Tie Shi bellowed.

"Open!"

Blue veins could be seen on both his arms as a gush of dreadful power bubbled up. He tore the translucent roof off with brute force, revealing the world outside before their eyes.

"Go!"

Zhou Ling grabbed Chen Feng as the rest of them quickly jumped out of the vehicle.

"Whoosh!"

The flying vehicle streaked across the air in a perfect arc before crashing against a rock far away and exploding loudly. And thus Specter 7 turned into Hearse 7.

Shua!

Shua!

Graceful sounds resounded around them.

There were people!

Chen Feng narrowed his eyes as he secretly prepared his Wind Blade. He knew that going on explorations was dangerous. However, he had never expected to be ambushed even before they reached their destination!

However, he was not surprised at all.

In his previous life on earth, there were also those who put nails on the highway, causing trucks to be overturned, before robbing the goods within. Ah, he had seen way too many of these on the news. Regardless of which world it was, it would never lack these kinds of people, who wanted to reap without sowing!

"Interesting."

Xu Fei’s gloomy and cold laughter resounded. "Interesting. To be brave enough to ambush me, your father."

Everyone looked over; there was actually a blood stain on Xu Fei’s forehead. Obviously, it was the result of him knocking against something just now.

"Are you alright?" Zhou Ling asked anxiously.

"Small wound."

Xu Fei looked in front of him. "Let us take a look at who these people are, exactly."

Around them, silhouettes started appearing. A total of over 20 people had Chen Feng and the group surrounded in the middle. The leader, a middle-aged person, appeared and looked at them, somewhat surprised. "I, your father, have ambushed around 30 to 40 vehicles these few days. You are the first group that was able to escape from the vehicle."

"And you had never thought of the reason for that?"

Xu Fei smiled happily. "I originally wondered which expert it was. Yet for a mere half-assed E-class warrior and a bunch of F-class henchmen to dare to rob us..."

That dreadful aura emerged once again from Xu Fei’s body.

Shua!

He soared, forming a fist with his right hand as flame energy condensed in his hands before ferociously smashing in the direction of the ground—Raging Flames Storm!

"Bang!"

With Xu Fei as the center, an area of 10 meters around him exploded!

The ground ruptured and was engulfed in flame!

Constant screams could be heard before they gradually disappeared. The trees in their vicinity turned to ashes in a split second, while on the ground, 20 pitch-black corpses were left.

One move!

Only one move!

These robbers were all defeated!

Hiss—

Chen Feng inhaled a mouthful of cold breath.

Secret art!

This Xu Fei had actually mastered a secret art!

The so-called secret art was a formidable skill that was a research product of using gene fusion as a foundation to rouse the genetic potential within one’s body!

Compared with Chen Feng’s knowledge from his previous life, it was equivalent to esoteric knowledge – something intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.

The genetic warriors of this world could perform one fusion at every class. Fusing one gene at F-class, fusing one gene at E-class, all the way until the highest level acknowledged by the Genetic Union, S-class. In total, one could perform seven gene fusions! It was equivalent to a human body containing seven types of genetic abilities within!

However—

The genetic ability obtained during gene fusion was only a foundation. Apart from the genetic ability, the secret arts one obtained through the pairing of genes to form suitable genes was the truly formidable power!

For example—

Xu Fei’s Raging Flames Fist.

A 2-star secret art: A secret art that required two genes to trigger its activation, hence being called a 2-star secret art.

Requirements:

F-class, direbear gene, strength type.

E-class, firefox gene, spiritual type.

Only those possessing these two genes within their body could perform the Raging Flames Storm skill. This was a combination of a strength-type gene and spiritual-type gene!

Was it the best option for one to fuse with the strongest gene available at every class?

Naturally, that was not true.

Gene fusion was a form of art. Each gene would provide a different ability. However, this was only a single ability! Only when the genes within one’s body were combined, activating secret arts from gene combinations of two, three, or even more genes, would an even more terrifying power be displayed!

However, having multiple genes within one’s body and possessing a secret art were two different matters altogether!

Even if one did not take into consideration whether the two genes within your body fulfilled the activation requirements for a secret art, even if the requirements were met, could a normal person afford to purchase a secret art?

Obviously, one couldn’t.

It was obvious that this Xu Fei was not some ordinary person!

Chen Feng contemplated.

"Mhm?"

"Seems like the corpse of that leader just now wasn’t here."

Killing intent flickered in Xu Fei’s eyes. "He actually escaped? Monkey, track him."

"Understood."

Monkey’s eyes suddenly turned into blue color. A resplendent radiance blossomed from his pupils as Monkey started sweeping through their surroundings with his eyes. Chen Feng had only accidently catch a glimpse of his eyes, yet that was sufficient for him to sense the dreadful power within.

"No traces within 1 km."

"I think he has escaped. Do you want to continue expanding the range?" Monkey calmly reported.

"Let it be."

Xu Fei shook his head as he regretted inwardly. "We don’t have time to play with him for now. We can take care of him when we return!"

"Alright."

Everyone nodded.

Xu Fei looked at his flying vehicle that had turned into scrap metal. A pained expression was plastered all over his face. "Damn it, for Zhou Ling’s crow beak[2] to actually be accurate, turning into a hearse."

"Don’t blame me."

As Zhou Ling saw Xu Fei’s emotional eyes, she raised her hands quickly. "As long as a flying vehicle is controlled by a chip, there will be some spiritual type abilities that are able to interfere with it. This is something unavoidable. It was simply unexpected that this broken flying vehicle of yours had been strengthened in all aspects except its anti-signal-interference ability, which was still pitifully weak."

"Say less."

Xu Fei unhappily said, "Since we are already at the outer layer, we can directly walk over. But then it would be hard on Chen Feng. He is, after all, not a warrior."

He thought for a while. "Tie Shi, if, later, Chen Feng’s stamina can’t take it anymore, carry him on your back."

"Understood," Tie Shi answered.

Chen Feng was speechless. Did he look so delicate?

Encountering disaster before reaching their goal, everyone’s expressions became graver. Earlier, if it wasn’t for Tie Shi tearing the roof apart, they would probably have been done for despite being skilled. The people here were truly dangerous!

Even a normal F-class warrior might possess some inconceivable methods!

"Be careful."

Xu Fei said, "After this forest, we will reach our destination."

Rustle!

Rustle!

Everyone moved forward carefully.

The mutated beasts around here were only at F-class, after all; hence, these beasts did not pose much threat to them. Once in a while, there would be some blind ones that came over to attack them, yet all of them were directly smashed to death by Xu Fei.

As for other genetic warriors...

Under Monkey’s eyes, there was no place for them to hide. Hence, none of them dare to approach the group.

Very powerful.

Chen Feng was inwardly speechless.

No wonder they dare to come explore with just such few people. Other than Zhou Ling, who had yet to make her move, the other three were excessively powerful. Was this the power of a E-class warrior?

To be so strong after fusing with two genes?

A small flame started to ignite within Chen Feng’s heart.

Soon, they left the forest.

Although Xu Fei had introduced it to him, when Chen Feng truly looked at the sight in front of him, he was still alarmed. This was Dragon’s Passing Mountain?

Footnotes:

1. Zongzi – a traditional Chinese food made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo, reed, or other large flat leaves.

2. Crow beak - Chinese people consider crows a bird of ill omen. So ‘crow beak’ is used to describe people who said ominous things directly. There’s also a possibility of the prediction being efficacious.