Marvel's Death Merchant

Chapter 270 Before the Final Battle

"What's missing?" Zheng Zha suddenly jumped up and asked loudly, "Zhan Lan is missing? Wasn't she sleeping here? How could she suddenly disappear? Where's the protective talisman? Did it burn?"

Lingdian and Zhao Yingkong were also woken up. Zhang Jie said hurriedly, "Qi Teng and I didn't dare to take a nap. We were watching our surroundings with full concentration. The two protective talismans were intact. There were more pedestrians just now than there are now. Did she leave with these pedestrians?"

Zheng Zha then noticed that it was already getting dark. Judging from the time, it was around eight or nine o'clock. Just as he was about to ask something else, his communicator suddenly vibrated. He pressed the communicator and said, "Zhan Lan? Where are you? Why didn't you tell us where you went? Don't you know everyone was worried about you... Zhan Lan?"

"I don't know what happened either," Zhan Lan said nervously through the communicator.

Zheng Zha was shocked to hear this; he knew his team members were in danger.

"Zero point, Zhao Yingkong, you two go to that high-rise building and wait to snipe. We'll communicate via communicator later. Don't snipe until I speak. The ghost's next attack will be aimed at the person who scattered it... Zhang Jie, Qi Tengyi, you two stay here. If the ghost follows me, then I'll need you to provide fire support..."

Zheng Zha decisively turned off the communicator, then hurriedly spoke to the four people before running out of the square.

Just as Zhang Jie was about to say something, he noticed that after Zheng Zha left, Tang Xing was with a lot of cold-blooded foreigners, and behind Tang Xing were even things from Licker, Tyrant and Terminator.

"These are from science fiction movies, how did you do that?" Zhang Jie asked Tang Xing, utterly astonished, as Tang Xing showed him the troops.

"Of course, that's a secret. By the way, these are the things you need." Tang Xing smiled faintly and took out the mithril bulletproof vests they needed.

On the other side, Zheng Zha rushed to Zhan Lan's side and slapped the burning protective talisman onto her pale face. The ashen-faced woman seemed to be burned, making gurgling sounds as she rolled backward. As soon as she was away from Zhan Lan's back, Zheng Zha had already taken out a submachine gun from his storage ring and opened fire. The ashen-faced woman, grinning maliciously, was shot down by the spirit bullets and vanished without a trace.

As soon as the ghost left Zhan Lan's back, she immediately collapsed to the ground, her whole body trembling violently. The protective talisman on her face burned even more fiercely, half of it instantly turning to ashes. However, from where the talisman burned, the bluish-white color on her face gradually faded, and slowly, some color returned to her face.

“Second…” Zhan Lan tried her best to speak, but she was extremely weak at the moment, so her voice was almost inaudible.

Thanks to Zheng Zha's unlocked genetic state, he actually heard the voice. He immediately picked Zhan Lan up and took out the last burning talisman from his pocket, sticking it to her face. Zheng Zha asked urgently, "What second?"

"The second...that was the second wave..."

If the second wave is also an attack from behind, then the third wave will also be an attack from behind?

Zheng Zha's eyes suddenly sharpened. After putting Zhan Lan down, he rushed towards the nearest wall, his sense of danger suddenly washing over him. He had already leaped up the wall, and then a pale white hand reached out from behind his neck. Before the hand could even touch him, he had already flipped in mid-air and thrown a punch downwards... The punch was from the fist wearing the storage ring, his inner force frantically poured into it. This fist pierced directly through the pale woman. This time it was even more direct; the invisible force field at the top of the storage ring acted like sulfuric acid, and the pale woman vanished the moment she touched it. With one punch, the pale woman was obliterated.

"This is the third wave. Next is the fourth wave... Are many ghosts attacking at once?"

As soon as Zheng Zha landed, he rushed to Zhan Lan's side. He had just managed to hug her when countless gurgling sounds came from all directions, as if hundreds of ghosts were constantly making these eerie and terrifying noises. Zheng Zha's sense of danger reached its limit; it was a terrifying feeling of impending death.

After an unknown amount of time, the first pale white limb emerged from the doorway. A pale white woman's body twisted eerily as she crawled towards them from the wall above the doorway. Then came the second, the third...

Just as Zheng Zha was about to start firing his submachine gun, countless metal storms descended upon the area. Zheng Zha looked up and saw more than 50 T-600s releasing silvery-white mithril bullets, eliminating one dark creature after another.

However, the current situation did not reassure him. He felt a sense of danger coming from behind him. He quickly turned around and saw pale white limbs emerging from the windowsill behind him, one after another. He quickly grabbed his gun and rushed over, shooting down several ghosts. After that, he looked out the window and fell silent.

Outside the Sunshine Hotel, the road was teeming with the ghosts of pale-faced women—at least eight hundred, if not a thousand. Add to that the countless more ghosts emerging from the passageway, and under this double attack, their deaths were only a matter of time…

"Zhan Lan, will you believe me? Even if it looks like I'm dead..."

Zhan Lan had regained some of her energy by now. She nodded gently and said, "Yes, even if you want me to die... I will still believe in you."

"Hold on to me! Believe me...we will survive no matter what!"

Zheng Zha then screamed in pain. Zhan Lan was astonished to see that his right arm began to grow thicker and thicker, a change that could be seen with the naked eye. The arm eventually looked three times as thick as a normal person's, and the bulging muscles made it look like a biological mutation.

"So this is the change from the second stage of unlocking the gene lock... Hold on to me! Zhan Lan!"

Zheng Zha, with Zhan Lan by his side and his mutated right hand tightly gripping a high-vibration particle cutting dagger, kicked the window open, then leaped off the outer wall. This was the twelfth floor of the Sunshine Hotel… the twelfth floor…

"what!"

As Zheng Zha jumped out, he flicked his right hand and plunged the dagger, capable of cutting through anything, into the wall. The two of them followed the cut in the wall and quickly fell to the ground floor.

"A fourth wave? That looks interesting. Let my bioweapons and mechanical legion clash with these dark creatures!" Tang Xing muttered to himself, showing no fear of the current situation, but rather excitement.

"Skynet, control these weapons to sense the dark creatures, get Zheng Zha out of here, then operate the missile vehicles to drop energy bombs and plasma missiles there, saturate the area. I need all those creatures to disappear," Tang Xing continued, giving orders.

"Tang Xing, you seem to be hiding a lot of power. Maybe you really can keep me alive." Zhang Jie thought to himself as he looked at Tang Xing, whom he couldn't figure out.

Tang Xing is resolving the current crisis methodically, which may also be the purpose of his coming to this special dimension. (To be continued...)

Chapter 271 The Decisive Battle (1)

Tang Xing shares a similar personality with his boss—a cold indifference towards certain things. However, Tang Xing is doing well now; for the sake of his current apprentice, he has begun using items from his spatial seed.

After Zheng Zha jumped down, he suddenly drew his dagger, then raised it and gave it a sharp shake. At this point, he was only two stories above the ground. Zheng Zha drew his dagger and jumped to the ground. With a cracking sound, two cracks appeared in the concrete ground. Then, without stopping, he rushed towards the car he had come from.

Countless pale white ghosts gathered around them. The dozens of ghosts closest to the two crawled over, but before they could reach them, they were attacked by countless plasma missiles. In an instant, under a dense saturation bombardment, Zheng Zha and the other person were temporarily safe.

Zheng Zha was also in bad shape at this time. His right hand had returned to its original size, but his entire arm was red and swollen. It seemed that most of the capillaries in his arm had ruptured, and his entire arm was full of bruises from the ruptured blood vessels.

"Zhan Lan! Can you drive now? Can you still move your hands and feet?" Zheng Zha shouted loudly during the brief moment when the shockwave from the explosion broke through the air.

Zhan Lan answered in her loudest voice, "I think I can, but I don't have the strength to step on the gas."

"Alright! You're in charge of driving now!"

Zheng Zha had already stepped on the gas and shouted, "Quick! You take control of the direction and find our team."

It was close to 10 p.m., but there were no pedestrians in the square, and even the police officers who usually patrolled were nowhere to be seen. This was arranged by Tang Xing so that the mission could be completed quickly.

Zheng Zha's thoughts had barely formed when a series of loud gunshots rang out from the other end of the square. Zheng Zha looked up and saw that the Terminators were unleashing a metal storm with Gatling guns.

Zhang Jie's expression was somewhat helpless as the Terminators, armed with mithril bullets, frantically sprayed bullets at the pale, ghostly figures. Standing beside the Terminators, Qi Tengyi also wore a fanatical expression. Seeing how powerful these high-tech weapons were, and with spent cartridges constantly falling to the ground, the clanging of the cartridges accompanied by the roar of the Gatling guns created quite a spectacle.

"Tang Xing was hiding very well; he was being terrified by these ghosts the whole time. Now it's our turn to slaughter them," Zhang Jie said excitedly, looking at the pale, ghostly figures.

Tang Xing's Lickers, Tyrants, and Terminators easily dealt with the hundred or so pale ghosts. Only then did they all breathe a sigh of relief. They hadn't expected that the assembly line of the industrial age could produce something so powerful.

"Phew, you guys are really something. Where did you attract so many monsters?" Zhang Jie asked, letting out a deep breath.

Zheng Zha and Zhan Lan both smiled wryly. Before they could answer, the lights suddenly came on, and the four of them saw a row of Japanese paper doors in front of them. At the same time, the sound of a man and a woman arguing came from behind the paper doors.

"This is the fifth wave! Everyone, please don't attack! Please don't! Leave this wave to me!" Zheng Zha shouted to those around him, still not entirely at ease. He then turned on the communicator and repeated the message to Zero and the other person.

As they spoke, the paper door gradually opened, revealing a man and a woman arguing behind it. Then, the scene Chu Xuan had witnessed unfolded before everyone's eyes: the main body of the cursed creature, Kagaya, appeared, while the man began walking towards Zheng Zha with a kitchen knife… No! Even Kagaya crawled over in a contorted manner. The two demons approached Zheng Zha one after the other.

(There was definitely no sense of danger, and it seemed like there was nothing around... Unlock the genetic lock, let's try again! I hope my body can hold on!)

Zheng Zha's eyes suddenly sharpened, and the feeling of unlocking the second stage of his genetic lock returned. His muscles and bones seemed to spasm, the pain coming and going quickly. All the onlookers saw was him vomiting several mouthfuls of blood, and then he charged forward.

“Let’s work together, Zheng Zha,” Tang Xing said earnestly, looking up at Zheng Zha.

Zheng Zha was running forward when he heard Tang Xing's words. He paused for a moment, then quickly replied, "Understood."

Then, Tang Xing and Zheng Zha increased their speed by about 30%. At this moment, he had rushed to the male ghost. The male ghost raised a kitchen knife and slashed at him fiercely. The moment the kitchen knife touched his chest, he had a dangerous premonition coming from the point of contact. Without hesitation, he jumped to the side and then struck Kayako's head with his left hand. The storage ring force field was fully activated, and in an instant, Kayako's entire head was shattered.

Speaking of which, when those two ghosts approached them, the male ghost's cleaver was aimed at Zheng Zha's right arm, while Tang Xing, at the instant of contact, instead of retreating, advanced. Zheng Zha's left hand, holding his storage ring, continuously gathered internal energy, and he punched straight at Jia Yezi's head, while Tang Xing gathered dark energy to attack another dark creature. Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

"Ugh... I feel so full. I still really like to eat... Uh? What do you like to eat?"

Zheng Zha's expression suddenly changed. He recovered from simulating Chu Xuan's state and then saw Zhang Jie and the other two running towards him with surprise. Tang Xing's cold face also showed a smile, a smile of trust for his friends.

Zhang Jie patted him on the shoulder and said, "That was awesome! You really put us on the edge of our seats just now. Zheng Zha, when did you become so amazing? What? You actually gave up your entire right arm? Weren't you scared?"

"And Tang Xing, I never knew you were a mage. Necromancers are the best way to deal with these dark creatures," Zhang Jie said excitedly.

Zheng Zha gave a wry smile, then asked Zhan Lan, "Zhan Lan, what was that wind spirit all about? Why did I feel like my speed had increased significantly?"

Zhan Lan smiled and said, "This is my enhancement direction. I'm aiming for magic legends, but these types of enhancements basically all require side quests, so I've only enhanced one speed spell so far. You can't expect me to run around with a gun, can you?"

“That’s right, her enhancement is a wind-based magic that can increase our speed,” Tang Xing explained thoughtfully.

Zheng Zha's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and that dangerous premonition came again. However, this time the premonition was not as strong as before, and it could even be said to be too weak. He was very surprised by this premonition. This was not like the attack from inside the body that Chu Xuan had said. In that case, the danger premonition should have been extremely strong.

"Everyone be careful, I've noticed something's not right. Does anyone else think... Zhan Lan? Zhan Lan!"

Zheng Zha was about to remind everyone to take care of their health when he suddenly saw Zhan Lan's face change. Her entire face turned pale, and blood kept gushing from her mouth and nose, the blood containing fragments of internal organs...

"Zhan Lan! Believe me! We won't die!"

Zheng Zha roared, concentrating all his inner strength into his left fist, preparing to resolve this problem. (To be continued...)

Chapter 272 The Decisive Battle (2)

Tang Xing basically only slightly changed the plot, but did not completely correct it. He descended to maintain the stability of the world. Tang Xing knew Tang Tian's purpose: Tang Tian would turn the main god of this plane into the core intelligence of his interstellar empire.

Because Tang Xing hadn't made any deliberate changes, his weapons were all destroyed by the attacks of these creatures. As a result, Zheng Zha was now powerless and slow. If Zhan Lan's previous acceleration spell hadn't still been active, his speed would probably have been limited to a jog. Only now did he realize how precious that acceleration spell was, as it had forcibly increased his jog speed to a sprint. This acceleration spell didn't increase his base speed by a certain percentage, but rather increased it by a fixed value. If it were at his previous speed, this increase wouldn't be very noticeable, but in his current weakened state, this speed was incredibly important.

With this extra speed, Zheng Zha finally reached the clock tower entrance before the ghostly coconut palms outside the square could climb over. He flicked his high-vibration particle cutting dagger and cleaved open the clock tower door, then rushed into the clock tower without a second thought.

At this moment, the giant ghost, Jia Yezi, had fully recovered. She slowly got up from the ground and began to move towards the clock tower. Zheng Zha, besides being out of breath, also noticed that the surroundings had become somewhat cold. At this moment, the vampire energy still permeated his entire body, and the world he saw was blood red. He could vaguely see some bluish-white shadows appearing on the rooftop. At the same time, his sense of danger accurately told him that there were already ghosts waiting above him.

Meanwhile, Tang Xing was also attacking with magic around him, and those dark creatures couldn't get close to him at all. Tang Xing was pretending to be just like them.

While the other members helped, Zheng Zha immediately put the dagger into his storage ring and pulled out his submachine gun. With only one arm, he couldn't reload in such a short time, and the submachine gun only had half a magazine left. In other words, this half magazine would be his only hope to reach the top of the clock tower… Vampire energy was his last hope, and he wouldn't waste it unless absolutely necessary.

"what!"

In a final roar of despair, Zheng Zha faced the pale blue ghosts crawling down the stairs and pulled the trigger on the remaining mithril bullets in his submachine gun. These were prepared by Tang Xing for these people, since they would need everyone's help to get through this plot.

On a high-rise building some distance from the plaza, Zero collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted. Before him lay a slender, silver-white high-tech weapon—a Gauss sniper rifle—but no one could use it anymore. Beside Zero, Zhao Yingkong was wielding a mithril dagger, relentlessly slicing through the countless ghosts crawling towards them.

Zhao Yingkong wasn't skilled with firearms, but possessing the ability to unlock her genetic potential, coupled with specially trained close-combat assassination techniques, meant her melee capabilities were arguably no less than Zheng Zha's—how he obtained it was a mystery. The magically enhanced daggers she wielded were the envy of others; with a few swift movements, her fingers tore apart the approaching ghosts.

At this moment, the two were also being besieged. Countless ghosts crawled out from all directions. The two were on the rooftop, and the ghosts kept crawling out from all sides of the rooftop. If Zhao Yingkong hadn't unlocked the gene lock and attacked with sharpness, the two would probably have been buried by the ghosts by now.

"How are you? How much strength have you recovered? Can you aim and snipe now?" Zhao Yingkong asked hurriedly without turning her head after tearing the two approaching ghosts to shreds.

Zero was struggling to sit up from the ground, muttering, "No, my vision is blurry, I feel so sleepy, I can't snipe in this state... Give me a minute or two more..."

Zhao Yingkong paused for a moment. She then resumed swinging the mithril, but gradually her movements became more sluggish and no longer as fluid as they had been at the beginning.

"Am I too late?" Tang Xing's voice rang out beside them at that moment.

“No, you’re not too late.” Zero shook his head and said seriously. He looked at Tang Xing, who was wearing the Iron Man suit, with hope in his eyes as if the mission was going to be completed. And Tang Xing did not disappoint him.

Zhang Jie and Qi Tengyi weren't much better off than the other three, because they were at the edge of the square, so they were the first to come into contact with the ghosts around the square. Fortunately, Zhang Jie reacted quickly and opened fire with his submachine gun. As a result, Qi Tengyi also hurriedly picked up his pistol and started firing.

"Will we die? Will we die? Zhang Jie, will we die?" Qi Teng kept trembling and shouting as he fired his gun.

Zhang Jie suddenly turned around and punched Qi Tengyi, knocking him to the ground. He shouted, "Stop talking nonsense! Aren't we still alive? If you want to die, go out and die yourself! Stop babbling in my ear!" After saying that, he turned around and started firing at the ghosts again.

Qi Tengyi was stunned for a moment, then he came to his senses, picked up his pistol and started firing in bursts again. With his back to Zhang Jie, he said, "Zhang Jie, if I survive, I will definitely hit back with this punch. My teeth have been loosened."

Zhang Jie laughed out loud, firing as he said, "If we can survive... if we can all survive, what's wrong with me letting you punch me? Survive..."

"Zheng Zha...we're entrusting our lives to you, you must succeed!"

On the other side, Zheng Zha didn't know how many more steps were to the top, nor how many more ghosts were appearing above. He only knew that there was no turning back now. Behind him, the stairs were filled with ghosts climbing upwards. The only thing he could do was desperately climb higher and higher until he could break free from this hellish nightmare... If he didn't want to die, then he should desperately rush upwards!

"what!"