Marvel's Death Merchant

Even so, Qin Zhuiyu still grumbled in dissatisfaction, "What a nasty smell! It's disgusting, even worse than the smell I had when I was filming at the ancient temple last time..."

The others ignored her, but Zero suddenly asked, "Zheng Zha, did you see another reincarnation team just now? How many people were there?"

Zheng Zha said with a wry smile, "I didn't see it clearly. It was so far away and so dark... But the opponent must have been very strong. They threw a small pebble from so far away, and I even blocked it with my dagger..."

He stretched out his right hand, and there was a faint tear on the web between his thumb and forefinger. It didn't seem like a big deal, but that was only in the eyes of an ordinary person. Anyone who knew about Zheng Zha's enhanced abilities knew that to tear his web between his thumb and forefinger apart would require an excessive amount of force. Even if he had taken a bullet head-on, there would be no tear on Zheng Zha's hand. Zhang Jie and Zero Point's expressions changed immediately.

"Boom!" Just as they were talking, a powerful explosion suddenly occurred outside, and they didn't know what had happened.

"It's probably Tang Xing's revenge attack on that squad!" Zheng Zha said to the others after the explosion subsided.

Zheng Zha continued, "Continuing with the previous question, I don't think that pebble was something they threw. If that were the case, their physical strength would be at least ten times stronger than that of an ordinary person, and their accuracy would definitely be no less than Zero Point's... It should be some kind of legendary magic skill, or a pebble launched by some high-tech weapon. I just can't think of any high-tech weapon that would use pebbles as ammunition."

At this moment, ten thousand meters away from the City of the Dead, in a deep crater leveled by the Jericho missile, stood eleven men and women. Some of them were wearing long silk robes, typical of desert tribes, while the others wore cloaks and robes similar to those of monks.

"Damn explosion, the energy level has exceeded double A level. Luckily, there's the shield of the main god. But the desert is still the best. Although it doesn't have the taste of the Dead Sea, being able to touch the sand is already a blessing... Hahaha. To hell with that extremely cold seawater, and that giant octopus..." A giant man with dark skin and bulging muscles laughed heartily.

Before the burly, dark-skinned man, a handsome young monk asked softly, "Not bad, it's probably retaliation from that squad earlier! We were lucky. Also, Imani, how does Toguchi feel about the 80% muscle enhancement? Although it's one of the cheapest in the B-grade enhancement series, it should be quite powerful when combined with your close-combat style. Did that little stone hit its target?"

The burly, dark-skinned man laughed heartily and said, "It's really impressive. This power is simply terrifying. Once I get back, I can enhance my nerve reaction speed and other abilities. Then... haha, even if I face the Xenomorph again, I won't be afraid this time, haha."

The young monk chuckled softly, coldly gazing towards the City of the Dead. He said, "...Be careful of that person. Your pebble's power was more than enough, and its accuracy under Lamb's telekinetic control was absolutely flawless. But that person blocked it before it reached the ground, and made a protective move a fraction of a second before it hit the ground. This person is probably one of the strongest in that rookie team. If three of their members are as strong as that person... then follow the strategy used by the Reincarnation Squad when their strength levels are equal: keep your distance until the horror movie ends... Xue Nai, how are the three rookies?"

A respectful man dressed in Indian women's clothing standing next to the young monk said, "Captain, the three new recruits have been hypnotized, and Arot is checking their qualities."

The young monk immediately looked behind him, where a blond European man dressed as a doctor was standing next to the two men and one woman, pinching their chins. After a minute or two, he said, "Captain, no, these three new recruits are all pitifully low in quality. However, one of them is slightly more intelligent; he'd probably be doing clerical work in the real world..."

The young monk withdrew his gaze and looked back at the City of the Dead before him. He murmured, "After returning to the 'God' space, I'll release this person from hypnosis. If that doesn't work, I'll turn him and the other two into fodder. My summoned beast is almost ready to advance..."

The man named Xuenai respectfully asked, "Captain, what should we do now? Should we enter the tomb and fight them? Or should we proceed with the usual initial contact?"

The little monk thought for a moment and said, "No need. The Central Continent Squad is a newly awakened squad, and we don't know their strength yet. Besides, they probably don't know the usual practice of the Samsara Squad meeting. If we make contact rashly, they might attack us first... And it seems that the plot has only just revealed the BOSS of this horror movie, right? Let's go to Cairo first and find an opportunity to make contact with them and make an agreement... or find an opportunity to annihilate them all!"

"The Central Continent Squad? It seems there's a dangerous person among them. We need to wait for the right opportunity," the little monk pondered seriously.

Zheng Zha and the others were running deeper into the tomb. Ever since that shout, they had heard a constant swishing sound all around them, as if countless tiny things were rubbing against the ground. And the deeper they ran, the louder the sound became.

Just as they rounded a bend, they saw O'Connor, Jonathan, and several other Americans running desperately toward them. O'Connor shouted as he ran, "Run! There are a lot of people behind us!"

"So many? So many what?" Zheng Zha and the others only glanced behind them, and no one even had the mood to ask anymore. Behind them followed countless scarabs, a type of carnivorous beetle the size of a finger. A local guide who was running at the very back of the group suddenly fell to the ground, and the beetles immediately burrowed into his body. In just a few seconds, his body was covered with a thick layer of beetles, and when he reappeared, he had become a skeleton.

Zheng Zha and his six companions immediately followed O'Connor and his group, running as fast as they could. The sight of the wreckage behind them was truly terrifying; the feeling of being bitten to death by insects was indescribable.

Zheng Zha, Ling Dian, and Zhang Jie were the fastest runners, and within seconds they were almost overtaking O'Connor and his group when a muffled thud came from behind them.

However, Tang Xing appeared at this moment. The solidified incendiary bomb formed a wall of fire, turning the beetles to ashes. A crisis was thus averted.

Chapter 348 Special props

After Tang Xing resolved the issue, the group ran for an unknown amount of time when suddenly another exclamation came from around the bend in the road. Everyone except Tang Xing felt a chill run down their spines, wondering if they had run into that damned scarab again. However, along with the exclamation came Eve's voice.

Zheng Zha cursed inwardly. He already had a general idea of ​​what had happened over there: Eve had encountered Imhotep, the undead priest who was still in mummy form. Knowing this, he still ran towards that direction without stopping.

As the group passed through the alleyway, they saw Eve staring in horror into the depths of the alley. On Eve's other side, O'Connor and his group were emerging from another alleyway, followed by the Americans and Zero and his five companions. It seemed they had all entered the same side alleyway.

O'Connor happened to see Eve and ran to her, saying, "Hurry up! What are you doing here? There are so many bugs behind us... Wow!"

Everyone rushed to Eve's side, and following the gaze of the two, they were all startled.

A mummy, no, a mummy covered in rotting flesh, with many parts of its body reduced to bones, stood there. This mummy even had eyeballs, and those exposed eyeballs were bloodshot. It kept scanning the people in front of it with those eyeballs, and then opened its mouth and roared loudly.

O'Connor, like everyone around him, was stunned with fear. Then he roared and pulled the trigger of his rifle. With a crack, the mummy was knocked to the ground. Zheng Zha and others also fired their guns at the same time, but their shots were rapid-fire.

Tang Xing made no move, and by then the mummy had been blasted nearly ten meters away. O'Connor pulled Eve away and ran outside, while Zheng Zha hurriedly said to Zero and the others, "Zero, stay here and help me check the mummy's wounds... We just used spirit bullets."

“However, I feel the effect won’t be significant. After all, it’s like a BOSS; ordinary weapons are useless against it.” Tang Xing looked into Zheng Zha’s eyes and said seriously.

Upon seeing the situation, the men slowly lowered their weapons. At this moment, O'Connell laughed and said, "See? I told you we've already killed that mummy. You're making a mountain out of a molehill!"

Zheng Zha sighed inwardly and said, "No, Tang Xing, you're right. The mummy wasn't killed; it's a monster. Ordinary bullets have absolutely no effect on it. No, all bullets are ineffective against it."

Aside from the members of the Reincarnation Squad, the others naturally had no idea what Zheng Zha was trying to say. The leader of the men in black, a man with markings on his face, coldly said, "You'd better leave here immediately! You'd better never come back... This is the City of the Dead. If you come back again, we won't hesitate to turn you all into the dead!" After saying that, the leader of the men in black took the lead and walked towards the bottom of the tomb.

To be honest, after experiencing such a dramatic change, no one wanted to stay here any longer, so everyone silently ran back to the camp. After packing up, they hurriedly left the City of the Dead on camels or horses.

Zheng Zha and the others followed at the very back of the group. Only now did they have a chance to look at their watches. Based on past experience, once the story had fully unfolded, the distance restriction should have disappeared as well. So when they looked at their watches, they indeed saw that the option representing the distance restriction had completely vanished.

Zheng Zha spoke first: "Now that the distance restrictions are gone, what should we do next? Should we stay here and wait for the Indian team to arrive, since we are much more familiar with this battlefield... or should we follow O'Connor and the others to experience the original movie plot? Xiao Honglu, do you have any good suggestions?"

Xiao Honglu, whose camel was in the middle of the group, replied calmly, "No. I don't have any particularly good suggestions, but I have two questions... First, what is the mission of the Indian Squad? To kill the Undead Priest Imhotep? Or is it some other mission?"

"Second, does the Indian team also know about the special existence of the Bible of the Dead, and desire to obtain it?"

Zheng Zha paused for a moment, then asked curiously, "A special existence of the Bible of the Dead? What do you mean?"

Qi Tengyi suddenly said embarrassedly, "When I came out of the tomb just now, I picked up the Book of the Dead and glanced at it. As soon as I touched the Book of the Dead, the voice of the 'God' told me that I had obtained a plot item... The specific prompt was that I could learn dark necromancy spells. If I knew ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, I wouldn't need any reward points. Otherwise, learning each spell would cost 1,000 reward points. It doesn't require side quest points, but I must return to the 'God' space to learn it..."

Zheng Zha and the others stared blankly at Qi Tengyi, while Xiao Honglu said calmly, "That's what I meant. Although I don't know why, this necromancer's Scripture actually works on us. By the way, does learning a legendary magic skill in the 'God' space require a lot of reward points?"

Zhan Lan quickly said, "It's not just reward points, it also consumes a lot of side quest points. For example, my two legendary magic skills are very ordinary skills that improve physical fitness, and they have both consumed several thousand reward points and D-level side quests. Those offensive skills require C-level or B-level side quests to learn, and a thousand reward points are needed to learn one..."

Qi Tengyi suddenly said seriously, "I'm sorry, but I can read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs..."

Everyone fell silent instantly. After several seconds, Zheng Zha, Zero Point, and Zhang Jie all drew their guns, while Zhao Yingkong pulled out a flaming dagger. Tang Xing also took out a Gauss weapon. The three of them didn't even look at each other. They controlled the camels in perfect unison and drove them toward the Americans... The Bible of the Dead was currently in the arms of the old American professor.

The Americans were completely unaware of what was happening behind them until Zheng Zha and his group rode camels in front of them, at which point they were astonished to find that Zheng Zha and his men were pointing pistols and submachine guns at them.

“Hey bro, this joke isn’t funny at all,” one of the Americans immediately shouted.

Zheng Zha raised his submachine gun and swept it across the ground in front of them. Tang Xing, wanting to show them what was what, fired a rocket-propelled grenade at close range. The Americans immediately stopped their horses, and all but the old professor raised their hands… They had already witnessed the power of Zheng Zha and Tang Xing's firearms; at such close range, their power was enough to easily tear them to shreds.

Chapter 349 Analysis

Zheng Zha said calmly, "I don't want to say anything more. Hand over the Bible of the Dead. This thing is of little use to you... and if you keep it, you'll be hunted down by the mummy. You probably don't want to encounter that terrifying thing again, right? Give us the Bible of the Dead... and we're willing to exchange it for gold."

The Americans were exchanging glances, ready to pull out their pistols and fight at any moment. The old professor clutched the Bible tightly to his chest, staring at them as if Zheng Zha and his group were about to take away his most prized possession.

Upon hearing the word "gold," the two Americans' eyes lit up immediately, and one of them asked, "Gold...how much gold?"

At this moment, O'Connell and the others arrived. Zheng Zha ignored them, simply taking out a gold brick from his storage ring and saying, "Ten of these gold bricks are only enough to exchange for one ancient book. Do you think it's a good deal?" With that, he gently tossed the gold brick to one of the Americans.

The American hurriedly caught the gold brick with both hands. It felt heavy in his hands; it was a real gold brick, about the thickness of a few fingers, and it looked brilliantly golden in the sunlight.

The American squeezed it a few times, then took a big bite before saying to his companion, "It's, it's really... this is a real gold brick!"

The American quickly snatched the gold brick and did the same thing as the other man. Then he looked greedily at Zheng Zha and said, "Ten...fifteen gold bricks! Give me fifteen gold bricks and the deal is done!"

"Okay, fifteen yuan!"

Zheng Zha didn't care. He took out another gold brick from his storage ring. But as he continued, one of the Americans suddenly drew a pistol from his waist. However, instead of shooting at him, the pistol knocked the old professor to the ground with a bang. Then, the American viciously pulled the Bible of the Dead from the old professor's arms…

This black Bible of the dead is covered in blood...

Zheng Zha threw all fifteen gold bricks on the ground. He coldly watched the two Americans reveling in the gold bricks. He then took the Bible of the Dead, a thick, black ancient book, with one hand.

"A weak prop, it doesn't have the same power as the original. It seems that the ones from special dimensions are all censored versions," Tang Xing thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Zheng Zha and the others were still studying the Bible of the Dead. They didn't know what material it was made of. The blood that had been poured on it was absorbed by it in just over ten seconds, just like a sponge absorbing water. However, the Bible itself did not appear to change at all. On the contrary, it felt cold to the touch.

Zheng Zha stood there dumbfounded, holding the Bible of the Dead. He had heard the "God's" prompts perfectly. The long string of sounds almost made his head spin.

"How is it? How is it?" Zhang Jie was closest to Zheng Zha, and as soon as he saw Zheng Zha in a daze, he ran over to him.

Zheng Zha didn't know what to say at this moment, so he could only grin foolishly and say, "This is awesome! We're really rich now... This book is so thick, I wonder how many skills are in it. Damn, it's even necromancy and darkness-related spells. Aren't they all powerful skills for killing and robbing? Haha..."

The rest of the team also gathered around. O'Connell and his two companions were confused, but they too came over. Only the three Americans remained. The two intact Americans, after collecting the gold bars, led the American whose eyes and tongue had been removed by the mummy, on horseback at breakneck speed. Before long, all that could be seen were three horses galloping away.

Zheng Zha had everyone touch the Necronomicon, and the veterans all wore expressions of utter shock. Tang Xing remained expressionless, but the other newcomers just thought they were making a mountain out of a molehill. Xiao Honglu quickly asked, "In the 'God' space, is it very expensive to enhance legendary magic skills?"

Zheng Zha nodded and said, "It's very expensive, not just legendary magic skills. Any skill that can immediately improve combat power seems to be quite expensive... Not only does it consume a lot of reward points, but it also consumes side quest points. So, this 'Necronomicon' basically represents powerful combat power. As long as we can use the spells in it, we can instantly increase the team's combat power by a lot!"

Xiao Honglu also curiously touched the Bible of the Dead, and then he suddenly squatted down and began to play with the sand, while gently plucking a few strands of hair with his other hand.

"What are those vampire energies, spiritual energy, and magic? " Xiao Honglu asked calmly.

Zheng Zha replied, "I don't know much about the others, but the vampire energy is a secondary skill I gained after enhancing my mutated vampire attributes. It's highly corrosive when used, but very difficult to use, and vampire skills are all quite expensive..."

Xiao Honglu sighed and said, "I think I understand... This book is a double-edged sword. At least for us now, possessing it means danger... First, that undead priest will definitely keep chasing us, killing us and taking back the Bible of the Dead. Second..."

"Do you think that Indian squad knows about the special existence of the Bible of the Dead? Although it's a plot item, touching it will give you a hint from the 'God.' Considering the value of this book, the Indian squad will definitely want to get their hands on it no matter what. We might be attacked by them at all costs..."

People around him looked at him strangely. Zhang Jie said, "Aren't we already going to fight them to the death? Anyway, we have to kill at least one of them, otherwise most of us will be wiped out after this horror movie ends, right?"

"There are many ways to fight to the death. For example, we can snipe them when we make contact, or ambush them, set traps, or fight a guerrilla war... In short, there are many ways to fight. But if they know the secret that the Necronomicon is also useful to the Reincarnation Team, then they will likely keep a close watch on the characters in the story. Once they discover that the Necronomicon is missing, they will naturally guess that the Necronomicon is in our hands. In that case, if we obtain the Necronomicon in advance, it will be like alerting the enemy. It will be almost impossible to launch a surprise attack again. And I'm also very worried about something else..."

Xiao Honglu gently plucked another hair, blew it away along with the sand in his hand, and said with a wry smile, "...If the 'Bible of the Dead' is a book for learning dark magic spells for the undead, then... what about the 'Scripture of Resurrection'? And what kind of skill book is the other golden book? I think it's at least as good as this one, right? If the Indian team knows the secrets of these two books, then I think there are two possibilities. One is that the Indian team plans to ambush us in Cairo, then follow the plot to bury the undead priests step by step, and take the two books back to the 'God' space. The other is that the Indian team plans to ambush us in Cairo... and take the 'Bible of the Dead' from us or from the plot characters, and then they will come back here to take the golden 'Scripture of Resurrection.' This is exactly what I'm most worried about... Is their mission to complete this horror movie the same as our mission to bury the undead priests?"

Chapter 350 Powerful Strength

Xiao Honglu stood up from his squatting position, clapped his hands clean with a wry smile, and said, "Our mission is to bury the Undead Priest. What if their mission is to protect the Undead Priest, or... kill the original male and female protagonists of the movie? In that case, we might not even have time to kill one of them before the horror movie is forced to end. Most of us, who have two thousand reward points, will be wiped out. What should we do then?"

"It's simple, we can only keep fighting," Tang Xing said coldly to the crowd, raising his head.

Immediately afterward, Zheng Zha asked Saito to translate the contents of the Bible of the Dead. Then, after some fiddling around, everyone suddenly felt a strong energy fluctuation around them, and then...

"boom……"

Twenty-odd hours later, Zheng Zha, who had just been working on the Bible of the Dead, suddenly opened his eyes. The sunlight was dazzling, and there was no yellow sand around him. The weather was so good that it was indescribable, and there wasn't even a breeze.

Zheng Zha sat up and realized that he was being gently tied to the back of a camel. The group was now traveling through the desert, and it seemed that the yellow sand he had seen before he lost consciousness was just an illusion.

When the people around saw Zheng Zha sit up, they all shouted to stop. Zhang Jie and Zhan Lan were the first to fall off the camel and run to his side. Zhang Jie laughed and untied him from his restraints, while Zhan Lan quickly opened the water bottle and handed it to him.

"I've been unconscious for several hours, haven't I? The sun was about to set... So, the tornado I saw before I passed out was just an illusion?" Zheng Zha took the water bottle, took a few sips, and asked with a wry smile.

Those around him could only smile wryly, speechless. Zhang Jie chuckled and said, "You've been unconscious for a day and a night. This must be the second day at dusk... The tornado you saw was definitely an illusion, I swear it was definitely an illusion! Hahaha."

Zheng Zha looked around at the people, who were all nodding in agreement. He could only smile wryly and say, "Sure enough, how could something so exaggerated be made by human hands... But I was still knocked unconscious by the Bible of the Dead, so this thing should be real, right?"

Zero took a sip of water from the water bottle and said, "Of course it's true... You didn't cause a tornado, and we don't know what you did, or maybe you just couldn't control your strength. In the end, you directly caused a sandstorm. If Tang Xing hadn't used the ion shield, we definitely wouldn't have been so relaxed."

"The power of the Necronomicon has exceeded our expectations," Xiao Honglu said excitedly. "Moreover, I clearly underestimated Tang Xing's technology. It seems that as long as you can control your strength and not let it drain too much energy at once, to the point of exhaustion... the power of this skill on your own is enough for us to annihilate the Indian team!"

Zheng Zha stared blankly at the hand that had been holding the Bible of the Dead. A strange symbol was faintly visible in the center of his palm—the symbol on the cover of the Bible of the Dead, the symbol of the Egyptian god of death…

Zheng Zha began training himself to use the Necronomicon repeatedly, initially fainting every time he used it. However, the duration of his unconsciousness gradually decreased, and by the time he was finally able to control his vampire energy somewhat, the group had already arrived at the oasis market. After replenishing their food and water supplies there, they headed towards a port downstream.

“We’ll take a cruise ship back to Cairo from there, which will take about two days in total. After that, we’ll take an oil tanker out to sea from Cairo… Don’t worry, everyone. I don’t believe that monster will sail across the ocean to kill us,” O’Connor said with a hearty laugh.

Over the past two days, O'Connor and his two companions had been deeply shocked. Leaving aside Tang Xing's hidden technology, the Necronomicon was merely a valuable ancient document to them. Perhaps it was priceless from an archaeological perspective, but they couldn't have imagined its immense power—such as unleashing terrifying sandstorms in the desert, creating quicksand, or rapidly causing all vegetation to rot and wither. In short, in Zheng Zha's hands, the Necronomicon made him seem like a powerful sorcerer or wizard from ancient legends.

Eve also tried to pick up the Bible of the Dead and read aloud its contents, but her readings differed from Zheng Zha's. Nothing happened around them; the magical transformations did not occur. This stubborn woman was still unconvinced and insisted on reading the Bible of the Dead for over an hour before finally having to admit that she did not have the talent to become a wizard or sorcerer.