Marvel's Death Merchant

Zheng Zha stared blankly at the corrosion-like markings on his palm. Every time he used the spells from the Necronomicon, the markings would emit a cooling sensation to reduce the heat when the vampire energy was input into the Necronomicon. Apart from that, it seemed to have no other use. It just appeared on his palm like a birthmark, which looked rather strange.

A voice jolted Zheng Zha out of his reverie. He then noticed that Zhang Jie, Ling Dian, and the others were gathered around him. It was Zhang Jie who had woken him up. Everyone around him looked at him strangely. He quickly coughed and said, "Sorry, I was lost in thought. Where were we?"

While playing with the end of his hair, Xiao Honglu said casually, "Most of the magic in the Necronomicon is desert environment magic, which is very effective against groups of ordinary enemies. However, it is not so effective when killing a few people in a city. We have also tried a few single-target spells, such as Wraith Corrosion. It is indeed very powerful, but firstly, it consumes too much vampire energy, and secondly, it takes about 20 seconds to chant the incantation. During this time, the opponent can escape or attack. Moreover, the range can only be maintained at about 500 to 1,000 meters. To be honest, if you cannot use these spells skillfully and freely, its power at long range is much less than that of a Gauss sniper rifle."

"Therefore, the true power of the Necronomicon lies not in its destructive force, but in its auxiliary spells. For example, one spell can summon the undead and then make someone invisible for half a minute. This spell is extremely useful. Or it can summon several tomb guardians from a mixture of sand and ashes. Such non-team combat power is extremely important and may even change the outcome of the entire battle at crucial moments..."

Zhang Heng suddenly interrupted, asking, "Ashes? Where do we get ashes?"

Everyone froze for a moment, then stared blankly at Eve, the female protagonist of the story. She hadn't given up on the Bible of the Dead and had been listening intently to their conversation. Although they were speaking in Chinese, she was quite fluent, so when they mentioned ashes and looked at her, her face turned pale with fright. She quickly and warily asked, "What...what do you want to do? Do you want to turn me into ashes?"

O'Connor and Jonathan, standing nearby, both showed slight changes in expression. Zheng Zha quickly waved his hand and laughed, "Don't worry, how could we possibly do that? As for ashes, do you remember what that American said in the City of the Dead?"

Chapter 351 Testing

Eve paused for a moment, then she and the two people beside her said together, "Drying the mummy and turning it into firewood...you're planning to turn the mummy into ashes, aren't you?"

Seeing the three of them speaking in unison, Zheng Zha found it amusing and quickly said, "Yes, yes, Eve, you work at the museum, right? Stealing one or two mummies from there shouldn't be a problem, right? If not, how about you buy one or two mummies from the curator for us?"

Eve quickly exclaimed, "How could that be? Those are artifacts! Do you know the value of those mummies? Each one represents a story, anyway..."

Jonathan, the money-grubber, quickly covered his sister's mouth and said with an almost ingratiating smile, "How much are you planning to pay for the mummies? If you're buying them with whole gold bars, I can 'lend' some mummies to you. How about we discuss the price?"

Zheng Zha and O'Connor both shook their heads slightly with wry smiles. O'Connor coughed and said, "I, cough, we can get you some mummies, but we have conditions... We'll waive the gold and stuff, but you have to help us kill that relentless, immortal mummy. I think with the Bible of the Dead, killing that immortal mummy shouldn't be too difficult for you, right?"

Zheng Zha said seriously, "Whether you believe it or not, we originally planned to kill him, but we need your help. For example... to kill him, we need to use the Resurrection Scripture, that golden ancient book... I need you to help us find that ancient book."

“Yes, that book is also very important to us,” Tang Xing said.

Hearing their conversation, O'Connor glanced at Eve and Jonathan, who kept giving him meaningful looks. One wanted him to refuse to steal the mummy, while the other wanted him to demand gold. The man gave a wry smile, rode his camel to Zheng Zha's side, and extended his hand, saying, "Alright! I agree to your request. We'll help you obtain the Resurrection Scripture, and you'll be responsible for burying that immortal mummy!"

"Yes! We'll definitely do it... if we don't die..."

Time slowly passed. The group finally arrived at the port downstream of the river. It was a purely commercial port, with merchant ships coming and going. Occasionally, tourist ships would disembark here, but boarding a tourist ship here was undoubtedly a difficult task, at least for ordinary people.

Zheng Zha still had two gold bricks and many gold nuggets. He casually tossed a few gold nuggets and easily got everyone onto a travel ship. He even selected several luxury cabins for everyone to stay in.

Zheng Zha lay on the deck with a bottle of tequila. Since arriving in this world of gods and ghosts, he had rarely had such a peaceful and leisurely time as tonight. To prevent a repeat of the Buddhist scripture incident from the previous horror film, he kept the Bible of the Dead close at hand. Even if someone wanted to read it or Qi Tengyi translated the text for him, they had to be within his reach. No one, not even Zero Point and Zhao Yingkong working together, could defeat him at close range and take the Bible of the Dead. This was probably his greatest confidence.

"Are you drinking?" A male voice came from the other end of the deck; it was Zhang Jie's voice.

Zheng Zha didn't even turn his head. He simply took out another bottle of tequila from his storage ring. Zhang Jie didn't stand on ceremony either. He sat down, opened the bottle, and gulped it down in a few mouthfuls.

"Is it because you could die at any moment?" Zhang Jie asked after a moment of silence.

Zheng Zha downed his entire bottle of tequila in one gulp. He tossed the bottle lightly over the ship and said calmly, "Anyone can die at any time. In fact, after spending so much time on the edge of death, aside from the urge to live due to certain bonds, most of the time you become indifferent to life and death. For example, I could never have imagined being so indifferent to other people's lives, so easily wiping them out… What truly exhausts me is having to fight while simultaneously guarding against my companions. If I can't even trust them with my back, that's what truly tires me out."

Zheng Zha took out another bottle of wine from his storage ring and said calmly, "So, I've been waiting for your words..."

"If... give me some time, if you can survive this battle against the Indian team, I will tell you everything, and then... no, that's it. Want a cigarette?"

Zhang Jie finished speaking haltingly, then took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, tossed one to Zheng Zha, and lit it himself. Zheng Zha caught the cigarette, feeling somewhat dazed, as if he had returned to the scene when he first met Zhang Jie in Resident Evil 1, that slightly cold man, and that lit cigarette.

"Zhang Jie, I promised you, I will let you live." After talking with Zheng Zha, Tang Xing said to Zhang Jie, who was still somewhat emotionally unstable.

"Thank you. Actually, I'm really envious of you. You can travel freely between countless dimensions with that dimensional merchant," Zhang Jie sighed and said to Tang Xing.

Cairo. The group returned after their departure, but everyone's feelings were somewhat different. They learned of the existence of the Indian team and that they were stronger than their own, yet their side had to kill at least one of their opponents... Under these circumstances, the existence of the Necronomicon gave them hope again. In short, their feelings were very complicated.

As soon as everyone disembarked, O'Connor said to Zheng Zha, "Then, according to our agreement, we'll go retrieve the mummy... and you'll be responsible for taking down that monstrous thing. Of course, we'll be responsible for obtaining the Resurrection Scripture... but during this time, you must protect our safety, how about it?"

Zheng Zha nodded and said, "Okay, we'll protect you...we'll protect you from a distance. We'll contact you after you retrieve the mummy. By the way, you'd better carry a cat with you; that will prevent you from being attacked by the mummy..."

O'Connor and his two companions stared blankly as Zheng Zha and the others walked further and further away. He quickly called out, "Where are you going? How are we supposed to contact you? Hey..."

“We will come looking for you, but don’t get too close, people will die… Also, O’Connell, thank you for taking care of us all this time, goodbye.”

At this moment, in a hotel in Cairo, several people were sitting quietly in a large room when suddenly a girl with her eyes closed stirred slightly. She said softly, "The Central Continent Team has returned to Cairo. They are currently located near the port."

The group of people sat cross-legged around a young monk, who asked, "Who is closest to that spot?"

A tall, thin man with pale skin took out a device the size of a palm, examined it, and then said, "Imani and Muhammad-Yorif are closest to there..."

The young monk frowned and said, "Imani's explosive muscle power is too strong, which could easily cause a disturbance. Muhammad-Yorif's high-tech weapons are also not suitable for fighting in the city... In short, let them test the Central Continent Squad as usual. Also, let Arot get there as soon as possible. If the two of them are injured, let Arot save their lives. With his medical skills, there shouldn't be any major problems... That's it. Let's test the strength of the Central Continent Squad and see if they are prey or enemies who can talk to us on equal terms!"

Chapter 352 First Battle

Zheng Zha and Tang Xing parted ways with O'Connor at the port, and then the group mingled into the crowd and headed towards Cairo, exchanging brief plans along the way.

"Just as planned yesterday, aside from a few newcomers with little combat ability, the arrangement for the six of us veterans is as follows: Zhang Jie and Zero will be in one group, with Zero responsible for sniping and Zhang Jie providing cover for Zero; Zhao Yingkong and Zhan Lan will be in another group, with Zhao Yingkong responsible for assassination and Zhan Lan providing speed and stamina spells; Tang Xing, Qi Tengyi, and I will be in another group, with Tang Xing and I responsible for close-range attacks and Qi Tengyi responsible for translating the spells I haven't memorized yet... This is how I've divided the teams. If you have any opinions, please raise them now. If there are no objections, then let's fight in this group arrangement. For communication, let's use the communicators we just exchanged. They can be used to contact each other and also to mark each other's locations," Zheng Zha said calmly.

“No problem, I think we can start now,” Tang Xing said seriously to Zheng Zha.

Xiao Honglu suddenly said urgently, "Show me the communicator... It can mark the location of other partners who have communicators. What would happen if this communicator fell into the hands of the enemy? Have you thought about this?"

Zheng Zha smiled and said, "Of course, that's why I plan to announce the password that only we ourselves will know. If we find a communicator holder who doesn't know the password approaching, it will be a good opportunity to set a trap and ambush them... Uh, of course, this password cannot be known to non-team members. The three of them will be grouped into a separate group, and our three groups will take turns protecting and monitoring them. If anything happens that puts the entire team in danger... kill them on the spot. Even if we lose another two thousand reward points, we cannot let the entire team be in a desperate situation."

Gao Hongliang, Zhang Heng, and Qin Zhuiyu all shuddered upon hearing this. Xiao Honglu nodded and said, "Then... I'll stay with them. We don't need the communicator. But aside from combat, we need a team to protect the four of us. It would be best if no one died... If we're really in dire straits, the four of us can act as bait first. That's what we agreed on from the beginning."

Qin Zhuiyu immediately shouted, "What, what are you talking about? Those guys are so strong, they have weapons, and they have that communicator, why would they need us ordinary people as bait? Isn't this just sending us to our deaths? Hey! Why are you looking at me like that? Can't I even tell the truth?"

Xiao Honglu didn't even glance at her, only coldly chuckling as he flicked a strand of hair from his forehead. He said calmly, "Precisely because we lack strength... we're destined to die first. This world isn't the usual real world. It's not like those without strength are protected. In this world, survival is the priority. If we act as bait and our main fighting force remains intact, our chances of survival are at least 10% to 30%. But if our main fighting force is wiped out while we survive, our chances of dying are 100%. The Indian Squad will absolutely not let go of 'event reward points' like us, understand?"

Qin Zhuiyu was stunned. She said, "Then we should choose the strongest among us to be the bait, right? Anyway, I'm not going to be that bait. If I get killed, you'll lose another two thousand reward points, right?"

Xiao Honglu gently plucked a strand of black hair, blew on it lightly with his fingertips, and then said with a cold smile, "I think the other two probably think the same way, right? If you're not satisfied, let the four of us vote to decide."

Zheng Zha silently observed all of this, sighing inwardly. The little boy's behavior was strikingly similar to Chu Xuan's, except he possessed an added layer of humanity. Chu Xuan, on the other hand, was so rational as to disregard everything, even though they both liked to categorize themselves as part of the majority. Anyone who opposed them was unknowingly placed in the minority, but this unknowingly transforming oneself into the right side was perhaps what wise men preferred to do.

“Alright, Zheng Zha, now is not the time to think. Our enemy has arrived.” Tang Xing suddenly became serious and said to Zheng Zha.

Suddenly, Zheng Zha, Ling Dian, Zhao Ying Kong, and Zhang Jie all turned to look at a certain spot outside the crowd. There, a tall, muscular man with a body like a steel block stood side by side with a middle-aged man with a hooked nose, a big beard, and a sinister expression. A strange feeling drew all four of them to look at them.

"...That's right, they're members of the Indian team. Such intense killing intent...It's an emergency. We're likely to be sniped here. We don't know if there are any of their people around. Perhaps we're already surrounded...Zero, you take everyone and leave quickly...Zhan Lan, buff Zhao Yingkong and me with speed and stamina. Xiao Honglu, quickly think of a way to shake off their pursuit...Zhao Yingkong, you're responsible for holding off that bearded guy. Try to kill him if the situation allows, but don't put yourself in danger. Tang Xing and I will handle that muscular guy."

Zheng Zha's thoughts raced, and he quickly made a reasonable arrangement. After being exposed to several horror movies, coupled with Chu Xuan's unknowing guidance, he had already established himself in the role of captain. Although he was not quite qualified yet, he was gradually growing into a captain. Perhaps if given more time, he would be more suitable for the role of captain.

The muscular, dark-skinned man laughed heartily and said to the bearded man beside him, "Yorif, their reaction was quite quick, but I wonder how strong they are. So, have you chosen your opponents?"

Suddenly, a red light flashed in Yoriff's hand, and a crimson submachine gun appeared in his palm, with a dagger embedded in it. It was the throwing weapon that Zhao Yingkong had thrown from a distance. He smiled sinisterly and said, "No need to choose anymore. It seems they've already chosen the opponent for us... Same rules as before, kill the enemy first to win, and the loser gives 1,000 reward points to exchange for something for the winner. It seems I'm in a better position."

"Haha, that's not necessarily true. Be careful not to get killed, haha..."

The muscular giant laughed loudly, then slammed his fist into the ground. Stones flew everywhere, and the surrounding civilians cried out in agony. The scattered stones were as powerful as pistol bullets at close range, and more than ten people were instantly killed by the flying stones. Zheng Zha's vision was also blocked by the flying stones. As he used his dagger to block the stones, a dark shadow blocked the sunlight from his head. The muscular giant was actually holding a stone several meters in cubic meters and pressing down on him from several meters in the air.

"It seems that the only guy who used high-tech weapons to enhance his abilities isn't very strong in combat either?" Perhaps this minor character should have disappeared long ago. Tang Xing looked at the guy coldly, but he didn't attack like Zheng Zha.

Chapter 353 Absolute Strength

Zheng Zha had no intention of fighting to the death immediately. He pushed off with his feet and jumped backward. With a loud bang, the muscular giant landed on the ground with the rock, and a cloud of dust rose up. The muscular giant had actually pressed the ground down by half a meter. And that wasn't all. After landing, he actually lifted the entire boulder up again.

Tang Xing simply watched from the sidelines, wanting to assess the combat capabilities of the native inhabitants of this plane. He was destined to take over this unique plane in the future, preparing countless warriors for the Steel Empire.

Zheng Zha reacted quickly, raising his submachine gun and firing at the muscular giant's chest. At such close range, even he himself would have no chance of completely dodging, but the muscular giant in front of him calmly accepted the bullet without flinching. With a muffled thud, the bullet that hit the muscular giant's chest only managed to break through his skin before embedding itself in his steel-like muscles.

"Hahaha, come on, attack me again! You skinny guy."

The muscular giant roared and hurled the boulder in his hand to the ground. Then, his muscles slowly swelled up, making him appear nearly three meters tall. The bullet embedded in his chest was squeezed out of his muscles and fell to the ground. Not only that, he also took out a set of chain tiger claws from his pants pocket and put them on. The shape of the chains was extremely ferocious, with barbs and hooks on them. If anyone was pierced by them, they could easily tear flesh and shatter bones.

“Hey, you from Central Continent, let’s have some fun. Too bad you’re too skinny, as thin as a monkey…”

The muscular giant laughed loudly, casually tossing a pebble in his hand. The pebble flew past Zheng Zha's ear like a cannonball, possessing enough power but surprisingly poor accuracy, despite the distance between them being only seven or eight meters. However, the pebble flew more than a meter away from Zheng Zha, directly shattering the wall of a house behind him, sending a cloud of dust billowing up.

Zheng Zha's heart skipped a beat. He turned and ran towards the dust cloud behind him. The muscular man was stunned for a moment, then shouted and charged forward. Because his strength was so great, with each step he would sink half of his ankle into the ground, and then forcefully pull his foot out, so he ran in a way that made people feel like he was swaying from side to side.

The muscular giant's running style was indeed bizarre, but his speed was astonishing. Even with Zheng Zha's speed-enhancing magic, he was only slightly faster. The two of them rushed into the dust cloud one after the other with a loud bang. They crashed directly into the other wall of the house.

As the muscular giant crashed into the wall, he felt a sharp pain in his left arm. Almost instinctively, his right fist slammed to the left. The immense pressure of the punch was like a hurricane, scattering most of the dust. To the giant's left, Zheng Zha almost brushed past his fist as he leaped backward. In his right hand, Zheng Zha still held a small, dripping dagger.

As soon as Zheng Zha landed, he felt a tightness in his chest. Although the muscular giant's punch hadn't landed completely, the pressure alone was enough to make him feel suffocated. If that punch had landed, wouldn't he have been seriously injured or even killed? Thinking of the danger, Zheng Zha could only secretly feel lucky.

The muscular giant wasn't so lucky. His left arm, including the bone, was almost completely severed, with only about one-fifth of the muscle connecting the two ends. Undeniably, his muscles were as strong as steel, impervious even to ordinary bullets. However, the high-vibration particle cutting dagger directly vibrates the particle layer of an object. If the particle layer isn't particularly strong, it will easily slice the object in two; Zheng Zha had already tested this.

The muscular giant was quite fierce. Without thinking, he grabbed his left arm and roared loudly. Then, he tore the incredibly strong muscle in two. The moment the muscle broke, it made a snapping sound like a spring breaking, which showed how amazing the muscle's strength was. What was even more terrifying was that the muscular giant endured the horrific pain to tear the muscle. Then, he threw his left arm to the ground and slammed his right fist into the broken section of the wall next to him.

Just as Zheng Zha was about to rush closer to continue his attack, he saw countless bricks and stones coming straight at him. Each stone seemed to be flying through the air like a bullet. He quickly picked up his dagger and kept trying to block them, managing to deflect only a few stones. His right hand was already numb from the force of the stones.

Once Zheng Zha made up his mind, he used his dagger to block a few more stones. Using the force of the stones, he leaped backward. At the same time, the muscular giant charged forward with a frenzied roar. Zheng Zha didn't stop and quickly retreated more than ten meters away, stepping on the wall behind him and using it as a springboard. The muscular giant was practically a human tank; he smashed through the wall almost without stopping, simultaneously punching bricks and stones into the air. Dust flew everywhere, and deep within the dust, a faint red light flashed. Zheng Zha had already landed from mid-air with his dagger in hand, the dagger, still glowing with crimson flames, aimed at the muscular giant's chest.

The muscular giant reacted quickly, dodging to the side. The dagger merely slashed down along his severed left arm, completely severing what was previously a section of his arm. Crimson flames spread along his blood, burning towards the tip of his left arm and his left shoulder. In the blink of an eye, the muscular giant's right fist slammed into Zheng Zha's right shoulder, blasting him through two houses before stopping dozens of meters away.

The muscular giant seemed to have gone mad, charging forward again, but suddenly a figure rushed down from the roof. It was a thin, blond European man dressed in a doctor's uniform, who looked to be about thirty years old. His speed was astonishing, and he appeared next to the muscular giant in a very sudden manner.

At this moment, Tang Xing also came over and said to Zheng Zha from inside: "Alright, leave Zheng Zha to me."

He immediately shouted, "Arot! Why did you attack me? Go after that guy! I've already hit him!"

The doctor named Arot sneered, "Don't joke around. The moment you hit him, his legs kicked into your stomach. It looked like you hit him hard, but he only took 30% of the force at most... And do you really want to die?"

The muscular giant was about to yell and curse when he saw that the piece of flesh that had been sliced ​​off was being burned by a crimson flame. Almost instantly, the sliced ​​flesh and bones were burned to ashes, leaving only some ashes on the ground. Only then did the crimson flame completely disappear.

"Since you're here, leave one of you behind," Tang Xing said coldly as the two of them were talking. Meanwhile, Zheng Zha was slowly recovering his strength; after all, the battle just now was no joke.

"So you're the strongest guy in that squad? Your energy is indeed incredibly powerful," Arot said, looking at Tang Xing in surprise.

"However, now's not the time to talk about that. I'll take the interest first." Tang Xing had barely finished speaking when he broke the sound barrier, his arm mutating into countless tentacles that pierced through the guy who had just fought Zheng Zha. Then, black flames appeared on the mutated tentacles, instantly turning the guy to ashes. Tang Xing had proven his power with absolute strength.

Chapter 354 No Peace

When Tang Xing saw Zheng Zha, he saw Zheng Zha hugging his shoulder. Tang Xing could scan his shoulder with his wrist computer and see that his shoulder was dislocated, and he was obviously in a lot of pain.

The blond doctor, Arod, was also very surprised by Tang Xing's decisiveness. He didn't understand why Tang Xing would kill one of his own members so decisively and without any hesitation.

"I know you are very strong, perhaps even stronger than me, but we are not afraid." The cold voice made Zheng Zha turn his head sharply after hearing it, only to see a person dressed in a doctor's uniform standing in the shadow of a tall building not far away.

“Of course, that’s to be expected, because we are enemies,” Tang Xing said coldly.

Zheng Zha took a deep breath, drew his dagger again, and simultaneously raised the submachine gun in his other hand. Even so, he still felt the oppressive aura of the blond doctor, much stronger than that of the muscular man. Even though they were dozens of meters apart, he still felt an incomparably chilling presence—the aura of death. Moreover, he had just received bonus points from the God Team, and he already knew what had happened.

The blond doctor gave Tang Xing a deep look, then coldly stared at Zheng Zha. He frowned slightly and said, "Don't worry, I won't fight you now. I just wanted to let you know. Although we've lost one member, I don't want any more fighting. Contact your comrades and have them release Muhammad-Yorif. Then, we'll agree to a truce. Also, tell your captain that as long as neither side loses a single member, our agreement will remain until the end of this horror movie." With that, the blond doctor slowly disappeared into the darkness. In the blink of an eye, his figure vanished completely from Zheng Zha's sight.

"Not a single one died? It seems that the guy Tang Xing just killed has shown them some of the team's strength." Although Zheng Zha hadn't sensed anything yet, he was still very surprised that the guy from the Indian team who had beaten him half to death had now been killed by Tang Xing.

As the two ran, Zheng Zha asked into the communicator, "...Zero o'clock? Zhao Yingkong captured one of the enemy's team members alive?"

"...Yes, I'll tell you the details when you get back..."

Before Lingdian could finish speaking, a hissing sound of clothes rubbing together came from behind. Then, the slightly childish voice of the little boy Xiao Honglu came through: "Is that Zheng Zha? The communicator showed that someone was with you. It should be Tang Xing, right? Listen, we can't reveal our location. We can't find our current location on your communicator either. Now, come to the square in the center of Cairo City. We will tell you our exact location from there."

Zheng Zha and Tang Xing exchanged a glance, then looked curiously at the communicator. He then adjusted the communicator's search range to its limit, which was about a quarter of Cairo City. The communicators of the other team members also appeared in the search range, but the positions of these communicators were quite strange. They were arranged in a circle that was far apart, and the center of the circle was the central square of Cairo City.