Chapter 22: Mutants, Giants, and Demonfolk (Please Keep Reading and Add This to Your Favorites!)

Regarding whether Zheng Zha was truly a lolicon, the Zhongzhou team did not probe further. In the minds of the other four, the matter was already settled beyond doubt, leaving no room for the suspect to continue denying it. Thus, the issue was quietly put to rest.

After some lighthearted banter, the Zhongzhou team plunged once again into a new round of training over the following days.

However, unlike before, their training now focused primarily on familiarizing themselves with the newly enhanced bloodlines and abilities they had just acquired.

As mentioned earlier, upon Wu Xian’s suggestion, Zheng Zha had spent a C-grade side quest and 2,000 reward points to exchange for a powerful skill called “Blood Flame.”

With this, combined with the amplification from the second-tier gene lock, Zheng Zha’s strength had taken a qualitative leap. He was now confident that even Wu Xian himself could no longer easily defeat him in training as before.

Hearing this, Wu Xian merely smiled faintly but then spent ten minutes humbling the overconfident Zheng Zha, deflating him twice over and reminding him of the terror once instilled by a jeep.

As for the other three team members, each selected a bloodline enhancement of their own.

Zhan Lan, after a late-night “candlelit talk” with Wu Xian the previous evening, had come to understand the concepts of psychic controllers and psychic adepts, as well as her own innate talent in mental powers. Thus, she had a clear goal in choosing which bloodline to enhance.

Wu Xian had carefully chosen for her the “Primal Mutant Variant Bloodline,” inspired by “X-Men: Apocalypse,” rated 93 points, suitable for most horror scenarios. It could be upgraded from the lowest Epsilon level to the Omega level. Each upgrade allowed the user to equip a mutant ability, with the power scaling continuously until all reached Omega level.

Zhan Lan’s character template was based on Apocalypse. She spent one D-grade and one C-grade side quest and 2,600 reward points to obtain telepathy and a healing factor.

The former laid a solid foundation for a psychic controller, giving Zhan Lan a chance to develop skills like psychic chains and mental scanning on her own.

The latter was purely to boost her survival odds—not aiming for extremes like Wolverine or Deadpool, but at least ensuring she wouldn’t be knocked out just from a stray stone.

Next was Mu Gang, who chose the “Giant Clan” mutant bloodline.

This bloodline held considerable potential, capable of upgrading to S-level Titans or primordial giants from Norse mythology.

However, according to the Main God’s introduction, before reaching A-level enhancement, it offered no special abilities beyond dramatically boosting physical attributes. Its main feature was a thick bloodline and high defense—in other words, extreme toughness.

Obviously, this middle-aged man with a simple demeanor intended to develop himself into a tank-like meat shield.

Wu Xian had no objections and only offered a few words of encouragement before sending him to the Main God for the exchange.

Finally, it was Li Xiaoyi’s turn, a high schooler who had no strong opinions and whose greatest virtue was his obedience.

This time was no exception; he left the choice of bloodline entirely to Wu Xian.

His only request was that the enhancement make him look as handsome as possible, preferably with a two-stage transformation ability…

Well, given his high school age, a bit of adolescent fantasy was understandable.

Wu Xian was somewhat speechless but used his captain’s authority to filter options and eventually found a bloodline perfectly matching Li Xiaoyi’s wishes.

The “Spartan Demon Variant Bloodline,” from the game “Devil May Cry,” rated 90 points and suitable for most horror plots. Users gained magic reserves corresponding to their bloodline level, and their body structure underwent dramatic changes. As long as the brain wasn’t completely destroyed, the user wouldn’t die and could repair themselves by consuming demonic blood essence, with regeneration speed depending on the bloodline level.

“If I remember correctly, some fanfic protagonist who crossed over into the Demon Team took this demon-enhancement route, even surpassing the demon Zheng Zha, single-handedly overturning the entire Zhongzhou team…”

Thinking this, Wu Xian couldn’t help but shake his head in resignation.

He didn’t have such high expectations for Li Xiaoyi but considered that in the original story, the latter died in the next horror plot. So Wu Xian hoped the demon bloodline’s tenacious survivability and inherent luck could guide him toward a different fate.

Thus, after about half an hour, all three completed their enhancements and, like Zheng Zha, showed obvious changes in appearance.

Mu Gang’s transformation was the most dramatic. Originally about 1.7 meters tall, he suddenly shot up to over two meters, comparable to some “Ming King” figure, but with muscles bulging explosively all over, making him look even more robust.

From afar, he resembled a mountainous humanoid mass of flesh, exuding overwhelming pressure—truly worthy of the Giant Clan name.

Beside Mu Gang stood Li Xiaoyi, whose black hair had turned silver-white, and whose height had increased by about ten centimeters, making him appear much more upright and confident. Compared to the previously slightly frail youth, he was almost unrecognizable.

As for Zhan Lan, her changes were less extreme than the others but still transformative.

Most noticeably, her chest muscles evolved from ordinary 3D to IMAX-3D quality, and her facial features became more refined and softer, as if all her feminine charms were magnified. The few men present couldn’t help but widen their eyes, only to be sharply rebuked by their own partners, leaving them embarrassed.

Well, everyone except Wu Xian.

Since he was partner-free, he could openly stare without guilt—until Zhan Lan, flushed with embarrassment, prepared to unleash psychokinesis on him, at which point he disdainfully averted his gaze.

Laughable—it was just a pair of big “thunder bombs,” as if he hadn’t seen such things before.

“There are three days left before the next horror plot begins, the one I mentioned earlier—‘Alien 1.’”

Wu Xian scanned the group and, seeing their confident expressions, sneered coldly.

“So, do you think you’ve grown so strong that mere Aliens no longer warrant your concern?”

“Heh, if that’s your attitude, then congratulations—our Zhongzhou team is not far from total annihilation.”

“Uh… Captain, that shouldn’t be the case,” Zheng Zha scratched his head, puzzled.

“I’ve seen several ‘Alien’ films before. The aliens are scary, sure, but that’s for ordinary people. With our current strength, if it’s just the movie-level threat, getting through safely shouldn’t be difficult.”

“Exactly, if it’s only at the movie level, it’s not hard… Then tell me, has a Tyrant ever appeared in the Resident Evil movies?”

Wu Xian said calmly, his words silencing Zheng Zha instantly. Among them, the quickest thinker, Zhan Lan, tentatively asked:

“Do you mean the Main God might alter the movie plot deliberately to increase the difficulty of our mission?”