End of the World: My Items Can Be Upgraded Infinitely.

Chapter 135 Tiger-Spine Elite Team, Unknown Danger
A few minutes ago, Shen Jie received an order from Lin Feng and left the place first, returning to the entrance where he came from.

There, a group of second-order tiger-spine insects were mobilized from other insect nests to cooperate with the pulse war scorpions to attack from the front and back.

Shen Jie was a little overwhelmed when dealing with the long-range attacking pulse scorpion as he was unable to detect the enemy's position. But facing the tiger-spine worm that also fought in close combat, he was not afraid at all as he entered the winged tiger berserker mode.

Even under the influence of Zerg genes, he became more and more excited.

Qin Hu, who was leading the remaining team members and following closely behind, had already noticed the change in Shen Jie's condition.

His giant jaws, which looked like a smaller version of the tiger-backed worm, were too conspicuous, and the hardness of the material was almost the same as that of the giant jaws. Coupled with the genetic warrior's reaction speed, he was actually much more flexible and agile in close combat than those holding tiger-tooth chainsaw swords. He could easily dodge the attack of the tiger-backed worm's giant jaws and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack.

However, the most prominent change was his assimilated Zerg head. A small one-meter-long giant jaw appeared on his face, and a pair of Zerg limbs grew on both sides of his waist and abdomen.

With such a deep assimilation of characteristics, Qin Hu estimated that the other party's genetic fusion degree must have reached more than 40%, or even higher.

What a madman who doesn't care about his life!
After all, even I can only withstand about 30% of the fusion synchronization.

Once it exceeds 40%, although they can still retain most of their sanity due to their tenacious consciousness, irreversible mutations will occur on their body surface.

For example, last time in order to hunt down Cheng Zhan, facing a team composed of three tiger-backed worms, Qin Hu, who was unarmed, only broke through the safe upper limit of the fusion degree for a short while in a hurry. But when Lin Feng appeared, he directly cancelled the continued injection of zygotes.

But even though it was only a brief ten seconds, Qin Hu, who had exploded with ferocity, later discovered that a two-centimeter-high serrated exo-bone had grown on the soles of his feet and the outside of his calves, like the barbs on a grasshopper's hind limbs, hard and sharp.

Even after that, Qin Hu cut it off with a boning knife many times, or pulled it out by the roots with pliers, but it would still grow back the next morning after a night's rest.

The impact of excessive integration after breaking the safety limit is irreparable and irreversible.

It directly changes the cells in the body, the most basic genetic sequence. Even if Qin Hu cuts off his legs and grows them back, the protruding spikes and barbs will still exist.

Fortunately, this impact will not continue to spread.

However, it also made Qin Hu sufficiently alert and vigilant, and he was always careful to control the degree of gene fusion to a safe level below 40%.

Although Qin Hu knew that after becoming a genetic warrior, sooner or later he would be completely reduced to a terrible monster that was neither human nor insect, he did not want to reach that point so quickly.

He still has the capital to defend, and his wife and daughter waiting for him to return home...

Seeing the change in Shen Jie's appearance at this moment, Qin Hu's deep-seated fear was aroused.

He was afraid that he would step into the abyss step by step, and eventually be transformed into a bug-man, unable to change back.

What I am even more afraid of is whether I can still clearly remember my identity as a human being at that time.

After all, one of the side effects of genetic assimilation is memory loss and confusion and doubt about self-awareness.

But in the state of assimilation, being strong is really strong.

Qin Hu had witnessed with his own eyes before, Shen Jie charging into a swarm of second-order tiger-spine insects, coming and going freely as if he was in an empty space.

This amazing physical attribute and nerve reaction speed is far beyond the reach of ordinary second-stage early awakeners.

Qin Hu was just sighing at the young people's desperate efforts when they finally squeezed to the entrance after crossing the torrent of black-spine insects...

I saw many tiger-backed insects with powerful aura swinging their huge jaws, mercilessly picking up and flying away the black-backed insects that were blocking their way. They had cleared a space and were charging towards Shen Jie and others.

Judging from their huge size and the aura they exude, this group of tiger-spine insects are all in the middle or late stage of the second stage!
Obviously, after the previous two waves of failures, the Queen Mother of Haicheng has learned her lesson and will naturally not send out the weaker second-stage early-stage tiger-spine worms again!

Instead, he summoned the top forces of the Zerg and sent them all out!
Plan to deal with all the invading awakened people in one go!
After all, as long as they can't escape, all previous losses can be made up, and the true strength and physical data of human genetic warriors can be obtained.

When faced with a powerful enemy, Shen Jie, who had transformed into a tiger worm, rushed forward without hesitation and engaged in a fight with the tiger worm...

Qin Hu no longer hesitated and activated the genetic fluid in the zygote behind him and injected it into his body.

Black and yellow insect scales gradually appeared on its body, and a hint of madness also flashed in its yellow, upright pupils.

Then Qin Hu activated the attack signal to the remaining two genetic warriors behind him.

The degree of their genetic fusion with the black-spined worm can match more than 70%, achieving a physical enhancement effect of nearly 70%. Combined with their own special abilities, they can fully reach the perfect strength of the early second stage.

Equivalent to a lv23 awakener.

However, under this extreme state, the speed of Zerg gene assimilation will also be accelerated, and the body surface will be wildly distorted to have the characteristic structure of the Zerg...

The impact on rationality is also deepening.

But the tiger-backed insect swarm is already coming with great force.

There are twelve in total, four of which are in the late second stage, and the remaining eight are in the middle second stage.

It brings together the top combat forces from three insect nests.

Even if Shen Jie and Qin Hu could attract all the late-stage tiger-spine worms, it would be difficult for the other nine first-order awakeners to defeat the remaining mid-stage tiger-spine worms.

Nine against eight. If they were just early stage second stage tiger-spine worms, they could still be dealt with. But if they were all mid stage second stage, there would definitely be casualties even with the support of the tiger-tooth chainsaw sword.

If one person fails, the tiger-backed worms that defeat their opponent will then besiege other human awakeners, thus creating an avalanche-like chain reaction.

Except for Qin Hu, the remaining two genetic warriors are also aware of the current crisis.

Therefore, if they don't fight desperately, everyone, including them, will soon die tragically under the giant jaws of the tiger-backed worm.

As the fight between Shen Jie and the first row of tiger-backed worms was about to break out, everyone immediately got involved in a tough battle.

The cleared insect nest site also became a death arena for the war between humans and insects.

But what surprised Qin Hu was that Shen Jie, who was alone, actually took the initiative to attract away three late-stage second-order tiger-spine worms.

At the same time, he seemed to be at ease in the fight.

While avoiding the bites of tiger bugs, you can also use the heavy blades of the giant jaws on the outside of your arms to strike at their abdomens or joints, causing considerable damage.

Qin Hu, who noticed this scene, was delighted. After all, with someone to share the pressure, he could quickly deal with the last second-stage late-stage tiger-spine worm and then rush to support his subordinates.

Moreover, at present, Shen Jie's overall strength is actually far superior to his own.

His close combat skills against insects were totally unlike that of a young high school student.

Even if Qin Hu activated more than 40% of the fusion degree, it would be difficult for him to deal with three late-stage second-stage tiger-spine worms at the same time in the early-stage second stage.

There is a physical fitness gap of nearly three times between the two. No matter how much improvement and amplification there is, it will be difficult to make up for it, let alone deal with three existences at the same time.

A thought of admiration flashed through his mind. Qin Hu had already relied on the tiger-worm fusion form, wearing two layers of thick armor inside and outside, raising the chainsaw sword, and killing the last late-stage tiger-spine worm.

Relying on the speed advantage brought by its small size and the destructive power of the Tiger Tooth Chain Saw Sword far exceeds that of the Zerg's giant jaws under the same strength...

Qin Hu, who entered the tiger-worm form, quickly defeated the powerful enemy in front of him.

Qin Hu pulled the chainsaw sword out from the broken head of the tiger-back worm. He saw Shen Jie, who had also killed a late-stage tiger-back worm, and was continuing to deal with the remaining two not far away.

Qin Hu, who was panting and wanted to recover as soon as possible, originally planned to step forward to help Shen Jie solve the battle first, but he unexpectedly discovered that after killing a late-stage tiger-spine worm, the opponent showed no signs of decline at all, and even became more and more excited as the fight went on.

His reaction speed was getting faster and faster, and his slashing force was becoming more severe and terrifying, so he didn't need any help from me at all.

Shen Jie seems to have overcome the lack of endurance due to the small size of humans, and can become stronger and stronger in the fight between life and death.

Perhaps this is the advantage of young awakeners, their potential is greater than that of awakeners in their thirties or forties.

Qin Hu, who was quite self-aware, chose not to disturb the opponent's fight. When strength surged out of his body again, he picked up the tiger-tooth chainsaw sword and went into the darkness to provide support.

However, during his short one-minute battle, an accident occurred among his team members.

A late-stage first-order fully awakened person faces a mid-stage second-order tiger-spine worm. The physical attribute value is limited to 200, but he has to deal with 400 or more. The gap in strength between the two sides is more than twice...

Even if one has a set of solid armor and a powerful weapon like the Tiger-tooth Chainsaw Sword, the disparity in strength and speed is too great to be compensated by equipment.

What's more, most of them are not genetic warriors and cannot burst out with strength levels above the second level. They are several times weaker than tiger-spine worms in terms of strength.

In addition to the constantly refreshing tiger-spine worms, they are always in their prime condition, and the human awakeners who have sneaked into the hive have experienced two battles and low-intensity magnetic storm electric shocks.

Being able to retain 60% of the initial strength is considered an ideal state.

At this moment, facing an enemy that is twice as strong as his own, he can only struggle to hold on and try hard to save his life.

When Qin Hu rushed to the battlefield, he saw a human corpse, with broken armor scattered all over the ground, and the whole person was cut in half.

This is the tiger-backed worm's usual move.

The tiger-tooth chainsaw sword also flew to the side and stuck into the ground.

Qin Hu frowned. Although casualties were within his expectations, since Lin Feng joined, his inner hope naturally became that everyone would be safe.

But what they didn't expect was that they didn't die in the long-range attack of the new second-level Zerg.

Instead, it struggled and died in the most painful and tragic way under the giant jaws of the tiger-backed worm.

Qin Hu, who was furious, pulled out the tiger-tooth chainsaw sword from the ground, plugged in the spare oil pipeline, and then holding two swords, he ran towards the tiger-back worm closest to him, roaring.

With two swords in hand, he swung them back and forth, and the crackling sound of the chainsaw made it difficult for the tiger-backed worm to open its jaws and get close, and it soon died under the crazy cutting of the huge jaws and tiger teeth.

With Qin Hu joining in, the remaining eight members' tough battle against eight second-stage mid-stage tiger-spine insects was quickly resolved with unstoppable force.

The powerful offensive of the Zerg was easily defeated.

At the last moment of the battle, Qin Hu, who had killed several in a row, gradually became exhausted.

Wielding two 800-kilogram chainsaw swords and maintaining the tiger-worm fusion form will accelerate physical exhaustion.

After the last battle, with the help of two genetic warriors, Qin Hu successfully killed the tiger-spine worm. He directly released the status, closed the injection of the original fluid of the zygote, and then looked at another fight not far away.

As expected, Shen Jie's battle against the three late-stage tiger-backed worms alone ended faster than their battle.

At this moment, the other party was already cutting and taking samples from the tiger-backed worm's giant jaws.

Qin Hu revealed a smile, and the familiar energy accumulated in his body finally gathered to its full potential, starting a slight awakening from the early to middle stage of the second stage.

After upgrading from lv23 to lv24, Qin Hu's gene fusion degree will break through the upper and lower limits of safety. By then, as a mid-stage second-order gene warrior, he will no longer take as long as he does now when facing the upper and late-stage tiger spine worms.

On another battlefield...

It took Shen Jie more than four minutes to deal with the three late-stage tiger-spine worms, which was close to his limit. After killing them all, he immediately exited the Winged Tiger's frenzy state to avoid falling into madness due to lack of reason.

Under the high-intensity combat, the rate at which energy is consumed in the body reaches four or five times the usual rate. The stomachs that were well-fed before setting off are now rumbling with hunger.

Shen Jie sat on the corpse of the tiger-backed worm, with his back to Qin Hu and others, and licked the Zerg blood from the corner of his mouth.

Earlier in the battle, he had already eaten while fighting because of the burning hunger all over his body.

When he first awakened, he would only eat a little bit and there would be some adverse reactions. Now Shen Jie even instinctively wants to devour the flesh and blood of the Zerg to replenish his own energy.

According to the guess that Lin Feng once told him, it should be the devouring and assimilation ability when he awakened to the second level, which not only changed his appearance, but also the organ structure in his body.

After eating a large amount of insect meat, Shen Jie's intestines and stomach have undergone special adaptive evolution.

Able to digest and absorb the nutrients of Zerg flesh and blood.

At this moment, he could even smell which part of the insect had the best tasting meat and the most nutrition, and he even gradually fell in love with this kind of food.

So while Qin Hu and his men were still fighting hard, Shen Jie had already treated the fighting on the battlefield as cooking in the kitchen. He wanted to take the tiger spine worm's life while also preserving the jaw part with the best meat quality.

That’s right, the ligament muscles connecting the upper and lower jaws are the best-tasting part of the tiger worm.

When Lin Feng took away the giant jaw and left the corpse, Shen Jie looked at the exposed masseter muscles and instinctively developed a desire to devour it.

At this moment, after cutting off the giant jaw, Shen Jie turned his back to everyone, while being alert to the dim environment around him, he silently swallowed the tiger worm's jaw muscle in his hand.

On the other hand, Qin Hu's elite team that survived the disaster was counting all the survivors.

Unfortunately, two were killed and one was seriously injured.

There are only eight members left now, and only three of them are still capable of fighting.

If you encounter a second-level insect swarm again, you can only flee in panic.

Qin Hu squatted on the corpse of the tiger-back worm and ordered everyone to replace the teeth of the chainsaw sword, and then take the nutritional supplements provided by the research institute. In addition to the basic needs such as sugar, protein, inorganic salts, etc., it also included a large amount of stimulant substances.

For the awakened, things that once stimulated ordinary people are difficult to work again, so the researchers in the biotechnology center extracted a certain muscle stimulant from the insects, which can immediately restore tired and sore muscles to their original state...

The price is that after absorption, once the drug effect wears off, deep repair must be carried out, otherwise the muscle cells will self-dissolve on a large scale due to excessive expansion and contraction.

This will lead to a significant decrease in physical attributes.

However, given the current situation, whether he could escape was another matter, so naturally, restoring his combat power was the priority.

While everyone was resting, Qin Hu called a genetic warrior to go with him to collect the bodies of the fallen team members, and at the same time recover the lost tiger-tooth chainsaw sword and backpack materials.

These weapons and equipment are specially provided by the research institute and are very valuable.

People can die, but swords cannot be lost.

The purpose of trading with Lin Feng is just to exchange for more necessary materials.

Qin Hu only brought a chainsaw sword with him, and returned to the team member who had just been cut off from the waist, and helped him gently stroke his eyes, which were still open in death.

The bloodshot and swollen eyeballs were a symptom left over from the waist and abdomen being squeezed and the blood pressure soaring before death.

Unfortunately, they were already short of manpower and had to drag back the heavy corpses of the new second-level Zerg, so they were unable to bring the bodies of the fallen team members back to the defense line.

It could only be hastily buried on the spot.

Just as Qin Hu used his hands as a shovel to dig the grave...

Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice coming from the depths of the darkness.

"Brother Qin? Captain Qin..."

The voice was very faint, but Qin Hu, who was a second-level awakener, naturally heard it clearly.

But after distinguishing the voices, how could it be so similar to those of his former subordinates, those old comrades who had died in the first line of defense...

They were clearly buried in the insect siege when the defense line collapsed, and their bodies were completely destroyed. How could they appear here? !

Could it be that they hid in the main castle, luckily escaped the Zerg search, and then dug through the underground wormhole, lurked in the underground Zerg nest, and survived?

Thinking of this possibility, Qin Hu quickly stood up and walked in the direction where the sound came from.

But at this moment, a shrill scream was heard from not far away!

"Ahhhhh!!!"

"Help...help..."

This scream interrupted Qin Hu's search, because he knew without identification that the one who screamed was the genetic warrior he had summoned.

With the explosive power of the early second stage, he could fight even against a tiger-spine worm in the middle second stage. How could he suffer such a tragedy? !
Moreover, even his own breath sensing did not detect any warning, which meant that there were no second-level Zerg nearby that could threaten him!
What on earth attacked him?!
Suddenly, Qin Hu's heart was filled with alarm. The relaxation he had previously been trying to find the source of the call was swept away. He instead tightly grasped the Tiger Tooth Chain Saw Sword, put a searchlight on his head, and quickly walked towards the place where the scream came from.

It's just a hundred meters away.

The rest of the team heard the call for help and rushed over.

The group turned on the searchlight and quickly found the team member lying on the ground holding his broken leg.

At this moment, one of his right legs was cut straight off above the knee, and the exposed bone cross-section was extremely smooth and without any marks, indicating that the attacking enemy used the sharpest blade weapon.

And you must act quickly. Speed ​​and explosive power are both essential.

But the tiger-backed worm has no such ability at all.

Qin Hu frowned and ordered the team members to stop the bleeding of the seriously injured genetic warrior first.

Due to severe pain and excessive blood loss, the injured team member fell into coma after being sprinkled with medicine powder and wrapped with a hemostatic bandage.

Before he passed out, he held onto his teammate's arm tightly, and described with blood and sweat on his forehead:

"A bug with a knife... a bug with a knife..."

With such a serious injury, if he is not sent to a frontline hospital as soon as possible, even gene fusion cannot save him.

In fact, excessive blood loss is more fatal than a wound with clotted blood and scabs.

If an ordinary person encountered this situation, he would die within a few minutes. As an awakened person or a genetically modified warrior, he could only barely stabilize his injuries.

However, he couldn't just leave now. Qin Hu took a deep breath and had to find the enemy as soon as possible, otherwise it would be even more dangerous if people were in panic.

But when the remaining seven people formed a circle, looking around and looking for the source of danger...

The result was nothing!
Whether on the surface or on top of the insect nest, apart from a few tiger spine insect corpses, there was no sign of the insect holding a knife as the seriously injured team member mentioned before he passed out...

and many more!

Qin Hu's face turned pale, and he suddenly thought of a possibility.

Could it be that Shen Jie, brought by Lin Feng, fell into a state of madness due to excessive fusion of tiger tooth genes, and even after killing the tiger spine worm, he continued to hunt living creatures in the insect nest and targeted the human awakeners? !

The more Qin Hu thought about it, the more he felt that it was very possible.

After all, he had almost lost his mind, and in the testing laboratory of the research institute, he had seen too many experimental subjects who had lost their sanity due to excessive fusion and turned into irrational killing tools.

Their appearance has become largely Zerg-like, and they look like Zerg in human form.

It exactly matches what the seriously injured team member said.

However, when everyone was worried and anxious, a two-meter-tall humanoid insect covered in blood and holding its side suddenly walked out from behind a tiger-back worm corpse in the distance.

The giant jaw heavy sword on his left arm had been completely broken, and there were also a few cracks on his right arm.

A human face was revealed in the broken head armor and huge jaw. It was the alone Shen Jie.

Qin Hu's expression suddenly became solemn. He clenched the tiger-tooth chainsaw sword in his hand, ready to attack.

But then I thought about it...

If it was really Shen Jie who did it, then who caused his current serious injury? !

If the murderer wasn't him...

Who else could it be? !
In the dark insect nest cave, an unknown fear gradually spread, and the survivors seemed to be strangled by an invisible claw.

My heart was in my throat.

Any disturbance would cause panic.

At this moment, a rustling sound suddenly came from deep within the insect nest.

The searchlight shone in the direction of the sound, and saw a thin figure dragging several huge Zerg corpses towards the crowd.

The moment they saw Lin Feng, everyone's anxious hearts finally settled down a little.

Lin Feng saw Qin Hu and the others looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy, and Shen Jie leaning against the tiger-backed worm, breathing heavily, with heat all over his body...

He frowned slightly, threw out a three-meter-long humanoid insect corpse, and asked:
"Why, how many did you encounter?"

6k, not easy.

Tiger-spine worms are okay on the front battlefield, but to deal with human genetic warrior teams, we still have to rely on warrior hunting worms.

Both have different paths but the same destination.
It is also the only way to advance to the fourth level.


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(End of this chapter)