Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

"Ah, you're awake?" Zhang Tito suddenly stopped talking to himself, turned around, and said irritably, "Are you feeling alright anywhere?"

"You were just..." Zhang Renfeng sat up with some difficulty, "...who were you talking to?"

"And the wall. Anyway, there's no one else here."

Zhang Tito rolled her eyes at him. There seemed to be a scratch on the corner of her right eye, perhaps from a bump or knock. "And you, do you remember what happened? Before you blacked out, what was your last memory of doing?"

"I can't quite remember, but it seems like it was a fight with those guys in a huge mansion. The black-skinned Indian gave the bison some kind of stimulant, and it, which was already unable to get up, suddenly went berserk and charged at me."

"After that, I... um..."

He clutched his head, a pained expression on his face. In just one hour, he felt as if his brain had been switched to a completely different operating system. Thinking and speaking in the same way as before became choppy and intermittent.

Immediately following, a feeling of hunger, almost unbearable, emanated from deep within this body.

Describing it as hunger is not quite accurate; it's as if someone set fire to his body, causing his internal organs to burn intensely.

He must eat something, anything, to extinguish this flame. Otherwise, it will keep burning and burning, burning away his internal organs, crawling out of his body, and completely reducing him to ashes.

A pure aroma of meat wafted into his nostrils, as if dancing on his sense of taste.

"brush!"

He suddenly threw off the blanket covering him and followed the smell to see two large basins of boiled meat sitting on the floor of the small room.

“I had two sheep slaughtered. Anyway, this ranch is your friend’s territory, right? He’s a big and powerful family, so he probably won’t mind eating two of his sheep.” Zhang Tito waved his hand. “There wasn’t enough time, so I just boiled them in water and added some seasonings. Just make do with it.”

"..."

Even if it had been boiled in water, Zhang Renfeng couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't pounce on and bite it, let alone bring in two sheep.

He jumped off the bed, pounced on the two iron basins filled with mutton, grabbed some and stuffed it into his mouth, swallowing it without even chewing. It wasn't so much eating as it was that there was a black hole in his stomach that he had to keep stuffing into to fill.

"I have absolutely no idea what's going on, but... thank you... you must have helped me."

Zhang Renfeng ate with great gusto; when he got angry, he would even chew bones to pieces with his well-developed jaw muscles.

After wolfing down the food, one of the bowls full of boiled meat was quickly emptied, and the insatiable hunger was somewhat relieved. It was like adding firewood to a stove and starting it up again; the initial agonizing hunger had lessened to a level that an ordinary person could endure.

Even so, after eating this bowl, I was only about half full.

"Is it because of...that?" Zhang Renfeng wiped the bone fragments from the corner of his mouth. The steaming hot mutton went down his throat, as if lubricating his rusty brain, allowing him to think clearly. "When I was wrestling with that bison, a few drops of its blood splattered into my mouth! That Indian must have injected a lot of things into its blood to control it..."

"Nonsense."

Zhang Tito rolled his eyes at him and said irritably, "The blood went into your stomach, not your brain. Besides, unless you were literally eating that bison, how could such a small dose have this kind of effect!"

"Well... I really don't know."

Zhang Renfeng lowered his head dejectedly. Since things had come to this, he could only eat first. He grabbed a piece of mutton from another bowl and stuffed it into his mouth. This time, he chewed it a couple of times, and the feeling of fullness after swallowing the large pieces of meat gave him an instinctive sense of satisfaction.

“Haven’t you encountered this situation before?” Zhang Tito asked.

“When I was very young, I had a serious illness, I think it was a cold or something... When I woke up, I felt very similar to how I feel now, I had no strength in my limbs and I was extremely hungry.”

Recalling his childhood, Zhang Renfeng couldn't help but laugh. "My mother said that I ate three big bowls of rice, and that wasn't enough. I even ate two chickens! The cooks were practically smoking their spatulas as they served all sorts of hearty dishes, but they couldn't keep up with what I ate. I still remember that meal to this day. Everything tasted incredibly delicious... Yes, just like this mutton... I've never eaten anything like it before..."

“You can’t do this again,” Zhang Tito interrupted his reminiscence, warning him sternly. “Absolutely not.”

"Like this...?" Zhang Renfeng asked suspiciously. "What do you mean? Miss Tito, do you know what's wrong with my body?"

Zhang Tito's expression was conflicted and became very complicated. Just that one moment almost scared Zhang Renfeng to death.

If the doctor gives you that hesitant look, and then asks for your age, it's probably a bad sign.

"Could it be... serious?"

"No, what are you thinking! I'm thinking about how to explain this to you in a way that you can understand." The assistant rolled her eyes at him again, which reassured Zhang Renfeng but also made him feel a little strange.

He clearly remembered that when he went down into the mine with this girl, her attitude towards him wasn't like it was now. Even when they came up from the mine, and he asked her to make four gas masks, she readily agreed.

And now... her attitude towards her is as if she owes her hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Could it be that something happened while I was not fully conscious?

----

After much thought, Zhang Renfeng still couldn't figure it out, so he could only wait in silence for an answer.

……

"OK, let's get straight to the conclusion."

Zhang Tito tilted his head, thought for a long time, and finally said, "The root cause of your loss of control is your 'muscle nerve recruitment ability' which is far beyond that of ordinary people."

Chapter 385: You've Won the Gene Lottery

“Neural…recruitment…”

Zhang Renfeng repeated the pronunciations, completely bewildered.

"Have you heard of 'evolution'?" Zhang Tito tilted his head, searched his memory, and then said, "Twenty years ago, a biologist named Darwin proposed the theory of evolution."

"To put it simply, humans were neither created by Nuwa from clay nor by God, but evolved little by little over a long period of time. Over hundreds of millions of years, humans have distinguished themselves from a group of animals, multiplied to the present day, and become the top of the food chain."

"In this process, we chose 'intelligence' and set the highest priority for energy supply as the brain. We can think, we can speak, we can create tools, and we can have some complex abstract concepts... All of this is because humans have a more complex brain than other animals."

"Now, can you understand what I'm saying?"

"I'll try my best." Zhang Renfeng scratched his head, his face full of confusion. "It sounds a bit grand, but what do these things really have to do with my current situation?"

“All organs in the body consume energy as long as they are alive. The energy consumption of the human brain is a considerable shortfall. The total amount is limited, and it alone accounts for so much of that. It is foreseeable that the remaining organs must reduce their energy consumption.”

"As a result, over the long course of time, the human body has undergone a certain degree of degeneration—the proportions of our limbs, nails, hair, and even internal organs have become smaller."

"For example, useless organs like the tail were simply discarded. They were used by our ancestors to balance their bodies when climbing trees. Now that we've come down from the trees, we naturally don't need them anymore."

"In addition, the human body produces an inhibitory protein: its function is to inhibit muscle development. Because, in the trillions of years of evolution, genes have already told you that you don't need to grow so much muscle to compete with the brain for energy."

"It would be more helpful for survival to channel energy into the brain and acquire the 'intelligence' of a complex creature than to grow up like a silverback gorilla."

"The genetic evolution patterns of the same species are mostly convergent. Most people you see have two eyes, one nose, and one mouth."

At this point, the assistant paused, seemingly to give Zhang Renfeng some time to think. For someone with almost zero education in natural sciences, trying to understand all of this from scratch was quite difficult.

But he grasped this part on his own very quickly.

“But… there are exceptions, right?” Zhang Renfeng said hastily. “I once met a person whose hands both had six fingers.”

"Wow, you're pretty quick on the uptake, learning to apply what you've learned so fast." Zhang Tito was somewhat surprised, patting him on the shoulder in encouragement. "That's right, in the process of hundreds of millions of self-replications, all sorts of mutated species will inevitably appear, some positive, and some completely negative mutations..."

"Take your dwarf friend, for example. Of course, I don't deny that he is very talented. But, from a purely biological point of view, his condition is a negative mutation. It is a developmental deformity, and if exposed to nature, he would have no chance of survival."

“On the other hand, tsk tsk tsk…” Zhang Tito suddenly changed his tone, half-closing his eyes as he looked Zhang Renfeng up and down.

Is it fair to say she was just revealing her true nature, or what? Zhang Renfeng always gave off the vibe of a lecherous old man leaning against a wooden door on the street, brazenly watching beautiful women pass by, practically whistling a whistle.

"Your ability to recruit people, which is far superior to that of ordinary people, is a kind of positive evolution, the kind that couldn't be more positive!"

Zhang Tito said earnestly, "From a biological point of view, I suggest you leave behind more offspring, and if possible, pass on this precious positive gene."

"Moreover, from a reproductive perspective, the farther apart the origins of different races are, the better the quality of their offspring will be. This land is separated from your hometown by a sea. Most of the girls here are descendants of Anglo-Saxons, whose bloodlines are very different from yours, which is perfect."

"Who knows, your actions might just contribute to the evolution of humankind."

"Why do I feel like you're making me sound like a stallion..." Zhang Renfeng waved his hand impatiently, "Can we get back to business?"

“The difference between humans and animals isn’t as big as you think,” Zhang Tito said seriously. “But since you don’t want to talk about this, I’ll just say it directly.”

"So-called strength is the result of the combined action of the 'nerves' and 'muscles' in the human body. Isn't there often a saying 'tendons and ligaments'? It means that the nervous system is exceptionally well-developed."

"When your neural recruitment ability far exceeds that of ordinary people, the power you can mobilize will be several times greater than that of normal people."

"Think back to your life, have you ever had this experience? You can easily lift heavy objects that others can't lift, and you can smash weak obstacles with a single punch. Your jumping ability and reaction speed far exceed those of ordinary people. When someone punches you, the movement you see is like it's in slow motion. And your attacks are very difficult for the opponent to dodge."

With a buzzing sound, it was as if someone was banging a gong in my ear.

all hit.

Zhang Renfeng lowered his head in a daze, looking at his hands, and said in disbelief, "So, I... am actually an extraordinary... 'thing'?"

“Or, to put it in terms you’re more comfortable with,” Zhang Tito said softly, “you’re a martial arts prodigy, a once-in-a-millennium talent.”

Sure enough, those words sounded much better, and they instantly cleared Zhang Renfeng's mind.

Because his master did indeed make such an assessment of him, and not long ago, his senior brother Zhu Kuilong held a grudge about it and even got into a fight with him.

Once in a thousand years.

If it weren't special, how could it live up to the term "millennium," a unit of measurement spanning such a long period?

"So, why is this happening?" Zhang Renfeng clenched his fist, but this time, he made the movement very slow, turning it over and over to observe it, as if trying to experience how the "grip strength" was gradually filling up his body like a spring.

"I still don't understand. My father, my mother, and my other family members, even going back three generations, have never had this happen. My father is a businessman; he can't even draw a bow or lift heavy weights, he needs servants to help him mount a horse. Am I not his child?"

“Genetics is a very complex process, and I can’t judge the specific situation just by talking.” Zhang Tito looked at his wrist, hesitated for a while, and then said, “If, I mean if, you are willing to provide me with a part of the original gene, after I go back, maybe… there will be new discoveries.”

"What Primarch?"

"It's blood, blood. Let me draw some of your blood for analysis." The assistant hesitated, looking at him cautiously. "Is that alright?"

"I thought you were going to do something else, blood, huh? Bring it on, consider it payment for helping me."

After finishing the second plate of mutton, Zhang Renfeng wiped his face, stretched his right arm toward his mouth, and was about to take a bite.

Chapter 386: The Outcome

The blood collection process was completely different from what Zhang Renfeng had imagined.

He imagined it would be the kind of blood oath ceremony, where someone would take a small knife, make a cut on their arm, and then use a bowl or some other container to catch the blood. But that trick didn't work on him, because cold weapons couldn't penetrate his body. In desperation, he had to bite his own skin open.

But Zhang Tito stopped him, and instead took out a small, purplish-red jar from her belt. It looked a bit like a syringe, but not quite that big. She held it in her hand and gently pricked Zhang Renfeng's arm.

With a "hiss" sound, like being bitten by a mosquito or something, a small black dot appeared on my skin when I picked it up again.

“Alright.” Zhang Tito put the jar back and said solemnly, “Humanity thanks you for your contribution.”

"Is this... already over?" Zhang Renfeng touched the small black dot, not even feeling that faint soreness, and couldn't help but sigh, "Science is truly amazing."

"I will definitely find a way to get the results to you. However, even without a systematic analysis, I can still give you some general advice."

The assistant cleared her throat and said in a more serious tone, "You can't abuse your strength like you did just now."

“Abuse…” Zhang Renfeng was somewhat astonished.

“As I said before, you are indeed very strong. I heard that when you were in Numa Town, you wielded a 70-kilogram weapon as if you didn’t feel anything. But this happens too often, and it’s not a good thing for you.”

"In that battle, you must have lifted objects weighing more than five times your own body weight more than once, right?"

"Ah..." Zhang Renfeng sighed softly. In his mind, the scene of him swinging a field gun and smashing it heavily at the bison flashed by.

Various fragments flew out, and time seemed to freeze at that moment.

Looking back now, it seems that it was from that moment that my body began to react strangely.

"So that's how it is!" Zhang Renfeng exclaimed in sudden realization. "Theon told me that the kind of cannon that can fire 10 pounds weighs about 400 kilograms, which is about five times my weight."

"Not just that. He probably said the barrel weighs 400 kilograms, but in fact, if you include the base, support frame, and wheels, it's far more than that. Not to mention, you're not just holding it up horizontally, but smashing it out like a weapon... Ha... You're a complete monster."

As she spoke, the assistant suddenly burst out laughing, looking at his body with the same admiring gaze one would give a work of art, "To be able to do something like this with just flesh and blood."

"However, that's where the problem lies—you used this power multiple times in such a short interval, causing your body to work beyond its limits."

“If it were an ordinary person, even if they pushed their adrenaline to its limit, they wouldn’t be able to unleash this potential. Dying from exhaustion would be their only fate, but you are different. Once you enter an overloaded state, your body will make a judgment. It will determine that you are in a dangerous environment and need to gather more energy to get through the current crisis.”

"Therefore, it shuts off the production valve of muscle inhibitory proteins, keeping your 'muscles' at maximum activity."

"The cost is that all the energy in your body has to be used to power the nerves and muscles, so the amount that can be allocated to the brain is greatly reduced."

"So you start experiencing hallucinations, dizziness, and even memory loss. What takes over next is the primal instinct etched into your memory from millions of years ago, when humans were still animals. In that state, you are no different from an enraged beast."

……

The cause of the illness has been diagnosed, and Zhang Renfeng is dumbfounded.

Despite the many technical terms that caused him trouble, he had grasped the general meaning.

He had heard his master talk about how someone practiced a certain kung fu and eventually went into a state of demonic possession, losing consciousness. He never understood what that meant. How could someone who was practicing kung fu well end up with a demonic possession? But now, having experienced it firsthand, he had gained some understanding.

“Miss Assistant,” he asked tentatively, carefully choosing his words, “is it possible that I could first deliberately enter this state, and then find a way to maintain a clear mind…”

"No, absolutely not! Don't even think about it!" Zhang Tito looked at him in astonishment, seemingly a little angry. "What I just said was all for nothing, wasn't it? This is instinct, it's genes. How can a person fight against genes!"

"Prolonged and frequent abuse of strength training can permanently shut down the production of muscle inhibitory proteins. Do you know what you'll become without these inhibitory proteins?"