Chapter 302: Rapid Gains

Before Xia Na could get despondent, however, Zhang Lie continued, "However, there are still two spots left in my special forces team. If you're interested, you can go through the special forces' recruitment process once again, but that means that you may have to give up your position as team leader."

Xia Na looked up in shock. "Do you really mean it, Deputy Leader Zhang?"

"Why would I lie? Of course I mean it."

Zhou Ming, caught in a moment of hesitation, was unable to participate in the rapid back-and-forth conversation between the two of them.

Zhou Ming had intended on asking about the possibility of joining Zhang Lie's team after Xia Na finished her conversation with him. While they talked, he mulled over the relationships he had developed with the team members in his care, and he wasn't certain he could leave them all just like that.

However, this indecision caused him to miss the most important opportunity of his life, and he continued to regret it even years down the line.

"Team Leader Zhou, the meat's ready to be served!"

He was too late to make his request now; the scent of roast meat had Zhang Lie salivating. Zhang Lie stood up and headed to the campfire.

"Ah, Deputy Leader Zhang, please have a taste!"

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Seeing Zhang Lie head over, the chef handed him two large skewers of roast meat, glistening with sizzling golden-yellow drops of oil, which Zhang Lie began to consume immediately.

Zhang Lie could clearly feel the cells in his body rejoicing as he acquired more and more gene fragments. It had been a long time since he had had such a satisfying meal; after all, in the dimensional realm, after he finished acquiring his superior limit fragments, there had been a long stretch of time during which he hadn't been able to gain any strength from eating.

Now, however, with his gene fragments reset...

Zhang Lie began stuffing his mouth with skewers of meat, one after the other, enjoying the immensely pleasurable sensation of satisfying mind and body. In just five minutes, he had managed to consume as many basic and mutated gene fragments as he could from what had been hunted, and he smiled as he pulled up his status window.

Zhang Lie: a peak-grade lifeform

Framework: Foundation, Lv. MAX, Ninecarp Transformation, Fifth Form: Qilin

Techniques: Rippling Walk (pinnacle), Three-Wave Crescendo (pinnacle), Calm Waters (advanced), Fists of the Silent Sea (pinnacle), The Boundless Blade (pinnacle), Eclipse (advanced), One Punch (novice), Ninesoul Dragonblade (novice)

Genes: Basic, 137; Mutated, 49; Superior, 0; Peak, 0; Disaster, 0

Soulshards: White Grub (superior), Galewolf (mutated), Blood Ant (superior), Potbellied Toad (mutated), Venombane Scorpion (superior), Eternalspring Cocoon (superior), Forest Wolfman (superior), Flamewing (superior), Runic Salamander (superior), Moonlight Wyrm (peak)

He hadn't even had to hunt—just eat! Zhang Lie now understood why some tycoons were willing to import living genetic lifeforms from the dimensional world to Earth even at such great expense; the allure of growing strong without any effort was simply too great.

Zhang Lie couldn't help but think back to the time he had spent in the white-grub cave in the first few months of his reincarnation. How boring and tedious his life had been! If he had found the superior-grade white grub any later, he would have given up. Suddenly, he found himself very relieved that he had persisted all the way through the second realm, and that he had acquired the superior-grade white-grub soulshard.

As good as it felt to have others hunting on his behalf, however, he knew that this wasn't something he could afford for this future development. After all, gene fragments represented only a fraction of his strength; a hunter who obtained all his gene fragments by hunting prey himself would surely be stronger than one who didn't.

He would have to be careful about not acquiring too many mutated gene fragments at once so that he could acclimate to his strength. He certainly didn't want to injure his team members by accident.

As a result, after he reached 50 mutated gene fragments, Zhang Lie began consuming only regular-grade meat.

Just as the hunters were enjoying their feast, a few familiar figures emerged from the other side of the forest.