Chapter 56: Blood Manipulation

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Blood Manipulation

BANG!

The air exploded. A walnut-sized iron ball, wrapped in a vapor cone, rocketed forward.

Chen Qi’s strike was no less powerful than a cannon shot.

It crossed the mere thirty-five meters in an instant.

’He can’t be killed that easily, can he?’

This strike was merely a probe. The moment he attacked, Chen Qi activated his Dynamic Vision.

Any change in Kolos would be recorded by him, frame by frame.

In a battle between players, intelligence is paramount.

The moment a flaw or weakness is exposed, death is not far behind.

...

BOOM!

Blood splattered, but the iron ball hadn’t shattered Kolos’s skull.

A hand had appeared from nowhere, blocking the speeding iron ball right in front of Kolos’s face.

"Heh, you’re not the only one with a powerful body."

"These little tricks are so dull."

In the nick of time, Kolos had shot out his left hand and caught the iron ball.

But it was still flesh and blood against steel. A large hole was punched through his left palm, but he had managed to stop the iron ball.

Then, to Chen Qi’s utter astonishment,

The iron ball, drenched in blood, dissolved and vanished.

Meanwhile, a thick layer of Blood Armor covered Kolos’s left hand, the wound already gone.

’So Kolos’s Superpower is actually Blood Manipulation.’

’His blood even has a terrifying power of Erosion, capable of devouring and absorbing metal.’

Chen Qi had witnessed everything that just happened, frame by frame.

He had seen with perfect clarity, especially the process of the blood devouring the iron ball.

In that instant, what flowed through Kolos’s veins wasn’t blood, but countless hungry little mouths.

Never before had Chen Qi been so keenly aware that every cell in the body is an independent Life Form.

...

"What’s the most important part of the human circulatory system? The answer is blood!"

"It delivers oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. It is the Source of Life."

"Once you master the power of blood, the body receives such powerful nourishment that it can grow stronger and stronger, surpassing human limits, without any need for Cultivation."

Kolos shot Chen Qi a mocking look. For a player to neglect his Superpower in favor of physical training...

Pathetic!

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP!

Kolos’s heart pounded at high speed, its frequency reaching 700 beats per minute.

His entire body became engorged with blood, and his muscles swelled to several times their original size.

In the blink of an eye, a two-meter-tall monster of muscle stood before Chen Qi.

His skin was crimson, and hot steam billowed from his pores, giving him an explosive aura.

"Take it back!"

Countless threads of blood crawled from the pores of Kolos’s left hand, coalescing in his palm to form an iron ball.

The next instant, the iron ball was thrown, tearing through the air and whistling as it flew toward Chen Qi.

Its terrifying power and speed were in no way inferior to Chen Qi’s own.

’Heh, I just got put in my place.’

’So much for showing off in front of the real expert.’

Chen Qi pushed his Dynamic Capture to its limit. In his vision, the iron ball leaped toward him, frame by frame.

But unbelievably, with each frame it advanced, the iron ball split in two.

After fifteen frames, the walnut-sized iron ball had multiplied into 32,768 tiny, crimson beads—or rather, tiny droplets of blood.

The thirty-meter area around Chen Qi was completely saturated.

This was no longer an iron ball; it was more like a storm of Blood Drops.

Compared to Chen Qi’s earlier, almost childish attack, what Kolos had unleashed was a small-scale weapon of mass destruction.

Any ordinary player facing this would have been turned into a bloody sieve in an instant.

...

"Instant Body Technique!"

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Faced with an unprecedented crisis, Chen Qi’s body, a high-precision machine polished to its absolute peak, began to operate at full power.

Chen Qi’s muscle activation efficiency shot up to 34%—the absolute limit for someone who hadn’t mastered the Heaven-Reaching Palace technique.

His 639 muscles rippled like flowing water, channeling layer upon layer of power into his legs, where it converged into a terrifying torrent.

The next instant, that torrent erupted. Chen Qi vanished.

When he reappeared, he was already forty meters away.

At the exact moment Chen Qi moved, the 32,768 Blood Drops tore through his afterimage and pierced deep into the ground.

"Impressive, very impressive!"

"You were 0.03 seconds faster than I estimated."

Kolos remarked with admiration, finally seeing Chen Qi as a true opponent.

In terms of sheer physical foundation, Chen Qi, who had only trained normally without any physical modifications, was far inferior to Kolos.

Every one of Kolos’s cells was better nourished and more vigorous. He had even adjusted the proportion of trace metal elements within them.

The toughness and weight of each of his cells were 1.3 times that of Chen Qi’s.

Chen Qi’s only advantage was his reaction speed—the very key to his escape.

Of course, Kolos’s own muscle utilization efficiency was quite low, but his superior muscle foundation more than made up for it.

If Chen Qi’s muscle fibers were rubber bands, Kolos’s were strips of tire rubber. The latter could simply withstand far more force.

...

"Heh, I can be faster still."

"Care to guess where I am now?"

The afterimage of Chen Qi in front of Kolos dissipated. At the same moment, several cold glints of light viciously struck Kolos.

Chen Qi’s real body had appeared twenty-nine meters behind Kolos.

Those cold glints of light were, of course, his incredibly sharp metal wires.

But the moment the metal wires sliced into Kolos’s skin, Chen Qi knew something was wrong.

What flowed in Kolos’s veins was no longer blood, but a viscous, gel-like substance.

The rapid slashes of the wires were like bullets hitting a non-Newtonian fluid—they were stopped dead in their tracks.

It was only for a split second, but that was all the time Kolos needed to react.

BANG!

A blood-red tentacle shot out from Kolos’s wound, piercing through Chen Qi’s afterimage.

Chen Qi reappeared several dozen meters away, the two of them once again locked in a standoff.

...

’Can he even be considered human anymore?’

The gashes on Kolos didn’t stop bleeding. On the contrary, a massive amount of blood poured out endlessly.

With that amount of blood loss, a normal human would have become a dried-up corpse long ago.

Chen Qi suspected that the thing wrapped beneath this guy’s skin wasn’t human at all, but a monster made of blood.

"My hematopoietic function was upgraded long ago. My body stores ten times the blood of a normal person."

"My blood can form a Blood Armor strong enough to block your metal blades."

"Now, the real fight begins. Whatever you do, don’t let my blood tentacles hit you, and don’t let me get within ten meters of you."

"Or everything you are will come to an end!"

Waves of blood surged. The blood that had poured out now condensed into a hideous suit of Blood Armor, completely encasing Kolos.

From the suit of armor, more than a dozen blood-red tentacles danced in the air, a testament to its savagery.

Losing such a massive amount of blood hadn’t weakened Kolos. On the contrary, it made him even more threatening.

...

BOOM! A bloody shadow flickered, and the sanguine monster attacked.

’Don’t get hit by the tentacles. Don’t let him get within ten meters.’

’But why? Does it mean that if I’m hit, or if he gets close enough, he’ll be able to control the blood in my own body?’

’If that’s true, why would he tell me?’

’Is he deliberately trying to trick me? Maybe he can’t actually control other people’s blood at all.’

’Or is he saying it specifically to mess with my head?’

Because of what Kolos had said, Chen Qi was filled with doubt, and he suddenly felt constrained.

For a time, faced with Kolos’s ferocious assault, he could only fall back repeatedly.

’Heh, just as I thought. A rookie with no real combat experience!’

A cruel smile touched Kolos’s lips. ’Red Heart 7, do you dare to take the gamble?’