Chapter 37: Calculating the Difficulty
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The dark-red flames compressed and reassembled by Zheng Zha were something even the war machines’ superalloy frames could not withstand.
Their gun barrels corroded.
Their skeletons melted.
In the brief span of a few seconds, everything was settled.
The crimson flames surged back onto Zheng Zha’s body, burning fiercely across him before finally dwindling into tiny flickers that vanished at his chest.
Then—
“Hiss—”
Zheng Zha sucked in a sharp breath and collapsed outright, trembling violently. Every inch of his body felt as though it were being pierced and gnawed apart by pain.
Fortunately, his vampiric energy began circulating of its own accord. Each cycle consumed some of that energy, but eased the agony by a corresponding amount. Otherwise, he suspected he might have been tortured to death right there.
He had won a battle against eight opponents, only to die from the pain afterward?
That would have been a truly ridiculous way to go.
“Zheng Zha!”
Lan hurried over. “What happened?”
Zhang Jie cast a covert glance at Zheng Zha while giving Arnold some basic first aid and removing the bullet fragments. His heart sank slightly.
So soon?
It was only the second scenario, and Zheng Zha had already unlocked the genetic lock. He was also carrying no small amount of enhancement. What a monster.
It was fortunate that Qian Gu was not present and had no idea what Zhang Jie was thinking. Otherwise, he would certainly have given him an earful.
Compared with Zheng Zha, the so-called beginner’s bonus scenario had been A Nightmare on Elm Street. The veterans had been wiped out, he had forcibly unlocked the first stage of the genetic lock, and he had directly passed the internal assessment to become the team captain. And Zhang Jie still had the nerve to call someone else a monster?
If that bonus scenario had not been such an absurd setting, with Freddy acting as a walking bug in the system, the Central Continent Team would very likely have gained another powerhouse who successfully recovered from his initial trauma.
With a genuine veteran present—and one who was also the captain—the ridiculous enhancement fiasco from the original story would never have happened. A simple search followed by a precise search had been enough to completely take Zheng Zha in hand.
“He has unlocked the genetic lock.”
Chu Xuan’s voice came from behind them. With a string of energy reactors hanging from his waist, he stood before Zheng Zha and looked down at him.
“So that is what happened. The vampiric energy alleviated the toxicity caused by unlocking the genetic lock.”
“Hiss—”
Zheng Zha was still sucking in cold breaths, but he had improved considerably. At the very least, he could stand now, though his legs remained somewhat weak.
“The so-called genetic lock is…”
Chu Xuan did not keep them in the dark. He explained the concept of the genetic lock to Zheng Zha and the others.
In truth, it was not particularly profound knowledge, and even Chu Xuan’s current understanding was limited. He could only continue using examples such as adrenaline-fueled bursts of strength or an old woman lifting a car to explain it.
Finally, he summarized the matter with the saying, “Heaven has a use for every talent.” Once the genetic lock was unlocked, one could become that kind of genius.
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“So that’s how it is!”
Zheng Zha suddenly understood and slapped his palm with his fist. “No wonder I pulled off such a flashy string of moves just now. I have to admit, it looked pretty cool.”
Cool…
Did it?
Everyone looked around. A few clusters of dark-red flames still remained on the ground, burning quietly and drifting through the molten metal like lotus blossoms.
All right. It really had been a little cool.
“How many more times can you use that skill?”
Chu Xuan pushed up his glasses.
Zheng Zha raised a hand. A strand of dark crimson flame writhed across his palm.
“I’ve gained some understanding of compressing vampiric energy and the crimson flames. But if I want to use it on the same scale as before, it’s basically impossible without entering the genetic-lock state.
“And I’m running low on vampiric energy too.”
Being cool came at a price.
Destroying all those war machines so cleanly and dramatically had naturally consumed a great deal of energy. Then, in order to ease the agony of unlocking the genetic lock, he had spent even more. Zheng Zha truly did not have much vampiric energy left.
“How long will it take to recover?”
“About half an hour.”
Zheng Zha reached into his spatial pouch and took out a thermos. The moment he lifted the lid, a heavy scent of blood spread through the room.
Chu Xuan glanced at it. “Drinking blood? That really is the standard recovery method.”
Zheng Zha downed it in one go.
After half a cup of blood entered his stomach, he grimaced. “No matter how many times I do this, it still tastes so difficult to swallow. Why can’t they turn it into blood curd and let me eat it?”
Lan rubbed her forehead, looking helpless.
“Zheng Zha, perhaps you should stop thinking about such impractical things.”
What Zheng Zha drank was not human blood.
The thermos contained extraordinary blood he had exchanged from the Lord God with reward points. Some came from elves, some from dwarves, and some even from unicorns. He had been drinking down the blood of all kinds of extraordinary creatures every day ever since entering the Lord God’s space.
Practice the crimson flames, drain his vampiric energy, drink vast quantities of extraordinary blood to recover, then continue practicing and drain himself dry again before drinking vast quantities once more…
That endless cycle was the reason the total amount of Zheng Zha’s vampiric energy was so clearly greater than that of vampires at the same level.
“Then let us rest for a while.” Chu Xuan sat down cross-legged. “This hall has been temporarily sealed off, and the war machines have all been dismantled. For the moment, it is a safe location.”
“Right.”
Zheng Zha nodded, took food and water from his spatial pouch, and called for everyone to eat a little and restore their strength.
The group took a brief respite.
Chu Xuan asked, “You do not seem particularly worried about your teammate.”
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“You mean Qian Gu?”
Zheng Zha scratched his head. “To be honest, Qian Gu rarely makes a move, but if we are talking about strength, he is the strongest among us. Even four more of me together could not defeat him when he cuts loose.”
“Oh?”
Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses. “Because of his spells? He is a spellcaster, and he has exchanged for quite a few spells.”
“Right.”
There was no need to conceal it. Qian Gu had never intended to hide the fact, so Zheng Zha and the others admitted it quite openly.
“Interesting.” The corner of Chu Xuan’s mouth twitched, almost resembling a smile. “Then do you think he could defeat an evolved xenomorph?”
“An evolved xenomorph?”
“A standard xenomorph is worth one hundred reward points. A xenomorph queen is worth one thousand reward points and one Grade D side-quest. The war machines we faced just now were worth five hundred points each.”
Chu Xuan paused briefly.
“Let us make a simple numerical comparison and logical deduction. In games, when difficulty is represented numerically, a higher number generally means greater difficulty. If we assign the standard xenomorph a base difficulty of one, then converting according to the reward ratio gives the war machine a difficulty of five. That is a fivefold difference.”
Zheng Zha nodded.
Although people had given him the nickname Ape Emperor, his combat instincts and intelligence could not be called mediocre. In fact, they were exceptionally high.
He said, “If we calculate it by difficulty, then the war machines really are about five times as difficult as standard xenomorphs. If not for the Light-Sealing Spell, a single one of them could have left us in serious trouble with its laser and gauss weapons.”
“Then what about the xenomorph queen?” Chu Xuan asked calmly. “The queen is worth one thousand points. Judging by points alone, her difficulty is ten—ten times that of a standard xenomorph and twice that of a war machine. However, the existence of a side-quest makes the calculation less reliable. I do not know enough about side-quests.”
“We understand that much,” Zheng Zha said bluntly. “Grade D means simple. Grade C means difficult. Grade B means life-threatening. Grade A means certain death.”
“That was Qian Gu’s explanation, I presume.”
“Right.”
Chu Xuan fell silent for a moment, apparently thinking.
“Then we can interpret it this way. The xenomorph queen has a difficulty of ten and falls within the simple range. At most, one could expect the two sides to be evenly matched. But the evolved xenomorph has a difficulty of fifty, placing it firmly in the life-threatening range.”
He laid out the comparison in simple terms.
The evolved xenomorph was at least fifty times as difficult as a standard xenomorph, ten times as difficult as a war machine, and five times as difficult as a xenomorph queen.
And that was before considering the additional difficulty coefficient represented by its terrifying side-quest—a coefficient classified as life-threatening.
Taken together…
“Using the simplest numerical calculation,” Chu Xuan said, adjusting his glasses, “do you think Qian Gu could defeat fifty xenomorphs attacking simultaneously?”
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