"But the Transcendence Society is different - here, we are complete."
The Hulk-masked man's voice was seductive: "Aren't you tired of living in hiding?"
The Joker-masked man paced anxiously nearby, his bone claws constantly scratching at the wall: "Enough already! If we don't go catch that electricity-wielding kid soon, he'll get away!"
As he spoke, he impatiently charged up the stairs.
The Hulk-masked man gave Su Zhan one last deep look before turning to follow.
The moment his back was turned.
Su Zhan exploded into action!
His target was clear.
The Hulk-masked man walking behind.
"Whoosh!"
His right claw shot straight for the Hulk's back.
But just as the attack was about to land.
The Hulk-masked man suddenly sidestepped.
Actually managing to dodge the fatal blow at the very last moment!
Though he avoided the lethal strike, he couldn't completely evade the attack.
"Thud!"
The right claw plunged deep into the Hulk-masked man's right shoulder joint.
With the sound of cracking bone, the entire right arm snapped off, blood spraying across the wall.
Damn it!
Failed to kill him!
"Argh—!"
The Hulk-masked man let out a pained roar.
But reacted extremely quickly, pushing off with his legs to create distance.
During this time.
His body began violently mutating.
Muscles bulged and swelled as if inflated, his spine extended segment by segment, and thick keratin layers emerged on his skin surface.
In the blink of an eye.
His height had surged from just over 1.8 meters to beyond 2.3 meters.
Like an armored mini-giant blocking the stairway entrance.
"Looking to die!!"
The Hulk-masked man roared furiously.
The wound on his severed right shoulder writhed maddenly, instantly sprouting several crimson fleshy tendrils.
These tendrils intertwined, forcibly staunching the bleeding from the severed arm.
His left arm muscles bulged as he swung down at Su Zhan's head!
"Boom—!"
Su Zhan sidestepped to avoid.
The punch blasted straight through the wall.
Concrete fragments flew everywhere, the entire floor shaking from the impact.
Incredible strength.
The Hulk-masked man's aberration power was fully manifest.
Su Zhan could clearly gauge his strength level after all.
Low-risk fourth stage! (For convenience in unifying realm combat power, Aberrants and Mist creatures share the same realm names, ranging from Low-risk to Calamity, with each realm divided into 1 to 10 minor stages.)
Su Zhan's tail whipped out.
"Smack!" striking the opponent's knee joint.
Keratin layers shattered and flew off, the Hulk-masked man stumbling.
"Thud!"
Su Zhan seized the opportunity with a knee strike, hitting squarely on the chin.
Shattered teeth mixed with blood sprayed out.
But the Hulk-masked man instead laughed wildly, the fleshy tendrils from his severed right shoulder actually waving about after stopping the bleeding.
They wrapped around Su Zhan's right leg, swinging him hard toward the ground!
"Crash!"
Floor tiles exploded.
Su Zhan's scale armor scraped against the ground, sparks flying everywhere.
He endured the pain and slashed through the tendrils with his claws, rolling away to avoid the following stomp.
Leaving a crater where he'd been.
Through the hole, the lower floors were visible.
"Why!?"
The Hulk-masked man's eyes were bloodshot, the writhing tendrils from his severed right shoulder moving frantically, his voice filled with angry confusion: "Before you die, I'll give you a chance for last words."
The Joker-masked man stood behind him, six sharp limbs slowly extending from beneath his torn shirt.
His head tilted sideways: "We're the same kind... why attack your own kind?"
"The same kind?"
Su Zhan slowly rose, shaking blood off his tail, his voice icy: "Actually, physically speaking, I think we resemble humans more closely."
"If you were targeting other people, I wouldn't care - after all, you need to survive too."
"But you're targeting geniuses among humans - people who will become pillars against the Mist once they mature."
"You're undermining Daxia's foundation."
"You only think about how the Mist hasn't descended on Daxia yet, and how Aberrants struggle to survive."
"But have you considered what would happen if the Mist fully descends on Daxia? Heh... do you think you could survive then?"
In other words, while Daxia still stands, Aberrants may struggle to survive, but at least there's a way to live.
Aberrants are the Mist's creation to deal with humans.
If humanity goes extinct, would Aberrants still have any reason to exist?
Is the Mist really that benevolent?
Placing your life in the hands of a completely different species, praying for their mercy.
That kind of behavior is what's truly laughable.
The Joker-masked man's voice turned hoarse: "We want to undermine Daxia's foundation! Humans can't tolerate different kinds, but at least the Mist gave us power."
"Power?"
Su Zhan said calmly: "And then what? After humanity goes extinct, do you think Mist creatures will need you?"
"Deceiving yourselves - you're just tools the Mist uses against humans. Need I explain what happens to tools after they've served their purpose?"
"Hehehe... There's an old saying in Daxia: A poor life is better than a good death."
The Hulk-masked man's voice became hysterical: "But I think that's bullshit! How could a poor life be better than a good death?"
"Do you know what it's like hiding in sewers every day? Living like cockroaches feeding on garbage!"
The Hulk-masked man's eyes burned with fanaticism: "Rather than clinging to such miserable existence, better to gamble this life for some real living! Humanity will inevitably fall - we're just paving the way for the new era!"
"Even if, even if we get discarded in the end..."
"At least now, we can control our own destiny!"
"When the Mist descends, transcendence shall be achieved!"
The Joker-masked man fervently shouted the Transcendence Society's doctrine.
Seeing that talking their way out was impossible.
Su Zhan stopped wasting words, his tail striking first toward the Joker-masked man's head.
Six pale limbs instantly interwove into a net, blocking the fatal strike with sparks flying.
The Hulk-masked man seized the opportunity, his left fist swollen to the size of a washbasin, smashing toward Su Zhan's back with powerful force.
"Thud!"
Su Zhan grunted, sent stumbling forward several steps by the punch.
"Force him out!"
The Hulk-masked man roared, his over-two-meter frame almost filling the entire stairwell.
He swung his thick arm, the keratin-covered fist smashing toward Su Zhan's face.
Su Zhan ducked under the blow, which instead smashed through the adjacent wall.
Still this strong with just one hand?
Su Zhan continuously analyzed the battle situation.
The Joker-masked man's strength was the same as the Hulk-masked man's - both low-risk fourth stage.
The enemies appeared to have numerical advantage with two people.
But actually, the current battlefield was the narrow stairwell of the emergency exit.
The terrain was extremely constricted, with the Hulk-masked man alone almost blocking the entire passage.
The Joker-masked man could only attack by climbing the walls with his sharp limbs.
The terrain prevented them from utilizing their numerical advantage.
Terrain-wise, he had the advantage.
Combat-wise, the Hulk-masked man had lost his right arm to him - and this meant more than just losing one limb.
His habitual right-handed attacks and techniques couldn't be executed.
His original offensive and defensive rhythm had a fatal gap.
More importantly, losing his right arm affected his balance - each left-handed swing would shift his center of gravity, creating openings.
In summary, the Hulk-masked man's combat power had decreased by at least fifty percent after losing his right arm!