Starting to Gain Experience from Push-Ups Chapter 1282 - 622: The Real Battle Begins

"That’s it?"

Ma Donghe, enduring the agony of his shattered leg, forced a sneer around his bloodied lips. "I thought you were some earth-shattering figure, but you’re just a weakling who can’t take a hit."

Hou Peng swallowed convulsively, his gaze flitting between the crater in the ground and the distant wreckage. Though he remained silent, his ears twitched violently, betraying the sheer astonishment within him. Fang Cheng’s punch possessed a power that felt almost like that of a primary artillery shell.

Yet, Fang Cheng hadn't retracted his fist. He slowly straightened, his deep-set eyes narrowing slightly as he fixed his stare on the swirling dust far away. Fang Cheng was acutely aware of the force behind that strike. After six seconds of channeling the Kirin Arm, even a heavily armored vehicle situated there would have its formidable steel plating utterly obliterated.

However, the instant his fist collided with the man's arm, Fang Cheng experienced an exceptionally peculiar resistance. It wasn’t the inherent toughness of human bone and muscle, but rather akin to impacting a layer of highly elastic, high-density memory alloy. The dust gradually subsided, and silence reclaimed the forest.

Amidst the debris of shattered rocks, the Masked Man had not been reduced to a bloody pulp as anticipated. A chilling mechanical grinding sound, interspersed with the eerie noise of tearing flesh, emanated from the ruins. The Masked Man, hunched over, slowly rose from the rubble. His once pristine black trench coat was now reduced to tatters from the violent impact. His two mangled arms hung limply at his sides. Simultaneously, a rhombus-shaped crystalline device, previously concealed beneath his attire, burst forth with a dazzling, spectral blue luminescence.

"You’ve… truly infuriated me." The Masked Man’s voice shed its artificial, synthesized tone, transforming into a hysterical bellow. It sounded like two pieces of cast iron scraping against each other, sending shivers down the spine.

"Rip!" The center of the rhombus-shaped crystal device abruptly fractured. Countless dark blue biological metal conduits, resembling the tentacles of a deep-sea octopus, spewed violently from the device. They acted like living parasites, burrowing ferociously into the Masked Man's flesh through his chest.

"Arghhh—" The Masked Man threw his head back, unleashing a roar that was a torrent of both agony and fury. Then, a horrifying transformation commenced. The dark blue conduits spread with alarming speed, interlacing across his entire body. What had been human skin was ripped away, replaced by layers of insect-like, high-strength biological armor. Muscle fibers and metallic conduits merged and proliferated, even forcibly augmenting his height to over two meters. The bones in his arms, fractured by Fang Cheng, emitted a sharp "crack" as they were forcibly realigned by the biological metal, healing instantly. Furthermore, spectral blue, high-frequency bone blades, half a meter in length, extended from the outer edges of his forearms.

"Boom!" A potent wave of energy surged from within him, the rhombus core on his chest radiating light like a beating heart. Each pulse was accompanied by intense electrical arcs that enveloped his entire form. The bronze mask upon the Masked Man’s face warped beneath the biological armor, and a sharp horn protruded from his forehead. Four narrow cooling vents split open on his back, expelling searing white steam. The extended, wing-like exoskeletons quivered slightly, resembling unfurling wings. Within the swirling air currents, the Masked Man’s feet gradually lifted from the ground. Suspended in mid-air, the rhombus core on his chest emitted a low-frequency rumble, with spectral blue electricity forming a distorted magnetic field around him. He had completely transcended his human form, becoming a killing machine encased in exoskeleton armor.

Ma Donghe and Hou Peng stared in utter disbelief, their Adam’s apples bobbing with difficulty. What in the world was this entity? Grey Eagle’s legs buckled, causing him to collapse onto the muddy ground, unable to even grip his weapon properly. All the events of this night had fundamentally shattered his perception of reality. He had just witnessed a man obliterate a mutated monster with his bare fists and withstand high-dimensional radiation like a brute. Now, he beheld a living being morph into a biochemically armored maniac right before his very eyes.

"Strong Breeding Armor?" Fang Cheng gazed up at the creature crackling with electricity in mid-air, a flicker of surprise crossing his features. He recalled a certain Senior Investigator from the Special Search Team he'd once encountered, who also sported similar Biological Armor, which stirred a faint recollection within him. He withdrew his right hand, the one that had just delivered the devastating punch, and casually flexed it a couple of times. A smile of intrigue then played at the corners of his mouth.

"Interesting," Fang Cheng murmured softly.

His legs were slightly parted, his fists clenched tight.

A golden brilliance, fiercer and more potent than before, surged uncontrollably beneath his skin.

"Let's see how many blows you, the enhanced Masked Man, can endure."

The Masked Man gazed down upon Fang Cheng from his elevated position.

The diamond-shaped core embedded in his chest pulsed with a deep resonance, causing the surrounding air to vibrate minutely.

"Foolish insect, today I shall reveal the apex of Life Evolution's might!"

His declaration was cut short as the diamond-shaped Crystal Core on his chest erupted with an intense, dazzling azure luminescence.

Functioning like a power core on maximum output, it rapidly amassed destructive, high-pressure energy.

With a swift motion, he raised his right arm, the High-frequency Bone Blade extending from his forearm aimed directly at Fang Cheng.

Without any discernible preamble, the volatile energy from the Crystal Core channeled instantaneously through the biological conduits beneath his armor, converging at the bone blade's apex.

"Crack!"

A torrent of violent lightning, as thick as a tree trunk and resembling a spectral serpent tearing through the đêm tối, blazed across dozens of meters in an instant.

Fang Cheng's neural reflexes were exceptionally acute; his pupils instantly tracked the path of the explosive electric discharge.

Yet, at such an extreme range, the contraction speed of a carbon-based organism's musculature could never outpace the velocity of actual lightning.

"Boom!"

A blinding flash of blue-white light completely enveloped Fang Cheng's form.

Tens of thousands of volts of high-pressure electricity detonated violently upon the sodden earth, the unleashed energy radiating outwards with ferocious intensity.

Countless shards of mud and gravel were propelled in every direction like projectiles ejected from a scattergun.

The three massive trees standing adjacent to Fang Cheng were instantly incinerated, their thick trunks splintering and collapsing, engulfed in flames.

"Get down!"

Ma Donghe bellowed, his eyes wide with alarm, shoving Hou Peng forcefully into the mud-filled depression.

Both men pressed themselves down, shielding their heads as the searing wooden fragments and debris, pulverized by the lightning strike, rained down upon their backs.

Grey Eagle, positioned further back, let out a terrified shriek.

A flaming branch grazed his head before embedding itself menacingly in the mud beside his thigh, causing him to scramble and tumble into the protective cover of a dense thicket in sheer panic.

A direct impact from such fearsome high-pressure lightning would, for any ordinary individual, result in immediate cremation.

The Masked Man, suspended momentarily in mid-air, executed a slow descent. A synthesized, taunting laugh echoed from beneath his mask:

"Ha-ha, this is the consequence for defiance..."

However, the very next instant.

He felt as though an unseen hand had seized him by the throat, his laughter abruptly silenced.

The wisps of charred white smoke gradually dispersed.

Standing at the epicenter of the crater, blasted into existence by the lightning discharge, Fang Cheng remained in his initial posture.

He glanced down at the tactical suit adorning his chest, which had been utterly disintegrated by the high-voltage electrical arcs.

Then, extending a hand, he casually brushed away the edges of the singed fabric.

The brittle remnants disintegrated, revealing the sharply defined, powerful musculature beneath, sculpted like flawless marble.

Aside from a few faint, residual static sparks dancing across his skin, he bore not a single mark!

"Is this your ultimate move? All fury, no substance."

Fang Cheng rotated his neck, his spinal vertebrae emitting a series of sharp, cracking sounds.

He then slowly lifted his head, a flicker of intense battle spirit igniting within his profound eyes, his lips curving into a cold, challenging smile:

"The preliminary probes are concluded; the true engagement commences now."

The irises beneath the Masked Man's mask quivered uncontrollably.

He had absorbed that "High-pressure Directed Lightning" head-on, yet emerged completely unharmed?

Could it be... the adversary was an ancient Tyrannosaurus Rex cloaked in human guise?