The patriarch recovered from his shock quickly enough, and a cold smile spread across his face.
"It seems I underestimated you... but the real show is only just beginning!"
At his command, the blast doors around the laboratory slammed open one after another, and more twisted figures came staggering out from the shadows.
These humanoid Ethereals were not as powerful as the Berserk Brute, but there were many of them, each giving off nauseating ether fluctuations.
"Nicole, cover me!" Zhe said in a low voice.
"Got it!"
Nicole's Treasure Chest immediately switched into scatter-fire mode, raining down blazing ether rounds like a storm.
The two moved with perfect coordination.
Nicole handled the swarms of lesser Ethereals, while Zhe became a streak of crimson lightning, each punch landing cleanly on a target and blasting those warped creations apart.
But just as the battle seemed to be going smoothly, the Berserk Brute—the very one Zhe had knocked flying earlier—suddenly sprang back up!
With a deafening roar, it swept its twin blades at terrifying speed straight toward Nicole's back.
"Watch out!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Zhe threw himself at her.
At the final instant, he dragged Nicole into his arms and took the full blow across his own back.
"Proxy!"
With the screech of metal on metal and Nicole's cry of alarm, the two of them were blasted away by the massive impact, smashing straight through the laboratory wall.
Even as they flew backward, Zhe held Nicole tightly, using his own body to absorb every bit of the collision.
When the dust cleared, they found themselves face-to-face with Qingyi's team, who had just been escorting Shi Yueyu out.
After a brief moment of mutual surprise, Zhe understood the situation at once.
"You rescued him, so get out now!" he said through clenched teeth, enduring the searing pain in his back. "We've already secured all the lab's data—more than enough to bring the Melopede family crashing down for good!"
"You think you're leaving? Not that easily!"
The patriarch's voice came through from the other side of the breach.
More guards and Ethereals were pouring in from every direction, surrounding all of them completely.
Faced with the encirclement, the four fighters instinctively moved back-to-back into a defensive formation, shielding Eous and Shi Yueyu in the center.
"No helping it now. Officers, can we fight together?" Zhe asked, his voice carrying through the mask.
Qingyi let out a quiet sigh as Gavel unfolded in her hands.
"Troublesome as this is... a Peace Officer never refuses a citizen's request."
"Then let's tear through them!"
At Zhe's command, the four of them burst into motion like pieces of a perfectly synchronized machine.
ZZZ shot out like a cannonball, heading straight for the Berserk Brute once again.
This time he used no flashy weapons, no elaborate energy techniques—only his fists, and the overwhelming physical prowess granted by the ZZZ armor.
Bang!
A heavy straight punch slammed into the Brute's crossed blades, the metallic impact shaking the room. The monster staggered backward under the force of that raw, unfiltered power.
Bang! Bang!
Zhe advanced relentlessly, left and right hooks hammering out like a blacksmith at the forge. Every strike carried explosive power, forcing the Berserk Brute into pure defense, pushed back step by step.
His fighting style was primitive, brutal, and efficient—a pure display of strength and technique taken to their extreme.
On another front, Qingyi's figure drifted through the guards like a ghost.
Her three-section staff, Gavel, seemed almost alive, striking only at weak points in armor and joints.
Crack!
One precise thrust shattered the riot shield in a guard's hands.
"Ugh!"
A clever flick of the staff-tip tapped another guard's knee joint, dropping him to one knee and stripping him of the ability to move.
Every blow she dealt was measured to perfection: enough to dismantle weapons and resistance, never enough to kill.
It was a display of exquisite control.
Meanwhile, on Nicole's side—
"Time for a little snack."
The core of the Treasure Chest in her hands flared brightly.
She slammed it down against the ground, and an invisible etheric force field expanded outward in an instant, generating a powerful inward pull.
The Ethereals around her seemed seized by countless invisible hands, dragged helplessly toward the center of the field.
They howled and struggled, but they could not resist.
Soon they were packed tightly together into one grotesque writhing cluster.
"Now!"
Nicole maintained the output and shouted the cue.
Zhu Yuan had already dropped to one knee, ether buckshot loaded and aim locked.
She pulled the trigger, and the muzzle of the K22 Pacifier spat out a brilliant blue flash.
Boom—!
The specially prepared ether slug cut a clean arc through the air and struck dead center in the packed mass of Ethereals.
The dense ether energy inside the round reacted violently with the corrupted ether inside the monsters, triggering a purification effect.
There was no thunderous explosion.
Only a silent wave of blue light spreading outward.
Wherever the wave passed, the Ethereals melted away like snow under sunlight, dissolving into drifting particles until nothing remained.
When the field dissipated, Nicole was breathing a little harder—but the space that had been packed with enemies was now completely clear.
The four of them regrouped, exchanging a single look.
Red light steamed off Zhe's fists. Qingyi's staff rested angled toward the floor. Nicole adjusted the Treasure Chest's energy output. Zhu Yuan smoothly reloaded the K22 again.
Watching this team—so perfectly in sync, and so frighteningly quick to dismantle all his forces—the patriarch's face showed genuine disbelief for the first time, along with the first trace of panic.
ZZZ stepped forward, armored fists tightening with a chilling creak, his gaze fixed on the patriarch.
"Your little tricks end here."
The patriarch saw the tide had turned, and panic flashed in his eyes.
He spun and tried to flee—
but Nicole had predicted it.
The Treasure Chest flashed, and an invisible ether field spread out instantly, its powerful pull binding his body in place like chains.
"Argh!"
He jerked to a halt, struggling wildly to break free.
In that opening, Qingyi moved in like a phantom.
Gavel cut a precise arc through the air and struck hard into the back of his knee.
Crack!
The clean sound of bone breaking rang out.
"AAAH—!"
The patriarch screamed and dropped to his knees.
Even in agony, he clawed at the floor, still trying to drag himself forward.
"It's not over... I'm not done yet..."
"People your age shouldn't be this stubborn," Qingyi said, her tone as calm as ever, but edged with absolute authority.
"It's over."
ZZZ dropped down in front of the patriarch like a meteor, blocking his path.
"I told you already. The one going to hell today... is you."
With Zhe in front and Qingyi closing in behind, the patriarch was trapped.
He raised his head and spat out curses, screaming abuse at every person present.
The only answer he received were several cold, pitying looks—
the kind of looks people gave to someone who had lost every shred of humanity, someone beyond saving.
That gaze finally drove him over the edge.
Why?
Why did these "lowborn" wretches dare look at him that way?
He had sacrificed everything for the family, only to be driven to ruin by the TOPS Group until he had no choice but to gamble on this path...
Why was fate so unfair?
And in that pit of despair, he suddenly remembered the mysterious woman from several days earlier.
The faction behind her had not only provided immense resources, but had also helped improve the human-enhancement drug.
When she handed him the latest result yesterday, she had whispered:
"O confused soul, may the Primogenitor reshape you."
The memory flashed through his mind like lightning.
"I'm not finished yet..."
His voice suddenly became eerily calm.
Slowly, he pulled out a syringe glowing with a strange violet light.
"The ones going to hell... are all of you."
"What are you doing?!"
Sensing something wrong, Zhe lunged forward—but the patriarch had already rammed the syringe deep into his own neck.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH—!"
A brutal wave of ether power exploded out of his body, expanding as a visible violet shockwave that forced everyone backward.
The surrounding walls began to corrode and peel under the pressure of that energy.
"Today I'll show you... the true power of the Melopede family!"
His voice had already become twisted and barely human.
"You filthy lowborn trash... kneel before me!"
Under the stunned eyes of everyone present, his body began swelling and mutating rapidly.
His skin tore apart. Bones restructured. Flesh warped.
In the end, he became a monstrous three-meter-tall beast radiating terrifying ether fluctuations.
Only the twisted face still retained a faint trace of the patriarch's features.
It threw back its head and released a roar so loud it shook the entire laboratory.
Its blood-red eyes locked onto every person there.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 119)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter79)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter125)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 73
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 55
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 66
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 63
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 55
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 31
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 31
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 31
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