Liu Yun's nerves immediately tightened. Zhang Lei always called him "Big Brother Liu Yun" or "Brother Liu Yun," rarely addressing him by his given name. For him to call him that now meant something was definitely wrong. His inner energy circle had most likely discovered something!
"Oh, what is it? I don't think there's any fruit here!" Liu Yun pretended to be nonchalant, looking up and glancing around.
"Heh!" Zhang Lei took two steps toward him. "It's human blood!"
As soon as he spoke, Zhang Lei's right hand was already deeply embedded in the ground. When he pulled it out, it was covered in blood, but two small blue snakes were still attached to it, tightly biting Zhang Lei's arm.
Zhang Lei casually pinched the snake heads and removed them, killing them as he pulled them off. He then tossed them onto the car's scorching engine, and the aroma of roasted meat immediately wafted out.
If it weren't for Xiao Bailang teaching him this special method of transferring and storing poison, Zhang Lei would probably have died countless times already.
However, this method is like using both hands simultaneously; some people can learn it quickly, while others simply can't. In a life-or-death situation, Zhang Lei naturally wouldn't be so rigid. Nothing was more important than life itself, so Zhang Lei passed the secret to Liu Yun. But Liu Yun, like Tian Xiao, had no clue what to do. Otherwise, the two of them could have truly abandoned most of their supplies and trekked through the forest.
The small, bleeding holes on Zhang Lei's body slowly healed, and the speed at which the surrounding skin and flesh replicated was almost visible to the naked eye. He had just activated his self-examination technique, and Zhang Lei instinctively felt that this Japanese soldier was not easy to deal with. Since he had activated it, the wounds on other parts of his body naturally began to repair themselves using his internal energy, making bandaging unnecessary.
The reason for not using superpowers earlier was twofold: firstly, to conserve energy and avoid waste; and secondly, to prevent the fluctuations of superpowers from becoming a guiding light for the enemy.
Unlike Liu Yun, who provided long-range support, Zhang Lei primarily engaged in close combat, with his rope harpoon serving mainly as an auxiliary tool. If Zhang Lei hadn't been immune to poison, he probably wouldn't have been able to utilize even 30% of his strength alongside these Japanese soldiers, and would have long since been poisoned by their venomous insects and snakes. These Japanese ninjas were all adept at releasing poison, their skills practically effortless, and their knives were all coated with poison; however, Zhang Lei usually deflected most of it immediately.
Fortunately, few of the pursuers possessed speed-related abilities. Zhang Lei held the rear of the vehicle tightly. After entering the forest, their vehicles broke down one by one, forcing them to chase after the cars on foot. Naturally, this couldn't last long, which allowed Zhang Lei to maintain his position from a higher vantage point.
However, in order to protect the car, Zhang Lei was forced to use his body to block two powerful attacks from the supernatural beings, and most of his injuries were caused by this.
"Don't waste it! Let's hurry, Brother Liu Yun, they might be catching up with me soon by following my power fluctuations!" Zhang Lei reached out and pulled the corpse out from the ground. He looked at the location of the wound, which seemed to be dripping rather unpleasantly, and pulled his wrist down.
The heart doesn't stop beating immediately after death; it's said that the heart can continue beating outside the body for several hours, and this Japanese man proved it. His wrist had just been broken, and blood was gushing out like tap water.
With a flick of his wrist, Zhang Lei sealed the fatal wound on the corpse with high temperature. Although it couldn't compare to fire-based abilities, Zhang Lei was already able to convert the attributes of internal energy. He could control the temperature of normal levels of low and high temperatures using his internal energy. This was probably one of the benefits of XX. Thinking of Tian Xiao, a hint of gentleness appeared on Zhang Lei's face, but it was immediately replaced by ferocity.
Humans are greedy; no one wants their newly enjoyed love and happiness to be taken away. "I must live on, no matter what, and I will never let you go!" Zhang Lei placed the severed wrist of the corpse on the gauze, below which was the large water jug that had been punctured earlier, though it had been repaired. He had already made up his mind.
In the past, Zhang Lei might not have had such confidence in revenge, but now it's different. In the past few days of training, Zhang Lei has finally discovered his own advantages.
For ordinary people, cultivation will always become slower and slower, and the higher the realm, the more difficult it is to advance. This is almost an inevitable rule.
However, Zhang Lei did not follow this rule. The stronger his body became, the more internal energy he could absorb per unit of time. And this internal energy would basically become part of his body strengthening through self-examination and the guidance of the Bitter Yuan Gong. A balance of progress was achieved in this way. At first, Zhang Lei was not sure, but after these few days, Zhang Lei was basically certain that this balance was unlikely to be broken.
Episode 3: The Bloody Path to Adulthood, Chapter 63: You Moved Too Fast (Part 1)
Aside from the individual physical exercises guided by self-examination, Zhang Lei's internal energy was enhanced by 0.5 per thousand every day through this enhancement alone. Over a year, this would increase it by at least 1.2 times. Although it's not very high, when combined with the benefits of exercise, it's quite substantial.
If we don't count the auxiliary training effect of self-examination, this ratio isn't high. Many people who have just started training are actually much faster than this. Moreover, Zhang Lei has actually been training for seven or eight years. If someone who started at the same time as him also had a powerful combat ability, they would probably have surpassed him by a lot.
However, Zhang Lei's advantage lies in its continuity; at least for now, Zhang Lei sees no possibility that this trend cannot continue proportionally downwards.
At first, this speed wasn't unusual, but later, when the level was higher, it was different. It can be said that no expert could achieve this speed of growth.
This 1.2 times increase doesn't refer to an overall increase in strength. Zhang Lei's increase is a comprehensive enhancement, encompassing speed, power, physical toughness, resilience, and even internal organ function.
A study found that, assuming similar martial arts skills, experience, and techniques, and ignoring special abilities, if person A's speed and strength are 30% higher than person B's, then person A alone can handle three people like person B at the same time.
There are two old Chinese sayings, "Speed is the only thing that can be broken," and "Strength can overcome technique." These sayings emphasize the importance of these two points. Even the techniques of Tai Chi, Cotton Fist, and Bagua, which rely on using minimal force to overcome great strength, cannot fundamentally change this point.
The saying "using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds" is a bit of an exaggeration, and we can't just look at that half of the saying. There's another half: "Only with five hundred pounds of one's own strength can one deflect a thousand pounds." Moreover, if the opponent also has gravity, the final collision between the two sides will still be a clash of raw power.
Liu Yun paid no attention to the fierce glint in Zhang Lei's eyes, because he was the same way; he also wished he could grind Li Yang to dust, but he didn't share Zhang Lei's desire.
During the breakout battle, they witnessed Li Yang's true strength. No wonder Linghu Zaichong had that expression when he talked about this guy's real strength.
If Li Yang's ability isn't so sinister, it should be considered a powerful ability, and it might even be stronger than self-examination, as long as he finds a rapist for self-examination.
According to Linghu's description, this guy can not only absorb supernatural abilities, but also retain one supernatural ability almost completely. Even other supernatural abilities can be preserved at more than 30%. Although the total number may not be as many as that Japanese bitch, the quality is much higher.
However, what this guy needs to preserve his superpowers is the special energy he obtained when he raped and murdered young girls. If this special energy is insufficient, the superpowers he preserves will gradually weaken until he can obtain this energy again. This is also why he was seen as a weakling by others when he was under close surveillance.
He's a bad guy, a bastard, but definitely not a spoiled brat. However, Zhang Lei and Liu Yun might prefer him to be a spoiled brat, at least that way it would be easier to get revenge on him.
For those in power, these superhumans are all unruly and arrogant. They cannot respect superiors who do not possess superpowers. There must be a trustworthy person who can control them...
"Alright, how's it going over there?" Liu Yun lowered the car and kicked away the wooden blocks underneath. Changing a tire in this kind of place is no easy task; you can't just put the jack directly on the ground, this isn't concrete.
"Mine is almost done too!" Zhang Lei looked at the liquid filtered through the gauze; it was already half full. Although it was still a bit murky, he believed that this vehicle's adaptability should be quite good.
"Is the water tank clogged?" Zhang Lei was filling a water bottle with one hand, while casually taking two small snakes off the engine with the other. They weren't big, but they would be nice as snacks.
Since he was able to convert his internal energy into high temperature, Zhang Lei found that he didn't need to use his internal energy and wasn't afraid of getting burned. The two small snakes on the engine cover were at least over 100 degrees Celsius, but Zhang Lei didn't feel any discomfort when he held them in his hands.
"Let's drive!" Zhang Lei threw the corpse on the ground into the car. Anyway, the car was already covered in blood and flesh. Although the blood had almost all dripped out, a lot of water could still be squeezed out if you squeezed carefully, since the human body is mostly water.
Water is precious and should not be wasted; people are also precious and should not be wasted either!
Zhang Lei and Liu Yun, who were both labeled as conservationists, drove as fast as they could. Since the water tank was only a temporary repair, a slight leak was to be expected. In order to prevent the water supply from running out and causing the engine to overheat again, Zhang Lei had no choice but to work harder to squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the Japanese man.
These ninjas were clearly trained in the jungle, or rather, their training base was located in the jungle. They were much more adapted to this environment than Zhang Lei and Liu Yun.
They were probably searching separately, and this guy, whether it was good luck or bad luck, actually ran into Zhang Lei and his group.
It's unclear whether the Japanese man found Zhang Lei and his group and sent a signal, or whether the energy fluctuations emitted by Zhang Lei alerted them.
However, judging from the point where they gathered, it must have been a signal sent by the Japanese man, because they were heading towards the spot where Zhang Lei and the others had just rested.
Moreover, there shouldn't be that many superhumans among these people. If the Japanese could mobilize so many superhumans to hunt down the two stragglers who were covering their retreat, they wouldn't have needed to ask the Americans for help. You know, the Japanese often have a strong sense of pride, which may be a result of their inferiority complex.
However, perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps Zhang Lei and Liu Yun had already gotten lost in the forest, but two ninjas were heading towards that point in the opposite direction of the car, and they were about to run into each other.
Zhang Lei kept his inner energy circle open the whole time because of these sneaky guys; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to spot the guy hiding underground.
Although the inner atmosphere of the forest is not as extensive as that of the open field, it is still much farther than direct visual observation, and Zhang Lei spotted the target before them.