11: Chapter 11 Underground Fighting, Tearing Mutants Apart

New York, Fisk Tower, Basement Level 3.

There were no laws here, only the most primal gore and piles of U.S. dollars.

Inside an octagonal iron cage, a burly man over two meters tall with skin as pale as marble was snapping a Muay Thai fighter's arms with his bare hands.

Accompanied by the Muay Thai fighter's shrill screams, the wealthy socialites and mobsters in the stands erupted into a morbid frenzy.

“Finish him! Tombstone! Crush his bones!”

The pale-skinned giant—the Mutant known as "Tombstone"—bared a mouth full of fangs and shattered the Muay Thai fighter's larynx with a single kick. He raised his arms, soaking in the cheers of the crowd.

Outside the cage, Lynn carried the kraft paper bag containing two hundred thousand U.S. dollars and walked up to the betting counter.

“No-rules deathmatch. Two hundred thousand on myself.” Lynn tossed the paper bag onto the table.

The mob guard in charge of registration froze for a moment, looked at the cash in the bag, and then at Lynn’s face, which was obscured by a hood. “A newcomer? You want to challenge Tombstone? He’s a monster that even armor-piercing rounds can't penetrate. With your physique, you won't last ten seconds up there.”

“Arrange it.” Lynn uttered two words, his voice devoid of emotion.

The iron cage door was pushed open.

Lynn took off his heavy military coat, leaving only a thin black tank top, and stepped onto the blood-stained arena.

His muscles were well-proportioned and firm, but compared to Tombstone, who looked like an albino grizzly bear, he seemed far too small.

The entire arena erupted in a deafening wave of boos and jeers.

“Is this kid here to die?”

“I bet he gets torn in half by Tombstone in three seconds!”

On the second floor, inside a VIP box with one-way bulletproof glass.

A bald man as massive as a mountain of flesh sat on a sofa wearing a custom white suit, a thick cigar between his fingers.

Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin.

Standing behind him was a lean man with a target tattoo on his forehead—the top assassin, Bullseye.

“Boss, some Asian kid who doesn't know any better has shown up down there.” Bullseye toyed with a dart in his hand, his tone playful. “Two hundred thousand dollars in blood money.”

Kingpin exhaled a puff of blue smoke, his gaze indifferently scanning the arena. “Have Tombstone finish it quickly. The audience likes blood, but they don't like a boring, one-sided slaughter.”

On the stage.

Tombstone looked at Lynn walking toward him, his knuckles cracking loudly.

“Kid, how do you want to die?” Tombstone grinned savagely, his pale, massive hand reaching directly for Lynn’s head. “I’m going to pull out your spine...”

Swish!

Tombstone’s hand caught nothing but air.

Lynn’s speed was incredibly fast. With a slight sidestep, he not only avoided the lethal grab but simultaneously threw a right hook like a cannonball, slamming it hard into Tombstone’s ribs.

Bang!

A dull thud sounded. Lynn felt as if he had struck a block of high-density titanium alloy.

Tombstone remained motionless, not even swaying.

“Nice speed, but your punches are as soft as a girl's.” Tombstone looked down at Lynn and laughed loudly. “My skin has been mutated; it's harder than steel! You can't even break my defense!”

Lynn withdrew his right fist and shook his wrist.

It was indeed very hard. With just his current peak human physical strength, he couldn't break through mutation-level defense of this caliber.

“Warm-up’s over. Die!”

Tombstone let out a roar, his arms closing in on Lynn like millstones, attempting to crush him on the spot.

Lynn didn't dodge.

He glanced down at his left wrist.

After resting along the way, combined with the stimulation from the Mutant genes right in front of him, the Bloodtrix, which had been in a deep slumber, finally awakened a sliver of energy.

A full-body transformation wasn't possible.

But it was enough.

“Just right. Let's try a new application.”

Lynn’s left hand flicked across the dial of the Bloodtrix with lightning speed.

[Command recognized: Partial Armament.]

[Extracting Gene: Four Arms (Berserker Variant)!]

At the very moment Tombstone’s arms were about to crush Lynn’s head.

Rip!

The sleeve of Lynn’s right arm instantly exploded.

His entire right arm underwent an extremely violent physical aberration within a thousandth of a second!

Flesh peeled back and bones surged. The arm that originally belonged to a human instantly transformed into a dark red giant arm, one and a half meters long, as thick as a tree trunk, and covered in pitch-black bone spurs!

A tyrannical, bloodthirsty aura erupted from this demonic arm like something tangible.

Tombstone’s laughter stopped abruptly. He felt a surge of terror originating from the depths of his soul.

Before he could react.

Lynn’s dark red giant hand, covered in sharp claws, struck first, grabbing Tombstone’s entire face.

The Mutant strength Tombstone was so proud of was practically laughable like an infant's before this giant hand. He desperately swung his fists at Lynn’s arm, but hitting that dark red muscle was like hitting the toughest armor.

“Want to see who’s harder?”

Lynn looked up, a violent red glow flickering in his black pupils.

His right arm suddenly exerted force, lifting the two-meter-tall, four-hundred-pound Tombstone into the mid-air with one hand.

Then, like swinging a heavy sledgehammer, he slammed Tombstone head-first toward the reinforced steel floor of the arena!

Boom!!!

The entire octagonal iron cage shook violently. The reinforced steel floor instantly dented downward, forming a large pit one meter in diameter.

Tombstone’s Mutant skull, which supposedly couldn't be pierced by armor-piercing rounds, made a hair-raising cracking sound the moment it hit the ground.

Crack!

The indestructible defense collapsed instantly under the crushing weight of absolute power.

Pale bone fragments mixed with red and white fluids exploded outward at the bottom of the pit.

With just one strike.

The Mutant Tombstone was killed on the spot. His corpse slumped in the pit like a pile of mud.

Dead silence.

The underground coliseum, which had been boisterous and boiling just a second ago, now fell into a silence so deep you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone’s eyes widened as they looked in horror at the man on the stage, holding the large Mutant with one hand, his right arm transformed into a demonic giant claw.

This was no human.

This was a monster wearing human skin!

Lynn ignored the gazes around him.

The dark red muscles of his right arm slowly contracted, regressing back into a human arm. However, his palm remained firmly pressed against Tombstone’s headless corpse.

The inverted triangle on the Bloodtrix on his wrist lit up with a crimson glow.

[High-intensity hardening gene detected.]

[Law of Devouring, initiated.]

Visibly, the residual Mutant blood in Tombstone’s corpse turned into wisps of red mist, surging frantically into the Bloodtrix through Lynn’s pores.

The Bloodtrix’s charging progress bar began to rise slowly but steadily.

Second-floor VIP box.

Thud.

The cigar in Kingpin’s hand, worth a fortune, fell onto the expensive carpet.

The emperor of the New York underworld stood up abruptly, his composure and indifference vanished, staring fixedly at the young man “sucking blood” on the stage.

The Mutant fighter he had recruited at a high price and was so proud of had actually had his head smashed like a grape by the opponent!

“Boss...” Bullseye, standing behind him, also pulled back his playful smile, his eyes becoming as cold and sinister as a venomous snake. He gripped several darts, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force. “That guy... is he a Mutant? What’s with that arm?”

“He’s not a Mutant.”

Kingpin gritted his teeth, a hint of wariness flashing in his eyes, but it was also joined by a surge of intense greed. “Whatever he is, he’s wrecking my business and killing my people.”

Kingpin pressed the intercom on the table, his voice bone-chillingly cold: “Lock down all exits of the coliseum. Have the men go in with guns. Dead or alive, it doesn't matter.”

On the stage, Lynn took a deep breath.

Tombstone’s Mutant genes had been completely drained by the Bloodtrix.

Lynn shook off the bloodstains on his hand and slowly raised his head. His gaze crossed the iron cage and landed precisely on the one-way bulletproof glass on the second floor.

Even through the glass, Kingpin and Bullseye felt as if those cold eyes were staring right at them.

Lynn grinned, revealing a cruel smile.