Lin Feng's eyes widened, his focus locked on the last two pieces of information.
'The condition for the Tier Jumping Upgrade must refer to upgrading from White Quality to Red Quality.'
'This performance boost for the pistol is a qualitative leap. It's already at the pinnacle of Light Weapons, its bullet power second only to cannon shells. The next stage will very likely be the small-scale Cannon that I desperately need.'
'I've met the Upgrade Points requirement. All that's left is to kill a Black Spine Zerg—just one.'
It sounded simple, but Lin Feng knew Black Spine Zergs rarely acted alone. They either moved in small groups or summoned swarms of Red-Armored Beetles to cover their advance.
It was just like their earlier desperate flight. While being pursued by three Black Spine Zergs, if Lin Feng had tried to take out one, he would have had to face the combined assault of the other two. His only hope would have been heavy fire support like Qin Hu's.
'But that grenade launcher can't carry much ammo. If I had a heavy weapon like an infinite-ammo Grenade Cannon, I could easily mow down Black Spine Zergs.'
Still, Lin Feng already had a plan. What he was more concerned about, however, was the note in the final column.
After the Tier Jumping Upgrade, Superpower Awakening is possible.
Lin Feng knew that his various abilities were all powers granted by the system, not a Superpower of his own.
'If I can awaken a Superpower at the same time, my strength will undoubtedly reach a new level. My success rate and safety when hunting the giant zergs will also increase dramatically.'
Especially now that they were about to catch up with the main group, with the relentless Swarm nipping at their heels...
'The Tier Jumping Upgrade is an urgent necessity!'
Lin Feng took a deep breath and examined the other changes to the Level 9 Divine-level Pistol's stats.
The Damage had increased by a flat 10 points, reaching 40 Basic Damage. Range and ammo capacity had both increased by a thousand, and the Fire Rate was up another fifty rounds per second.
Now, when Lin Feng used Metal Storm, he could unleash a terrifying Fire Rate of 150 rounds per second. As long as a few of those bullets could effectively damage a Black Spine Zerg, he could kill it.
'Whether it's a close-range spray or a long-range ambush, the probability of success is quite high.'
After he finished reviewing the stats, Lin Feng's personal upgrade also completed.
[Lin Feng, Lv. 8/9]
[Life Value: 45, Physique: 40, Spirit: 41]
No major changes. Lin Feng immediately initiated his final upgrade to level 9.
'I need to be in my strongest, most perfect state to challenge this Tier Jumping mission.'
The RV drove out of the villa district, wound its way out of the wetland park, and merged onto the main road.
Lin Feng drank half a bottle of water and ate several pieces of chocolate they had found in the villa to restore his energy. He also gave Chen Yanyan some cookies and other snacks.
As they were about to return to the temporary camp where the others were parked, he picked up his Level 9 Divine-level Pistol and suddenly spoke.
"Wait, don't go back there..."
"Turn us around!"
Chen Yanyan grunted in confusion, thinking she had misheard, and tapped the brakes.
Lin Feng looked back down the road they'd just traveled in the rearview mirror.
"We're going back. We're going to take care of those two heavily injured Black Spine Zergs."
As she put the RV in reverse, Chen Yanyan thought for a moment and quickly understood Lin Feng's intention.
'He wants to go back and kill those giant zergs to get even stronger.'
At this thought, her hands moved faster. Chen Yanyan had only been enhanced twice, which was less than even the high schooler, Liu Yueqi.
Although she had Lin Feng's protection, she knew she had to keep up with his pace.
Unlike the others, who had to risk death to kill giant zergs for an enhancement, she was under Lin Feng's care. All she had to do was raise her Long Saber and finish the job.
So when Lin Feng proposed going back, Chen Yanyan immediately made a U-turn and headed back the way they came.
Lin Feng never did anything without confidence, a fact Chen Yanyan knew better than anyone.
"Are those zergs called Black Spine Zergs?"
Chen Yanyan asked as she drove.
Lin Feng nodded and explained.
"The Worker Zergs are called Red-Armored Beetles. Those ferocious Soldier Zergs with the black and yellow stripes are the Black Spine Zergs."
"Those are the official names. There's a lot more detailed information about them that will probably be released in the next day or two."
Chen Yanyan nodded and didn't ask any more questions, concentrating on her driving.
Watching the RV drive off into the distance, Liu Yueqi, who had returned earlier, had a questioning look in her eyes.
She saw Lin Feng and Chen Yanyan inside and suddenly understood why they were turning back. 'They must be taking advantage of the heavily injured Black Spine Zergs to land the final blow and get a deeper enhancement.'
'And those two Black Spine Zergs were already seriously wounded by Qin Hu. Going after them now is basically just kill-stealing.'
At this thought, Liu Yueqi felt a pang of regret.
'If only I'd come back sooner, or followed Lin Feng's group from the start.'
Protecting her aunt and the others while they searched the residential area had only yielded a few small snacks. The food and drinks in the corner stores had been completely cleared out.
The civilians who once lived here had fled long ago, and they naturally wouldn't have left behind vital food and supplies.
She watched the other survivors rummaging through houses, searching for scraps and leftovers, squabbling over a single piece of bread...
A wave of inexplicable sadness washed over Liu Yueqi.
For ordinary survivors, the challenge wasn't just escaping the zergs' maws—it was figuring out how to stay alive afterward.
'Lin Feng was right. The gap between us is too wide. I'm just struggling to find food and shelter; I'm not qualified to be his companion.'
At this thought, Liu Yueqi drew her Thousand Slash Saber, gripped it tightly, and forced herself to practice.
...
Meanwhile, after traveling about ten kilometers back, Lin Feng spotted a large black dot a kilometer away through his Hawkeye. It hadn't moved, which meant the Black Spine Zergs were still there.
The receiver left by Ding Chenghai contained a text from the Federation Research Institute describing the Zerg Race's ecological habits.
The Zerg Race operated on a hive-mind structure. An extremely powerful Zerg Race Mother Empress created and controlled lower-level units like Soldier Zergs and Worker Zergs.
Sometimes the Swarm appeared intelligent, but this was only because they shared a collective consciousness, which generated a collective intelligence. They were deployed and commanded by High Tier giant zergs.
The Zerg Race Mother Empress's maximum control range was about twenty-five kilometers.
Typically, a Black Spine Zerg Swarm wouldn't stray too far from the Mother Empress—twenty kilometers at most. If they went any further, they would lose their connection to the hive mind and their intelligence would plummet.
That was why Qin Hu had felt it was safe for everyone to rest.
As the RV neared the heavily injured Black Spine Zergs, Lin Feng saw a group of Red-Armored Beetles carrying the mangled bodies of the Black Spine Zergs on their backs, heading back toward Hai City.
The Worker Zergs were trying to save the dying Soldier Zergs.
After confirming there were no other Black Spine Zergs in pursuit nearby, Lin Feng wasted no time, decisively drawing his pistol and opening fire!
He aimed down their path of retreat and used Metal Storm, unleashing a mad torrent of bullets.
Three seconds later, nearly five hundred bullets had bombarded a section of road seven or eight meters wide, shredding every living thing in the area. Even the abandoned cars on the roadside were riddled with holes and on the verge of collapse.
Only when a notification popped up on his data panel, indicating the conditions were met, did Lin Feng tell Chen Yanyan to drive up to the pile of zerg corpses.
The other Red-Armored Beetles nearby scattered and fled.
Lin Feng and Chen Yanyan got out of the RV.
"You go finish off the remaining Red-Armored Beetles."
With that, Lin Feng walked over to the Black Spine Zerg corpses.
Even though their bodies had been torn to shreds, their sharp, pincer-like Giant Mandibles were still perfectly intact.
It was the hardest part of their bodies.
He used his Long Saber to sever the mandibles at the base, and a notification appeared before his eyes:
[Black Spine Zerg Giant Mandible, Red Quality]
[Evaluation: This is the most valuable part of a Black Spine Zerg. It can be used to craft or fuse Red Quality items.]
Lin Feng immediately hauled both pairs of Giant Mandibles onto the roof of the RV and tied them down. He also took several intact claws, which had some value, to keep as spares.
He had already inspected the RV. It was a Red Quality item. Once Lin Feng broke past his level 9 limit and could bind a second piece of equipment, he planned to use the slot on the RV.
The importance of the RV was self-evident. It was his mobile home. Upgrading it into a heavy truck or an armored vehicle in the future would grant him complete freedom of movement.
After collecting his spoils, Lin Feng initiated the Tier Jumping Upgrade for his Level 9 Divine-level Pistol.
Nearby, Chen Yanyan had activated her Shield Armor and was clearing the battlefield. She killed a dozen or so crippled Red-Armored Beetles and completed her upgrade to level 5.
Just as she was walking back with her saber in hand, the ground began to tremble slightly, and everything nearby started to shake...
Lin Feng's expression changed instantly. He hurriedly called for Chen Yanyan to get back to the RV.
A moment later, an extremely piercing shriek echoed from the direction of Hai City!
It was followed by a massive flock of birds taking flight in a panic!
Standing beside the RV, Lin Feng's eyes narrowed as he stared toward the Hai City District, the very place they had just escaped.
As the shriek faded, a gigantic, mountain-like creature smashed through a high-rise of more than ten stories in the city and came into view.
But Lin Feng's Hawkeye allowed him to see it with perfect clarity.
The monster looked like a caterpillar magnified countless times over. It was about thirty meters tall and twenty meters wide. Its full length was impossible to see, but the visible portion was already close to a hundred meters long.
It had a purplish-red, strangely garish hide covered in stiff bristles. Its head was dotted with over a hundred eyeballs, each half the size of a person. From the nearly ten-meter-wide mouthparts below, a continuous, ear-piercing shriek emanated.
Both sides of the long zerg's body were lined with pulsating, fleshy tumors, and something appeared to be squirming within them.
On its broad back stood more than a dozen large, cylindrical pillars of flesh...
Newborn Black Spine Zergs, curled into balls and coated in an egg-like membrane, were continuously being ejected from these pillars, landing on the ground below.
And this creature was none other than the high-level Zerg unit from the files, a creature capable of destroying a major city of a million people on its own, a hitherto invincible entity—the Mother Empress!
The main forces sent to support Hai City had been locked in a bitter, difficult struggle against it...
'But why is the Mother Empress in the south of the city!?'
The moment Lin Feng saw the Mother Empress, he felt a distinct pressure in his mind, and his eyes began to ache and throb.
This was a sign that his system's Identification was overloaded. It was also the fear of his own insignificance, the terror of being unable to withstand the Mother Empress's oppressive aura!
But Lin Feng, at least, remained conscious. He grabbed the dumbstruck Chen Yanyan and slapped her hard across the face twice. After snapping her out of it, he urged her to get in the driver's seat and floor it.
As for Lin Feng, he raised his Divine-level Pistol, preparing to fend off the endless Zerg Race army pouring forth from the Mother Empress's feet, more than ten kilometers away!
"What are you still gawking for?!"
"RUN!!!"