Xiao Cheng watched as Xu Chu took a few steps back, used the slightest leverage, and jumped down without even blinking.

Su Xin stared at the will-o'-the-wisp, her expression equally serious. She had prepared long before he spoke, and floating stones landed precisely at Xu Chu's feet, forming a simple stone staircase that led him down to the bottom.

But this clearly took a toll on Su Xin as well. Her face turned visibly pale, and she was sweating profusely. She was in no better condition than Qiao Liao.

"Let's follow!" Seeing the floating stone rapidly becoming illusory and about to completely dissipate, Fang He decisively grabbed Xiao Cheng and rushed out after them.

The moment they landed, a piercing alarm suddenly blared throughout the entire hunting grounds.

"Warning! Warning! Unidentified intruder has illegally entered the area! Warning! Warning! Defense mechanisms have been automatically activated! The hunting grounds have been sealed off!"

All the zombies froze instantly, put down the players in front of them, and turned to look at Xiao Cheng and his two companions. The players, finally able to catch their breath, turned around in confusion, their expressions varying as they looked at the three of them.

A semi-transparent protective shield rapidly rose from the entire basin, its dark light swirling and outlining the hexagonal honeycomb structure on it.

Qiao Liao and Su Xin were completely blocked outside. They tried to break through the protective barrier to come in, but were violently thrown a long way and crashed heavily to the ground. It took them a long time to recover.

Xiao Cheng gestured to them from a distance to calm down, then refocused his attention on the horde of zombies in front of him.

Xu Chu had gone straight for the will-o'-the-wisp, but when he reached out and grabbed it, the will-o'-the-wisp passed right through his palm, even circling him twice in a mocking manner before drifting leisurely to a corner of the hunting grounds.

A009 emerged from the shadows, opened its mouth, and inhaled it forcefully. Then, with a satisfied look on its face, it squinted its eyes and let out an exaggerated, affected sigh.

The zombies spontaneously parted to the sides, making a wide passage for it, each one appearing extremely respectful, as if welcoming their king.

A009 slowly walked along the passage. After removing the rotten flesh from its face and body, it now looked quite like a human, with no trace of the stiffness it had shown at the beginning in its expression and movements.

Xiao Cheng stared at the three huge red question marks above its head and felt an indescribable sense of oppression for the first time.

What is this? A zombie king?

A009 stood arrogantly two meters away from them, snapped his fingers, and the alarm in the arena stopped instantly.

"You were at least prey who raised the insect queen for me, so you deserve the most basic respect." He extended his right index finger and slowly pointed it at Xiao Cheng.

A miniature, crimson snake-like creature coiled around his finger. Looking at the horn protruding from its head, Xiao Cheng felt the wound on his wrist begin to ache again.

"I've succeeded, I've done it, and now it's time to reap the rewards." A009 withdrew her hand, gently stroking the insect queen's small head. Her tone instantly turned sinister as she coldly questioned, "So, why did you cause trouble at this time?"

His clothes and hair began to move without wind, a dangerous aura spread rapidly, and restless energy fluctuated around him.

The air seemed to distort, and countless colorful points of light slowly emerged around him, eventually gathering together of the same color to transform into countless dazzling lights, intertwining and slowly taking shape.

All the zombies made groaning sounds of fear and unease. As fear spread, they knelt down one after another, their entire bodies trembling violently. Then, their flesh began to peel off their bones on its own, and one after another, ghostly blue flames emerged from their corpses, gathering towards A009 as if on a pilgrimage.

The ground began to tremble, then quickly cracked open. From the bottomless fissures, countless black tentacles crawled out, and under their pull, clumps of flesh the size of watermelons emerged from the ground, surrounding A009 and emitting pleasant squeaking sounds.

The players were stunned. They didn't know what had happened, but the anomaly occurred after Xiao Cheng and his group entered the arena.

"What have you done?!" Number 66 shouted in shock and anger. She was in a terrible state, with a gash on her head and blood flowing down, almost completely blurring her vision.

She was still holding a fire whip in her hand, but as the commotion from A009's side grew louder, the entire fire whip vanished silently in an instant, leaving only a wisp of ash.

Not only her, but the other players also quickly realized that their powers seemed to be malfunctioning. One of them suddenly clutched his stomach in pain and vomited a glob of dark blood.

In the center of the pool of blood lay a strange, elongated worm, wriggling uneasily, somewhat resembling a leech. Then, it suddenly burst into flames, transforming into a ball of will-o'-the-wisp that drifted towards A009.

This player is just the first one.

Following closely behind, everyone, including Xu Chu and Fang He, began to vomit blood uncontrollably. Clusters of will-o'-the-wisps rose up, drifting slowly in the same direction, creating a rather spectacular scene, but Xiao Cheng had no interest in appreciating it.

There was only one thought in my mind.

I'm afraid they're going to play games.

A009 seemed to be indulging in a gluttonous feast, with strings of will-o'-the-wisps entering his body, and the fleshy spheres jumping and twisting as if singing praises.

Different afterimages appeared alternately behind him, sometimes a sea of ​​fire, sometimes a hurricane, and sometimes layers of mountains.

Finally, these phantoms suddenly disappeared into his body, and his entire zombie began to grow endlessly, his body becoming more and more distorted, with sharp, white bone spurs piercing through his skin.

"Mine! Mine! All mine!" he roared madly, raising his fist high, creating a mountain-like illusion, and slamming it down heavily towards Xiao Cheng and the others.

"You son of a bitch!" Xiao Cheng's pupils suddenly contracted. Not only did he have to hide, but he also had to take Fang He and Xu Chu with him.

Fortunately, A009 probably hadn't fully adapted to the new power yet, and his accuracy was still a bit off, so he missed his first punch. But he didn't show any displeasure; instead, he raised his second punch with even more excitement.

"Damn it! What the hell are you all standing there for?! You can still stand up! Let's get him!" Xiao Cheng tossed the two knives in his hands aside, grabbed a short knife from Fang He, and slashed hard at the huge fist that was coming down on him!