The Ultimate Evolution

Sheyan sighed and slowly eased his foot off the accelerator because it was meaningless to tread on it anymore.

The faint sound coming out of the brand-new ion thruster engines could only be described as an old man’s dying cough. Sheyan knew that it was no use trying any harder to pump fuel into them.

The problem was not in the fuel. The fuel tank was full when he departed, and it was still more than half full currently.

The poisonous corrosive gas emitted by the death zone had quietly eroded the Vulture’s engines. It had made multiple holes in the cores of the engines where precision was most required, lowering the power output again and again, until the power output eventually became a joke.

“No time to waste,” Sheyan muttered to himself.

He jumped out of the cockpit and stared at the Vulture whose surface had been corroded by the toxic gas into a mess. His fingertip suddenly extended and sharpened into a silvery-white blade, just like the liquid metal Terminator from Terminator 2, and effortlessly cut out a huge piece from the Vulture’s leather seat to make a simple mask to cover his face with.

The death zone indiscriminately poured its toxic and corrosive gas onto Sheyan. Yes, the harsh environment which had never lost a battle was still trying to conquer this creature in front of it. As Sheyan strode forward, he observed the rate at which his HP dropped with a frown. In the end, he came to a conclusion:

Even though he was extremely resilient, he would still die if he was exposed to this harsh environment for more than ten hours.

Sheyan’s frown deepened upon realising that. He could not help looking at a certain ability of his as he muttered to himself.

“If worse comes to worst, I can only put this away first. This way, I should be able to prolong my life for about five hours.”

The ability Sheyan was examining was the powerful ability derived from ‘Pestilence Monarch’, the ‘Beast of Corrosion’!

The name of this ability was currently replaced by a row of question marks on Sheyan’s ability list because it had gone into mutation after it had combined with the ability Sheyan acquired from the Pandora’s box that was supposedly custom-tailored for him! There was a progress bar below it which had reached 89%.

Undoubtedly, the process was occupying a large part of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’s capacity, so if Sheyan were to temporarily suspend this process, he believed he would be able to last longer.

In the face of a harsh survival crisis, Sheyan was already thinking of how to last longer without dying. Because this might be a really long journey, Sheyan was in no hurry to depart yet. After making a simple mask for himself, he cut out several more pieces of leather and wrapped them around his legs. Only after that did he start marching towards the distance at a steady rhythm.

***

Less than 10 minutes after Sheyan left the broken-down Vulture, a figure silently emerged beside it. The figure was none other than the transformed Snake. He was now a Messenger of Pain, an assassin sent by the Queen.

At this time, he had already evolved once again to cope with the severe environment of the death zone.

His armour-like outer shell was gone, replaced by tough, airtight skin. The toxic corrosive gas could not penetrate this layer of skin, and the filtration system in his respiratory organs had also increased to four layers.

At the same time, the muscles of his legs and arms had become more developed in order to help him pursue the enemy better. There was obviously a distinct improvement in his agility. Corresponding to this evolutionary feature, the number of bone spikes on the surface of his body had also increased, and there were spots of dark green on them – they were obviously highly poisonous. Since his speed had vastly increased, then kiting the enemy to death with long-range attacks was no doubt the best choice.

After confirming that the Vulture was the one driven by Sheyan, the Messenger of Pain stooped down and circled around the vehicle twice while baring his teeth, then sniffed a few times at the spot Sheyan had stood on. After that, he roared wildly and shredded the broken-down Vulture into pieces with his claws and teeth! Brown-coloured blood splattered about during the process, but the monster kept going even after losing a few teeth and breaking a few claws!

This was where the name Messenger of Pain came from. He would bring pain to his enemies and also to himself, not letting go of any opportunity to cause pain. To him, pain was the driving force of life, the reason for him to fight. Either he made his enemies suffer or he would suffer even more himself!

Finally, the Messenger of Pain smashed the energy box and let out a sharp howl which penetrating far into the distance, seemingly trying to use his voice to pierce through the sky.

By this time, Sheyan was already 15 kilometers away. The shrill, ghastly wind of the death zone lingered around his ears all the time, and the dastardly environment kept nibbling away at his life, but he still kept up his vigilance. After all, his strong Perceptive Sense was constantly reminding him that the danger had not passed yet.

Even though the Messenger of Pain’s provocative roar had to reverberate between the mountains countless times amidst the sounds of harsh winds before it reached Sheyan’s ears, Sheyan could still vaguely hear it. He could not help uttering with a frown, “That’s fast… Wait! Something’s not right!”

Sheyan had keen senses, especially on the battlefield. After pondering over it carefully, he immediately realised what the problem was. It was the style.

Someone like the Queen of Blades would definitely regard pursuing Sheyan as a humiliation, so she would never shout out such a provocative roar. She would definitely choose to get rid of Sheyan silently, then leave immediately afterwards.

“The Queen of Blades is actually sending someone else after me? That’s another thing out of my expectations. This woman is not that simple; she could come up with measures that target the blind spots in my thinking every time! Based on her personality, the one she sent must be someone that she thinks will be able to kill me for sure. Who would it be? A heroic Zergling? A heroic Hydralisk? A heroic Ultralisk? A heroic Mutalisk?… No, these conventional forces may be stronger than me, but Kerrigan wouldn’t be 100% sure that they can kill me….”

Sheyan suddenly caught a glimpse of the weapon he had stolen, the one bearing the Queen’s memory: the unpopular C-10 Canister Rifle.

“That bitch used to be a Ghost before she became the Zerg’s leader. Snake’s also a Ghost. Could it be Snake?…”

When Sheyan thought of this, he decided to stop. He was not someone who liked to run away from the pursuit of his enemies like a beaten dog. He was already thinking of a counterattack, so he had to gauge the opponent’s strength. The ball was in his court right now. If he used the few minutes he had to plan and arrange the battlefield to his advantage, then even if he could not defeat the enemy, he should still be able to escape.

Sheyan watched the Messenger of Pain approach rapidly from afar. The monster’s abnormally long legs and arms looked almost like the poles of a pole vaulter, easily launching him forward. Then, following a flash of light, a series of information appeared in front of Sheyan:

[ Messenger of Pain: Infected Hominid Primate (Can only be transformed from someone who has special mental powers) ]

[ Attributes: Unknown ]

[ Innate Ability: ‘Active’ — The Messenger of Pain used to be a powerful Ghost. His psionic power has been transformed into a powerful accumulator, so active energy is constantly flooding every one of his cells. Any healing effect enjoyed by the Messenger of Pain will be boosted by 1000%, and his speed of recovery is increased by 300%. ]

[ Ability: ‘Bone Javelin’ — Details unknown ]

[ Ability: ‘Guided Poisonous Spike’ — Details unknown ]

[ Ability: ‘???’ — Details unknown ]

[ Passive Ability: ‘Agonising Pain’ — The Messenger of Pain can gain additional strength from his or his enemy’s pain. When the Messenger of Pain receives damage or causes pain to others through damage, he will gain a certain amount of bonus in attack speed and movement speed. ]

[ Explanation: The Queen of Blades, Kerrigan, was originally just an ordinary Ghost, but the Great Overmind saw her potential and turned her into the monster she is today. Her resulting strength might be a coincidence, but it surely has something to do with her formidable Ghost psionic powers too. And now, Kerrigan has finally obtained another Ghost to “toy” with. The transformation she performed was simple and rough, but she has combined her own powers with a little bit of luck to produce this Messenger of Pain. ]

***

“So that’s how it is. No wonder the Queen of Blades is so confident and doesn’t even care about the poisonous environment of the death zone. She’s actually sent something like this to chase after me!” muttered Sheyan to himself.

Sheyan was actually in quite a dilemma because his greatest advantage was his durability, but the monster he was going to face seemed like he was even more resilient than Sheyan. Sheyan was feeling the anxiety of his advantage being suppressed.

This feeling of anxiety reached its peak by the time Sheyan counted to 37 seconds, because he could now finally see the true appearance of the Messenger of Pain that was chasing after him. It gave rise to a feeling of fear in his heart.