Chapter 74: The Interweaving of Martial Arts and Genes

"Yes, sir, yes, do you want to depart now?"

"Driver sir, you can actually sit with me when I go."

At this moment, Xiao Jiu, who hadn't spoken in a long time, suddenly said; Zhang Jie froze, then slapped his forehead.

I completely forgot I still have a fine ship!

"Alright, then I'll sit with you when you go."

"Mr. Zhang Jie, please stay."

"The leader specifically instructed us that no matter where you go, we must escort you."

"Please wait a moment."

"Okay, thanks for the trouble."

The simulation's reward settlement still has ten hours, but Zhang Jie doesn't look forward to this simulation's reward.

Because his performance in this simulation was really lackluster—he did everything, yet it seemed he accomplished nothing.

"Over 170 years have passed..."

"It seems... Weiniya is probably no longer among the living..."

Not everyone possesses talent as strong as Lin Ran's; Lin Ran is the woman who turned gene locks into an RPG game—who could compare to her?

Theoretically speaking, Lin Ran can already achieve immortality.

But if I don't work hard, I'll likely die of old age in front of Lin Ran again; however, relying on the Alliance's advanced biotechnology, he definitely won't die so easily.

At this moment, I have already arrived in Xiao Jiu's ship's cargo hold; compared to the semi-intelligent flying ship that still requires the owner to manually add energy blocks, Xiao Jiu's is much more hassle-free.

When hungry, I will eat super-compressed carbohydrate blocks; the humanoid intelligence can also accompany the owner, providing emotional value and satisfying various needs, etc.

Aside from being a bit expensive, you can't find any flaws!

However, Zhang Jie isn't thinking about that much right now; following the memory of the second simulation in his mind, he slowly performs a set of basic fist techniques.

Xiao Jiu watched Zhang Jie curiously from the side, even imitating him.

When the highly proficient fist technique from memory arrived in the new body, it was a bit stiff at first, but after practicing both sets, they perfectly merged, indistinguishable.

And at this moment, in Zhang Jie's perception, a faint transparent airflow suddenly appeared around him.

'This is... qi?'

With a light wave of the hand, the surrounding qi surged into his body like a tide; pain struck, qi power continually cleared Zhang Jie's meridians, a creaking sound rang out, sweat beaded on Zhang Jie's forehead, and his brows furrowed.

"Driver sir?"

Xiao Jiu looked at Zhang Jie with some concern, holding a towel and gently wiping his cheeks.

After a moment, the meridians inside his body were expanded by the qi power, like opening wide canals; the qi power swam into Zhang Jie's body like excited fish.

Martial Arts Second Stage, Stream, instantly formed!

"Hah..."

Zhang Jie opened his eyes slightly surprised, looking at his hands.

Unexpectedly, the body-training effect of Martial Arts First Stage can actually be built upon a gene warrior's physique to directly begin gathering qi.

"Kind of interesting."

A level-ten gene warrior's body is already extremely strong; two completely different systems are intertwined here without the slightest stiffness or rejection.

Although, when the qi power reaches the Stream Realm, the boost it gives him is considerably less compared to a level-ten gene warrior.

But once he enters Martial Arts Third Stage, after qi transforms into blood, blood into liquid gold, and liquid gold into divine abilities, the enhancement martial arts provides him cannot be ignored.

'I wonder what reward the simulation settlement will give me?'

Zhang Jie looked at the simulator panel, silently thinking to himself.

Since the reward hasn't been settled yet, the point shop hasn't yet shown any items related to prosthetic technology or martial arts.

Regarding this, Zhang Jie is very much looking forward to it.

Coming into contact with two different systems at once is an opportunity that doesn't come often.

"Driver sir? Are you alright?"

Xiao Jiu's worried voice came over; Zhang Jie waved his hand, but at this moment a strange idea suddenly popped into his mind.

If Lin Ran and Xiao Jiu learned martial arts, what wonderful changes would occur?

Saying it, doing it—Zhang Jie first asked Xiao Jiu to record a video of his fist practice from various angles and send it to Lin Ran.

The other party replied instantly.

Lin Ran: (′⊙ω⊙`)

Lin Ran: So handsome, so handsome!

At this moment, Lin Ran is idling on the battlefield, like a personal machine.

Before her, a massive insect nest continuously spews black insect disasters; countless Alliance fleets launch fierce attacks, and even though Lin Ran is idling nearby, the battle situation is completely one-sided.

"What is the Leader doing over there?"

"I don't know, but the Leader certainly has a deep intention in doing this."

"That's right."

Two Alliance members piloted their warships past, commenting confidently as they watched Lin Ran's back while she played on her phone.

User9527: Indeed handsome.

User9527: This is another power system I found; try practicing it.

User9527: I'll tell you the details when I get back.

Lin Ran: Mm-hmm!

Lin Ran: (*^ω^*)

After sending the cute emoticon, Lin Ran deliberately crossed her legs, gripping the red long spear tightly, and fired a Star-piercing Spear at the insect disaster's mother nest, directly blasting it to pieces.

The surrounding Alliance fleet members jumped in fright, seeing Lin Ran deliberately put on a grimace, they inwardly thought, 'This is not good!'

As long as a leader shows such an expression, it means they might have made a huge mistake somewhere!

Could it be that the time to resolve the Insect Disaster is too long? Or that the battle losses are high? Or...

However, in fact, nothing happened; Lin Ran deliberately raised a grimace mainly because she was afraid her amusement would be seen, and her hard‑earned dignified leader image could not just collapse like that.

While thinking, she casually popped a piece of jasmine‑flavored rock candy into her little mouth.

She still loves jasmine and rock candy just as much.

The view shifts back to Zhang Jie's side, where he is currently teaching Xiao Jiu basic fist techniques.

Although it's unknown whether Xiao Jiu, whose true form is a Ship Girl of a warship, can master this, Zhang Jie still intends to give it a try.

Time quietly passed; after a curvature flight lasting over five hours, Zhang Jie and the others finally arrived in a dead‑silent star system.

"Driver, we've arrived."

Xiao Jiu panted, the flush on her face not yet faded.

Don't misunderstand, this is from practicing fists, not from doing anything strange with Zhang Jie.

The warship slowly descended, landing on a land covered in scorched earth; the once‑blue planet had become a dead star.

The atmosphere covering the planet's surface had almost vanished, but fortunately Zhang Jie's body can now operate in a vacuum, so these pose no problem for him.

Xiao Jiu also followed beside Zhang Jie, warily gazing at the surroundings.

The abandoned city; the simulated ruins of the old civilization have disappeared, replaced by one ruined city after another.

Although everything is now different, Zhang Jie can still, based on the AI's real‑time map analysis and the shape of the continent, locate where the former C Area once was.

"Looks like we've arrived..."

Zhang Jie lifted his head, gazing at this expanse of ruins, as past memories gradually surfaced.