Infinity, The Arcade Age-Chapter 403: The Audio Nest Modifiers

Qin Ming's abilities were quite peculiar. When facing opponents of the same level, he seemed to rely purely on being tough to beat and his strong recovery abilities to slowly grind them down. His other skills weren't even worth mentioning.

But that only applied to equal opponents. Against weaker ones, Qin Ming was nothing short of a nightmare.

High defense! Massive health! Expert at AOE (area-of-effect) attacks! The more enemies, the stronger he got!

For most people, having the numbers might let them beat a master with chaotic strikes.

But for Qin Ming? The more people came at him, the more excited he became!

You could say Qin Ming was a pure rookie killer, the textbook example of a tank-type boss—the kind of nightmare enemy that makes beginners rage quit games.

Against other bosses, his tank-only playstyle might not shine—his limited abilities could easily leave him struggling.

But for players trying to take him down? This guy was even more annoying than the final boss!

He was exactly the kind of boss you'd find in some third-rate game—intentionally designed just to piss players off, made to be difficult for the sake of difficulty, and totally unreasonable.

If your stats weren't high enough, even godlike technique wouldn't help.

You hit him? Just a scratch.

He hits you? Instant death.

And he deals AOE!

If this guy was in a real game, the devs would have their entire family name cursed in the forums daily!

Right now, the members of the Audio Nest base had been completely stunned by Qin Ming.

Countless blood blades slashed back and forth. Their accuracy wasn't great, but there were just so many of them.

This move might be useless against experts, but for the regular Audio Nest soldiers, it was a massacre—instant maiming or death.

Holding the blood sphere in one hand, the other hand casually tucked behind his back, Qin Ming marched forward with a cold, expressionless face.

Anyone who dared to get close to him—or even appear in his line of sight—was immediately sliced into several, even dozens, of pieces.

At this moment, the hulking, blood-absorbing Qin Ming looked more like a villain than a hero.

And right now, he was doing exactly what a villain would do—slaughtering every last person in the Audio Nest branch.

This wasn't about justice or morality. He didn't care whether the target was good or evil.

Qin Ming just wanted treasure chests. Anyone who might drop one was his prey.

Before returning, he wanted to feast.

Qin Ming continued his rampage unimpeded until he finally reached the center of the base—where, at last, someone managed to stop him.

Three people appeared—the Audio Nest Organization's modifiers.

First was a hulking figure from the mechanical modification program: Maxima Unit 3, with over 70% of his body mechanized and loaded with various offensive weapons.

Next, a lean and wiry man from the genetic modification program: K43.

And finally, a man clad in a black combat cloak, arms crossed and eyes sharp as he glared at Qin Ming—the leader of this Audio Nest base and high-ranking member of the organization: Audio Nest Number 19.

Seeing Qin Ming pause before them, all three wore serious expressions. Clearly, they had already recognized who he was.

After all, Qin Ming had just been crowned champion of the King of Fighters tournament—his name wasn't exactly obscure.

Watching his blood blades slam into Maxima Unit 3's body and spark off uselessly without leaving a scratch, Qin Ming finally stopped wasting energy on random attacks.

Raising his hand, he clenched it into a fist—causing the blood sphere to wrap around his arm and absorb back into his body. Qin Ming looked at the trio, the corners of his mouth curling up.

"So... you three are the big fish this time, huh?"

Audio Nest 19 didn't respond. He simply frowned and waved his hand.

"Go. Kill him!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Maxima 3 and K43 charged at Qin Ming together.

Maxima was the first to reach him. Suddenly, he slid to a stop, grabbed his other wrist, and raised his arm to aim at Qin Ming.

Skill: M3-Type Maxima Missile!

Boom!

A blast of fire roared out as Maxima's arm opened up, launching several small missiles straight at Qin Ming.

Faced with such high-tech firepower right from the start, Qin Ming simply raised his hand and grabbed forward. His blood transformed into a solid shield, catching every single missile head-on.

But before the flames had even cleared, a piercing whistle reached his ears.

The next second, the fire twisted and surged—K43, the genetic modification product, was already lunging in with a sliding straight punch!

His arm, thrust straight toward Qin Ming, twisted and morphed into a drill, spinning rapidly as it drove toward Qin Ming's chest!

Skill: Flesh Modification - Drill Strike!

Seeing the spinning flesh drill hurtling toward him, Qin Ming's pupils shrank—but without hesitation, he reached out to grab it!

A screeching screech rang out as Qin Ming, under the astonished gaze of all three enemies, used brute strength to forcibly stop the high-speed drill cold!

With a swing, he slammed K43 into the ground. Before he could follow up with a finishing stomp, the dazed K43 suddenly raised his mutated arm again.

The twisted flesh shifted rapidly—his arm transforming into a blood-flesh cannon.

With a surge of energy from within, three flesh cannonballs erupted point-blank into Qin Ming's chest, blasting him back two steps!

Before the flames wrapped around him could fade, a loud roar came from behind.

It was Maxima 3—he'd seized the opportunity, tearing off his combat suit to reveal the energy cannon implanted in his chest, now fully charged and ready to fire.

Ultimate Skill: Golden Missile!

A pincer attack! Coordinated perfectly!

Though their modification paths were completely different—one mechanical, one genetic—Maxima 3 and K43 fought together with stunning synergy.

The two, successfully landing direct hits on Qin Ming, remained in their pincer formation, alert and cautious, not letting down their guard for even a moment.

The leader of the branch organization, Audio Nest Number 19, stood there, arms crossed, expressionless, watching the scene without moving a muscle.

As the flames in the center died down, a towering figure gradually appeared in the trio's line of sight.

Qin Ming, who had just been struck by both of them, was now patting down the dust and smoke on his body, his brows tightly furrowed.

It was obvious that Maxima Unit 3, the mechanical modification product, was a long-range specialist with impressive offensive power.

K43, on the other hand, was a mid-range special forces type—flexible in both close and distant combat, responsible for maneuvering and hit-and-run tactics.

There should, logically, be a close-combat specialist as well—Angel.

Her main role was to pin down opponents, and the three of them together represented the ideal team, the true strength protecting this base.

However, Angel, who had already fought Qin Ming once, clearly had no intention of helping now.

After all, Qin Ming was the one she had specifically called in! If she were to intervene, it would be completely out of character!

Maxima Unit 3's face turned a deep shade of blue as he looked at Qin Ming, who had just taken a full hit from his ultimate attack and yet remained completely unharmed. He scanned the surroundings nervously.

Seeing that Angel, the strongest among them, hadn't shown up yet, Maxima gritted his teeth, unable to do anything but charge again alongside K43.

With the second round of combined attacks coming in, Qin Ming, who had already figured out their capabilities, decided it was time to get serious.

With a wave of his hand, a blood-red sonic hand strike shot out, immediately slicing across Maxima 3's body, causing sparks to fly as it successfully pierced his front armor.

Quickly countering, Qin Ming formed a blood shield with his other hand, which solidified as it wrapped around the blood drill that had pierced it.

Before K43 could even react, trying to pull his arm back in shock, Qin Ming swung his other hand down hard.

The blood on his arm twisted into a blade-like form.

A single blood blade hand strike from Qin Ming effortlessly severed K43's arm at the root.

Before K43 could even scream in pain or retreat, Qin Ming charged forward with a direct punch that landed squarely on K43's chest.

With a burst of blood from K43's arm, there was a tremendous explosion, and K43's body was literally snapped in half by the blood force inside him!

Before the severed half of K43's body could hit the ground, Qin Ming swung his arm forward. The blood condensed into a long spear in his hand, which he threw with tremendous force.

A howling gust of wind followed, and before the second specially crafted chest cannon shot by Maxima 3 could even reach Qin Ming, the blood spear shattered it to pieces.

The blood spear continued flying, undiminished in power, and pierced straight through Maxima 3's chest cannon, impaling his entire body.

The next second—Maxima 3's energy cannon exploded, and with a final scream, his body erupted in a violent explosion!

The shockwave from the explosion sent Qin Ming sliding backward by over a meter!

The two hidden bosses, after Qin Ming figured out their moves, were easily dealt with in just moments—they had no ability to retaliate at all.

After all, these hidden bosses were ranked by tiers, and the strength of the modified bodies varied greatly. The stronger ones were truly powerful, but the weaker ones were just as weak.

Maxima 3 and K43 were mass-produced experimental models, and their strength was rather subpar.

Perhaps they could cause headaches for regular adventurers with their special abilities, but when it came to Qin Ming, they were far from enough.

They didn't even compare to Angel, a special modification unit!

Angel was one of the few survivors from her batch of experimental subjects—and she was the most perfect one!

You could say she was the highest-level product of that batch!

After her modification program matured, even though the success rate of modifications had improved, making mass-produced modified units possible, Angel's combat abilities far outclassed any other modified units from the same series.

Had it not been for her lazy personality, low task completion rate, and tendency to be disobedient, she would've long since been promoted to high-ranking personnel.

The mechanical modification program counterpart to Angel was likely the first successful modification—Maxima Unit 1, the namesake for the Maxima model!

As for the K-model, it was still highly unstable, with no completed versions. The ones out there were all failed prototypes.

With just the mass-produced Maxima 3 and the failed K43, they were no match for Angel, who could easily beat them in combat.

After quickly disposing of the two and collecting the dim silver treasure chests they dropped, Qin Ming slowly raised his head to look at Audio Nest 19, who had remained motionless the entire time. He raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't join them?"

Upon hearing this, Audio Nest 19, still with his arms crossed, finally spoke, his face stern.

"Because it's unnecessary. I've already collected your battle data. Their task is complete. Against you, I'm more than enough."

As he spoke, Audio Nest 19 raised a hand and tapped his helmet.

With a mechanical whir, the high-tech glasses on his face split and retracted into the helmet. Immediately, a robotic voice echoed in his ear.

"Ding! Data collection complete! Target identity confirmed... Qin Ming! Champion of the King of Fighters Tournament! Power: A, Speed: B, Defense: S, Fighting Skills: B, Self-healing Ability: Extraordinary! Combat techniques are being loaded."

With a smile tugging at his lips, Audio Nest 19 spun around dramatically, his black cloak flying out behind him. He struck a combat pose with his hand raised.

"You're the King of Fighters champion, huh? You seem quite proud of your fighting skills? Then come, and witness the power of technology! See how your so-called ultimate techniques are utterly defeated by the Audio Nest combat suit!"

(End of Chapter)