Upon reading the letter, Suiyue rubbed his lower jaw. "For something like this to have happened... it looks like the nine of us will be convened again."

A sura king was constructing something with cut-up pieces of human bodies. In front of a cross, he was continuously assembling, disassembling, and reassembling severed limbs. "The left arm on the right, the right arm on the left, the two legs on the bottom..."

"No, no. The two legs facing straight out, the head in the very middle, the body hung up... one arm in the head's mouth?"

A piece of brutal, bloody, and crazy 'artwork' was thus finished.

The sura king glanced at his 'sculpture' and frowned. "I feel like I'm missing something, a new horizon, a new truth. Compared to my human centipede from before, this is nothing. As I expected, the artistry of living things is far greater than that of the dead."

The sura king beamed with pride as he recalled his past work. His body trembled, and he almost climaxed from the recollection.

This sura king was Fenghe. He looked cultured and was dressed well, with a monocle over one eye. That eye was a compound eye similar to those that insects possessed.

Despite his appearance, his thoughts were crazed and vulgar.

After all, to become a sura king required some amount of insanity.

He walked out of his atelier and into his dungeon, which was filled with all sorts of monsters—lifeforms that somehow managed to live with just their buttocks and two legs; that had their two arms and legs swapped with each other; that had three heads, each from a different creature; that had a brain spliced together with a hundred others.

Fenghe soon reached his newest creation, a gigantic creature over three meters tall, with seven heads in all. The first one was natural and rested atop its neck; the other six grew in a line from chest to stomach. The creature had eight arms in all, and the stitches from forcibly grafting the arms on were clearly visible.

Fenghe glanced at his work with wonder. "It looks like this experiment was a success. I'll call you Fenghe Creation #107."

The monster bashed itself against the metal bars as its primary head yelled out, "I'll kill you!"

The head that grew out of the creature's chest begged, "Please kill me!"

The second head that grew out of the creature's chest shouted, "Save me!"

The fourth head in line hoarsely muttered, "I want to die."

All seven heads spoke simultaneously and independently, causing Fenghe to smile. "Very good. The experiment really was successful."

Just then, a sura with antlers on his head and wings behind his back flew down. "Your highness, there's a missive from the monarch of stars!"

"Let me have a look." Fenghe glanced at the letter and sighed. "What a shame! It looks like I'll have to be separated from my art for some time."

A handsome sura with bull's horns was hugging a beautiful human woman, who asked him, "Why do you treat me so well, your highness?"

"Why do you like me even though I have a bull's horns, then?"

The beautiful woman seemed a little frightened by the question. Taking a deep breath and drumming up her courage, she asked, "I'm a human, aren't I? Those of your race treat me like nothing more than cattle. But you released all the humans enslaved within your kingdom just for me—how could it be worth it?"

The handsome sura tilted the woman's head up as he whispered, "For you, everything is worth it."

The beautiful woman's eyes dilated. "Your highness..."

The handsome sura suddenly said, "There's something I'd like to get your help with, actually."

"Anything for you, your highness."

"I have a few brothers who haven't had a taste of a human for quite some time."

"What?!"

The woman was still in a daze when the door to the room burst open and thirty sura rushed inside, pouncing on her and pinning her onto the bed. The woman's eyes widened as she yelled, "Save me, your highness! Didn't you say you loved me most in the world?"

The handsome sura's eyes brightened as he watched the scene. "Indeed, indeed! That's why I most want to see you scream and yell out in despair before you die unwillingly."

He watched on as the woman's clothes were torn off her body, revealing her snow-white skin, and then as the sura restrained and raped her. So excited did he become that his head slowly transformed into that of an ox.

This was the sura king Niutou.

Another sura walked into the room. Niutou turned and asked, "Do you want to join in too?"

The sura glanced at the struggling woman in bed and pursed his lips. "I'm tired of it, your highness—you must do this twenty times a year at the very least. Right, I have a letter for you."

Niutou nodded and glanced at the letter in his hands. "What happened to the humans that were released from the kingdom?"

"We've sent some sura to capture them again, and they've now been corralled and sent to a nearby city."

Niutou nodded. "Choose a beautiful woman among them and repeat the process."

The sura nodded. He knew that, against thirty adult sura, the human woman had no chance of surviving.

After Niutou opened the letter and began reading through it, he added, "Leave the selection for later. I have something more important to do at the moment."

Sun Mengmeng asked, "What's our next goal, Zhang Lie?"

"All of you in Team Zenith should kill these peak-grade lifeforms to acquire more peak gene fragments. Remember to bring the leader of the rock spirits, along with the Yeluo chieftain.

"Make sure to bring the leader of the rock spirits with you at any cost. The rock spirit has grown much stronger since the raid, and I think it should be able to suppress a peak-grade lifeform by itself."

Given all the metal it had absorbed, the rock spirit's defense was hard for even Zhang Lie to penetrate. With the rock spirit around, Zhang Lie was certain that, even if the members of Team Zenith were ambushed by a group of peak-grade lifeforms, there wouldn't be a problem.

To be frank, the rock spirit would only be there for added security; it wasn't difficult for the members of Team Zenith, working together, to take down a peak-grade lifeform.

They were much like family to Zhang Lie, and he certainly wasn't going to allow them to die.

"What about you, Zhang Lie?" Sun Mengmeng asked.

"I'm planning to go to a certain location."

"Where? Can't we accompany you?"

Zhang Lie replied frankly, "It's a little dangerous, and given your strength, you wouldn't be able to be of much help."

Sun Mengmeng lowered her head in disappointment—Zhang Lie's words meant that the members of Team Zenith would only drag him down.

Zhang Lie rubbed Sun Mengmeng's head. "Don't worry about me just yet. Focus on strengthening yourselves. I'll definitely need all your help in the future."

"I understand, Captain!" Sun Mengmeng's spirits were kindled once again.