I Spread my Genes to Level Up in the Apocalypse

"So I didn't have to hold back?" His eyebrows gradually tightened, making him frown.

The reason Ray didn't instantly kill that wolf was simply that he didn't need to.

He could have killed that wolf with his raw, sheer strength, but if he had done so, the data wouldn't have been collected. That is also why Ray tried to keep the fight in the room as much as possible.

This wall might not look like much, but it was made of a material called Neutronium, a substance so dense that it boggles the mind.

This material is formed in neutron stars, where gravity crushes protons and electrons together, creating neutrons.

Ray also acquired this from the inhabitants of Neptune. This was primarily the reason he spared them, even after killing their planetary being.

"Berry 12.0, can you identify the energy in the black vibrating ball?" Ray asked curiously.

"Negative," Berry 12.0 replied.

"..." Ray silently touched his chin. "I shouldn't have expected much."

Then he moved forward as the void distorted and tore open in front of him, allowing him to return to his previous lab room.

The torn corpse sewn itself again like magic and slowly levitated back to its initial position.

As soon as Ray appeared, the image of the corpse reappeared in front of him, even more grotesque than before.

"Lod Ray, what happened there?" his assistant tentatively called out.

Ray glanced at his assistant and the other people whose ears were perked up, eager to hear the answer.

His brows twitched. "Are you guys so interested? Have you completely understood how to use the technologies I provided to you?"

"Umm, about that…"

He scratched his head slightly.

"You guys are not leaving until you show me at least one component that is going to work!" Ray spoke sternly.

"That will usually take us three days…"

"Your salaries will be increased by 50%, and all the benefits you get as well…" Ray paused. "You can enjoy a day off."

"For everyone?" His assistant was the first to exclaim, his body trembling as if in disbelief.

"Yeah."

Ray spoke lightly. "For now, complete your task in another room."

Everyone hurriedly left like little children racing for candy. The truth be told, jobs are essentially like school, but instead of paying for it, you get paid for doing your respective tasks.

"Sigh," Ray mumbled, "I won't become a terrible boss just because I can."

His mind wandered back to a time long before his current status, back to when he was permanently drafted into the military. After that chapter of his life, he had to find a civilian job—a thought that still made him grimace. It was, without question, one of the worst experiences of his life.

Not because he lacked competence—far from it—but because the job came with the misfortune of working under a tyrannical boss. Weekends meant overwork without bonuses, and even the smallest mistakes invited endless scolding. It wasn't just unpleasant; it was dehumanizing.

Ray hadn't lasted even a month in that job. He could still vividly recall the moment that greasy-haired bastard leaned over him during one of his infamous rants, and a glob of snot fell directly onto Ray's face.

That was it. Without hesitation, Ray had punched the man square in the face with all his strength, then stormed out of the office without looking back.

That punch was, to this day, one of the most satisfying moments of Ray's life. He didn't regret it in the slightest. Sure, he'd been convicted, but the punishment was just a small fine, and he was free to go.

"It was all worth it," Ray murmured, his gaze fixed on his fist as if reliving that triumphant moment from the past.

With a sigh of satisfaction, he turned and walked forward, his steps measured and deliberate. A telescope-like device emerged from the shadows, hovering silently in front of him.

Ray's crimson and golden eyes began to glow simultaneously as he peered into the device. His gaze delved deep, beyond the molecular level of the Gene, into the vast white expanse that seemed to stretch infinitely.

His pupils narrowed, their energy draining steadily as the familiar image of the chained temple emerged before him once more. The once-destroyed chain, broken by Ray's earlier interference, had vanished entirely. In its place, a new chain had materialized, binding the enormous temple securely once again.

"This is the place, huh," he muttered, his voice low and contemplative. His pupil energy surged violently as he locked his gaze on the chain, hardening his expression.

Bang!

The chain shattered like shards of glass, fragments dispersing.

Instantly, Ray's heart began pounding thunderously, each beat reverberating in his chest like the echo of a war drum. A colossal surge of energy erupted before him, saturating the expanse with overwhelming pressure.

Ray quickly withdrew his head from the telescope-like device and stepped forward. The space around him distorted and twisted, guiding him back to the previous room.

The room bore the aftermath of chaos. Walls were torn and shredded, marked with countless scars from the battle that had unfolded mere moments ago.

"Hmm, this isn't a wolf this time?" Ray mused silently, his eyes narrowing.

From the torn corpse, a claw emerged, tearing it further apart. Slowly, a lion's mane became visible, its presence commanding and terrifying.

A shiver coursed through Ray's spine as a familiar sense of danger consumed him entirely.

Before him, a two-legged lion stood in its full, majestic glory. Its sharp claws gleamed under the flickering light, and its ferocious gaze locked onto Ray.

"Rawr!" The lion roared, its voice carrying ferocious intensity, shaking the air around it.

Ray rubbed his ears with an exaggeratedly annoyed expression. "You're just a dog, so stay like a dog," he quipped, his tone dripping with condescension.

The lion's fierce pupils narrowed as it glared at him, its demeanor growing even more feral. It almost seemed as though it understood Ray's taunt, its fury burning hotter by the second.

"Aww, is the big cat angry?" Ray smirked, his figure vanishing in an instant.

The lion froze in place, its body rigid.

Its fierce eyes widened in sheer horror as it caught sight of a small shadow swinging toward it—a mere fraction of a second too late to react.

"I hope you can take my full-powered blow."

The whisper, almost inaudible, rippled through the air.

**Bang!**

Blood splattered everywhere, painting the room in a gruesome sight. The sheer force of Ray's fist didn't stop with the lion—it shattered the walls, carving thousands of deep, jagged holes into the structure before him.

The lion, now reduced to a grotesque form with only its two hind legs standing upright, collapsed to the ground. The entire room seemed to crumble in unison.

As the space fractured, a deep, dark void was revealed, its edges oozing with creeping darkness that seemed to pulse and writhe.

"Hmm."

Ray squinted at the scene, his expression regretful. He had hoped to collect more data, but the lingering dread of that vibrating black ball, the one capable of rendering him utterly helpless, made him wary of holding back.

"So, what now?"

Ray glanced around at his surroundings before turning his attention back to the scene before him.

With his gaze locked onto the telescope-like device, his pupils began to shine brightly as he peered into its depths.

Unlike the last time when he shattered the chains of one of the temples only to see them repaired, this time, the chains remained broken.

"So, all these chains are like guardians?"

Pondering this, Ray casually broke another chain with his pupil power, this one previously broken to release the wolf.

"Who knew that humans had something like this hidden instead? I wonder what's inside that temple."

Without hesitation, Ray appeared at the scene, and as he had expected, another two-legged wolf emerged from the corpse.

He destroyed it effortlessly, then returned to break yet another chain using his pupil power.

Repeating the process of eliminating the beasts that emerged from the corpse, Ray continued the cycle over and over.

Each time, he killed the creature without hesitation or mercy, though an air of frustration crept in at the inefficiency of the process.

Despite his annoyance, he knew there was little he could do about it. His pupil power wasn't strong enough to sustain consecutive chain-breaking attempts without a recovery period.

During that recovery time, leaving the beast unchecked was too risky. The potential consequences were terrifying. Even though Ray believed he could handle most situations, the thought of hundreds of those black vibrating balls targeting him all at once gave him pause.

If he were even slightly careless, the results could be catastrophic.

Taking all these factors into account, Ray opted for the safer, more methodical approach of killing the beasts one at a time.

After a long time, Ray finally used his pupil power to break the last chain. His left eye twitched as he did so, and a sense of premonition rang in his heart.

Ray appeared in the room again to face a strange, human-shaped creature with a mask covering its face.

Unlike the other animals, it was completely calm and collected, even with Ray standing right in front of it, dressed in dark clothes that covered its entire body.

Ray paused in place, his eyes reflecting the masked creature's image as a frown spread across his face.

"I don't feel any danger from you?" he muttered in a whisper as if questioning himself. If Ray felt even slightly threatened, he would immediately take action, but from this masked figure, there was no sense of danger at all.

While Ray was observing the masked creature, it slowly opened its mouth and asked:

"Are you Sapien number 789?"

"Eh?" Ray tilted his head in confusion. Even for someone like him, who had no language barriers, comprehending the creature's words proved surprisingly difficult.

"Sapiens? Are we just numbers? Does it know me?"

The thought raced through his mind, igniting a sudden, inexplicable urge to kill whatever this thing was. This urge coursed through him with an almost primal intensity, compelling him to act….

"Wait."

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