Chapter 162: Are You Scraping Gua Here?

Bang, bang, bang!

The two super-sized brutes, both capable of dealing and absorbing massive damage, engaged in the most primal form of hand-to-hand combat. Both possessed exceptionally high attack power paired with enormous health pools. Hulk’s regenerative abilities far outstripped the Rhino’s, yet purely in terms of defense, the Rhino’s silvery-white polymeric skin surpassed even the Hulk’s.

Though their raw strength hovered at roughly the same level, the Rhino understood how to leverage technique to extract the absolute maximum potential from his physique, resembling a martial arts grandmaster locked in a savage brawl. The Hulk, meanwhile, charged in with a wild, roaring frenzy, completely ignoring all strategy. Relying on his formidable regenerative powers, he functioned like an undying, hard-hitting cockroach, fighting through sheer reckless momentum.

Consequently, the current dynamic of the arena was quite amusing. On one hand, thanks to his grasp of basic combat techniques, it was immediately obvious that the Rhino held the upper hand in the overall offensive flow. Yet, despite absorbing the vast majority of the blows, the Hulk suffered zero negative consequences. In fact, the more he was beaten, the stronger he became.

This was easily explained: when the Hulk was struck, he felt pain; pain provoked anger, and anger triggered his innate passive ability—the angrier he grew, the stronger he became. It was the ultimate definition of wearing the heaviest armor while taking the worst beatings, yet if the fight dragged on this way, victory would inevitably slip from his opponent's grasp.

Seemingly aware of this reality, the Rhino grew increasingly ruthless in his attacks. Almost every move was calculated to deliver a fatal blow: striking the temples, delivering elbow drops to the carotid artery, and attempting to gore the Hulk's eyes with his horn. The last of these attempts failed because if that massive horn were to pierce the Hulk's eyeballs, a significant portion of the brain tissue directly behind them would undoubtedly be destroyed. For a creature with as formidable a recovery rate as the Hulk, even that injury would not be easily repaired.

However, during close-quarters combat, because the horn was positioned atop his head, it suffered from severe mobility restrictions and proved extremely cumbersome to use unless the combatants created some distance. Combined with the Hulk’s beastly instincts, which kept him highly guarded against such lethal weapons, the horn failed to land an effective strike despite its potential to cause damage.

Aside from that, beneath all of the Rhino’s other assaults, the Hulk remained as obstinate and unyielding as a foul-smelling rock in a latrine pit—unshakable no matter how hard you struck it. And if you dropped your guard for even a second, this rock would leap up with immense ferocity to crack your skull open. Anyone encountering such an enemy would have no choice but to curse their misfortune.

Fighting a guy like this was sheer torture. You couldn't ignore him, yet striking him yielded zero results. In the end, you merely exhausted your own stamina while your opponent let out a couple of roars, shook it off as if nothing had happened, and charged right back at you.

Those contemptuous green eyes seemed to say:

Is that really it? Is this all you've got? Is this truly the extent of your strength? Can't you hit harder? Are you just exfoliating my skin for me?

The Rhino’s temper flared so fiercely he nearly choked on his breath right then and there. In truth, the most infuriating part wasn't failing to pierce the enemy's defense; it was the realization that after exhausting yourself beating him for what felt like centuries, the opponent merely took a single deep breath and fully regenerated, rendering all your previous efforts entirely pointless.

Yet, he had no choice. To fulfill the plan discussed with the commander, he had no option but to keep swinging his fists against this stubborn rock.

As long as I can pin this guy down here, victory will undoubtedly be mine... the Rhino thought to himself.

And so, the two gargantuan monsters continued their display of raw, punch-for-punch masculine romance in that very spot.

Bang, bang, bang!

Whenever the fists swung with such colossal force collided, the impact generated shockwaves that visibly rippled through the air, their distortions clearly discernible against the faint light of the night.

Though Zhong Shenxiu was standing at a considerable distance once they became locked in this intense brawl, his eyesight—far exceeding that of an ordinary person—allowed him to observe the duel as if he were watching it at close range. It gave him the sensation of viewing a top-tier heavyweight boxing championship.

Of course, both scale and strength were magnified to a much greater degree. At the same time, technique was diminished, replaced by a much higher concentration of wildness and brute force. Moreover, if you watched the two of them for long enough, they strangely emanated a distinct pairing vibe. Silver-white and green, both impossibly tall and muscular brutes with muscles so defined they looked ready to shred—watching them grapple offered an explosive visual spectacle.

Naturally, Zhong Shenxiu had no intention of suddenly turning into a casual spectator of martial arts under these circumstances. After watching the battle from afar for just a short while, he spotted something peculiar.

On the Rhino's face—the only part of his entire body not encased in the silvery-white polymeric skin—there was a bruise!

Ordinarily, this wouldn't have been unusual; after all, the Rhino was in the middle of a brutal fight, and sustaining a facial bruise was entirely normal. Furthermore, given how conspicuously his entire body was tightly sealed within that tough, silver-white polymeric skin, it practically screamed at everyone: "Come on, hit me in the face!" Anyone possessing normal judgment in combat would have aimed straight for the Rhino's face without a second thought.

However!

The Hulk possessed zero normal judgment.

Reviewing the fight in his mind, Zhong Shenxiu realized that the Hulk had never launched a single attack targeting the Rhino's face! The only move that even remotely resembled a wide-area assault was that single shoulder throw. But during the shoulder throw, the Rhino had landed squarely on his back, which had nothing whatsoever to do with his face.

Through careful observation, Zhong Shenxiu could also determine that this bruise had been there for only a very short time! It had not yet begun to swell, remaining nearly flush with the surrounding skin, and the pooled blood clearly looked freshly formed. All these clues pointed to one inescapable conclusion: the bruise on the Rhino's face had been inflicted by someone else, very recently!

Combining this with his earlier deduction that the Hulk had not caused the mark, it must have been sustained before the Rhino ever encountered the Hulk.

Therefore...

Had the Rhino fought someone else before coming to battle the Hulk?

And that person's combat prowess could not be underestimated. After all, leaving a bruise on the Rhino's face required, at the very least, rapid speed and a highly agile frame.

Zhong Shenxiu pondered for a moment and concluded that this hypothesis best fit the current situation.

However, before Zhong Shenxiu could speculate any further on the identity of the person who had previously fought the Rhino, he made another sudden discovery. He noticed that several combat operatives had suddenly climbed back onto the weapon wall, where firing had previously ceased due to the Rhino's intervention.

They appeared to be operating in pairs, each team shouldering a mysterious, slender, black cylindrical object roughly three meters long and about 0.3 meters in diameter. It looked exceedingly heavy, as the combatants' walking speeds dropped sharply the moment they hoisted the loads onto their shoulders.

This left Zhong Shenxiu somewhat puzzled.

After all, since these people were making a move now, their target was undoubtedly the Hulk. Yet against a Hulk who had proven impervious to both a metal storm and giant rockets, what good would it do for them to carry such a relatively "tiny" contraption?

Surely they weren't unpacking some sort of miniaturized nuclear bomb from inside that thing, were they?