Chapter 267: Worker Manga

"Damn, why does this guy's art style look so different from everyone else's?"

Gray Rain, hiding behind a wall, was utterly shocked; even by player standards, Gouchen's mental state amidst this slaughter frenzy was too insane.

The once-bustling subway platform had already become a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood; two flying iron swords shuttled at high speed, severing the Achilles tendons of civilians who ran too slowly, causing them to tumble down the stairs and hinder the speed of surface reinforcements descending.

The Stormtroopers and Space Marines had already realized that firearms were ineffective against Gouchen's main body, and at this moment, they displayed quite commendable tactical proficiency.

Some opened fire to strafe the iron swords, hindering their flight,

while others threw grenades, or covered each other to rapidly close in on Gouchen's main body, dealing damage with close-combat weapons like combat knives, chain swords, and power axes.

However, toys ultimately have their limitations; a single attack was insufficient to instantly kill Gouchen.

No matter how severe the injuries Gouchen suffered—even if hands and feet were severed, or half his neck was chopped off—a single bottle of Health Potion would restore him in an instant.

"It really... hurts a lot."

Gouchen, with bloodshot eyes and disheveled hair, growled through clenched teeth.

Thick sword qi erupted from his body, shaking off the several Space Marines suppressing him, after which he raised his right hand to recall his long-handled iron sword.

With the long sword in hand, his killing intent boiled even more fiercely.

Gouchen swung his sword to block an oncoming power axe, and driven by an unknown skill, his feet propelled his body into a bizarre lateral shift, circling behind the Space Marine.

His left hand pressed against the Space Marine's ceramite shoulder pauldron, his legs kicking several times against the opponent's armor as he lightly leaped up.

His right hand thrust the long sword violently into the weak point connecting the opponent's helmet and neck armor, removing the head along with the helmet just like a can opener.

Another Space Marine charged forward fearlessly, arms locking around Gouchen like iron pincers, clutching a beeping melta grenade in his palm.

Boom!

The grenade detonated with a roar; although Gouchen, at the critical moment, crushed a specific molar deep within his oral cavity to activate a temporary shield that blocked most of the melta grenade's power,

the terrifying heat that radiated outward still penetrated the dual defenses of the shield and the 【Optical Deflection Amulet】, melting his entire right side of the body and his right cheek.

Splat, crack.

The rotting flesh on Gouchen's cheek slid onto the ground, his right eye socket was empty, and half his lower jaw along with his entire right arm had vanished into oblivion.

He fell to one knee, using only his left hand to retrieve a Medium Health Potion from his backpack slot and pouring it directly down his throat where his lower jaw had disappeared.

A large amount of liquid splashed outside, but it didn't matter; as long as the player performed the action fitting the Killing Field's definition of "drinking," the Health Potion would take effect.

The next second, new buds grew on the melted rotting flesh, shattered bones repaired themselves, and a new eyeball emerged from the eye socket.

Gouchen, now completely unharmed, stood up again, bare-chested on his right side, resembling an ancient Greek philosopher wearing a long robe.

'Just how many bottles of potion has he drunk in this short time? Is he a pill-popping warrior or what? Isn't he afraid of developing drug tolerance?'

Li Cheng complained loudly in his heart,

the Global Occult Coalition had once conducted a rather famous experiment where they found a supernatural being whose left eye was the Three-Tomoe Sharingan from "Naruto," while his right eye was a high-end smart electronic prosthetic eye of equal value to the Sharingan.

The supernatural being first drank a bottle of Health Potion, with no reaction.

Subsequently, he removed the right prosthetic eye, then drank another Health Potion, and a native, normal eyeball with 5.0 vision grew out of the right eye socket.

Based on this, the GOC concluded that the essence of a Health Potion is "to restore the consumer's body to an intact state," rather than "perfect healing."

To use an analogy, the act of drinking a Health Potion is somewhat like saving and loading a file in a video game, or downloading and saving an image from the internet.

Repeatedly uploading and downloading an image will cause green noise to appear on the picture, forming "digital patina."

The drug tolerance of Health Potions works on the same principle—drinking too much in a short time causes the body to perceive injury as normal, thereby generating continuously increasing tolerance, leading to the healing effect subtly diminishing over time.

The sheer quantity of Health Potions Gouchen had consumed was equivalent to the game currency an ordinary player would earn through life-and-death struggles over several missions.

"Very good."

Gouchen, bare-chested on his right side, swept a cold gaze across the subway platform; very few Stormtroopers and Space Marines remained standing.

Since these soldiers were so dutiful, he would let them witness with their own eyes how the citizens they protected were being exterminated.

Gouchen released the iron sword, driving it to sweep toward the stairs and slash at a Lego child protected in a mother's embrace.

"Stop!"

A roar came from above the subway stairs; a blond figure dove downward, swinging a kunai to precisely knock away the iron sword, narrowly protecting the Lego mother and child.

"Oh?"

Gouchen raised an eyebrow slightly, looking from a distance at the blond youth with a face full of rage wearing a Leaf Village forehead protector, "Uzumaki Naruto? You must be the City Hall's strongest combatant. Just you alone?"

"And me."

A slender youth with orange hair carrying a large sword on his back walked down the steps; Ichigo Kurosaki looked at the casualty-strewn subway platform, his expression serious and sharp.

"Ho ho, the protagonists of both 'Bleach' and 'Naruto,' two of the big three worker manga, have arrived; what an honor."

Though Gouchen spoke of honor, the corner of his mouth curled into a cold sneer, showing absolutely no sign of fear.

He did not agree with Frankenstein's earlier mockery that he was a walking corpse driven by a lonely wandering ghost, but the soul of a strong person from another world had indeed endowed him with the qualities a strong person ought to possess.

Gouchen said calmly, "It is said that City Hall has three big hitters; since you two are here, the third one shouldn't be far behind."

"You are correct."

A third voice came from above the stairs; a soft, rubbery body moved long legs, walking down slowly.

It was none other than the famous Rubber Man,

Mr. Fantastic from the American comic "Fantastic Four," Reed Richards.

"WTF? What kind of nonsense is this?"

Li Cheng, lying on the ground playing dead alongside Gray Rain, looked at that middle-aged white male wearing a tight suit,

and couldn't help but widen his eyes, complaining loudly in his heart, "Wait, the big three of worker manga are 'Death, Fire, Sea'; the first two are protagonists, so why is the third one, the Rubber Man, from the American comic scene?

This doesn't fit the formation at all!

Could it be that 'One Piece' isn't finished yet, and Luffy's crossover fees and salary were too high to afford?!"

The sudden appearance of the serious-looking Mr. Fantastic also left Gouchen speechless.

Among these three, Ichigo Kurosaki and Uzumaki Naruto were both in the Japanese anime style, while Mr. Fantastic was in the hard-edged American comic style; standing together, the art styles were far too discordant.

Forget it, whatever. Even so, setting aside those wildly convoluted manga, the Fantastic Mr.'s performance in movies isn't particularly strong; he should be easier to handle than Luffy from One Piece.

(End of Chapter)