Chapter 270: Cockroach

Gen-sys Corporation's flagship injection, codenamed "Cockroach," is designed to grant the user vitality comparable to that of a cockroach.

Throwing Eugene into a septic tank could drown him in excrement within ten or so minutes, but time is likely insufficient—support from City Hall will arrive momentarily.

Li Cheng halted Gray Rain's attempt to pry open the floor, instead producing a red ladybug marked with the number one thousand on its back and giving it a gentle press.

The number on the ladybug's back immediately began to flash, counting down one minute at 16.66 times normal speed.

Li Cheng walked to the end of the corridor, glued the Millennium Bug onto a drone, quickly set its hovering coordinates, launched it, and instructed it to remain suspended above the skyscraper.

He then turned back, ordering Gray Rain to bend steel rebar into handcuffs to bind Eugene's wrists.

"What are you doing?"

With a garbage bag over his head, Eugene could not see what was happening outside; his unease grew increasingly intense, yet due to the restrictions of the Arrow of Abaris, he was unable to use skill items to scout.

Li Cheng and Gray Rain offered no explanation, instead producing the Avenger Cannon and activating the Magic Cannoneer ability.

Since a cannon is still a cannon, under the drive of the Magic Cannoneer ability, the Avenger Cannon's barrel structure automatically disassembled into components; Li Cheng made swift minor modifications before reassembling it.

Immediately after, while firing the modified cannon in a dense barrage at Eugene, he pulled Gray Rain backward.

【Millennium Bug】 Originally belonged to Batmos; it creates a chaotic space one kilometer in diameter, causing all things within its range, regardless of distance, to become disordered—resulting in object fusion, matter annihilation, time acceleration, and similar phenomena.

As a consumable item of perfect quality, the Millennium Bug's mystery level should be capable of clashing with the invincible shield currently surrounding Eugene, potentially erasing him outright.

Li Cheng and Gray Rain quickly retreated to a safe position while maintaining suppressive fire on Eugene with the Avenger Cannon, generating deafening noise.

The thick, elongated bullets, flattened by the collision with the Holy Edict, piled into a small hill at Eugene's feet; his sense of unease intensified, and he vaguely guessed Master Pi Fu's intention.

Master Pi Fu had likely set some kind of high-power trap requiring timed activation.

If Eugene remained stationary, he would essentially wait for death, falling victim to the trap.

However, if Eugene chose to prematurely end the effects of the Holy Edict, he would be instantly swallowed by a tide of bullets, leaving no time to cast spells.

Eugene's inherent protective items had mostly been destroyed by Gray Rain during the previous battle at the nuclear power plant.

Furthermore, Gen-sys Corporation's injection cannot heal a corpse riddled with bullet holes.

What should he do?

Eugene clenched his teeth tightly; the opponent had presented him with an open strategy, where either choice meant gambling with his life.

"I originally intended to use this move against Gouchen, but there's no choice now; it must be used here."

He muttered briefly, a flash of ruthlessness passing through his eyes, then suddenly widened them and prematurely dispelled the Holy Edict.

The golden light symbolizing the invincible shield vanished abruptly; Eugene only had time to flick his wand with his bound hands before his body was pierced by the cannon's shells.

The Avenger Cannon fires 30x173mm depleted uranium armor-piercing incendiary rounds, capable of operating at a low rate of 2,100 rounds per minute or a high rate of 4,200 rounds per minute, specifically designed to blow off tank turrets.

The dense barrage struck Eugene's body; the resulting carnage was beyond description by phrases like "bruised black and blue" or "mangled here and there."

His entire body exploded outright, turning into charred meat paste scattered across the ground.

【Player Eugene has been eliminated】

At the exact moment the system notification sounded, time froze.

Clocks in the corridor stopped turning, flames at the cannon's muzzle solidified, and the office workers fleeing down the stairwell all froze rigid.

"Hehehe hahaha."

The voice belonging to Joker rang out from that pool of charred meat paste.

A blurry green shadowy figure slowly rose, muttering to himself, "Didn't expect that, did you? I can also possess bodies."

"This technique can only be used three times within half a year; I originally planned to save the last chance for Gouchen, to swap into a rich second-generation heir's life for fun, never expecting to be forced to use it on you."

"Tsk."

"But honestly, you're not bad either."

"An obscure Level 16 managing to thrive in a deathmatch mission. If you had been born a few years earlier, you would certainly have secured a spot among the top experts."

"What a pity; you can only go this far."

"Within the Sea of Consciousness, a player's equipment, skills, and items are all sealed; one can rely only on the strength of their own consciousness. In this aspect alone, I will never lose."

"You should know that to temper my will, I routinely kick chair legs with my big toe, refuse to flush the toilet for several months, and when watching videos, I ignore HD and only watch 320p low quality."

Joker rambled on proudly for quite some time, yet there was absolutely no movement at the end of the corridor; Li Cheng, holding the cannon aloft, remained motionless like a statue.

Joker's heart skipped a beat; he stepped forward, weaving around the shells frozen in mid-air, until he stood before Li Cheng.

He had not seen wrong; Li Cheng, like everything else around him, was frozen in place, showing no signs of being pulled into the Sea of Consciousness.

However, his finger was not resting on the modified trigger.

Why was this happening?

The smile on Joker's face gradually stiffened, especially as he heard a rustling sound.

It was a rustling sound emanating from the cannon's motor.

"..." After a moment of silence, Joker opened the motor casing of the cannon; inside, aside from the normal structure, lay a giant cockroach the size of a palm.

The cockroach bore obvious signs of biological modification; its abdomen was coated in glue, firmly adhered to a baffle, while its two antennae were each connected to a wire linking to the cannon's motor.

Joker instantly realized what had happened, his whole body trembling.

The long time experienced within the Sea of Consciousness had passed in merely the blink of an eye in the real world.

Li Cheng, who had also heard the system notification, blinked his eyes and stepped back several paces.

The unmanned cannon gradually ceased firing; Li Cheng dismantled the motor casing, saw the giant cockroach struggling inside, and grinned: "How does this body feel?"

The cockroach glued to the baffle struggled continuously, attempting to break free from the superglue's bonds; its movements were so violent that one of its legs snapped off.

Li Cheng removed the baffle; seeing Gray Rain still looking confused, he casually explained, "Do you remember the elimination order? First Joker was eliminated, immediately followed by Frankenstein."

"At the same time, the aura Eugene displayed was completely different from when we first met him; there is reason to believe that Joker first possessed Frankenstein, then used Frankenstein as a stepping stone to perform a double jump, possessing Eugene's body."

"I am not entirely clear on the specific principles and mechanisms of possession, but judging from the scene where Frankenstein actively sought death at Eugene's hands and discarded his equipment before dying, it seems possession must be completed through being killed."

"Therefore, while controlling the cannon to fire, I made a slight adjustment."

Earlier, taking advantage of the moment when Eugene—or rather Joker—was restrained by his own invincible shield, Li Cheng had retrieved a cockroach from his inventory, fed it a Fragment of the God-Abomination Crystal, and forcibly induced mutation.

(The cockroach was a gift from the crimson racer of long ago.)

Reusing the mage's ability, he restructured the cannon's framework, connecting the cockroach's two antennae to the motor's wires, using the mutant cockroach's minute bioelectricity to drive the motor.

To outsiders, the one firing the machine cannon was Li Cheng, but strictly speaking, it was the hidden mutant cockroach that completed the firing.

When Joker used his posthumous skill to possess the one who killed him, the sea of consciousness held only this cockroach—no Li Cheng.

"This gamble, I've won."

Li Cheng's tone was cold as he tossed the entire panel, along with the cockroach Joker stuck to it, into the trash bag.