Chapter 276: Scorpion Tail

Apartment building, balcony,

A young white-collar named Mokino Sakura sighed deeply, watching the towering flames in the distance, the endless stream of monsters pouring from the deep pit, and the terrified citizens screaming and fleeing the streets; she set down her half-drunk beer on the balcony railing and turned back into her room.

All armed forces of the city hall—whether anti-terrorism mobile units or Storm Troopers—were fighting with all their might.

Yet they could not halt the advance of Unit Two—its body surrounded by an AT Field, ignoring all external attacks, marching straight toward city hall.

All firepower shifted to target the thick, long cable dragging behind Unit Two, but the monsters were countless, many possessing flight capabilities, fearlessly engaging the city hall's armed forces to protect the cable.

Mokino Sakura opened her wardrobe with a calm expression, took out the stacked OL uniforms, and found the long, narrow wooden box buried at the bottom, its surface covered in dust.

Inside the box lay a pink bird-headed wand, still and silent.

She had thought she had long left behind that life of fighting and killing, that she no longer needed to battle.

She reached out and grasped the wand, stepped out of her bedroom, pushed off the balcony with one palm, and landed lightly on the ground floor, standing out like a crane among fleeing civilians.

Several monsters noticed her and lunged forward in a swarm.

Just before their claws touched her face, she swung the wand sharply, smashing one monster away with a single blow—so powerful it overturned a parked SUV.

"Don't underestimate a retired magical girl."

Under the flickering glow of exploding vehicles, she shook the blood off her wand, sighed softly, and charged into the monster horde, waving the wand casually to summon gales, ice, flame, and blinding light.

The final burst of light pierced through the sea of monsters, plowing straight down the street and clearing the path for others.

Kurosaki Ichigo and his two companions descended from above, clearing the remaining monsters and slashing through the cable supplying power to Unit Two.

Power cut, Unit Two staggered, toppling forward in slow motion; its vibration particle blade followed its trajectory and plunged into the city hall building.

Boom—

Bricks shattered, buildings collapsed; the vibration particle blade easily cleaved through thick floor slabs, piercing through the multiple underground levels of the city hall, reaching its deepest depths.

One second. Two seconds.

Before the terrified eyes of Toy City's citizens, Unit Two slowly rose from the rubble, clutching a pulsing ball of red flame.

Mr. Fantastic's eyes bulged, "That's—"

"Furnace fire," Kurosaki Ichigo clenched his lips, "the factory's furnace fire."

Unit Two, having seized the furnace fire from city hall, regained surging power, no longer reliant on the cable.

It marched straight down the street to the edge of Toy City, before the transparent barrier,

And thrust its blade into the barrier, climbing upward like a rock climber.

————

From afar, it really did look like a southern cockroach scaling a wall.

On the elevated highway, Li Cheng caught a distant glimpse of Unit Two climbing the barrier, and vaguely guessed Night Shinkai's plan—he truly intended to break the barrier, not with a rocket, but by carving through it with Unit Two's blade.

Hum—

A piercing rush of air struck suddenly; Gouchen and his three clones slashed forward with swords, but Li Cheng evaded them with his jetpack and bat grapple, then retaliated by spewing flame from his nuclear lighter.

Yet the smoke enveloping Gouchen was absurdly potent, able to withstand the inferno for several seconds; his clones partially inherited this formidable defense, using sword qi to split the flames and cover each other, leaving deep gashes on the power armor's surface.

Armor torn, hydraulic fluid leaked, parts flew everywhere,

Alarms blared incessantly in Li Cheng's ears; he yanked off his helmet, discarded the shattered cleaver, and studied Gouchen, who stood with sword sheathed.

"Just as I said—you have zero chance."

Gouchen tilted his chin slightly, coldly stating: "How long have you been a player? A year? A year and a half?"

"Do you know how long I've prepared for this day? How long I've planned?"

Li Cheng did not answer; his information-integrated glasses reflected an eerie glow, his expression turning strange.

"Those transcendents on the forums always brag about enduring countless life-or-death battles, but in truth, due to players' lightning-fast neural reflexes, each actual combat lasts at most ten to a few dozen minutes."

"A Level 25's total combat time on the edge of death amounts to only dozens or hundreds of hours."

Gouchen said calmly: "But I am different—my brother is a high-ranking GOC official, with ample resources to give me the best training."

In virtual environments with near-100% realism, I've killed countless transcendents like you."

"You rely on your power armor, placing your strength in external tools. When the armor breaks, what's left of you?"

"Training in virtual environments? That's just VR gaming. You actually take your gaming stats seriously."

Li Cheng shook his head: "You can fool your buddies, just don't fool yourself. I don't care if you trick me—I'll just laugh it off. But after saying all that, wipe your eyes—don't let tears fall on the ground."

"Stubborn to the end."

Gouchen sneered and charged forward; his three clones surrounded Li Cheng from different directions.

The jetpack's power supply had failed due to damaged piping; the bat grapple alone could not drag the heavy armor.

With life hanging by a thread, Li Cheng showed no fear; instead, he calmly tucked away his nuclear lighter, reached into empty air, and pulled out a...

A swimsuit?

Yes—a brand-new, still tagged at 59.9 yuan, light blue, women's swimsuit.

"Catch the hammer!"

Grey Rain's voice rang out beneath the elevated highway; her body still bore red burns from high-temperature scorching; she swung both arms and hurled the Skullcrusher high into the air—it landed squarely in Li Cheng's hand.

Li Cheng held the swimsuit in his left hand, the Skullcrusher in his right,

As Gouchen stared in utter shock, Li Cheng ignored the sword piercing his armor and slapped the swimsuit directly onto Gouchen's body, then swung the hammer with all his might.

Crack—crack—crack—

A series of bone-snapping sounds erupted around Gouchen; he rolled dozens of meters away, the smoke barrier that had once withstood machine-gun fire suddenly failing.

He collapsed against a concrete barrier, spewing a mouthful of dark blood, eyes wide with disbelief; his body's smoke barrier flickered erratically before vanishing entirely, revealing a sight so shocking it burned the eyes.

This super-rich second-generation heir, whose brother was the future GOC Southeast Asia Regional Director, wore on his body the perfect-quality armor Li Cheng had previously listed for auction: 【The Sigh of Isoloren】.

Its overall form was a silver-white, extremely revealing Japanese-style elf knight armor,

Its effect: providing a powerful barrier over the entire body,

The cost was that he could wear only this single outer garment, with no additional covering clothing, or the protective barrier would fail.

Because the phantom clones summoned by the Heavenly Gang Sword inherited partial passive effects of the original's equipment, Gouchen had been wearing this 【Aisolorun's Sigh】 during battle, and had deliberately summoned smoke around his body as concealment.

Now the smoke had dissipated, Gouchen wore only the female elf knight's armor, his leg hairs fluttering in the wind—so blindingly vulgar it hurt the eyes.

"You bastard."

Three clones guarded him as Gouchen spat blood and rose from the ground; the plates of the female armor scraped against each other with a creaking, squeaking sound.

He had no cross-dressing fetish—perfect-quality armor was rare and unobtainable; his brother had spotted this item at the auction house, rushed to buy it at a high price, and gifted it to him to increase his chances of winning in Death Duels.

"Pervert. Too much of a pervert."

Huiyu muttered in amazement beneath the overpass, "A Level 23, shameless, parading around in this outfit. Don't you care about corrupting children?"

"Indeed, who in their right mind would wear lingerie on the street? So utterly brazen."

Li Cheng also spoke sternly, pointing his finger accusingly.

"Cough, cough."

Gouchen pushed himself upright against the overpass railing; his internal injuries healed rapidly under the residual effects of the magic potion, his expression twisted: "So what? The victor is not judged, nor criticized."

He had guessed that Li Cheng had used some reconnaissance skill to uncover the exact effects and prohibitions of 【Aisolorun's Sigh】, and thus had destroyed the defense with nothing but a swimsuit.

To counter Li Cheng's counter, it was simple.

Gouchen pulled from his backpack a red crystal labeled 【Xuanlei Qilin Blood Essence】, and resolutely threw it into his mouth, chewing it fiercely.

The Qilin bloodline surged instantly; scales sprouted across his cheeks, chest, and limbs; horns grew on his forehead; fangs shot from his jaws.

Ghostly blue flames erupted from his entire body, burning the swimsuit to ash.

"As long as I win,"

Gouchen's voice rasped, deep as a beast's growl, "no matter how ugly the victory, the world will only remember that I won."

His hands, now clawed, could no longer grip the two iron swords; he instead pulled out iron chains and bound the Heavenly and Earthly Swords firmly to his wrists.

No words were needed—the three remaining clones, still in human form, charged forward again, moving in perfect sync with Gouchen, dismantling the already damaged power armor into shattered ruins.

Boom!

In the final second, Li Cheng activated the launch function, catapulting himself backward from the armor's rear, landing lightly beside Huiyu atop the overpass.

He looked up and said calmly, "You misunderstood one thing."

Gouchen said nothing; with his clones, he leapt down from the overpass and hunted him down.

Huiyu was still in red-hot state, with little combat power; Li Cheng's erosion level was likely also near its limit, just like his own. Now was the time to press the advantage.

"I do love power armor,"

Li Cheng slapped his palm, summoning a hurricane; his body recoiled with the wind's reaction force,

his left hand withdrew from the backpack a Ten-Ingredient Supreme Pill and bit into it hard to replenish his Qi,

his right hand retrieved from his 3D storage a pre-prepared item.

It was a cylindrical transparent glass container, several times thicker than a thermos, filled with countless scorpions.

Middle Eastern golden scorpions, North African black fat-tailed scorpions, Brazilian yellow scorpions, red-claw rainforest scorpions, emperor scorpions.

All scorpions were in an anesthetized state, but as Li Cheng released a stimulant gas into the container, the entire swarm awoke, crawling wildly.

"That power armor wasn't meant to protect me—it was meant to restrain me."

Li Cheng thrust his left hand into the opening of the cylindrical container; scorpions immediately swarmed over his arm, some even driving their venomous stingers into skin deliberately left un-tensed.

Gouchen's scalp prickled with unease; his sword strikes rained down like a storm, but were blocked by Huiyu's iron curtain formed from his arms.

When the iron curtain shattered, Gouchen saw Li Cheng slicing open his own chest with the Two-Principle Blade.

The wound did not bleed; instead, black-glossed scales grew from it.

Li Cheng's stature surged upward, exceeding two meters; horns sprouted from his head; scythe-like bone blades protruded from his forearms; his muscles swelled, bursting his clothes; his skin was covered in pitch-black armor.

Beyond these conventional changes,

Crack! Crack!

A rapid, drum-like sound of bone movement came from Li Cheng's back.

His spine writhed, as if something crawled beneath his skin.

Rip!

Pale, blood-smeared bones pierced straight through his skin, exposed to air—curved backward like a scorpion's tail.

The epic effect of the Two-Principle Blade accelerated the gene evolution, which normally took minutes, into an instant.

The bones were coated in a hard chitinous layer; their interiors hollowed out, growing intricate networks of blood vessels, tendons, and nerves, ending in venom glands and stingers.

Like a naturally grown limb, Li Cheng willed it—and the scorpion tail twitched with uncanny flexibility, its venomous tip slicing through air with a swift hiss.

Gouchen's hair stood on end; before him, Master Pi Fu—except for the outline of his head and limbs—barely resembled a human, less human even than Gouchen with his Qilin bloodline.

Ting!

The scorpion tail blocked the sword thrust from behind; the newly formed black chitinous shell scraped the blade, sparking blindingly.

The venomous stinger, gleaming with cold light, spiraled backward and plunged into the clone's chest, injecting massive amounts of corrosive venom.

Under a 350% damage multiplier, the clone dissolved instantly into a wisp of smoke.

"Here."

Li Cheng's voice was hoarse; he tossed the Skullcrusher back to Huiyu. His palm was now armored—no longer suitable, nor needed, to grip the hammer's handle.

Gulp.

Gouchen swallowed hard, nails digging into his palm, his mind racing to recall his training.

His training followed the GOC standard curriculum.

Since player combat spanned countless script worlds, no universal strategy existed; thus, the entire combat process emphasized gathering enemy data, constructing models, leveraging one's strengths, gradually building advantage, and delivering a single lethal strike.

Against tanky melee foes, he could use the Earthly Short Sword to drain HP and steal attributes,

To counter close-range assassins, he could use the elven armor and vast quantities of potions to wear them down.

To counter artillery mages, he could use the Divine Spirit clones to harass and corner them.

But against Master Pi Fu, whose base stats matched his own, both sides had reached the brink of erosion limits—there remained only one path: mortal combat.

The path ahead was crystal clear; Gouchen, the pervert who liked to wear fetish outfits in public, shed all extraneous thoughts.

No need to consider family duty, his brother's expectations, his personal fate, or even the meaning of his existence.

Only slaughter.

Clang—clang—clang—clang—clang—

Both moved like afterimages, fighting from the forest to beneath the overpass, then back along the overpass into the city.

Along the way, like a storm sweeping through, they overturned vehicles and shattered windows.

The second Divine Spirit clone had its head severed by the mantis-bone blade.

The third Divine Spirit clone was torn apart limb from limb.

Gouchen lay sprawled in the rubble; the shield of 【Aisolorun's Sigh】 had overloaded under relentless strikes; his chest had been pierced by a scorpion-tail poison stinger, and the corrosive venom was melting his internal organs.

Li Cheng had been thrown into a shop on the other side of the street; his right arm had been severed at the shoulder, his neck half-sliced open, and his heart had been pierced by a sword.

Fortunately, the aquarium-specific silent water pump he had implanted in his chest—too troublesome to remove—was still functioning, pumping blood through his body.

Who would have thought the decisive factor would be an aquarium water pump?

Li Cheng leaned against the wall, slowly and unsteadily rising to his feet; his gaze swept the backpack slot, and he pulled out the Shark-type single-person exoskeleton, which required no Qi.

Both sides were utterly drained, yet the exoskeleton still carried a assault rifle.

"Ha… hah."

Gouchen had intended to conceal an explosive device, waiting to detonate it when Master Pi Fu approached—but seeing the opponent show no sign of coming closer, he understood: this man was no verbose villain who relished victory speeches.

In the end, he had lost.

Gouchen stared up at the sky, gazing at the Number Two Unit, which had climbed to the highest point of the invisible dome and was now swinging its vibration particle blade, continuously carving into the dome, and murmured softly: "Master Pi Fu… I remember you."

His internal organs corroded and melted; Gouchen's voice grew fainter, until it vanished entirely.

【Player Gouchen has been eliminated】

(End of Chapter)