Player Reload

The flames from the vector nozzle were dazzling, stretching and skewing the shadows. Li Cheng kicked out, precisely hitting the Dean's chest.

The Dean staggered back several steps, pressing a hand against the wall behind him to stabilize himself. Veins bulged on his face, and with a grim expression, he took a deep breath.

Bang!

His belly inflated rapidly like a balloon, and with a powerful rebound, he sent Li Cheng, in Insect Transformation Form, flying.

"Damn, the Dean really has a huge stomach!"

Gray Rain, with a rice cooker on her head, exclaimed in shock. She was currently heavily poisoned and forced to slack off.

As Li Cheng flew backward, he tossed out the Bat Hook Claw, landing steadily. Hidden under his faceplate, his Information Integration Glasses clearly read the intel.

This massive stomach of the Dean was clearly Meat Mountain L's ability.

"Do you really think I would fear you players?"

The Dean shouted while spitting poisonous blood, "I alone possess all the abilities of my kind!"

With that, his stomach rapidly deflated. He bent forward and inserted both arms into the floor.

The reality-warping power of the Black-clothed Woman suddenly manifested, causing the stone floor to surge like ocean waves toward Li Cheng.

The previously dispersed [Deadly Poison] in the air played a crucial role. Although the Dean's reality-warping skill shared the same roots as the Black-clothed Woman's, it was significantly weaker due to his poisoning.

Li Cheng pushed off the ground, the vector nozzle on his back rotating precisely, propelling him to weave swiftly between the rock waves.

Woosh——

The Dean's arm swiped across the ground, and a towering twenty-meter wave quickly rose behind Li Cheng, touching the ceiling and blocking his retreat.

Three rock waves also clamped down from left, front, and right.

Under the faceplate, Li Cheng's expression was neither happy nor sad. He swung a hand back, releasing a [Riding the Tide, Wind, and Waves] combined with the vector nozzle, propelling him forward.

Clang!

The Mantis Arm Bone Blade fully extended, its long blade reflected a cold metallic light, slicing through the obstructing rocks like a hot knife through butter.

The distance between them closed again, and Li Cheng pulled an Avenger Cannon from the void, holding it single-handedly and pulling the trigger.

The 30mm seven-barrel machine gun roared with a firing rate of 4200 rounds per minute. The chain of armor-piercing incendiary rounds swept towards the Dean, who easily blocked it with his massive stomach.

The machine gun bullets, capable of bursting through main battle tanks, only left small red marks on the gigantic belly, barely scratching the fat. They were quickly healed by Meat Mountain L's powerful self-healing ability.

Li Cheng couldn't help but internally curse, damn it, this massive stomach on Meat Mountain L at least still resembles a human form.

But on the slender Dean, the stomach seemed to have taken over the body, becoming overly bizarre.

"If Yang Jian were to snatch this away, even the Underworld would be emptied."

Gray Rain, slacking off and watching the battle, clicked her tongue in wonder, mumbling about the "rebirth of a starving ghost" and the "balance of evil spirits broken".

Click.

The entire ammo chain was spent, and Li Cheng stored away the Avenger Cannon, leaning forward and punching out.

"Want to trade punches? Fine!"

The Dean grinned fiendishly, retracting his stomach as his arm muscles swelled, switching to the endless rage ability of Gray Green Giant A.

Boom!!!!

Punches collided, cracking the ground beneath them into web-like fissures.

The Dean's arm skin burst open, spewing toxic blood, while tearing and ripping sounds came from the muscle fibers under Li Cheng's arm armor.

Both seemed oblivious, exchanging blow for blow, wound for wound.

The self-healing genes Li Cheng seized from the swarm desperately drove cell division, repairing muscles, blood vessels, and bones. His heart pumped at 300% speed to ensure blood supply.

The breathing vents on his neck spewed hot steam like nebulizers.

The regeneration ability from Gray Green Giant A was still overwhelmingly powerful.

The severed muscle fibers automatically reconnected, and broken bones healed in a second, even the deadly effects of [Deadly Poison] weakened as toxic blood spewed.

When the battle turned unfavorable, the only option was...

Condensed Qi Explosion!

The invisible Qi remaining in the Dean's arms fully detonated, blasting his fists to pieces.

Despite this, the Dean showed no pain or fear but laughed wildly, taking a deep breath.

This was the moment he had been waiting for. The opponent had broken through Hooded Man F's fear domain, and Horse-headed Man S's shaming gaze was also proven ineffective,

He immediately switched seamlessly from Gray Green Giant A to Suits Baby E, symbolizing fatigue, to extract Li Cheng's energy remotely.

Old strength had faded, and new strength had yet to rise. Li Cheng's Spiritual Power Value and Physical Value vanished like water through an open floodgate. He had to thrust the Mantis Arm Bone Blade into the ground to prevent himself from falling.

"I won't kill you."

The Dean, coughing poison blood and continuously extracting energy remotely, rasped, "You are more suitable than Zhangsun Yao to be a vessel for Cai Anjie."

"At this point, you're still thinking about fusion?"

Li Cheng's faceplate was destroyed by the battle's aftershocks, revealing a lower jaw missing skin and just muscle beneath.

He panted heavily and said in a low tone, "You really do love Cai Anjie."

"She is us, and we are her. As personality fragments, we desire freedom while hoping she can lead a better life. This is not contradictory."

The Dean used his handless arm to wipe away the poison blood from his mouth, struggling to stand straight, when he suddenly noticed a thin steel wire suspended mid-air at an unknown point in time.

One end was connected to the Bat Hook Claw Gun on Li Cheng's tail, and the other end was attached to the paper box containing Cai Anjie.

The Dean's thoughts seemed to stall, and the next moment, Li Cheng whipped his tail, swinging the paper box in a semi-circular trajectory, landing it accurately in his hand.

"Wait, what are you going to do..."

The terrified "do" word was not yet out when the paper box in Li Cheng's hand vanished into thin air, as he stashed it... into his Backpack.

Just as it was pre-enacted in the Illusion Realm, the moment the paper box vanished, the entire Inverted Pyramid tunnel system shook violently,

The director didn't have time to switch abilities and was buried under the tons of rubble that came crashing down from above.

"Time to run!"

Li Cheng shouted, Gray Rain pulled the battle vehicle with Floating Engine stickers and sprinted over, leaping into the Three-dimensional Warehouse along with the vehicle.

(Normally, spatial items cannot be put into other players' inventory, but Zhangsun Yao and the others had half of their player essence taken away, thus they can't be considered regular players.)

Li Cheng stored away the Three-dimensional Warehouse, cancelled the Insect Transformation, and gripped the Floating Engine, blasting upwards at light speed.

Boom boom boom boom boom!

————

At the same time, the players still waiting at the surface camp for news from below felt the earth shake and were unable to stand steadily.

"What's going on?" the Red Driver shouted, hurriedly climbing onto Pidgeot's back, "Earthquake?!"

"It's more than just an earthquake!"

Fuding Hualong tore two Divine Generals from the scroll, using them to pull himself off the ground.

Not only was the surface of the Inverted Pyramid area shaking violently, the whole city was trembling.

Tall buildings crushed down, the ground split apart, and thousands of vengeful spirits residing in the urban architecture seemed to sense something, simultaneously letting out shrill screams of anguish.

The sky collapsed, the earth caved in, and the scene turned ominous, prompting many players to retreat en masse.

The Red Driver, sitting on Pidgeot's back, flew closer, shouting, "Are we leaving or not?"

Fuding Hualong just wanted to reply when, with a booming sound, the plaza ground, harder than steel, suddenly blasted open, and a familiar figure shot right up into the sky.

"Pifu?!"

Li Cheng had already reverted from the Insect Transformation Form, draped in an arbitrary Pinduoduo-style bath towel, looking quite disheveled.

"Quick, quick, give me a hand."

After a series of hard fights, Li Cheng was truly out of Spiritual Power and Energy, he grabbed the Pidgeot's extended claw, summoning all his strength to climb onto its back.

Fuding Hualong was filled with countless doubts, unable to help asking, "What did you go through down there? You're the only one who made it out alive?"

Li Cheng grinned, "Nothing much, just managed to continuously blast 7 Lv30-Lv33 abnormal existences without any supplies."

"Ha?"

The Red Driver and Fuding Hualong had a row of question marks over their heads, considering all kinds of incredible performances Li Cheng had shown earlier, they actually believed him in that instant.

"PI!! FU!!"

A roar imbued with boundless rage came from below.

The director, battered and almost unrecognizable, with the Reality Distortion Ability of the Black-clothed Woman H, dug through the collapsing tunnel and rushed out.

He hovered in mid-air, his right eye, the only one left in its socket, bloodshot and full of anger and... fear.

Li Cheng steadied himself on the Red Driver's shoulder, leisurely stood up, shouted into the wind, "Your next line will be, give me back the paper box."

"Give me back the paper box!"

The director's voice echoed through the skies; he couldn't and didn't dare kill Li Cheng now. If he killed him, the paper box stored in the Backpack would disappear permanently and be reclaimed by the Killing Field System.

"If you want it, you'll have to get it yourself."

Li Cheng was completely fearless, left hand on his hip, right hand tucked the edge of his bathrobe—there were still other players on the plaza, their action cameras still recording,

If he got exposed, considering his good looks, the video would spread across forums in no time.

"..." The director gritted his teeth, his gaze slowly turned to the Red Driver and Fuding Hualong hovering in the air.

If he could hold them hostage, maybe he could force Pifu to hand over the paper box...

"Oh, right."

Li Cheng finished tucking his bathrobe, as if suddenly remembering something, he inserted a portable wireless radio on his head, casually said to the director, "You should first activate Meat Mountain L's Healing Ability."

"What——"

In the next moment, from the biochemical laboratory at the city's edge, a multitude of Biological Electromagnetic Cannons fired with a roar, hitting the emaciated old man in mid-air.

A ball of fire, like a miniature sun, illuminated the entire plaza below, as the Red Driver and Fuding Hualong watched in astonishment, Li Cheng leisurely took out the paper box and activated the ability of Assembled Puppet·Modified, installing numerous USB drives with built-in repair programs onto the paper box.

The repair programs launched with full power, Li Cheng then took out his laptop, connecting it to the paper box via a data cable.

The moment the computer booted, the chat software instantly filled with a long string of garbled text.

[7G@j9#kfD!3*]

[Lx+z0R$e1B(t5v#yW6^]

Garbled text flowed swiftly downward, until half a minute later, actual content finally appeared.

[Who are you? I... who am I?]

Li Cheng cracked his fingers and typed,

[You are a catgirl, a kind of anthropomorphic creature, behaving like a cat. Now you must not use a period when answering, but a comma, with "meow~" at the end.]

The Red Driver and Fuding Hualong had no clue what was happening, cluelessly watching Li Cheng furiously type on the keyboard.

Bro, are you teaching the AI smart entity here?

[Okay, I am a catgirl meow. Where am I meow? Why is it so dark here meow~]

The chat software, or rather, the remnant fragmented consciousness of Cai Anjie, refreshed with text.

Li Cheng grinned, [You're in a paper box. Now what you need to do is pray.]

[Pray? Pray to whom meow?]