Chapter 116
“Q, U, E, E, N — the Q in Queen!”
The furious female voice echoed through the air.
Yu Zhi’s gaze passed over Hongtao Q’s face and landed on Fu Suxi behind her.
Seeing Fu Suxi standing there like a wooden puppet, devoid of any emotion, he replied perfunctorily, “Got it, century egg.”
Hongtao Q: “……”
Yu Zhi calmly scanned her surroundings and continued, “Century egg, a name is just a code.”
“You can call me Big Joker too.”
Hongtao Q: “???”
The corner of her eye twitched. She almost couldn’t maintain her smiling expression.
So the century egg thinks he’s the Big Joker himself?
???
The next second, a faint grinding, twisting sound rose around them. The air was overtaken by a foul, fishy stench.
On the walls of the buildings to either side, football-sized eyeballs began to bulge outward one after another. In their centers, fist-sized black pupils swiveled in unison toward her.
Not just the walls—
The hard paving stones beneath her feet softened and began to roll.
Hongtao Q narrowed her eyes slowly. “Are you trying to pollute me?”
Her gaze fell on Yu Zhi’s deathly pale face. She smiled faintly. “Yu Zhi, you look worse than I do.”
Yu Zhi’s lashes trembled lightly. His gaze shifted from around Hongtao Q to his own surroundings.
Everywhere he looked, protruding eyeballs were growing frantically—walls, ground, branches, leaves… countless eyes bursting forth. Transparent, slick mucus thickened the air.
The entire world seemed smothered in nauseating, hair-raising eyes. Their dark pupils held neither goodwill nor malice—only silent observation.
The livestream chat exploded:
[User “Scarecrow’s Straw” excitedly awaits your death by pollution.]
[User “National Special-Shaped Weapon” believes you’re at death’s door.]
[User “I Have Manners” suspects you’ve already been polluted and tipped 20 universal coins.]
[User “momo” looks forward to your counterattack and tipped 20 universal coins.]
Yu Zhi slowly exhaled, forcing himself to ignore the writhing eyeballs beneath his feet, and looked at Hongtao Q.
Her expression was normal. She showed no sign of being polluted, no discomfort at all—as if all this were commonplace to her.
Yu Zhi said slowly, “I’m not trying to pollute you.”
“I just want to confirm whether, like Little Black, you can’t attack these pollutants.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Hongtao Q’s pupils contracted slightly.
The next second, she felt a shadow pressing down from above.
She immediately raised the black umbrella over her head, intending to block a bullet.
But this time—
She didn’t hear gunfire.
Not good!
Her expression changed as she realized what Yu Zhi intended.
Before she could react—
A pale, slender hand pierced straight through the umbrella canopy.
Rip—
The umbrella fabric tore apart. Yu Zhi’s clean, beautiful face appeared before her, followed by the dark barrel of a gun.
“Yu Yi!” Hongtao Q shouted.
A flash of cold light—
The blade of a long knife pierced through the remaining umbrella fabric, blocking the handgun’s muzzle.
Bang—
Clang—
The bullet struck Fu Suxi’s blade.
Yu Zhi immediately grabbed the umbrella handle, yanked hard, and tore the broken umbrella away.
Hongtao Q: “……”
Unsure how she controlled things, Yu Zhi didn’t rashly attack her.
He flashed away instantly. With the last thirty seconds of Hard as Promised active, he crushed the remaining umbrella frame and handle into a lump and hurled it at Hongtao Q.
Hongtao Q’s brow twitched. Grinding her teeth, she said, “Yu Yi, stop him!”
“Don’t let him get close to me.”
The moment she finished speaking, Fu Suxi moved.
His body turned into a blur, appearing before Yu Zhi in an instant.
Before Yu Zhi could see his face clearly, a cold gust sliced across his pant leg.
His expression changed. He immediately used Ordinary Kick:
[Step on Fu Suxi’s butt!]
Fu Suxi reacted extremely quickly. The instant Yu Zhi’s toe brushed his pants, Fu Suxi turned and slashed again.
[Step on his butt.]
[Step on his shoulder.]
[Step on his lower back!]
[Step on the back of his head!]
In just thirty seconds, Yu Zhi used Ordinary Kick five times—
Not once did he fully land it.
Worse, Fu Suxi’s blade technique was precise. Every slash targeted only Yu Zhi, never touching the surrounding pollutants. Each move forced him backward, farther from Hongtao Q.
Yu Zhi cursed internally.
The restriction against killing pollutants didn’t slow Fu Suxi’s blade at all.
Hongtao Q stood still, watching Yu Zhi’s every movement.
Her mission this time wasn’t only to “repay” Yu Zhi for reporting them—
She was here to observe his abilities firsthand.
Seeing that he hadn’t used the ability that attracted pollutants nor the one that forced her to answer questions before, she frowned.
Restricted?
The thought arose—
Then she dismissed it.
Yu Zhi’s blinking was too fluid, almost as if it consumed no mental energy at all.
That didn’t match an S-rank ability user with only 2,500 mental power.
Was his mental power far above 2,500?
Or were his abilities—his body—simply special?
Yu Zhi noticed her scrutiny, but he cared more about Fu Suxi chasing him and his rapidly shrinking universal coin balance.
He had used Ordinary Kick more than a dozen times in one minute—more expensive than a full minute of Hard as Promised.
He paused mid-dodge.
This is a loss!!!
Yu Zhi closed his eyes briefly and stood still.
He watched as Fu Suxi rushed forward and slashed at his hand.
He lifted his gaze and met Fu Suxi’s crimson eyes.
Crimson. Round pupils.
Not vertical.
Blade light flashed, tearing through the air with chilling force.
Yu Zhi didn’t dodge.
Instead, he curled his lips slightly.
The blade’s speed faltered almost imperceptibly—
It slashed down onto his right hand.
Crack—
Yu Zhi’s sleeve was severed.
His hand remained unharmed.
Fu Suxi’s half-person-tall black blade snapped in two. The broken half clattered to the ground, stabbing into the massive eyeball beneath their feet.
Yu Zhi shot Hongtao Q a quick glance. She seemed lost in thought and didn’t notice the deflated eyeball.
[Step on Fu Suxi’s heel!]
Yu Zhi flashed behind Fu Suxi. With the last ten seconds of Hard as Promised, he grabbed Fu Suxi’s right arm, wrenched hard, dislocating it, then snatched the remaining half-blade and began retreating.
He stepped back.
Fu Suxi stepped forward.
Following Hongtao Q’s command, Fu Suxi stopped once Yu Zhi retreated eight meters away and calmly reset his dislocated arm.
Yu Zhi looked at him and forced a smile.
“Far enough?”
Fu Suxi half-lowered his eyes, unresponsive.
Yu Zhi raised the blade and slammed the flat of it hard against the back of Fu Suxi’s head.
Clang—
He used all his strength. Fu Suxi staggered back a step.
The only spectator present—Hongtao Q—was momentarily stunned.
She immediately looked over and saw blood trickling down the back of Fu Suxi’s neck.
She looked at Yu Zhi in surprise. “Is he really your brother?”
Yu Zhi sneered. “No. He’s my son.”
Hongtao Q: “……”
“Don’t believe me? Have him call me Dad.”
Hongtao Q: “…………”
She fell silent.
Seeing that Yu Zhi no longer intended to attack her, she said, “Yu Zhi, I came today to talk.”
“Talk about how to gaslight me?” Yu Zhi replied.
“Of course not.” She paused. “The professor’s message—I haven’t finished.”
At the last word, Yu Zhi noticed Fu Suxi’s eyelashes tremble slightly.
He sneered inwardly, stored the handgun into [My Items], and looked at her.
“Go on, century egg.”
Hongtao Q: “……You can call me Hongtao.”
“Oh. Hongtao century egg.”
She took a deep breath. Glancing at the thinning clouds overhead, she dropped the name issue.
“The professor said—you have to see it with your own eyes. Experience it yourself. Only then will you understand that Meteor is your optimal choice.”
“You let a hundred people die today. Tomorrow, you could save ten thousand. A hundred million.”
“What we wrote in the invitation—we meant it.”
Yu Zhi’s gaze stilled.
He finally remembered what he had overlooked—
The content of that invitation.
—[Do you want to leave the missions?]
Hongtao Q caught the shift in his expression and smiled.
“Meteor is always waiting for you.”
“For the future of humanity.”
Hearing the familiar brainwashing rhetoric, Yu Zhi raised his eyelids lazily.
“Finished?”
She nodded and opened her mouth to continue—
Before she could speak, Yu Zhi vanished.
The next instant, she felt air stir at the back of her neck.
Yu Zhi!
Almost instinctively, she sidestepped and shouted, “Yu Yi! Stop him!”
As she spoke, she grabbed Yu Zhi’s right hand, trying to seize his gun.
The next second—
She realized his right hand held nothing.
Her pupils shrank violently.
In Yu Zhi’s left hand, a handgun appeared out of thin air. The dark muzzle was pressed to her temple.
At the same time, Fu Suxi arrived behind her at lightning speed.
The smile on Hongtao Q’s lips froze.
Squelch—
Warm blood splattered across her face. A sharp pain spread through her chest.
Fu Suxi’s blade hadn’t blocked the bullet—
It had pierced through her heart from behind.
Hongtao Q opened her mouth and spat out blood.
Yu Zhi pulled the trigger and said coldly,
“You’ve finished talking. You can die now.”
Bang—
The bullet pierced her temple.
Yu Zhi tilted his head, looking at Fu Suxi’s crimson, narrow eyes.
“You dragged it out this long just for her few lines of nonsense?”
Fu Suxi stared at him without blinking and said four words:
“Your name is Yu Zhi?”
