Chapter 76
“Creak—”
The sound of glass being crushed rang out in the air, mixed with the rushing roar of surging water.
Seawater was continuously gushing in through a gap in the glass wall.
Yu Zhi forcibly resisted the urge to kick the man in black again and prepared to dash upstairs.
Before he could even turn around, a cold flash suddenly streaked in from his right, carrying a biting wind.
Yu Zhi’s body moved faster than his brain—he immediately dodged backward.
“Bang—”
A pitch-black, half-human-height long blade brushed past his hair and slammed viciously into the wall.
The wall beside the stairwell door collapsed, rubble and rebar blocking the entrance.
Yu Zhi abruptly turned his head to look at Fu Suxi.
Gray-green fish scales had grown up to his jawline. His scarlet eyes were filled with killing intent—he clearly couldn’t recognize anyone anymore.
Fu Suxi’s condition wasn’t any better than the man in black’s.
The biggest difference between the two was that the man in black was injured physically… while Fu Suxi was injured in the mind—internal damage.
In the blink of an eye, Fu Suxi swung his blade again.
Left with no choice, Yu Zhi retreated. The more he dodged, the faster Fu Suxi struck.
As if he could only see moving creatures, he focused solely on Yu Zhi, no longer attacking the man in black.
Yu Zhi’s eyes flickered. He didn’t use his “kiss-kiss” ability on Fu Suxi.
He quickly scanned the man in black’s position, then used a normal step to flash to the end of the corridor, leaping onto the ceiling and grabbing onto a piece of exposed rebar for support.
When Fu Suxi’s blade slashed over and cut a massive hole through the ceiling, Yu Zhi used a normal step again: [Step on Xiao Hei!]
This kick landed squarely on the man in black’s chest.
The man in black let out a muffled groan. He didn’t hide in the shadows. Instead, he tilted his head up to stare at Yu Zhi and laughed hoarsely. “Have you thought it over, Brother?”
Yu Zhi ignored him. Seeing Fu Suxi charge in again, he instantly used a normal step to flash through the ceiling hole Fu Suxi had just cut open and ran without looking back.
The man in black didn’t have teleportation. Forced by Fu Suxi’s blade, he had no choice but to use his ability to leave his original spot.
The moment he moved, the irrational Fu Suxi became like a beast in the midst of a hunt, focusing on the weaker prey before him and letting the other prey escape.
The man in black kept darting between shadows, rapidly dodging Fu Suxi’s attacks while thoughtfully watching Yu Zhi’s retreating figure.
“Why did Brother run off just like that?”
“He’s running even faster now.”
He murmured, “Did Brother do something bad?”
The man in black glanced at the screen full of barrage comments urging him and Fu Suxi to fight, and his movements paused slightly.
The audience seemed to want him to stay here longer.
He moved to the edge of the shattered corridor and curiously looked down.
In the next second, the glass wall downstairs finally shattered under the strain.
“Boom—”
Raging seawater burst through the glass wall like floodgates opening, crashing inward. The waves reached the man in black in the blink of an eye.
He dodged in time, but this was the sea. With no obstruction left, the water was impossible to avoid. It soon smashed violently into him, sweeping him into the current and submerging several floors.
The entire building trembled, shaking and tilting. Cracks like spiderwebs rapidly spread across the walls. Chunks of concrete fell like rain, and torn electrical wires crackled with sparks.
Yu Zhi’s face changed.
The building was collapsing!
He took a deep breath. With no time to figure out which floor or section he was on, he fixed his eyes on the light above and continuously used Normal Step to run upward.
[Step on rebar!]
[Step on rebar!]
[Step on rebar!]
[Step on rebar… step on reef!]
In an instant, the world suddenly brightened. Before Yu Zhi’s eyes appeared the sunrise illuminating the entire sea.
Bursting from the dim underground building into sunlight, Yu Zhi squinted and turned to look behind him.
The reefs along the shore began collapsing, forming a massive V-shaped chasm. Seawater roared into the fissure. A whirlpool dozens of meters wide swallowed broken stones and rebar.
Although the eight buildings of Meteorite Biotech were arranged in a “?”-shaped layout, the underground laboratories were obviously connected. As the underground structures were swallowed by the sea, the office buildings tilted and collapsed one after another like dominoes.
Seeing this, Yu Zhi flashed farther away to avoid being caught in the aftermath.
He didn’t know whether the man in black or Fu Suxi could escape, or when they would appear, so he didn’t dare go too far.
He simply stood at a moderate distance, staring intently at the raging whirlpool.
Seeing that only he had escaped, the livestream audience flooded the screen with comments:
[User “I Have a Tutor” praises you for discarding your two younger brothers like worn-out shoes and tips 20 universal coins.]
[User “National Special-Grade Humanoid Weapon” loudly praises your efficient use of your two younger brothers and tips 20 universal coins.]
[User “Strongest King” urges you to open the invitation letter and tips 20 universal coins.]
[User “National Special-Grade Humanoid Weapon” is curious why you didn’t use your ability on your younger brother earlier and tips 20 universal coins.]
[User “World’s Cutest Girl” wonders why you didn’t use your ability on your temporary lover and tips 50 universal coins.]
[User “Salad Pancake” is curious about your ability.]
While quickly organizing [My Items] to free up space, Yu Zhi glanced at the barrage.
Many were asking why he hadn’t used his “kiss-kiss” ability on Fu Suxi underground.
They wanted to see Fu Suxi kill him. They also wanted to see Fu Suxi fail to kill him. And even more, they wanted to see him kill Fu Suxi.
Yu Zhi casually said, “Why would I use my ability on him?”
[User “Bronze Player” asks whether you’re temporarily unable to use your ability.]
[User “momo” is curious about your ability restrictions and tips 50 universal coins.]
[User “World’s Cutest Girl” wonders whether you’re unable to use the erasure ability and tips 50 universal coins.]
Yu Zhi watched the comments for a while and realized that most viewers seemed to believe abilities had limits.
In that kind of life-or-death situation just now, his refusal to use his ability only made them more convinced he couldn’t—rather than that he didn’t want to.
Yu Zhi estimated that most abilities probably had restrictions or side effects. Like Xiao Ming—overusing his healing ability gave him headaches and couldn’t last long.
What about Fu Suxi? Going insane?
Yu Zhi blinked.
His “kiss-kiss” ability did indeed have a limitation—it could only eliminate killing intent directed at him.
But the reason he hadn’t used it on Fu Suxi just now was simply because he wanted Fu Suxi to stay insane.
He suspected Meteorite Biotech had an ambush prepared. They had been watching him from the moment he and Fu Suxi entered.
The man in black had been observing him too—how he would find the pollution source, how he would complete the dungeon task, and what exactly his ability was.
If he showed even the slightest sign of rejecting the invitation, what would they do?
A mad Fu Suxi was perfect for dealing with them. If Fu Suxi tried to cut him down, he could run—and even lure him to cut other people. That was far better than Fu Suxi soberly scheming against him.
Even a mad dog has its uses.
Thinking this, Yu Zhi slowly said, “Alright. I really can’t use my ability.”
“Mainly because… I’m broke.”
“If you’ve got money, support with money. If you don’t, go steal or rob some.”
After he said that, even more viewers started tipping. Each individual tip wasn’t large, but together the total was considerable.
Looking at his rapidly rising balance of universal coins, Yu Zhi smiled. “Thank you, everyone.”
“Since you’re all waiting to see me use my ability on Yu Yi…”
“Then keep waiting.”
“…”
Suddenly, faint sounds came from the cracked reef coastline ahead.
Yu Zhi looked up and saw several pollutants that had just surfaced suddenly explode into pieces, blood mist bursting in the sea.
Then a black figure shot out of the water.
Fu Suxi’s upper clothes had been washed away. Bare-chested, three-fifths of his skin was covered in fish scales, water dripping from him.
With inhuman vertical pupils and strange scales, yet his sharp, handsome features made the combination oddly striking rather than ugly.
Compared to him, the man in black looked much more wretched—his clothes tattered, his mask chipped, exposing dense, eerie black lines covering his skin. At first glance, he looked like a drowned ghost.
He clearly knew he wasn’t Fu Suxi’s match and didn’t attack again, instead standing on a reef far from Fu Suxi.
Seeing the company buildings reduced to ruins, the man in black paused, then laughed.
“Brother, you’re amazing!”
Yu Zhi: “…”
The man in black’s laughter drew Fu Suxi’s attention.
Instinctively, Fu Suxi raised his blade and slashed at him.
Yu Zhi remained still, intending to watch the tigers fight from the mountain.
But this time, the man in black had learned his lesson. Instead of fighting Fu Suxi, he ran straight toward Yu Zhi.
The black shadow rushed forward like a ghost, appearing before Yu Zhi in the blink of an eye.
He stared at Yu Zhi and grinned, pale lips curling.
“Brother, for the sake of a failed product…”
“You won’t even take a younger brother who can satisfy you?”
Yu Zhi narrowed his eyes. “Didn’t she become a pollution source? Why is she still a failed product?”
“Because…” The man in black tilted his head and straightened his slightly crooked mask. “She’s a failed product.”
Before his words finished, Fu Suxi’s blade arrived.
Yu Zhi immediately flashed away with Normal Step and activated the title [God of Lip-Love].
As soon as the title activated, rustling sounds filled the ruins. Countless fishman pollutants crawled out and charged over.
Yu Zhi ran ahead. The man in black chased. Fu Suxi had been chasing the man in black, but as more and more fishman pollutants appeared, he fell behind, his attention drawn to them.
Seeing this, Yu Zhi slowed.
Since the man in black was only chasing him and not attacking, he simply stopped running.
He stared directly at the man in black. “The one watching me at Taijiang High School—was that you?”
The man in black’s eyes lit up. “Brother remembered me.”
Yu Zhi glanced at the abyssal chasm nearby, where pollutants in the sea were swimming upward.
He continued, “Are you interested in my hidden mission?”
They had deliberately “given” him Jiang Shengnan—a pollution source who wouldn’t resist. Clearly, they knew about his hidden mission.
The man in black nodded, then shook his head. “Yes. But not entirely.”
“Besides the hidden mission, what matters more… is that your ability is special.”
Yu Zhi frowned almost imperceptibly. He had never used his “kiss-kiss” ability on Meteorite Biotech staff.
In the next second, the man in black said, “Pollutants all like you.”
Yu Zhi understood.
They thought attracting pollutants was his ability.
He feigned ignorance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The man in black didn’t care about his act.
“Brother, the pollutants in districts 5820 and 6235 liked you the first time they saw you.”
“What about other pollutants? Will they all like you too?”
He stepped closer, eyes brighter and brighter, voice trembling with a chilling excitement.
“Pollutants must obey the rules set by pollution sources.”
“They worship pollution sources as gods, yet they all long for you!”
“Your ability can interfere with the laws of polluted zones and alter pollutants’ cognition.”
Greedily, he gazed at Yu Zhi’s pale, beautiful face and reached out to touch him.
“Brother, what exactly is your ability?”
Yu Zhi looked at the hand reaching his face—pale skin covered in black lines like tattoos extending along bone structure.
He didn’t dodge.
Instead, he grabbed the man’s hand and said slowly:
“Xiao Hei, actually my ability is…”
[Give me one minute of the hardest buff—must be rock hard!]
“…to let heaven reward pollutants.”
The man in black froze.
In the next second—
“Crack!”
A sharp pain shot through his right hand.
Yu Zhi crushed it to powder.
Not giving him a chance to escape, Yu Zhi held his right hand in a death grip while smashing his left fist into his chest—again and again—breaking ribs and caving in his chest.
Then he swung the man in black up and hurled him into the sea behind them—right into the mass of fishman pollutants.
Countless fishmen swarmed him, teeth sinking into his body. Blood clouds exploded and spread through the blue water.
Yu Zhi watched the man in black dragged into the sea by pollutants and sneered.
“Do you like Brother’s great ability?”
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