Am I... dying?

After Li Ming lured the [Code??? I Clone] away, the pressure on the guard team significantly decreased. Their main task now was to deal with the Mantises, with reinforcements arriving and their formation being rearranged.

Li Ming quickly cleared out the Mantises, but they didn't immediately go to support him. Instead, they stopped within a relatively safe range.

Because Li Ming and the [Code??? I Clone] were fighting at an intersection, the local California guard team was able to quickly form an encirclement.

The guard team set up their positions more than two hundred meters away, with a total of eight armored vehicles and over two hundred personnel. All the guards simply set up their firearms, awaiting their commander's orders.

However, the commander made no move. He just held his walkie-talkie and silently watched Li Ming and the [Code??? I Clone] fight.

In his opinion, Li Ming, who could contend with such a monster, was hardly a normal person. After all, both of them looked human. He guessed it was some new trick concocted by the higher-ups.

"Commander, we couldn't find any data on that monster, nor any data on that man."

"Shit, what have you guys been doing? The monster is one thing, but how can you not find anything on that man!"

The commander cursed inwardly. They had hoped to find information about Li Ming based on his appearance, but unfortunately, his subordinates brought him no good news.

And so, the guard team watched them stalemate for a full half hour. The battle situation hadn't changed much, but new orders came through his walkie-talkie.

"Director Fiss, please have the guard team cooperate with the warrior's combat. These are the latest orders from above. Please eliminate the monster immediately and do not cause panic among the citizens."

"Do you know what you're saying? Even rocket launchers had no effect on that monster. Are you sure this isn't some new toy those bastards came up with?"

"Please execute the order, Director Fiss."

"Please execute the order!"

As the voice fell silent, the static from the disconnected walkie-talkie grated on his ears. Fiss gritted his teeth and had no choice but to go through with it. However, he wasn't completely foolish. Since he still had enough ammunition, he decided to follow the warrior's strategy and focus on ranged attrition.

The orders were passed from Fiss to the guard team, and they finally sprang into action. They used shoulder-fired rockets, USP submachine guns, and so on. Fiss himself even drew a Colt Guardian pistol and fired repeatedly at the [Code??? I Clone].

When the guard team opened fire on the [Code??? I Clone], Li Ming noticed that the monster's actions had changed again. It began deploying an energy shield and a gravity field. The powerful gravity field acted like an inexplicable aura barrier; once erected, anything within three meters seemed impenetrable.

However, Li Ming noticed a detail: since the guard team began their attack, the monster hadn't fired any more energy rays. It wasn't that it disdained to do so, but rather it seemed incapable, as if it didn't have the energy to use other skills after deploying the gravity field.

"It can only use two skills at most at one time?"

Li Ming pondered silently, feeling like he had grasped something. He sheathed his dual pistols and, using Vermillion Bird Treading Clouds beneath his feet, moved constantly in the [Code??? I Clone]'s blind spot, waiting for an opportunity.

When Li Ming approached within five meters of the [Code??? I Clone], he was detected. But Li Ming was more concerned about the sudden change in the [Code??? I Clone]'s actions.

As the guard team fired the last tactical rocket, the energy shield's bar dropped to zero. In his vision, the energy shield had indeed disappeared.

Li Ming's heart leaped with joy. He drew Moon God's Protection in a reverse motion and decisively used [Crescent Strike]. The grayish-black bullets struck the [Code??? I Clone]'s body.

Unlike before, when they were deflected by energy arcs, the grayish-black bullets successfully made contact with the [Code??? I Clone]'s body this time. A purplish-black energy field appeared around the [Code??? I Clone].

The [Code??? I Clone] was enveloped in purplish-black airflow, appearing to be in a state of stasis. However, compared to the effect Li Ming had on Zhu Yan, this temporal distortion effect wasn't ideal. Li Ming even saw the [Code??? I Clone]'s hand begin to move, its core emitting a faint red glow.

"Damn, the 3.3-second temporal distortion might not hold."

Seeing this, Li Ming's heart tightened. His feet didn't stop. He widened his stance, aligning his waist and hips, then exerted force with his lower legs. Li Ming's body shot out like a bullet.

"Inch Punch · Avalanche!"

He landed a punch on the [Code??? I Clone]'s abdomen. Unfortunately, the [Code??? I Clone] wasn't human and felt no pain.

The [Code??? I Clone] was sent flying high by Li Ming's punch. Then, accompanied by a yellow glow, Li Ming ascended into the sky, directly bypassing the [Code??? I Clone] and flying above it.

"Inch Punch · Heaven Render!"

His body spun like a battle axe as he brought it down heavily. The [Code??? I Clone] was enveloped in yellow light and slammed heavily onto the ground, creating a large crater.

Then, Li Ming gathered energy in his hand. A yellow energy ball quickly appeared. In just one second, an energy ball about a meter in diameter materialized. With a push of his palms, the massive energy ball pierced through the smoke and hit the [Code??? I Clone] in the crater, which had already gotten back on its feet.

"3.3 seconds is still too tight. Honestly, I never had to optimize my score like this even when grinding in the Abyss."

However, Li Ming regretted that he had initially intended to strike the core directly. But to his surprise, when he aimed for the core, most of his strength was blocked by that faint red light, and the impact landed on the [Code??? I Clone]'s body.

Looking at the HP bar above the [Code??? I Clone]'s head, Li Ming felt a headache. As expected, after a combo, it only took away a third of the second HP bar.

Combined with the earlier depletion by the guard team, this thing still had three-quarters of its health left.

"This is a headache!"

Fortunately, the monster's shield hadn't recovered yet. This was probably the best news for Li Ming.

He gritted his teeth and charged forward, deciding to take it down before its shield regenerated.

"Inch Punch · Azure Dragon Emerging from Water · Rock Break!"

"Inch Punch · Azure Dragon Emerging from Water · Cloud Mist!"

"Six Forms of White Tiger Listening to the Wind!"

Li Ming felt like he had returned from the novice village after mastering his skills, only to find that the boss was an upgraded version of the novice village boss.

He unleashed everything he had learned since arriving in this world. His combo was fierce, but when he checked the results, the HP bar was at 2.something, with a little bit left. Well, the results were indeed remarkable.

However, after hitting the [Code??? I Clone]'s metallic body, Li Ming's hands were already bleeding. A faint red glowing vein, about three to four centimeters long, appeared on his right wrist, but it was covered by blood and he hadn't noticed it.

Ever since being hit by the temporal distortion, the [Code??? I Clone] had seemed to freeze like a crashed computer. But this "crash" only lasted about half a minute. After Li Ming finished his combo and retreated five to six meters, the guard team resumed their barrage of fire. Fiss had also figured it out: as long as their side could deal with the monster's shield, the rest would be up to the warrior.

There's nothing more to say then. If you're poor, you strike precisely; if you're rich, you carpet bomb.

What, you have armor-piercing rounds too? Hurry and bring them out!

Without another word, it was just a barrage of gunfire.

The smoke and dust kicked up by the bullets and artillery fire blurred Li Ming's vision, but he could see the shield below the health bar of the [Code??? I Clone] had reappeared.

Gritting his teeth, he prepared to continue wearing down this monstrous thing.

But suddenly, all the surrounding smoke and flames vanished. The air cleared, as if it had been washed clean. As the core in the [Code??? I Clone]'s hand flashed red, a gravity field instantly enveloped a fifty-meter radius around them.

Li Ming felt as if his previously light body was now filled with lead, completely unable to move.

He could only watch as the [Code??? I Clone] relentlessly approached him. As it drew nearer, Li Ming felt the pressure from the gravity field becoming heavier and heavier.

How many times gravity was this?

Li Ming was already unable to straighten his back from the weight. He hadn't felt this heavy even when facing triple gravity at the airport before.

The [Code??? I Clone] approached step by step, and Li Ming's eyes were filled with horror.

"What's going on? Keep firing! Don't let that monster get close to that soldier!" Director Fiss roared, watching his surrounding team members lower their weapons.

The deputy captain next to him swallowed hard. "No, it's not that, Director Fiss. Our weapons all malfunctioned once they entered the monster's range."

"What!" Director Fiss was also somewhat shocked. Everything had been fine just moments ago, so how could it suddenly turn out like this? Disbelieving, Director Fiss raised his own Colt Guardian and fired a shot.

After the brass bullet was fired, it suddenly changed trajectory upon entering the [Code??? I Clone]'s fifty-meter range, dropping sharply towards the ground.

It landed on the ground after flying less than ten meters, making a crisp sound.

Director Fiss was at a loss for what to do, his face looking extremely grim. What kind of monster was this? After today, he was definitely going to complain to his superiors about these idiots.

The [Code??? I Clone] approached Li Ming step by step, extending its core towards him. Li Ming could even clearly see the golden-red patterns wrapped around the crimson, semi-transparent orb.

This was actually Li Ming's best chance to act, but he had no strength to resist the surrounding gravity. This was a classic dilemma: solving the core would solve the gravity field, but solving the core required first solving the gravity field.

It's like a nesting doll!

The moment the core touched Li Ming's chest, it unleashed a powerful suction force. Looking at his combat panel, Li Ming could clearly see both his HP and SP values plummeting rapidly.

It would probably take less than a minute for Li Ming's HP and SP to reach zero.

In the game, reaching zero meant failure, but in reality, what would happen to him? Would he die? Was he going to die now, when he hadn't even done anything yet...

Li Ming's pupils gradually unfocused as the core's red light flickered. Am... am I going to die?