The So-called Dead End

In theory, the top speed of the highest gear was like an airplane on land. Even the world's top motorcycle racers wouldn't do something so crazy on unfamiliar roads without prior reconnaissance.

This was practically dancing on a knife's edge with his life.

It wasn't just Ganesha behind him; the speed of the escape itself was the scythe of death. Any slightest mistake at such extreme speeds would be enough to wreck his bike and kill him.

Su Qing'an himself didn't know how long the engine and fuel tank of the Kawasaki H2R, running at full throttle from the start, could last.

When he bought the bike, he hadn't considered he'd be chased by an Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

But it didn't matter. Ever since he realized shaking off Ganesha was no longer feasible, he hadn't planned for a prolonged escape.

Using the Kawasaki H2R to escape was part of the plan. Success would be cause for celebration, but failure meant he'd have to fight and gamble again in the next phase.

His physical and mental endurance determined that if this plan failed, he would surely die.

However, he had no other choice.

"We're here." Su Qing'an looked at the building a hundred meters away. It was a half-finished construction site, and the workers had all turned into Mortals. This project was doomed to remain incomplete.

But based on preliminary calculations, the project had a substantial investment. Even if only about half the work was done, its self-weight should be over a hundred thousand tons.

If possible, Su Qing'an wished it were even heavier, ideally reaching 800,000 tons, the weight of the Shenzhou Canghai City Central Tower.

Ganesha was indeed strong. So strong that a mere collision, not even an attack, would kill him. But even this formidable trait could be exploited.

This was especially true given Ganesha's rough, animal-like logic.

He intended to make Ganesha roll directly into this building, smash all the load-bearing pillars, and use the building's immense weight to incapacitate it.

That's right, even if the plan succeeded, Su Qing'an didn't believe he could kill an Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

The ultimate goal was to incapacitate it, make it freeze, and seize the opportunity to escape.

When designing the load-bearing pillars, engineers would use C60 or higher grade concrete. The rebar would be extremely high-strength and reinforced with stirrups. In theory, each such load-bearing pillar could withstand 2,700 tons of weight.

But compared to the building's self-weight limit, the forces of tension, bending, torsion, and shear, while acting on the pillars, were clearly not as extreme as 2,700 tons.

And Su Qing'an had no doubt that Ganesha could easily smash through all of it. When he was deliberately creating obstacles for Ganesha, he realized no building could stop it.

It had been unimpeded all the way, as if walking on flat ground.

The ACCO, the world's largest crawler dozer, with its 1,300 horsepower and 183-ton operating weight, was like a small child in front of Ganesha. Its weak power was only enough to play with building blocks.

Su Qing'an's Kawasaki H2R had already violently smashed through the warning signs and the newly installed reinforced glass of the building. The arrogant noise should have attracted Mortals to chase them, but Ganesha, rolling down, arrived immediately after.

Compared to its ferocity, the Kawasaki H2R was like child's play.

Su Qing'an began to slow down. No matter how fast his reflexes or how good the bike, he couldn't be reckless in such conditions inside the building.

More importantly, by aggressively leaning the bike, he began to drift and turn non-stop. He needed to guide Ganesha's direction of movement to achieve his goal.

Unlike the vast and spacious underground sewer system, which was like a palace, the building's space was too cramped for a behemoth like Ganesha.

This Emperor-class Honkai Beast furiously rolled and smashed everything in its path, even load-bearing pillars capable of withstanding 2,700 tons were merely troublesome pebbles on its way.

"Almost there, almost there." Guiding Ganesha in circles, Su Qing'an had lost count of how many load-bearing pillars and walls it had smashed along the way.

Success was getting closer.

The building showed signs of collapse, its groans echoing through the space. Overpowering it all was the 998cc four-stroke inline-four engine of the Kawasaki H2R, roaring like a beast in its death throes, drowning out the sounds of Ganesha and the building in the young man's ears.

I want to live.

I absolutely cannot die here.

Not even an Emperor-class Honkai Beast can make me die here.

If I die here, how can I save Satou Yunona?

People who can't keep their word are pathetic. Just like my parents in this world and the last. Neither of them ever kept their promises.

They were all pathetic people.

Su Qing'an had always hated such people the most.

He didn't want to be like them.

He had already broken a promise once, to Hua.

So, there absolutely couldn't be a second time.

He would never speak of things he wasn't sure about. Once he made a promise, he would fulfill it, no matter the cost.

He had already decided to witness whether Satou Yunona was dead with his own eyes.

If she was dead, he would bury her. If she was alive, they would escape together.

Even if he encountered a disaster like an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, Su Qing'an would never regret it.

Before fulfilling his promise, even if he fell into the abyss, the young man was determined to drag his weary body out.

"Ganesha, don't think you can kill me so easily just because you're Emperor-class," he whispered, his voice hoarse and weak, yet containing an abnormal obsession that couldn't be ignored.

The young man's eyes stared straight ahead. His consciousness was already blurring. For some reason, at this moment of life and death, he was no longer afraid. He didn't need to recite the Sword Heart Technique; he felt no tension, no fear, just a calm heart.

As Ganesha smashed the last large section of the building's load-bearing structure, the Kawasaki H2R crashed through the wall and flew out.

The last surge of Honkai Energy caused Su Qing'an's consciousness to disconnect for a few seconds. After traveling a few hundred meters by inertia, the riderless Kawasaki H2R plunged into a pile of rubble. Even in those few seconds of unconsciousness, his fingers had tightly gripped the handlebars; otherwise, the most likely outcome would have been being thrown off along the way.

Even though he hadn't fully recovered, Su Qing'an, with his consciousness barely awake, understood he was severely injured.

His fine control over his body revealed the specifics of his injuries: minor bleeding in his skull, three broken ribs, and his left leg and hand, which had been in contact with the ground, were completely shattered. Without a doubt, he had lost basic mobility and could face death at any moment.

And the steel beast that had kept him alive until now was also totaled.

The roaring of collapsing buildings in his ears deafened him. The young man struggled to lift his eyes and look at the building behind him, now a massive ruin.

The Emperor-class Honkai Beast seemed to have been successfully buried underneath. Su Qing'an could feel the Honkai Energy reaction inside go quiet.

Ganesha had successfully crashed from being crushed by the building; his plan had worked.

But immediately, sensing the Honkai Energy in the ruins slowly gathering in a central point, Su Qing'an knew Ganesha was regaining consciousness as time passed. With his mobility restricted, his fate was all but sealed.

It's not time to give up yet, he told himself.

He could no longer control Honkai Energy; that was an obvious fact.

His stamina was at its limit, blood was constantly seeping out, his body was in tatters – these were all undeniable truths.

But it's not time to give up yet, he couldn't give up like this.

He had already given his all, used all his wits, and tried so incredibly hard. How could he fall at the final step?

The young man rolled over. His spine wasn't broken, his right arm wasn't broken, and his right leg could still move. He could still struggle.

In fact, being able to move was only to the extent that his bones weren't broken.

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Every time he crawled on the ground, his entire nervous system screamed in agony.

It hurts so much, it hurts so much, it hurts so much, it hurts so much. His reason cried out, his body warned him.

But he couldn't stop, couldn't rest. Only the pain stimulated his consciousness, keeping it awake. Not only was it the price of using Honkai Energy, but the massive bleeding from his damaged body was also dissolving his consciousness.

Every step Su Qing'an took forward on the ground now was beyond the extreme, beyond any limit. Each step he took was an overdraft on his life force.

After a long and arduous ten minutes, Su Qing'an had only moved fifty meters forward.

Beyond the tenth meter, he was no longer crawling with any remaining strength or stamina. He was like a puppet with only a single string left, that string named willpower forcibly dragging his broken body the remaining forty meters.

The ruins behind him began to tremble. Ganesha's breathing seemed to reach his ears. Perhaps in five seconds, perhaps in a minute, this Emperor-class Honkai Beast would fully awaken and then kill him.

He understood. There was no more chance.

At this moment, Su Qing'an suddenly thought of Chen Junxuan.

Teacher, you said a martial artist must never give up or waver, even in dire straits?

I did it.

I tried so hard to live until now.

But whether it's martial arts, willpower, or wisdom, they all have limits.

But if I use the power of Honkai to fight Honkai, how can I, with my limited Honkai Energy resistance, win against an Emperor-class Honkai Beast?

But...

I'm so unwilling, so unwilling, so unwilling, so unwilling.

I'm so unwilling, so unwilling, so unwilling, so unwilling.

I haven't yet been able to deduce another path for martial arts, I haven't truly experienced the world, I haven't seen the gentle Sister from my memories.

Finally, I haven't fulfilled my promises and agreements to either Hua or Satou Yunona.

To die like this, to die as the person I hate the most.

I'm truly so unwilling.

But...

If I'm destined to die, I will die in battle.

The young man's final will reignited like embers. He struggled to pull out [Calming the Tempest] with his right hand.

He couldn't stand up, but with Ganesha's size, it made little difference whether he stood or not. His only goal was to swing his sword before he died.

BOOM BOOM BOOM! Large chunks of concrete and stone pressing down on Ganesha in the ruins were violently thrown aside, the sound echoing through the heavens.

The weight of a building, hundreds of thousands of tons, had only managed to stun it for ten minutes.

This was a power Su Qing'an couldn't comprehend.

But the young man stared directly at the Emperor-class Honkai Beast without fear. In this deadly chase that had ended in failure, Su Qing'an had undergone a baptism that even death couldn't grant him before.

The young man's composure was no longer the state of a tranquil mind granted by the Sword Heart Technique, but true courage.

Su Qing'an swung his sword.

"Crack."

[Calming the Tempest] shattered. Ganesha hadn't even arrived yet, and the sword had already broken.

That's right. You've worked hard for me all this way; you must be exhausted.

I'm sorry, teacher. I broke the sword you gave me, the one for my mistress.

The boy then smiled and threw a punch.

It was such a weak and powerless fist, the force contained within it was so meager that even an ordinary person would be surprised by its feebleness.

But it was also such a powerful and unwavering punch. In such a desperate, life-or-death situation, after his sword shattered, the boy didn't falter in the slightest. He threw the punch without even needing to think.

This will.

This courage.

This decisiveness.

The girl saw it all. Ganesha's fangs were less than a meter away from Su Qing'an, but this meter felt like two different worlds.

"Inch Strength, Mountain Collapse." One punch, also just one punch.

It was martial arts, incredibly complex, transformed into an extremely simple yet incredibly powerful fist technique.

Ganesha let out a mournful cry, a howl of pain it hadn't even uttered when buried under a hundred thousand tons of building.

"Bang!" Its massive body, larger than an African elephant, was sent flying backward, crashing into the ruins of the building. At the same time, its fangs were shattered by the girl's punch.

Su Qing'an's mind was overwhelmed. The girl's figure was imprinted in his mind. It wasn't about her stunning beauty; her unparalleled splendor and power had become a captivating trait that, at this moment of life and death, forcefully etched this scene into his soul.

Her movements were calm, her expression indifferent. Her posture was like that of a mythical immortal.

The girl's martial arts had completely surpassed his teacher, Chen Junxuan.

No, it shouldn't be described as surpassing or exceeding.

The pinnacle of martial arts should have been this person from the very beginning.

But apart from that.

So familiar, so familiar.

It felt like he had seen this person somewhere before.

But he couldn't recall. In his memories, he didn't know anyone like this.

Oh, right.

She... she looks like Hua.

"You've already tried your best. Now, leave it to me," the girl said, looking at the boy behind her, who was covered in wounds but still stubbornly resisting unconsciousness.

With this much blood loss and these injuries, it wouldn't be strange to pass out from the pain alone. Yet, this boy possessed a stubbornness bordering on obsession. He showed no fear in the face of death. The punch he threw was indeed pitifully weak.

But the girl understood.

Besides that will, which was worthy of praise, even the control over his entire body's strength was incredibly perfect. At the very end, the boy even accelerated his blood flow, squeezing out the last bit of power from his broken and battered body.

This is really reckless. It looks like I need to finish this quickly.

The girl's retreating back as she walked towards Ganesha became the last magnificent sight Su Qing'an saw before he lost consciousness.