The force that had been pulling Li Wei toward the ground vanished. The Bishop's enormous body, covered in limbs, was pinned to the ground as if held fast by a powerful magnet!
This allowed Li Wei to escape his control with ease. He pulled the short sword free from where it had been wedged between bones and thrust it into The Bishop's head again!
Blood sprayed into the falling rain and mingled with it, pooling in the muddy water.
But even a fatal wound that pierced his head seemed to have no effect on The Bishop.
His torso struggled up from the mire, forcing itself to its feet. The wounds that had been gushing blood were visibly healing, as if he meant to keep the sword in Li Wei's hand, too!
"Gravity? Physics? No wonder! No wonder! I always said that even a biohuman shouldn't be this perfect! Such a powerful body, such quick reflexes! Tian'en Company concealed the secret of your body! You were given the key, you mastered knowledge, and you became a scientist!"
He shouted, growing even more excited.
Taking advantage of the moment, Li Wei pulled the short sword from The Bishop's head and backed away to put some distance between them.
"This is forbidden! A taboo explicitly banned by all the major scientific research institutes! If they find out about you, what would my borderline research amount to?"
The Bishop stared at Li Wei with countless eyes, as if gazing at a priceless treasure.
Li Wei frowned at him. The man seemed to have no vital point. It made no difference whether Li Wei struck or stabbed his heart or his head!
Li Wei hadn't learned the world's bizarre biology yet, but from The Bishop's description, it seemed he had fused the cells, genes, or whatever else from the corpses in the cemetery into his own body. He had also told Nanny Cheng to collect fresh, living limbs all over Yuguang and graft them onto him.
Li Wei couldn't yet tell what other effects that had, but The Bishop's ability to heal was astonishing!
Li Wei surveyed his body. The Bishop seemed to have become an unkillable monster. But since he was a character tied to the player's story in a game, he had to have a health bar. A health bar meant he could be killed, and if he could be killed, he had to have a weakness!
"You've done something so depraved, and you still call it borderline?" Li Wei said, buying time.
The Bishop seemed amused by his words.
"Depraved? They were just laborers, a bunch of lowly expendable materials! Who do you think cares? The laborers of Sun City, the farmers of Zhulan, the Academy's specially admitted students—these are the lowest, most overlooked people in the East District! Even if Sun City's Council or the Scientific Management Precept Bureau in the central district learned what I'd done, they'd only condemn me for conducting prohibited scientific experiments. They wouldn't hold me accountable for murder or grave robbing!"
As he finished speaking, he suddenly sprang into action!
The Bishop seemed to have adapted to the force pressing down on him. His movements were somewhat hindered, but he was still shockingly fast!
Like a frog leaping into the air, he used his limbs to launch himself skyward through the rain, then suddenly bore down on Li Wei!
Li Wei wiped the rain from his face, narrowed his eyes, and abruptly threw the short sword!
His precise control over gravity let him guide the sword's movement through the air with perfect accuracy.
He dodged the area where The Bishop landed, leaving only the sword to plunge into that unsightly body!
A large pool of scarlet blood had gathered on the ground. The Bishop's blood seemed to cost him nothing; it splashed freely, seeping into the mud.
Feng Zi sat collapsed in the Prayer Hall, now reduced to ruins, and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with her sleeve.
She stared at The Bishop, who was darting through the wind and rain. She had more experience than Li Wei and understood better that the replacement and fusion of living organisms could not possibly be without weaknesses.
If knowledge like that had no side effects, Twilight would never have kept it secret. No matter how much it violated moral principles, people would have researched and experimented with it to gain greater control over science. It wouldn't have ended up in The Bishop's hands.
Her current condition was a serious problem. She couldn't help Li Wei take action, so all she could do was help him work through the theory and find the fatal weakness.
The Bishop paid no attention to Li Wei's attacks and injuries. He retaliated wildly, trying at every moment to catch him, swallow him, and absorb him into his own body!
"Now that you have the key and have learned the knowledge, you've only just stepped through the door of science and onto the first rung of the ladder! First-stage gravity is useless! Physics only really comes into its own after the second stage. With abilities this limited, you might as well accept becoming part of me!"
He closed in on Li Wei again. His tangled limbs wrapped tightly around him, and his gaping maw swallowed him whole, starting with his head!
But the short sword had pierced straight through his lower jaw, preventing him from closing his mouth any further!
At the same time, Li Wei took advantage of the opening and thrust his other hand into the pair of eyes on either side of The Bishop's face!
"Give me these eyes back first!"
He tensed two fingers and wrenched the eyeballs from their sockets!
These eyes seemed different from the other body parts. The moment Li Wei pulled them free, The Bishop let out a bloodcurdling scream!
He seemed to be in unbearable pain and released Li Wei without thinking, his body still convulsing.
As soon as Li Wei had the eyeballs, a notification suddenly appeared in his mind.
[Quest complete: "Eyes"]
[Quest reward: 10,000 legal currency; unlocked biology skill: Cell Regeneration (Beginner)]
[Experience: 145735.9/500000]
Li Wei ignored the change in his experience. He noticed only that a new skill had appeared after [Gravity Manipulation] in his skill bar!
He turned to look at The Bishop, who was clutching his face and had managed to struggle back to his feet in the mud. So that was the unknown reward: the knowledge he'd gained from The Bishop!
"You deserve to die! You really deserve to die!"
The Bishop roared and charged at Li Wei again. One of his forelimbs, tipped with sharp claws, suddenly punched through Li Wei's shoulder!
Blood sprayed everywhere. Feng Zi's pupils contracted at the sight!
But Li Wei seemed not to feel the pain. He bared his teeth and once more plunged the short sword into that revolting head!
At the same time, the ghastly wound in his shoulder visibly healed. The sight left The Bishop, who had been on the verge of madness, stunned!
"Impossible! What is this? Biology?"
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