The Unbearable Pain of Life

"Ahem... Big Boss, there might be some misunderstanding between us. My brother and I were just passing by; we aren't with them."

The first to snap out of it was the shorter one of the comedic duo. He raised both hands in surrender without a shred of dignity, his face plastered with a nauseating, fawning smile.

The trio of street thugs glanced at the gun barrels thicker than their own arms and the dense array of missiles. After swallowing hard and exchanging looks, they also knelt down with zero backbone, consciously tossing their handguns aside and kicking them away. The tall-and-short duo followed suit.

Li Si swept a glance over them and ignored them entirely.

"You like saying 'heh heh,' don't you? Try saying it for me again."

Fixing his gaze on the bespectacled man who had been acting all high and mighty, Li Si mimicked the man's earlier cold, mocking laugh.

"I wouldn't dare, I..."

The flat-topped man in glasses squeezed a smile onto his stiff face.

"Wouldn't dare? I thought you liked it quite a bit before!"

Li Si kicked the bespectacled man to the ground. With Bumblebee standing guard nearby, brandishing its six-barreled Gatling gun, none of them dared to make a move.

This game had no player respawn mechanism; every player had only one life. If you died, you had to create a new character, and you couldn't create more than two characters within a year.

"No..."

The bespectacled man scrambled up after being kicked, wanting to say something, but was met with the sole of a shoe rapidly enlarging in his vision.

"I told you to 'heh heh' at me!"

"I told you to act all high and mighty!"

"I told you to wear glasses and pretend to be Young Master Chu, you damn moron!"

Li Si unleashed a flurry of satisfying, ruthless kicks on the man, lecturing him with every strike. The five onlookers turned their heads away, unable to bear the sight.

"Too cruel..."

"Bro, what does wearing glasses have to do with Young Master Chu? Who is Young Master Chu anyway?"

"Shh, stop talking. He's just looking for an excuse to vent. Who cares who Young Master Chu is!"

"You have to admit, this four-eyed geek really is punchable when he laughs. Acting like his IQ is so high all day—I kind of want to go over and kick him too..."

"Speaking of which... shouldn't we be taking this chance to run away? Why are we still chatting here?"

"Are you stupid? Can you outrun a missile? NPCs are restricted by the law; they usually won't kill people. Once he's done beating the geek and feels better, we'll be safe. Running now would just get us shot."

"Big Brother is wise and brilliant, far better than that four-eyed geek."

Seeing that Li Si seemed to be targeting only the man in glasses, the tall-and-short duo and the trio of thugs actually started whispering among themselves.

Li Si, having had his fill of beating the man, let out a "heh heh" toward the resentful-looking geek before finally finding the time to look at Max.

He then looked astonished: "This look of yours is..."

"Ahem..."

Max awkwardly withdrew his eager expression and said sheepishly: "I've been robbed since I was a kid, so..."

"...I am a sinner. I've corrupted another innocent child."

Silently making a sign of the cross in his heart, Li Si finally managed to choke out: "If you want to hit him, go ahead, just don't kill him!"

"Okay!"

Max's eyes lit up. He ran over, excited and thrilled, then stared at the bespectacled man with a conflicted expression, seemingly hesitating over where to strike.

The man in glasses backed away in fear, but unexpectedly, Max kicked out right at that moment.

Crack!

That was the sound of shattered eggs; the unbearable pain of life.

The bespectacled man's face turned green instantly, and the other men present instinctively squeezed their legs together in sympathy.

"I didn't teach him that!"

Li Si turned his head away, unable to watch, and silently prayed for the man in glasses for a second.

"I didn't mean to..."

"I understand. Let's go, it's time to eat!"

Li Si sighed, patted Max on the shoulder, and began to stroll slowly down the pitch-black asphalt road.

"But... aren't we driving anymore?"

Max looked at Bumblebee in its robot form and asked anxiously.

"You get carsick, don't you? Let's walk for a bit; it will follow us on its own later."

Li Si waved at him lazily. Max took one last look at Bumblebee before hurrying to catch up.

Once the two were gone, the five survivors finally let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the ground.

"Whew~ They're finally gone. That scared the hell out of me. I'd rather be blown up than experience the pain of losing my balls."

The trio of thugs sat limply on the ground, their backs soaked in cold sweat before they even realized it.

"But..." the short player's voice came through, on the verge of tears as he pointed at Bumblebee, "but this guy didn't leave..."

"BOOM!"

At this moment, Li Si and Max had already walked quite a distance along the road, when a violent explosion and roar erupted from behind them.

"Take over the surrounding surveillance and replace all video footage!"

Li Si instructed the wireless earpiece in his right ear, his expression impassive.

"Li, they..."

Max looked back, wanting to say something but hesitating. The explosion had clearly occurred exactly where they had just been standing. Connecting this to Li Si's earlier refusal to get into the car, the situation was self-evident.

"That's right, they're dead!"

Li Si naturally understood what Max wanted to ask and had no intention of denying it.

Since they dared to make a move against him, they had to be prepared to be killed in return; he was no bleeding-heart saint.

In fact, it was quite the opposite. He had always been affected by the mental changes caused by the Hulk bloodline from his past life, leaving him with a volatile temper, though he kept this irritability under tight control.

"Oh!"

Receiving this answer, Max replied in a low voice. After a moment of silence, he said, "Actually, you don't have to hide these things from me. I can understand!"

"I just didn't want you to be disgusted by the sight, nothing more!"

Li Si smiled indifferently and said, "Those who understand me will naturally understand, and those who don't, don't need to—we aren't on the same path anyway."

He understood Max's personality well. He might be cowardly and timid, perhaps insecure and lonely, but that definitely did not include a savior complex. On the contrary, it was precisely this type of person who, once they gained power, often became extreme and insane due to an inflated ego.

He hadn't hidden the cleanup work he ordered Bumblebee to perform, partly because he wanted Max to adapt in advance; he didn't want him to turn into a madman who only knew how to seek revenge and destroy once he became Electro.