A Twist of Fate, Finally Gaining Devour Ability

This is in the bag!

Li Xing lunged toward Sun Wukong in a panic, but before he could even move, he found himself swept up into Sun Wukong's arms.

Atmospheric, this was absolutely atmospheric!

Li Xing feigned terror on the surface, but his heart was racing with excitement. His plan had hit a few snags, but it was foolproof.

He flailed his limbs in Sun Wukong's embrace, secretly reaching out to swipe the small pouch tucked at Sun Wukong's waist. Taking advantage of the moment Sun Wukong landed and his attention was elsewhere, he quickly shoved it into his own pocket.

A flash of smugness crossed Li Xing's eyes as he exerted all his strength. Struggle!

A bad premonition surfaced in Li Xing's mind. Push harder!

Li Xing felt as if his body were bound by steel bars. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't budge an inch.

It's over! I'm going to be flown straight into outer space.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Sun Wukong's puzzled voice reached him, and Li Xing found himself standing firmly on the ground.

Li Xing was stunned. What kind of situation was this? How did it end up like this?

Not far away, Bulma struggled to her feet, gritting her teeth as she brushed the dust off her clothes.

Li Xing's brain raced, and he roared silently. "Damn it, System, I've already obtained the Four-Star Dragon Ball. Why haven't you settled the rewards yet?"

"Task three is to seize the Four-Star Dragon Ball; settlement only begins after you have left."

It was just as he had expected; the System wouldn't let him exploit any loopholes.

A bitter taste filled his mouth as Li Xing caught a glimpse of the rushing river behind him out of the corner of his eye. He sighed inwardly, knowing that his only way out was to fall into the river below.

Seeing Bulma marching over aggressively, Li Xing pretended to be afraid and took a few steps back, his foot landing on the edge of the cliff.

"Hey, watch out!"

Before Sun Wukong's warning could even finish, Li Xing had already fallen backward off the cliff.

As an orphan, he could be ruthless to others, and he was never indecisive when it came to himself. To survive, he would do anything. In the Dragon Ball world, what was the difference between being an ordinary person and being dead?

He plummeted, the sensation of weightlessness cut short as soon as it began. He hung upside down in mid-air, his back slamming against the cliff face with a searing, fiery pain.

Straining to lift his head, Li Xing looked at the grinning Sun Wukong, ten thousand question marks swirling in his mind. Brother, why are you so intense? Why are you so self-sacrificing?

Sun Wukong's eyes were rimmed with red. "Hold on, I'll think of a way."

If he couldn't feel Sun Wukong's genuine anxiety and see Bulma's panic nearby, he would have suspected that his plan to steal the Four-Star Dragon Ball had already failed.

"Let me go, or we'll all die together."

Sun Wukong's face twisted as he stubbornly replied, "Nonsense, I can definitely save you."

Li Xing's face turned red, and he felt as if he were suffocating. Damn it! If you just let go, you'd be saving me. "Let go, or we're all going to die!"

As he spoke, he braced his hands firmly against a protrusion on the cliff, the heels of his palms nearly bursting. Sun Wukong's grip was simply too strong; if he didn't resist, the man might actually pull him back up.

A cold glint flashed in Li Xing's eyes. If this stalemate continued, he would be finished once he lost consciousness and fell into the river. Entering the water voluntarily gave him a much higher chance of survival.

Thinking of this, Li Xing put on a look of moved, guilty emotion and shouted aloud.

"Let go, you have to let go."

"The river below is raging; if we go down there, we might die. I can't drag you down with me."

He braced his feet and slammed them directly into the inside of Sun Wukong's wrist.

Sun Wukong had never expected Li Xing to be so 'intense'; in order not to burden him, he had actually chosen to push him away and abandon his last chance at survival.

Stung by the pain in his wrist, Sun Wukong instinctively let go. Seeing Li Xing plummeting rapidly once more, he let out a shout, leaped off the cliff, and dove after him.

Li Xing cursed inwardly.

This damn Wukong, he's so kind and gullible.

"Don't worry, I'll save you."

Li Xing felt like crying. Please, I came here to steal your Four-Star Dragon Ball, I don't want you to save me!

That was what he thought, at least.

Since he was in freefall, he naturally couldn't match the speed of Sun Wukong's powered leap, and he was quickly overtaken.

Li Xing hadn't expected that even jumping off a cliff at the very start would be such a rollercoaster.

Gritting his teeth, his eyes red, he twisted his waist with all his might and slammed his body against a rock, grimacing in pain.

Exploding with potential, he grabbed Sun Wukong with speed and precision, then threw him upward with all his strength.

To increase the force and shake off Sun Wukong as quickly as possible, Li Xing even kicked off the cliff face.

Sun Wukong flew upward, while Li Xing plummeted toward the river like a cannonball.

Accompanied by a shower of falling rocks, he hit the water with a loud splash and finally sank into the river.

Li Xing didn't have time to check his mission options; holding his breath, he submerged himself and swam forward rapidly with the current.

Sun Wukong watched helplessly as Li Xing fell into the river. With red eyes, he stepped onto the cliff face, dislodging more debris that tumbled into the water below.

Sun Wukong himself launched like a projectile back onto the main path.

It takes a long time to describe, but all of this happened in mere seconds.

Bulma hadn't even had time to be shocked before Sun Wukong had grabbed, jumped, flown, smashed, and finally landed right beside her.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Sun Wukong ignored Bulma entirely, rushing to the edge of the path and leaning over the cliff. "Hey! Are you okay?"

Rumble!

Aside from the roaring river, there was no sign of Li Xing, let alone a human voice.

Down below, Li Xing had landed, using the momentum to swim dozens of meters forward while coughing up blood.

Only then did he press against the riverbank, slowly poking his head out to gasp for air.

Even so, his internal organs were churning incessantly, as if they had been repeatedly pummeled by a giant hammer.

What a huge loss. I lost this round of choices.

As Li Xing thought this, the system's voice rang out.

"Congratulations to the host for completing Option Three. Reward: Devour Ability."

This time, there were no hitches, and the reward was issued to Li Xing very smoothly.

As the system's voice faded, Li Xing felt a strange change occur in his body, and the impact force of the surging river water diminished significantly.

With the immediate crisis eased, Li Xing finally caught his breath.

Realizing he wasn't in immediate danger anymore, he continued to swim downstream with the current.

"System, is that it? No other changes? At least tell me how to use it."

Li Xing was naturally unsatisfied and continued to question the system in his mind.

Swish!

A screen of light appeared before Li Xing's eyes.

A row of black lines appeared on his forehead like a wavy pattern.

A light screen? The style of this system seemed a bit off.

Without dwelling on it, he used his Devour Ability to neutralize the various impacts and shifted most of his attention to the screen.

Host: Li Xing
Lifespan: 25 (Short-lived)
Combat Power: 0.8
Physique: 0.8
Spirit: 1
Energy: 1
Ability: Devour Ability (Increases with usage and comprehension.)

Li Xing's vision went black, and he nearly fainted on the spot.

He had worked himself to the bone, only to end up with a combat power of 0.8?

The least the system could have done was give him ten or twenty thousand to live up to his status as a transmigrator!

And what was this? A lifespan of only 25? What kind of short-lived wretch was he?

Damn it!

Which transmigrator was ever a short-lived wretch?

Ah, wait—it seemed like all transmigrators were short-lived wretches!

With his mind spiraling into chaos, Li Xing hurriedly diverted his attention to question the system.

If he kept thinking like this, he was going to fall into a depression!

"This Devour Ability, does it not increase my strength?"

"It does. Just use it more."

Li Xing was unbearably agitated.

He had assumed that once he obtained a system, as long as he completed missions, his strength would undergo a heaven-defying transformation, eventually allowing him to crush the heavens, the earth, and everything in between.

Every novel and anime was written and performed that way.

Why was it different for him? How could it be different?

Did it even have to suppress his combat power?

Just as he was about to ask for more details, he recalled another matter, and his heart turned cold.