This Is My Last Skill

Li Qing focused, doing his best to block out the sound of flesh squirming beside his ears:

That was right—it really was a vehicle.

Judging by the sound, it seemed to be a fairly large bus!

He instantly regained his spirit:

That bus was constantly approaching. In less than three seconds, it would enter the three-hundred-meter range of his Sonically Enhanced Wave.

If there was a bus, there had to be a driver and passengers. Every one of them could become a target for his Sonically Enhanced Wave to lock onto.

Li Qing had not spent those six or seven hours at sea idly. He had long since used every possible method to gain a comprehensive understanding of his skills' exact effects:

Whether it was Echoes Act or Golden Bell Shield,

As long as it was one of those displacement abilities in the game that could "pass through terrain," once recreated in the real world he inhabited, it would gain an unusual and bizarre additional effect—

During the displacement, he could ignore the obstruction of all objects.

Because the instant he entered a displacement state, Li Qing's body became "ethereal."

It was as though he had mastered some mysterious wall-passing technique. He would charge toward his displacement target in the simplest, most rigid straight line, passing through everything in his path, including human beings.

Although enemy attacks could still reduce his health during this process, whether fists or bullets, they could only pass through his body as if through air. They could not strike his physical form at all.

This meant—

"As long as I can hit a passenger on that bus with Sonically Enhanced Wave, I can use Echoes Act's 'displacement state' to pass directly through this Meat Chunk!"

"No matter how strong it is, it won't be able to restrain my 'ethereal' body!"

Hope flashed through Li Qing's dim pupils, as if he had seen the light again in that instant.

He concentrated completely, using his extraordinary hearing to pinpoint the bus's location, only to immediately discover a fatal problem:

The "launcher" for Sonically Enhanced Wave was his right fist. To use Sonically Enhanced Wave, he naturally had to point that fist at the target he wanted to hit.

And the bus was behind him now, around three or four hundred meters away.

But Li Qing could not turn around.

That nauseating Meat Chunk had tightly bound his waist, legs, shoulders, and back, making it impossible for him even to rotate his body.

Li Qing was like a condemned prisoner nailed to a cross, helplessly immobilized by the Meat Chunk's entanglement.

"Damn it."

He clenched his teeth and exerted all his strength, trying to extend his fist behind him.

But whether the Meat Chunk had detected Li Qing's intention to escape or was simply restraining its prey on instinct,

It used its constantly writhing, disgusting body to cling tightly to Li Qing's shoulder and elbow, making it impossible for him to move his fist even an inch.

"Get... get the hell off me!"

Li Qing let out an angry roar, trying to break free from the Meat Chunk's restraints with brute force pushed beyond its limits.

But the deathly shackles formed from fleshy tumors and tentacles remained utterly unmoved.

The force it exerted on Li Qing grew greater and greater. If he had been an ordinary person, his bones would likely have been shattered and his limbs broken in this terrifying struggle long ago.

Although Li Qing's indestructible Digitization Mode body spared him the pain of broken bones and snapped tendons, it could not spare him the despair of waiting helplessly to die inside that disgusting Meat Chunk.

"No."

"I can't do it at all!"

The hope that had just arisen died without a sound:

"That bus will leave my skill range in a few seconds, and my health can only hold out for another six seconds at most."

"And I..."

"I can't even turn around to use a skill!"

Li Qing pressed his lips together tightly, and a surge of regret suddenly welled up uncontrollably in his heart:

If...

If I hadn't deliberately let Andrew escape just now, and had instead forced him to stay with me in this dangerous place...

Then he would now have a "teammate," someone who could serve as a "friendly target" for him to cast Golden Bell Shield on.

Golden Bell Shield was also a displacement skill. It could likewise help him escape his current predicament.

Unfortunately, the only friendly target he could use Golden Bell Shield on had been sent away early by his own unnecessary actions.

Stupid. Too stupid!

I actually threw away my own life over meaningless pity for an NPC.

This really is...

"A disgrace!!"

"Blaming my failure on the lack of 'teammate' support..."

"I am nothing but a complete disgrace!"

At the boundary between life and death, blazing flames suddenly ignited in Li Qing's lifeless eyes:

"I am The Player..."

"The most extraordinary existence in this game world!"

"I've always claimed to love challenges and considered myself the highest class of player."

"If I have to drag some useless fat man into danger just to win, then a worthless coward like me might as well die!"

Li Qing gritted his teeth as determination flashed through his heart:

"Resolve, is it?"

"Even Amor, a rookie NPC, could do it. Why wouldn't I dare?"

"What they call resolve..."

"Is carving a path forward through the dark wilderness with your own hands!"

Feeling the surging heat of his blood, he resolutely performed an action he had never dared attempt before:

"Digitization Mode—"

"Deactivate!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the white haze in his eyes instantly vanished, and his digitized body reverted to normal flesh.

Li Qing had tested it long ago. After deactivating Digitization Mode, there was roughly a one-second "loading" period before he could activate it again.

During that brief interval, he could only endure pain with his own flesh and blood.

Just like now:

The twisted mass of flesh attached to him seemed like a shark that had smelled blood, beginning to frantically gnaw at his body.

His skin tore, and blood poured out.

His flesh was devoured bite by bite, while his bones emitted crisp cracking sounds under the crushing pressure of the flesh mass.

"Aah!!"

Li Qing inevitably cried out in pain.

Having always fought in Digitization Mode, this was his first time experiencing such hellish agony in battle.

And the terror of watching his own body be gnawed apart, torn apart, and consumed by a monster was even more horrifying than he could bear.

But that was exactly what Li Qing wanted:

He wanted his body to be destroyed.

Because a digitized body was indestructible. Even if overwhelming external force tore and distorted it, it would instantly recover the moment it was damaged.

So no matter how hard he exerted himself, his arm would not bend just because it could not withstand the force.

Only in his flesh-and-blood state, in that fragile state, could he make his arm break completely—

Break to an angle a normal arm could never reach.

"Now!"

Based on his earlier perception, Li Qing roughly predicted when the distant bus would pass through the attack range of his Sonically Enhanced Wave.

Enduring the pain of being devoured by the flesh mass, he gathered every ounce of strength in his body and violently stretched his arm backward.

At that moment, nearly half of his elbow joint had already been consumed by the evil Meat Chunk.

That fragile, ruined joint could no longer withstand the force of Li Qing's arm struggling against the flesh mass's tentacles. Under the tremendous force, it immediately deformed and bent.

Just like that.

Li Qing's right forearm twisted into a horrifying 270-degree angle. Without being able to turn around, with his elbow firmly controlled by the Meat Chunk, he aimed his fist in the direction the bus was passing behind him!

"Digitization Mode, activate!"

He instantly activated Digitization Mode, blocking out all pain.

Digitization Mode would immediately restore his ruined body to perfect condition, but that recovery process still required a brief moment.

And during that brief moment, his right arm remained bent backward at that 270-degree angle.

That bloodstained fist pointed steadily behind Li Qing, aimed at a bus passing nearly three hundred meters away.

"Please."

"It has to hit."

"This is my last skill—"

Li Qing clenched his teeth and unleashed a roar carrying all his hope:

"Sonically Enhanced Wave!"