Chapter 31：Fatty Sorrow Drink

There was still a snake…

Huai Shi could not resist uttering a helpless sigh.

Under Red Glove's control, the python slowly constricted him, as if it wanted to slowly crush his bones, even expertly binding his left hand so as to ensure that he could not move. 

His gun fell to the ground.

"I admit, I nearly… lost to you. Nearly…"

Red Glove dragged his wounded leg, stumbling forward, his gruesome face filled with a gloom and cruelty that would make one's heart race. "However, those strange little tricks of yours end now."

After he spoke, he slowly held up the fish tank in his hands, revealing the final remaining fish in it.

"Don't be afraid. I won't kill you. After all, even I don't get many chances to turn Ascenders into bait…"

As he said this, elementium flowed out from the fish tank in his hands.

Red Glove split a portion of his soul and turned it into bait, nurturing the fry. In the blink of an eye, the pink goldfish swiftly expanded until it became a greenish-purple color. The puffed-up big fish's eyes were now bloody as they stared straight at Huai Shi.

Turning the fry into a parasite large enough to control an Ascender obviously drew out huge amounts of Red Glove's energy. His face was pale, and his steps staggered. He could feel his consciousness fading as his body was pushed to the limit.

When he thought of how a newly-promoted Ascender could force him into this state, he could not repress the sorrow he felt in his heart.

However, this was not the time to be weak.

He lifted a hand before suddenly smashing a fist into Huai Shi's face. After this, another fist smashed the comical mask, revealing Huai Shi's youthful face.

"It's you..."

He was stunned, having recognized the young man in front of him. Immediately, his gaze became crueler. "It was truly a huge mistake not killing you the last time! Fortunately, it isn't too late to redeem myself…"

"Big Brother, you talk too much. If you want to kill me, hurry up."

He could not withstand the python's strangulation. Huai Shi's face was covered in snot and tear; they had been forced out due to the pain of his wounds.

"Come on. At most, in another eighteen, no, seventeen years, I'll become a good man again!"

Red Glove chuckled coldly.

Seventeen years? He no longer had seventeen years. After his soul was eaten by the goldfish, Huai Shi would become an empty living corpse.

He raised his right hand and pressed it against Huai Shi's forehead. At the same time, goldfish in the fish tank vanished without a trace.

Huai Shi cried out.

"Scream, scream… Very soon, your five senses will be consumed, and you won't be able to feel pain anymore."

Red Glove laughed coldly, but upon seeing the mess that was his surroundings in the rainstorm, he could not help feeling a certain sadness. The feeling of leaving his hometown surfaced.

This place was not his hometown after all. Ah, how he missed the damp forest and those little mice…

Reminiscing about this, he could no longer stop his tears from falling.

However, almost immediately, he sobered up, horrified. He tried sensing where exactly this wave of sadness was coming from. Meanwhile, that python... that python was spasming, as if writhing in tears, nearly letting go of its own prey.

However, he already did not have time to care about that snake, as he currently remembered the vagabond life he led after betraying Rome as well as the heavy price he paid to be where he was today.

Immense sorrow consumed him, making two trails of bloody tears fall involuntarily from his eyes.

"What is this?"

He stared, stunned, at the bloody tears dripping onto his hands, as he struggled to control the increasing sorrow and pain in his heart with difficulty.

"Ah, this is just a… humidifier. Don't mind it."

In the grip of the sorrowful python, the crying Huai Shi wrenched open his mouth. His now-freed left hand pulled open his waterproof jacket and revealed a cola bottle.

It was stuck onto his bulletproof vest with tape, right next to a humidifier that was continuously spraying a grey mist.

The current Huai Shi was currently thankful to Liu Dongli, that narcissist, as he had never been before—he had felt that the weather was too dry and just had to buy this portable humidifier.

As of today, all of the Disastrous Dust that Huai Shi had made these past few days as well as 400 milliliters of purified water had been poured into that bottle. The two substances mixed and became an all-new type of Fatty Merry Drink.

It had been seeping out since he had first arrived, but the rain was too heavy then, so its effects were delayed. After Huai Shi had dragged out their encounter for so long, the effects were finally starting to take place.

'Now, a snake and you are feeling two different types of sorrow.'

It was a double-dose of merriness!

Amid the severe pain in his forehead, Huai Shi clenched his fists while he leaked tears and summoned an ax. Turning his angle, he used the butt of the ax to knock the back of his head hard.

Instantly, his head dropped as his vision fuzzed.

What was stronger than this was the indescribable rage and madness burning deep within his soul, as if his entire torso had become a boiling copper cauldron.

The shard attack transferred through the fish tank to Red Glove's consciousness. Like a broken bell that had been struck with a metal hammer, amid the buzzing, ink-dark blood once again flowed from his ears and nose.

Right after this, that goldfish that had penetrated his brain frantically convulsed, continuously slamming against his torso in an attempt to escape.

"You've just got here, why are you so anxious to go?"

Huai Shi gritted his teeth and once again hit himself in the back of the head with the ax. He spat out a mouthful of blood. The goldfish spasmed maniacally and stopped moving very soon after.

After experiencing this indescribable disgust yet again, Huai Shi opened his mouth and spat out the purplish-green goldfish before lifting the ax in his hand again—chop!

Red Glove's body convulsed violently, writhing as if he had suffered an electric shock. Another crack appeared on the fish tank.

It was not over yet.

Huai Shi turned around to look at the squirming python. He aimed for its head, slowly lifted the ax, then let it fall!

Bang!

A sound like a balloon popping came from Red Glove's hands. His fish tank no longer had any goldfish, causing fissures to appear throughout it.

After the last effects of the incense faded, the agony of his soul being split burst into his consciousness.

He roared in pain. Keeling over, he picked up the gun he had dropped on the floor and repeatedly pulled the trigger at Huai Shi until all his bullets were spent.

However, the thick curtain of rain coupled with the immense pain meant that he could not aim accurately. Thus, he only hit the sports car that had crashed into the storage containers behind Huai Shi.

With a noise loud enough to give Liu Dongli another cerebral hemorrhage and a trip to the ICU, the luxurious dashboard was completely smashed.

This allowed the rain to drip into the car through its broken front window. Shortly after, sparks started to fly around as the circuits came into contact with the water. The radio made a messy screeching noise. A CD somehow started playing.

The interior sound system that had cost a large sum of money had now completely gone out of tune. The high and low pitches were all mixed into one. Even the sound of the electric guitar had become unclear.

"We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when…"

Separated by sheets of rain, the singer's voice sounding like a ghost wavering between dust and tombstone. "I thought you died alone, a long long time ago…"

Under the extreme lightheadedness, Red Glove staggered back and leaned against a storage container, gasping for breath.

He no longer had the strength to escape.

As expected, in the end, it still fell into the Astronomical Association's hands.

"You won."

He threw away his gun, staring coolly at Huai Shi. "Moon Face Prison is fine, Trench Prison if fine too. You can choose where you want to lock me up, but don't expect to get any information from me."

In the dead of the night, there was only the sound of rain.

Huai Shi seemed not to hear him, only unconsciously turning back to look at the broken helm of the sports car.

"David Bowie?"

He could not resist praising Old Liu's taste. 'Although you look like an old-fashioned, tasteless cowboy who only listens to disco music, if you love David Bowie, then we are friends!'

It was a pity his friend was lying in the ICU.

Thus…

"Can you not talk about those boring things anymore?"

Amid the spasms and convulsive pain, he turned back and sighed exhaustedly. "I didn't come here to lock you up somewhere."

He continued, "I just simply wanted to beat you to death, or be beaten to death myself."

Either you die.

Or I die.

It was that simple.

As they silently exchanged glances, Red Glove's distorted face gradually became calm. Soon, only coolness and an indescribable savageness remained on his disfigured face.

"Another lunatic? Very good…"

He grit his teeth, then stripped off his tattered jacket, revealing the upper body wrapped in bandages. Beneath the bandages, the muscles riddled with holes gradually swelled up.

He crooked a finger at Huai Shi.

"Come!"

In the blink of an eye, under the rainstorm, the ax came down!

In a trance, Huai Shi only felt the blade of the ax chop something hard before he couldn't help letting go and moving a step back.

At that moment, he only saw a metallic light flashing along the path in which he had raised the ax, slashing in front of his eyes amid his desolation and cutting off a bit of his hair that was in front of his face.

A difference of a few millimeters would have seen him lose what was left of his left hand as well as both his eyes.

Only now did Huai Shi notice the dagger Red Glove had in his hand.

The dagger that had been stuck beneath his inner arm had been produced with a simple flick of his wrist and was now in his palm. With a nimble twist, it appeared in his other hand.

Like magic.

Preparing for a strong attack slowly and methodically.

Red Glove's muscles once again oozed blood. The effects of the silver blood potions had obviously stopped working, but he still showed no signs of stopping.

The focus of his attacks now was not the vital points not protected by Huai Chi's bulletproof vest, it was his left hand!

At this moment, aside from the unshakeable killing intent that had appeared in Red Glove's heart, there was fear.

No matter what, he could not let himself be hit by Huai Shi's weapon… That was an ax-headed item. Not only what it lethal in and of itself, it had a power that targeted elementium and could even produce the effects of a soul attack.

A scary type of attack that targeted both the soul and the flesh.

If it did not so obviously look unlike a bayonet, he would have suspected this weapon of being the famous border relic—Ember Spike.

The condition of his stigma now made him unable to use the Melting skill again. If he was suddenly attacked a few more times, his soul would completely collapse.

Having said that, the more he attacked now, the more he could not help but question the techniques he had practiced for so many years.

Although Huai Shi's reliance on his left hand and unbalanced use of his right hand was comparably unrefined, he would clumsily dodge Red Glove's steady instant-kill attacks every single time. Red Glove himself had almost been chopped in half by the ax quite a few times.

This talent. He should have been an inexperienced weakling… were his senses already as keen as a wild beast's, or was he simply lucky?

Red Glove had another go. The strike he had aimed at Huai Shi's left eye missed.

How did he manage to dodge it again?

If Huai Shi could tell what he was thinking, he definitely would have answered, "It's probably because I've died many times already."

It is widely assumed amongst the internet in China that the favourite drink of homebodies is Coca-cola, hence over time the slang term for Coca-cola became Fatty Merry Drink