Life Game In Other World
Chapter 666: Not Dirty (Super Long - , Asking for Monthly Votes)

Chapter 666: Chapter 666: Not Dirty (Super Long Chapter, Asking for Monthly Votes)

The sharp flash of the knife swept through the dome’s light, severing the closest tentacle that had been attacking.

With twisted, writhing flesh splattering on the ground, He Ao leaped forward, closing the distance between himself and the monster transformed from the leader of the Venomous Snake Gang.

During this maneuver, he continuously varied his strikes, cutting off the tentacles that attacked from the air.

The monster clearly hadn’t anticipated the knife in He Ao’s hand to be so sharp; after several tentacles had been severed consecutively, it decisively abandoned its original aggressive combat style and started coordinating several tentacles to attack He Ao.

He Ao, who had been rapidly advancing towards the monster, slowed due to this coordination.

For close-quarter combat, the saying goes, "An inch longer, an inch more dangerous." Although these tentacles were transformed limbs of a mutated creature, they could be considered long weapons—and even more unpredictable than ordinary steel ones.

Typically, the more open the space, the more room there is for long weapons to maneuver, enhancing their potency. Conversely, the more confined the space, the greater the advantage of short, agile weapons.

This topmost level had been completely transformed by the Venomous Snake Gang leader into an open, undivided space; one couldn’t say he was entirely unprepared for a possible battle here.

In such terrain, the monster inherently held an initial advantage in terms of space.

The butterfly knife in He Ao’s hand was at most forty centimeters long, including the handle. His current task was to close the distance between himself and the monster so that in hand-to-hand combat, he could make the most of the butterfly knife’s short and nimble edge.

The monster also clearly understood his intention, consequently using its tentacles to hinder his movements persistently.

This tentacle monster, transformed from the leader of the Scorpion Gang, was significantly different from those He Ao had encountered before. Those he had faced in the past had essentially lost their intelligence, attacking brutally, and could be misled with fairly obvious tactics.

But the Scorpion Gang leader clearly retained much of his intelligence and had deeply studied the tactics involving tentacles.

From the advantageous terrain he had arranged to the space he had deliberately kept between himself and He Ao from the beginning, this was evident.

Furthermore, he would coordinate three to four tentacles to attack simultaneously.

His coordination wasn’t complex—usually, it entailed a feint or a direct assault, a sneak attack, and one tentacle at a distance, ready to strike and serve as a deterrent.

However, within this coordination, the roles of the tentacles were not fixed. A feint might suddenly turn into a sneak attack, and if attention was relaxed, the deterrent could become a frontal assault.

In a sense, these tentacles practically had the rudiments of a "formation," and the "tentacle squads" grouped in threes wouldn’t attack just one squad at a time; it was possible that three to four squads would launch an assault on He Ao simultaneously.

These squads also maintained the formation’s spacing relative to one another.

Several times, as He Ao focused on one squad, a nearby one ready to pounce would launch a sudden sneak attack. Had it not been for his quick reflexes and his cane serving as a ’second weapon’ for defense, he might have already been pierced through the chest.

Clearly, the monster transformed from the Venomous Snake Gang leader had adapted group combat tactics for his own tentacle use.

Moreover, these tentacles growing from his own body didn’t have the typical issue of individuals not following commands or ineffective command transmission seen in group fights, allowing instantaneous compliance with orders.

He was not only powerful but also intelligent, with a great talent for combat.

Aside from the beginning of the fight, where several tentacles were severed due to his reckless attacks, the monster mainly relied on coordinating its tentacles to suppress He Ao, preventing him from advancing even slightly.

He Ao could barely withstand the monster’s attacks and even injure it using the power of Super Memory, the method of gathering Qi with Martial Arts, and the Divine Sense along with the weapon enhanced by Divine Sense.

However, his body was very vulnerable, far weaker than the strength he was currently displaying; any slight contact from the monster could result in severe injury.

Yet as the battle wore on, He Ao also realized that this method of using tentacles had its limitations.

Firstly, it couldn’t control too many tentacles at once; He Ao had only faced attacks from at most four squads of tentacles simultaneously, and these attacks were brief—abandoned almost immediately if they were unsuccessful.

Even then, that particular attack had caused a severe impact on He Ao’s cane.

Attacks from three squads simultaneously were rare; most of the time, one or two squads alternated their attacks, wearing down He Ao’s mental energy.

This meant that the tentacle combat method wasn’t without its cost. Controlling so many tentacles to perform such precise movements likely wasn’t easy and was highly mentally draining.

Of course, it couldn’t be excluded that the monster was hiding some of its strength, waiting for He Ao to form a set perception and lower his guard before launching a surprise attack.

However, the hidden portion couldn’t be too substantial—if it were, there would be no need to hide it; displaying it outright could easily overwhelm the current state of He Ao.

Besides energy, another factor limited the monster’s combat strength: its recovery speed.

The tentacle monsters He Ao had previously fought all had some self-healing capabilities; even if they were severed, they could wriggle and rapidly halt the bleeding, and the severed part could still attack to some extent.

When this monster’s tentacles were severed, they bled profusely, and the monster could only let the tentacle wrap itself to stem the bleeding, effectively rendering it combat-useless.

This may be the price of "sanity"; as the leader of the Venomous Snake Gang transformed into a monster, he managed to retain a certain degree of "sanity," making him more human-like. Accordingly, he might also have to accept some human weaknesses.

This led to the monster rarely launching blind attacks; once the two were in a stalemate, the monster basically ceased sending multiple tentacles at once. Instead, he began a classic war of attrition, wearing down He Ao’s strength one tentacle at a time.

Of course, He Ao wasn’t easy prey. He always managed to sneak in attacks during the lulls in combat and sever one or two of the monster’s tentacles.

"Old man, your inherent strength isn’t that impressive. You must have relied on some special method to gain such explosive power, which likely isn’t sustainable, is it?"

The severed head, held aloft by tentacles, stared at He Ao, "Dragging this out will only lead to a dead end for you. And you still have a granddaughter. Do you want to see her die along with you? If you give up now, I can guarantee your granddaughter’s safety. You needn’t worry about me breaking my word. Everyone in the underworld of Saint Joen City knows my promise is as good as gold."

He Ao looked up at him, said nothing, but instead focused his strength on his arm. Seizing the moment the head was distracted by speaking, he swiftly cut off the two tentacles that were battling him.

A person whose boundaries between enemies and friends can blur so easily for the sake of profit would hardly have the option to honor promises.

He would likely do whatever maximized his own benefits.

Of course, He Ao wasn’t solely relying on assumptions to guess at the leader of the Venomous Snake Gang’s character—he had a better way.

At the very start of the battle, he had placed a marker on the leader of the Venomous Snake Gang.

As a result of the monster possessing higher intellect, the Super Memory’s marker could easily read his surface thoughts instead of the chaotic musings as with other crazed monsters He Ao had encountered before.

Having the advantages of humans, one must bear their vulnerabilities as well.

Through this "mind reading," He Ao understood why the monster suddenly attempted to use Jia Xi as leverage against him.

Because "he" was on the verge of collapse.

Within the monster’s body, there wasn’t just one clear, rational mind, but it was still filled with various chaotic musings.

The longer he remained a monster, the more these chaotic musings rapidly eroded the leader of the Venomous Snake Gang’s sanity, threatening to completely turn him into a beast.

So when he said He Ao couldn’t last much longer, he was actually referring to himself as well.

After all, gaining power always comes at a price.

And as He Ao took decisive action and cut off two of the monster’s tentacles, thereby closing the distance between them even further—

The monster realized he couldn’t persuade He Ao, so while controlling one group of tentacles to keep He Ao occupied, he extended another group rapidly towards the doorway, lunging at Jia Xi, who had retreated there.

At that moment, Jia Xi, who already had her Gauss Gun raised, channeled all her strength and sharply pulled the trigger, firing a shot towards the monster. She then used the gun’s recoil to roll to the side and tumble out of the doorway, concealing herself behind the door.

The sonic-boom-producing bullet tore through the void, grazing past the monster’s head, and shattered the windows behind him.

The tentacles the monster was controlling hesitated for a moment. Clearly, he hadn’t expected Jia Xi to resist so effectively and swiftly under such circumstances.

Although the shot wasn’t accurate and missed by a wide margin,

But this was a young girl who appeared to be no more than ten years old—how could this be reasonable?

Ordinary children would be paralyzed with fear just at the sight of him, unable to be dragged away.

He didn’t know that Jia Xi had already encountered many monsters with He Ao, but he was distinctly aware of one thing.

This little girl was a born warrior.

Some things truly depend on innate talent.

She could not be allowed to grow up!

The howling cold wind, passing through the broken pane from the shattered floor-to-ceiling window, swept across the monster’s cheeks, snapping his thoughts back to reality.

Just as he was about to send more tentacles after Jia Xi, the figure of an elderly man had already appeared in front of him.

He gazed at that face, marked by wrinkles as if carved by a knife, and into the pair of dark brown eyes exuding a cold and sharp look.

Those eyes seemed to tell him,

You’ve been distracted.

Immediately after came the icy gleam of a butterfly knife.

The surprise the monster felt because of Jia Xi was very brief, the resulting distraction equally fleeting.

But He Ao seized this brief opportunity, forcefully concentrating his strength in his legs, and in that very short moment, he closed the last bit of distance between himself and the monster.

At this moment, the monster had no time to pursue Jia Xi, and was forced to quickly retract its tentacles in front of him to block He Ao’s attack.

It had just attacked Jia Xi, hoping to distract He Ao with a hostage strategy.

And He Ao’s response was the same - a hostage strategy.

The butterfly knife, enhanced by Divine Sense, sliced through the tentacles that had been hastily retracted, severing one after another of these elongated pieces of flesh, slicing toward the monster’s torn open chest right in the middle.

There lay the monster’s energy convergence point.

Boom—

Under this attack, the monster’s body was forced to retreat, hitting the already damaged floor-to-ceiling windows, and with a loud, crisp sound, the giant window was broken open wide.

Howling cold wind rushed in through this enormous breach, sweeping over the sticky tentacles and the elderly’s pale strands of hair.

Two tentacles stretched out to either side, entwining around the window columns, helping the monster stabilize its body to avoid the fate of falling from the high-rise.

This was a height of over one hundred meters; even if the monster could survive the fall by using other obstructions in the air, serious injury was inevitable.

However, He Ao wasn’t affected by the cold wind. His blade grew closer and closer, and at the last moment, the monster’s tentacles, which had grasped both columns, fiercely pulled, flinging its body upwards and flying into the air.

It dodged the lethal strike, but it didn’t completely avoid He Ao’s attack; the sharp blade continued to sever several of its tentacles and inflicted a huge wound from top to bottom on its thigh, exposing the vivid red flesh within.

A tentacle quickly wrapped around its thigh, stemming the bleeding, and at the same time, the monster rolled backwards, pulling back its tentacles, and landed behind a sofa.

While attacking, He Ao also inserted his cane into the ground and then used the cane to stabilize his figure, avoiding being thrown out of the high-rise due to the impact.

Almost at the same time he stabilized himself and turned to look at the monster behind him, the monster had already used its tentacles to wrap around the sofa on the ground and hurled it at He Ao.

The monster had just made a mistake due to a moment of distraction, losing a large number of tentacles, and it was trying to put distance between itself and He Ao again.

The sofa cutting through the air continued to smash the glass behind He Ao, falling from the sky, but it didn’t affect He Ao’s movements; he focused his strength in his legs, completely disregarding the depletion, and charged towards the monster.

It must be said that the presence of the butterfly knife greatly reduced the pressure He Ao faced against the monster. Had he only had a cane in his hand, it would have been very difficult for him to break through the monster’s defensive tentacles just now, and even if he had, he wouldn’t have inflicted such substantial damage.

Moreover, from the sensory feedback of the mark He Ao had placed on the monster, the massive injury just now had significantly affected the monster’s mind, causing the confused mutterings to further erode the monster’s psyche.

Furnishings fluttered past He Ao – a TV, a sofa, a liquor cabinet, a refrigerator; the monster had thrown everything it could reach at He Ao.

But these did not impede He Ao’s progress.

He closed the distance with the monster once again, the butterfly knife spinning in his hand. This time, the monster still divided its tentacles into groups to deal with He Ao, trying to hinder his advance.

However, this time, their coordination wasn’t as ’tacit’; the mental interference was already affecting the battle.

In contrast, the monster’s originally injured tentacles were healing at a visible rate, and even growing new buds of flesh.

Madness also has its blessings.

And it’s only during the brief exchange of reason and madness that the monster becomes momentarily vulnerable.

And that was He Ao’s only opportunity.

He Ao swiftly breached the tentacles’ outer defense, pulling himself once more into close combat with the monster.

At this moment, he almost gave up all defense, transferring all his strength into the attack.

The monster, which had been rapidly retreating, suddenly stopped its feet, then repeated its previous tactic of wrapping its tentacles around a nearby column, ready to once again hurl itself out.

Mental Disturbance!

In that instant, He Ao gathered his mental power and struck at the monster’s sea of consciousness.

The monster’s already muddled logic and madness were completely thrown into disarray under the influence of this mental force, causing its body to momentarily stiffen.

Thrust—

The sharp blade pierced the monster’s chest, emerging from its back.

The monster’s body trembled, and its chaotic energy almost instantly destroyed its body.

He strained to use the last of his strength to try to control the tentacles around his body, which slowly contracted. He pushed his floating head back onto his neck, trying to reassemble his body into a human form.

He tried several times but ultimately failed, only managing to take on a rough approximation of a human appearance.

Blood stained his hideous body red.

Eventually, he gave up the idea.

He Ao watched the monster, drew his butterfly knife, and took two steps back.

After He Ao drew his knife, the monster’s body, having lost support, fell and sat on the ground. Behind him, an old, rusted iron cabinet that seemed to be from another era was revealed.

He had suddenly stopped his steps, seemingly because he had touched this cabinet.

He sat against the cabinet, allowing the carpet to be stained red with fresh blood that glowed with a purple radiance.

He looked at He Ao, and it almost seemed as if he was looking at the brilliant city and the dim night sky behind the shattered window. His hideous head revealed a terrifying smile,

"Elderly man, your power and methods have surpassed my expectations. I have a premonition that you will turn this city upside down, but unfortunately, I won’t be able to see it."

He took off his bracelet and placed it on the ground in front of He Ao, "The password is 747827, at six o’clock tomorrow morning, the black market software will perform a living creature’s biological check."

This number sounded like a date, August 27, 741.

This year is the Federation year 758, so 741 was seventeen years ago.

The Venomous Snake Gang leader in front of him was at least thirty years old; it was unlikely to be his birthday.

He Ao looked at him and calmly asked, "Is this the anniversary of your mother’s death?"

At this time, Jia Xi seemed to have heard the conversation inside the room. She held her Gauss gun and slowly peeked her little head around the door, taking a glance inside.

After ensuring that He Ao was not in any danger, she carefully walked over.

The man sitting on the ground did not respond to He Ao’s words. He turned around with difficulty, looking towards Jia Xi who was slowly approaching.

He reached out, opened the cabinet behind him, and took out a rust-stained metal biscuit tin.

Then he slowly opened the lid of the biscuit tin.

A stack of coins was exposed to the air.

These coins seemed very old, most of them were 10 cent and 25 cent coins, with just a few 50 cent ones and several 1 federal coin pieces.

At that moment, Jia Xi walked in front of him.

He looked at Jia Xi, struggling to pour the coins onto the cabinet surface.

With blood-covered hands, he carefully spread out the coins one by one, aligning them, as if he wanted Jia Xi to see them,

"Child, take this money and go buy some milk."

Jia Xi looked at his actions, unmoved.

He looked at the girl’s cheeks and pushed the coins in front of him towards her, "This money was left to me by my mother,"

He watched Jia Xi, his voice slow and hoarse,

"It’s not dirty."

Jia Xi looked at the lifeless monster before her. After a brief pause, she reached out with her small hand and picked up the blood-stained coins from the surface of the cabinet one by one.

The man watched Jia Xi, and in those dim eyes, there seemed to be a faint glimmer of light. In that flickering light, the reflection of a run-down but clean little room appeared.

In his final moments, his hideous mouth curved into a subdued smile, the motted shadows clinging to his body gradually rose and then abruptly vanished.

An invisible hand took his soul away.

He Ao bent down and picked up the bracelet from the ground.