Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 141 - 115. Misfortunes never come singly

Chapter 141: 115. Misfortunes never come singly

The professor chuckled softly, and the next moment, his figure instantly appeared behind Li Aozi, kicking him in the spine and sending him flying. As Li Aozi’s body was about to hit the ground, the professor suddenly appeared below him, raised his sharp claws, formed them into a hand knife, and stabbed towards Li Aozi.

Squish—

The speed of this movement was too fast for Li Aozi to react. He didn’t even have time to activate his teleportation. His lung was pierced on the spot, and the intense pain made his entire body feel cold as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

"Poor kid," the professor said softly, "I have long since grasped your attack patterns."

"This is the importance of education, little guy who only graduated from a vocational school."

I—am I going to die?

His health points dropped rapidly, and as he fell to the ground and the professor slowly withdrew the sharp claws, his consciousness began to fade, and his ears started to buzz with hallucinations.

Blood flowed outward, and as it left his body, he finally understood what ’life ebbing’ meant.

At first, he was in great pain, lying on the ground, his lung torn apart, blood flooding in, constantly convulsing and coughing, his health points dropping bit by bit to a single digit.

Li Aozi’s pupils dilated rapidly, and his heartbeat grew very slow.

Then, he seemed to feel nothing at all.

The world became very peaceful, tranquil.

The thriving one saw that he had lost his vital signs, raised a claw, and struck Li Aozi’s heart to make sure he was dead. Li Aozi’s body just twitched, and she no longer paid him any mind, turning to focus on Du Zexin.

The sounds of burst energy guns and drones gradually faded, and the tearing from rapid movement and claw attacks became incredibly gentle.

Li Aozi’s vision grew increasingly blurry.

Death... so this is how it feels.

Totally different from before.

Regardless of how many times he had faced death before, it had never felt as shockingly real as this.

If he had to say, didn’t he see his own death not too long ago?

Pursued and possessed by a spirit monster, losing warmth, freezing to death under sunlight.

What a pity... His former self still dreamed of driving a hovercar.

He had been treated like a slave by his family, exploited and drained of every drop of blood, without even being allowed to complain.

A lot of things flashed before his eyes, and Li Aozi seemed to hear the voices of various people conversing.

They say that when people die, they see their life flash before their eyes, a swift replay of their life’s events.

However, Li Aozi did not see his past life memories. As the loner Li Zi, there was nothing much to recall.

As a child brought up within society, born from a mechanical womb, attending boarding school, growing, graduating, being assigned a job.

Then came contact with "Starry Abyss," playing games, and by luck becoming a streamer, making a bit of money.

If he hadn’t become an ace bro as a Meteor Fall Master, Li Zi might have lived an ordinary, monotonous life later on, average and unremarkable.

He had no attachments or regrets to speak of.

The scenes flashing by were mostly insignificant things.

Nomi swearing and driving, Qiu Ran rubbing his head dumbly, hitting his head on the bumpy road, even Agent Yawen stealing his first kiss in an awkward moment, then Nomi complaining about Frost Plated’s atrocities, Nomi standing beside nuclear waste expressing his ideas, Nomi jumping down from the car hood and hugging Qiu Ran—until finally, Nomi was blown to pieces.

...There were many scenes of Nomi.

Was it because of unresolved feelings?

Or due to unwillingness?

Slap!

Li Aozi suddenly felt a stinging, burning pain on his face, as if someone had slapped him.

Then, he instinctively opened his eyes. For some reason, though his heart and lungs were destroyed, he suddenly had strength; his brain started working again, all his cells frantically proliferating and rapidly combining to repair his body.

——This is not a game.

His arcane energy, his cells were still desperately saving him!

He was unwilling.

He was unwilling to die like this, to fall here, just because of his recklessness and overestimating his tolerance for real pain.

He was unwilling to let Nomi, the person who had left such a deep impression on him, die like that. He had to complete his revenge.

"I... want... to live..."

He trembled, struggling, trying to lift himself up, like a drowning person trying to grab any straw of hope.

Slap.

At this moment, his outstretched right hand seemed to be grasped by a slim but firm hand, a force connecting through the palm and transmitting to his body.

A familiar voice echoed in his ear:

"Don’t you dare die!"

A surge of strength welled up inside Li Aozi, cells went wild, extracting energy from the depths of his genes, quickly repairing his nerves, flesh, muscles, skin, even his soul—as if pierced by icy cold water, he regained control of his body.

[Gene sequence reacting, temporary mutation]

[Proliferative Metamorphosis—Evolution Progress 100%]

[Arcane Energy evolving...]

[Evolution complete]

[Your subordinate arcane energy evolved]: [Enhanced Mutation]

[Rating]: Zeta (ζ, the sixth Greek letter)

[Active Activation]: Ignores all control/restraint/negation effects, directly overdrawing power from genes, proliferating crazily, instantly restoring 60% maximum health. After use, cells need 40 minutes to self-repair before reuse.

[Passive State]: When taking fatal damage, you won’t die immediately but enter a near-death state.

Note: Each time in a near-death state consumes 45 years of your lifespan.

"She hasn’t given up, so you can’t die."

Don’t die.

"Nomi!"

Li Aozi opened his eyes, immediately turning over and crawling up. He looked ahead.

The other battle was grim as well. It seemed that the thriving one had been marked to negate recovery, forbidding any health regeneration. The professor had sent out another body to deal with the overclocked Du Zexin.

It was a bio-entity with sharp horns, robust and muscular like a lion or tiger, with the powerful drive and speed like a wild horse, draped in composite armor balancing strength and speed, reaching nearly 2.4 meters tall.

I

It synthesized plasma in its left hand, continuously launching energy-charged ball-shaped lightning blasts at Du Zexin, while its right hand extended proliferated bone spurs to block his movements.

"How about my Decayer? This lead plate armor is specially crafted to counter [Mechanics], with almost no gaps, blades are useless against me."

The professor multitasked, controlling two bio-entities, seemingly having gone too long without someone to talk to, especially with a fellow mechanically knowledgeable individual. She then started to boast:

"Both ranged and melee, unparalleled defense. A [Mechanic] can’t contend with such martial force."

Du Zexin remained silent, already overwhelmed with handling the flood of AI data.

Overclocking required downtime to cool down, but in this dense firepower and the thriving one’s sneak attacks, how could there be any time to shut down?

Professor Mingji... was extremely difficult to deal with. She knew how to learn from lessons to modify the bio-entities, always changing bodies, presenting new counter-technologies each time.

Given all this... the only choice was to activate [Beautiful Wish]’s self-destruct program.

He gritted his teeth.

The small, triple-core power reactor in this suit was nuclear-powered. Even if the explosive power was small, it could take out two bio-entities.

Reaching this point was already an accomplishment. He would need to rally equipment and strength for the next fight.

"Professor Mingji’s power is too great. I can’t possibly be a match, especially since even Li Aozi is dead—"

Boom!

The Decayer, firing at full force, suddenly had its spine bent, dropping to its knees. A purple glow ignited in the air, and Li Aozi, surrounded by ghostly auras, slammed the handle of his knife down onto the decayer’s head from above.

Sixty times gravity!

Smack!

The blunt force from the knife handle’s strike transmitted kinetic energy through the helmet, destroying the decayer’s brain and taking it offline in an instant.

The thriving one paused, the professor’s shocked voice emerging:

"Li Aozi?! That’s not possible, your vital signs just vanished—"

Bang!

The Magnum Burst Energy Gun seized the opportunity, firing and hitting the thriving one in the knee, the high-temperature metal jet instantly vaporizing its entire leg bone.

The thriving one tried to run but immediately fell to the ground.

Shing!

A sharp blade pierced the thriving one’s head instantly. Li Aozi deployed tendrils, wrapping around its neck, fixing it in place, his voice hoarse:

"I returned from hell, professor."