151: Battle of Staju

This punch, carrying the momentum of burning the bridges behind him, tore through the air and arrived with a boom!

However, that black robot just tilted its head ever so slightly, extremely casually.

The fierce wind of the punch grazed its metallic cheek and struck nothing.

The next second, a fist covered in pitch-black metal, at a speed Toriko couldn't even track, printed itself onto his chest without any fanfare.

Boom—!!!

A dull sonic boom that made the heart stop sounded.

"Ugh—!" Toriko's eyes bulged, blood sprayed from his mouth, and his whole body was like being hit head-on by a battering ram, flying backward like a cannonball, smashing heavily into the wriggling meat wall behind him, sinking deep into it, life or death unknown.

The black robot slowly turned its head, its mechanical eyes flickering with a ghostly light, locking onto Lin Luo.

"We meet again." The cold voice had no ups and downs. "This time, let's see if your strange methods can still be effective."

Before the words finished, Lin Luo felt a shadow flash before his eyes, and a terrifying, irresistible force slammed into his chest!

He let out a muffled groan, his body also flying backward uncontrollably, hitting the stomach wall heavily.

Although his physique was far stronger than Toriko's and he didn't lose his fighting ability instantly, his internal organs were shaken, his Qi and blood churned, and a sweet, metallic taste surged up his throat.

"So weak... you can't even see my movements." The black robot stepped forward, its heavy metallic feet leaving deep claw marks on the flexible stomach wall, with undisguised disappointment in its tone. "To be honest, you disappoint me."

Lin Luo's eyes were sharp, suppressing his injuries, and he spread his arms. A brilliant blade of energy slashed out instantly—this was a sharp strike capable of killing the Snake Cliff!

However, the blade light slashed against the dense protective hair on the pitch-black body, but it only sparked a few times before dissipating in vain, unable to leave even a trace.

The black robot moved again, like a ghost.

By the time Lin Luo's vision tracked it again, a cold, hard metallic giant hand had already gripped his neck like iron pincers, slamming him hard against the meat wall, its five fingers closing!

A sense of suffocation and terrifying pressure struck simultaneously.

But at this extremely close distance, almost face-to-face—Lin Luo's eyes flashed with cold light. With his throat gripped, his right fist, at an incredible angle and speed, slammed fiercely into the connection point between its chest and abdomen!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Five heavy, short, muffled sounds that seemed to pierce steel exploded in a chain reaction within the black robot's body!

—Five-Fold Nail Punch, zero distance, direct hit!

The pitch-black robot took this zero-distance Five-Fold Nail Punch head-on, its huge body shaking slightly. The hand gripping Lin Luo's neck loosened a bit, and it took half a step back.

It looked down at the slightly dented metal shell on its chest and abdomen, then looked up at the panting Lin Luo, its mechanical eyes flickering with a ghostly light that seemed to reveal a trace of... appreciation?

"Good explosive power, precise timing." The cold electronic voice sounded again, but without the previous disappointment. "Let me introduce myself, Gourmet Association, Vice Chef—Starjun."

It didn't continue to pursue, but instead evaluated him like a valuable item: "Your ability is very special. You can both sense the poison sac of the Puffer Whale and use that invisible method to interfere and control. Talent like you might be very useful for handling special ingredients."

Starjun controlled the robot to take a step forward, a heavy pressure permeating the air: "Join the Gourmet Association. Here, we can give you resources far beyond the IGO, allowing you to explore the true mysteries of the Gourmet World. Your potential shouldn't be wasted on the pedantic rules and regulations of the IGO."

Lin Luo leaned against the slippery meat wall, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes as sharp as before: "Sorry, I still prefer the IGO."

"A pity." Starjun's tone turned cold instantly. "Then there is no need to keep you."

The black robot's movements were so fast they left only afterimages.

Lin Luo's pupils shrank, and he blocked with all his might, but the disparity in strength between the two was too great.

A rain of heavy blows fell, his bones made creaking sounds of unbearable stress, and his internal organs felt like they were being churned to pieces.

His last consciousness was seeing that pitch-black metal fist rapidly enlarging before his eyes—

Bang!

The world plunged into darkness.

Lin Luo slid to the ground like a broken doll, falling into a deep coma, following in Toriko's footsteps.

The black gt robot—Starjun, no longer looked at the two people on the ground, his deep gaze turning to a slightly wriggling direction deep in the stomach. "The scent of jewel meat..." He muttered to himself, taking heavy steps, ready to walk there.

"Hey!" A low, Battle Intent-filled voice suddenly sounded.

Starjun's footsteps paused.

I saw Toriko, who had been deeply embedded in the meat wall and dying, actually supporting himself with both hands, pulling his body out of the meat wall bit by bit.

He stood firm, the severe injuries on his body seemingly suppressed by an invisible force, no, more like... transformed.

He twisted his neck, making a slight sound of bones cracking, and the Aura around him not only fully recovered but revealed an unprecedented fullness and wildness!

"I haven't been beaten yet!" Toriko grinned, revealing blood-stained teeth, his eyes burning with fierce flames, "Do you want to run away?"

Starjun controlled the robot to turn around slowly: "Hmm? Has the 'Self-Eating' effect been activated... This is a precursor to gourmet cells seeking evolution in a desperate situation."

Self-Eating—When falling into extreme hunger and crisis, the gourmet cells in the organism will begin to decompose the protein stored in themselves in exchange for a short but powerful burst of energy. This is often a survival instinct initiated by cells to break through limits and achieve deeper evolution.

"Interesting." Starjun's voice had no emotion. "But how high can a newly awakened fledgling fly?"

"Try it and you'll know! Six-Fold—Nail Punch!!"

Toriko's figure instantly disappeared from where he was, his speed more than a notch faster than before!

He appeared in front of Starjun with violent momentum, his right fist slamming out, the terrifying power of six layers superimposed and compressed into one point, the air itself was hit until it emitted a sonic boom!

However—Starjun just calmly raised a metal palm.

Thud!

The Six-Fold Nail Punch, capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, slammed solidly into that palm, but it was like a clay ox entering the sea.

The terrifying power surged, but couldn't make that palm, or the robot's body, retreat even half a step!

Toriko's pupils shrank sharply, his face full of disbelief.

"Do you see?" Starjun's cold voice came. "This is the gap. Even if you have taken a step of evolution, in front of me, it's still not enough."

It exerted a little force with its palm, and an irresistible giant force came, pushing Toriko flying away heavily.

... On the other side, in the endless darkness.

Lin Luo's consciousness was floating.

This was not the consciousness space he was familiar with, which had already been opened up as a "Sea of Consciousness," but a more primitive, more chaotic place.

Tiny points of light flickered in the darkness, like fireflies in the wilderness on a summer night, or like stardust when the Universe first opened.

"Where... is this? A hallucination on the verge of death?"

He felt puzzled. But soon, a mysterious intuition made him understand—this was the deep consciousness space linked by the "gourmet cells" in the human bodies of this world, or rather, the potential habitat of the "Gourmet Devil."

However, looking around, this space that should have been inhabited by violent or bizarre consciousness bodies was empty, with only his own consciousness flickering lonely.

In his body, there was no Gourmet Devil.

This meant that the power he had obtained and used so far came entirely from his own mastery and excavation of the gourmet cells.

Just as his consciousness was floating in this emptiness, as if about to drift with the current—Hum.

A very slight tremor, not from this consciousness space, but from a deeper place connected to his Soul Origin.

The pendant firmly hanging on his neck actually floated up, summoning the long-silent "cicada song collection," the pages turning without wind, emitting a warm, jade-like radiance.

A miraculous power beyond the rules of this world, as if accumulated for a long time, quietly burst forth at this moment, gently yet firmly shaking the inherent blockade and suppression of this world against "non-world system power."

A pure white light, as pure as first snow and as condensed as substance, slowly detached from the "cicada song collection," as if possessing life, gently and unimpededly merging into the core of Lin Luo's consciousness.

After doing all this, the radiance of the "cicada song collection" retracted, the book shadow dissipated, and the pendant returned to calm, as if there had never been any anomaly.

However, the deep darkness of consciousness where Lin Luo was could no longer be calm.

The merged white light was like the first stone thrown into a quiet lake, or the first spark that ignited the wilderness.

The originally lonely flickering, aimless micro-light seemed to find its backbone instantly, receiving a supreme summons, crazily gathering from all directions!

Gathering, compressing, sublimating...

The light grew stronger and stronger, turning from micro-light into a stream of light, from a stream of light into an ocean of light, and finally, in the center of the consciousness space, like a supernova explosion—Booming and blooming!

The dazzling but not blinding light dispelled all Chaos and darkness, illuminating this empty place with clarity and holiness.

In the core of this endless light, a figure with a clear outline, exuding endless vitality and gentle Aura, condensed slowly from virtual to real.

It was not a ferocious devil, but a humanoid with a slender figure, hazy light and shadow, yet an otherworldly temperament.

It bowed slightly, and toward the direction of Lin Luo's consciousness, issued a soft call that crossed a long time and endless obstacles, full of attachment and respect: "Master."

At almost the same moment, in the outside world, inside the stomach of the Legal Mammoth.

Lin Luo, who was lying on the ground, shook violently!

A warm current, gentle and mellow, completely different from the Gourmet Cell energy he had previously activated, surged out from the deepest part of his body, from the level of every cell.

This power contained powerful vitality, and wherever it passed, the severe internal injuries caused by Starjun were repaired at a speed visible to the naked eye, the broken bones were reconnected and stabilized, and the consumed Origin Qi was quickly replenished.

His pale complexion returned to a rosy hue, his weak breath, like a blown-up flame, whooshed and became vigorous, and climbed step by step, becoming stronger and more solid, even faintly exceeding his state before being injured!

A milky white micro-light flashed on his body surface and disappeared, merging into his skin, making his whole temperament seem a bit more calm and transparent.