143: Chapter 143 Power Returns, Half-Step Epic!

Li Taiping knelt there on the ground, staring blankly at the spot where Su Jie had disappeared.

The wind stopped.

The roar of collapsing buildings and the howls of monsters in the distance seemed to have been forcibly muted at this moment.

His mind was a complete blank.

His heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by a giant, invisible hand covered in barbs.

Then, bit by bit, it was crushed into mincemeat.

Pain.

An unprecedented, heart-wrenching ache spread from his chest.

She... is dead?

That woman who would hold him and act spoiled.

That woman who would feel distressed for him when he had nightmares.

That woman who would record every word of his sleep-talking in her notebook.

Just like that... dead?

Without even leaving a whole corpse behind.

Without even finishing a proper goodbye.

Just to trade for his life?

No.

Impossible!

This must be fake!

This is the Abandoned City dungeon!

Everything here is just crappy code generated by the system!

She's just an NPC! A string of soulless data!

If she's dead, she's dead! What's the big deal! I am the captain who is Number One on the Dual Rankings!

Li Taiping roared at himself frantically in his heart, over and over again.

He gritted his teeth so hard that the muscles on his cheeks bulged high, attempting to use this near-masochistic method to numb himself and forcibly suppress the grief that was about to consume him entirely.

But.

If this was just a game, if she was just a string of code.

Why did his heart ache so much that he couldn't breathe?

Why did his vision become so blurred?

Why did those scalding, blood-streaked drops of liquid fall uncontrollably, heavy and large, onto the dusty ground, creating mottled pits in the dirt?

Hadn't he warned himself long ago never to act on emotion in this shitty world?

Hadn't he already treated her as a tool to clear the stage, someone who could be discarded at any time?

Why...

Why did he feel as if he had been abandoned by the entire world when she was truly swallowed by that abyssal maw?

“AAAAHHHH—!”

Li Taiping suddenly threw his head back, the veins on his neck bulging like gnarled tree roots.

He let out a savage roar, as shrill and extreme as a lone wolf on the brink of death.

His voice was hoarse and cracked, piercing through the layers of gray mist and striking straight at the firmament.

His breathing became incredibly difficult, his chest heaving violently,

like a drowning man desperately trying to breathe, only to sink into an even deeper icy sea amidst desperate struggles.

Just then.

A sudden change occurred.

A burning sting, like a branding iron, suddenly came from his left wrist.

He subconsciously looked down.

The diamond-shaped metal terminal that had disappeared for so long, representing his identity as one of the Survivor, actually... re-emerged!

Immediately following.

[Ding—Detected intense emotional fluctuations in the host; mental barrier broken!]

[Ding—System signal reconnection successful!]

[Ding—Talent [treasure basin] (Excellent Grade)...]

[Ding—Talent [Swordsmanship Mastery] (Excellent Grade)...]

[Ding—...]

Li Taiping's head was buzzing.

He couldn't hear a single word by his ear.

His eyes had completely turned a terrifying blood-red.

There were no whites, only endless killing intent and violence.

His pupils slowly focused, staring fixedly not far away.

At that Earth-Burrowing Tiger Shark that had just swallowed Su Jie and was now lying in the ruins, its jaws constantly moving as it made hair-raising chewing sounds.

An unprecedented, wildly peerless power, like a dormant volcano of ten million years suddenly meeting an apocalyptic eruption!

From the deepest part of his body, it boomed awake!

The invisible seal that had been tightly binding him, forcing him to survive in this wasteland with such grievance.

At this moment, it was completely torn to shreds by that overwhelming grief and fury!

Boom—!

A terrifying, visible wave of air, dark gold in color, suddenly swept outward with Li Taiping as the center.

The gravel, steel bars, and glass fragments within a ten-meter radius instantly lost gravity and floated slowly in mid-air.

The next second, with a bang, they all exploded into powder!

Peak Excellent Grade!

No!

This aura was still climbing frantically!

His bones made loud cracking sounds like beans roasting, and his muscle fibers reorganized wildly under the infusion of transcendent power.

His life level, at this moment, underwent a qualitative change that transcended dimensions!

Half-Step Epic!

He, Li Taiping, captain of the Many Children, Many Blessings.

Had finally recovered all his power!

In fact, under the catalysis of extreme anger, he was even stronger and more frenzied than before!

“Beast.”

Li Taiping slowly stood upright from the ground.

His voice was so hoarse it didn't sound human, like a cold wind blowing out of the Nine Hells, without a single shred of warmth.

“Now... DIE!”

He suddenly gripped the void with his right hand.

With a slight thought.

Buzz—!

The space rippled violently.

A Telescopic Greatsword, pitch-black throughout with a blade as wide as a door panel and covered in mysterious dark red patterns, appeared out of thin air in his hand.

The moment the hilt touched his hand, a bloodthirsty hum echoed through the area.

The Earth-Burrowing Tiger Shark, which was immersed in the pleasure of feeding, suddenly froze.

Its beastly instinct made it instantly sense a fatal threat sufficient to wipe it out of existence.

It stopped chewing, its single crimson eye as large as a lantern staring fixedly at Li Taiping, whose aura had undergone an earth-shaking change.

In its gaze, for the first time, an extremely humanized emotion called fear appeared.

It was afraid.

The absolute overlord of these ruins was actually scared by a human's gaze until its scales stood on end.

It wanted to flee.

Its massive body twisted violently, wanting to burrow back into the ground that gave it a sense of security.

But it was too late.

Li Taiping's figure instantly turned into an afterimage and vanished from the spot.

The next second.

He appeared directly above the Earth-Burrowing Tiger Shark's massive head, as if he had teleported.

He raised the heavy, black greatsword high with both hands.

The transcendent power within him, as vast as an abyss or a sea, poured unreservedly and frantically into the blade.

The dark red patterns instantly erupted with a blinding, destructive blood-colored light.

“Give her... BACK!”

Li Taiping let out a throat-tearing roar, the muscles in his arms bulging as he struck down with the sword, a blow powerful enough to split a mountain!

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

Nor were there any flashy light and shadow effects.

There was only a faint ripping sound, as if the very fabric of space had been torn apart.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

That arrogant Earth-Burrowing Tiger Shark, with its peak Excellent Grade strength, didn't even have time to let out a scream.

Its proud, dark gray skin, which even 7.62mm rounds couldn't penetrate,

was as fragile as thin paper before this sword.

A straight line of blood extended from its head all the way to its tail fin.

Pfft.

The massive body was split smoothly and neatly into two halves from the middle.

With two heavy thuds,

the two halves of the carcass crashed down on either side. Blood gushed out like a bursting dam, and internal organs, mixed with a nauseating stench, scattered all over the ground.

An instant kill.

But this was not enough!

Far from enough!

Li Taiping's eyes were still as crimson as blood.

He landed from mid-air, his feet stepping into the viscous pool of blood.

As if he had gone completely mad, he gripped the greatsword tightly and hacked at the remains on the ground, once after another, frantically.

“Give her back!”

Pfft!

“Give her back to me!”

Pfft!

Sword light flashed like a violent storm.

Flesh flew and bone fragments splattered.

This wasn't a battle at all; it was pure venting, a death by a thousand cuts!

In just a dozen seconds, that massive Earth-Burrowing Tiger Shark was hacked by him into a pulp of flying meat, so fine that not even a palm-sized piece of intact flesh could be found.

It wasn't until that pile of shredded meat, under the influence of the dungeon rules, turned into dots of blue light and completely dissipated into the air

that Li Taiping finally stopped.

The greatsword fell to the ground with a clang.

He stood in the middle of the messy pool of blood, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for breath.

He had won.

He had killed the overlord of this area; he had taken his revenge.

But in his heart, he couldn't feel even a shred of joy.

There was only an empty, boundless dead silence.

The wind blew again, bringing with it a pungent smell of blood.

He slowly turned his head, looking woodenly toward the spot where Su Jie had first disappeared.

There was nothing there.

No corpse, no bloodstains.

There wasn't even a trace that she had ever existed.

She had been wiped out from this world, just like that—cleanly and completely.

“Fake... it's all fake...”

Li Taiping's legs gave way, and he fell heavily to his knees again.

His knees hit the gravel, but he felt no pain.

Like a child who had lost his soul, he covered his face, crying and laughing at the same time, his laughter even more piercing than his sobs.

“System! Get the hell out here!”

“Tell me! She's fake! She must be an NPC, right?!”

“This is just some shitty dungeon! She's not dead! She's not dead!”

He roared and questioned frantically at the empty, dark sky.

However, the only response was the echoes vibrating through the ruins.

No voice gave him an answer.

Through his tear-blurred eyes, Li Taiping's gaze swept aimlessly across the ground.

Suddenly.

His gaze fixed intensely on a crevice in the ruins a few meters away.

There, something lay quietly, completely out of place with the surrounding bricks, tiles, and steel bars.

It was a crumpled ball of paper, its edges charred black, with only half a page remaining.

The paper ball was stained with a bit of dust and a striking smear of dark red.

Li Taiping's pupils suddenly contracted to the extreme.

A paper ball?!

This thing...

This material...

This was paper from Su Jie's diary, the one partially burned by the candle!

It was the diary paper where that silly woman would hide in a corner every night, biting her pen and recording his sleep-talking word by word!

This was also the only thing she had left in this cruel world that could still prove she had existed!

Li Taiping's heart gave a violent twitch.

Like a drowning man grabbing at the last straw, he scrambled and crawled toward it.

Because he was in such a panic, he even tripped and fell, not even noticing when his palm was cut by broken glass.

He knelt before the paper ball.

He reached out with those hands that had just slain an overlord-level monster without a single tremor.

Now, they were shaking like an old man with late-stage Parkinson's.

He carefully, as if treating the most fragile treasure in the world, picked up the paper ball with his blood-stained fingertips.

He held his breath, fearing that if he used even a little bit of force, he would crush this last memory.

Bit by bit.

He slowly unfolded that scrap of paper, which had long been rendered unrecognizable by the candle flame and was tattered at the edges.

The surface of the paper was pitted, and most of the writing had been consumed by fire.

But in that remaining central part.

A line of words remained.

A line of handwriting that had been soaked by large drops of tears, the ink slightly blurred, yet still written with extreme earnestness.

Li Taiping stared fixedly at that line, his eyes unblinking, while tears fell like broken strings of pearls, constantly hitting the paper.

—[Husband talks in his sleep at night, always muttering about many children, many blessings. Is it because I'm too stupid, not serving him well enough, and can't satisfy him? If in this damn post-apocalyptic world, this body of mine cannot satisfy him, then I must repay him in my next life! I must let my husband have many children, many blessings! If I alone am not enough, then I will help my husband train a group of them!]

Boom!!!

The moment he saw this line of words clearly.

The last string of reason in Li Taiping's mind snapped completely.

This silly woman...

In this wasteland where human life was as cheap as grass, in a desperate situation where she couldn't even eat her fill every day and could be torn apart by monsters at any time.

What she was thinking about was actually not how to survive.

But rather, because of a single sentence he said in his sleep, she was filled with deep self-reproach.

Blaming herself for not being able to satisfy him.

Even swearing to help him find a group of women in the next life.

“Su Jie...”

Li Taiping pressed that tattered scrap of paper tightly against his chest.

He lowered his head, his forehead resting against the cold ground.

His back twitched violently.

Muffled sobs, suppressed to the extreme, echoed through this desperate wasteland.

The sky turned dark.

Gray mist shrouded heaven and earth.

Pairs of crimson single eyes lit up in the pitch-black world.

The black tide... has come.

...