27: Chapter 27 Breaking Bones to Toss Me, I'll Toss My Bones to Toss Me

At the end of the Ghost Line Path, the heavy alloy iron door slammed shut, cutting off the last route of retreat.

The sound of cold metal grinding echoed incessantly in the narrow alley, like the death knell of the Grim Reaper.

The twelve members of the Iron Spine Clearance Squad formed a perfect fan shape, step by step compressing Chen Fan's space to survive. The weapons gleaming coldly in their hands were like twelve venomous fangs eager to devour, sealing off every angle.

In the center of the squad, a burly man slowly stepped forward. His exposed arms were not flesh and blood, but two ferocious heavy mechanical claws.

The opening and closing of the metal joints emitted a harsh 'kaka' sound, as if they could easily tear steel apart.

He was Bone Breaker, the elite notorious for his cruelty within the Iron Spine Squad.

His gaze locked onto Chen Fan like a vulture, and a bloodthirsty sneer split his lips: "Chen Fan, I've heard of your 'fine reputation'—always snatching monsters in other people's hunting grounds? Very good. Today, I will tear off both your monster-snatching hands, along with your feet, and hang them on the city wall to show everyone what happens when you provoke Iron Spine!"

Chen Fan pressed his back tightly against the cold, broken wall behind him, shielding Little Bean, who was trembling with fear, behind him.

He could clearly feel the mysterious crack in his chest frantically retaliating, his health draining continuously like an opened floodgate. The numbers on his retina flickered, inching closer to the dangerous red line.

He tightened his grip on the damaged bronze bell in his hand; it was his only weapon and his last hope.

Inside his mind, a cold countdown was rapidly ticking away.

[critical hit system Cooldown: 47 seconds]

Forty-seven seconds.

Under the siege of twelve elites and one elite leader, forty-seven seconds felt like a century.

Fighting head-on meant certain death!

The only way to survive was that passive skill—'Near-Death Trigger'.

A desperate gamble of finding life in death.

He had to lose, and lose perfectly.

"Scared?" Seeing his silence, Bone Breaker's mockery deepened. "Beg for mercy now, and I might consider only dismantling three of your limbs."

Chen Fan took a deep breath, suppressing the surging blood in his chest, but he deliberately let a trace of panic show in his eyes.

He stumbled slightly, as if his strength had failed, and took half a step back.

That was the opening!

Fierce light flashed in Bone Breaker's eyes, and like a hunting leopard, he exploded forward instantly!

The mechanical claw on his right arm transformed into a deadly silver afterimage, screaming as it tore through the air, sweeping over!

"Too slow!" Chen Fan roared internally, but his body dodged sideways in an extremely clumsy posture.

Even so, the extremely fast claw shadow grazed his left arm. Five sharp claw blades instantly tore through his combat suit, bringing up a mist of blood.

The wound, deep enough to expose the bone, left half his body numb.

Blood splattered three feet.

"Heh, this is just the first appetizer!" Bone Breaker sneered, his offensive showing no sign of stopping.

The second strike followed immediately. The mechanical claw came from above, like a hawk swooping on a rabbit, aiming straight for Chen Fan's crown!

Chen Fan rolled to the limit, but was still a fraction too slow.

That cold metal talon fiercely pierced his right shoulder blade, penetrating straight through!

With a 'kacha' sound, the crisp crack of shattering bone was clearly audible.

Excruciating pain surged through his entire body, and his health instantly dropped below the 15% warning line!

But he could not fall; the gamble had only just begun.

He endured the heart-wrenching agony and used all his strength to violently shove the terrified and pale Little Bean behind a discarded iron rack in the corner of the wall, while he himself charged towards Bone Breaker's third strike, advancing instead of retreating!

"Seeking death!" Bone Breaker hadn't expected him to meet the blow head-on. With a roar, the force of the third strike was pushed to the extreme!

Chen Fan clenched his right fist, his muscles bulging, and met the mechanical claw—which was bigger than his head—with a punch!

The collision between the fist edge and the metal produced not the clang of metal on metal, but the grating sound of shattering bone!

Chen Fan's entire right arm bone fractured inch by inch, hanging limply. His health plummeted like an avalanche, dropping to 9%!

Now!

In that instant, the dormant critical hit system inside him roared to life like a nuclear bomb dropped into lava!

[Warning! Health below 10%! Near-Death state triggered!]

[Defense Critical Hit x2 Triggered! 50% of damage taken this time is forcibly reduced!]

The fatal blow surprisingly did not kill him instantly!

Chen Fan used the immense impact force, his entire body slamming backward like a cannonball, hitting the iron rack in the corner where Little Bean was hiding!

Bone Breaker, having missed his strike, showed a flicker of astonishment on his face, which was immediately replaced by deeper rage: "Why dodge? Die for me!" He lunged forward again.

"This is it!" Sharp light flashed in Chen Fan's eyes. The moment Bone Breaker lunged, he violently used his shoulder to flip over the huge iron rack behind him!

"Crash!"

Rusted pipes and scrap metal piled like a mountain poured down like a torrential rain, instantly knocking over the two Clearance Squad members following closely behind Bone Breaker, momentarily halting their attack.

In the chaos, Chen Fan seized the opportunity, scooping up half a broken steel rebar with a sharp, jagged edge from the ground with his left hand.

He gasped for breath, blood staining half his body, looking utterly miserable, but his brain was operating at an extraordinarily fast pace.

One near-death instance was not enough! He had to create a 'continuous near-death' desperate situation to maximize the gains!

He suddenly turned around, deliberately exposing his abdomen, full of flaws, to another Clearance Squad member who had circled around.

That member was overjoyed and thrust his short spear out without hesitation!

But just as the spear tip was about to touch Chen Fan's body, Chen Fan swayed aside by a hair's breadth, allowing the sharp spear blade to slash across his abdomen, drawing a long gash.

Health dropped below 10% again!

Second time!

Still not enough!

A trace of madness flashed in Chen Fan's eyes. He did not retreat; instead, he actively leaped forward, diving directly into the encirclement of the last two members!

He completely exposed his back, his biggest weakness, to them!

"Die!" Greedy light burst from the eyes of the two members. Two long spears pierced Chen Fan's thighs fiercely, carrying the sound of breaking wind!

Thwack!

Blood spurted!

His health plummeted to a mere 8% at this moment!

Third time!

Three consecutive damage reductions, three consecutive near-deaths!

It was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, or the final spark that ignited the powder keg.

On Chen Fan's retina, a string of system prompts frantically scrolled like a waterfall, finally converging into a dazzling golden announcement!

[Detected player triggering 'Near-Death' state three times in a short period! Special Reward Activated!]

[Reward Content: Experience Acquisition Speed x3! Duration: 8 minutes!]

Success!

An indescribable burning sensation surged from his limbs and bones, as if high-purity fuel had been injected into his dying flame of life!

"You... all deserve to die!"

Chen Fan's voice was hoarse, but carried a chilling, icy killing intent.

He suddenly erupted, his figure as fast as a phantom. The half-section of steel rebar in his hand drew an arc of death through the air, accurately piercing through the helmet gap of a Clearance Squad member who couldn't close it in time, penetrating his throat!

[Killed Bronze Tier Player, Gained 120 Experience Points! Experience Acquisition Speed x3 effective! Final Experience Gained: 360 Points!]

[Level Up! Bronze Tier 6 -> Bronze Tier 7!]

A warm current instantly flowed through his entire body. The constitution bonus from leveling up brought a tingling sensation to his broken arm bones, and even the bleeding slowed down slightly!

Bone Breaker's pupils contracted sharply. The scene before him completely exceeded his comprehension: "You... you're not human, damn it!"

A near-dead person instantly counter-killed and leveled up on the spot?! What kind of monster was this?

"You only realize that now?" Chen Fan sneered, suddenly exerting force with his feet.

Riding the surge in constitution from leveling up, his speed was more than a notch faster than before!

Like a fierce tiger breaking free, he ignored the other mechanical claw Bone Breaker swung and violently closed the distance, smashing his intact left fist fiercely into the joint of Bone Breaker's right arm!

"Kacha!"

That was the sound of metal parts shattering!

Bone Breaker's proud mechanical right claw had its connecting axis broken by his single punch, hanging limply!

Bone Breaker was greatly alarmed and was about to retreat, but saw Chen Fan snatch Bone Breaker's dropped saber in his hand.

The saber flashed, too fast for a human reaction!

A line of blood quietly bloomed on Bone Breaker's throat.

[Killed Elite Player 'Bone Breaker', Gained 500 Experience Points! Experience Acquisition Speed x3 (Stacking) effective! Final Experience Gained: 1500 Points!]

[Level Up! Bronze Tier 7 -> Bronze Tier 8!]

Leveled up again!

Chen Fan couldn't even be bothered to look at Bone Breaker's corpse. He walked to the body, ripped off the metal bracer on Bone Breaker's wrist engraved with the Iron Spine snake pattern, and with a light 'kacha' sound, firmly buckled it onto his own left wrist.

Just then, a cold, emotionless puppet voice echoed through the entire ruined city!

[Server Announcement: Player [Chen Fan] successfully seized the 'Proof of Order' (Iron Spine). Server Wanted Level increased to S-Class! Coordinates will remain exposed while holding the 'Proof of Order'!]

On a distant high-rise building, a man wearing a black trench coat was observing everything here through binoculars. When he heard the announcement, his eyes split open in rage, and the high-power binoculars in his hand were squeezed out of shape!

"Chen Fan! You dare profane 'Order'!" Iron Spine's voice, filled with endless fury, echoed from afar.

In the alley, the remaining few Clearance Squad members were utterly terrified, looking fearfully at the demon god who was covered in blood but stepping up in level one after another.

Chen Fan slowly raised his left hand. The red snake pattern on the newly acquired bracer seemed to come alive, reflecting the frantically flickering critical hit prompts in his eyes.

He looked towards the direction where Iron Spine was, his voice not loud, but clearly spreading throughout the entire alley: "Your order is merely a lie built upon countless corpses. Today, I will use your lives to fill in that lie!"

The night wind whipped up the residual flames on the ground, and sparks flickered behind him.

He stood there, his back to that desolate broken wall, step by step advancing towards the remaining encirclement, each step seeming to land on the heart of every enemy.

Behind the shadow of the broken wall, Little Bean tightly covered his mouth, his body still trembling, but his eyes were no longer filled with pure terror, but a strange light.

He muttered to himself, his voice so soft it was almost inaudible:

"It's watching you... It's remembering you... It... started to fear you."

And atop the higher, more distant clock tower, a figure wearing a white uniform and a smooth silver mask stood quietly.

A faint light flashed across his (her) silver mask, seeming to record something.

A voice, equally cold but with a texture superior to the system announcement, sounded softly, as if inputting data to an unseen terminal:

"Anomaly Subject No. 7 confirmed to have broken through the passive defense threshold and entered the active growth phase... Target behavior pattern exhibits high logic and danger. Recommended risk level upgrade. Recording complete, reporting to the Administration Bureau."

With that, the figure of White Mask vanished into the night like an illusion.

In the alley, the battle was over.

Chen Fan gasped for breath. Under the constitution bonus from leveling up, the wounds on his body had stopped bleeding, but the intense pain and feeling of exhaustion remained with him.

He walked to the corner of the wall and helped up the almost collapsed youth.

The youth's breathing was weak, his little face pale. When Chen Fan's gaze fell upon his chest, his pupils suddenly contracted.