Chapter 1022: Pinned by Ghost

“Take the call!” Berserking Lion urged with excitement. “Maybe they’ll still get here in time if you ask for help now!”

Gao Yang responded by twisting his wrist, severing the I Chip transmission.

“So you aren’t stupid.” Berserking Lion impatiently stalked up to Gao Yang. “Doesn’t matter. I have countless ways to make you talk.”

Gao Yang tossed the white cat aside and raised his laser gun.

Three shots, each putting a hole into Berserking Lion’s suit, but not his chest. The man continued his stride, tearing off his tattered suit to reveal his gray alloy skin. The bullets left only faint traces.

Without hesitation, Gao Yang turned around and bolted.

Berserking Lion scoffed. His leg muscles swelled unnaturally as artificial tendons erupted from his metallic ankles like circuitry, golden energy pulsing through them. The blast of power launched him at Gao Yang like a missile.

The impact felt like a freight train. Gao Yang crashed into a cargo container before crumpling to the ground, vision swimming, every organ screaming in protest.

“This is all you’ve got?”

Berserking Lion was disappointed. He slowly walked toward his prone form. “Don’t you have a superpower? The sound that gives people a headache? Use it.”

Blood trickled from Gao Yang's mouth as he pressed his hands against the concrete, trying and failing to rise. His body threatened to fall apart.

“Do you know how much it cost me to maintain all my augmentations?” Berserking Lion gripped Gao Yang’s neck and lifted him without breaking a sweat. “Yet you’re so weak. You’re no fun at all.”

“Hmph...ugh...”

Gao Yang was lifted off the ground. It felt like his neck was going to break. Face flushed, he kicked around and struggled in his dying moment.

Strange, he thought nothing mattered, he craved for release, yet when he was staring death in the eyes, he couldn’t help but resist it.

“Boss said not to kill you, but he didn’t say no torture.” Berserking Lion’s eyes flashed with cold perverted bloodthirst. His right arm transformed into a gigantic alloy blade.

Whoosh.

One swing of his left arm, and Gao Yang's right arm separated at the shoulder. Blood erupted in a crimson fountain.

“Agh!”

Gao Yang screamed in pain.

“Yes! That’s it! That’s right!” Berserking Lion finally found some enjoyment out of Gao Yang’s suffering. Two seconds later, his arm blade heated up to 3000 degrees, burning red and hot.

“It won’t do for you to lose too much blood. Here, I’ll stop the bleeding.”

He pressed the heated blade to Gao Yang’s stump.

Sizzle

. Blood vaporized into mist. The air filled with the sickeningly pleasant smell of protein caramelizing.

“Ughahhhhh...”

Gao Yang’s heart-wrenching screams echoed in the factory. The tremendous pain almost knocked him out.

There were several times he thought his soul was going to detach from his body, yet the pain pinned him to the present. He could not escape no matter how hard he struggled.

“Hahahaha!” Berserking Lion finally got the thrill he sought. Torturing a human’s organic body filled him with pleasure.

Meow!

A ball of white suddenly leaped down from above, stepping on Berserking Lion’s face with precision.

It was the white cat. It hadn’t run off.

Sharp claws raked Berserking Lion's face, one embedding deep in his prosthetic eye.

“The hell? Get off!” Berserking Lion tossed Gao Yang away in favor of removing the white cat from his face. He used so much force that one of his prosthetic eyes popped out, attached to his head by some artificial nerves.

“Agh!” That made him feel real pain. “Fucker...where did the vermin come from?!”

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The white cat hissed angrily, hackles raised. It bit Berserking Lion’s thumb, but couldn’t break the skin. The man’s arm was all alloy.

“Wanna die?!” Berserking Lion’s arms tensed up with rage.

“No...” Gao Yang lay prone on the ground, body a mess and consciousness barely holding together. He struggled to reach out. “No, no...please let...”

Berserking Lion crushed the cat like an egg. Then he cast it aside.

Hum.

A ring filled Gao Yang’s head.

“Good friends don’t betray good friends.”

“Pinkies, then thumbs. The promise will last a hundred years.”

“I missed you, Gao Yang.”

“I'm not leaving this time, Gao Yang.”

“To me, you're just Gao Yang, the one I love most.”

“Because of that love, I no longer fear anything.”

...

Berserking Lion popped the eyeball back into its socket, cursing gruffly, “Little bastard damaging my eye. The repair is going to cost me!”

“I’m gonna fucking crush—” He turned around, silenced by surprise when he saw Gao Yang get back to his feet.

He was covered in blood, his face a bleeding mess and an arm missing from the shoulder. He looked weak, dying, yet he stood straight and tall with a dignity and divine presence that seemed righteous—just. It was as if he belonged here, that he should be standing here since the beginning of time.

“Haha, I knew you weren’t so easy to deal with!”

The shock was quickly replaced by excitement. If the boy could give Berserking Lion a greater thrill, the cost of maintaining the body would be worth it.

Gao Yang looked up at Berserking Lion icily, his face pale, dirty, and injured.

His lips parted slowly.

Berserking Lion had shut off his hearing, ready for the disorientating electric noise. To his surprise, Gao Yang merely uttered two syllables.

Ring—

He couldn’t hear, yet he felt the air around him go still, and space itself distorted. His thoughts slowed and lost form like it was covered in thick butter.

Years had passed since his last dream, yet suddenly he recalled a nightmare from his childhood—he had felt pinned to the nap by a ghost when he was taking a nap at noon. He knew it was a dream, yet he couldn’t wake from it. The “ghost” made sure of it.

His head was clear, yet he was helpless. He wanted to break out of the hold, yet he couldn’t even begin to do it. All that was left was fear and despair. They festered and spread, unstoppable like a drop of ink on rice paper.

This was that childhood horror magnified tenfold.

“You fucking...die!”

Fear drove Berserking Lion to hysteria. Before the strange power could consume him completely, he channeled every scrap of energy into one devastating attack. His right arm transformed into an energy shotgun while his torso split open, revealing a massive energy cannon ringed by laser turrets.

Boom—

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Bang—

Charging took two seconds. Then over a hundred energy bullets, twenty laser beams, and a great shockwave of golden energy engulfed Gao Yang entirely.