Chapter 1227: Two Seconds

Gao Yang memorized each of their parting words. He didn’t respond or turn around.

Walking across the clearing, he made it to the bottom of the elevated platform before teleporting to the throne of Pride.

Wang Zikai gave him a satisfied smile. “That’s right. That’s my best friend.”

“I can use any Talent and ability,” Gao Yang said calmly. “If you don’t kill me in seven seconds, you’ll die.”

Wang Zikai nodded. “The countdown begins when I snap my fingers. If I don’t kill you in seven seconds, I’ll die.”

“Promise,” Gao Yang said, extending his right hand.

“Promise.” Wang Zikai reached out, too.

They bumped fists.

“Let’s get started,” Gao Yang said.

“No rush.” Wang Zikai took a rectangular box out of his pocket. “This is part of the birthday gift.”

Gao Yang looked at it silently. Wang Zikai smiled and urged, “Take it. He put a lot of thought into it.”

Gao Yang opened the box. Inside was a seven-inch crimson bone sting. He gripped it and injected it with his energy, creating a golden-red energy blade.

The blade cast their faces in warm light. Gao Yang said with a solemn expression, “Thank you.”

Wang Zikai nodded. “Glad you like it.”

There was a moment when neither of them spoke. Then Wang Zikai’s smile slid off his face.

“Be careful, Gao Yang. I won’t go easy on you.”

Gao Yang nodded. “Yeah.”

He teleported to a broken stone pillar, around a hundred meters from Wang Zikai.

The lone white moon illuminated the desolate night. Pride raised his right hand, pressing his thumb and middle finger together.

[Warning, the abyss is staring at you.]

[Luck points acquisition rate increases to 77777 times.]

Gao Yang rotated his ring.

—Put all the Luck points I will acquire into Luck automatically.

—Equivalent Exchange, triple buff!

—Willful Power, Willful Heart!

Wang Zikai snapped his fingers.

Gone was the throne and the giant heart behind it. Gone, too, was Pride.

Gao Yang had caught nothing. He hadn’t even sensed a skip of frames.

—Fuck, were you walking with your eyes closed!

—You think you could pay for it if you broke my car?!

Without a starting point, it just happened—an energy wave three times greater and five times denser than the golden thread of God that had killed so many at the Starcatching Pavilion swept across the landscape. The rundown palace was flattened—no, it was rendered a deep valley, stretching across the vast wasteland and the mountain ranges behind it.

Such was the explosive power of Pride in his peak condition.

In an instant, he had unleashed terrifying energy while charging at Gao Yang with a speed that rivaled that of Waking Insects, destroying everything in his wake.

Fortunately, Gao Yang had avoided it.

Because he cheated. He moved before Pride even snapped his fingers, swapping himself with the double hidden in the distance.

Gao Yang had a hunch that Teleportation wouldn’t work. Pride must have taken that into consideration. And he was right. The AOE attack covered the distance Gao Yang could have made with teleportation.

Even so, the energy shockwave still caught Gao Yang right as he swapped with his double. The energy combined physical, elemental, psychic, rule-based, and spiritual attacks, interfering with Double, which involved psychic and rule-based power.

The moment Gao Yang made the swap, the damage caught him, disintegrating his right hand, right leg, and half of his torso. Blood gushed out. His beating heart was almost exposed. He was like a fragile paper figure, torn easily by Pride.

If nothing was done, he would die instantly!

—Willful Heart, first reallocation!

—All Constitution!

[Constitution: 24445 Endurance: 1]

[Strength: 1 Agility: 1]

[Willpower: 1 Charisma: 1]

[Luck: 11944]

—Level 7 Gecko.

—Supernatural regeneration!

At the price of ten years of his lifespan, Gao Yang pushed his regeneration power to the maximum. Bones and veins sprouted, and flesh and skin grew. It was as if a 3D printer was printing out human tissue, dialed to eleven.

One second.

...

—Gao Yang, done with your class, too? What a coincidence!

—Come on, let’s play games together.

Gao Yang saw a crimson flash from the corner of his eyes as soon as he crawled out of the grasp of death. He didn’t even have the time to determine what it was before he teleported in a random direction.

Two “red lasers” pierced through the golden energy terraforming the entire landscape, hitting where Gao Yang had been. The moment they missed their mark, they made a one-eighty and shot toward where Gao Yang had teleported to.

It was an impossible threat. It appeared as if the “lasers” weren’t chasing Gao Yang, but were connected to and led by Gao Yang.

Of course, they weren’t lasers, but Pride’s crimson bone stings.

They were the spears of the Grim Reaper and the mythological Gungnir; once thrown, they would always hit their target.

Teleportation was still on cooldown. Gao Yang had to opt for something else.

—Spirit Domain! Triple slowdown!

—Willful Heart, second reallocation!

—Agility to the max!

[Constitution: 1 Endurance: 1]

[Strength: 1 Agility: 24445]

[Willpower: 1 Charisma: 1]

[Luck: 11944]

With time slowed down by three times, Gao Yang finally caught the afterimage of the Grim Reaper’s spear, but only barely. One was stabbing at his forehead, the other at his heart.

Gao Yang was only quick enough to make two responses: he tilted his head away from one bone sting while raising his bone-sting blade to shield his chest.

Clang!

The energy casing of the blade shattered at the collision. Fortunately, the bone sting itself managed to block the attack.

The counterforce sent the bone sting flying out of Gao Yang’s grip. His freshly regenerated right arm got torn apart once more as he streaked through the night sky, his trail a radiant scar on the dark backdrop.

Two seconds.