Chapter 30 Fat Otaku's Sorrowful Water_1

```

There's still a snake…

Below the mask, Huai Shi couldn't help but sigh with helplessness.

Under the control of Red Gloves, the python slowly constricted, as if it wanted to crush his bones bit by bit, even specifically binding his left hand, leaving him no chance to move.

The handgun fell to the ground.

"I admit, I almost… lost to you, just by a little…"

Red Gloves, dragging a leg that had been shot, staggered forward, his ferocious face full of chilling grimness and cruelty, "But, all those strange little tricks of yours, they end here."

With that, he slowly lifted the fish tank in his hand, showing him the last remaining fish fry inside.

"Don't be afraid, I won't kill you, after all, even I rarely get the chance to turn Sublimators into fish bait…"

As he spoke, Source Substance continuously surged in the fish tank in his hand.

Red Gloves kept splitting parts of his soul, transforming them into fish bait, feeding the fish fry within, and in an instant, the pink goldfish rapidly swelled up, eventually turning a purplish blue, with bloodshot eyes bulging out, staring straight at Huai Shi.

Inducing the fish fry to the level where it could parasitize Sublimators clearly had taken a toll on Red Gloves' energy. His face was devoid of color, his steps unsteady, and he could feel his heavy consciousness and his body pushed to the limit.

The thought that a recently ascended Sublimator had brought him to this state unwillingly filled him with sadness from deep within.

But now was not the time to be weak.

He lifted his hand and with a fierce punch, hit Huai Shi in the face, and then another punch smashed the ridiculous mask, revealing Huai Shi's youthful face.

"Is it you?"

He froze, recognizing the young man before him, and then his gaze grew even more malevolent, "Not killing you that time was a grave mistake! Fortunately, it's not too late to make amends…"

"Big brother, you talk too much, just make it quick if you want to kill or flay me."

As if he couldn't stand the python's entanglement, Huai Shi's face was covered in snot and tears, as though squeezed out by the pain of the wounds.

"Come on, at worst it's eighteen—no, seventeen years and I'll be a good man again!"

Red Gloves sneered.

Seventeen years? He no longer had seventeen years, after his soul was devoured by the goldfish, Huai Shi would become an empty shell of a walking corpse.

He lifted his left hand and pressed it hard on Huai Shi's forehead, and the goldfish in the fish tank disappeared in an instant.

Huai Shi let out a miserable scream.

"Scream, scream… soon, your senses will be devoured completely, and you will no longer feel any pain," said Red Gloves, laughing heartily. Yet, looking at the messy surroundings in the midst of the downpour, he couldn't help but feel sorrow again. A sense of alienation emerged from his heart.

This place was never his hometown after all. Ah, how he missed the damp forest, and those little mice…

```

With these thoughts, he could no longer hold back his tears.

But immediately, he was startled and alarmed as he realized the source of such overwhelming sorrow... The python, that python was convulsing, twitching as if seized by sobbing fits, to the point where it could no longer hold onto its prey.

However, he no longer had time to worry about the snake because at that moment he suddenly remembered the nomadic life he led after betraying Rome and the terrible price he paid to infiltrate the "Current Circumstances."

A profound grief engulfed him, causing him to involuntarily shed two rows of bloody tears from his eyes.

"What's happening?"

He stared in shock at the blood tears that had fallen into his hand, struggling to contain the increasingly intense sorrow and agony within his heart.

"Ah, it's just a... humidifier," he said dismissively, "don't worry about it."

In the coils of the Sorrow Giant Python, Huai Shi, with tears streaming down his face, finally freed his left hand and pulled open his waterproof jacket, revealing the Coke bottle.

It was taped to the bulletproof vest with a humidifier continuously spraying a mist of gray vapor attached to it.

At the moment, Huai Shi felt an unprecedented sense of gratitude toward Liu Dongli, that flashy guy—complaining about the dry weather, he just had to buy that portable humidifier.

All of the Apocalypse dust Huai Shi had created these past days, along with four hundred milliliters of distilled water, had already been poured into that bottle, where they mixed together to form a brand new mixture.

From the beginning, it had been quietly working, but the rain was too dense, causing the effects to be delayed. However, after such a long delay by Huai Shi, the accumulated buildup had finally exploded in full force.

Now, one snake, and one you—two distinct sorrows.

It was double the joy!

With intense pain barraging his forehead like a flood, Huai Shi clenched his fists while tears streamed down, summoned his axe, turned it around, and fiercely struck his forehead with the back of the axe blade.

Bang!

His head spun and his vision swam.

What was even more intense was the indescribable anger and madness that burned from the depths of his soul, as if his entire body had become a cauldron searing in agony.

The sharp shock transmitted unreservedly through the fishbowl to the consciousness of Red Gloves. It was like a broken bell struck by an iron hammer, its reverberations causing black blood to ooze yet again from his ears and nose.

Following that, the goldfish that had burrowed into his brain began to convulse wildly, constantly trying to shake off the body, seeking an escape.

"Since you're here, why the hurry to leave?"

Grinding his teeth, Huai Shi raised the axe again and struck his forehead, spewing out a mouthful of blood. The goldfish trembled frantically and soon, it lay still.

Once again feeling an indescribable nausea, Huai Shi opened his mouth and spat out the purple-black goldfish, then raised the axe in his hand—chop!

Red Gloves' body shuddered violently, jerking as if electrocuted, and another crack splintered across the fishbowl.

It wasn't over yet.

Huai Shi turned his head to look at the python writhing on the ground, aimed at its head, slowly raised the axe, and brought it down—chop!

Bang!

It sounded like the explosion of a balloon emanating from Red Gloves' hand, with not a single goldfish left in his fish tank, which was riddled with cracks.

The last remnants of the incense's effects dissipated, and the agony of a soul on the brink of shattering erupted from within his consciousness.

He howled in pain, bending down to pick up his dropped pistol from the ground, and fired at Huai Shi repeatedly, emptying the entire magazine.

But, obscured by the heavy curtain of rain and tormented by excruciating pain, he was unable to aim correctly. Instead, he hit the sports car parked behind Huai Shi, which had crashed headfirst into a shipping container.

In the deafening sound that would have landed Liu Dongli in the ICU once more, the luxurious dashboard was completely smashed into trash.

Rainwater poured through the shattered windscreen, and sparks from electrical shorts burst forth incessantly. Something triggered the radio to emit a cacophony of noise, and it began to play a CD on its own.

The once-expensive car stereo was completely out of tune now, with high and low pitches jumbled up, blurring even the sound of the electric guitar.

"We're on the two sides of Heaven's stairway, talking about the years gone by and memories..."

Through layers of rain, the singer's voice seemed to linger between dust and tombstones, "I thought you were already dead, dying alone a long, long time ago..."

In a state of intense stupor, Red Gloves staggered backward, leaning against the shipping container, gasping for air with great effort.

He had no strength left to run away.

Indeed, in the end, he had fallen into the hands of the Astronomical Society.

"You've won,"

He discarded his pistol, and looked at Huai Shi with cold eyes, "Whether it's Lunar Prison or the abyssal prison of the trench, you're free to lock me up wherever you want. But don't expect to get anything out of me."

In the silence, there was only the sound of rain.

Huai Shi seemed not to hear, just staring blankly back at the broken speaker in the sports car.

"David Bowie?"

He couldn't help but admire Old Liu's taste, even though he seemed like a countrified Cowherd who only listened to crude disco music with no sense of style. But if you love David Bowie, we can be friends!

Too bad, now his friend was lying in the ICU.

So...

"Can we stop with the boring talk?"

In the throes of painful spasms and convulsions, he turned back, sighing wearily, "I came here not to lock you away."

He said, "I just simply want to kill you, or be killed by you. That's all—"

Either you die.

Or I perish.

It's that simple.

In the silent face-off, Red Gloves' twisted face gradually returned to calm, only a severe chill and an indescribable ferocity remained on his shattered countenance.

"Another madman, huh? Very well..."

He gritted his teeth, stripped off his torn coat, revealing his upper body wrapped in bandages. Beneath the bandages, his punctured muscles slowly bulged.

Gesturing towards Huai Shi:

"Come!"

In that instant, amidst the torrential rain, the axe blade came slashing down!

In a daze, Huai Shi felt as if the axe blade had struck something solid, and immediately, he couldn't help but instinctively... let go and take a step back.

In that moment, he saw a flash of iron light follow the original grip angle, slicing upwards, and whistling past his face, cleaving through his hair floating in the wind.

It was a near miss; the last of his left hand and eye would have been completely destroyed by that strike.

Only then did Huai Shi see the dagger in Red Gloves' hand.

The dagger, originally concealed along the inside of the arm, was flicked out with a simple movement, landing in his palm. It twirled seamlessly and reappeared in his other hand.

It was like magic.

Unrelenting offensive.

Blood was once again seeping from Red Gloves' muscles, clearly the effects of the Silver Blood Potion were utterly ruined, yet there was no sign of any pause in his movements.

His priority was not Huai Shi's exposed vulnerabilities beyond the bulletproof vest, but his left hand!

The only thing that emerged in Red Gloves' mind besides the indelible intent to kill was a deep wariness.

He must not be struck by Huai Shi's weapon at all costs... That thing that seemed like an axe not only had a physical killing power but also a force against Source Substance, even capable of inflicting something akin to a soul shock.

A terrifying attack that dealt with both spirit and body.

If it did not so obviously resemble a foil, he would have suspected that Huai Shi was wielding the famed Border Relic—the Nail of Incineration.

Now, with the stigma rendered unable to use Melting skills anymore, if he were taken by surprise again, his soul would definitely collapse completely.

Still, the more ferociously he attacked, the more he couldn't help but doubt the skills he'd honed over the years.

Although Huai Shi looked utterly clumsy and disheveled, each time Red Gloves' sure-kill strike would be clumsily dodged by him, and on several occasions, he nearly got hit again by that axe.

This level of skill, he's supposed to be an easy target... Is his intuition already as sharp as that of a wild animal, or is it just pure luck?

Once again, the thrust aimed at Huai Shi's left eye was evaded.

Why did he dodge it again?

If Huai Shi knew what he was thinking, he would probably tell him: Maybe, it's because he has died too many times?