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. In an instant, the pink goldfish rapidly swelled up, eventually turning a purplish blue, its 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 made him couldn't help but feel sadness from deep within.
But now was not the time to be weak.
He lifted his hand and with a fierce punch, struck 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…"
"You talk too much. If you're going to kill or flay me, just make it quick."
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, in eighteen—no, seventeen years, 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, 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!" Red Gloves cackled. Yet, looking at the messy surroundings in the midst of the downpour, he couldn't help but feel sorrow again. A feeling of displacement 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 streams of bloody tears from his eyes.
"What's happening?"
He stared in shock at the blood tears that had fallen onto his hand, struggling to contain the increasingly intense sorrow and agony within his heart.
"Ah, it's just a... humidifier. Don't mind it," Huai Shi said, a grin finally breaking through his tear-streaked face.
In the coils of the Sorrow Giant Python, with tears still streaming, he had 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 this 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 concoction.
From the beginning, it had been quietly working, but the rain was too dense, causing the effects to be delayed. However, after Huai Shi had stalled for so long, 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 flooding his forehead, 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 copper 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 break free from 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!