The Demise of Zhuge

"Ten seconds…"

Wu Wang silently committed the number Wan Shitong had revealed to memory.

Her 【Soul Burn on a Thread】 could only be maintained for ten seconds. If he could keep her from escaping during that time, he could lock in the outcome of this battle.

How could he stop her from escaping?

It looked like he would have to say some more strange, provocative words.

"Zhuge Yue, I still have something I want to tell you…"

Bang!

Before Wu Wang could finish his sentence, his vision shot upward, filling with the azure sky.

Intense pain erupted from his jaw and neck as his consciousness faded. He was stunned.

What happened? Did my head just get knocked off?

Zhuge Yue's voice was flat.

“Don't say such useless things anymore. Little Yueyue will be sad, because she truly believes someone in this world could love us.”

She now stood where Wu Wang had been a moment ago.

His headless body slumped powerlessly to its knees as his severed head shot into the air.

A second later, the head vanished.

Wu Wang, restored to perfect condition, lunged forward to restrain Zhuge Yue. He still had some mutual-destruction items he could use!

Swish!

Zhuge Yue, who had been right in front of him, vanished as if by magic.

Wu Wang quickly tried to decipher the future with his 【Eye of the Prophet】.

But all he saw was darkness.

Before he could react, he heard the sickening crack of bones in his wrists and legs.

Crack! Crack!

Then, a pair of strong, powerful hands clamped around his neck. Immediately after, his neck was twisted until he faced backward.

His eyes met Zhuge Yue's cold gaze.

Only now did Wu Wang finally understand.

This wasn't the effect of any skill or item. It was simply the ultimate output Zhuge Yue could achieve with her doubled stats, relying on pure power and speed.

She perfectly embodied the violent aesthetic of fist meeting flesh.

This crazy woman wasn't thinking of running at all!

She wants to annihilate me right here!

Wu Wang's lifeless, broken form returned to normal in the blink of an eye. He twisted his neck and grinned.

“Monsters die when they are killed. Even a monster like you is no exception.”

“But unfortunately for you, when other monsters see me, they call me a monster, too.”

Puchi!

The words had barely left his mouth when a fair-skinned arm pierced straight through his chest.

Zhuge Yue grasped the still-warm, bloody heart in her hand and crushed it with a slight squeeze.

This was all exactly as Wu Wang had intended.

As long as she was still trying to kill him, she was bound to lose.

Because he was 【Undying】!

Zhuge Yue frowned in confusion.

The stream of blood on the ground and the scattered fragments of his heart vanished. In their place, another perfectly intact Wu Wang stood on the same spot.

Why? Why can this guy always get back up!

She was growing irritated.

On the stage deep within her heart, Zhuge Yue (Jade) timidly addressed the sorrowful-faced sisters around her.

"Are we going to die?"

Facing the young girl, the other personalities asked a question in return.

"Little Yueyue, are you afraid?"

The little girl just shook her head. She put on the brightest smile she could muster.

“I'm not afraid. I'll go anywhere with my sisters, even to hell. We're sisters!”

The two most taciturn personalities, Zhuge Yao and Zhuge Le, exchanged a glance. They gently patted her head. One of them spoke.

"People don't go to hell when they die. We've already escaped from hell, right?"

“Mhm!”

Zhuge Yue (Jade) nodded and smiled innocently.

Boom!

Whoosh!

A barrage of explosions and silent, flying items filled the air, interrupting the exchange between Zhuge Yue's personalities. Wu Wang pulled out everything he could use, tossing them out as if they were free.

But against Zhuge Yue's super-high-speed movements, his attacks were useless. Her figure was a blur that the naked eye could barely follow. One by one, the items either missed their mark or were sent flying back by her Full Counter.

It seemed Wan Shitong's intel was a bit off; her Full Counter could be used multiple times concurrently.

In the process, Zhuge Yue even managed to casually smash Wu Wang's head to pieces twice more.

Ripping out his heart and lungs, crushing his skull, tearing his body to shreds… within those ten seconds, she had unleashed almost every attack she had on Wu Wang.

However, it was all useless.

Her opponent would always stand back up in the next blink of an eye, just like an unkillable ghost.

Finally, just as Zhuge Yue was about to snap Wu Wang's throat once more, her entire body seized, as if a bullet had pierced her heart.

She collapsed abruptly, her body limp on the ground. She looked like that little girl from back then, locked away in the Pluto Research Institute, who had stumbled and fallen while trying to escape.

Ten seconds is a very short time.

The backlash from 【Soul Burn on a Thread】 had come quickly.

Wu Wang pushed himself up from the ground, gasping for breath to alleviate the lingering feeling of suffocation. He walked over to the fallen Zhuge Yue.

He touched his neck, his voice filled with a strange emotion.

"Eighteen times."

"I find it hard to imagine that someone could kill me eighteen times in ten seconds."

Within those ten seconds, he had been a sandbag, completely unable to fight back. Zhuge Yue's overwhelming power and speed had rendered all resistance meaningless.

If it had been any other player, this battle would have ended long ago.

To be honest, Wu Wang hadn't won.

He had merely been the last one standing.

"I don't quite understand. Why didn't you run in the end?"

He had used the items he had scammed from other high-level players, plus some he had hidden nearby, to prevent her from escaping.

But in the end, she chose to fight.

That shouldn't be… She's clearly terrified of death.

Instead of answering, Zhuge Yue asked a different question, her voice weak.

"Was Wan Shitong willing?"

Wu Wang shook his head and gave a truthful answer.

"No. I tricked her."

"That's good."

Zhuge Yue's gaze grew distant as she looked at her Player Panel. On it, messages from Wan Shitong were flashing like crazy. She had been trying to contact her throughout the entire battle.

Unfortunately, it was too late now.

"Yan Shuangying, can you answer one last question for me?"

Zhuge Yue looked up at the azure sky, where a few birds chirped as they flew by.

So beautiful… Not like that cold research institute, forever caught in a blizzard. Does the Truman Show have such a beautiful sky, too? This one has to be real, right?

Wu Wang sighed.

"I can't explain why I have to kill you."

In essence, Zhuge Yue hadn't done anything to him. But Wu Wang knew that was only for now. Driven by her morbid desire to unearth secrets, the next time she saw the name 【Pending Death】, she would never rest until she had dug up every last one of his.

When Second Sister's existence was exposed, this crazy woman would use every means at her disposal to get the secrets she wanted.

This was bound to happen. Wu Wang couldn't afford to gamble on that future.

From the moment they met on the beach, this battle to the death had been inevitable.

He pressed the 【Xiaochuan】 against her chest. This time, there was no need for 【100% Caught Bare-handed】.

But Zhuge Yue just let out a chuckle. Even though she couldn't muster an ounce of strength, her tone was teasing.

"Who wants to know about something so boring? Plenty of people want to kill me; you're just one more in a long line. I don't care what your reason is."

Wu Wang was confused.

"Then what do you want to know?"

He never expected the word she would utter next.

Her eyes, which had never shed a single tear no matter the sorrow, looked up at Wu Wang. She spoke, enunciating each word.

"【Undying】."

"Does it really exist?"