Chapter 16

“You’re conscious? You can think for yourself? Great. Now, suffer! I will turn your bones into ashes! As for your master, I will send him to the eighteen levels of hell!”

Li Rui’s bright white teeth glowed as he continued to throw punches on the ghost figure.

Every time it tried to run away Li Rui would catch it with a twisted smile on his face.

Although 99% of his strength was wasted in the air, the spiritual punches that he threw out were constantly bringing damage to the figure.

In the end, Li Rui caught its collarbone with both his hands and clenched it tightly.

He used up all of his spiritual energy and started moving both his hands away from each other slowly.

“Ahhhhhh!”

The ghost figure let out a bitter cry and attacked Li Rui with all his strength.

A dense blood-red mist surrounded them as its virtual claws scratched across Li Rui’s arms which soon turned into small particles that evaporated in the air.

But this physical pain did not stop Li Rui.

He was enjoying the screams and shrieks of the ghost figure and the pleasure from revenge made him forget the pain in his heart.

Both of his hands were still moving apart from each other.

It felt like there were multiple heated iron rods that were pierced into his head and this pain was slowly causing Li Rui to lose consciousness.

This wasn’t a physical pain but a spiritual collision.

There was no use even if he had a stronger body. Li Rui ignored the pain that was spreading in his head, but his hands continued tearing the figure apart like a hydraulic press.

“You’re screwed! Master will never let you get away with this…”

As if it could feel that it was about to die, the phantom figure let out a devastating cry.

He wasn’t even bothered about the curse. The grin on Li Rui’s face stretched from ear to ear. It was a twisted and psychotic smile.

“Die!”

Zhiiii~

It was the same sound of cotton cloth being torn apart. Li Rui let out a loud roar and instantly tore the figure into two.

The virtual figure turned into a mist which disappeared in the air. A part of it was absorbed into Li Rui’s body which turned into a warm energy that spread throughout his entire body.

Status: “The battle has ended. You’ve killed a Champion. You get 67 EXP, 17 gold coins. [Feast]has been activated. You’ve recovered 12 HP and 9 MP. You or your teammates have achieved the first S tier match performance. Your reward is a beginner’s gold chest.”

“You have completed a daily mission. You get 20 EXP.”

“You have killed a demon. You get 13 basic shards.”

Countless messages flashed in his head, but Li Rui did not feel any sense of happiness.

He stayed in the same position as before. Li Rui stood in front of the broken window and there were pieces of broken glass all over the floor.

He was daring enough to kill the demon, but now he had no courage to turn around!

He was afraid… afraid of seeing Li Wei’s body.

The spiritual and physical pain was not as bad as the gruelling pain in his heart.

‘If only I came back earlier…’

The feeling of guilt tortured him like a poisonous snake biting onto his heart. Li Rui knelt on the floor that was filled with pieces of broken glass and tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Brother…”

A soft voice that called out to him exploded in his ears like thunder.

Hong!

Blood rushed towards his brain and Li Rui ran towards the bed.

“Little Wei! Are you okay?”

The hands that could break stones were now trembling in fear. Li Rui carefully raised his sister’s arms as if he were touching an extremely fragile doll.

“Brother… I…. I saw…. a ghost. Am… I going to die… soon?”

Li Wei’s pale face was now purplish-green in color and there was a lifeless aura around her. She was so weak that it was difficult for her to even finish one complete sentence.

“No. I’m here. I will protect you. You’ll be fine soon.”

Li Rui kissed her forehead with excitement and was comforting her.

There were no wounds on Li Wei’s body, but her vitality had been completely emptied.

Li Rui finally knew what the blood-red looking things were from before this. Those were Li Wei’s vitality and qi.

“You’re… lying… again…”

“I’m not lying! You will get better soon!”

Li Rui couldn’t help but raise his voice. It was a promise. Or maybe, it was just Li Rui trying to convince himself.

“But… I really think… that I’m… going to… die… I… felt pain… every day before this…. But now… I don’t… feel it anymore…”

Li Wei blinked her eyes. This pair of eyes that were dead before this was now glistening and her pale face was now slightly pinkish.

“I know… I can’t even feel pain anymore… I’m going to die soon…”

Her breaths were getting better and Li Wei’s words were becoming more and more stable.

But Li Rui’s heart headed towards a dark hole and was descending towards it.

This wasn’t the sign of getting better. This was terminal lucidity!

“Stop talking. Keep some strength to yourself. You’ll get better soon!”

Li Rui gently comforted his sister, but his heart was already burning with rage. “System! Get the f**k out! Bind me to Li Wei’s system! Now! Immediately!”

System: “Please place your hand above the target’s head.”

“Brother… I know I’m a huge burden to you if I stay alive, but I don’t want to die yet… If I’m dead… Who’s going to watch TV with you… Who’s going to wake you up in the morning… Huhu… I can’t leave you alone…”

Li Wei’s eyes were getting wet and she used her last strength to gently touch Li Rui’s face. Her eyes were filled with hesitance.

Even if it meant to suffer in pain for being alive, she still wanted to stay. Even if it was just for a day…

Li Rui’s heart was torn into pieces. He held Li Wei’s cold hands in his own hands.

“You are not a burden! You have never been a burden to me. You’re my little sister! I will never let anything happen to you. Don’t worry. Trust me. I will make you better!”

He places his hands on Li Wei’s forehead and covered her eyes.

A mysterious virtual force descended. It was a force that was coming from Li Rui’s body into Li Wei’s soul.

System: “Tampering the principle… Remodelling… Solidifying the system rules…”

Li Rui could feel the energy that was linked to his soul trying to dig deeper. He finally understood why the system said that trying to bind to another system was an extremely difficult task.

Survival was a basic skill of mankind. Usually, if there was another strength that was threatening your own soul, you would instantly try to reject it and defend yourself.

Even if you absolutely trusted the person, this rejection may not totally disappear because it was an instinct. It wasn’t under anyone’s control.

But when it came to Li Wei, the system’s progress was surprisingly smooth.

There was no resistance against it and the system could easily penetrate through to her soul.

The only thing left now was the merging of the core…

As Li Rui noticed that it was heading towards the end, he became even more nervous and subconsciously held his breath.

The rejection that he was expecting to come did not happen. The merge happened smoothly just like two water droplets joining with each other. It was so simple that it felt a little unrealistic.

System: “Secondary system binding successful. You have a new teammate.”

Did it succeed just like this?

Li Rui was shocked but after a while, he was filled with excitement.

A new teammate column appeared on his attribute bar and he could see Li Wei’s stats upon selecting it.