The Highest Bounty

Chapter 55: Gu Ding in the Lead

With Liliath was in danger, Neptune sounded a warning in Gu Ding’s ear, “Liliath’s in trouble!”

“What?!” Gu Ding almost screamed. “Didn’t you check that there was no one else with the monitor?”

“It’s not someone…” When Neptune was about to explain, but he was interrupted by someone behind Gu Ding.

“Do you still want to continue to run? Your partner snuck into the space dock and was caught. I don’t think you need to waste any more time trying to get me further away.” Cooper’s voice came from behind Gu Ding, less than ten meters away.

“You already knew?” Gu Ding felt that his plan was a failure as he thought that his opponent had guessed his every move.

“I only guessed it. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure how many people you had behind you,” Cooper shook his head. “But I knew one thing, the reason you came to the space dock was to find a functioning spaceship to leave this planet. Other than that, I don’t think you would have many reasons to challenge me.

“To get that spaceship, you only have two options. First, is to kill me so you can take the spaceship with no frills. Of course, this method is limited to people who are stronger than me. As for the second method… it’s to try and sneak into the spaceship while I’m absent and fly it off. Since I won’t leave my spaceship on my own volition, this sort of plan can only work with two people. One person will be responsible to lead me away and the other one will fly the spaceship off. Obviously, you chose the second method.”

“In order to avoid the second situation from transpiring, I had two options. One was to stay by the spaceship and ignore your provocation. That way, you guys would have to enter the space dock and fight me head-on. But you know me, I can’t ignore these sorts of challenges. So, I took the second option, which was to use an ability which I’m not so keen on…” Once Cooper said this, he revealed his hand. “It’s my special ability, called Shadow Body.”

“Anyone who has the Shadow Body ability is able to split their body into a shadow figure. This separated body will have half the strength of summoner. As a side effect, the strength of the original body will also be reduced by half,” Neptune explained to Gu Ding when he heard what his opponent said.

“Do you know why I didn’t go full force on you at the space dock gate just now for the longest time? It’s because I wanted to know what your maximum strength was. If you were really strong, I’d call my avatar back to kill you first. However, it seems that I won’t need to do that. That’s why I played along with your game, because it doesn’t matter where I kill you,” Cooper flaunted his intelligence happily. After figuring out his opponent’s plan, he exposed the fact that he had guessed every move happily.

“Just so I understand this whole thing, you could’ve absorbed your Shadow Body at the space dock gate just now to restore yourself to peak strength, but now that you’re this far away, you won’t be able to absorb your Shadow Body back, right? Which also means that you will continue to be half of your normal strength, right?” Gu Ding asked Cooper after realizing something. In actuality, Gu Ding wanted to get the answer from Neptune instead of Cooper.

“I’ll kill both you and your little girlfriend soon, so I guess it’s alright to tell you. You guessed correctly. My Shadow Body must touch my shadow in order to be absorbed back. My Shadow Body has been hiding behind the space dock gate just now, so I could merge with my shadow at any moment if I had to. So, I guess you’re right, there’s no way I can reabsorb it that we’re so far away. So what? Your strength right now is no match for me anyway,” Cooper beamed with pride.

“He’s telling the truth,” Neptune’s voice said.

“I have one more question. If you’re killed, will your avatar disappear?” Gu Ding probably knew the answer to that question, but he still wanted confirmation from Cooper.

“Of course, unless there’s some sort of curse-type ability. Under normal conditions, the ability stops working once the host controlling the power abilities dies. Don’t you have any common sense?” Cooper thought that Gu Ding’s questions were quite childish, but still gave him an answer. Obviously, showing off that his IQ was higher than Gu Ding’s was a sort of victory to him too.

“All the abilities from the split-body will disappear after the death of the host,” Neptune likewise gave a definite answer.

“Sorry to tell you this, but I have to say you something that may disappoint you,” After he got Neptune’s confirmation, Gu Ding suddenly stopped running and turned around to stand on the spot. As he stared coldly at Cooper, he said, “You have underestimated my strength!”

“I like your spirit, but do you really think you can bluff me?” Cooper was momentarily stunned, but soon began to smile after hearing Gu Ding’s words.

Only using Silent Step from Ultimate Arts Level 5 did not place a heavy burden on Gu Ding’s body since there was no physical impact.

Gu Ding knew that he could not delay for a second longer once he thought of Liliath encountering a Rank 6 Gene Body opponent. He knew he had to go all out and kill the guy in front of him. Otherwise, Liliath might not survive.

After unlocking Ultimate Arts Level 5 with full force, Gu Ding ‘s strength tripled. At the same time, his Rage Attack became three times as effective. Paired with his double effectiveness Combat Armor, Gu Ding’s total combat effectiveness at that moment was comparable to an 1800 point Cell Index martial arts practitioner. However, he could only last up to thirty minutes in this state.

When Gu Ding was in the Rage Attack state, both of his eyes became bloodshot. When Cooper saw this, he suddenly felt a little uneasy. Somehow, he got the feeling that Gu Ding was a lot stronger than before.

A Rank 6 Gene Body has a Cell Index of between 1000 points and 3000 points. Cooper was at the upper boundary with 3000 points, but after halving his combat power, it was only equivalent to 1500 points, which was not as high as Gu Ding.

Gu Ding’s knees bent slightly, then he went full throttle and threw himself forward. This happened so fast that Cooper could not see what had happened.

By the time Cooper saw Gu Ding, Gu Ding had already closed in on him and brought forward Ultimate Art Level 5 at maximum capacity. His body was inverted and twisted, with both his hands planted on the ground and his feet launching at his opponent’s chin. The only thing Cooper felt was a violent impact on his chin that almost dislocated it. At the same time, the force threw his body upward into the air. However, Gu Ding was not done with him yet. He did a backflip and landed in a squat position, then, using the full force of both his legs, he jumped and appeared beside Cooper’s already unstable body. With both hands clenched together, Gu Ding hammered Cooper’s chest, sending his body flying to the ground.

“Crack…” Cooper knew that at least two of his ribs had been broken by the blow. From the pain in his chest, Cooper quickly realized Gu Ding’s true strength.

“This guy… actually hid such power inside of him…” Cooper’s back hit the ground hard. Luckily, the spine is one of the hardest parts of the body, so he was not badly hurt.

Meanwhile, Gu Ding was not done yet. Without a pause, fists after fists of Steel Fists were used on Cooper. Gu Ding did not hold back as each punch was thrown with full power.

Cooper could barely block the attacks with his arms. If his arms had not borne most of the impact, his heart would have been smashed into pieces.

Soon, he noticed that the bones in his arms were beginning to crack, and he became aware that he would not be able to last any longer.

Although Gu Ding was winning the battle on his end, Liliath had fallen into an unprecedented situation on her side…