Chapter 35: Not Enough

"That young lady isn't short on money; she likely has several times more in her savings than you have in your current, pathetic state," "Lin Yilin" mocked.

"Who are you—" Darochi managed to utter solemnly before "Lin Yilin" aimed the cat-gun at him again and pulled the trigger.

Bullets poured out. Having already suffered from them, Darochi had no intention of taking them head-on this time; he took off running, attempting to dodge. However, those bizarre-looking bullets, aside from a few that buried themselves into the ground, all suddenly shifted direction in mid-air to pursue him. Fortunately, he was well-prepared; his blood-blade materialized once more, and after circling for a while, he found an opportunity to deflect the cat-bullets. Seizing a moment of explosive momentum, he lunged toward "Lin Yilin."

"Lin Yilin" waited with a smile as he approached, slowly putting away the cat-gun. Facing the incoming, ferocious blood-blade, she didn't retreat but instead stepped forward, slipping past the blade to close the distance. She exerted force in an instant, lifting her arm and driving her elbow forward.

The elbow struck Darochi squarely in the chest, causing his entire body to shudder and his vision to darken. Even though he had purchased and traded for a significant amount of physical strength, he was nearly toppled by that single blow. "Lin Yilin" did not press the attack; after the surprise encounter, she stood still, giving Darochi a moment to recover.

"You bastard!" Darochi roared and lunged again. "Lin Yilin" casually brushed the blood-blade aside, followed up with a palm strike to his chest, and after knocking him back half a step, she exploded with force from her lower body to deliver another palm thrust.

Darochi was sent sliding back several meters. He coughed up blood-flecked foam, suppressed the churning in his organs, and glared with vicious eyes. No longer fixated on the large, useless blood-blade, he reverted to using his own hands to parry the incoming strikes.

Four hands interlaced in a rapid blur. At first, Darochi barely managed to block a few moves, but as "Lin Yilin" suddenly accelerated, he couldn't keep up. Every now and then, he took a punch to the face, a palm to the chest, or a heavy blow to his abdomen. He swayed like a punching bag, every attempt at a parry dismantled by "Lin Yilin" one by one.

Sensing things were going poorly, he tried to retreat, but thick black earthworms suddenly crawled out from underfoot to bind his legs, sinking their teeth into his flesh. In pain, Darochi was immobilized.

What followed was purely a time for pounding a stake. He could no longer see "Lin Yilin's" hands; he only knew they were raking across his face like raindrops.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang—!

After a continuous barrage of impacts, "Lin Yilin" paused. Seeing that Darochi had lost consciousness and was standing only because the earthworms were supporting him, she finished with a magnificent 360-degree spinning roundhouse kick.

Bang!

Darochi flew backward, embedding himself into the wall, completely unconscious.

"Boring. Time to switch." "Lin Yilin" shook her hands and blew off the dust.

As if on cue, a strange, squirming sound echoed out. The surrounding flesh seemed to come alive all at once. When "Darochi" fell from the wall and stood up again, his eyes were completely covered in blood-red. His skin and flesh rippled and expanded, stripping Darochi of his original form.

A blurred, fleshy figure, with floating blood-colored chips and coins trailing like ribbons—this was the manifestation of the "Bloody Conglomerate" illusion, now fully realized in reality after completely replacing Darochi.

"Don't... disturb us... from making money!!" Using Darochi's voice as a foundation, surrounded by the haggard, greedy cries of countless others, the Bloody Conglomerate roared at "Lin Yilin."

Lin Yilin immediately assessed the situation and said gravely, "Such a high violence index. Darochi cultivated it very well; it has grown quite sufficiently. A 'Cluster'? It might even have reached the 'Gang' level..."

"That’s truly impressive. Though it sounds more like you're mocking them while I’m possessing you," Zheng remarked dryly, waving a hand using Lin Yilin's body.

"We are inside its reality-warping pocket dimension, and with so much nourishment here, its violence index will continue to rise. We must be careful," Lin Yilin cautioned.

No sooner had she spoken than the Bloody Conglomerate summoned a dilapidated, giant slot machine. The machine spun—what it landed on was irrelevant—but when three sevens appeared on the screen, the opening below sprayed a torrent of blood directly forward.

"Lin Yilin" stood her ground and gently raised a hand.

Boom!

The shadow beneath her feet expanded, and countless black earthworms swarmed out, forming a black torrent that surged forward. The red and black currents collided, evenly matched for a moment.

Just then, a slender blood-blade flashed through, tearing an opening in the swarm of worms and striking directly at "Lin Yilin's" face.

Earthworms launched from "Lin Yilin's" fingertips. The Bloody Conglomerate hacked through them, its body covered in worms gnawing at its flesh, yet it desperately closed the distance. The blood-blade was raised high and brought down!

Swish!

It missed.

The Bloody Conglomerate: ?!

Its blood-blade, at the moment of impact, vanished from its hand and appeared in the hand of "Lin Yilin" before it.

"Lin Yilin" grinned wildly, revealing a set of healthy, white teeth: "Haven't you heard, rich guy? This is called 'robbery'!"

The blood-blade swung, nearly cleaving the Bloody Conglomerate in two; only a few sinews and bones held it together. The consciousness of the Bloody Conglomerate wavered.

Why did this "kind" have the same ability as it? Even if the ability were wealth-related, why could the opponent use its fortune?!

Robbery... Robbery!?

No, this ability only had the same form of expression; in reality, it was completely different from its own!

Its ability was Wealth, whereas what "Lin Yilin" displayed was—as she had just said—Plunder!

The looting of wealth that did not belong to oneself—it was truly a simple, straightforward "robbery."

And once the wealth was stolen, it naturally became his!

"Don't steal!" Realizing this, the Bloody Conglomerate roared. Its wounds healed rapidly, and its two claws tore wildly at the air. The sound of chips and coins clashing echoed incessantly throughout the room.

It was like a child who had its favorite toy snatched away; now, it had no choice but to throw a tantrum. Amidst its roaring, all the flesh in the room was pulled toward it, along with all the people who had been intoxicated by the bloody wealth.

Seeing this, "Lin Yilin" stopped posturing, lunged forward, and grabbed Linde, who was also being sucked in.

Linde was completely oblivious, clinging tightly to his "wife" and "child": "Don't be afraid! I will protect you! Daddy will protect you! Kaybiss, hold on to me!"

"Tch." "Lin Yilin" clicked her tongue in annoyance and knocked him unconscious with the hilt of the blood-blade.

As Linde lost consciousness and let go, all the wealth was concentrated within the Conglomerate. The entity's eyes, resembling molten furnaces, glared with venomous hatred at "Lin Yilin," who dared to plunder its wealth.

Money can buy everything!

Therefore—

"I will use all my wealth to buy your death!"

The scene froze instantly.

All the flesh evaporated.

And the Bloody Conglomerate fell into what seemed like a pitch-black void.

A black world, a black ocean, a black universe—everything around it was silent, an absolute blackness without a single impurity.

Standing before it was not the young girl, but another, unfamiliar man.

He was clad in deepest black, his eyes the only bright, greyish-white—the only color in this world.

The Bloody Conglomerate stared blankly at the man, and the man watched it silently for a long time.

Finally, he couldn't help but let out a soft, heartfelt mocking laugh.

"Not enough."

Boom—

The blood-red vanished, and the Bloody Conglomerate evaporated along with the surrounding flesh.

Together with the wealth that would never return.