From the Abyss of Stars

72. Roche Limit

 

The gravitational field expanded to the limit of a 15-meter radius, instantly capturing the professor.

 

Twenty times gravity pressure!

 

No one can resist gravity, not even the extraordinary.

 

The heavy pressure arrived in an instant, breaking the professor's spine immediately. She tilted her head, and the wind, snow, and sand, due to the high gravity, were evenly pressed onto her body, forming a hot mist.

 

The continuous shockwaves not only prevented her from lifting her head but also made her entire skin vibrate rapidly.

 

"I thought you were rational like me, putting interests first."

 

The professor struggled to raise her hand, a needle protruding from her palm, injecting some kind of agent into her body.

 

"Screw your rationality!"

 

Li Aozi swung the chain, the iron chain stretched straight by gravity like a silver holy sword, sweeping cleanly across the professor's neck.

 

Gurgle—

 

The agent injected into her body quickly combined with her cells, making the professor's figure suddenly shake, her spine splitting open like gills.

 

With a hissing sound, high-pressure blood-colored steam gushed out, pushing her body sideways, avoiding Li Aozi's sweep.

 

"If humans remain rational, how much meaningless waste could be avoided."

 

The professor's mouth split open, a slender mouthpart extending from her throat.

 

Her lungs and organs burst out like butterfly wings, spreading five or six meters wide. Her limbs became thinner and flatter, with muscle fiber membranes extending outward, bulging with air.

 

In an instant, the Cannibal's body lost its human shape, transforming into a hideous and bizarre monster form.

 

"Such amazing abilities..."

 

The professor praised while dodging Li Aozi's whipping attacks.

 

By reducing her weight and expanding her surface area, relying on air resistance, she managed to withstand this gravitational environment.

 

She raised her sharp claws, dark red blood oozing from the cooling vents on her body. Due to dehydration, her voice became increasingly hoarse:

 

"You probably control gravity or something similar, if it were a 【Mechanic】 or 【Warrior】, they'd be doomed against you."

 

She suddenly took a deep breath, her lungs extending from her back like wings, instantly expanding to a width of twenty meters, her blood vessels filled with air, reducing her body density to less than a quarter of its original.

 

"But for a 【Biochemist】, your attack is too weak!"

 

This action allowed her to even overcome the limitations of gravity, briefly floating in the air, struggling out of Li Aozi's gravitational field, circling high above like a hunting falcon, then diving down in an instant!

 

Bang!

 

Li Aozi seized the opportunity, suddenly releasing the chain. As the professor dived, he spun and flipped elegantly in mid-air, avoiding her extended sharp claws.

 

At the same time, like a gymnast, he rotated and landed, spreading the chain into a net, instantly capturing the professor's diving figure.

 

"Go down!"

 

Li Aozi grabbed the chain tightly with both arms, the twenty times gravity flipping, throwing the professor's body towards the ground. However, even so, the professor's inherent strength far exceeded his. With a slight struggle, an irresistible force lifted Li Aozi off the ground, throwing him into the air!

 

The power gap was too big.

 

The capillaries in Li Aozi's arms burst, the force transmitted through the chain diverted by him using gravity, exploding into a series of noise waves in the air.

 

Even so, his right wrist dislocated immediately, the bones making a sharp cracking sound like a glass cup shattering.

 

"I can fail countless times, but if you get hit once by me, you're done, Li Aozi!"

 

The professor shrieked, realizing she couldn't break free from the gravitational chains. These chains deeply embedded in her muscles, covered by regenerating flesh and blood.

 

She suddenly twisted her waist, sprinting away. Li Aozi, like a kite, was dragged into the air, unable to break free.

 

Maybe neither of them could deal with the other, but nature could easily handle them both.

 

Because, the storm was coming.

 

Crackle!

 

Lightning stretching hundreds of kilometers instantly illuminated the sky, the ozone from the electric arc breaking the air smelled pungent like fish, followed by rolling thunder, roaring like a collapsing sky and earth.

 

Boom——

 

"Ahhhhh——!!!"

 

Li Aozi gritted his teeth, pulling the chain. His energy level dropped rapidly, then quickly recovered, but the limit was reached.

 

He couldn't apply forty times gravity pressure again; that would directly break this already battered ordinary chain.

 

At that point, he wouldn't be able to control the professor.

 

The rolling thunder in the distance made Li Aozi suddenly alert.

 

"The storm... yes, if I can't deal with you, the storm can't either?"

 

Li Aozi's eyes turned red, calculating instantly in his mind, suddenly shifting gravity, lowering his body, using the sturdy coat of the scavenger to press on the ground, sliding on the ground.

 

He almost forgot, 【Mall】's fashion wouldn't be damaged.

 

"《Abyss of Stars》 planner! I declare your mother resurrected!" Li Aozi was overjoyed, giving the game's planner the highest praise.

 

Li Aozi manipulated gravity, constantly adjusting, making his acceleration direction backward, increasing, slowing the professor's sprinting steps, deeply embedding the chains in her body, pulling her back.

 

She suddenly turned her head, Li Aozi's speed had surpassed hers, starting to drag her backward.

 

"——Are you crazy?!"

 

At this moment, the professor finally realized the madness of Li Aozi's actions.

 

Gravity towards the storm's center, Li Aozi used gravity to drag himself, the scavenger's coat pressing on the ground, burning red-hot due to high-speed friction.

 

The situation reversed.

 

Li Aozi and the professor pulled each other, but eventually, the professor's strength prevailed. Her legs buried in the ground, plowing deep furrows in the dunes and snowdrifts.

 

At the same time, she rapidly spread her lung wings and internal fiber membranes, trying to increase contact area and air resistance.

 

Li Aozi's energy recovery speed was barely keeping up with consumption, but there was still hope—because the storm in the distance was approaching!

 

The frost storm that connected heaven and earth hadn't landed yet, but it had already lifted dunes and glaciers, throwing them into the sky, crushing them into powder, becoming part of itself, the momentum growing stronger, lightning flashing, the desolate land filled with wails.

 

"Captain Nimotin, let's go..."

 

The storm was impossible to ignore, Yavanna immediately stepped forward to support Nimotin, but a shadow flashed before her eyes, and she heard Li Aozi's shout.

 

"Agent Yavanna, shoot me twice!"

 

"——What?"

 

Yavanna was stunned.

 

"Don't talk nonsense, shoot me twice with your gun, and don't aim for the head!"

 

Yavanna was baffled, but Nimotin didn't miss the opportunity, immediately grabbing the gun from Yavanna's hand, aiming at Li Aozi, and pulling the trigger decisively.

 

"As you wish!" Nimotin sneered.

 

Bang bang!

 

Li Aozi took a bullet in the abdomen and shoulder, blood splattering.

 

-25, -29!

 

Li Aozi's health dropped rapidly, combined with his earlier dislocated arm injury, it now fell below ten percent.

 

Specialty • 【Desperate Counterattack】 triggered.

 

Toughness, output rate, and attack speed all increased by eighty percent!

 

Attack speed and output rate didn't affect Li Aozi's 【Gravity】 ability much, but the key was toughness.

 

Toughness refers to resistance to any control state.

 

Only 【Destruction】 classes have true immunity to control, and high toughness value is invaluable. This attribute has always been difficult to improve.

 

"Behind is the external storm, what are you doing? You will be swallowed by the storm too!"

 

The professor's tone became more serious:

 

"Li Aozi, you're courting death!"

 

Li Aozi didn't answer. Due to gravitational pull, his accelerating body also endured considerable overload, even as a gravity manipulator, his body was almost compressed by five centimeters.

 

He was advancing towards the storm at over 400 kilometers per hour, a speed comparable to a high-speed train. At such speed, snowflakes hitting his breathing mask and goggles felt like bullets.

 

He continued to accelerate.

 

The professor's body was dragged on the ground, she spread her body, trying to use the parachute principle to increase wind resistance, but soon her body's moisture was exhausted.

 

Energy comes from genetic strength, but the biochemist's body didn't have much water.

 

She grabbed the chain, trying to electrify it to make Li Aozi let go, but... the scavenger's tattered clothes, though lacking any damage resistance, had insulated gloves.

 

"Stupid! I paid for this!" Li Aozi turned around, flipping the professor off.

 

Even though he wasn't feeling great, eighty percent toughness allowed him to withstand the deformation of his entire body's muscles without being affected, adjusting his posture and movements, sliding rapidly on the snowfield, timely dodging and avoiding those huge rocks.

 

Li Aozi tilted his head, then suddenly stood up straight, using toughness to forcibly flip his body, throwing both himself and the professor towards the storm cloud in the sky!

 

Before this, using the direction of gravity, he provided an acceleration of up to 20G. At the moment he threw the professor, she endured a positive and negative overload of 20G.

 

If it was just a brief moment of overload, it wouldn't be enough to cause her extraordinary physique pain.

 

But the structure of the human body means the neck cannot be fixed. Her blood detached from her head in an instant, causing a blackout.

 

After detaching from Li Aozi, she faced a more serious problem—negative overload.

 

Compared to excessive pressure, the reverse acceleration caused by sudden deceleration also reached 20G, but living beings in a gravitational system cannot withstand such negative pressure.

 

Her blood rushed back into her head, the blood vessels in her brain burst under this pressure. Even though her biochemically modified body continuously repaired and healed, in this short period, the professor's consciousness was interrupted, unable to control the Cannibal's body.

 

Buzz—

 

The Cannibal's mouth opened wide, blood spurted from her mouth, nose, eyes, and ears.

 

But even so, it still couldn't kill her. The core in her chest continued to operate, her metabolism far exceeding the destructive power of gravity.

 

Still no way, still can't kill her, this desperate gap, is there really no way...?

 

Li Aozi's clumsy brain worked rapidly. Thanks to the 《Advanced Education Knowledge》 obtained from Agent Yavanna, which included university-level physics knowledge.

 

Knowledge is power!

 

Moreover, the professor had to endure gravitational forces from two directions.

 

Li Aozi pushed forward with both hands.

 

Gravitational contraction!

 

One, from the gravitational field released by Aozi, closest to her, exerting 40G of force.

 

Two, from the Earth's gravity of 1G.

 

At this moment, Li Aozi, relying on toughness, canceled the control of Blue Star's gravity over himself, stabilizing his body in mid-air.

 

During this brief suspension, Li Aozi output all his remaining energy, the gravitational field centered on him, air, snowflakes, and sand rising from the ground, quickly condensing into a semi-gaseous, semi-solid sphere.

 

"Pull, tear, rip apart!"

 

Under the force between two gravitational celestial bodies, the Cannibal's body was instantly torn apart, shredded, with the skull and cervical vertebrae carrying thin pieces of organ flesh, forming a ring of flesh around the sphere centered on Li Aozi.

 

But even so, the kill notification still didn't appear. The Beta-class strong's vitality was too terrifying. Li Aozi could still see her health bar rising rapidly, fine fleshy buds and furry tendrils growing among the rings of flesh around him.

 

This is the horror of the 【Biochemist】. Once the cells are breathed into the body, they can eventually infect, possess, and gradually replace it.

 

So—

 

A flash of lightning tore through the sky, Li Aozi drove the pseudo-celestial body surrounding him to the ground with gravity, quietly waiting for the storm to pass.

 

"Speaking of which, professor, as a bottomless materialist and scientist, I reckon you don't believe in divine retribution, do you?"

 

The ring of flesh had lost self-awareness, couldn't understand Li Aozi's words, and just focused on urgently repairing itself.

 

Li Aozi laughed, sitting cross-legged inside the pseudo-celestial body:

 

"Then let me personally bring divine retribution down on you!"