CHAPTER 999: CHAPTER 192: THE BIG SISTER’S ENDING

The giant claw lifting up scattered gravel ascended.

"Caught..."

Under the dull rumble, the giant claw slowly unfurled, twisting bodies mingled with soil and stone whispering faintly, transforming into nightmare-like shadows and dissipating.

At the edge of rising dust, chaotic outlines broke through the pervasive haze, running toward the distance.

Stones fell through the gaps in the giant claw, and the swelling mist shrouded the claw’s outline. Tranquility lasted only a moment before desperate despair enveloped the ground Lu Li had just passed — rock erupted, toppling the followers gathered for protection.

"Scatter and run."

Lu Li couldn’t let his followers suffer meaningless losses here.

The followers and Merchant Anthony scattered, revealing the pulsating limbs of Puxiu running alongside, shouting at his heels, "Do I have to too!"

"All of you."

"Mr. Luli, you must escape!"

Puxiu dashed away at an angle, thrown toward the fleeing followers by the suddenly upheaved ground.

The giant claw emerging from the underground ignored them, unerringly pursuing the direction of Lu Li’s flight.

Still following Lu Li was only the big sister in the hood, bobbing like a rider on a galloping horse.

"Think of something!" Besides the howling wind, there was the big sister’s voice in his ear.

Lu Li remained silent because there was no solution.

As if confirming the opposition with the old sewer, every time Lu Li stepped foot into it, he was pursued —

The ground beneath his feet cracked and heaved, and as Lu Li leaped out of the rolling ground, sharp claws broke through the earth, forming a terrifying claw-shaped cage. It appeared around Lu Li each time, sometimes slower, sometimes ahead, sometimes on the left or right.

The master of the giant claw grew increasingly irritated by this endless cat-and-mouse pursuit, becoming violent like erupting lava, piercing through the topmost rocks.

This, however, slowed down its appearances — especially after Lu Li tried to lead the giant claws burst from the underground towards the buildings on the street, the panicked fleeing of the unusual creatures impeded the claw’s identification to some extent.

But as Lu Li was about to reach the central area of Midnight City Main Station, trouble emerged.

The Law Enforcers stood in front of another district at the end, watching the approaching Lu Li with a sinister and expectant indifference.

This was their punishment for Lu Li: condoning the deep-layered pursuit.

The consequence of rashly leading the giant claw that destroyed half the street was that they would deal with the claw... and Lu Li himself.

Lu Li had to turn into another main line, disappearing from the gaze of the Law Enforcers and the gathered underground residents.

Those still unaware unusual creatures on the streets suffered an unexpected disaster. Lu Li was like a Messenger of doom, destroying everything along the way.

Except for those forces even the master of the giant claw couldn’t provoke.

[Cave-Dweller’s Curious Goods]

The giant claw did not emerge from the ground as Lu Li passed by, as if giving up the chase.

But a short, stout Mole person with a slender snout and thick, hard fur emerged from the shop, letting out a terrifying shooing shriek, dispelling Lu Li’s brief respite.

Yet even with the augmentation from Doomsday Apocalypse, there comes a time when strength is depleted.

Lu Li’s running began to slow, and his speed in dodging the raised mounds of earth became increasingly lagging.

"Do you need service? Help you quickly escape danger, sir!"

A hiss accompanied by scurrying sounds arose, with the Centipede Monster, moving with densely packed tiny feet, catching up to Lu Li.

Lu Li thought of Amber and the predicament faced, nodded, and then mounted its cold back as he once did.

The densely packed feet turned into a blur, steadily carrying Lu Li swiftly forward. The giant claw no longer rose from the ground as if the danger was receding —

A sharp pain suddenly came, with bristle-like segments of the Centipede Monster’s spine piercing into both legs. Numbing cold liquid was injected into his body through hollow segments.

Lu Li felt his body and consciousness being paralyzed.

"It wants to eat you!"

The big sister in the hood shrieked.

Lu Li snapped awake as if from a light slumber, drawing a dagger and gripping it in both hands to stab down, piercing the Centipede Monster’s iron-hard carapace and into the spine, severing the spinal cord.

The Centipede Monster let out a horrific shriek, its body losing the connection with the tiny feet, unable to support, throwing Lu Li off and rolling into a curled-up ball.

Thud —

The heavy fall had Lu Li tumble a few times, with the big sister in the hood also thrown out.

With legs numb, Lu Li struggled to rise. In the silent depths of the street, something was brewing and approaching.

The dust-covered big sister clambered up, extending two stuffed doll-like hands to drag Lu Li, attempting to pull him away.

The rising ground tripped the big sister, and the claw-formed prison gradually ascended.

In the distance where the claw-like prison formed, a giant skull arched out from the ground. It was so large that even the main line, tens of meters high, showed only the hollow eye sockets.

The malevolent eye sockets stared at Lu Li within the cage, and the terrifying claw mixed with stones tightened.

"Caught... you."

The crushing stones nearly turned Lu Li into a pulp.

The big sister in his arms sensed the giant waves beneath Lu Li’s calm sea-like demeanor, seemingly making some resolution, and shouted sharply.

"Mother!!!"

Engulfed in squeezing stones, Lu Li was unaware of what happened outside. But the next moment, stones fell, and the howling wind lifted Lu Li, hugging the big sister, meters into the air, crashing heavily against the stones, with his back pressed against the cold rock wall, pain dissolved in the numbing sensation.

The roaring wind resonated, rushing into the depths of the tunnel, dispersing all the dust.

Slumped against the rock wall, Lu Li saw what was happening: powerless falling giant claws were buried by rocks, and a colossal relic-like eroded and weathered pale wall appeared where the skull originally was, replacing its presence.

The wall was moving, receding like a tidal wave as stones collapsed, leaving behind a span of dozens of meters of an abyss.

Also, allowing Lu Li to faintly perceive the outline of the pale giant wall.

It was a pale bone piece on a claw.

The sky-obscuring claw reached once more into the tunnel, grasping the rock wall as though lifting a piece of cheese and peeling open the surface spanning hundreds of meters.

The ugly truths of the old sewer were fully exposed to the sky.

And let Lu Li glimpse at its outline.

A vast skeletal being pierced through clouds, its full form unseen in the misty distance, leaving only the sky-city-like arcing ribcage and pillar-like limbs, with nearby Midnight City cramped like a small hut.

In the panicked scattering of the exposed creatures, a claw landed gently and softly before Lu Li. Yet to the old sewer, it was a catastrophic disaster.

The ground yielded as if fragile snow, pressed into long, deep furrows.

The big sister reluctantly left Lu Li’s embrace, jumping onto the claw tip, ascending to the surface with the rising giant claw.

"...Of course, I miss you... When I can see you with my eyes... Could you grant that human strength..."

The faint, lively voice echoed from further out on the claw tip. The edge revealed the big sister’s head, waving farewell to Lu Li below.

"Remember to come to Ghost Town to find me; I’ll sneak back out with you again!"