Chapter 98 – Gunfire Exchanged during a High-Speed Chase after Cops Stole Florida Man's Poke Ball
For three days, Leo and Taxi remained on the pagoda's top floor, eating everything they could. As for Situ Nantian and his men, they waited for an opportunity to steal the 10th-grade monster core and the eyeball.
Finally, Leo finished his food. However, Leo was frustrated. He ate everything, but the quest hadn't ended yet.
"What is GNOSIS?!"
After shouting, Leo paced around the room, wondering what he did wrong. Taxi glanced at Leo and scoffed.
"Smash?"
"Huh? Isn't that the rabbit trent king?"
"S-Smash?"
"What you do mean, there might be other kings?! Are you saying that we killed the wrong guy?"
"Smash… D:"
Hearing Taxi's suggestions, Leo's mood was ruined. He scratched his head and looked at the pile of dragon fruits. Although he already ate a lot, he picked one up and ate it without peeling the skin.
It was so-so. At least, the fruit was a thousand times better than rotten wood.
While eating, Leo patted his pant pocket. He noticed that his pocket was strangely light. Then, he remembered that he hadn't eaten the rabbit trent king's monster core yet.
"Right. Is that the case? Hey, Taxi. Help me look for the monster core. I think I dropped it somewhere around here."
Taxi nodded and helped Leo search for the monster core. He scanned the room with his Qi. A few seconds later, he found it under a pile of dragon fruits.
"Smash!"
"Oh, you've found it? Good job!"
Leo laughed and slapped Taxi's robust stomach. Then, he approached the pile of dragon fruits that Taxi looked at. Pushing everything to the side, Leo dug the small mountain of edible alien-like balls.
At the bottom of the pile, Leo finally found the red ball that he had lost. However, something was hugging it.
There was a white eyeball creature with small tentacle arms and legs. It already half-absorbed the monster core.
"Oi, you. That's mine!"
Leo reached out to grab the parasite. However, it carried the monster core and ran toward the dragon fruit plant.
The plant also reacted to the eyeball. It split itself in half as if it created a new mouth. Then, the eyeball entered the plant along with the monster core.
"HEY!!"
Leo didn't expect the little parasite to steal his monster core. He stomped toward the plant, planning to tear it to pieces.
"NOW!"
At that moment, a certain lurker suddenly charged into the building through a window. He touched the plant, and it vanished into his spatial ring!
Situ Nantian made his move!
Leo's eyes and Situ Nantian's eyes met. The former was enraged while the latter sneered.
Situ Nantian let out a short snort. His body transformed into smoke, and it dissipated everywhere!
"SMASH!!"
Taxi reacted first. He roared and released a yellow lightning blast. The electric shockwave hit everything in the hall, including Leo.
ZAP!
The lightning blast hit Situ Nantian's invisible body before he could leave the building through the window. His body stiffened as his entire body was inflicted with the petrification curse of the yellow lightning tribulation.
Meanwhile, Leo took a firm step. A split second later, he appeared in front of Situ Nantian. With his bare hand, he reached out to seize his neck.
POOF
Unfortunately, Situ Nantian vanished again before Leo could touch him.
Leo's pupils reddened. Without relying on Taxi's help, he swept his eyes around. Instantly, he stopped to look at the northwest direction.
One kilometer away from the pagoda tower, Situ Nantian's real body reappeared in the sky. The grand elder sweated profusely, and he shouted, ordering his subordinates.
"STOP HIM! ATTACK HIM WITH WHATEVER YOU HAVE!!"
The nine underlings of Situ Nantian shouted and summoned their 10-meter-tall dao avatars. Nine giant figures of ogres holding talismans appeared, and they surrounded the pagoda building.
Nine 50 meters long talismans emanated a red aura, linking all talismans together like chains. Then, they unleashed flame beams toward Leo and Taxi.
"SMASH!"
Taxi was offended. He roared and released his dao avatar as well.
A hundred-meter-tall muscular man with a horse face and silver skin appeared. He looked down upon the smaller avatars of the cultivators. At the same time, the same yellowish shockwave transformed into a dome barrier, protecting Taxi's real body from the flame beams.
BOOM
The laser beams hit the dome barrier. However, because of the extreme heat, all dragon fruits melted away.
"SMASH!! D:<"
Taxi was enraged. With the Hulk's physique, his dao avatar punched one of the floating talismans.
BOOM
The talisman array was broken, and the fire beams vanished.
"PPFFFF!!"
All nine cultivators spat several mouthfuls of blood as the backlash hit them. They fell from the sky with an internal injury.
Meanwhile, Leo was no longer inside the building. When the laser beams came toward him, he lightly kicked the floor and jetted one-kilometer northwest, pursuing Situ Nantian.
Instantly, Leo caught up! He was five meters away from Situ Nantian!
The grand elder was shocked to see Leo there. He gritted his teeth and vanished once more.
Leo narrowed his eyes and scanned around him. Then, he found Situ Nantian North, 10 kilometers away.
Although Leo couldn't fly freely like cultivators, it didn't mean that he couldn't change his flight trajectory in midair. He gathered strength in his quads, shins, and lower abdomen.
After making a slight adjustment, he flipped his body and folded his legs. Then, he thrust them with his full force.
BOOM
Leo's legs suddenly generated extreme heat. His hazmat suit melted, and a layer of his leg skins fell off. However, the heat and the pressure from the legs propelled him north and changed the flight course.
In less than a second, Leo's skinless legs were healed. However, he was still a lot slower than Situ Nantian's teleportation speed.
After flying five kilometers in a second, Leo succumbed to gravity and landed on the ground. While he fell, he marked Situ Nantian's location.
50 kilometers away, northwest.
Leo exhaled through his teeth. As soon as his legs touched the ground, he kicked with his full force once more.
BOOM
Two seconds later, Leo traveled 50 kilometers northwest, reaching the location where Situ Nantian had been earlier. However, the thief changed his flight course and went north. Their distance was five kilometers away.
"…"
Leo's red pupils glowed brighter. He deeply inhaled and calmly checked his lifespan.
<Current Lifespan: 198,107 Years…>
Random food during the past few days was worth the effort and investment. However, Leo had no need to collect them now as he needed to do something drastic. He operated his online shopping menu and browsed the weaponry section.
Leo tested his theory. He picked the cheapest 9mm handgun, costing him 5,000 years of lifespan.
While shuttling through the sky and flying away from Situ Nantian, a CZ model manifested into his hands. Leo lightly grab it as the modern gun was too fragile for his standard.
"System, can you upgrade my handgun?"
That was Leo's theory. As he could upgrade modern refrigerators in the past, he wondered if he could do it with modern weapons too.
DING
<Upgrading CZ75 to level 2 will consume 5,000 years of lifespan. Will you upgrade it?>
"How many times can I upgrade it?"
<Equal to the level of the humble general store.>
Leo nodded. He flipped his body, pointing his feet forward as he was about to crash land again. While descending at a frightening speed, Leo shouted.
"Upgrade to level 8!"
DING
<Upgrading CZ75 to level 8 will consume 35,000 years of lifespan. Will you upgrade it?>
"YES!"
<This weapon requires upgraded ammunition. One magazine (20 rounds) of Level 8 CZ75 costs 40,000 years of lifespan. Are you sure you wish to upgrade this weapon?>
"Just do it! Buy me that mag, too!"
Leo's eyes were bloody. He spent 80,000 years of his lifespan without thinking.
The magazine appeared in Leo's hands. As Leo's muscle memory kicked in, he loaded the magazine like it was a natural thing in his life.
BOOM
Leo looked up and locked on to Situ Nantian's aura. Because of a few seconds of distraction, the thief was already 30 kilometers away.
"Tsk!"
Leo descended and landed. Once again, without touching the ground twice, his swelled quads and shins pushed his legs straight and kicked himself northeast, charging toward the zigzagging old man.
WHOOSH
A second later, Leo caught up again. Faster than a bullet, Leo flew past Situ Nantian.
The two men were instantly 50 meters apart.
Both men could move at a light speed, their perception and their reaction speed were also the same. From their perspective, the time of this world moved at a snail's speed.
Situ Nantian bellowed and summoned his dao avatar. A flying fish appeared, and it fired a crescent water cutter at Leo. It directly hit him, but it only cut through his hazmat suit.
After tanking the hit, Leo flipped his body while he flew ahead of Situ Nantian. He aimed his handgun at Situ Nantian's chest.
Seeing the muzzle and sensing Leo's killing intent, he bellowed and took 90 degrees sharp turn.
Leo's eyes and hands followed Situ Nantian's quick movement. He also pulled the trigger.
The sound and the trigger were a lot slower than Leo had expected. However, the recoil of the handgun surprised him.
BANG
Leo's strong grip slightly moved. He raised an eyebrow as the recoil force had the same power as the cockatrices.
"Tsk. What a waste of lifespan. This is trash."
Leo complained as he watched the distance increase. Once again, he overshot his leap, and he flew further than he had calculated.
PU
Meanwhile, the upgraded bullet didn't do anything fancy, except the speed. Unlike regular bullets, the level 8 shell traveled faster than light. It pierced through the back of Situ Nantian.
"!!!"
Situ Nantian felt the hot metal, piercing through the back and exiting his right chest. Because of the powerful force, his lung and several arteries ruptured. Six of his ribcages fractured, and his stomach churned.
"T-This power!"
It felt the same as a full-force strike of a fellow quasi-immortal.
The grand elder's speed drastically dropped because of the pain and shock. As he got a severe injury, he looked at the ground, searching for a place to hide.
As Situ Nantian looked around, he noticed that he was directly above the pyramid. At the bottom of the pyramid, the nasty sweet dream mushrooms occupied the forest.
"S-Sweet dream mushrooms?! Why is it here?!"
Situ Nantian was at a loss. As he couldn't hide in the forest of zombie mushrooms, he could only go forward. He started to regret provoking Leo.
While Situ Nantian looked around, Leo already landed and jetted toward him again. This time, his aura was filled with killing intent.
But as Situ Nantian was desperate, he noticed that one of his clan's portals was directly above the pyramid. He rejoiced.
"Hahaha! Heaven doesn't abandon me! Too bad, Immortal Florida Man! This is my win!"
Situ Nantian mustered the last bit of his strength, retreating to the portal as fast as possible.
However, Leo, who flew back toward the pyramid, had no intention of letting Situ Nantian run away with his quest item. He carefully aimed his gun, targeting the hand with the most rings.
BANG
Another shot was fired. It intercepted Situ Nantian's flight path.
"!!!"
Situ Nantian noticed it too late. The bullet directly hit his left hand, shattering it. The left hand's five fingers and the rings on them scattered everywhere. Among them, the ring that stored the dragon fruit plant was there.
"NOOOO!!"
Situ Nantian turned around, hoping to collect his rings and his fingers to reattach them. However, Leo flipped his body again and pointed the muzzle at Situ Nantian's head.
Fearing death, Situ Nantian grudgingly retreated. He jumped into the portal, leaving his rings behind.
