# Chapter 44: Absolute Strength
"If I'm not mistaken, your luck-boosting state has worn off."
Ada removed her black gloves, sweat already soaking through her top, offering quite a generous view — she had no habit of wearing undergarments.
"So?"
Su Xiao closely sensed his surroundings. From now on, his enemy wasn't just Ada, but everything around him — a rubber hose, a rivet, anything.
"So I finally don't have to be chased down by you and chopped up. It hurts like hell!"
Ada touched her neck. She had been decapitated three times before.
"You're not right in the head, always going for the neck. It hurts a lot, I almost pissed myself from the pain."
Ada took out a gold coin and tossed it high into the air.
"Heads."
The coin landed in Ada's hand — heads indeed.
"Perfect. Now you can't hurt me."
Clang.
A blade aura flew past Ada's neck, nearly decapitating her a fourth time. If she were beheaded this time, she would truly die.
The battle continued. Su Xiao's enemy shifted from Ada to the entire airship.
Boom... Thud.
Rumbling came from within the airship, followed by successive sounds of slashing and explosions.
Ten minutes later, a figure shot out from the airship, tumbled several times on the ground, and lay still — it was Ada, covered in blood.
One of Ada's arms had been severed, and Cyan Steel Shadow Energy invaded her body, causing her to convulse in pain.
"So overwhelming strength really can offset luck. And this is Arena Rank Nine? Rank Nine shouldn't be this strong."
Ada stood up, looking at the shattered airship. Su Xiao had practically dismantled the entire vessel!
Bang.
A metal plate was kicked away, and Su Xiao emerged from the metal wreckage.
A metal valve fell from the debris and landed on Su Xiao's head. He paid it no mind — in the past ten minutes, this was commonplace.
"I'll cut you down!"
Su Xiao spat out a mouthful of bloodied saliva and staggered toward Ada.
"What the hell, why won't you die?"
Ada tossed her gold coin into the air.
"Heads."
The coin landed in Ada's hand — unfortunately, it was tails.
Ada's expression changed. This meant her luck had run out.
At the same time, Su Xiao received a strange notification.
[Notification: The Hunter's ten-hour misfortune has been overdrawn to its limit. 'Misfortune Overdrawn Aura' has expired.]
Upon receiving this notification, Su Xiao was stunned, then overjoyed. From the literal meaning, he finally didn't have to be unlucky anymore.
"Haha, sorry about that, handsome dying brother. I'm out."
Ada turned and fled. She could handle Su Xiao when he was plagued by misfortune, but facing a Su Xiao bursting with luck, she could only run.
Su Xiao gave chase quickly, but his stamina was severely depleted. Dismantling an airship was hard work, especially while dealing with Ada.
He wouldn't be satisfied letting Ada escape like this. He sheathed Dragon-Slaying Flash and drew his black and white dual pistols.
He raised the guns to aim, but since Ada had already run far, Su Xiao didn't bother with rapid fire.
Bang.
A bullet fired. With Su Xiao's marksmanship, at this distance it was purely a luck-based shot.
A bloom of blood erupted from Ada's buttocks. Tears welled in her eyes.
"It hurts so much~."
Ada limped as she continued running.
Su Xiao, holding both pistols, was slightly surprised. That last shot was purely random.
Bang.
Another bullet fired. A spray of blood burst from Ada's waist — he had blown out her kidney.
Still a random shot, still a hit.
Bang, bang, bang.
Su Xiao fired three consecutive shots. Ada in the distance collapsed face-first to the ground — all three shots hit! One bullet was far too off-target, but it struck a metal plate, ricocheted, and hit purely by luck.
As for that metal plate, it was the one Su Xiao had kicked earlier, which had embedded itself into the wall of the Mother Nest.
The bullet first hit the metal plate, then ricocheted, perfectly striking Ada's calf.
Ada couldn't voice her frustration. Her 'Misfortune Overdrawn Aura' was powerful, but it didn't forcibly impose misfortune on enemies — that kind of ability wasn't something a First Rank could master.
Ada was overdrafting the enemy's misfortune. She had overdrawn Su Xiao's misfortune for the next ten hours, meaning Su Xiao's misfortune would completely disappear for that period.
Conversely, with no misfortune left, only luck remained.
Su Xiao glanced at the dual pistols in his hands, then at Ada crawling in the distance.
"Looks like my marksmanship has improved. Probably~."
Su Xiao walked toward Ada. Ada stopped crawling.
"I lose. Do what you want — kill me or ravage me?"
Ada knew what would happen next, but she was calm. She had been roaming Reincarnation Paradise for a long time and understood what defeat meant.
She wouldn't beg for mercy, nor would she hand over her equipment for a chance to survive. Without all her gear, she couldn't survive the survival trial.
Su Xiao aimed his gun at Ada. No talking before the enemy was dead.
"Can you not aim for the head? Blowing a hole in it is too ugly, like a rotten watermelon."
Bang.
A bullet pierced Ada's throat. Ada's fists clenched as blood gushed from her throat.
Bang.
Another shot, this one piercing her heart. Ada's pupils began to dilate. She would die in seconds.
Just then, the wall beside Ada exploded.
Boom.
Green mucus splattered. A dark figure burst out from the wall. Su Xiao instinctively stepped back, sensing an inexplicable danger.
Su Xiao retreated a few steps and stopped, standing motionless, a pink glow emanating from his pupils.
The dark figure pressed its hand against Ada's throat, and a transparent egg entered her wound.
Ada's already-dilated pupils regained focus. Her shattered heart healed and began beating again.
"Ada, are you alright?"
The newcomer was actually the Insect Queen. Her eyes were locked on Su Xiao, meeting his gaze.
"I'm... fine. Just almost died."
Ada struggled to her feet, a sense of post-survival joy washing over her.
"Did you control him?"
"Don't get close. The control is very unstable. His willpower is too strong."
The Insect Queen couldn't move either. She was fully focused on restraining Su Xiao.
Crack, crack, crack.
Su Xiao's grip on his sword tightened. The Insect Queen's blood vessels bulged on her face, her eyes wide open.
"Go quickly. This guy's consciousness is as sharp as a blade."
Blood flowed from the Insect Queen's nostrils. Her brow felt like it was being pierced by needles.
If Old Bal had seen this scene, he would have gone mad. The regeneration egg he dreamed of was being used on Ada. The good news was there were two regeneration eggs.
The regeneration egg was more like a medicine than an egg, a specialty of the Insect Race, very precious.
Ada and the Insect Queen quickly retreated. A swarm of stinging scorpions surrounded Su Xiao, but they didn't approach him.
If Su Xiao faced a fatal threat, the Insect Queen wasn't sure she could maintain control over him.
After Ada and the Insect Queen had gone far, the surrounding stinging scorpions surged forward.
Clang.
A circular blade aura expanded. The stinging scorpions around Su Xiao were shattered into pieces.
Green blood splattered onto him, sizzling as it corroded his skin.
Su Xiao didn't care. This level of corrosion was just a drizzle. His 44 points of Stamina weren't for show.