Chapter 35

The Scorpion King's pincers struck Rodi's back.

His body flew out like a kite with its string cut, not even showing a sign of falling over a dozen meters until it crashed into and broke two small trees before finally landing and stopping.

Sally watched this scene unfold before her eyes, the dull thud echoing in her chest like a heavy hammer, making it hard for her to breathe—she wanted to call out Rodi's name but found herself unable to utter a word with her open mouth.

A moment of silence fell over the forest. The Scorpion King, with its head covered in dents and blood, stared blankly at where Rodi had disappeared, seemingly unaware of Sally nearby. Sally, holding a dagger, slowly straightened her body as she gazed at the Scorpion King, which was many times larger than herself.

At this moment, Sally's mind was a blank slate, devoid of any anger, regret, or fear—only the image of Rodi's body flying through the air seemed to be permanently etched in her mind, replaying over and over.

After the initial shock, a wave of emotions began to invade her consciousness, dull but resolute.

A chill spread through her heart, causing Sally to stagger. But quickly, she bit her lip hard, suppressing the despair, and turned to run into the forest like a madwoman—she knew she couldn't die here. If she could escape, if she could leave this place, she would gather all the forces of her family to come back and kill every last one of these damned scorpions!

No matter the cost!

At this moment, Sally had forgotten all the internal strife of her family. The thought of Rodi possibly dying from his injuries made her chest feel suffocatingly heavy.

The Scorpion King noticed Sally and hesitated, seemingly deciding whether to eat Rodi or chase Sally. This moment of hesitation allowed Sally to escape its attack range. Two seconds later, the giant Scorpion King finally made its decision, moving its furry legs to chase Sally into the darkness, no longer paying attention to Rodi, whose fate was unknown.

The battle seemed to have already turned into a losing situation.

When Rodi regained consciousness from the dizziness, he opened his mouth wide to try to breathe but felt something blocking his throat. He coughed, and blood spattered his face and the ground.

The intense pain in his chest made him open his mouth wide in silence, and it took him several seconds to regain his senses.

His body was unresponsive, as his spine seemed to be broken. The exact number of broken bones was no longer important. His ribs had pierced his lungs, and the burning pain spread from his chest, causing him to cough again.

"Attribute panel."

Rodi realized he was in a "near-death state," and he looked at his 4/150 HP with a cold heart—his final mistake had led to this complete failure. Although his HP wasn't depleted, Rodi knew that without timely medical attention, his HP would eventually drop to 0.

He had been too confident, applying the experience from two years later to the present, which was not appropriate.

Regret was too late, and Rodi didn't even know what to say as his final words. He only hoped that Sally would escape the Scorpion King and survive. The floating numbers in his vision were becoming blurry, and as Rodi looked at the sky partially obscured by the trees, a myriad of emotions welled up in his heart—this was the first time he had thought about his final words, but what ultimately came to mind was the figure he had wanted to see since his rebirth but had yet to meet.

4/150.

The pain in Rodi's chest distorted his expression as he looked at the experience bar, which needed 32 more points to light up the upgrade button. The number was glaringly obvious.

3/150.

His vision began to blur, and the completely real feeling of impending death made Rodi forget the intense pain, falling into a strange silence.

2/150.

Ha... I never thought I would die so soon after being reborn...

Just as he was about to close his eyes and wait for death, the experience bar suddenly changed—1468/1500 became 1484/1500.

What's happening?

Rodi felt his hearing was gone, but he instinctively thought of Sally running far away—could it be because of her?

1/150.

His HP was about to drop to zero, but the sudden spark of hope made Rodi's eyes widen—five more seconds, and he would become a cold, lifeless corpse. But before that happened, could Sally reverse the situation?

...

"Die!"

Sally, enduring the pain in her calf, stomped down hard and used her dagger to pin a child-sized glowing scorpion to the ground.

To avoid the Scorpion King, she, far less experienced than Rodi, ran straight into the area where the scorpions had previously surrounded them. To escape, she ignored the warnings about the venomous stingers and stepped on them, running through the swarm—scorpion tails stung her calf, causing pain and numbness, but she had trampled many smaller scorpions to death.

She ignored the burning pain and the dizziness from the venom. After rounding a tree, Sally decisively and bravely killed the scorpion following her, but her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.

The venom was taking effect, and Sally was losing control of her muscles.

Then, the Scorpion King's attack came, raising its pincers and leveling the trees above Sally. The flying debris knocked her to the ground, but she narrowly avoided being crushed by the falling branches.

But when the Scorpion King locked its gaze on her, Sally knew she couldn't avoid its next attack.

The massive body loomed over her, and when the pincers were raised, the sky seemed to darken. The Scorpion King's mouth, reeking of fish, let out a mocking hiss. Sally looked at it in despair, thinking not of her cold father or her hypocritical brother, but of the guy she had called an "idiot" just minutes ago...

In the end, I couldn't escape...

She couldn't voice her sigh, knowing no one would hear it. Strangely, she felt no regret or anger, as if the moment she saw Rodi fly through the air, she had prepared herself for this.

He's dead, and no one will care about me, either...

The cold, gleaming pincers raised to their highest point, but just as they were about to strike, the Scorpion King's massive body twitched!

Time seemed to freeze, and its body stiffened—then, its legs began to convulse, and its pincers flailed uncontrollably. Even Sally could hear the pain in its hisses.

What's happening?

Sally struggled to crawl away, and when she turned back, she saw the Scorpion King abandon its attack, its legs convulsing as it tried to turn but was too pained to move as it usually did.

When its body swayed, revealing the faint figure behind it, Sally's eyes widened, and she covered her mouth in shock.

Rodi was still alive.

His mouth and clothes were covered in large, radiating bloodstains, and he looked terrifying. But his actions were almost疯狂—他手中的弯刀直接刺入了蝎王后肢下方的生殖孔，不仅于此，那弯刀还硬生生地翻绞了五六圈！

生殖孔是蝎子全身上下最为脆弱的地方，虽然玩家们知道这一点，但很少有人能真正攻击到这个位置，因为蝎子无时无刻不在保护着这个弱点。而罗迪此时趁虚而入，抓住了这一闪即逝的机会，对蝎王造成了破防一击，重创了它！

在生命值即将消耗为0的时刻，罗迪的经验值满足了升级条件，“升级”这一回血BUG让他瞬间愈合了自己身上的全部伤口而“满状态复活”。这个称不上奇迹的奇迹，让他直接从蝎王的仇恨列表中消失，继而得以在对方毫无察觉的情况下，给出了那堪称阴损至极的一刀！

但这并不能就此了结掉蝎王的性命—他看到对方的生命值骤降到了20%，立刻转身就跑，向着几十米外的木矛陷阱飞奔而去！

愤怒的蝎王立刻扔下陷入眩晕的莎莉，转身追逐而去，却不知远处的罗迪突然站定，返身一刀劈在了昏暗中一根不起眼的藤蔓之上。

蝎王犹在奔跑的身躯似乎察觉到了不妙，立即试图全力停住前进的势头，但因为之前冲得太猛，此时它的身躯依旧不受控制地向前冲去…

实木“长矛”骤然落下。

“噗！”

不知是因为罗迪之前霉运太多而此刻否极泰来，这根木矛无比精准地插入了蝎王身体中央的甲壳连接缝隙，竟然生生刺穿了对方的身躯！

血液和内脏体液喷溅一地，身长六米的蝎王因为这一击而彻底失去了行动能力，它巨大的蝎尾胡乱甩动，却只能在原地嘶鸣着打转、动弹不得—罗迪从一旁的地面上捡起了刚刚被砸飞时扔掉的角弓和箭筒，迈步向前，来到了蝎王身前十米处…弯弓搭箭，一言不发地开始了射击。

这种距离，无论蝎王如何躲闪，那箭矢都仿佛长了眼睛般一支接一支地射入它硕大的眼眶，硬生生穿入了颅脑之中！

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(Translation continues from the last part of the original text, which was not provided in full. The last part of the text describes Rodi's final attack on the Scorpion King, using a combination of strategy and luck to bring it down. The Scorpion King is ultimately immobilized by a wooden spear and then killed by a series of arrows shot by Rodi.)