Shae Harris weighed the axe while sneering at her.
[Malice] rolled her eyes and raised a hand toward Shae Harris.
With the motto of swinging first, Shae Harris happily moved to chop that arrogant arm off as it was pleasantly placed before her.
But just as her figure lunged forward, she felt a dull ache in her chest, like someone had punched her.
Shae Harris felt the urge to cough, and the metallic taste of blood rose in her throat.
She instantly knew what this was—a common cough that wanted to tear her lungs out.
She also understood who was causing it.
But would she care?
The answer to that question was the swift swing of the axe down on that arm streaked with bulging vessels.
[Malice] frowned and dodged the axe while cursing at her.
Shae Harris wasn't discouraged by her lack of success and broke into heavy coughs that sounded extremely unpleasant, with the blood she spat out increasing with each sharp intake of breath.
After five seconds, Shae Harris nonchalantly wiped off the blood trickling down the side of her lips and smiled at the evil twin in front of her.
"What was that, a cough? Please, I've had sneezes worse than that. It barely tickled," Shae Harris chuckled.
She stood there calmly taunting, waiting for the dull ache in her chest to subside.
Through the painful sensation she just experienced, Shae Harris was able to deduce that the BOSS skill was to inflict negative effects.
Which, ironically, was a skill she could easily counter right now.
For someone who had been sick all her life, it felt good to have a permanent max health buff.
Shae Harris lunged forward and started another round with the BOSS. This time, she was just testing the boundaries.
She tried to dodge away from the hand aimed in her direction, thinking it released some invisible bacteria within a certain range.
But the BOSS didn't even need to turn toward her before she started to vomit blood.
Shae Harris nimbly moved a distance away, but she still continued to spew blood until her health stacked back up.
Through repeated probing and continuous retreat, Shae Harris was able to figure it out.
The BOSS had only one skill—to make the target sick.
Unfortunately, she had no way of testing whether it was single-target or an AOE skill that affected anyone the BOSS locked onto.
Secondly, the BOSS had no skill cooldown, and neither did she have a berserk state—because she was already in one.
Well, she definitely looked like it, with bulging vessels and red eyes.
But moving on, there was no option to attack during a cooldown.
Meaning there was no way to cheat… bummer.
Thirdly, the BOSS did not need to have the target within sight, and the skill activation had no prompt or warning.
Shae Harris had, in fact, been ambushed by a sneak attack, and the trace of blood from her eardrum bursting was still just below her ear.
Luckily, her regeneration skill was strong, or else her brain would have been turned to mush instead of just her eardrum.
Fourth, the negative buffs were all minor diseases at their core.
But the results were seemingly amplified by a hundred, and that number would increase with each minute.
Shae Harris didn't know what would happen past a minute, because she would be healed by then.
But she imagined a simple headache would blow her head apart in ten minutes.
So what does the game-obsessed girl do with this information?
First, look for cheats, Shae Harris thought, throwing the axe.
Then she rolled into the BOSS's blind spot before forcefully throwing a sharp object she found in the rubble.
The BOSS dodged as Shae Harris attacked from the side she wasn't facing.
In her hand was the axe, its sharp edge aiming to split the BOSS in half.
The BOSS turned her head away from the blade as the axe sank into her shoulder.
Just then, Shae Harris felt an irresistible urge to sneeze and could only helplessly fling herself away with the force of it.
She vaguely felt the BOSS's fist brush past her body—specifically where her heart was.
Cursing, she weakly tried to use her legs to kick the hand as she flew back, rolling and sneezing as she went.
When her body finally stopped rolling, the urge to sneeze also faded.
In summary, that experiment to find cheats was a failure.
Wait… her skill was a kind of cheat, wasn't it?
With a sigh, Shae Harris could only use the cheat she had left—
Her massive, ever-stacked health bar.
First thing: always remember the two important points—
The heart and the head.
After that, the only thing left was to go wild.
And go wild she did.
The reason human beings are limited in their physical abilities is because of their bodies.
Our body is both a vessel and a chain.
Actually, anyone can break concrete with their bare fists with enough force and effort.
The repercussion is that the bones would break and the muscles would likely be destroyed.
But if someone could overcome that hurdle, then naturally, the human body becomes limitless.
Right now, Shae Harris unlocked all her potential—and became limitless in terms of physique.
She swung her fist straight at the BOSS's face and wasn't perturbed when it was dodged.
Instead, she twisted her center of gravity so violently that her legs dislocated, yet her fist remained steady in its course.
Her other hand aimed for the axe, trying to bring it down one-handed despite the massive strain on her muscles.
The BOSS was no pushover either, raising a fist while inflicting negative buffs.
With pain emanating from every part of her body, Shae Harris smiled crazily and continued her assault.
She would swing the axe so hard her shoulder dislocated from the unnatural motion.
Sometimes she dodged so violently that the ligaments in her joints tore.
Even with all the pain and torment—from both her own actions and the BOSS's skill—Shae Harris laughed wildly.
After all, she had endured this kind of pain her entire life.
Right now, she felt freer than she ever had.
So why wouldn't she laugh?
Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to keep letting loose.
That crybaby would definitely be looking for her by now.
Noticing the increasingly dark expression on the BOSS's face, Shae Harris figured it was getting impatient too.
So she decided to take a gamble.
She tossed the axe into the air between them and said some self-righteous, arrogant words about how she was going to pound the BOSS into a bloody puddle.
"You've already lost to Ming Jun's fist, so why don't I recreate that game clear just for you?" Shae Harris roared, charging recklessly.
The BOSS sneered and grabbed the axe, aiming to chop this annoying brat in two.
Shae Harris didn't dodge. Instead, she stuck her neck out toward the incoming blade.
The BOSS was surprised and instinctively tried to redirect it to split her from the shoulder.
But it was too late.
The axe sank into the back of Shae Harris's neck, nearly cutting it in half.
Only a thin strip of muscle, skin, and fat held her head precariously in place.
Her body collapsed to the ground, eyes frozen in horror as they stared blankly at the sky.
She lay motionless, blood gushing from her neck.
The BOSS stood over the corpse, examining it. Its eyes glanced at her chest—no movement.
After waiting ten minutes with nothing happening, the BOSS sneered and tossed the axe aside.
With its back turned, it walked away leisurely.
It didn't take more than five steps before it heard a noise behind it.
It turned sharply—
But it was only a bird pecking at an opened snack bag beside the pool of blood.
Hmm.
Wait.
Something was missing.
The BOSS's confusion turned to alarm.
Where the hell is that bitch??
"Right here, you bastard."
Shae Harris's voice came from behind as the axe cleanly split the BOSS in half.
[Malice] swore one last time before collapsing.
The real Shae Harris stood there, her head firmly attached to her neck.
After a few seconds, she spat out blood—and collapsed.
What actually happened was that Shae Harris pushed herself into a near-death state, leaving only the thinnest thread of life.
It was so bad she could hear the voice of the shadow man calling himself [Death], and she felt [Life] push her back—
Then she returned.
She quietly slipped out the leftover snack from her pocket to attract the pigeon she had noticed earlier.
Then she slammed her head back into place, letting flesh and muscle reconnect just enough to hold.
After that, she slipped into the BOSS's blind spot while it was distracted—and struck.
In essence—
"It was pretty cool," Shae Harris said, raising a fist as a tear rolled down her face.
Mori Aoi had arrived by then, bawling so hard her eyes were already swollen.
"You look hilarious," Shae Harris laughed—only to cough up more blood.
"It's not funny!" Mori Aoi scolded, tears streaming down.
"You're right… it's not funny at all," Shae Harris smiled softly.
"Does it hurt?" Mori Aoi asked, gripping her hand tightly.
"I've been in pain my whole life. This is nothing," Shae Harris chuckled.
"You know… I always thought I would die alone in my ward, with no one to cry for me.
At first, I told myself that was good—no one would get hurt except me.
But I lied.
I was scared of dying alone.
But now… I'm not scared anymore.
Because I know Ming Jun and Noi Karn are waiting for me on the other side.
And I have you guys… to cry for me.
So don't cry.
I'm truly relieved to go out this way."
She weakly raised a hand to wipe Mori Aoi's tears.
"Hey, green tea—I still don't like you, but take care of our little princess…"
Wei Zhi nodded silently.
"And Yi Zheng… thank you for the ice cream offer. I can already taste how delicious it would've been."
Yi Zheng nodded.
"I'm going now… but just remember—I soloed a BOSS in real life… in the most spectacular way…"
Her voice faded. Her eyes closed.
Mori Aoi trembled, then wiped her tears and carried Shae Harris's body on her back.
They returned to the familiar arena, now silent and empty.
The coffin stood at the center of a room enclosed by a massive circular glass wall.
Once they placed her inside, the door vanished.
Now it looked like a trophy—something to be seen, but never touched.
Beside it was a sign:
The Sickly Game Champion Who Courts Death
In the abyss where [Death] resided, another door appeared—leading to three rooms.
The first was filled with snacks and an endless buffet, like an exclusive restaurant.
The second was a vast open space that could change at will—limited only to extreme sports.
The third was a gaming room, with a virtual reality pod beside the coffin.
Old consoles lined the shelves, each labeled.
[Life] stepped forward and noticed a rectangular empty space beside the pod.
She brushed her hand over the coffin. A faint heartbeat echoed.
Then she turned and left.
The door closed.
And both [Life] and [Death] vanished into the darkness.