Chapter 508: Criticism Makes One Humble, Flattery Makes One Arrogant
Chapter 508: Criticism Makes One Humble, Flattery Makes One Arrogant
Countless streams of blood formed a cold steel wall over ten meters thick, blocking Joanna’s path.
She wasn’t stupid enough to charge headfirst into it, so she tried to go around.
But the entire area around her was covered by Fang Cheng’s blood. No matter which way Joanna turned, thick steel walls blocked her escape.
The Read Thoughts ability didn’t take long – in mere moments, Fang Cheng had absorbed Tony’s memories.
This North American Iron Man’s life proved disappointingly ordinary.
Tony Kent had inherited his Father’s weapons company, living as a spoiled rich heir. His short existence revolved around chasing pleasure.
Fang Cheng scrolled through the memories like reading some ‘master’s’ diary:
Slept with an actress today.
Slept with a female hero today.
Need to stop wasting my life. Time to become Iron Man properly. Should restart that training plan…
Slept with the secretary today.
Slept with the secretary’s mom today.
His thirty-odd years of memories mostly showed him bedding women of all types.
The occasional male entries made Fang Cheng raise an eyebrow.
Though Fang Cheng considered himself lustful, even he had to concede defeat compared to Teacher Tony.
After absorbing these memories, Fang Cheng finally understood why this Hazard Level A+ guy dared challenge him.
Criticism breeds humility, but flattery inflates arrogance.
And inflated arrogance always pops.
The explanation was simple: Tony had always been a prideful rich heir with moderate talent.
In the mutual back-scratching world of capital, his worst setback had been Joanna disfiguring him – and even that got fixed quickly.
After taking the Divine medicine, Teacher Tony became convinced he was heaven’s chosen, drunk on constant praise.
Or maybe he’d never understood his place from the beginning, which explained why he’d foolishly confronted Fang Cheng.
Teacher Tony achieved his death wish, but these memories weren’t what Fang Cheng needed.
He dug through the pornographic memory compilation until finding useful fragments.
The alien spaceship details emerged.
Tony knew little about it – he hadn’t cared enough.
Half a century ago, they’d found a wrecked alien spaceship in Antarctica. Most wreckage sank to the ocean floor.
North America salvaged the engine from the seabed, but political chaos led to its storage.
Capitalists later smuggled out this engine to build their Ark.
Tony’s group didn’t really believe Earth faced destruction. Their massive Ark served another purpose –
a mobile base for creating a capitalist organization with absolute freedom, beyond the reach of the three major political circles.
It was indeed a grand target; the Gates of Heaven served merely as their fig leaf for this ambition, something to be thrown away after use.
But this grand vision met an untimely end before the mission even began.
Tony wasn’t dead yet, but he felt death creeping closer.
Blood loss blurred his vision as he glimpsed a scorching beam flash before him.
That was Joanna’s solar ray – unable to circumvent the steel walls everywhere, she’d simply blasted through them.
Seeing Tony at death’s door, Joanna roared furiously: “Release him!”
Watching the charging Superwoman, Fang Cheng felt like a typical hostage-threatening villain confronting a superhero.
Then he finished Tony with a single Dragon Claw Strike.
Heart torn out, Tony expired completely, ending his rose-tinted short life.
Fang Cheng looted the corpse, warmth flowing through his fingers.
[Energy absorption ongoing…]
[Life +10]
[Succubus Bloodline +1]
[Succubus Bloodline: Boosts charm and opposite-sex favorability]
So Teacher Tony’s legendary conquests across North America hadn’t just relied on youth and wealth – this superpower played its part too.
But Fang Cheng, already devastatingly handsome with Saintification’s enhancement, found this Succubus ability redundant.
He discarded the corpse, unimpressed by its steel combat suit compared to his own creations.
Witnessing Tony’s death, Joanna’s eyes burned crimson: “You son of a bitch!”
Her eye-beams erupted as Fang Cheng activated War God Bloodline, charging through the solar onslaught.
Ranged attacks proved useless against Superwoman’s steel-like body – close combat became necessary.
Joanna’s battle arsenal had three components: solar rays, steel-like body, and super strength.
She eagerly closed the distance, maintaining her eye-beam assault.
As they neared, she threw a punch aiming for Fang Cheng’s face, seeking payback for earlier humiliations.
Her fist met empty air.
Possessing Heart Body Technique, Fang Cheng’s combat techniques surpassed human limits, operating on another plane compared to Joanna’s brute-force style.
Though her super strength usually let her win through wild swings, facing superior power and skill meant only one outcome:
Instant defeat.
Joanna didn’t even see the strike – darkness flooded her vision as searing pain exploded through her brain.
Her face got smashed again.
Joanna was sent flying by the punch.
With no interruptions this time, Fang Cheng teleported after her and slammed his elbow into her abdomen.
Joanna gagged, feeling like her guts were about to spill out.
Clenching through the pain, she threw wild punches at Fang Cheng, but he dodged them effortlessly.
Their struggle continued in the air.
“Struggle” wasn’t the right word – Joanna was being utterly dominated.
Fang Cheng didn’t even activate Vector Control’s reflection. Joanna couldn’t touch him, taking hit after hit until her face swelled like a pumpkin.
This Superwoman possessed ace-level power, ranking among the strongest in that tier.
But her terrible fighting techniques crippled her effectiveness – she couldn’t even use half her strength.
Fang Cheng wondered if she’d only ever fought weaklings since her debut.
He guessed right. Most of Joanna’s “battles” were company-staged publicity stunts.
The little real combat she’d experienced was against weaker foes, her toughest opponent being a full rank below ace-level.
Fighting Fang Cheng – who’d defeated Isis – was like a child challenging a war veteran.
Both Joanna and Tony had been praised so long they’d lost touch with reality.
Only true experts understood how terrifying Fang Cheng really was.
Pummelled beyond recognition, Joanna’s steel-like body resisted fatal damage but couldn’t mute the pain.
Her frantic counterattacks couldn’t even brush Fang Cheng’s clothes.
This had never been a fair fight.
When her body became a canvas of bruises, fear finally overwhelmed Joanna.
Never tested in life-or-death combat, her mental resilience broke faster than a civilian’s. Anger gave way to raw terror.
Blasting a solar ray to create distance, Joanna fled.
Tony’s death and shareholder wrath vanished from her mind.
Fang Cheng teleported behind her and kicked her spine.
The Superwoman cratered into the cement ground, plowing a twenty-meter trench.
As Fang Cheng landed, gunfire erupted around him.
Guards mobilized to suppress the superpowered rioters recognized Superwoman but deemed Fang Cheng hostile.
Bullets ricocheted off his defenses, dropping guards like bowling pins.
Fang Cheng approached the dazed Joanna.
Still reeling, she swung a clumsy fist at him.
He caught her wrist, yanked her forward, then hammered her down with the Universal Three Fists.
“I surrender!! I surrender!”
Seeing Fang Cheng raise his fist again, Joanna shielded her face with one hand and screamed.
Fang Cheng felt exasperated—did she think this was some game?
Did she believe surrender would solve everything?
Instead of attacking, he gripped Joanna’s head and activated Thought Reading.
A flood of memories surged into his mind, nearly making him retch.
The woman was Tony’s equal—her recollections brimmed with street brawls, drug abuse, murders, and bedding countless men.
Her backer emerged in these memories too: a prominent controller of petroleum conglomerates.
Joanna had joined the Gates of Heaven as her backer’s representative, though she cared nothing for their affairs and remained clueless about their operations.
Shivering under Fang Cheng’s palpable killing intent, Joanna screeched, “Don’t kill me! I’ll do anything!”
Genuine terror gripped her—no one had ever beaten her so thoroughly.
“Anything?”
Fang Cheng kept one hand on her head while tilting her chin upward with the other, studying her face. “You’re not bad-looking.”
Desperation ignited Joanna’s survival instincts. She seized the opportunity to beg,
“Yes! I’ll be your woman! Your subordinate!”
She arched her neck submissively, even yanking her Combat Suit open to expose cleavage.
“Tempting offer.”
Fang Cheng’s smile chilled. “But no.”
Joanna’s face stiffened.
“I, Fang Cheng, derive particular satisfaction from rejecting women who presume their charms can sway me.”
“…”
Are you deranged?
Joanna cursed inwardly—then her world spun violently as a sharp Crack echoed.
Her thoughts blanked. Hadn’t she surrendered?
He’d shown no mercy despite her being a woman…
Releasing his grip, Fang Cheng let Joanna’s body crumple—neck snapped cleanly.
Her steel-like body proved too durable; even the Child-Cutting Ankan blade couldn’t pierce it.
This method became necessary, reminiscent of Superman’s takedown of General Zod.
Such superhumans boasted formidable hardness yet lacked a vampire’s regenerative power—fatal wounds meant permanent death.