Chapter 267: [Rotten Bones and Resurrected Flesh] A Brawl Breaks Out
“Just now, a thread of puppet string tried to control you,” Wen Zhao said ominously. “But that big sister blocked it for you.”
Hearing this, Bai Cha immediately offered a grateful smile toward the umbrella in her hand.
“Thank you, Sister Ru-yi!”
Wen Zhao: “…”
Dammit, so this person actually knows how to be polite!
“Why don’t you thank me? Call me Brother Wen Zhao, and I’ll drag out the person using the puppet string for you.”
Bai Cha looked thoughtful.
“Is it Chen Mi or Zheng Zelin?”
“Guess~”
Bai Cha fell silent.
She had indeed suspected Chen Mi the most at first.
However, if puppet techniques were involved here, then every single person became a possibility.
When Shen Xiao-luo denied shoving her into that room earlier, she hadn’t appeared to be lying.
Yet both Zhao Xiaoai and Liu Ruyi claimed it was her, which could only mean she was likely being controlled at the time.
“Does puppet technique cause a person to lose their memories?”
Wen Zhao let out a cold snort, ignoring her.
“Brother Wen Zhao~” Bai Cha abruptly adopted a high-pitched, sweet tone.
At any rate, their communication took place purely via the connected puppet string.
That single call gave Wen Zhao goosebumps all over—oh, he didn’t possess that physical function right now, as he was fundamentally still a puppet after all.
“Alright, that’s enough! Stop calling me like that.”
He had originally intended to win back some ground, who knew Bai Cha was truly willing to throw away her shame.
“Whether puppet techniques make people lose memories—how should I know… But I think generally not. Based on my personal experience, consciousness and body are separate, so one ought to remain awake.”
However, he had been crafted by a puppet master. Although both could be termed “puppet techniques,” they were still quite different.
A puppet controller couldn’t craft an entity like Wen Zhao.
He could merely control others.
If that was the case, memory loss ought to be even less likely.
“Got it.”
“Hmph, aren’t you going to ask me who the puppet string originated from?”
“Tell me.” Bai Cha was exceedingly patient. The outside was dead silent right now, though the situation remained unclear.
Her area ought to be safe for the time being, as Liu Ruyi was at least willing to stand on her side now.
This was precisely why she had refused to explain earlier.
Although anyone with sharp eyes could tell at a glance that her conduct was typical white-lotus behavior.
What did that matter, though? Someone always bought into it.
Case in point: while Liu Ruyi said nothing on the surface, at least she wouldn’t let her fall into danger at this moment.
“Tsk… it came from the person holding the rabbit doll.”
It was Zheng Zelin.
He was the one holding the rabbit doll.
Yet was Chen Mi truly free of issues?
Bai Cha refrained from uttering anything further.
The darkness didn’t persist for long.
The lights inside the room flickered back on.
Because the light hadn’t been particularly bright to begin with, it didn’t feel piercing to the eyes either.
Bai Cha immediately took in the situation of the individuals in the field.
Shen Xiao-luo’s face was deathly pale. She had initially picked a pair of red dance shoes, but later swapped them for a ruby necklace.
Yet right now, one of those red dance shoes she had swapped away was worn on one of her feet.
She was clutching her ankle tightly, yet that foot continued to twitch from side to side uncontrollably, the arc growing wider and wider.
With a sharp crack, her foot twisted a full circle.
Shen Xiao-luo emitted an agonizing shriek, drawing out a dagger at the same time to slice fiercely toward her own foot.
Because after her foot snapped, her leg was showing signs of disobeying her commands as well.
Since it was broken anyway, severing it was considered cutting her losses in time.
That dance shoe was tiny—crafted for a child—so her foot didn’t fit in the slightest.
Yet when her left foot hit the floor, that severed foot continually contorted, forcing itself inside the shoe in the end.
Shen Xiao-luo stared at the shoe on the floor in horror as the pair of red dance shoes reunited, merrily returning to the room housing the display shelves.
Blood gushed from her foot, which she slathered with ointment, yet the excruciating pain persisted regardless.
She wasn’t the only one.
At the exact same time, Song Shi-fan was clutching his hand in agony; a piece of porcelain was fitted over his hand.
The opening of that vase was tiny; no one knew how his hand got forced inside.
That was the restoration item he had chosen as well—a small bottle housed inside a box.
Having witnessed Shen Xiao-luo’s tragic state, he gritted his teeth and chopped off his own hand.
Sure enough, the bottle departed immediately.
Aside from those two, the remaining three individuals were completely unharmed.
However, their complexions appeared far from pleasant, and the items originally set for restoration before them had long since shattered into pieces.
They had likely counter-killed the NPCs.
Master Gao remained standing on the spot, though his umbrella had closed only after the lights turned back on.
He cast a glance at the shattered items, letting out a cold sneer.
“You three are eliminated.”
The three fixated sharp gazes onto Master Gao in an instant.
“Scram out of here! You are not welcome here.”
The atmosphere in the room turned tense in a single moment.
Shen Xiao-luo and Song Shi-fan felt a wave of relief instead, though they wondered how those three would respond.
Would they make a move?
These NPCs appeared quite formidable.
“Well then, leaving isn’t out of the question,” Chen Mi said, abruptly tossing a dark object toward Song Shi-fan.
“However, before leaving, we have a few personal grudges to settle. You won’t object, right?”
Song Shi-fan reacted relatively fast, tossing out a shield.
Yet the object Chen Mi threw rapidly morphed into a dense swarm of black bugs upon touching the shield.
Feeling his scalp go numb, Song Shi-fan deployed his skill, Draw the Ground as a Prison.
A vacuum zone materialized around his body in an instant, preventing those black bugs from approaching him.
The bugs thereupon set about spreading outward in all directions.
Master Gao’s face turned iron-grey.
He knew full well none of these fellows would behave peacefully!
Wen Zhao shrieked as well.
“Quick, quick, quick! Don’t let those bugs come over!”
He was merely a puppet! He feared these things the absolute most!
Bai Cha thereupon slipped into the room filled entirely with umbrellas.
Chen Mi’s gaze pursued her.
Bai Cha neither dodged nor shrank back, locking eyes flush with him.
Those bugs on the floor indeed held zero intention of stepping into this room.
After all, inside this room…
Figures materialized from the umbrella frames one after another.
Some were bloated all over, soaked a pale white, their bodies wrapped in water weeds.
Others shed tears of blood from both eyes, staring at her ominously.
Liu Ruyi materialized as well.
Knitting her brows, she cast a glance outside, standing by Bai Cha’s side.
The players outside had begun displaying their respective abilities.
Players couldn’t slaughter one another.
Chen Mi’s actions moments ago had already skirted the edge of the rules.
He could explain his conduct as merely intending to toss out a prop to deal with the NPC.
It was just that the bugs were numerous, that’s all.
As for the direction he threw it in, that was also to confuse the NPC.
After all, those bugs couldn’t inflict immediate fatal harm on a player either.
And at this moment, the primary target of these players’ attacks was Master Gao.
While attacking, they would find ways to deal with the people beside them.
Accidental collateral damage naturally couldn’t be termed intentional harm.
As for the NPC…
To the three individuals including Wang Yuan, they were already people facing elimination—who still cared about offending or not offending the NPC?
The chaotic mess was all the better!
If they could kill the NPC directly, the remaining people couldn’t possibly be accepted as apprentices either!
As for how to depart from the instance, certain individuals held zero worry in their hearts.
“Master Gao, how about letting us all out?”
Beside Bai Cha, a female ghost materialized abruptly.
Catching sight of Bai Cha looking over, she went so far as to flash an explicit, graphic smile at Bai Cha.
In the literal sense.
The flesh across her face was missing.
