Chapter 81: The War Between Meow and Woof
"Is that so? So that's how you think, Limon."
"Coincidentally, I have the same thought."
Another male contractor stood up. The two exchanged glances and charged at Shenna at the same time.
Shenna spread her arms. The two male contractors each grabbed one of her limbs—one seized her throat, the other pulled her arm. Between them, they only had two arms.
"Thank you both... for your unwavering loyalty to me."
Shenna clenched her hand. With a crack, the two male contractors exploded into a mist of blood. A colorless energy separated from the blood mist and eventually gathered in Shenna's palm.
"Holy Flame, what's your decision?"
Shenna looked at the last person.
"I... can still hold out for a few more battles."
Holy Flame remained unmoved by what had just happened. The two who had lunged at Shenna did so because they could no longer fight.
"You've worked hard."
Shenna turned and walked into the jungle. A teardrop fell through the air. The two who died were among her most loyal subordinates. They had spoken those insulting words only to keep Shenna from hesitating.
Shenna had never felt the soul power gathering in her hand so heavy. This was the source of her ability.
Several sounds of wind breaking came from within the forest. Seven lone wolves from the Reincarnation Paradise side rushed out of the woods. From their formation, it was clear they had no intention of fighting together.
"Whose turn is it?"
One lone wolf spoke, yawning with a relaxed expression.
"Mine."
Another lone wolf, wearing small round sunglasses with slicked-back hair, stepped forward.
"Same rules. You have ten minutes. If you die, I'm next."
"You sure I'll die?"
"Of course. This woman is strong—monster level. Hahaha."
"Stop the chatter. You only have ten minutes."
Hearing these lone wolves' words, Shenna's expression grew darker. She had only heard before that the Reincarnation Paradise side was full of madmen, especially in the later stages of a World War, where survivors were rarely normal.
Today, Shenna witnessed it firsthand. She could confirm that these people were temporarily cooperating to hunt them down. As for the reason? It didn't exist. Merit and Scarlet Chests weren't the goal of these madmen.
These people wouldn't swarm her. Instead, they would duel her one by one. If one died, the next would step up. No matter how dire the situation, they wouldn't lend a hand to their "teammates."
At first, Shenna couldn't understand this behavior. Now she realized—this was the rule of Reincarnation Paradise: the strong live, the weak die. The contractors hunting her were among the most extreme within Reincarnation Paradise.
But Shenna knew one thing clearly: the truly dangerous ones weren't these people, but those who appeared refined or wore friendly smiles among the Reincarnation Paradise contractors.
Around 7 AM, only three members of the Sanctuary Paradise side remained alive.
Besides Shenna and Holy Flame, one more survived—Shenna's old butler.
Inside a pitch-black cave, the old butler slowly regained consciousness. As soon as his senses returned, he felt intense pain throughout his body.
Instinctively, he tried to stand, but he felt a binding sensation and stinging pain in his arms. Looking up, he saw his hands pinned to the rock wall by metal spikes.
Crack, crack...
Large cracks spread across the rock. The old butler realized he could break free—it would just take time.
The next moment, a wave of cold air surged from ahead. A blue figure rushed toward him.
Bang!
A hammer struck the old butler's face. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
Amu stepped forward, poking the old butler with his thick finger. Confirming the old man wasn't dead, Amu gave his head another tap with the hammer to ensure he wouldn't wake up.
Soon, Su Xiao and Bubu Wang walked into the cave. Bubu Wang's dog face faintly showed several claw marks. Su Xiao had similar marks. Both man and dog looked like they'd been scratched by a cat.
After dealing with the Sanctuary Paradise side, Su Xiao had started dealing with that jungle cat. That meow kept following at a distance, moving incredibly fast. As for finding other contractors to help—that was nearly impossible. The Reincarnation Paradise contractors would only team up against Sanctuary Paradise, not help Su Xiao personally.
Fuming, Bubu Wang sat by the fire. Being scratched all morning by that big cat explained his frustration.
If Su Xiao showed himself, the jungle cat would immediately flee. That big meow had already learned the hard way about Su Xiao's swordsmanship.
But when Bubu Wang appeared alone, it was different. The jungle cat wasn't afraid of him. Bubu Wang was no longer a slacker. With 82 points of true agility, though still unable to match the jungle cat's speed, his 72 points of stamina kept him from being one-shot by the cat.
Plus, Bubu Wang had recovery abilities. The Ice Goddess Aura combined with "Life Force" (active), which healed 394 HP per bite, allowed him to tangle with the jungle cat for a while.
Combined with Bubu Wang's stealth ability, the jungle cat couldn't finish him off quickly. With Su Xiao in the distance, aiming the Duke of Annihilation, the jungle cat, wary of Su Xiao, sometimes couldn't even overpower Bubu Wang.
In past battles, Bubu Wang had always been support—lazy, that one. But this time was different. Bubu Wang's hatred for the jungle cat was off the charts. When cat and dog met, neither fled. They bit and clawed each other, fur flying everywhere.
When Bubu Wang and the jungle cat fought, it was a storm of fluff. After their battles, there wasn't much blood on the ground, but at least half a pound of fur was scattered around.
"Woof!"
Bubu Wang barked loudly by the fire, meaning, "Next time, I'll definitely win."
"Too bad. That cat seems to know Amu's abilities counter it."
Su Xiao bit into a wild fruit in his hand, thinking about how to deal with the jungle cat. That meow was too persistent—tracking him almost all day. Last night, when Bubu Wang went out to pee, he was ambushed mid-stream. The scene was both dangerous and hilarious.
If it were just Bubu Wang fighting the jungle cat, this dog and cat might wage a prolonged "war." Without Su Xiao aiming the Duke of Annihilation from a distance, Bubu Wang was no match for the jungle cat.
Su Xiao had tried using the Duke's domain to lock onto the jungle cat, but that cat was too fast. As soon as it was locked, it vanished somewhere.
After trying various methods, Su Xiao was surprised to find that without activating Demon Hunting Hour, he really couldn't deal with the jungle cat, whose true agility was a staggering 99 points and reaction speed was absurdly fast.
With the major enemy Sanctuary Paradise eliminated, Su Xiao felt much more relaxed. As for the main force of the Apocalypse Paradise side, the Arakawa Adventure Group would handle them—unless Qing Yan didn't want to win the World War.
Just as Su Xiao was finishing breakfast and thinking of more ways to deal with the jungle cat, an announcement appeared.
[Announcement: World coordinate attribute changed. Current attribute: ф (Reincarnation Paradise).]
[Time until world coordinate generation: 216 hours, 24 minutes, 30 seconds.]
...
Soon, Su Xiao learned who had captured the world coordinate. It was Gulu.
After capturing the world coordinate, Gulu did something interesting. She spoke in the war channel, offering to sell the world coordinate to Qing Yan for 250 Paradise Coins.
Even more surprising, Qing Yan actually bought the world coordinate for 250 Paradise Coins. Only a few people knew the real story behind this.
Gulu was warning Qing Yan: Don't you dare play any tricks, old yinbi, or in future derivative worlds, I'll turn you into a Scarlet Card and sell you for Paradise Coins.