Chapter 46: Extremism and a Bunch of Madmen
Liuli floated dazedly in midair, staring at Besni lying in a pool of blood.
"You..."
Liuli gritted her teeth, her head hanging low.
"You really are a cold-hearted bastard."
Liuli raised her head, the sorrow on her face vanishing completely.
The moment Liuli looked up, Besni's corpse on the ground dissolved into specks of light, though the bloodstain remained, proving that Besni had indeed 'died.'
"A cat might have nine lives, you bastard."
Liuli rushed in front of Su Xiao and swung a punch at him. Su Xiao didn't dodge or evade—he didn't even feel the wind pressure.
Liuli's fair little hand passed straight through Su Xiao's head, dealing no damage to him at all.
"Just as my sister predicted, you wouldn't let Besni go."
"Sister?"
Su Xiao's eyes lit up.
"So that's how it is."
"What do you mean by 'that's how it is'?"
Liuli instinctively backed away from Su Xiao.
Though surprised by the cat's corpse disappearing, Su Xiao quickly accepted it.
"Your sister should be that woman named Xi. When I saw you earlier, I had that suspicion—your hair color and features are very similar to hers."
Su Xiao didn't show the anger or disappointment Liuli had hoped to see. Instead, he calmly analyzed the situation.
He first assumed the cat's owner was Xi. Since the cat had multiple lives, why was it afraid of death? Or rather, why was it so resistant to dying?
Su Xiao's mind raced. The brain was like a muscle—the more you used it, the sharper it got. Mindless hacking and slashing clearly wouldn't work; that wouldn't get you far in Reincarnation Paradise.
Su Xiao continued analyzing and speculating based on the available information.
Rather than being afraid of death, the cat seemed to treat death as something luxurious—she was unwilling to waste her lives, even if, as Liuli said, she had nine of them.
Under normal circumstances, a creature with nine lives wouldn't show despair in a hopeless situation. But earlier, that cat had despaired. This showed she valued her 'lives' greatly, or perhaps her nine lives served another purpose—like sharing them with Xi, granting Xi a resurrection-like ability?
"Nine lives? She's already died once. Adding Xi's own one life, that means Xi can still die nine times. Your sister's ability like that won't be easy to deal with."
Su Xiao looked at Liuli. Though her expression remained unchanged, she was panicking inside. A powerful melee fighter wasn't too terrifying, but a powerful melee fighter with extraordinary intelligence and insight was.
Su Xiao knew his own intelligence level. He was only slightly smarter than the average person, but his long combat career had given him strong insight and logical analysis skills.
Logical analysis wasn't the same as raw intelligence. Several types of people had strong logical analysis abilities: police officers, cunning criminals, and so on.
"That means Xi has at most nine lives left, since she already has one of her own. So she can resurrect eight times after death? Only the ninth kill would actually finish her."
Having obtained this intelligence through the cat, Su Xiao was satisfied. He had never expected to extort anything from the enemy through the cat. If he tried to extort equipment, that would involve issues like the transaction location and whether the enemy was setting an ambush—the danger would be several times greater than the reward, if not more.
"An enemy who can die eight times—tough to deal with. From your reaction, all my rambling was probably correct. Sometimes, silence means admission."
Su Xiao stood up and walked toward Liuli.
"..."
Liuli was speechless. The enemy had obtained such important intelligence through coincidences and her subtle reactions.
"You're useless now, 'Nightmare' woman... lunatic."
Su Xiao looked up at Liuli.
"Eh~"
Liuli was stunned, not understanding what he meant.
Blue smoke rose from Su Xiao's left hand, instantly enveloping Liuli.
Boom!
A thunderous roar exploded in Liuli's mind. Before her eyes, everything turned azure, as if she were immersed in a vast ocean of blue energy.
"So comfortable... I want to stay here forever."
Liuli's eyes began to dim, a dazed smile spreading across her face.
Slap!
Suddenly, Liuli felt a burning pain on her cheek.
Slap!
Liuli's body twitched, and her consciousness abruptly returned. She instinctively sat up, hands on her knees, gasping for air.
At a certain fortress of the tribal army, inside a temporary stronghold of Apocalypse Paradise contractors.
"Nobody else saw that, right?"
The corner of Xi's mouth seemed to twitch.
"Probably... not."
A man in heavy armor gave an awkward smile.
"How embarrassing. What happened to that girl earlier? That blissful, infatuated smile is burned into my brain."
A female gunner in camouflage shook her head.
Liuli looked around blankly at the familiar faces—all her sister's trusted subordinates.
"Why are you all looking at me like that? And what happened to me just now?"
Liuli sensed something was wrong. She seemed to have done something embarrassing.
"What happened? You looked like you were being ravished by dozens of big men, smiling so 'blissfully,' drool and all."
The female gunner in camouflage chuckled. Seeing that Liuli was fine, she visibly relaxed.
"Wha... what!?"
Liuli tried hard to recall the previous scene, but her memory had gaps. She remembered some things, but they were fragmented—a sign of severe mental shock.
"What exactly did you do with the enemy? Weren't you controlling an illusion clone earlier?"
The female gunner in camouflage pried open Liuli's eyelids, checking her mental state and whether she had been controlled by the enemy.
"I just now..."
Liuli strained to remember. Suddenly, an image of a man with a cigarette in his mouth, wearing a black trench coat, with blue smoke rising from his left arm, appeared in her memory.
"I... lost badly. I was used, and I cost my sister one resurrection chance. Important intelligence was also obtained by the enemy..."
Liuli clenched her teeth. She had thought the enemy couldn't do anything to her, but now she realized it had all been a trap. The enemy's ability could have easily dealt with her, but he had held back, pretending to be helpless against her harassment.
"I'm so stupid. Damn it, why is everyone smarter than me?"
After figuring out the cause and effect, Liuli felt nothing but humiliation.
"You did well enough. I had already considered this outcome. Though Besni being captured surprised me, the general situation is progressing according to my plan."
Xi stroked a small kitten in her arms—this was Besni after resurrection.
"Liuli, it's not that you're too weak, but that the enemy is too strong and cunning. When I saw that guy, I sensed he was a murderer who had killed thousands, even tens of thousands. As expected, the contractors of Reincarnation Paradise are all madmen. Don't worry, everything we did before had value. We weren't just being toyed with by the enemy."
Besni spoke up to comfort her.
"But..."
Liuli's spirits were low. Even when near death, she had never shown such an expression.
"There's no 'but.' That 'Melee No.1' can be ignored for now. The 'Mage No.1' from his same faction is the real problem."
The 'Melee No.1' Xi referred to was Su Xiao. Xi had a habit of labeling enemies based on their characteristics and threat level. 'Melee' represented Su Xiao's combat style, and 'No.1' indicated his threat level.
"Ranked No.1? Is that guy really that strong? I feel that woman in 'Hill Canyon' is more dangerous. She fights using luck, calling herself the Goddess of Fortune, and she has a mysterious teammate, also a melee fighter. I think that woman is harder to deal with."
The female gunner in camouflage spoke up.
"That Lucky Woman isn't the most troublesome. If I had the chance, I'd rather eliminate 'Mage No.1.' I underestimated him before. His fire element might counter me."
Hearing Xi's words, the people around her were startled.
"Should we send Fierce Winter to deal with 'Mage No.1'?"
The female gunner in camouflage offered a suggestion, showing she held a high position in Xi's core team.
"I was thinking the same. As for 'Melee No.1,' someone else will deal with him for us. I paid a lot of high-grade recovery potions for that. If that person fails, I'll have to handle 'Melee No.1' myself—that would be more reliable."
Though Xi had been in 'Hill Canyon' all along, she was fully aware of the situation in the three major war zones. She had also obtained plenty of intelligence on the stronger contractors from Reincarnation Paradise. With Xi's intelligence, she had long planned her next moves.
"At least three out of ten of our opponents this time are madmen. Reincarnation Paradise's method of training contractors must be extremely extreme. Although our faction is united, we can't underestimate the enemy. If those madmen are pushed to the brink, they might do anything—including taking us down with them. If they're in a losing situation, that's not impossible."
Xi's words made the nearby people serious.
"Would they really be that crazy? Even if they lose the World War, at most they'd lose 10% of all attributes. That's not enough to..."
Before the female gunner in camouflage could finish, Xi waved her hand.
"What if, I say what if, Reincarnation Paradise's punishment for their mission is death?"
"Death? No way. Except for special circumstances, I've never seen death as a punishment."
"Good thing I'm not in that Reincarnation Paradise. What Xi said isn't impossible—after all, those guys give off such a crazy vibe."