Chapter 1126: Shadow Puppets
White Tiger felt something was off with this smoke. In this critical moment, his fading rationality began to recover somewhat.
He sensed that the "participant" capable of releasing such thick white smoke must have kept their own sanity at a very low level—almost comparable to his own.
The "Gale Force" he had unleashed with all his might failed to completely dispel the smoke.
So he steadied his mind, then swung both hands simultaneously, sending out a gust even stronger than before. But in the next second, a massive stone wall appeared before him within half a second, blocking most of the wind.
Old Sun stood not far away, his eyes bloodshot and his gaze slightly dazed. Although he couldn't recall anyone among the "Extreme Path" whose "Echo" was called "Thick Smoke," judging by where the smoke was coming from, it was most likely the sabotage squad Yan Zhichun had dispatched earlier.
The rest of the "Extreme Path" members paused for a moment, then continued releasing their "Echoes" to interfere with White Tiger's movements.
Since communication devices like walkie-talkies were nearly impossible to find in the "Land of Finality," everyone felt as if they were on a chaotic ancient battlefield. Without herald officers to relay orders, they could only speculate about the developments of various emergencies.
After all, Weekend was only one person. Most of the time, her "Sound Transmission" was one-on-one, making it difficult to quickly communicate the situation across the entire battlefield. To survive, they had to think more than usual.
They could only gamble that this enormous white smoke was a smokescreen before the destruction of the giant bell, meaning the sabotage squad had already reached the vicinity of the bell, and only one final strike remained.
Seeing this, White Tiger grew anxious. He pointed a finger at the center of the massive stone wall, and with a slight tremor, the wall exploded violently into countless fragments. Those fragments scattered everywhere and then exploded again.
The square was instantly filled with screams. The massive, dispersed explosions not only injured the "Extreme Path" members but also blew the skin and flesh off many "Supporters" who had rushed in to help.
The enormous blast wave, like a mixer, swept the thick fog from the center of the square across the entire area.
In moments, the original white smoke merged with the black smoke from White Tiger's explosions, shrouding everyone present in a hazy blur. Coughing, panicked shouts, and wounded cries became incessant.
Many "Supporters" also realized that this white smoke could serve as perfect cover. They had never had fixed teammates anyway, and in theory, everyone seen in the thick smoke was fair game. So, in the midst of invisibility, they dragged their injured bodies into another round of slaughter.
After the massive stone wall exploded, White Tiger was about to unleash another "Gale Force" when he heard the sound of objects breaking through the air from all directions. Countless stones flew toward him. He could only use "Explosive Combustion" to block them temporarily, but each explosion only created even darker smoke.
After clearing away a large swath of flying rocks, White Tiger suddenly saw several dark figures flickering in the thick smoke. He felt puzzled. Until now, these "participants" had been attacking him with their "Echoes" from a distance. Now, using the heavy smoke as cover, they dared to charge right up to him?
He fixed his eyes on the shadows in the smoke and suddenly saw a "participant" with a bizarre figure leap out and lunge toward him.
The man's attack clearly had no technique; he even stumbled as he moved. But White Tiger still reached out and punched through his chest in one swift motion.
As his hand passed through the body, White Tiger lifted his aged, cloudy eyes and looked. He saw that the "participant" in front of him had a chunk of his head blown off; he should have been dead long ago.
White Tiger frowned slightly, pondering what was happening, when he saw more and more figures beginning to gather.
"Old Deng..." Old Sun, standing in the distance, called out blankly. "Why didn't you use your 'puppets' earlier? Why wait until so many people have died to start..."
Short and stout Old Deng turned back and shot Old Sun a glare. "What's wrong with you? How can I use 'puppets' without dead bodies?"
"Oh... yeah, that's true..."
Old Deng extended both hands, constantly moving his fingers in the air. His fingers looked exceptionally nimble, as if each one was independent, each able to wiggle separately.
Whenever a corpse fell, Old Deng would raise a single finger, then "reawaken" that corpse. He could even control up to ten corpses at once, sending them one after another to charge at White Tiger.
The corpses only appeared as dark silhouettes in the smoke, and that sight made Old Deng laugh repeatedly.
"Old Sun... see that? This looks even more like shadow puppets now. I'm controlling them better than before."
"Shadow puppets..." Old Sun stared blankly at the silhouettes in the smoke. "Nonsense... how is that similar? The little warriors in shadow puppet plays... they all wear armor..."
As the words fell, the silhouettes in the smoke suddenly became more angular, as if strange pieces of armor were condensing onto them, making their shadows look imposing.
And at that moment, Old Sun's gaze grew even more vacant.
"Good, this is good—puppet warriors in armor!" Old Deng said with a laugh. "I heard that in the 'Heavenly Level,' there are also 'puppets'... I wonder how many bodies that 'Heavenly Level' puppet master can control at once... Could it be a hundred?"
Old Sun shook his head after hearing this, let out a dull "heh heh," and said, "Maybe the 'Heavenly Level' can only control one body. After all, they're not as skilled as you at manipulating shadow puppets with sticks. Their abilities don't come from themselves, so they're pretty weak."
"Don't talk nonsense," Old Deng replied.
White Tiger was momentarily surrounded by a swarm of corpses. Although he wouldn't take any damage, the peculiar thing was that he began to lose his sense of direction in this close-quarters brawl.
Since the thick fog was identical everywhere, White Tiger couldn't immediately decide which direction to unleash his "Gale Force." Every time he was about to strike, a new corpse would charge right in front of him. Because they were too close to use "Explosive Combustion" conveniently, White Tiger had to cleanly break the corpses' limbs to render them immobile.
But these "puppets" were not only immune to pain—they were also covered in thick stone armor, forcing White Tiger to exert extra strength.
"Such powerful 'puppets'..." White Tiger murmured. "To be able to control so many at once..."
Soon, White Tiger realized these "puppets" were different from what he remembered. Even after breaking their limbs, they would still spring up from the ground with a "swish," as if pulled by some invisible thread.
White Tiger looked up at the sky. There was nothing there. It seemed that whatever was pulling these "puppets" up was not "threads," but "faith."
Now, even if he couldn't immediately dispel the smoke, it didn't matter. Since everyone in the smoke had lost their sense of direction, they were all killing each other, which saved him trouble.
But soon, White Tiger noticed something was off. Less than ten meters away from him, a group of people seemed to be arguing.
They were far too close to him and the giant bell. It appeared that not only was there someone releasing "thick smoke," but also a group of people with differing objectives had gathered there.
"When did this happen...?"