Chapter 1138: The Heart That Cannot Be Found
Although Officer Li was full of doubts, he still swung his hand and plunged the wooden stick into Xuanwu's heart several times.
Each time it was pierced, the place only turned into an endless black, without even a drop of blood flowing.
Officer Li and Song Qi, who was beside him, stared at the heart in their hands for a long time, each already having their own calculations.
Song Qi knew that this matter would not go so smoothly. Xuanwu's "Indestructibility" should share commonalities with Jiang Shi's "Indestructibility"—that is, when not harmed, it appears like an ordinary person, but when harmed, it uses a pitch-black, starry-sky-like color to replace the wounds.
This black color allows the owner of "Indestructibility" to avoid all fatal injuries, until the effect of "Indestructibility" ends. At that time, if the wound still exists, various fatal injuries will burst forth together, causing the owner of "Indestructibility" to die instantly.
But would Xuanwu's "Indestructibility" disappear?
"I clearly took out this heart... but I'm completely helpless." Officer Li's eyes dimmed. "I don't know what the meaning of my persistence is..."
"Don't overthink it," Song Qi said. "Fourth Brother, none of the people present can accomplish this, but you can."
"I..."
"Did you notice?" Song Qi lowered his head to look at Xuanwu and asked again.
"What?"
"What Xuanwu has, we all have," Song Qi said. "Indestructibility, Plunder, Oblivion—we are no worse than her in any aspect. The only thing we don't have is Leap, but Xuanwu is determined to die, so she will only stand still and wait for us to approach and kill her. Neither she nor we need Leap."
"What does that prove..." Officer Li shook his head. "Although I don't want to say something that dampens morale, what I probe out cannot affect her, what she probes out can kill us instantly... We are simply not on the same level as her."
"Fourth Brother..." Song Qi paused. "Don't lose heart. Xuanwu's heart is already in our hands. Why fear having no countermeasure?"
"You have...?"
"Piercing it like this is useless. Leave it to me." Song Qi slowly extended his hand. "I have a trick that might be worth trying."
After hearing this, Officer Li nodded slightly and handed the heart in his hand to Song Qi.
There were already speckled black spots on the heart, exactly the marks left after being repeatedly pierced.
After Song Qi took the heart, he slowly closed his eyes. Now, with enough conviction, he could complete a most bizarre explosion.
But this time, it was difficult to instill conviction into the heart in his hand.
Believing that an object itself is a bomb—this was not difficult for the current Song Qi. The difficulty was that this heart still had warmth and was beating powerfully, obviously a living thing.
To make himself truly believe that a living thing was an explosive... the success rate was unimaginably low.
But there had been that one time... Song Qi had done something similar. Who said that something warm and beating couldn't become an explosive?
As long as there was no way out, even an ordinary person could release an "Echo" that surpassed conviction.
He remembered that time when he broke all the fingers of one of his hands and threw them at a strong ground rabbit. Those fingers must have all exploded, right...? That was "conviction."
He still remembered the warmth of those fingers...
Even his own flesh and blood could become explosives, so why couldn't Xuanwu's heart?
Compared to that time... the current situation was much better.
Since ordinary piercing couldn't harm Xuanwu and her heart, then blow it into pulp.
Song Qi held the heart in his hand for a long while, then slowly opened his eyes. By then, the heart in his hand had also burst forth with wisps of sparks.
"Song Qi... you..."
"Xuanwu!" Song Qi shouted from above. "Face your heart."
As his words fell, he threw the heart in his hand fiercely at Xuanwu. Xuanwu felt that this scene seemed somewhat familiar.
Not long ago, she had also thrown Qinglong's heart back at Qinglong.
But Qinglong had dodged back then... Should she also dodge?
Before she could think this question through, the heart flying through the air began to twist and deform. Flashing sparks started to fill the surrounding space. The members of the "Cat" team immediately realized the situation, and those closest to Xuanwu began to quickly retreat.
Xuanwu dazedly reached out her left hand. Just as she was about to touch the heart, the heart exploded with a bang.
A violent "deflagration" engulfed Xuanwu's entire body in an instant. Since they were in an open outdoor area, Song Qi could pour in all his conviction without restraint, causing the scale of the "deflagration" to be larger than ever before.
Whether Xuanwu was in pain or frightened, a scream of agony instantly came from within the flames.
There are ten thousand ways to die in this world, but who would be killed by the explosion of their own beating heart?
Everyone covered their eyes, waiting for the shockwave of the "deflagration" to dissipate. But during this time, Su Shan never closed her eyes. She stared unceasingly at Xuanwu's body, trying to find Xuanwu's weakness among the many pulsing "ripples."
Xuanwu was clearly covered all over by "Indestructibility," but the heart that Officer Li had taken out obviously did not have "Indestructibility" on it. The black starry sky only appeared after being attacked.
Su Shan had worked in the criminal investigation technical department for many years. She could only use her professional knowledge to try to explain the strange phenomena of the "Land of Finality."
Could this prove that... Xuanwu's "Indestructibility" only envelops the exterior? At this moment, none of her internal organs are enveloped by "Indestructibility." They are not only vividly colored, but also cause Xuanwu excruciating pain in an instant.
"In other words, 'Indestructibility' is a suit of 'armor' that appears at any time to protect its owner," Su Shan murmured softly. "But this suit of 'armor'..."
The sound of the explosion dissipated, and Xuanwu revealed her form from within it. But her appearance at this moment was somewhat different from before.
She hunched over, her left hand covering her chest, as if experiencing extremely intense pain.
The next second, Xuanwu reached her hand into her own chest, as if searching for something.
She felt a sharp pain in her heart, but the heart itself seemed far away.
This strange feeling was different from the last time.
The pain was very close to her, but the heart was far away.
Her arm had already reached into the depths of the starry sky inside her chest, but no matter what, she couldn't grasp that aching heart.
Everyone looked at Xuanwu. In this world, who could reach their arm into their own chest? Even if someone could...
Who could keep the arm from piercing out the other end?
Xuanwu's bizarre, mournful, trembling, and helpless figure caused everyone present to fall silent.
(Friends, buddies, family—yes, I'm here to apologize again. I've been busy with consecutive book signings in Shanghai these past couple of days, and there's another one at the Shanghai Book City on July 14th. This has suddenly reduced my writing time. I'll update one chapter temporarily, and try to update another one tonight. After the Qingdao signing on the 21st is over, I'll make up for all the missed ones slowly. A thousand apologies.)