Chapter: 1185 Too Early
Song Qi ran wildly down the road while watching the sun.
He knew that everyone's time to kill the Vermilion Bird was extremely tight. They needed to succeed in the kill before all the "Zodiac" gates closed—that was the only way to complete the mission.
They had roughly ten or so minutes to gather and strike, which meant there was no chance for them to execute a perfect combination technique. They would have to start fighting as soon as they arrived.
"At 'Earth Pig'… the person is at 'Earth Pig.'"
Zhou Mo's "Sound Transmission" rang in Song Qi's ears once again, and Ma Twelve, a few seconds behind him, heard the same message.
"What's going on…? Why is she saying it again?" Ma Twelve asked.
Song Qi slowly came to a halt, carefully pondering the situation. Zhou Mo announcing for the second time that the Vermilion Bird was descending at Earth Pig's location could only mean she had no other way to contact them.
"The signal flare malfunctioned." Song Qi's face darkened.
"Huh?!"
Song Qi quickly turned his head to scan the nearby ground. What could he do to help Zhou Mo now?
But the surrounding streets were nothing but ruins. The only things he could find were rocks.
"Brother Seven…" Ma Twelve said anxiously, "What do we do now?"
"It's useless for us to just go over there. We need to tell everyone Sister Six's location." Song Qi hurried to one side, picked up three palm-sized stones from the ground, and said, "I need your help."
"Alright!"
The two discussed briefly. After confirming that Ma Twelve understood his plan, Song Qi pulled out his own signal flare and roughly tied the three stones and the flare together with a hair tie.
"Brother Seven… I get it, but isn't the difficulty too high?"
"If we fail, Sister Six will die." Song Qi reached out and touched the stone-and-flare contraption in his hand. "So we can't afford to fail."
"Alright… I understand."
Song Qi took a deep breath, then took a few running steps. His entire body launched like a slingshot, hurling the tied device high into the sky with tremendous force.
The next second, Song Qi and Ma Twelve ran after the flying device. As they moved, Ma Twelve kept waving his hands, seemingly adjusting the device's trajectory.
Once the approximate position was determined, Song Qi gently clenched his fist while still running. The first stone exploded, sending the remaining two stones and the signal flare even higher into the sky.
By then, the hair tie was almost snapped, barely holding the stones and the flare together, looking like it could fall apart at any moment.
Song Qi made a split-second decision. He detonated the second and third stones in quick succession. With the "Detonation" so close, the signal flare instantly gained massive kinetic energy and shot toward the direction Ma Twelve had fixed.
"Brother Seven! The position is about right!"
The two looked up at the sky. After confirming the general location, Song Qi reached out from afar and clenched his fist, detonating the signal flare high above.
The flare was already battered and broken from the previous explosions. A mild "Detonation" caused the smoke inside to burst outward instantly.
A waterfall of blood-red smoke and powder began to cascade down through the air, pointing straight toward the Vermilion Bird's coordinates.
"At least it worked…" Song Qi said. "Twelve, have you noticed something…?"
"What?"
"I don't know if it's just my imagination," Song Qi said. "Today, everyone in 'Cat' has had an unusually high success rate with their 'Echoes.'"
"You mean…"
"Could you and I have pulled off a 'Shift' and a 'Detonation' from this distance before?"
"Maybe we've grown?" Ma Twelve said.
"Or maybe it's just good luck." Song Qi said. "I hope this luck lasts until that Vermilion Bird dies here."
…
The Vermilion Bird and Zhou Mo both looked up at the sky. Golden-red smoky rain began to fall above their heads.
"Th-That's great…" Zhou Mo murmured.
"Great…?" The Vermilion Bird smirked, looking down at Zhou Mo. "Do you know the difference between me and the Black Tortoise?"
Zhou Mo frowned at this and instinctively took a step back.
"I don't have 'Indestructibility,' so I absolutely cannot take risks."
The Vermilion Bird opened his mouth with a laugh, and from deep within came a sinister glare.
Seeing this, Earth Pig quickly rushed forward a few steps. But in the nick of time, the Vermilion Bird thrust his hand toward Zhou Mo's chest.
In almost a single breath, Earth Pig grabbed Zhou Mo's arm and yanked her back, then kicked out at the Vermilion Bird.
The Vermilion Bird vanished from his spot the next instant, appearing behind Earth Pig. He slashed down viciously, tearing Earth Pig's suit jacket to shreds and leaving four deep, bloody gashes across his back.
At the same time, Zhou Mo crashed heavily onto the ground. Being pulled by an "Earth-level Zodiac" was no small force; an ordinary person could hardly resist such power.
Under the Vermilion Bird's ferocious attack, Earth Pig fell face-first to the ground. He tried to reach back and cover his bleeding back, but he couldn't even touch the wounds.
"Truly tough flesh," the Vermilion Bird said. "And it still didn't get torn apart?"
"I just realized…" Earth Pig coughed a few times and spoke, "That's all the strength of a 'Divine Beast' amounts to…"
"Hard words." The Vermilion Bird grinned. "Forgot to tell you—you actually had a chance for promotion. Last night, 'Heaven Pig' died."
"Wh—" Earth Pig was momentarily stunned.
"Maybe you've been unable to see any hope of promotion for so many years, but now there is." The Vermilion Bird helplessly raised his hand and began picking at the shreds of flesh between his fingers with his other hand. "How ironic? You finally make up your mind to rebel, and it just so happens to come after you have a chance for promotion."
"A mere 'promotion'… don't underestimate our pact…" Earth Pig slowly rose from the ground, tore the entire suit jacket off his body, and turned to look at Zhou Mo. "Lady 'Sound Transmission,' I will protect you until your comrades arrive."
"'Sound Transmission'…?" Zhou Mo looked puzzled. "How do you know?"
"Because I touched you," Earth Pig said. "Unfortunately, anyone I touch—or who touches me—I learn their 'Celestial Art'…"
The Vermilion Bird was taken aback upon hearing this. "You…"
Earth Pig extended one finger, on which he kept a long nail.
"The reason I keep my nails this long is to avoid touching anyone as much as possible; otherwise, my 'Spiritual Touch' would be exposed." Earth Pig smiled. "Vermilion Bird, did you ever think your trump card would be revealed so early?"
Hearing this, the Vermilion Bird's eyes slowly widened. The fact that his "trump card was exposed" seemed to mean he had already lost to him.
He made a decision on the spot: as long as he could tear Earth Pig apart before he opened his mouth, what did it matter if he was a "Spiritual Touch"?
With that thought, the Vermilion Bird vanished from his spot the next second and grabbed Earth Pig's throat from behind.