Chapter 1191: A Very Shallow Ripple
Di Zhu slowly rose from the ground and said, “When I touched him, it felt different from touching others…”
“What do you mean?” Zhou Mo asked.
“It felt very ‘distant’…” Di Zhu replied.
“Distant?” Zhou Mo frowned at this. “I wanted to ask you earlier… why ‘distant’?”
“How should I describe this feeling…” Di Zhu lowered his head and looked at his own hands. The long claws were gone, replaced by Luo Shiyi’s hands. “It’s like…”
Di Zhu lifted his head and looked at Zhuque in the distance. “It’s like when you touch fruit through a plastic bag—you can tell what’s an apple and what’s a banana. But the ‘Echo’ I feel from Zhuque is like touching an apple through a cloth pouch. I roughly know it’s an apple, but it’s hard to be sure. As for ‘distant’… it’s like I sense there’s something else inside that pouch besides apples and bananas, but I can’t reach it.”
“Tch… that’s damn abstract.” Zhou Liu broke out in a cold sweat. “So what now… that thing…”
“Eighty percent chance it’s a ‘Puppet’ or ‘Shift’,” Qian Wu said. “Otherwise, there’s no way to explain why he’s flying through the sky. Don’t tell me ‘Zhuque’ could fly all along?”
“You mean…” Zhou Mo cautiously scanned the surroundings. “The current Zhuque is a ‘Puppet’…? Being controlled by someone else’s ‘Echo’? Does that even make sense?”
After all, everyone had seen a ‘Puppet’ before, but never one like Zhuque—able to talk, think, and even make facial expressions.
Taking this opportunity, Officer Li, Su Shan, and Bai Jiu all made their way to Zhou Mo’s side, forming a temporary think tank.
Officer Li and Su Shan raised the heart in their hands and gestured toward Qian Wu.
The rotting smell from the heart hit everyone’s noses on the spot. It seemed Zhuque’s body was indeed abnormal.
No wonder the blood flowing from Zhuque was as thick as grease—it clearly belonged to something long dead.
“A ‘Puppet’ that can still unleash ‘Echo’…” Qian Wu said. “That means Zhuque is a puppet with an ‘Echo’… The person controlling him is responsible for the ‘Puppet’, while Zhuque himself handles the remaining ‘Echo’.”
After speaking, Qian Wu turned to look at Su Shan. “If the master of the ‘Puppet’ is really nearby controlling it, you’re probably the only one who can find him…”
“Got it!” Su Shan nodded, then widened her eyes to scan the surroundings. Qian Wu, meanwhile, planned to get closer and see what Zhuque was really made of.
Zhuque was now swaying wildly in the air like a kite with a broken string, his body bobbing up and down like a bird.
“His conviction is unstable,” Di Zhu said. “Even ‘Heart-Stealing’ is in disarray now. This is a good chance to kill him. Whether he’s a puppet or not, as long as we smash him to pieces, it’s over.”
Zhuo Mo gazed into the distance. He knew they had a general plan now, but the strongest weapon of the “Cats” still hadn’t appeared. If he didn’t show up, how could they ever smash Zhuque?
“Song Qi, are you lost, you bastard?”
“Nineteen!” Qian Wu shouted as he ran forward. “‘Heart-Stealing’ has been reset. Do something!”
Yun Shijiu paused slightly upon hearing this, then immediately scrambled to his feet and ran toward Zhuque.
He was a “Silence”—the natural counter to “Heart-Stealing.” But the battle plan had gone wrong; by the time he arrived, almost all the “Cats” had heard Zhuque’s voice.
Watching Zhuque soar up and down, Yun Shijiu couldn’t figure out how to unleash “Silence.” After all, his ability only created an absolute silence zone—once Zhuque stepped out of it, the ability would fail.
Seeing that Zhuque was about to speak, Yun Shijiu’s mind went blank. He pulled out a dagger and stabbed it into his own ear, then activated a small-scale “Silence” around himself. After that, he lunged forward and latched onto Zhuque’s back like a backpack.
“You…” Zhuque turned his head to look at Yun Shijiu. “Too insolent… you kids these days…”
To outsiders, they could only see Zhuque’s mouth opening and closing, but they couldn’t hear a single word.
Yun Shijiu locked his hands together and clamped his legs tightly around Zhuque. As long as he was alive, Zhuque’s voice couldn’t get out.
Zhuque hadn’t expected to be touched at such close range. His conviction instantly fell into chaos. He kept reaching back to grab Yun Shijiu’s hair, forcing the young man to dodge left and right awkwardly from behind.
“What’s the difference between this guy and Xuanwu…” Luo Shiyi muttered beside Zhou Mo. “Heart gone and still alive… These ‘Sacred Beasts’ get more absurd by the minute.”
Seeing Zhuque restrained, everyone gritted their teeth and ignored Yun Shijiu’s fate. All attacks rained down on Zhuque. Both Zhuque and Luo Shiyi were covered in wounds.
Their faces were twisted with ferocity, yet still no sound came out.
Su Shan, drenched in sweat, scanned the entire area for a full minute. Her face felt hot and damp, but she found not a single human figure nearby. If someone were controlling such a powerful “Puppet,” their “Ripples” should have pierced through all the walls and appeared in her vision. Yet the area was quiet—nothing at all.
After scanning the surroundings, she turned her gaze to Zhuque.
Aside from “Leap,” “Heart-Stealing,” and “Soul Shift,” Zhuque did indeed have a very shallow “Puppet.”
That “Puppet” looked even shallower than “Soul Shift.” If she didn’t look carefully, she wouldn’t even notice it.
Those “Ripples” were all concentrated at Zhuque’s throat. So who was controlling Zhuque? Or was Zhuque controlling someone else?
Su Shan felt a sharp pain in her eyes. She reached up and touched her cheek—her fingertips were covered in blood.
“Hey…” Zhou Mo looked at her, his expression slightly hesitant. “Tch, this…”
“I’m fine. Old problem,” Su Shan said. “Miss Zhou, there’s no one around here… It’s hard to believe anyone is controlling Zhuque.”
“What?!”
Zhuque flung the people in front of him away with a sweep of his hand, then flew high into the sky with Yun Shijiu still on his back. He slammed his back hard against the ground. Yun Shijiu immediately spat out a mouthful of blood, but his arms and legs remained locked tightly around Zhuque.
“Bad child… You really want to die…” Zhuque’s veins bulged as he let out an angry laugh. He activated “Heart-Stealing,” intending to make the young man behind him mimic his own actions.
But Yun Shijiu had already stabbed himself deaf. Now he was barely alive, hanging onto Zhuque’s back, clinging on with nothing but his last shred of will.
“It doesn’t matter,” Zhuque said. “Even without ‘Heart-Stealing’… I can still kill every last one of you.”