Chapter 181: Practical Training
The Painting Woman lingered in Hai City for a few more days before heading to Jing City, going directly to the Xu residence based on the address Xu Huo had given her.
Before she arrived, Xu Huo had already arranged an identity for her. Just as he had told Yuan Yao and the others, she was a relative of Ms. Fang's side of the family, with vague parentage, and could loosely be called a cousin.
The Painting Woman was in a bad mood when she came to Jing City. She had been too happy during her days in Hai City, doing whatever she wanted, even though she couldn't really do much. Coming to Jing City felt like having her hands and feet cut off.
The Xu family was very warm to her, but the Painting Woman wasn't interested.
"She has some intellectual issues and is also mute." Yu Qingqing said from the side. "Probably no one was taking care of her, so she came to seek refuge with her cousin."
Only then did the Xu family tone down their enthusiasm. However, Xu Huo's father's late-born child, Tong Tong, really liked her. He took her to visit his toy room, and the two played for a few minutes, completely forgetting about Hai City and the house.
During these few days, Xu Huo only returned home after confirming that his body showed no symptoms of any infectious disease.
"I see the girl's clothes are all shabby and worn out, and your previous job didn't pay well." Xu Huo's father handed him a card. "Take her to buy a couple of outfits. You don't know what girls like, so let Qingqing go with you."
"I have savings." Xu Huo didn't take the card. His account had recently received a thank-you payment from the government.
"Li Chun." He called the Painting Woman.
The Painting Woman immediately dropped her toys and ran over to him, pointing at the things on the floor to indicate she wanted them too.
"I want some too." Yu Qingqing squeezed over.
Xu Huo glanced at her, then turned to look at Yu Qingqing's mother, who was hiding by the door. "Auntie, you need to keep an eye on her."
Yu Qingqing's mother was momentarily embarrassed but quickly adjusted. She walked over and slapped Yu Qingqing. "It's so dangerous outside, what are you going out for? How can Xu Huo spare the effort to protect two people?"
Then she turned to Xu Huo: "Go on, hurry up. Go early and come back early."
Xu Huo left with the Painting Woman.
"That woman doesn't like you, so why does she still smile at you?" The Painting Woman typed out her question.
"She's just smiling with her face, not with her heart." Xu Huo said.
The Painting Woman nodded, then turned to press her face against the car window and watch the scenery outside.
With the country stabilized these past few days, more pedestrians could be seen on the streets again. The most prosperous area of Jing City had reopened, and Xu Huo directly took the Painting Woman to the mall, letting her choose what she needed.
The Painting Woman happily shopped for two hours. After leaving the mall, the two of them arrived at an unfinished construction site.
"What are we doing here?" The Painting Woman typed while munching on an ice cream.
"You're going to spar with me." Xu Huo stopped the car, put a dozen meters of distance between them, and said, "I'll attack you, and you can fight back."
The Painting Woman pointed at the concrete and steel building next to them.
"You can go inside."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the Painting Woman ran toward the building.
Xu Huo immediately gave chase, simultaneously manipulating the strings to block her path!
The Painting Woman didn't slow down when she encountered the flying strings. Instead, she leaped into the air and transformed back into a piece of paper, floating horizontally to create distance from the strings. After dodging them, she landed and turned back into a human, continuing to run toward the construction building.
Xu Huo swung his sword, and the crimson sword energy formed a cutting plane that reached her in an instant.
The Painting Woman seemed startled and quickly jumped back, but the sword energy still sliced off one of her little fingers.
Not bothering to retrieve the paper finger, she flung the several bags in her hand toward the construction building, while she herself transformed back into a piece of paper as the bags flew out, letting them carry her into the building.
Once inside the construction building, the Painting Woman stood up again, and at the same time, the shopping bags on the ground twisted themselves into shreds, floating like blades around her. When Xu Huo stepped inside, she hurled all the hardened paper pieces at him!
"Ding, ding, ding!" The tiny fragments rained down on the Ox Shield like hailstones. Xu Huo dodged the fine attacks, and with a flick of his hand, the short arrows circled the building once and shot toward the Painting Woman.
The paper pieces scattered around the Painting Woman seemed to have a sensing ability. When the flying arrows approached, she immediately sensed them and used the paper pieces to continuously shoot at the arrows, altering their trajectory.
However, the flying arrows were homing attack items. Even though the paper knives slowed them down, they still couldn't stop the arrows from flying toward her.
She took a few steps back, gathering the scattered pieces into a shield to block in front of her. But unexpectedly, the flying arrows changed direction at the last moment, circling around from the side.
The Painting Woman's eyes widened. She simply slapped down at the flying arrows.
"Smack!" The flying arrows were actually knocked to the ground by her!
As if she had just realized she had this ability, a smile spread across her face, and she excitedly ran toward Xu Huo.
In aerial combat, although Xu Huo could use the strings to change his position, he was far less agile than the Painting Woman with her paper pieces. In close-quarters combat, the Painting Woman, though untrained in martial arts, could freely change the hardness of her body. As long as she wanted, she could make her body as hard as metal.
Xu Huo had no advantage with either method, so he had to keep his distance.
The Ox Shield couldn't protect his body from all angles. Although he could predict the trajectory of the flying paper pieces, he was limited by speed and couldn't completely avoid them.
So, in less than half a minute, he had several scratches on his body.
Midway, he also tried setting them on fire, but the hardened paper knives didn't burn easily. Even if one or two pieces caught fire, it wouldn't spread to the others.
"Burn!" He leaped outside the construction site and unleashed fire at the Painting Woman.
The Painting Woman, who had followed him, was instantly engulfed in flames. She struggled and fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
Xu Huo stared at her for two seconds, then went to the car to get a fire extinguisher.
The fire extinguisher quickly put out the flames. The person who had been rolling on the ground was now a scorched, wrinkled piece of paper stuck to the floor.
"Get back to work." Xu Huo tossed a pebble at her.
The Painting Woman didn't move, as if she had lost all life force.
Xu Huo put down the fire extinguisher and walked in. Just as he reached out to pick her up, the Painting Woman's body coiled around his arm and climbed up. The moment she stood up, she transformed back into a human, and at the same time, her palm pressed against his throat!
At that moment, her palm had hardened into a paper knife. Xu Huo neatly grabbed her wrist, twisted it outward, and with his other hand, drew the crimson sword, slicing her in half!
The two drifting pieces of paper separated for less than a second before merging again. The Painting Woman landed and turned back into a human, charging over to smash through a wall, then kicked the collapsing wall toward Xu Huo!
Xu Huo swung his sword to cut through the wall, and a dense barrage of paper knives followed immediately. He raised the Ox Shield and charged toward the Painting Woman in the direction the paper knives were coming from.
Seeing him running toward her, the Painting Woman excitedly mimicked his posture and ran toward him. The two collided in the open space. The Painting Woman, upon impact, instantly turned back into paper, floating lightly backward half a meter, while Xu Huo was sent flying into a load-bearing wall several meters away. Before he could even land, the Painting Woman and the paper knives she controlled were already upon him!