Chapter 2061: Testing the Rules
The death of the high ponytail made Zuo Yu dare not put the puppet into the luggage compartment. He could only use a prop box to store it and carry it with him. He also did not dare to stay with the other players, instead returning alone to his room and closing the door tightly.
This was a helpless move. The effects of props were often unexpected. As long as the puppet remained in everyone's sight, it could be destroyed by a prop suddenly appearing from nowhere. The best course of action was to return to the room and temporarily create a safe environment for himself.
However, this did not mean the other players would stop there. After all, only three puppets could be selected in seven days—how could they allow someone else to occupy one of the spots?
So Zuo Yu had been in his room for less than half an hour before the props he had arranged inside were completely destroyed. Three players coordinated to force him out of the room—the room had many things, but the castle's corridors and garden were quite spacious.
Although it was three against one, the players were afraid of accidentally damaging the castle and incurring the Puppet Maker's displeasure, so they held back during the fight. This gave Zuo Yu a chance to catch his breath. He retreated from the room to the garden, then from the garden back into the castle. He originally wanted to enter the exhibition room, but the three players, sensing his intention, blocked the path in advance, forcing him away from the exhibition room.
With no other choice, Zuo Yu could only run toward the dining room. By this time, he was already seriously injured. After escaping into the dining room, he simply threw the puppet to the Painting Woman. "It's yours!"
The Painting Woman caught the puppet and tilted her head to look at him. "For me?"
"Yes, for you!" The three players following Zuo Yu stopped at the entrance of the dining room, staring at the puppet in the Painting Woman's hand through Zuo Yu. Sensing the killing intent behind him, Zuo Yu still didn't turn back. "Don't you want a puppet?"
The Painting Woman hesitated for a moment, then said, "But your puppet is very ugly. I don't want it."
After saying this, she actually threw the puppet directly onto the table!
At that moment, Zuo Yu's heart, along with the hearts of the other players in the dining room, leaped into their throats. However, before the puppet could hit the table, a transparent bubble floated up beneath it, carrying it toward the other side of the table.
"Crackle!" With a flash of intense light, a blue lightning bolt suddenly shot through the entire dining room, striking the bubble with precision. The players closest to it could clearly see the lightning pierce the bubble, simultaneously repel two props flying in from other directions, and hit the puppet. In that instant, the puppet shattered into pieces and scattered across the table.
The faces of everyone in the dining room turned grim. They all turned to look at the sweet-looking girl who had released the lightning.
"What are you doing!" another tall female player shouted.
The sweet girl glanced at the stunned Zuo Yu, showing no fear of the hostile stares from the crowd. She smiled and said, "Just testing the rules."
"Destroying a puppet might make the castle owner angry. The worst outcome is death. But if I don't die, I'll probably just end up with a broken puppet. If my own puppet appears tomorrow, wouldn't that prove that destroying someone else's puppet has no serious consequences? In a way, I'm actually helping everyone."
"Besides, with so many of us here, there are only three puppet slots per week. We can't just let others pass through, can we?"
The last sentence was directed at Zuo Yu.
Zuo Yu had already recovered from his initial shock. He glared at the sweet girl, and instantly, dozens of palm-sized swords materialized out of thin air and flew toward her. At the same time, the floor of the dining room rolled up like waves, restricting movement and pulling the sweet girl toward him!
"Is that your move?" The sweet girl snorted lightly. A scepter appeared in her hand, and she tapped it gently on the ground. The undulating floor returned to normal. She then lunged forward, extending the scepter, and lightning radiating in all directions knocked down all the flying swords. She avoided Zuo Yu's close-range attack, teleported behind him, and aimed the scepter at his heart from a distance.
Zuo Yu had at least three layers of defensive barriers and two life-saving props stacked on him. But unexpectedly, this time the scepter released an arrow-shaped red lightning bolt. It easily pierced through the defensive barriers, and after Zuo Yu's position shifted due to a prop causing him to miss, it quickly turned back and struck a circular shield on his chest—this shield should have been able to block the lightning. In fact, it did block it. The red lightning arrow landed on the shield and was directly absorbed, vanishing from everyone's sight instantly. However, just as Zuo Yu tried to grab the shield, the red lightning suddenly burst forth again, rapidly climbing up his arm.
This lightning was different in power from the previous one. Zuo Yu, experiencing it firsthand, didn't even let out a groan before collapsing to the ground.
The sweet girl smiled in satisfaction, walked over to him, and pulled out a knife.
"That's enough." The long-coated man spoke up to stop her.
The sweet girl blinked at him. "Don't worry, I just want to make sure he has no strength to fight back when he wakes up."
As she spoke, she moved to cut Zuo Yu's tendons. But before the knife could fall, a head suddenly appeared beside her, followed by a hand reaching out. A mechanical, emotionless voice came from the communicator. "You can't do that."
The sweet girl's expression changed drastically. She hadn't sensed the Painting Woman's movement at all. By the time she realized it, the other's face was already right in front of her. Reflexively using a prop to retreat, she distanced herself and stood in a corner of the dining room before looking at the Painting Woman. "What do you want?"
The Painting Woman straightened up and tapped the communicator. "He gave me a gift. Courtesy demands reciprocity."
The sweet girl clearly possessed the admirable quality of pressing on despite difficulties. She sneered and was about to act again when Xu Huo, who had been silently standing by the dining table, turned to look at her. "How about stopping here?"
A casual remark made the sweet girl's expression change dramatically. It wasn't just because Xu Huo's elusive nature put pressure on her, but because he was standing in front of her, yet his voice came from behind her. Almost uncontrollably, she used lightning to attack behind her, but she hit a decoration on the display cabinet.
When she looked back to the front, Xu Huo was still standing there, not even changing his posture.
The sweet girl couldn't help but swallow hard before saying, "A Mental Super Evolver. Your reputation is well-deserved. Since you want to protect him, I can back off, but you have to guarantee that he won't come after me once he wakes up."
"I can't guarantee that," Xu Huo said. "That's between you two afterward."
The sweet girl glanced at the Painting Woman, then shifted her gaze back to Xu Huo's face. "Fine! You said it."
Xu Huo then turned to look at the three players who had been chasing Zuo Yu. Without a word, they silently retreated to a corner of the dining room.
Xu Huo signaled the Painting Woman to wake Zuo Yu. She nodded, rolled up her sleeves, sat down on Zuo Yu, and slapped him five times across the face. (Chapter End)