Chapter 2701: The Box Carrier Returns
Xu Huo's eyes could no longer keep up with its speed; he could only rely on his senses and coordinate with Li Chun to capture it.
"Help!" He released Zhu Bu, sweeping Qi Cong and Xiao Mei aside, then formed an encirclement with him and Yan Jiayu.
The roly-poly toy flew wildly around the corpse warehouse, Xu Huo always a step behind, forced to wait for Zhu Bu to trap it with his space power.
The Chirp Bird and the Peacock lent their assistance, sealing the corpse warehouse door and then using instruments to lock down the entire room, ensuring the roly-poly could only move within the space.
Once Yan Jiayu and the Painting Woman used their agile movements to restrict the roly-poly's trajectory, Zhu Bu shrank the space barrier again, also isolating Yan Jiayu and the other.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The roly-poly darted back and forth, almost turning into a streak of shadow. As the crashing sounds grew denser, Zhu Bu's space barrier kept breaking. The wall near the barrier was not only pitted with dents, but the corpse bags were continuously smashed open, with liquid splattering everywhere!
Seizing the opportunity, Xu Huo channeled his time power into this space!
The roly-poly, flying wildly in all directions, was finally frozen in place!
But before they could breathe a sigh of relief, the alien creature had unknowingly and automatically repaired itself in that short time. It lay on the ground, its eyes bloodshot again, roaring at Xu Huo and the others!
As if responding to its voice, the space within the room was once again divided into countless small cubes. The space barrier and space defenses were instantly breached. The Chirp Bird and the Peacock, who had used all their instruments to restrain the roly-poly and neglected their defenses, were immediately turned into blocks. Zhu Bu managed to dodge part of the attack due to his keen perception of space power, but lost two fingers from his left hand.
Qi Cong and Yan Jiayu ducked into the corpse pile and were spared from the space power. Xu Huo was grateful that the instruments he carried were numerous enough to block this attack for him.
"We can't let the roly-poly escape!" Xu Huo shouted.
"Leave the alien to us!" Yan Jiayu flipped out of a corpse bag and pounced from a height onto the alien's head, hugging its skull and pounding it wildly!
This alien seemed rather unintelligent. After failing to shake Yan Jiayu off several times, it ignored her and grabbed a corpse bag, frantically stuffing it into its mouth!
The corpse bag it had just eaten was already gone without a trace. This room was clearly the alien's food storage!
"Don't let it feed!" Xu Huo warned!
Hearing this, Yan Jiayu slid down from the alien's head, grabbed the few corpse bags in its hands, and yanked them down hard. The hand the alien was about to bring to its mouth was pressed lower, giving Zhu Bu an opening to attack.
Space Ray Blades stabbed into the alien's throat in rapid succession. After half a minute of repeated attacks, it finally released its grip and collapsed onto the nearby corpse pile.
Even at this point, its head was not completely severed from its body. Not only that, but after the Space Ray Blades disappeared, it began to rapidly repair itself again!
They couldn't keep this up any longer!
Everyone present realized this problem. While continuously delivering finishing blows, they also focused their attention on the roly-poly!
The Painting Woman had only heard from other puppets that they could escape through the roly-poly's belly, but how to do so was unclear. And now, with the roly-poly trapped in time power, they couldn't release it to study it…
"There are special ropes in the castle!" Yan Jiayu said. "I'll go get them!"
"Don't go. Let Li Chun go." Xu Huo interrupted her. "Tell her the location, and I'll open the door!"
Yan Jiayu quickly described the place, and the Painting Woman returned to the main castle building through the Spiritual Gate. But she soon ran out of sight—Xu Huo's spiritual power was suppressed and couldn't cover a greater distance, so he could only maintain the Spiritual Gate and wait for her in place.
The rope Yan Jiayu mentioned was actually the curtain rope beside the third-floor corridor. It was likely an item, with one end tied to the curtain and the other connected to the wall. Such curtain ropes were plentiful in the castle, even near the tower, but they were clearly different from the one Yan Jiayu had her eye on.
No one knew how long that rope was, or where its end lay. In any case, after the Painting Woman pulled it up from the wall, the other end kept extending along the wall endlessly.
The Painting Woman went further and further away. Xu Huo and the others could only wait. Zhu Bu completely severed the alien's head and tossed it aside, finally stopping its regeneration.
Yan Jiayu picked up the costume suits of the Chirp Bird and the Peacock and threw them outside the door. They weren't truly dead; if the puppets retrieved them, they might be restored.
Xiao Mei was very lucky. She had shrunk against the wall and avoided the space cubes. After Qi Cong gave her two injections of Self-Healing Agent and Antidote, she was able to sit up on her own.
"Have you found a way out?" she asked impatiently as soon as she could move a little.
Xu Huo gestured with his chin toward the roly-poly still hanging in the air.
Xiao Mei's expression relaxed greatly upon hearing this. "That's good, that's good… I heard the Box Carrier is about to return…"
"What did you say!" Qi Cong's voice couldn't be controlled.
"When I was thrown in here, I heard someone saying the master was about to return, which is why the puppets were cleaning the castle all night… Isn't the master of this castle the Box Carrier?"
The faces of everyone present darkened. After a very brief silence, Yan Jiayu said, "I'll go find Li Chun!"
"Wait a little longer." Xu Huo disagreed. "Let's think of another way first."
If the Painting Woman was left in the castle, she could still survive, but Yan Jiayu might not. Unless absolutely necessary, they couldn't split up anymore.
Given the roly-poly's speed and attack power, if Xu Huo released it without a suitable method to restrain it, it would definitely escape.
"I can't hold on much longer." Xu Huo was already at his limit. He couldn't maintain the state of channeling time power for long, and on top of that, he was poisoned. His physical condition was deteriorating. During the battle, he had clearly felt his concentration waning and his reactions becoming sluggish.
"Hang in there!" Yan Jiayu and Zhu Bu had already gone to dismantle nearby items. It was at this moment that all the moving puppets in the castle suddenly stopped. Then, a shockwave spread from within the castle, washing over everything inside and out impartially…
Xu Huo was caught in it as well. The moment the impact hit, his vision went black, and he lost control of his time power, releasing the roly-poly!
Zhu Bu and the others saw it happen, but they were also affected and powerless to stop it. They could only watch helplessly as the roly-poly flew toward the corpse pile!
But strangely, the roly-poly seemed to suddenly lose its vitality, tumbling and rolling to the ground!
It stopped at Xiao Mei's feet. Its body was still spinning, but a white light appeared on its round, fat belly.
"It's the exit!" Xiao Mei jumped in without hesitation!
After she disappeared, the remaining people couldn't tell if it was the real exit or not, but they had to jump in one after another. Yan Jiayu came over to pull Xu Huo. "Li Chun hasn't come back yet."
"Don't wait for her!" Xu Huo didn't hesitate. Together with her, he jumped into the roly-poly's belly.
The moment they passed through the space portal, his automatic defense items activated. All the automatic defense barriers exploded in an instant, and "Shadow," "Unhesitating Substitute for the Dead," and "Cat's Triple Life Loan" rapidly appeared in succession!
These only bought a split second. By the time he activated the traits "Eternal Passerby A 2.0" and "Protagonist Halo," Yan Jiayu had been pulled away by a suction force, and he was immobilized in place—beneath the dark sky, a pair of blue eyes calmly looked down upon them.