by N. Heller
Just as Lin Sanjiu was figuring out Puppeteer's words, his voice once again came out from the paper crane, "But the name rang a bell. Hmm, I couldn't remember where I had heard it before." Then the paper crane fell silent again for a few seconds before continuing, "Isn't he the runner who runs errands for the Progressor Alliance?"
Lin Sanjiu marveled at the fact that she did not exchange information with Puppeteer after they had ended their battle, but anyway, she was unable to associate the description "somebody who runs errands" with the impression Aker had given to her.
Her mind was all fog, full of different kinds of questions. She disregarded the question of if she angered the Puppeteer by spamming him with paper cranes; she just felt that she needed to tell Puppeteer everything she knew right now in as much detail as she could.
The other three people did not utter a syllable nor make a move even after the paper crane had flown away. All of them just hoped that Lin Sanjiu would leave right now.
As if it was summoned by Lin Sanjiu's heated gaze, the paper crane once again returned to her. This time, Puppeteer had taken quite a long time to reply.
"So you don't know who the prime mover behind the Progressor Alliance is?" Puppeteer sounded a little bit surprised, "Roughly ten months ago, there was a major shuffling happened inside the management of the Progressor Alliance. Of course, I played a big role in it; otherwise, that man would not have been able to claim the throne without much fuss. I'm not sure about Aker, but the principal of the Progressor Alliance now is a man that goes by the name Geran."
Just as Lin Sanjiu's muscles drew together tightly, a soft jarring sound like a wine glass knocked on the table drifted into her ear. However, she could be very sure that the sound wasn't coming from the wine glass.
Slowly turning her body, Lin Sanjiu rose to her feet.
The male posthuman, who was indulging himself with the girl, suddenly changed his expression. With a vicious gaze, he stared right into Lin Sanjiu's eyes.
"When you talked about Aker, I thought you guys had some enmity, so I did not do anything." the male posthuman spoke after a while. His face turned pale, "Then when you talked about Mr. Geran, only then I saw the light. So you're Lin Sanjiu, right?"
Lin Sanjiu remained cemented on the spot. Her body was tensed up, and she did not even dare to move her eyes.
In that posthuman's hand, a glimpse of green color leaked from the spaces between his fingers. She knew it was the green Santa hat magnet.
Nevertheless, she was too slow.
Suddenly, the Luscious Lounge turned dim, and a huge green shadow loomed over the shop.
Chapter 362 - True Form
Lin Sanjiu opened her wings fully before she went to see the owner of the green shadow. At the same time, she darted toward the exit. Her wings slashed the wall and door frame in half. The wall and the door frame rumbled and collapsed with a bang. Clouds of dust spread were everywhere.
Just as Lin Sanjiu landed, a shadow appeared behind the street lamp near her. Seeing that shadow, Santa Claus and the male posthuman that were moving toward Lin Sanjiu were stunned. Perplexion took over their faces.
"So it's you," said Lin Sanjiu as she locked gaze with the male posthuman. A smile found its way to her lips, "You've spent your Stamina Points liberally given your strength. I suppose you did not practice the habit of abstinence, did you? Anyway, thanks for biting the hook."
The male posthuman set his jaw as color fled from his face. He glanced at the shadow behind Lin Sanjiu and recoiled in horror. He wanted to escape to the half-crumbled Luscious Lounge, but his feet were cemented to the ground.
When Lin Sanjiu spoke to the paper crane the second times, not only had she toned down her voice, she had also created a void by manipulating the air currents. By doing so, she prevented her sounds from transmitting. While Lin Sanjiu was telling Puppeteer the whole story, she did not forget to mention the male posthuman as she was very suspicious of his sudden appearance. While this male posthuman, who seemed pretty inept in Lin Sanjiu's eyes could only hear the reply from Puppeteer, he took the bait and summoned Santa Claus.
He had never imagined that Puppeteer was already lurking outside waiting patiently for him and Santa Claus to show themselves.
Suddenly, Lin Sanjiu sensed a thing that could not be seen nor touched coming from behind her with the help of her hypersensory state. It whipped past her and before the male posthuman realized, [Pestilence] had already hit him.
Even with the presence of his sworn enemy, Puppeteer would never let go of the chance to punish any feeble people who dared to oppose him.
Santa Claus rolled his eyes from the corner of his eyes to the center. He didn't care about the posthuman who was screaming in agony. He just found the circ.u.mstance interesting.
While stroking his curly beard, his beard seemed to move as he spoke, "Ho, ho, ho. Long time no see, my friend. You're still the same: so narrow-minded."
Puppeteer emerged, and like a wraith from the darkness, he strode out of the dark end of the route. Every step he took, the metal straps on his black leather pants jangled loudly. Compared to the evening, he seemed a little bit different, but Lin Sanjiu could not tell how he had changed. As she squinted her eyes and observed Puppeteer for a few seconds, she found that the gold glitter around his eyes had disappeared. Two haloes of dark glitter powder now replaced it. This not only made him looks even more gloomy but also made him even more sadistic.
"I, however, am different from you," Unlike the male posthuman, Santa Claus wasn't scared by Puppeteer's appearance. He stroked his beard and emitted a careless laugh, "I can take my time eradicating this helper of yours."
Lin Sanjiu raised her eyebrows, forcing down the fear and anger that suddenly erupted in her heart. However, she did not move away. Instead, she faced Santa Claus head on.
Of course, it was never in Lin Sanjiu's mind that her presence could change the balance of this fight. It was just that the two of them had not started to fight yet, and if she made her move now, she was certain that Santa Claus would catch her with his special move. Hence, to escape from here effectively, she had to wait until they had gotten into a heated battle.
Puppeteer sneered, seemingly amused by Santa Claus's remarks, "I guess I'm good. I have promised not to kill her, and I don't really favor going back on my word, so thank you for your kind consideration."
" Hey! I'm still here! " Lin Sanjiu cursed inwardly, but she did not allow the emotion to emerge on her face.
"Cut the crap!" Santa Claus face was distorting even further with every word that came out from his lips as if he was snarling with venom. However, due to an unknown reason, he still did not make his move, "Give me back my thing!"
Puppeteer lowered his chin and rolled his eyes, "Why don't you come and get it yourself?"
Santa Claus pursed his lips in anger. Fury had overtaken him, and the words that escaped his lips were filled with savagery, "Arrghh! You niminy-piminy freak! Do you think you're great for coming so far? Bullshit! I don't need your alms! I'll use my strength to get what I want!"
Lin Sanjiu sighed when she saw veins bulging on Puppeteer's forehead.
She was almost lost in the storm of words. She never thought that these two men, who seemed to have a deadly feud, would engage in a verbal exchange first rather than going all out and fighting to their deaths. She had been waiting on the sidelines for the perfect moment to slope off, but she was disappointed. This two clowns just wouldn't stop bickering and fight!
Just as she was getting anxious, Santa Claus finally made his move.
Truth to be told, she did not see Santa Claus' movement. The reason she knew he had taken his move was that she had sensed a "blank space" where the Santa Clause used to be in her hypersensory state. He moved without causing any turbulence when he attacked.
"Seems like a certain degree of mastery could allow us to—"
Lin Sanjiu abruptly snapped herself out of her thought as she saw her chance to escape had come. Her body dec
ided to move forward before her brain could give the command. She finally had the chance to sneak away seeing that the confrontation of the duo finally had advanced into a brutal fight. Like a drowning man struggling for air, she hastened her steps toward the attraction that she had seen earlier on the "Pumpkin Route."
"Why don't you use my item? Huh? Huh?"
She couldn't tell if Santa Claus was laughing or shrieking. She only knew that they had clashed with a bang after hearing the voice of Santa Claus as she felt the surge of energy swept across the Pumpkin Route like a spider web.
" Is Puppeteer so weak? "
Just as the thought surfaced in Lin Sanjiu's mind, another idea bounced into her brain and kicked away the previous thought.
"Holy, no way," She cursed under her breath. She had to force every ounce of self-control from within to stop herself from fleeing and cement her feet on the ground.
Apparently, she was not the only one who was shocked by the attack. Even Puppeteer and Santa Claus were dumbfounded.
After breaking a few lamp posts in his path and slamming into a house, Puppeteer's face was filled with utter bewilderment as he climbed out of the rubble. He asked, "Hey? You… What…"
Staring at Puppeteer, Santa Claus was in the same bewilderment state as Puppeteer. He did not know how Puppeteer became so vulnerable. He thought Puppeteer simply lowered his guard; hence, he narrowed his eyes and stepped a few steps back while took on his guarding stance.
Lin Sanjiu's hand found its way to her head. She wished to slap herself in her face. After a fierce tussling with herself for some time, she reluctantly turned face Puppeteer.
Her gaze met with Puppeteer's. She saw him eyeing her, and when Puppeteer saw her dodging his gaze, his face instantly turned vile. He set his jaw so tight that his veins bulged as he snarled at her, "It was you?"
Lin Sanjiu found no excuse to defend herself, so she just nodded repeatedly.
"When we're fighting just now," Lin Sanjiu paused for a moment and moved further away from Puppeteer as she was afraid that Puppeteer might eat his own words and obliterate her after listening to her reasoning, "I, err, how should I put this? I sealed all your Special Items."
Before she could finish her sentence with "for an hour," Puppeteer had turned into a streak of shadow and lunged at her. At the same time, Santa Claus let out a boisterous laugh before charging at her as well.
Moving in a strange motion, Puppeteer's hand drew a peculiar figure in the air and successfully thwarted Santa Claus's advance. Concomitantly, he threw himself to a side as he suddenly remembered that he had promised Lin Sanjiu not to kill her.
Puppeteer's eyes were filled with blood, he tore his gaze away from Lin Sanjiu and turned to face Santa Claus once more. The, three puppets which Lin Sanjiu had seen before, along with more and more puppets appeared from a shop not far from them.
A great war that could topple a mountain and overturn a sea was happening right in front of Lin Sanjiu's eyes. Limbs were in the air and on the floor like a pile of junk. The puppets who charged into the fight to assist their master were all pulverized by Santa Claus with a simple flick of his hands.
There was a saying that due to too many variables involved in a battle between two posthumans, any element could be the winning factor. The loss of access to battle equipment was an irreversible shortcoming that was enough to seal the fate of the unfortunate party. A small disparity in strength and mistakes could cost one life. How did it work between powerful beings of Puppeteer's and Santa Claus's caliber?
Losing the defensive type Special Items meant that Puppeteer had to concentrate most or all of his strength on defense. In this ruined world, there was a motley variety of Special Items. No one knew what kind of Special Items their opponent had, and they might strike at you when you least expect it. Hence, Puppeteer had to watch out for Santa Claus's Special Items while deflecting his seamless attack.
Suddenly, a few white bones popped out from the half-crumbled Luscious Lounge. Carrying a black object in her arm, Lin Sanjiu shoved away the bamboos that blocked her way, kicked away the half-dead posthuman that lie listlessly on the ground, and dragged the thing out of the darkness.
"Hello, testing 1, 2, 3."
A female voice amplified by a microphone and speaker was loud enough to be heard by the duo who was fighting far away from her.
"Erm, Santa Claus, have you heard of Route 300?"
Lin Sanjiu had never imagined that she could use the KTV pos system to apply her Special Item on Santa Claus and tilt the balance of the fight towards Puppeteer's favor.
The effect of her words far exceeded her expectations.
She didn't have a clear view of what happened. She just saw the air current, and a shadow suddenly ceased all of his actions. Then, a green shade floated into the sky in a way that defied the principles of physics.
Rather than saying Santa Claus was sent flying, it was more appropriate to say that Santa Claus was more like a giant balloon floating in the sky, held by Puppeteer. Every time his limbs moved, he created a gale as destructive as the [Tornado Whip]. Nevertheless, Puppeteer was unaffected. He rooted his feet firmly on the ground even though he was in the very center of the turbulence.
"Although you don't match my taste, and you're fat," Puppeteer grinned, and there was a glimpse of zeal in his eyes, "But I can still keep you as my puppet."
"Wait, something's not right."
Set against Santa Claus, who struggled like a beast in the air, Lin Sanjiu involuntarily retreated a few steps with the microphone in her hand.
Then, her eyes bulged.
Like a frosting on a cake, the eerie green costume melted. Santa Claus' plumpy figure suddenly stopped struggling, and he was fading. His hat, beard, belly, and even his two stumpy legs were beginning to melt. It looked like a candle dripping its wax and quickly formed a pool of green substance on the ground beneath him.
Obviously, not even Puppeteer was aware of this strange phenomena. He blinked and appeared at Lin Sanjiu's side. Grabbing her collar, Puppeteer asked with his brows frowned together, "What have you done? Why isn't my [Astronaut] working on him?"
Lin Sanjiu had no answer.
In fact, unlike Puppeteer who saw the whole melting scene with his eyes, Lin Sanjiu only saw the full scene seconds ago.
When the green costume and plumpy figure had stopped melting, something rose up from the pool of green wax.
Lin Sanjiu felt that no words in this world could describe its appearance.
She had seen the Souls, which were the ugliest creatures she had seen so far, but the Santa Claus that came out from the guise was something even more offensive to one's eyes.
"I should praise you two from nullifying my disguise," a sticky, sickly sweet voice sounded out from a jagged crease in front of that creature. He locked his gaze on Lin Sanjiu and wheezed, "I really should have killed you first."
Chapter 363 - The First Step of Cooperation
She couldn't step away now even if she wanted to because Puppeteer was holding her by her collar. However, if he released her, she doubted that she had any chance of escaping.
In the distance not far away from them, in a pool of slimy green swamp, stood a should-be living organism. It seemed to not in a hurry as it dragged its feet and moved slowly towards them. Somehow, while it was moving, Lin Sanjiu heard a weird and hair-raising voice, probably sounded through the crease in its body, "Well, well, I'd expect no less from you. However, it seems like today isn't your day. I would have opted to finish this with my costume intact, but…"
"What, what is this?!" yelled Lin Sanjiu to Puppeteer as horror filled her eyes.
Meanwhile, Puppeteer's face turned grim. Like Lin Sanjiu, he was not prepared for this sudden change of course either. Glaring at Santa Claus, his muscles had involuntarily grown tense as if he was facing a mortal enemy. He ignored Lin Sanjiu's question, forced a snort through his lips, and blinked away from her.
Judging from his movement, Lin Sanjiu guessed that
Puppeteer wanted her to be the guinea pig to probe the strength of Santa Claus. Her gut feeling was right. Without trying to conceal his intentions, Puppeteer jerked his chin at Santa Claus, hinting Lin Sanjiu to fulfill her given role quickly.
While cursing Puppeteer inwardly, Lin Sanjiu entered her battle mode.
The creature walked on the road with a steady, mechanical creep seemingly unfazed by Lin Sanjiu's deadly glare. However, every pore within Lin Sanjiu was urging her that she shouldn't take the creature in front of her lightly. It was as if she was shrouded in a powerful force field. Every step the monster took, the invisible force was getting stronger and pressing harder on her shoulders.
What was the blasphemy in front of her?
If Lin Sanjiu weren't imaginative enough, she would not be able to distinguish the slight human characteristics left in Santa Claus. The skin and flesh on its c.h.e.s.t were ripped outward, stretching along its c.h.e.s.t and forming overlapping creases until it tapered off on either side of its body. There were four long and slender sticks that should be its limbs hanging loosely on either side of its thin body like a spider. However, it was particularly hard to tell which was his front and back. Even if one crushed a human corpse and reassembled it, it would never look like this.
There was a tiny bulge protruding from the front of its body. It looked like a miniature football that had been dissected by people and air-dried, leaving a jagged crease on its surface. Lin Sanjiu took a considerable amount of time to realize that the sound was coming from the ridge.
While the most damned of all wasn't his jagged-creased, thin limbs, or spider-like appearance, it was the layer upon layer of blotches that covered almost every single space on its body. The blotches dried out the moment they touched air, and then a layer of new blotches filled with juicy, gory puss appeared almost immediately from the withered blotches. As the creature moved, the piling blotches exploded into long black holes. Like eyes, they blinked at Lin Sanjiu.