Several mist people pounced from above simultaneously. In such close-quarters combat, Xu Xiaoyou decisively abandoned her sniper rifle and pulled a standard-issue alloy longblade from a tool card. Her fingertips brushed across the blade, and the flickering light of a rising flame reflected in the girl's eyes.
"Dawn Haze Blade," she whispered, stepping forward with a quick swing to meet the lunging monsters.
The sharp edge clashed with talons, sending sparks flying before sinking into a creature's neck in the next instant.
These monsters attacked in groups of three to five, breaking the group's formation. The two girls and the shadow brothers were forced to fight their own battles.
No one could look out for anyone else, let alone maintain a steady gaze on their allies. In this chaotic battle, it was difficult for any of them to watch their own backs.
Xu Xiaoyou had just finished off a mist person that had frozen in place when she heard the whistling of wind behind her. Just as the alarm bells in her mind began to scream, a water barrier flowed over the surface of her body. No matter how sharp the claws were, they were trapped in a cage of water elements, unable to get an inch closer to her.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two bullets slammed into the skull of the mist person behind her. She looked back to see Tang Xin holding her blue sparrow handgun. Behind her head, little Xiao Xin's small hands were channeling a surge of water elements. The fine currents accelerated and condensed,
Transforming into several sharp ice spears with cold air bleeding from their tips.
The ice spears shot out, piercing the necks of three mist people and relieving some of the pressure on Xu Xiaoyou.
Tang Xin let out a sigh of relief, but the whistling of wind sounded beside her at the same time. She flinched as two mist people charged at her from the left and right simultaneously. Their crouching bodies moved like leopards pouncing on prey, looking as if they would tear her apart in the next second!
The blonde girl arrived just in time, her blade dancing in a flaming circle that instantly forced the two monsters back. The bright firelight illuminated Xu Xiaoyou's calm expression.
She adjusted her breathing and swung her blade with clean efficiency, slaying one monster. Her footwork was nimble, and the flickering flames on her sword were like a venomous snake baring its fangs. She raised the longblade high, stepped forward, and shifted from a hack to a slash. The chaotic sword light tore through the thick fog, bypassing the monster's claws to strike directly at its neck.
After finishing this, Xu Xiaoyou carried her longblade and led Tang Xin through the chaos to Chen San's side. The latter was still leaning over the open hood of the car, repairing the engine.
"Who do you think it is?" she asked bluntly.
"You don't suspect me?"
"From the moment we drove onto this mountain road, if anything had seemed off about you, I would have dealt with you immediately."
"But I don't think I could have stopped an out-of-control car from plunging off a cliff."
The implication was clear.
Chen San pondered for a moment and said, "I think it's Lin Xing."
"From the very beginning, I felt something was off about him. An indescribable abnormality. We must be wary of him."
"Remember what I said at the start? Some puppets, even when controlled by silk threads, might not even realize it themselves. They unconsciously follow the puppeteer's commands."
Xu Xiaoyou fell silent, as if lost in some memory.
Just then, the youth wielding twin daggers flashed past them, retreating rapidly. Several mist people were pressing in on his position, constantly swinging their claws and snapping their bloody maws. Even as a grade 3 assassin, Lin Xing, who was not suited for frontal combat, seemed to be struggling with the situation.
He crossed his daggers in front of him, his eyes narrowing. Dark blade light flashed out, and blood sprayed from the necks of the mist people before him.
Seeing this, Xu Xiaoyou and Chen San both reacted. The former said coldly, "It's bad enough that nothing useful ever comes out of your mouth, but you brought us here only to get attacked by monsters, and you can't even fix a car. What use are you?"
Chen San also barked back, "If you hadn't slowed the team down this morning, why would we be getting attacked by monsters at a time like this!?"
Having just dealt with the monsters in front of him, Lin Xing was once again attacked from both sides. Mist people lunged from the front and back, pinning him down and dragging him into a new round of bitter fighting. He looked at the two people who seemed to be arguing in the corner and shouted, "That's enough, you two! Look at what time it is! Help me!"
These monsters had a bizarre level of cooperation, controlling their positions. Often, one mist person would draw attention while several others found tricky angles to attack simultaneously. It was impossible to find the right angle to freeze them all with an ability. Instead, the shifting sightlines often led to eye contact with their crimson pupils, sending the monsters into a frenzy.
The fog grew thicker, and sharp shrieks echoed over the valley. More monsters appeared in the distance. Looking down the road, the mass of shadows was so dense it seemed endless.
They attacked from angles no normal person would expect. As the battle dragged on, the number of monsters didn't decrease; instead, more and more frenzied mist people crashed through the white fog. The battle reached a stalemate, and everyone's situation became increasingly passive, faintly trending toward a worse outcome.
Before long, almost everyone was sporting some level of injury.
A water barrier was attached to the blonde girl. Under the dual enhancement of Blue-Winged Voice and Heroic Hymn, she wove through the battlefield with her Dawn Haze Blade like a ray of morning light.
After dealing with several mist people in succession, she reached Lin Sheng's side. The latter was swinging a decapitating blade with such force it whistled, hacking down every monster that pounced. He was covered in blood—some his own, some from the monsters.
Lin Sheng was glowing with a red light, a war cry erupting from his throat. An aura like a frenzied lion bolstered his presence, his muscles rippling. A crimson light flickered in his eyes, and with one swing of his blade, he actually split a mist person vertically in half!
Lin Sheng shook the viscous blood from his heavy blade, his heavy breathing subsiding slightly. Noticing the blonde girl approaching, he frowned:
"What is it?"
Xu Xiaoyou asked in a steady voice, "When did you first feel your brother was acting strange?"
Her presumptive question caught him off guard. After a moment of thought, he asked, "You suspect Lin Xing has been controlled by silk threads and turned into a puppet?"
Xu Xiaoyou didn't answer. She simply swung her scorching blade to kill a nearby frenzied mist person before using her sniper rifle to pick off several figures in the distance. The powerful recoil made her palms and shoulders go numb.
"In the last few days, have you encountered any strange people?" she asked.
Lin Sheng went silent. After a long time, he finally let out a slow sigh. "If I had to say... on the way here before the operation started, we met a guy in a cloak who looked a bit strange."
"So that's how it is..." Xu Xiaoyou nodded, deep in thought.
"If my brother really is being controlled by a puppeteer, what do you plan to do? If you intend to kill him, I won't just stand by and watch," Lin Sheng said, his tone heavy. "We can restrain him until the puppeteer is dealt with."
Xu Xiaoyou still didn't answer the question. Watching the girl's retreating back, Lin Sheng's brow furrowed as he stood there, lost in thought.
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