Water Arts Ability

Xu Xiaoyou glanced at the blue-haired girl whose chest still rose faintly. She hadn’t expected Tang Xin’s strike just now to be so decisive.

“It’s a puppeteer,” Xu Xiaoyou concluded immediately.

Recalling the girl’s earlier words and the strange feeling she’d sensed upon entering the refugee settlement, the same conclusion became clear — most of the refugees here had likely already become puppets.

Gale winds rolled dark clouds together as murky layers churned endlessly. A bolt of lightning tore across the horizon, illuminating the scene outside the house. Tang Xin turned her head and instinctively stepped back.

At some unknown moment, the yard outside had filled with refugees.

They looked much the same as usual, except for the strange smiles on their faces. In their hands were various sharp tools — axes, cleavers, flat sickles, metal farming implements.

More than a dozen figures stood silently outside the door, staring straight at them. The sight was unbearably eerie. Thunder roared, and what followed was a scene Tang Xin would never forget.

The refugees’ scalps split open as thick, mud-like black liquid poured down. Their skin peeled away at a visible speed, like shedding an ordinary garment. Beneath it was not flesh and blood, but glossy, pitch-black bodies with a ceramic sheen.

Jointed limbs twisted upward at unnatural angles. Featureless heads tilted grotesquely to the side.

As if invisible hands were manipulating them from the gloomy sky with silk threads, the refugee puppets’ feet slowly left the ground. Their bodies hung suspended, ghostly green flames igniting across their smooth, blank faces.

Tang Xin reacted instantly, shoving the wardrobe over to block the door. Moments later, violent impacts thundered from outside.

Countless puppet hands clawed through the gaps between the doorframe and wardrobe. Sharp collisions mixed with rolling thunder, echoing in Tang Xin’s ears. Amid the chaos, she clearly heard the blond girl’s voice.

“Wait before going out.”

Suddenly recalling something, Tang Xin asked instinctively, “Yuzu… you already knew these refugees were a problem, didn’t you?”

If that were the case, Xu Xiaoyou could have warned everyone before entering the village — unless she intended to use these puppets for something.

“Because they’re irrelevant,” Xu Xiaoyou replied flatly, looking at Tang Xin.

Ignoring the puppets pounding their way inside, she scanned the room and walked quickly to the little girl’s body, pulling the still-burning blade from her neck.

Looking at the lifeless puppet corpse on the floor, Xu Xiaoyou reached a conclusion: the girl had likely already been dead before being pierced. That was why her body rotted so quickly — meaning that even after death, a body controlled by silk threads could maintain a false state of life.

With that thought, she moved deeper inside.

Sensing someone nearby, the two human puppets showed faint reactions. Their stiff bodies twitched, and in their gouged-out eye sockets Xu Xiaoyou saw something unimaginable —

Relief.

It was hard to believe they were still alive, still breathing, still had heartbeats.

Their bodies were ruined beyond recognition, yet clung to the barest traces of life. Xu Xiaoyou’s resolve hardened. Without hesitation, she ended their suffering with clean strikes.

Dark red, almost black blood splashed across her face. The two bodies collapsed, rapidly rotting and spawning maggots. The final expression left on their faces was one of release.

Just then, a violent crash echoed from the living room. Tang Xin couldn’t hold the door alone — the wardrobe toppled as countless refugee puppets flooded inside.

Suspended limbs tangled together. Green flames burned like grinning ghost faces as the puppets crawled toward them in twisted postures.

Tang Xin looked at Xu Xiaoyou and raised her hand, chanting softly. Purple and blue halos spread layer by layer beneath the girl’s feet.

Under the effects of Blue-Winged Voice and Heroic Hymn, violet radiance enveloped Xu Xiaoyou’s body.

Her speed surged. She dodged several puppet strikes in succession. As one lunged from the side, Xu Xiaoyou merely cast it a casual glance.

Light, dancing water rippled around her, forming a thin barrier. Its strength was minimal, yet it intercepted the puppet’s claws with extreme precision.

Tang Xin’s eyes widened.

That water barrier wasn’t hers.

There were only two of them in the room — which meant Xu Xiaoyou herself had cast it.

Tang Xin had long suspected Xu Xiaoyou possessed fire elemental control, but she had never seen her use water arts before — and judging by its instability, she had only just mastered it.

Indeed, after spending time with Tang Xin, Xu Xiaoyou had carefully observed her chanting and casting methods, sensing the latent resonance between her body and water elements. By imitation, she had successfully grasped water arts.

Though far weaker than Tang Xin’s mastery, it was more than sufficient for now.

With that thought, several Vortex skill cards appeared in Xu Xiaoyou’s hand, dissolving into light and merging with her body.

She raised her palm. Fine water droplets gathered, converging into a violently spinning torrent that erupted outward.

Multiple water tornadoes exploded from her position like raging flood dragons, smashing all incoming refugee puppets into the walls.

Even long after the water dispersed, the turbulent elemental pressure lingered.

Before the puppets could recover, Xu Xiaoyou wielded the Dawn Haze Blade, cutting a path forward with Tang Xin. Together they broke out of the house.

Ghostly lights flickered in the darkness. Cold wind howled. Puppet silhouettes filled the forested village — dozens, perhaps hundreds.

The village had become a living puppet hell.

More refugee puppets shed their skin mid-approach, revealing glossy black bodies. Suspended in the air, they surged toward the two in grotesque flight.

Xu Xiaoyou and Tang Xin stood back to back. Fire and water erupted together, blasting the airborne puppets down.

“The timing’s right. Let’s regroup,” Xu Xiaoyou said, stabbing through a puppet’s chest and flicking the blade clean.

Tang Xin nodded, using water arts to repel the rear threats.

Perfectly synchronized, the two girls tore open a gap in the puppet horde and broke through the encirclement.