Chapter 359: Destroying His Image Each Time
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
Boom. When Lin Sanjiu heard the loud explosive sound behind her, she forced open her skeletal wings despite the blast wave behind her. The strong blast wave swept through the shop. Countless grill racks flew into the air before falling noisily to the ground. Lin Sanjiu's wings whipped into action trying its best to block the broken shards of glass from the door behind her in a frenzy.
It was just like a tornado. Even with the protection of her wings, Lin Sanjiu was still covered with numerous abrasions after the explosion died down. She withdrew her wings and slowly stood up from the floor. The female store owner peeked at them from her hiding spot behind the cashier counter. Lin Sanjiu fixed her gaze on the store owner. For a moment, she couldn't bring herself to turn behind.
"You are the person who has been asking about me?"
An effeminate voice Lin Sanjiu had not heard in a long time rang out not far behind her.
Lin Sanjiu did not reply and did not move. In fact, her heart was pounding so hard and her throat was so tight that she probably couldn't even make a sound. All that mental preparation she had done beforehand suddenly seemed totally useless.
She did not hear the sound of any footsteps. She only heard a familiar soft and strange sound. Creak. Creak. She heard Puppeteer walking toward her from the door.
"I don't think I know you…" This time, the voice came from just behind her and Puppeteer almost sounded friendly, "Turn around."
Even though each word he articulated sounded very amiable, for some unknown reason, there was a sort of sinister undertone in his voice which made it hard not to obey.
Without this turn of events, Lin Sanjiu knew she wouldn't end up in such a passive position. She cursed inwardly and finally turned to face Puppeteer.
The person who had been haunting her like a shadow and chasing her like a hunter for such a long time was now right before her. As the rays of sunlight shone through the damaged door, Puppeteer stood in the light looking very relaxed to the point he even looked carefree.
Just as before, he was wearing a pair of black leather pants and thigh-high boots. The large accessory he wore on his back was missing and his pale, slender upper body was naked. The only other accessory Lin Sanjiu noticed was the thick and black leather belt which had been wrapped a few times around his neck. The natural light in the store moved slightly. With the light behind Puppeteer's back, Lin Sanjiu couldn't really make out Puppeteer's expression for a second. She only noticed the red gold dust around the corner of his eyes and on his lips. They glittered slightly in the shadow.
Lin Sanjiu shifted her gaze behind him and she instantly understood what had happened. A man in a red hat was standing behind Puppeteer now. That was the man who had claimed to be a ticket seller. When the person looked at her, his listless expression was nowhere to be seen. He grinned with his wide lips as if to show his extreme satisfaction.
"You…" Puppeteer suddenly narrowed his eyes. It was obvious that he found Lin Sanjiu's appearance very familiar. However, Lin Sanjiu had changed quite a lot and he wasn't immediately sure.
Lin Sanjiu exhaled. She pulled her gaze away from the man in the red hat. There was another man and another woman beside him. She had never seen them before but knew without a doubt that they were also puppets. Lin Sanjiu took half a step back and stared at Puppeteer. She smiled nervously, "Don't you remember me? I am Lin Sanjiu."
Puppeteer was slightly stunned after she said that. Though Lin Sanjiu didn't know if he reacted that way out of shock or something else. After a few seconds, he chuckled, "It's you. You're right. I couldn't recognize you."
"Yes, it's me," Lin Sanjiu started quietly calculating the time she had spent interacting with Puppeteer. "I have a question. Where is my friend?" she questioned him, clenching her teeth.
Puppeteer lowered his chin to examine Lin Sanjiu. His face looked even sharper and skinnier. His wet black fringe slipped down. "I do hope you look a little more pleasing to the eye after you become a puppet," he said softly.
Before his voice even faded, Lin Sanjiu felt the alarm bells in her head ringing. She somersaulted backward, brought her wings to her front and shielded herself. Before she could even land properly, faint smoke suddenly rose from a few spots on her white skeletal wings without warning. She felt a piercing pain. She looked at her wings and discovered that a few small eyes had grown from the spots which were affected.
Puppeteer was wearing a pair of elbow-length leather gloves. From the moment he spoke to Lin Sanjiu, his arms had been firmly crossed. He had not even moved.
Lin Sanjiu did not dare to stand out in the open. She leaped away from him and crouched beside the cashier counter. Seeing that Lin Sanjiu had hidden from her sight, the female puppet standing at the door stopped her attack expressionlessly.
Snatching this short interlude, Lin Sanjiu waved her hand and withdrew her [Tape recorder]. As the recorder played Xueqin's voice, the female store owner spoke at the same time, "The lights you broke…" Lin Sanjiu missed listening to what Xueqin's said in the recording.
"Shut up!" Frustrated, Lin Sanjiu yelled at the woman. It was already too late when she turned her attention back to the recording. Xueqin spoke very fast and her description was very short. In the end, Lin Sanjiu only heard "...ability."
"What ability is that?!" Just as Lin Sanjiu shouted loudly in her mind, the Pygmalion Choker under her bandage started growing warm. Regardless of what Xueqin had said, the ability had been activated. However, Lin Sanjiu had no idea what she could do. She didn't have the time to rewind the tape because the man in the red hat had jumped up and was now in mid-air. His shadow loomed over the cashier counter.
"Damn it!" Lin Sanjiu cussed angrily in her heart. She retracted her wings, bent forward and frog-leaped a table. She barely dodged Red Hat's attack. The three puppets that Puppeteer had with him appeared to have been posthumans once. According to the information Lin Sanjiu had gathered, each of the puppets probably retained their combat abilities and fighting instincts. Without knowing their abilities, Lin Sanjiu did not dare to attack them rashly.
The other reason why Lin Sanjiu restrained herself was because of Puppeteer. From the beginning, he had not even moved an inch. He simply stood in the middle of the store watching the three-against-one battle.
Lin Sanjiu was in her hypersensory state from the start. Before she landed, she eyed the door. She made a quick decision and immediately crouched down. A few eyes appeared on the wall behind her at almost the same time. The position of the eyes on the wall matched the position of Lin Sanjiu's heart just a split second ago. Just then, a few beams of lights suddenly shot out from the small eyes. The eyes had created holes within the walls that penetrated right through. That female puppet probably had a similar sniper ability like Chen Xiaoyuan. However, that puppet was even harder to deal with as she did not need to fire any sort of projectile. Just as the previous attack, if Lin Sanjiu did not spot that woman's action by chance, Lin Sanjiu would not even sense anything amiss.
Taking advantage of the situation, the puppet in the red hat lunged at her. Alarmed, Lin Sanjiu kicked the table in front of her and rushed toward the puppet. While the table blocked the puppet's view, Lin Sanjiu sprinted toward the door at full speed. She had already activated her [mosaic censorship] and both her hands were about to touch the male puppet who was blocking the door.
"You're running away?" Puppeteer said gently. He sounded amused.
"Swamp!" The burly male puppet suddenly shouted. Before Lin Sanjiu could react, she couldn't move her arms and legs. The air around her started to become viscous as if she was really in a swampland. She needed every ounce of strength just to move. Her hands were close to the male puppet but she just couldn't touch him.
The male puppet showed her a cruel smile. "Sink!" he yelled out.
Lin Sanjiu knew what was going to happen even without thinking. Lin Sanjiu's face turned red. Her body was sunk into the ground uncontrollably. She was losing the oxygen in her lungs at an incredible speed. However, just as she was struggling to search for a solution in her head, the male puppet suddenly let out a yelp. Following which, through her hypersensory state, she felt numerous eyes appearing in the viscous air current above her. The swamp suddenly loosened its grip on her.
Everything unfolded with the blink of an eye. Lin Sanjiu's body moved faster than her mind. She took the chance and escaped the [Swamp] ability. When she rushed out onto the "Pumpkin route", she finally realized how lucky she was. The male puppet and female puppet had attacked her consecutively. After the male puppet activated his [Swamp] ability, the female puppet's sniping ability shot through the modified atmospheric air he had created. This was the lucky break that Lin Sanjiu need to escape.
Based on her observations, Puppeteer could only give a general command to his puppets. He did not have full control over their actions. If that was the case, things were simpler!
Compared to that small and packed barbeque shop, fighting on the open streets of Pumpkin Route was easier and freer. When Lin Sanjiu heard the sound of wind behind her, she took out her [Tornado whip] without even feeling a bit anxious. Without turning her head, she released a max intensity tornado behind her. The puppet with the red hat quick retreated backward but he was still caught in the strong wind. With light shining from his hand, he tried his best to resist tornado.
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"If I get close to that sort of ability, that's going to kill!" Lin Sanjiu narrowed her eyes as she stared at the man in the red hat. She had already figured out his ability more or less. When she saw the two other puppets coming out from the shop, she immediately turned and ran.
Regardless of the hiccups, things were still moving according to Aker's plan. Even if it was a gamble, Lin Sanjiu was determined to make Puppeteer stay here as long as she could!
"You spare no pains escaping just like before." Lin Sanjiu heard Puppeteer's faint voice from behind her. "If I didn't see you running away like that, I couldn't even be certain of your identity," he mocked. No matter how fast Lin Sanjiu ran, Puppeteer's voice followed behind her casually, constantly keeping the same distance between them.
Biting her lip, Lin Sanjiu suppressed the abrupt burst of anger she felt. She turned around suddenly. She made an unusual maneuver when she twisted her body. Using the momentum she got as she opened her wings, she slid backward and created a wider distance between herself and Puppeteer.
Puppeteer stopped. He pulled his wet fringe back with his finger. The red gold dust around his eyes slowly spread out forming an arc with his changing expression.
Lin Sanjiu took a quick look around. After confirming that what she prepared with still in the right spot, Lin Sanjiu stared back at the four people in front of her and smiled back at them.
"If I can escape, I consider that my luck." Under the sun, a glint flashed across Lin Sanjiu's light amber eyes. Next, she made a gesture and shouted, "Now!"
Puppeteer's face immediately turned serious. Before he could tell who Lin Sanjiu was shouting to, he noticed a person standing up. There was a small stall with the signboard "Speed portrait, oil painting, 30/60 stamina points". At that moment, a man whom Puppeteer had assumed was a staff of the amusement park stood up. The man spun his canvas around. Puppeteer suddenly felt a strong force pulling him toward the canvas. He lost his footing and flew toward the canvas in a blink of an eye.
His three puppets reacted quickly. They immediately held on to each other and formed a chain as one of them held on to Puppeteer's leg. They only stopped moving forward when the male puppet held on to a pumpkin decorated lamppost. Even though he had already activated his [Swamp] in front of him, he was unable to pull Puppeteer back. Puppeteer and his three puppets found themselves stuck in mid-air.
"Thank you, Xueqin!" Lin Sanjiu couldn't help blurt out as she laughed. Then, she even bent over to take a deep breath.
After considering the whole series of events and how she managed to trap Puppeteer so easily, she finally knew what ability Xueqin had given her. The words she missed out must have been, "You have the Lucky Star ability."
"Hey," Lin Sanjiu wiped her face before walking toward Puppeteer and stopped and stopped a few cautious steps in front of him. Puppeteer's wet shoulder length hair was now floating straight in the air, pointing in the direction of the canvas. Even though Puppeteer's face was now horizontal, Lin Sanjiu could still tell them he was fuming because his face had turned extremely red.
"Isn't it strange? Every time you meet me, you end up looking kinda pathetic… I guess this is you failing at a simple task," Lin Sanjiu beamed. She looked at Puppeteer calmly and then at the artist. She made the artist take a few steps backward so that Puppeteer could not reach him. As the artist did that, the suction force grew stronger. "Now, tell me where are Reno and Rena now? If you answer me, I will think over whether I should let you be sucked into that painting."