Chapter 53: Rescue
It hurts…
I can’t feel my body…
Am I dying?
It seemed so…
“Hold on, An Yu.”
Bai’s calm voice, now laced with urgency, echoed in her ears, but An Yu could barely hear it, like a whisper in a dream.
This was her first battle… and such a crushing defeat…
“Don’t fall asleep.”
I’m already dying…
Xiao Bai, don’t save me, give up, run…
Everyone should be arriving soon, don’t die here because of me…
“Don’t give up.”
“Don’t… give up!”
“Don’t die!”
The usually monotonous, childish voice was now filled with barely contained urgency.
An Yu slowly opened her eyes and saw the White Witch, her long white hair flowing freely, her eyes devoid of pupils, only white remained.
Her eerie hair seemed to have a mind of its own, floating in mid-air, weaving something with its power.
“Live.”
Not a request, but a command.
An order given to a life.
“Bai…”
An Yu reached out weakly.
“You must live, An Yu.”
The beautiful, pale girl gazed at her, her colorless eyes seeming almost holy.
An Yu clearly saw her missing half regenerate at an incredible speed.
Her life force responded to the undeniable command, miraculously surviving.
Only after regaining consciousness did An Yu realize what had happened, shock washing over her.
This was Xiao Bai’s ability?!
Could a Low-Order Awakened One on the Myriad path do this?
It was practically resurrection!
At the same time, An Yu felt an unprecedented weakness, as if her recovery had come at the cost of her life force.
But even so, it was a miracle.
Seeing that An Yu was alive, Luo Ling, who had used all her strength for Proliferation, breathed a sigh of relief. It had worked.
This was the first time she had used Proliferation to heal someone, and it was a severe injury, half a body gone.
Fortunately, Proliferation was powerful enough. Luo Ling only needed to expend her own stamina; it was An Yu’s own life force that fueled her regeneration.
However… the danger hadn’t passed.
This wasn’t a battle An Yu, not even a First-Order Awakened One, should be involved in, especially since her ability was currently useless in combat.
The Meat Puppets’ strength wasn’t just their immortality; even more terrifying was their instinct to consume flesh and blood. A single touch would result in complete assimilation.
An Yu was lucky to have only lost half her body. The “Old Man Huang” Luo Ling had fought had almost devoured her entirely.
However… fortunately for Luo Ling, she seemed immune to this consumption. Their “touch” had no effect on her.
Luo Ling suspected this was because she possessed the Puppet Ballad’s power.
But Elsa and An Yu weren’t so fortunate.
The Meat Puppets were an insurmountable force for them.
Elsa, surrounded by several child-sized Meat Puppets, looked panicked. She swung Bella, trying to fend them off, but it was Luo Ling who intervened, pushing them back.
Immune to their consumption, Luo Ling could attack the Meat Puppets without fear. The Sacred Tool dagger Ji Ying had lent her was indeed powerful. Even without any combat training, Luo Ling could easily slice the Meat Puppets into pieces with wild swings.
But this only delayed their advance. Each time they were cut, the Meat Puppets would regenerate within seconds.
Luo Ling recognized their regeneration method as similar to Proliferation, but the source of their life force… didn’t seem to be themselves.
…It likely came from the subterranean cavern beneath Baiyan Village.
This meant that, at least for Luo Ling, they had an endless supply of life force, practically immortal.
“Take An Yu and go,” Luo Ling said to Elsa, who was looking increasingly panicked.
Elsa was unlucky. Her ability was completely countered by these Meat Puppets, who had no souls or consciousness to affect. Mental attacks were useless.
“Mm…”
Elsa bit her lip, knowing that she and An Yu were just burdens.
She switched her wheelchair to electric mode, picked up the unconscious An Yu, and narrowly dodged a Meat Puppet’s attack.
She hadn’t used the electric mode earlier because the battery life was limited, and she didn’t want to waste it unless necessary.
Three small Meat Puppets and one large one, even an experienced Awakened One would struggle to handle them, let alone Luo Ling, who was only able to fight them because of her immunity to their consumption… but even she couldn’t hold them all back.
“It’s been almost an hour,” Luo Ling said, slightly out of breath, trying to reassure them. “Help should arrive soon.”
“Mm…”
Elsa fought back tears of terror and held on.
Luo Ling looked like she was eleven or twelve, but Elsa was that age. The children who had become Meat Puppets might even be older than her.
Even though Elsa had participated in battles against Grotesqueries before, they were nothing compared to this horrifying scene.
Especially the sight of An Yu being erased right before her eyes, her flesh and organs splattering everywhere, had almost broken her.
“Just… a little longer…”
Driven by fear and panic, Elsa followed closely behind Luo Ling, who was fighting and retreating, dodging the Meat Puppets’ sporadic attacks.
Unknowingly, they had returned to the area near the small store.
“One hour and three minutes.”
“If the group still cares about us, they should be here within ten minutes… no, five minutes.”
Luo Ling’s stamina was almost depleted, her movements sluggish.
“At least… I can hold out for another ten minutes.”
This thought crossed Luo Ling’s mind, but she quickly dismissed it.
Because she saw a terrifying sight in the distance.
Dozens of Meat Puppets, wearing the tattered faces of villagers, slowly emerged from the village. Among them, Luo Ling even saw An Yu’s grandparents.
Her second theory had been correct.
Almost all the Meat Puppets in Baiyan Village had awakened. Their only fate was to be devoured.
Just then, Elsa’s excited voice echoed from behind, laced with tears of relief.
“They’re here, Big Sister Bai! Everyone’s here!”
Luo Ling quickly turned and saw ripples appearing in the barrier surrounding Baiyan Village, as if someone was trying to break through from the outside.
One hour and four minutes.
Rescue had arrived.
Leave a Reply to dweeb_com Cancel reply