Chapter 75: A Girl’s Sorrow, A Beautiful Withering
“…Artist.”
Cen Xiangyun immediately recognized the elegant, dwarfish man.
Among the eighteen wanted members of the Harbingers of Calamity, Artist’s bounty was ranked ninth. Killing him would grant one access to the Company’s vault, capturing him alive would grant two.
The items within the vault were, at the very least, Sacred Relics of Dangerous Grotesqueries, and it was rumored that there were even treasures related to Taboos, making the reward extremely valuable.
Even the usually stingy Company was generous when it came to these “enemies of humanity.”
The eighteen members of the Harbingers of Calamity all had distinctive features. Due to their status as Grotesque-side Awakened Ones, and their constant contact, even merging, with Grotesqueries, they all had some physical flaws.
Unless, like Performer, whose flaw could be concealed through her “personality disguises,” but unfortunately, she was now dead.
Artist, as a dwarf, was undoubtedly the most recognizable, especially in his impeccably tailored tailcoat and signature monocle.
“Please protect my sister,” Luo Ling said, turning to Cen Xiangyun.
“…Mm.”
Cen Xiangyun looked at Luo Ling, surprised by her calmness in this sudden, dangerous situation.
Come to think of it, she hadn’t sounded very panicked on the phone either.
Wasn’t she a newbie…?
But neither the Company’s internal records nor the local Awakened organizations in Jiangcheng County had any information about this girl.
Cen Xiangyun raised her staff, and the sleeping Su Wan was encased in ice. “This is my second ability, Ice Seal. It’s not ordinary ice, it just induces a forced hibernation and provides protection,” she explained.
It was a powerful protective ability, useful for both herself and her teammates, and could even be used to avoid fatal injuries.
Cen Xiangyun explained out of concern that Luo Ling might misunderstand, then quickly aimed her staff at Artist.
After ensuring her sister’s safety, Luo Ling stood up, faint white threads swirling around her fingertips.
Artist looked at the white threads with pity and said softly,
“I advise you not to use its power. You’ll become very… unsightly in death.”
“I know,” Luo Ling whispered.
She had seen it firsthand.
Li Tianming, Performer…
They had all died by the Puppet Ballad’s power, and their deaths had been… gruesome.
“But I’m different,” Luo Ling said firmly.
“It’s all the same,” Artist sighed. “Such a waste of a beautiful, unpolished gem. I was thinking of turning you into a work of art. I even had a name in mind—”
Before he could finish, countless insects and grotesque creatures crawled out from the ground, swarming towards Luo Ling and Cen Xiangyun.
“—’A Girl’s Sorrow.’”
“Watch out, his ability is to animate inanimate objects and control them!”
Cen Xiangyun warned, raising her staff. Countless ice spikes materialized, raining down on the swarm.
Her expression turned grim.
He knew her ability…
Cen Xiangyun’s ability was Ice, allowing her to create and control ice.
Her first ability, the one she had used to silently eliminate the fake “Old Man Huang” at the shopping mall, was Ice Coagulation.
Targeting a single person, turning all the water in their body into ice.
…Only a single target.
That was why Artist hadn’t used his “artworks” but instead created puppets from the sand and pebbles on the ground, intending to overwhelm them with numbers.
Cen Xiangyun couldn’t use Ice Coagulation against so many puppets, and when she aimed her staff at the smiling Artist, a strong sense of danger warned her not to try.
Her intuition told her that if she did, the one who would be frozen wouldn’t be Artist, but herself… An entity of his level definitely had countermeasures against abilities.
Meanwhile, the puppets, momentarily suppressed by the ice spikes, continued their advance. Those struck by the ice spikes crumbled into sand and pebbles, then quickly reformed, seemingly endless… no, they were endless.
Artist’s life force was abundant. He had chosen this method of combat not because he had to, but because it was easy.
Standing still, creating puppets, and watching with a smile as his opponents struggled.
This wasn’t the elegance of a gentleman.
But the next moment, Artist’s smile faltered, his eyes widening slightly.
“Hmm?”
He suddenly sensed a slight change in the puppets’ will.
Artist’s ability was to animate inanimate objects, anything from sand and pebbles, to water bottles and plastic bags, even corpses.
But these puppets only possessed a basic, insect-like consciousness, able to understand simple commands from their creator, but not directly controllable.
And now, something had changed.
Several corpses that had crawled out from beside Artist’s feet hesitated, not attacking Luo Ling and Cen Xiangyun immediately. Instead, after a moment of sluggishness, they turned and lunged at Artist.
“…Interesting.”
Artist tapped his cane, and the puppets instantly crumbled.
His playful expression vanished as he focused on the seemingly insignificant girl in this battle.
Luo Ling.
Luo Ling’s expression was calm, her fingers slightly raised, faint white threads, empowered by the “egg,” wrapping around the puppets Artist had created.
The white mycelia threads burrowed into the puppets, devouring their flesh and blood, turning them into Meat Puppets under her control.
Then, they betrayed their creator.
Like Cen Xiangyun, Artist could tell that Luo Ling was a Grotesque-side Awakened One and that she had become an “egg” of this unknown Grotesquery.
This Grotesquery’s power had parasitized Luo Ling, using her to consume and accumulate the power it needed to awaken.
This was the power of a High-Risk Grotesquery…
Even in its initial “egg” state, it was comparable to a High-Order Awakened One, let alone its ability to consume flesh and blood and grow stronger. Few could resist the temptation of such power.
Artist believed he couldn’t either, so after learning about this Grotesquery’s characteristics from Scientist’s Retrospect, he had taken precautions.
But what was this girl doing…?
Her calm, clear eyes, her decisive actions, as if she had used this ability countless times, while also resisting the most tempting aspect of the “egg’s” power.
She refused to consume the power of flesh and blood.
All the puppets she controlled, after approaching Artist, chose to self-destruct! Leaving no trace of power for the Puppet Ballad to consume!
“Excellent, excellent… truly excellent…” Artist murmured, a smile returning to his face. “Such a work of art… is truly magnificent.
“I should also… take this seriously.”
Initially, his target had been the “egg” within Luo Ling, turning her into a work of art was merely a hobby.
Only now did Artist truly regard Luo Ling as a worthy opponent.
The swarm of puppets gradually dispersed, until only a layer of sand and pebbles remained on the ground. Cen Xiangyun finally lowered her staff, slightly out of breath.
Continuously using her ability was tiring, but…
Not excessively so.
Even Artist, looking at Cen Xiangyun, couldn’t help but be impressed.
“Excellent, such abundant inspiration, such precise control, even Philosopher, at your stage, was only slightly better… Excellent, I’m interested in you as well. I’ll try to take you with me next time we meet.”
The reason Li Shaoheng had been so confident in leaving Cen Xiangyun alone was because he believed Artist couldn’t defeat her easily. Even if Luo Ling couldn’t contribute, Cen Xiangyun could hold Artist back on her own.
And now, Artist had even admitted he would try to take her next time.
“Now I must end this battle. We don’t have much time to waste…”
If they delayed any longer, the Company’s main force would likely arrive.
Artist knew this was because the local Awakened organization hadn’t realized the true terror of this Grotesquery, but Spatial Distortion definitely knew, and the Company’s reinforcements would arrive soon.
Then, it would be difficult for them to do anything.
As Luo Ling and Cen Xiangyun watched nervously, Artist slowly pulled out a gun from his pocket.
It was a small, antique-looking flintlock pistol, its exquisite gold inlay and intricate carvings radiating an artistic aura, but also… danger.
This was Artist’s Sacred Tool, Art.
“The ‘ultimate’ art,” Artist said slowly, breaking off his little finger and loading it into the pistol as a bullet, “is the moment of life’s bloom, the ultimate death bringing ultimate beauty, the last moment before withering, the most memorable.”
He looked up at Luo Ling, seemingly not even aiming, just casually raising the pistol.
“This is the Withering Flower. Miss, please experience… Silent Demise.”
The next moment, the gun fired.
Luo Ling had been staring at the pistol, not dodging because it wasn’t even aimed at her, she didn’t know how to dodge.
She had tried to control Artist with the Puppet Ballad, but he had been prepared, his body covered in a layer of inanimate material that prevented her Spores from attaching.
Even his severed finger was covered in a special kind of flesh.
The moment the gun fired, Cen Xiangyun created a wall of ice, intending to block the bullet.
But there was no bullet.
Flames erupted from the muzzle, but nothing was fired.
Only a single, budding black flower materialized, slowly blooming.
No… not just one.
Countless black petals, all from the same flower, rained down.
Luo Ling’s Spores, upon touching the petals, instantly went dormant, the connection severed.
The lush, green trees nearby, merely brushed by the petals, withered and decayed rapidly, their leaves falling and rotting into the soil.
The moment the flower appeared, Cen Xiangyun used Ice Seal on both Luo Ling and herself.
She recognized the flower as a deadly threat!
In the Company’s records, the Withering Flower belonged to the Grotesquery known as Purgatory, ranked forty-first… a High-Risk Grotesquery.
This meant that the pistol was a Sacred Tool crafted from the Sacred Relic of a High-Risk Grotesquery!
Although possessing an Authority and using an Authority were two different things, and possessing the power of a High-Risk Grotesquery and using it were also different, now… the one holding the pistol was Artist, a prominent figure even among Grotesque-side Awakened Ones. Its power was unimaginable.
This was practically his ultimate move.
He had lost patience. After witnessing Luo Ling’s familiarity with the Puppet Ballad’s power, he had skipped the preliminaries and used his trump card.
“It’s useless,” Artist’s gentle voice echoed. “You can dodge, but she can’t. I’ve marked her life with a Price.”
The small piece of his finger he had broken off wasn’t just flesh and blood, but a Price.
The price was permanently losing that part of his finger, irreversible by any means.
Judging from the mechanical joints on Artist’s right hand, he hadn’t used this move often, yet he had used it so decisively on Luo Ling. This was a sure-kill.
The rain of petals completely dispelled the “egg’s” power. Even Ice Seal couldn’t block this power of Silent Demise. It was an absolute rule of withering.
A putrid odor emanated from the ice-encased girl, and a touch of paleness tinged her hair.
Cen Xiangyun trembled as she watched another life wither before her eyes.
Although they had only met twice, only known each other for a short while…
Luo Ling had left a deep impression on her.
…Was this battle over?
“Miss Cen, release my Ice Seal.”
Luo Ling’s voice echoed in her mind.
“Hmm?”
Cen Xiangyun was taken aback, still confused.
How could she hear a voice in her mind? Was it a hallucination?
“Please hurry,” the voice repeated, and Cen Xiangyun finally confirmed it was Luo Ling.
…Was this her ability?
Telepathy?
However, Cen Xiangyun didn’t question it further. She chose to trust this girl she had only met a few times.
…Who was also her year-end bonus.
“Ice Seal, release!”
The ice melted, and the girl emerged, moving swiftly through the rain of withering petals.
The relentless decay, the ceaseless withering, couldn’t stop her.
What was she doing?
This question arose in both Artist and Cen Xiangyun’s minds.
The Withering Flower had clearly taken effect. Luo Ling’s life force was rapidly fading. In half a minute, or even less, she would be reduced to a skeleton.
Any action now was futile.
She wouldn’t even reach Artist.
Amidst the beautiful, falling petals, the stench of decay intensified, but the girl continued, rushing straight towards Artist.
Thirty steps, twenty-five steps, twenty steps…
As Artist’s mental countdown of Luo Ling’s life reached zero, he was shocked to see the ghostly figure show no signs of slowing down, only a few steps away from him.
How… how was this possible?
The Withering Flower had taken effect, it was draining her life force, there was no doubt about that.
But how could she, her body withering, still reach him?
Confusion filled Artist’s mind, but as he adjusted his monocle and looked at Luo Ling again, he finally understood.
“Such a… novel application…”
Luo Ling’s skin was rotting, chunks of foul flesh falling away, reeking of death.
But… this was the flesh created by Proliferation!
Luo Ling had used the Puppet Ballad’s second ability, Proliferation, on herself. The Spores had absorbed her stamina and grown more flesh and blood, which had shielded her from the Withering Flower’s effects, allowing her to exceed Artist’s expectations.
“Excellent, excellent… truly magnificent!”
Artist suddenly laughed. In his eyes, this was the most beautiful scene.
Death and the maiden, life and struggle, and the falling petals of the Withering Flower, there was no greater beauty in this world, a true masterpiece!
“I shall remember this moment,” Artist whispered, breaking off his entire index finger. “Miss, you deserve this Price.”
“It’s too late, you can’t afford the Price.”
Luo Ling’s voice suddenly echoed in Artist’s mind. It was… a Spore.
The moment Artist broke off his finger, the Spore Luo Ling had planted nearby sprang into action, attaching itself to the severed finger before it could form its inanimate outer layer.
He looked up and met the girl’s burning, dark gold eyes.
“You underestimated me, you always have,” Luo Ling whispered.
Finally, she was less than three steps away from Artist.
“Excellent,” Artist smiled. “But what can you do now that you’re close to me? Don’t tell me you think you have a chance in close combat?”
Although Artist was an Awakened One on the Myriad path, he was still a High-Order Awakened One, a member of the Harbingers of Calamity, with countless tricks up his sleeve. He wasn’t some helpless healer.
Luo Ling didn’t answer, letting her actions speak for themselves.
A rotting hand reached out towards the elegant dwarf, not to attack him, but towards…
—His High-Risk Grotesquery Sacred Tool, the Withering Flower.
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