Chapter 918: Applying What Was Learned
"Stop them!"
For the first time tonight, the voice behind the door became so hoarse and desperate that it made people worry about his vocal cords. The clash between Lin Sanjiu and Naga-ashi ended in just a few seconds, but it took the person behind the door nearly half a minute to finally understand the harsh reality before him—his Little Hole had turned into a useless pile of flesh riddled with holes.
In just over ten minutes of fighting, his treasured "third kind of creature" was on the brink of death, and the other was completely disabled. The person behind the door nearly lost his sanity, and his words were so muddled with anger that they were barely coherent: "Stop them! All of you! Make sure to kill them on the spot!"
Lin Sanjiu glanced at the dark figures in the distance and took a deep breath.
"Are you back to normal?" She didn't turn around but asked in a low voice.
"What do you mean by 'normal'?" Naga-ashi's voice was filled with resistance and mockery.
It seemed that it had returned to its original state.
"I don't have the extra energy to deal with you now," Lin Sanjiu untied the Empty Hand from the back of her hand and neatly tied it around her boot with a shoelace. "I don't expect you to cooperate, just don't slow me down."
Naga-ashi snorted through its nose, flicked its long umbrella, and leaped into the darkness ahead.
Little Hole and the creatures on the opposite side, as the third form of humans distinct from duoluozhong and posthumans, had both undergone changes in form and ability. The fact that Empty Hand worked on Little Hole was truly her luck.
Most importantly, since she could take away its ability, it also meant that she could use the ability again.
Lin Sanjiu looked ahead and lightly tapped the Empty Hand on her chest. The next second, she disappeared from where she stood and leaped high into the dark night.
This battle felt strange because she had no idea what kind of enemy she was facing.
When she abruptly clasped her hands together on a humanoid shadow, it exploded into a shower of stone fragments. Then, she saw an umbrella-shaped shadow open not far away. As she rushed in that direction, she almost collided with a swaying sea anemone that was larger than a person.
After narrowly avoiding being engulfed by the sea anemone's tentacles time and time again, she finally found an opportunity. In the instant when its tentacles were fully extended, she tore through its central body with an air vortex. She kept dodging and maneuvering through the overlapping shadows, and her Defense Forcefield kept flashing with white light—it meant that she was continuously under attack, even though she had no idea where the attacks were coming from.
"Reinforce the troops! Keep reinforcing!" The voice of the person behind the door echoed from afar, and even from this distance, his voice sounded heart-wrenching. "I refuse to believe that so many children can't stop her alone!"
Well, then, go ahead and give it a try.
Lin Sanjiu took a breath and a smile invisible to anyone appeared on her face in the darkness. The wolf tooth in her hand instantly drew a long semicircle, cutting the night in half with a silver line. Immediately, something behind the silver line let out a painful cry.
Before the cry could fade, she wrapped herself in the wind and pounced towards the creature, her consciousness surging out and firmly locking it in her palm. It was difficult to see the creature's appearance in the darkness, but it was roughly the size of a large dog. Just as she pinned it down, the creature couldn't help but "confess."
"I... I want to get out of here," it stammered and trembled, "I remember the outside world is vast, with seas and skies... I hate being trapped in a glass box. Please, I'll tell you the way out, take me with you and let's escape together!"
"Where is the exit?" Lin Sanjiu's eyes lit up.
"Break through this encirclement," the thing under her palm, resembling a deformed baby with a giant head, said in a stuttering voice, "Break through... huh, at the back of the encirclement, there's a small path..."
It trembled so much that its words became almost inaudible.
Lin Sanjiu was skeptical, so she released a bit of her consciousness. The deformed baby-like thing suddenly took a deep breath, as if it no longer had to struggle against some force. Then it changed its tone and said loudly, "I can discern the 'temptation points' that enemies can use!"
Why did it suddenly...
"If the sound of a baby crying is heard at the entrance of a woman's residence, many women instinctively open the door to check the situation. That's their 'temptation point'!" the deformed baby-like monster continued loudly, as if it couldn't stop, "That's also my ability!"
Lin Sanjiu paused, suddenly understanding something.
"I can see through the 'temptation points' you have that can be exploited. You obtained the ability of Little Hole and confidently wanted to use its power to counterattack us!" The deformed baby-like creature spoke rapidly, as if trying to finish its words before it exploded, "So, this is your 'temptation point.' No matter what I say, you will believe it's the power of Little Hole at work!"
Lin Sanjiu wiped her face with the back of her hand and let out a laugh with a meaning even she didn't fully understand.
The ability of Little Hole that made people unable to help but confess should have only emerged just now, right...? It seemed so. She herself struggled for a while before she had to reveal her thoughts. The baby-like monster started speaking too early.
"I understand," she completely released her hold on it, knowing that it would no longer hold any animosity towards her, unless it happened to have an Empty-handed Kleptomaniac as well. She smiled faintly, stood still with her back to it, and slowly raised the crescent-shaped arc of silver light in front of her eyes.
The baby-like creature quickly turned over, seemingly trying to crawl away. Without looking back, Lin Sanjiu stepped on its body, firmly pinning it to the ground amidst its wailing.
"Continue confessing," she said softly, "...anything that comes to your mind, whether it's your abilities or the abilities of your companions, just pour it all out to me."
The baby-like creature gasped for a few seconds, but ultimately couldn't resist the power of the Little Hole. Its voice hoarse, it began to speak, "I... I've been here for sixty-four days. The natural reserve selects and evolves ordinary people every month... I like my new life... the eyeball, the eyeball is coming towards you, you can't escape it... it's the most difficult one among us to deal with..."
"Eyeball?"
Lin Sanjiu raised an eyebrow, feeling a faint outline emerging from the darkness not far away.