Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 301: Chapter 105: The Three Minutes of Life and Death Chase

(Unable to use additional updates for the Silver Alliance, progress completed 21/100.)

Bai Wu furrowed his brows.

So far, Xie Yingjie was halfway to knowing about the existence of the "eyes," because he did not know the ability of the eyes. Apart from Xie Yingjie, there was Zero with merged memories.

Now, suddenly, another "non-living" entity knew about it, and it even had the appearance of a hostile camp, which displeased Bai Wu.

"Newcomer, you’d better understand your place."

To Bai Wu, a Fragment was just a tool, its purpose being to handle certain special situations.

His attitude seemed to be perceivable by the "sacrifice." Sure enough, the Octopus quickly changed its tune:

"Yo ho ho ho ho, please don’t be angry. Business is business, and there’s always next time. I’m just offering you some advice."

Prayle’s Eye, after all, was just a Sequence.

But maybe because of the special nature of this Sequence, Bai Wu always felt as if he had a noisy but interesting friend. Even though this friend’s style was mostly his own other side, essentially, this friend was just some kind of non-existent ability.

He couldn’t communicate with it.

And to face Jing Wu in a battle, if it were not for standing on the shoulders of the giant Zero, there would be no twists and turns in this fight; everyone together would not be enough for Jing Wu.

He was bound to make sacrifices...

The nature of this confrontation was that of a weak High Tower person meeting a powerful monster from outside the tower, desperately clinging to survival in utter disarray.

But Bai Wu did not want to lose the "mischievous eyes."

To him, Prayle’s Eye seemed very common because these things that Xie Yingjie considered rare were something he had from the beginning. It was like accepting someone’s legacy and gifts.

But he also knew more than anyone about the uncommonness of the eyes; without Prayle’s Eye, Bai Wu believed he would not have survived until now.

Sacrificing a friend seemed somewhat odd, but it was something Bai Wu couldn’t do.

"Make another demand. Five Elements Cycle, No Action Counterattack, Iron Armament, Enhanced Vision, Wave Band Interference, Hidden Edge, Double Strength, or even Taotie will do."

"Customer first, of course I will fulfill your request, but I must tell you that the nature of the Sequence is the same as our Doomsday Fragment. We are both creations not born out of twisted rules, yo ho ho ho. There are always some Sequences and Fragments that are quite different; they cannot be replicated, and once someone acquires them, they will never appear again."

"The other Sequences you possess are not bad, but the power they can exchange is unlikely to get you out of the predicament. However, business is business, there’s no reason not to proceed~"

While speaking, the immensely greedy "Octopus" had already erased all Sequences from Bai Wu’s body, except for Prayle’s Eye.

In that moment, Prayle’s Eye provided another hint.

[Oh, this thing was first brought near the Well by that deer and has been tainted with some evil aura. It’s best not to use it if you can avoid it, because sacrificing the Fragment... is not on your side.

Now you’ve got nothing but me~

But don’t worry, as long as we can survive, we will gain far more from this journey than we lose!

Since you’re a loyal and good buddy, although I can’t observe that piece of junk, I can observe the environment!]

"No regrets in pawn, our next deal will probably happen in a minute and twenty seconds. Your power has been greatly enhanced, and the time limit is six minutes. Yo ho ho ho ho ho, I look forward to your making the right choice, because after a sacrifice is made three times, there will be a seven-day gap."

Profiteer!

Bai Wu never thought he would one day encounter "usury." Sacrificing so many Sequences in exchange for six minutes of enhancement was obviously not worth it.

But everything at this moment was to save the king at the expense of a pawn.

His consciousness vanished instantly from the strange pawnshop.

At the same time, he felt a power even more abundant than during Evil Fallen Transformation surging through his body, and Bai Wu felt like he instantly reached the twelfth level!

With this newfound power, Bai Wu glared at Jing Wu like a wrathful deity, as if he would launch a fierce attack on Jing Wu the next second!

With a light leap, the ground of Train City collapsed under the tremendous force.

However, this seemingly stylish charge did not head towards Jing Wu; Bai Wu chose to flee in the opposite direction.

He... ran away!

Like an arrow released from its bow, Bai Wu’s silhouette vanished in an instant!

Jing Wu, sensing the momentum of Bai Wu, thought Bai Wu was going for broke and was momentarily stunned.

Due to Bai Yuan’s taunting and maxing out hate, Jing Wu now harbored a killing intent for Bai Wu! Bai Wu had no doubt that he now served as bait to keep Jing Wu’s focus.

In Bai Wu’s view, fighting Jing Wu was simply not realistic. Only by constantly running away, buying time, might he have a chance in these six minutes.

"You think you can run away?"

[That’s right! Good job! Keep running, keep running. No matter how much you enhance yourself, even if your hair turns into banana shapes, you’re no match for carrying defective goods! Keep heading towards Heaven Avenue, and you’ll encounter Yan Zizai, who will use Bipolar Transposition!]

Up to now, Bai Wu was unclear whether Prayle’s Eye saw the future due to cause and effect or something else. All he knew was that the future seen by the eye seemed to be even more precise than the Eye of the Scales.

Jing Wu moved with incredible speed, and in just a moment, Bai Wu felt a destructive aura catching up to him.

But everything occurred just as foreseen by the eye, on the path towards Heaven Avenue, Yan Zizai and Bai Xiaoyu appeared!

"Bipolar Transposition!"

Feeling the unprecedented strong pressure coming from behind Bai Wu, Yan Zizai didn’t have time to think too much. In order to complete the SSS-rank mission, he activated Bipolar Transposition.

Right when Bai Wu was about to be touched by Jing Wu, Yan Zizai swapped places with Bai Wu!

Watching Bai Wu suddenly disappear from in front of him, Jing Wu flashed a moment of confusion.

"Reinforcements? A mantis trying to stop a chariot."

The power of Jing Wu was terrifying, as he instantly pierced through Yan Zizai’s heart with one finger.

Yan Zizai did not even have the chance to think of dodging before Jing Wu had already passed him.

"Lord Yan!!" Bai Xiaoyu ran frantically towards Yan Zizai, attempting to exchange life force with him.

In a critical moment, Yan Zizai indeed activated Bipolar Transposition.

But at the very moment Yan Zizai tried to do so, the Eye of the Scales seemed to see himself exploding to death, with countless black threads, like some kind of parasite, instantly invading his body, turning him into a monster!

In the blink of an eye, Yan Zizai didn’t even have time to fear what kind of divine being the person in front of him was. He didn’t know why exchanging life force with this person would cause him to explode and die.

He had to change his strategy and exchanged life force with Bai Xiaoyu instead. frёewebηovel.cѳm

Jing Wu’s figure instantly passed Yan Zizai, but soon Jing Wu stopped his steps again.

Because Yan Zizai, who should have died, had come back to life.

"It seems you also possess an interesting Sequence within you. I will study you later, you just stay here."

As if the words were carrying a curse, Yan Zizai’s heart was suddenly filled with numerous negative emotions.

He knelt on the ground in agony, his wristwatch that detected emotions showing a rapidly increasing value.

The scene Bai Wu was most worried about nearly happened.

Although Jing Wu did nothing, the dangerous act of getting close to him had already caused Yan Zizai’s consciousness to be occupied by negative emotions.

As a Guardian of the Yan family, Yan Zizai was born without emotions, plus possessing the powerful Eye of the Scales and the Eye of Insight, he was like another version of Bai Wu.

But many things, while seemingly similar, are entirely different in principle.

He collapsed to the ground in pain, about to become an Evil Fallen.

Bai Wu could not afford to care, leaving it all to Zero. Jing Wu’s pursuit began once again; he had to keep fleeing!

Soon, the mechanical devices on Yan Zizai’s body seemed to be overtaken by darkness. The moment before he was about to lose control and undergo Evil Fallen Transformation, due to intense numbness, Yan Zizai fell into a coma.

...

...

The chase between life and death continued!

Bai Wu’s speed had greatly increased, but compared to Jing Wu, it was still too slow.

They streaked across the dark South District like two rays of light, arriving directly in the West City District!

All along the way, Bai Wu saw many members of the Mechanical Race enter a state of stasis, having been forcibly taken over by Zero.

As Jing Wu approached, this stasis was either swept away by the airflow of Jing Wu’s running or, feeling the immense negative emotions, the machinery began to mutate due to external negative emotions.

If the Lau virus was a conflict of logic between the soul and the core of the Mechanical Race, then Jing Wu was an even more powerful virus from the outside!

At the end of the alley, Bai Wu’s eyes kept popping up with annotations.

Prayle’s Eye was frantically providing information!

[Left, left! On the right, you’ll encounter a dead-end!]

[Do you plan to cross through the bathroom? The smell of oil there is too strong, just a friendly reminder, you have six seconds before you’re caught!]

[Beg for mercy, talk them down! Just delay them by any means! Because you’ve already... been caught!]

The moment the annotations disappeared, Jing Wu appeared in front of Bai Wu, his movements precise, his hand harshly clutched Bai Wu’s throat.

One hundred and fourteen seconds.

Despite "Sacrifice"’s prediction that Bai Wu could only hold out for a maximum of eighty seconds, he endured an extra half a minute with the help of Yan Zizai and Prayle’s Eye.

Bai Wu finally fell into Jing Wu’s hands.

"Give me..."

Before he could finish the word "death," Bai Wu shouted loudly:

"Mummy, Reincarnation, flight! I know the weaknesses! I know the location!"

Jing Wu indeed stopped. There was confusion in its eyes.

"What’s inside that coffin must be your brother. I also know that another force not affiliated with you is looking for that coffin. It has a name you’re familiar with, called Judge!"

"I’ve already been to Huangquan Island; you definitely haven’t been there! I know Judge wants to rescue one of your elder brothers, and I know its plan!"

Bai Wu acted as if he was a spineless informant, spilling all the allied intelligence immediately without being tortured.

"Moreover... I’ve seen Jing Si! It’s tied up somewhere unknown, shackled in chains!"

One major revelation after another, surely these were disclosures that Bai Wu thought could sway Jing Wu. But Jing Wu’s next statement shattered Bai Wu’s illusions:

"Zero in the Inner World cannot suppress native life forms as it does in the real world. Similarly, many of my abilities are unusable there. For example, I can’t touch and sense your true thoughts."

Jing Wu sneered:

"You’re trying to buy time, how pitiful!"

Bai Wu’s eyes widened, and in that moment, a series of "danger" alerts popped up!

He didn’t care about the vast gap in strength between himself and Jing Wu and started to struggle.

At the same time, the lifeforce in Bai Wu’s body began to drain rapidly; the places Jing Wu touched began to decay.

It was like encountering that terrifying term back in the casino fight against the cat—the Oblivion Parasite.

Life and death in a blink of an eye! And with the throat’s decay came the draining of Bai Wu’s lifeforce!

Once again, Bai Wu’s consciousness entered the world of the Sacrifice Fragment. He intended to use the difference in time dimensions to create a chance for survival.

"Dear guest, you are about to die, ho ho ho ho ho..."

"Can you change your form?"

As soon as Bai Wu spoke, he immediately felt... maybe it’s better not to. Although turning into someone familiar wouldn’t lower his guard, becoming this octopus at least kept him constantly aware that he was dealing with a greedy merchant that coveted his eyes.

"Nevermind, I want to know what else can be sacrificed?"

"Memory, lifespan, or something else on you, like the flower, bird, insect, fish—these four little things are quite nice. My ability is to grant you powerful strength by twisting the rules, but every trade, at its core, is an exchange of matter."

Flower, bird, insect, fish...

These four fragments were the Baichuan Middle School fragments, the hope of the sanctuary. Bai Wu shook his head and said:

"Choose another."

"You’re about to die, won’t you reconsider? Guest, you’re making this very difficult for me. If the fragments are unwilling, the Sequence is unwilling, and when you die, you’ll have nothing left. The Full Moon Fragment is also fine."

"That’s not acceptable either."

Bai Wu immediately rejected the offer.

The Full Moon Fragment, if used correctly, could act as a sort of resurrection item.

Bai Wu could already sense the Sacrifice’s greed; it nearly always targeted the finest things on him.

Suddenly he had an idea and said:

"I have a drop of Well Water on me; you know what I’m talking about. I can sacrifice that."

"That won’t do. While I do accept external items, that thing is a risk commodity. Until you undertake the corresponding risks and collapse the outcome into pure gain, it does not hold value."

Indeed, time was running short, even if the proportion of time dimensions was a thousand to one. If he continued to stall, he would still die.

Memory was also crucial for Bai Wu, as it represented intelligence. And so, Bai Wu made a swift decision!

"Lifespan, I choose to sacrifice my lifespan."

"Well, that’s standard, something most people are willing to sacrifice and possess, but I must clarify the rules with you: sacrificing lifespan here is a bit different. You can’t choose how many years of lifespan to sacrifice; you can only choose how many years you have left."

Bai Wu immediately understood the meaning of these words. He couldn’t choose to sacrifice a few decades or centuries worth of lifespan; he could only choose how many years of lifespan remained for him.

He suddenly hesitated.

"Life span is a very regular thing, which you may obtain through other means later, or even after you’ve acquired something valuable, you can sacrifice it to me to earn life span! So don’t hesitate, ho ho ho ho ho, if you change the remaining life span to seven days, you will gain the strength to support the next few minutes! Why wouldn’t you do it?"

Bai Wu was now certain that the stance of "sacrifice" seemed different from his own. This was indeed a way to temporarily enhance strength, but it was no different from making a deal with the devil!

Seven days to find something valuable enough to trade for life span was, in Bai Wu’s view, simply gambling!

The Octopus continued to tempt:

"Isn’t this request very reasonable? Live for seven more days, die later, or die right now? Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho, guest, you’re so smart, surely you’ve made up your mind? Shall I take your life span? If there are only seven days left, I can at least grant you the power to match this utmost evil being in the next three minutes!"

[Go away, the deal is off! Although you would indeed accept this deal, at least it’s not time yet, your teammates have already arrived!]

"Go away, the deal is off!"

Seeing the remark, almost without thinking, Bai Wu blurted out these words.

Bai Wu temporarily set aside the other information in the remark. Having only seven days left to live was terrifying in itself. But the sacrifice fragment obviously still intended to squeeze more out of him.

"Ah, your eyes are such troublesome things, we could have had another deal, till next time, ho ho ho ho ho ho..."

Amidst the echoing laughter, Bai Wu’s consciousness returned to reality once more.

His situation remained grim, and since the deal was off, it meant he did not possess the power to confront Jing Wu.

But just as Jing Wu was about to kill Bai Wu, a thunderous blow, from a great distance as if ignoring the space between them, slashed through!

"Let him go!"

Though the voice came from afar, when he heard it, the owner of the voice still arrived with the force of a storm, delivering a powerful slash!

This blow was undoubtedly Wu Jiu’s strongest in his life! It even surpassed the standard when he had defeated the butler!

The slash was aimed directly at Jing Wu’s neck!

Meanwhile, Bai Wu, who had seen this scene in advance, finally broke free from Jing Wu’s constriction before his own throat succumbed to decay.

There wasn’t a single scratch on Jing Wu’s neck; Wu Jiu’s all-out blow had done no harm to it.

But Bai Wu had nevertheless escaped death, and with that, Wu Jiu’s objective was achieved.

"You have the scent of destruction on you, did it actually lose to you, a human?" Jing Wu was somewhat puzzled.

"That blindfolded monster? It’s been dealt with by me, and now it’s your turn."

Wu Jiu positioned his sword in front of him, protecting Bai Wu behind him.

Even though Bai Wu felt there was not the slightest chance of winning against Jing Wu for their captain, he had to admit—

The moment this man appeared, the oppressiveness of life and death dissipated significantly.

Having been in Mechanical City for so long, the two successive captains of the seventh squad of the Investigation Corps were meeting for the first time.

"Run!"

With high combat experience and strategic intelligence, Wu Jiu realized the level of the enemy in front of him was beyond what he could confront as soon as he discovered his blow was ineffective.

He decided to use Instant Shadow to escape with Bai Wu.

But just as Wu Jiu was about to activate Instant Shadow, an endless tide of negative emotions arose in his mind, causing his concentration to falter momentarily, and he fell to the ground just like Yan Zizai.

Bai Wu, who was ready to escape with Wu Jiu, suddenly stopped.

"No matter how powerful the Sequence you possess, humans are always humans, a pitiful species governed by emotions."

Stepping on Wu Jiu’s head, Jing Wu looked at Bai Wu, who had halted his escape, and revealed a ferocious smile.

"I will turn him into an Evil Fallen, perhaps he’ll become a being of intelligence, but I have countless methods to slowly make him submit to me!"

"Bai Wu... run!"

Even overwhelmed by negative emotions, Wu Jiu struggled to speak, relying on his willpower.

He did not know the significance of the six minutes, nor how strong this person was; he was simply, as always, stepping in front of his teammate who needed protection.

At that moment, Bai Wu felt as if someone had touched his reverse scale!

Even though he had seen that the captain would be paralyzed into an unconscious state due to Zero’s control over the mechanical body... he still made his decision without hesitation!

The pawn shop in the void appeared once again, the merchant’s sneering laughter echoed in Bai Wu’s ears once more.

"Take it! My life span is yours!"