Free Web NovelChapter 353: Chapter 157: I Got Stronger and My Hair Grew More
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To fight or to retreat?
This question arose the moment Zero mentioned "When lips are gone, teeth will be cold." Although Bai Wu was still not confident about winning in his heart, his innate madness had already conjured up an answer.
"Ninety years of waiting shouldn’t end up in sheer loneliness, should it? Your world often spans seven hundred years, but in my sense... ninety years, that’s really a long time."
"Of course, it’s not just for the wishes of a few old soldiers from the Investigation Corps, I also want to establish a haven."
Zero knew this was a definite response.
[You have a few more days to prepare, Bai Wu, but you need to understand one thing.]
"What?"
[The significance of this battle lies in securing a foothold for the haven, not in saving anyone. War means bloodshed and casualties. The countless deaths in the Mechanical City’s Mechanical Race have already proven this. I hope you are aware of this, and that in the next few days, you can instill this awareness into your friends as well.]
Zero did not mention how he would provide support or how much he would bring. After delivering his message, Zero cut off the communication.
The conversation ended there.
Despite discussing it with Zero, Bai Wu needed some time to digest the information he had just received.
"Zero is right, only by rallying all the forces I can, by igniting the will to fight in everyone, refusing to submit to the Jing Family’s terrifying power, can we probably grasp a sliver of hope in the looming catastrophe."
"This confrontation... is bound to entail substantial losses..."
"If we lose, we lose everything. There may be new hopes stronger than me and Dwarf, than Zero and Lin Rui in the future... But that may be a long, long way off. Death is just the start of the next journey, but if in this journey, we can prove that there were those who resisted... it’s also a meaningful way to die."
"Damn, why am I being so negative... What if we win?"
As time passed second by second, Bai Wu knew he was being pessimistic, but he couldn’t erase the negativity because no matter how he contemplated it, the battle was fraught with danger.
Especially since... it was essentially a gamble.
If the haven wins, it will likely end with Jing Wu and another member of the Jing Family defeated, but does that mean they will die? Probably not. Even if they do, would the haven, also severely weakened, not face any other enemies? That’s also uncertain.
In other words, even if everyone sacrifices their lives to win this battle, it might not be enough to secure a stable foundation for the haven.
The haven has already been revealed to these powerful forces, and the possibility of living cautiously and developing discreetly is no longer an option.
Whether we can stand firm after a victory ultimately depends on Jing Liu.
This woman has seen through everything and planned everything.
"I am a major move in Jing Liu’s plan, at least that’s how it seems now. Now that there’s something more important, Jing Liu thinks she can abandon me. But as Zero said, she too can’t see that future."
"Sacrificing a chariot to save a general, but if both the general and chariot are saved, then the value of the chariot becomes even greater."
Simply put, if we win, I’m still the hero in the prophecies meticulously crafted by Jing Liu, and if the haven steadies itself, Jing Liu might come and help build it alongside the "general" she has saved.
But if we lose... then we have nothing.
After Bai Wu sorted out these relationships, he still had a heap of even more troublesome issues to resolve.
Such as convincing the main forces from Shudu Prison, how to use the terrain, how to lay out strategies, how to minimize losses as much as possible.
The Mechanical City could rely on Zero’s strength for a direct confrontation, but not this time.
Bai Wu pondered various strategies, and before he knew it... night had fallen.
Bai Wu snapped out of it when he contracted a second negative attribute—Hell’s Soil.
"Lucky me, free attribute..."
It was actually a very terrifying negative attribute. Once contracted, negative emotions inside the body could materialize at any time, separating from the body, relieving the intensity of negative emotions. However, the separated negative emotions would turn into terrifying monsters.
The mutation level of the monsters was linked to the ability of the person infected with the attribute.
In other words, a person infected with this negative attribute and burdened with many negative emotions is essentially a mobile humanoid monster spawner.
But this attribute was meaningless to Bai Wu.
The silence was deathly, until he finally came up with some countermeasures—footsteps came from above the floor.
The steps were slow but rhythmic, like an old-fashioned pendulum swinging leisurely.
The last urban legend finally made its appearance.
An old man with a thermos mug walked slowly on the floor above. Although he was slow, he would soon reach the level where Bai Wu was.
The knocking on the door sounded, three knocks. When there was no response, the old man would ask:
"Do you want some tea, just freshly brewed?"
Another three knocks, and seeing no response, the old man would move on to the next room and repeat the process above.
Bai Wu listened carefully for a long time and realized the procedure was the same for each room.
About half an hour later, the old man was no longer upstairs with the thermos mug and had arrived at Bai Wu’s level.
Still the same steps, knocking three times, asking if anyone wanted tea, then another three knocks.
Of course, there was no one living in this building except for Bai Wu in this room.
But Bai Wu was an existence even more terrifying than the urban legends, and because of the Speechless, he couldn’t use his verbal skills, so now he could only overpower the Evil Fallen with brute force.
"There are many doubts about this urban legend... Why would there be such a thermos cup in the house of the Peeping Tom? Was he killed by the urban legend, or is there another reason?"
"Forget it."
As the footsteps became clearer, Bai Wu immediately picked up his axe.
"I must open the door before he gets close and kill him in an instant!"
"Respect the rules, the urban legend is no match for me, but it may not play by the book. If I wait for it to knock and then open the door, it’ll probably be too late."
Bai Wu had an intuition that he should either hide and not respond or attack unexpectedly while the other party was off guard. In any case, he shouldn’t follow the urban legend’s rhythm.
Once again, his intuition was as precise as prophecy, pinpointing the key moment.
While the old man knocked on the neighboring door, asking if they wanted tea, Bai Wu, holding an axe, appeared like an assassin lurking in the shadows!
Bang! The door was kicked open by Bai Wu.
Bai Wu pushed his speed to the limit, said nothing, even as remarks popped up in his vision, he forcibly shifted his attention to ensure that his axe would hit its mark!
The might of this axe strike had a flair reminiscent of Wu Jiu when he sliced through the cabin on the flight to rescue Bai Wu!
The axe in Bai Wu’s hand seemed not an axe, but a guillotine.
His strength rooted in his waist, he swung down ferociously at the white-haired old man’s neck.
Only when a blade is swung does the glow of a sword burst forth, and at this moment, it erupted suddenly.
The white-haired old man didn’t even have time to utter his lines... The sense of impending death, like a ghostly aura from black-and-white photos, hadn’t even begun to instill a sliver of fear in his opponent before Bai Wu severed his head with one clean axe strike.
"You folks in this building, indeed, have made me respect the elderly and cherish the young quite a bit."
To the ears of those who indulge in ghost stories, this sentence became a burst of noise.
"You’ve killed it already? Ohhhh no! I haven’t even started telling the story yet?"
If Prayle’s Eye had an expression, it would probably be the same as a certain golden right foot with a "I haven’t even boarded yet" face.
"Alright, but let’s hear its story anyway. It might be dead, but your great, all-knowing, handsome me is still here. Don’t be fooled by this old man’s kind demeanor; he’s quite the ruthless character.
There are many evil beings in this apartment building, or those who have been passively evil. The old man took delight in what he witnessed.
During times of scarcity, his tea was very popular, and naturally, there were those who wondered how such an old man still had tea to share with others, suspecting him of hoarding supplies. All those who schemed against this wretched old man never returned.
As for those who opened their doors, the old man would leave a thermos in their rooms. However, the next day, if these people did not reciprocate, without exception, they all vanished.
You might wonder about the significance of this old man’s actions, as people always like to ascribe a central moral to a story, but isn’t it the most terrifying when a deviant acts without logic? Of course, he does have some secrets, and the exploration of this apartment building is far from over, but I guess your mind is no longer on this."
Four Doomsday Puzzle pieces fell directly to the ground, and Bai Wu, who had originally thought that such a small area would have a special, solitary fragment, was surprised to find that such a small section could contain four pieces...
Which meant that this building was actually divided into four areas? Bai Wu felt there was something fishy here; the apartment seemed to be hiding some secrets.
"It seems my luck isn’t that great, but indeed I need to eliminate the area restrictions. The apartment may still hold some secrets... there might even be another world beneath it, but all these explorations will have to wait until the shelter’s calamity is over, and I can investigate thoroughly."
Since the old man was dead, naturally, Bai Wu couldn’t make him a guardian spirit. Bai Wu was philosophical about it; after all, not everything could go according to his plan.
He picked up the old man’s head, then put the four pieces representing Evil Fallen Purification into humanity, Evil Fallen intimacy reading, rule invalidation, and area release into his storage bag.
At the same time, Bai Wu, holding the axe with a menacing look, began searching for other ghost stories.
What followed was to begin the final wrap-up.
It must be said, carrying the head of the old man, Bai Wu’s image as the most nefarious tenant in history was further enriched, much more convincing than the previous TV fragments, girl’s hair, and such.
Bai Wu’s plan of ’One Scumbag, Six Ghost Stories’ was completed with minor flaws to eighty-three percent.
Yet, the gains from this trip ranked among the top in all his adventures.
Apart from the Gaze of Spite and Desire from the TV female Evil Fallen, which created short-term illusions that couldn’t be dispelled; and the Spider Woman’s Spider Web Link Domain, making the opponent slower the closer they got to her—
Bai Wu had mastered the Evil Thought Clone of the elevator killer. He could create a clone with some of his abilities near someone who harbored a murderous intent towards him, though it was not powerful, it had some deceiving effects.
Next was the evil disguise of the human trafficker female Evil Fallen. When you bear malice towards your enemy, you’re more likely to gain their favor. This ability was indeed a divine skill for undercover work.
Of course, it couldn’t compare to The Integrator from Yan Zhao, who could gain trust and abilities without the restriction of good and evil while switching places.
And the evil disguise couldn’t be used on Hong Yin, Jiang Yimi, because Bai Wu had no malice towards them.
However, Bai Wu discovered that after the tale of the kidnapped girl monster attached itself to him... his hair had turned into something else.
It was simply against the natural order, who has ever become stronger without going bald?
The last was the Living Puppet’s Undead Puppet Skill. This ability, the Spider Web Link Domain’s successor, Bai Wu felt was the most helpful in battle.
In short... it allowed him to attach his consciousness to some kind of dead object for a short time and control it. According to the notes that his eyes provided, the object had to have been inanimate from the start—a dead corpse would not work.
While Bai Wu was still unclear about the extent to which he could control the objects, these abilities indeed expanded his limitations broadly.
In the end, Bai Wu began to purify the twisted rules of this place, and this stubborn problem of seven hundred years was thoroughly eradicated.
This apartment was finally purified back to its original state.
Even though the last tale, the one about the old man, still hid some secrets, Bai Wu could only resolve those trivialities after the imminent major event had passed.
For now, he must go to Baichuan Middle School to relay some matters to Lin Rui.
...
...
Baichuan Middle School.
When Bai Wu returned to Baichuan Middle School, the laughter had already stopped.
With the Clown ending the laughter, Lin Rui, Jiang Yimi, many of the Evil Fallen from Baichuan City, and nearly a thousand teachers and students who had become Evil Fallen... all regained consciousness.
Lin Rui still felt as if everything had been a dream. Although the Evil Fallen wasn’t powerful, he knew the danger of the laughter. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
However, in the end... Lin Rui had thought he and the Clown would have a showdown, but due to Yan Jiu’s words, the Clown averted the crisis.
And he hoped that Yan Jiu would come and watch the circus performance often.
What kind of development was this?
After Lin Rui told Jiang Yimi this, she became disheartened:
"The girls around Uncle... they really are so amazing... I’m so useless..."
As such a big crisis was resolved, Jiang Yimi only felt like she, the controller of Baichuan Middle School, had become just a supporting role.
She and Lin Rui hadn’t yet realized that danger had descended and even Lin Rui had a hunch... if Yan Jiu continued to meet with the circus’s Clown, the girl might just win his heart over.
It’s quite possible that laughter could become a protective mechanism for the refuge.
After this event, Yan Jiu gained acceptance. When she returned to the student dormitory area, those Evil Fallen no longer feared or distanced themselves from her.
And Yan Jiu, through her interactions with the Clown, seemed to have awakened some kind of talent. She found it even easier to communicate with the Evil Fallen than with humans.
She wanted to share this with Bai Wu, but by the time Bai Wu returned, it was already three in the morning.
Bai Wu stood at the top of the principal’s office building, overlooking the school:
"The area is not large. In the coming days, we need to find a way to have them clear the surrounding areas thoroughly, collecting as many Doomsday Fragments as possible."
"Also... I need to make a trip back to the High Tower. I wonder what Qin Zong’s attitude towards me will be?"
