Chapter 341: The Puppet’s Invisible Web

Looking at this girl, Lu Xin felt furious, so he let out a rare roar.

But he couldn’t even pinpoint *why* he was so angry.

Was it because he saw this little girl kill two people without batting an eye?

Or was it because she dared to try and kill his friend?

Or maybe it was the familiar feeling she gave him, a feeling tangled with nothing but negative emotions?

He didn’t have the mental capacity to analyze it all.

Even as he grabbed the girl’s neck and slammed her to the ground, his mind was chaotic. All he knew was to stare into her eyes and tell her she shouldn’t kill anymore. But the harder he yelled the more powerless he felt…

Especially the icy touch spreading from his palm as he held her neck, it felt like some strange magic.

This sensation was more terrifying than any Pollution.

Pollution would seep into his body through his palm, but this sensation exploded directly in his mind.

Vaguely, countless images flashed by, overlapping and shattering like fleeting movie clips.

It felt like this scene had happened before.

…

“Hiss…”

Slammed to the ground by Lu Xin, the little girl stared fixedly at him, letting out an angry hiss.

Her voice was shrill and childish, devoid of any reason, merely a beast-like threatening roar.

“Crack!”

With a crisp snap, the little girl’s head suddenly detached from her body, flying out from under Lu Xin’s hand.

“Crack, crack, crack.”

Immediately after, her small body fell apart piece by piece along the stitched marks.

It tumbled into a messy pile on the ground before the pieces jumped up and scattered in all directions.

Beneath Lu Xin’s palm remained only a bundle of eerie blood threads. As her body parts floated away, these threads suddenly yanked upward. Lu Xin felt a sharp pain in his palm, and lifting his hand, he saw deep bloody marks.

Intense pain shot through him, but paradoxically, he felt a strange sense of satisfaction.

It seemed the harm this girl inflicted on him actually made him feel somewhat better inside.

“Tsk tsk…”

Simultaneously, the scattered body fragments, pulled by countless blood threads, reassembled into the little girl’s form.

“Creak!”

The little girl forcefully twisted her backward head around to face forward.

She stared intently at Lu Xin, her pale pupils emitting a cold glow. *This* was the real prey.

Lu Xin raised his bleeding hand, looking up at her with a bewildered expression.

The next moment, the girl in the air bent her limbs slightly and suddenly shot downward. Now she resembled a hunting spider, darting rapidly through the surrounding web of blood threads, left and right, the glint of her dining knife tracing lines through the air.

Lu Xin stood amidst these countless lines.

But he just stood there silently, motionless, like prey waiting to be slaughtered.

“Get away…”

Just as Lu Xin remained silent and still, Sister angrily charged forward, yelling.

Her small body circled Lu Xin, shattering the streaks of white light from the knife and blocking the surrounding blood threads.

Strangely, however, the Shadow beneath Lu Xin’s feet was unusually quiet, completely still.

…

“What on earth is that?”

The onlookers were dumbfounded. They couldn’t see Sister, but they could tell Lu Xin had apparently enraged the little girl.

Her body danced through the air, the dining knife tracing countless chilling glints of light.

They could feel her almost tangible killing intent directed at Lu Xin, but her overwhelming, elusive, and inescapable rapid attacks were being blocked one after another by an unseen yet equally agile mental power surrounding him.

It was like two forces clashing around Lu Xin’s body.

Yet, Lu Xin himself seemed to be doing nothing at all.

He kept his head lowered, and through strands of hair, his eyes seemed lost in confusion.

The scene created a jarring, shocking contrast.

…

“Quick, look! What message did it send…”

While the little girl in the white dress focused her killing intent entirely on Lu Xin, the others sprang into action.

Chen Jing and Gecko had already quickly jumped back. Seeing the bizarre scene around Lu Xin and knowing they couldn’t intervene, they immediately chose to do something useful, rapidly looking towards Xia Chong and the other Central City Ability Users.

In their judgment, Lu Xin was clearly at a disadvantage, so they hurried to formulate the next plan.

Xia Chong clenched her jaw, forcing herself to take the red balloon from the Doctor.

But as she touched the red balloon, her brow furrowed, and a pained expression crossed her face.

Seemingly unable to handle such complex information, she immediately handed it to Chen Jing.

Chen Jing didn’t hesitate for a second, placing her palm on it.

The moment she touched the balloon, countless images flooded her mind.

It showed scenes of the Central City team nicknamed “Circus” fighting this little girl.

They saw the little girl bizarrely killing the Magician in the shortest amount of time, as well as scenes of her fighting the Captain.

The perspective was from the Clown, ending just before his life did.

Chen Jing quickly processed the thoughts, murmuring, “Precise physical attacks don’t cause fatal damage to her.”

“Her speed is too fast, impossible to dodge…”

“…”

“The Clown’s control-type ability could affect her.”

“Mental impacts can also affect her…”

“Distortion fields can affect her…”

“…”

She and Xia Chong spoke one after another, quickly summarizing the key points from the message.

“Only control-type abilities can restrain her…”

But as they said this, their faces showed a degree of hesitation and confusion:

“But… the team best suited to restrain her was already wiped out…”

“…”

In the final images relayed by the Clown, they saw the Captain suppressing the girl through his immense psychic power.

They also saw the Clown restraining her using his control-type ability.

Judging solely from those scenes, the Captain’s team had almost gained the upper hand.

But the slip-up happened in an instant…

Perhaps if the Magician hadn’t been killed unexpectedly, the Captain and his team would have won.

The team perished, yet she survived.

This absurd and heavy realization left Chen Jing and Xia Chong with an indescribable unease.

“She must be Puppet-type!”

Just then, the Doctor quickly added from the side:

“Only a Puppet-type could, under certain conditions, achieve speed comparable to a Spider-type, making them impossible to guard against.”

“But clearly, she isn’t *just* a Puppet-type.”

“She must have used some powerful mental power to strengthen and distort her own abilities.”

“…”

The Doctor’s words helped Chen Jing and Xia Chong quickly clarify their thoughts. They exchanged a look.

“If that’s the case…”

Xia Chong’s eyes lit up. “I can use the power of the Door to sever these blood threads connecting her.”

Chen Jing nodded. “I can also control her, but I need to see her eyes, and…”

“…I need someone to buy me time to speak!”

“…”

“Almost impossible…”

Xia Chong blurted out, but after a slight pause, added, “But… it’s the only chance we have.”

“However.”

She turned her head towards Lu Xin, her eyes filled with shock. “What kind of Ability User *is* he?”

…

Fragmented images first struck Lu Xin’s mind again and again like daggers.

The pain felt like his brain was being sliced piece by piece.

However, after the most chaotic and painful sensations subsided, some fragmented images began to settle.

Scene after scene surfaced in Lu Xin’s mind – memories he couldn’t tell were real or hallucinations.

He saw many children playing in a sunlit garden, among them a girl with long hair who was particularly timid.

She always hid alone in corners, secretly watching others.

He saw Sister. She, this little girl, and one other person whose face was unclear were always together. Because the three of them were the youngest and wore identical clothes, many people habitually called them the “Three Little Things.”

He saw this little girl, after getting familiar, mustering the courage to offer candy to people.

He saw her often gripping the bars with her small hands, silently gazing at the world outside.

…

Then, the scenes suddenly turned red. Shocking images flashed by, and Lu Xin abruptly snapped back to reality.

He saw Sister fighting the little girl right now.

In the air, the two small white dresses moved so fast they left trails of illusory afterimages.

Their abilities were similar in some ways, yet vastly different.

Both were incredibly fast and even possessed the ability to disassemble their bodies.

However, Sister lacked those eerie blood threads. Though fast, her movements weren’t abrupt and bizarre like the other girl’s.

Besides, Sister was just a playful child; she didn’t possess the little girl’s viciousness and intense desire to kill.

Sister was protecting him now, but clearly, she didn’t even want to fight her.

…

“Why aren’t you helping?”

Lu Xin suddenly looked down at his Shadow.

The Shadow seemed ordinary until Lu Xin’s gaze fixed upon it, causing it to faintly stir. Father’s hollow voice echoed beside Lu Xin’s ear, “Heh heh, I don’t want to get involved in this mess. This is your business…”

Lu Xin suddenly felt an inexplicable anger and irritation, but he didn’t want to ask anything anymore.

He simply raised his head and looked towards the little girl in mid-air.

…

“Bang…”

While the little girl and Sister were fighting, a serpent of flame suddenly shot towards the sky.

The girl was affected, allowing Sister to grab her and quickly slam her towards the ground.

But the girl forcefully broke free, escaping Sister’s hold. Her body, seemingly defying gravity, hovered in mid-air, bobbing slightly. Her gaze turned somewhat indifferent as she looked down towards where the bullet had come from.

“Hey, look here…”

Below, Xia Chong tightly gripped a flamethrower, watching her coolly.

After their brief exchange earlier, Xia Chong and Chen Jing had immediately dashed in different directions.

Xia Chong rushed to a door, first shooting the lock to confirm the door could be pushed open. Then she abruptly turned back, gripping the barrel of the flamethrower with both hands, and swept a fierce blaze of fire towards the girl in the air.

The girl’s speed was extreme; the flames naturally couldn’t harm her.

However, many of the blood threads in the air were instantly scorched, curled, and even melted by Xia Chong’s fire.

Xia Chong’s action immediately agitated the girl in the air, or rather, the girl’s head.

She abruptly turned her head towards Xia Chong.

Ten meters away, the hand holding the dining knife also aimed at Xia Chong.

The Doctor crouched by the door, tightly gripping scalpels.

The burly man wearing a half-broken doll mask stood three meters away, his hands spread.

Chen Jing now stood opposite Xia Chong, her pupils slightly tinged red.

Gecko stood beside her, holding a shotgun.

It seemed they had already formulated a plan during their brief exchange.

And the first step of this plan was to provoke the girl.

…

The first step seemed successful. The girl was provoked; at least her attention was now focused on Xia Chong.

But the second step didn’t go as they expected.

Instead of attacking Xia Chong, the girl ascended higher into the air.

Her body dispersed even further; her limbs and torso now separated by a vast distance.

Her eyes watched Xia Chong coldly, while her head tilted back slightly as if holding something in its mouth.

…

Watching her movements, the Doctor suddenly realized something. He grabbed a handful of leaves and threw them into the distance.

“Swish…”

A few leaves silently split in two.

“Not good…”

The Doctor’s expression twisted, and he yelled towards Xia Chong, “Run!”

…

Just as Lu Xin looked up at the girl, this was the scene he witnessed.

He saw that the surroundings were already filled with fine, invisible threads.

Unlike the crimson threads, these ones were invisible.

And each one was stretched taut, sharp as the dining knife she held.

Lu Xin suddenly understood.

During her fight with Sister, the girl had already laid down crisscrossing threads throughout this area.

Everyone present, whether it was himself, Chen Jing, Gecko, Xia Chong, the Doctor…

Everyone was caught within this web of threads.

The entire web was already pulled to its absolute limit, needing just one final bit of force…

The girl’s head, in mid-air, had caught one thread in its mouth and was pulling it back.

When she released that thread, the entire invisible net would instantly contract. At that point…

…everyone would be turned into scattered fragments.

…This girl was a highly efficient, precise killing machine.