The moment the voice sounded, the paper figure jerked its head upward—only to see a figure in a brown overcoat crouched upside-down on the ceiling, a pitch-black gun barrel aimed squarely between its eyes!
The next instant, terrifying deconstructive force erupted, surging toward the paper figure like an invisible pillar that blasted straight through the floor!
Chen Ling knew the paper figure’s abilities were bizarre. In a head-on confrontation, gaining the upper hand would be difficult… But when it came to strange powers, Chen Ling wasn’t lacking either. In this complex, maze-like environment with plenty of visual obstructions, his skills had ample room to maneuver.
At the critical moment, the paper figure moved with phantom-like speed. Even so, half its body was swallowed by the deconstructive force.
Dust billowed as the second-floor ceiling was torn open, leaving a smooth, gaping hole that extended all the way down to the vacant room below—even piercing through the floor and the building’s foundation!
The paper figure’s body was ripped apart, and at the same time, a figure tumbled out like a fish escaping a torn net, crashing heavily onto the ground.
There was someone inside the paper figure?
Seeing this, surprise flashed in Chen Ling’s eyes. When he got a clear look at the person’s face, his astonishment deepened.
Cough cough cough… Jian Changsheng sprawled on the floor like a drowning man gasping for air. When he looked up and saw Chen Ling descending from above, he froze.
Chen Ling had now shifted into Lin Yan’s appearance. Jian Changsheng never expected to run into him here.
“Why were you inside that paper figure?” Chen Ling frowned, then seemed to realize something. Simultaneously, the two spoke, “You were its target too?”
[Audience Expectation +3]
[Current Expectation: 50%]
Boom!
A deafening explosion erupted nearby. The tattered paper figure wobbled unsteadily as it straightened itself. Outside the broken window, sheets of paper slithered in like serpents, coiling around its body and rapidly repairing the damage.
“Be careful,” Jian Changsheng warned immediately. “That guy is an outsider hired by the Stellar Chamber of Commerce from beyond the domains—a fourth-tier expert of the the Path of the Puppeteer.”
Path of the Puppeteer? Fourth-tier?
These two keywords made Chen Ling’s brow furrow involuntarily… This was his first encounter with a holder of this Divine Path. However, manipulating paper figures didn’t quite match his expectations for the Path of the Puppeteer.
But a fourth-tier opponent was indeed troublesome. A single third-tier Path of the Thief user had nearly suppressed the entire Soldier's Ancient Repository's trial. Fourth-tier wielders, having mastered their Domains, represented a qualitative leap beyond third-tier.
“That paper figure can’t be killed. We have to target the main body.” Chen Ling’s voice was grave as he watched the paper figure, now almost fully restored and even larger than before.
“I have [Blood Drop Step]. I’ll go for the kill!”
Even though Jian Changsheng had nearly died at that man’s hands earlier, fear was now the last thing on his mind. Instead, a fierce desire for vengeance burned within him. He stabbed himself three times with his short sword, gouging three horrifying wounds, his aura skyrocketing with each strike.
Seeing this, Chen Ling didn’t interfere, allowing him to flick a droplet of blood out the window and vanish in a flash.
As if sensing Jian Changsheng’s intent, the paper figure whirled around, preparing to give chase—only for another invisible deconstruction bullet to streak toward it!
This time, the paper figure was ready. It barely dodged sideways, its garish head rotating 180 degrees as its hollow crimson eyes locked onto Chen Ling, who stood gripping his gun nearby.
Smoke curled from the gun’s barrel. After a brief stare-off, Chen Ling spun on his heel and bolted down the hallway, the paper figure’s blurred form hot on his heels!
---
Jian Changsheng’s figure leaped through the moonlight, his gaze sweeping the surroundings until it landed on the hunched man standing on the fourth-floor corridor of another building.
A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. With another flick of his blade, blood droplets scattered—and in the next instant, he materialized on the fourth-floor walkway.
“Die!”
Gripping his short sword, Jian Changsheng’s killing intent was palpable. He knew Chen Ling couldn’t hold out much longer. They had to eliminate the Path of the Puppeteer user’s main body quickly, or both would perish here.
The blade sliced through the air with a shrill whistle. Just as it was about to strike the hunched man, a streak of white light flashed before Jian Changsheng’s eyes—
A severed wrist drifted weightlessly away from his body…
Jian Changsheng’s pupils constricted violently!
In his vision, a paper-folded knife had just effortlessly cleaved through his wrist as if it were air. The cut was impossibly clean—so much so that Jian Changsheng could see the slowly pulsing veins in his detached hand as it spiraled through the air.
Along with that hand flew the short sword that had been aimed at the hunched man’s throat.
“You…!” Jian Changsheng stood frozen.
The paper knife flipped deftly in the hunched man’s grip, folding at dizzying speed into a snow-white cane. Slowly, the man lifted his head, his drooping eyes devoid of any emotion.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to stay sealed inside the paper figure… instead of coming out to die?”
The next moment, the white cane whistled through the air—
Bang!!
Jian Changsheng felt as though he’d been struck by a meteor. The sound of shattering bones echoed like popcorn as his body was sent hurtling like a cannonball, embedding itself into the floor.
Dust blotted out the entire fourth floor. The explosion roused nearby residents, lights flickering on in the surrounding buildings.
Now, Jian Changsheng resembled little more than a mangled corpse, drenched in blood, half-buried in rubble. Yet he still struggled to rise.
The hunched man crouched slowly before him, his voice a dry rasp, “First, not all Path of the Puppeteer users have fragile main bodies.”
“Second, a Path of the Puppeteer user can control more than one thing at a time.”
“Third… who told you that seeing a Domain necessarily means fourth-tier?”
At the last sentence, Jian Changsheng’s pupils shrank. With immense effort, he raised his head, his eyes wide with disbelief.
“You… you’re beyond fourth-tier?!”
The hunched man didn’t answer. With a flick of his finger, sheets of paper unfurled from the corridor floor, twisting into a dozen identically grotesque paper figures amidst the swirling dust.
These figures loomed behind him like a dark tide, countless hollow eyes fixed on Jian Changsheng. The paper figure Chen Ling was currently stalling was evidently just one of many.
The hunched man spoke softly:
“What do you think?”