Puppet Zhang really wanted to impulsively kill this bastard but it was as Bai Liu said. Killing Bai Liu had no benefits for him!
Bai Liu’s personal skill had already been activated. It didn’t matter if Puppet Zhang killed him or not. He wouldn’t be able to stop it. Moreover, if he killed Bai Liu then he would lose what he had finally managed to get, a smart puppet.
The top priority now was to get that Merfolk Amulet and stop Bai Liu’s personal skill. Afterward, Puppet Zhang could use a hundred tricks to abuse this damn Bai Liu and vent his anger.
It was just that the cost of killing Bai Liu was too high. It took him so much effort to catch a puppet with such a high intelligence value. He couldn’t kill Bai Liu before sucking up all the intelligence. This wasn’t in line with Puppet Zhang’s style of maximizing benefits.
Puppet Zhang reluctantly calmed down and loosened the puppet silk thread around Bai Liu’s neck. Bai Liu lay limply on the ground, touching his injured neck while coughing and gasping. His eyes had physiological tears but he actually smiled. “Master, thank you for sparing my life.”
This smile made Puppet Zhang immediately want to strangle him to death. Puppet Zhang suppressed the heart that wanted to get out of control again. He took a deep breath and cleared his mind while starting to think. The system indicated that the transaction would fail when the train started. He looked at the LED countdown on the carriage. It showed the countdown to the train starting.
There were still 40 seconds left. He wasn’t completely unable to win. It would only take 10 seconds to kill Bai Liu. It wasn’t too late to wait until the countdown was at 10 seconds.
Puppet Zhang’s mind moved quickly as he gave orders. “It isn’t a dead end now. If players can’t get in—Liu Huai, bring all the passengers into Mu Sicheng’s carriage and have those passengers attack Mu Sicheng! He should’ve lost almost all his mental value now. Let the passengers alienate him and kill him!”
Liu Huai shouted, “Okay!”
Tempting monsters was what Liu Huai was good at. Assassins and thieves had very strong provocation skills. Based on when he and Mu Sicheng worked together, Mu Sicheng stole things while he lured and assassinated monsters. They were truly good cooperative partners.
Liu Huai moved among the passengers while using the swords hidden in his sleeves. Soon, the passengers’ aggro was placed on Liu Huai. They followed Liu Huai as he led them to the door of the carriage that was still in flames. The passengers entered the carriage as they were searching for Liu Huai. After entering the carriage, these passengers were attracted by something. They climbed and rolled to the place where Mu Sicheng was.
Previously, the fire of Brother Thief could directly burn these passengers. It was just that while fighting with Mu Sicheng, the status of Brother Thief obviously dropped a lot. His flames were much smaller. Players might not be able to resist it but these passengers could get in.
The flames in the carriage where Brother Thief was gradually weakened. The people in the next carriage could barely see the situation that was happening inside.
The blank-eyed Mu Sicheng gritted his teeth while riding on the neck of the big monster, not being shaken off. The burnt passengers seemed attracted by the lens on the big monster and kept pouring into the carriage. They climbed onto the big monster, roaring. The burnt corpses overlapped on the big monster. Then the big monster twisted his body and threw Mu Sicheng down.
Mu Sicheng seemed exhausted. He coughed and let go with his monkey paws, falling back onto the pile of passengers that piled up like a mountain on Brother Thief.
These passengers who were burnt black opened their mouths and moved their nails as they grabbed at Mu Sicheng. The black fingers grabbed Mu Sicheng’s pale face and left scratches on it. The passengers kept pouring in and Mu Sicheng was submerged. Mu Sicheng could only show an exhausted face under the burnt corpses. He leaned back in the sea of corpses like he was going to suffocate. He was breathing but his mouth was soon covered by the pile of burnt corpses.
Mu Sicheng was dragged into the blazing mountain of corpses and there was no trace of him. Brother Thief shouted loudly and flames ignited on his fist. He yelled and raised his fist, seemingly ready to kill Mu Sicheng who was drowning in the pile of passengers.
Mu Sicheng lay on his back in the pile of burned corpses. He seemed to have lost all of his perception of the surroundings. Only his slightly moving chest showed that he was still alive. However, this survival wouldn’t last long.
The monster’s fist fell.
Du Sanying saw the situation on Mu Sicheng’s side and screamed. The moment his voice was heard, Mu Sicheng seemed to regain his senses. He blinked with difficulty and managed to avoid the huge fist. Still, the wind from the fist caused Mu Sicheng to vomit up blood. His eyelids drooped weakly and he was pulled down, his body sinking deeper into the pile of corpses.
[System warning: Asking the player Mu Sicheng to escape quickly! Your mental value is falling! You are near the boundary of death!]
Mu Sicheng obviously couldn’t last long.
“Mu Sicheng is bound to die.” Puppet Zhang narrowed his eyes. “Bai Liu, you might not be able to block this monster even if you are in the rage state. Liu Huai, wait for Mu Sicheng to die and immediately throw the Merfolk Amulet from his dropped items to me!”
“I can’t handle it with my rage state panel attributes?” Bai Liu’s thoughtful voice was suddenly heard. “What if my attribute points double while I’m in the rage state?”
“How will you double your attributes?” Puppet Zhang wondered before laughing. “It seems that Mu Sicheng has told you about my personal skill to strengthen puppets.”
“Let me tell you directly Bai Liu. It is theoretically impossible to double your rage attributes panel. First, to enter the rage state, your mental value must drop below 20. Then my personal skill Puppet Enhancement requires you to sacrifice 50 points of mental value. Puppet Enhancement can’t be used when you have less than 20 points in mental value.”
“What if I want it?” Bai Liu wondered softly.
Puppet Zhang sneered. “You won’t die but your mental value will directly collapse and you will enter a state where life is worse than death.”
Puppet Zhang was now talking to Bai Liu with a leisurely mind. He looked at Bai Liu with a smile, his eyes showing a sense of accomplishment after winning a fight against a smart person. “The countdown until the train starts is 36 seconds. Mu Sicheng simply can’t last 36 seconds. You have lost this time. I will surely get the—” Merfolk Amulet.
[System tip: The train has started and Player Puppet Zhang has broken trust with Player Bai Liu. You have failed to complete the transaction with Player Bai Liu regarding the Merfolk Amulet. Player Puppet Zhang will be punished by the system and will become soul money in Player Bai Liu’s old wallet.]
Puppet Zhang’s eyes widened. He instinctively looked at the LED countdown screen and asked with shock, “How can the train be starting? There are clearly 36 seconds—”
The train started and Liu Huai stopped chasing Du Sanying in amazement.
Du Sanying, who was running around in the carriage, could finally catch his breath. He collapsed in a corner, his arms and legs soft and his face full of tears as he unwrapped a translucent cloth covering the LED screen. He leaned against the door and sobbed. “Bai Liu, next time I won’t cooperate with you. It is too exciting. I thought I was going to die wuwuwu.”
The cloth slowly fell and the real screen that was exposed read: [0 seconds. The train is about to start. Passengers, please prepare for it.]
Puppet Zhang’s face was dark as his eyes fell on the piece of cloth.
[Scouting result: Player Du Sanying used the item Disguise Cloth to tamper with the time on the LED screen.]
“Du Sanying!” Puppet Zhang completely lost his cool. He broke down and asked Du Sanying, “When did you use this item? How come I have no memory of it at all—”
He suddenly stopped questioning it. Puppet Zhang remembered that when Du Sanying was being chased by them, he frantically threw out items to delay the time. There was indeed a piece of cloth that was thrown out and hung on the screen.
However, Puppet Zhang had been dazzled by the joy of victory. His plan had gone so smoothly from beginning to end. He never thought that Du Sanying’s crying performance was just him pretending to be scared!
In fact, it wasn’t a pretense. Du Sanying was really scared to tears by Bai Liu. Bai Liu played the villain so well that he truly thought that he and Mu Sicheng were going to be sold! Du Sanying had been frightened and scolded Bai Liu for not being human.
Puppet Zhang realized all of this and took a few steps back in a trance. He couldn’t believe it as he stared at Bai Liu. “How is it possible? Your intelligence is only 89 points and mine is 93. How can you be smarter than me and anticipate what I wanted to do?”
“Maybe my intelligence is pure and natural?” Bai Liu shrugged as he answered casually. He quickly pulled out a brand new banknote out of his old wallet. It was Puppet Zhang’s soul money and he pressed it against his system panel.
[System tip: Player Bai Liu has used Player Puppet Zhang’s soul money to intervene in Puppet Zhang’s system. Cutting into Puppet Zhang’s system panel…]
[System tip: Player Bai Liu has officially cut into Puppet Zhang’s system panel and can operate it.]
Bai Liu’s system panel instantly switched to Puppet Zhang’s panel. After seeing this, Puppet Zhang realized he was completely under control and was powerless. He turned his head and closed his eyes so he wouldn’t see his defeat.
Overconfidence led to mistakes that shouldn’t be made. He had controlled so many people and had never been controlled by anyone.
Bai Liu, oh, Bai Liu.
This person must’ve known for a long time that Puppet Zhang wanted to capture him to absorb his intelligence. Thus, he was so fearless and felt that Puppet Zhang wouldn’t kill him easily. As a result, Puppet Zhang was exactly like this and Bai Liu took advantage of it.
Smart people were always greedy. Puppet Zhang didn’t think it was wrong to be greedy. He just lost when he met someone who was ten times greedier than him.
[System tip: Player Bai Liu has used the soul money to intervene in Puppet Zhang’s system panel. Player Bai Liu has used Player Puppet Zhang’s personal skill ‘Thread Doll’. Player Bai Liu has manipulated Puppet Zhang to manipulate Player Liu Huai to attack himself.]
Puppet Zhang’s fingers suddenly moved uncontrollably. He moved his fingers and tightened the string around Liu Huai’s heart. Both Liu Huai and Puppet Zhang stared at Bai Liu with shock. Bai Liu calmly gave an order. “Attack me, Liu Huai. Attack me in a way that consumes the most mental value.”
Puppet Zhang was shocked. “Bai Liu, you have won, What else are you going to do? The doors are closing soon!”
Yes, the train had started and the burnt passengers and Brother Thief were going to leave the train. These still burning monsters were dragging the spoils in their hands—a struggling Mu Sicheng as they prepared to get off the train.
Mu Sicheng seemed to have lost consciousness. His eyes without pupils were dreamy and blood dripped from his mouth and eyes. The only reason why Bai Liu could be sure that this guy wasn’t dead was because—
From beginning to end, Mu Sicheng never used the Merfolk Amulet to escape.
[Bai Liu, I’m not sure if I will use the Merfolk Amulet or not when my mental value is 10. It is because people’s desire to survive makes them do strange things, including violating cooperation and betraying teammates.]
[Still… If I really haven’t used this item to the end, it means I have maintained my sanity with a low mental value of 10 as you, a madman, required.]
[Mu Sicheng, if you don’t use the Merfolk Amulet, I promise I will save you as long as I’m alive.]
[I hope so. Bai Liu, someone once said the same thing to me. I promised to cooperate with you not because I trust you. It is because I have no other way. I don’t want to be controlled by Puppet Zhang. I would rather die. However, I can accept your control.]
[I won’t let you die. Mu Sicheng, you have to believe me. You are my most valuable card.]
“I want to save Mu Sicheng,” Bai Liu declared flatly and bluntly. “Liu Huai, use your weapon and attack me in a way that will lower my mental value very quickly.”
Liu Huai’s hand was out of control as he stabbed forward. The hidden blades pierced Bai Liu’s chest and abdomen but Bai Liu only frowned slightly. Liu Huai trembled as he released his hands.
[System tip: Player Bai Liu has been attacked by Player Liu Huai’s Dark Night Sleeve Sword and his mental value has been eroded. It has decreased by 30. The current mental value is 39. Warning! Warning! It has entered the danger area!]
Bai Liu let out a breath. He covered his bleeding chest, looked at Mu Sicheng who was still struggling and spat out dissatisfied words at Liu Huai, “It isn’t enough. Continue stabbing.
Liu Huai’s hands holding the hidden blades were out of control as he stabbed Bai Liu’s chest again. After he stabbed it, almost his entire body was shaking. Liu Huai couldn’t understand it. He was extremely shocked as he stared at Bai Liu who had blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. “Why do you want to go this far for Mu Sicheng…?”
Bai Liu didn’t care about wiping the blood from the corners of his mouth as he glanced at Liu Huai. “I promised him that I will definitely save him.”
“This is my transaction and cooperation with him. Complying with it is my basic morality as a wanderer.”
Proofreader: Purichan
Thank you jellytheteawolf for the fanart of our ML as the Siren King and Bai Liu wielding his whip!
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