Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Now that she had a target locked in, the Paper-Cut Goddess no longer hesitated in dealing with the paper puppets.

Unfortunately, she was willing but unable.

She really wasn’t skilled in the art of combat; the only thing she knew how to do was command the figures in her paper cuttings to fight.

Guan Doujin brandished his sword, locked in a struggle with two of the paper puppets.

Up close, he could clearly smell the scent coming from them this time.

It was a faint fragrance, the same one he had smelled last night.

It was different from the faint, indefinable scent on Chu Yue, and different from the medicinal herb smell that seemed to have soaked into Shen Yubi’s very being.

This scent carried a cloying sweetness of flowers and plants, mixed with an indistinct, foul stench.

A single breath was enough to make one feel nauseous.

With the help of the Paper-Cut Goddess, all sorts of flashy paper cuttings joined the fray.

The scene was a chaotic mess. Sitting at the table, Chu Yue’s first instinct was to reach for the candlelight.

Removing the candle from its stand, he quickly broke it in half.

Seeing several of the Paper-Cut Goddess’s paper figures clinging to one of the paper puppets, he raised his hand and flicked the candle toward them.

Just like the previous night, as soon as the candle touched the Paper-Cut Goddess’s figures, they flared up, turning to ash in mere seconds.

However, a bizarre sight followed.

As the last of the Little Paper Figures burned away, the flames gradually dwindled until they went out. The paper puppet shook off the ashes, completely unharmed.

It looked at Chu Yue, tossing its head and kicking its legs, appearing to double over with laughter as if mocking his overestimation of his own abilities.

Shen Yubi remarked, “They’re quite quick to adapt.”

“Indeed,” Chu Yue replied.

The method that worked last night had already been countered by the opponent tonight. One had to admit, the evil god behind this was truly cautious.

Chu Yue didn’t feel humiliated by the mockery of a paper puppet. It would have been stranger if things were actually that simple.

After mocking Chu Yue, the paper puppet’s eyes sharpened. Its gaze swept directly toward the candle in his hand, repeating its previous trick.

The light was snuffed out.

The entire Hall plunged into darkness. Aside from the faint moonlight filtering through the window panes, there was no visible light.

Guan Doujin licked his lips. “Pulling that trick again, are we? Come on! See if your grandpa here is scared of you!”

Chu Yue looked at the person opposite him; he didn’t make a move.

“Something else is coming down from above,” Shen Yubi said suddenly.

Listening closely, Chu Yue indeed heard a rustling sound, as if many things were rushing down from the floor above.

Before he could warn Guan Doujin, a startled cry came from that direction.

“Fuck! What just bit me?”

“What the hell is this now?”

“Things are coming down from upstairs, be careful,” Chu Yue warned.

Those were likely the paper cuttings the Players had bought earlier that day from the people worshipping the evil god.

Because they knew the woman and Zhou Chun harbored ill intentions, the three of them had discarded the paper cuttings they bought from them today.

But among the remaining Players, some had kept theirs.

Not knowing where the fire starters were kept, Chu Yue quickly entered the System Mall and spent two Points on credit to buy a high-wattage light stick.

The moment he brought it out, the previously dim Hall was instantly illuminated as bright as day.

Guan Doujin’s eyes were momentarily blinded by the flash. Once he saw what Chu Yue was holding, he let out a roar of frustration: “Young Master! There’s a one-Point flashlight in the Mall that’s bright as hell! Why did you spend two Points on this thing? This damn thing is a one-time use!”

Chu Yue was speechless.

He never expected that Guan Doujin’s first words wouldn’t be thanks, but this.

He waved it off dismissively. “It’s just two Points. Your life is worth that much.”

Guan Doujin grumbled, “That’s too much! My life is only worth two Points!”

Despite his words, he truly couldn’t understand Chu Yue’s extravagance. The man was clearly a pauper even poorer than himself.

“What should we do next?” The Paper-Cut Goddess’s expression was grim. “The fire method doesn’t work anymore.”

These were only two paper puppets, mere foot soldiers under that thing’s command, yet they were already struggling this much to deal with them.

She seemed to automatically ignore the prop Chu Yue had suddenly produced, just as she had previously ignored the sword Guan Doujin had summoned out of thin air.

Shen Yubi tapped the table twice to get Chu Yue’s attention.

He leaned over and pointed at the light stick in Chu Yue’s hand. “Dim it a little.”

Chu Yue fumbled with it for a while before finally finding the switch and lowering the light.

Originally, the light was too bright, creating a shadowless visual effect. Now that it was adjusted, the light shining from his position cast a wall of crowded shadows on the opposite side.

This was a common occurrence, so Chu Yue wasn’t particularly surprised.

However, in the next second, a black shadow suddenly lunged forward within his field of vision. Like a leopard, it slammed into the wall of shadows opposite them.

Then, Chu Yue witnessed an incredible sight.

The shadow was agile, weaving through the various dark shapes. It quickly and accurately located the paper puppet’s shadow, then reached out, lifted it, and tore it. The once-intact shadow was ripped in half.

Chu Yue watched as those hands crumpled the paper puppet’s shadow into a small, dense black ball, then-in one gulp-swallowed it.

This sudden turn of events left him stunned.

His gaze instinctively began searching the Hall for the paper puppet whose shadow had been eaten.

He then saw the paper puppet that had been fighting Guan Doujin suddenly split in two from bottom to top. It then spontaneously combusted without any fire, turning into a pile of ash on the floor in moments.

The color of that ash was much lighter than what he had seen last night, almost approaching white.

To Guan Doujin, this eerie scene seemed commonplace. He didn’t even spare it a glance as he continued his fierce battle with the other paper puppet.

This was only the beginning.

After that paper puppet’s shadow was consumed, the other shadows began to suffer one by one.

The shadow moved with incredible speed-so fast that by the time it finished off one, Chu Yue had to scan the room back and forth to lock onto its figure again.

Chu Yue was certain he had never seen that thing before.

And yet, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.