Chapter 389 Butterflies Dancing in the Wind (Part 1)
"Watch this... Watch this, watch this, watch this!"
After firing her special crossbow, Lerna excitedly threw a series of knives, the blades of which were etched with butterfly patterns painted in blood. Ji Huaisu carefully cut through them with his shadow blade, giving the knife no chance to hit.
She raised her hand and launched a Dust Break single-point sniper attack, but Lerna dodged the attack with foresight, the blast of air actually accelerating her movement. She flashed before Ji Huaisu like a ghost and swung her knife, but it was blocked by a transparent seal card. Seeing this, Lerna increased her strength, forcibly slicing through the seal card with her knife, the blade brushing against Ji Huaisu's hair.
"Hey, hey, what are you doing?! Pay attention! If this is the path to supremacy, stop running around like a flea!"
Ji Huaisu didn't even look, turning and running. She summoned a skateboard made of her light shield and sped away, dodging into the maze of alleyways within Mansa Star Fortress. Lerna and the Black Death Army's crossbows pierced her path, leaving the road pockmarked with holes. The situation now resembled the Thorn Blossom Festival; she was being pursued by assassins. If she lingered, she would be overtaken and killed by the enemy's offensive.
"Fander, is it my illusion or has that woman's temperament changed drastically?"
"It's not an illusion, my friend says she has a split personality!" Vander shouted, "The weaker one is the one who's in control now. We need to act now before she turns around."
"Who are you calling weak, you trash demon!"
Finder quickly tucked his clothes into his pocket. A line of blood slashed across, slicing the high walls on either side of the alley into two smooth sections. Lerna threw more knives, each handle tied with a thin, almost undetectable blood line. She manipulated dozens of knives with her ten fingers, weaving a deadly web with the blood line.
Ji Huaisu spun and unleashed several lightning bolts. Her will coalesced above her health bar, deflecting attacks like a shield. Undeterred, she pressed forward, deploying a new "Gas" card for increased speed. Lerna shouted behind her. The Black Death's offensive had been temporarily broken, buying her a moment...
"Dear viewers, our signal has been restored. You can see the latest footage of the current manhunt! The wanted criminal Ji Huaisu is now on Xiangye Road, and our Divine Guards are concentrating their firepower on his attack!"
A public water screen projected Ji Huaisu, unable to move, and numerous Divine Guards firing rifles. The time and location were real, but the content was a technically fabricated image. The program cleverly concealed this by using blurred surveillance footage, further enhancing the image's credibility...
Therefore, the audience "believed it to be true".
Ji Huaisu was suddenly sent flying backwards, dozens of bullet holes appearing on her armor. The nonexistent attack had materialized thanks to Parriman's power, and now she had no means of countering it. Lerna's attack followed closely behind, catapulting her onto the bloodline, the knife piercing the back of Ji Huaisu's hand!
"Too easy!" Lerna laughed triumphantly, "In this kind of environment, it's easier to defeat you than to deal with an old dog."
"Is that so?" Ji Huaisu said coldly.
She suddenly punched out with her right fist, and the dragon head on the green armor roared angrily. The power of the free wind gathered into the head of the dragon of disaster, and bit towards Laerna Barry!
"babble--!"
Lerna screamed and dodged, the dragon's head biting off a section of her black hair. But the wind dragon only took shape for a moment before disappearing under the suppression of the sacred tree, posing no threat to her at all. Ji Huaisu couldn't help but laugh.
Fander poked his head out and sneered, "Are you a killer of the Blood Alliance?"
Lerna's face flushed red: "How dare you! You! I will kill you!!"
But Ji Huaisu had already turned and left, not wanting to tangle with him any further. Fan De was right. This bullying personality posed no threat. No wonder the other party himself said he didn't dare to fight Chu Hengkong.
She activated the Thunder and Wind cards in quick succession, unleashing a deafening thunderstorm over Mansa Star Fortress. Tens of thousands of bolts of lightning struck simultaneously, illuminating the First Vein with a pure purple hue. The roar drowned out the public water screen announcements. The terrifying reverberation made the citizens pale, and a few veterans recalled the Scourge.
Was the wanted criminal really caught? If so, why did she create such a scene?
The official media's propaganda was thus mitigated, and Ji Huaisu breathed a sigh of relief. She was well aware that her side was currently at a disadvantage. Their pre-stocked cards would soon be exhausted, and Perriman himself was watching from within the Senate. The First Team hadn't yet truly engaged because Benningtick was buying time.
But if even Benintic joined the battlefield, it would be over. The real Sephiroth 6 was not something she and Vander could handle alone. Neither the Black Death Army nor the Double Butterfly really exerted their strength because they could see the current situation and wanted to force her to use her methods bit by bit.
By the time the Double Butterfly switches personalities or Benintic enters the battlefield, they'll inevitably fail. Before then, they must find a way to create a turning point, whether it's the water curtain broadcast or the divine tree suppression. If they can solve either of those...
"Are you interested in discussing business, Captain Ji?"
Ji Huaisu turned away coldly. A cluster of cyan flames floated beside her. Kanin chuckled softly within the flames. "I was just discussing business with Inspector Chu, but his request is a bit difficult to fulfill. It's difficult for me to infiltrate the House of Lords on my own."
Ji Huaisu quickly made a judgment: "I will help you attract attention, and you have to help my friends get into that program team."
"Miss Hill, right?" Kanin took off his hat and saluted. "I'm happy to help."
A flash of light flashed within the azure flames, revealing a scene of two staff members collaborating with Hill to infiltrate the media building. This bastard demon had actually bribed someone within the official media. Who knew how much he'd done to Jingsha over the past few months?
Ji Huaisu made a gesture of wiping his neck and said, "You'd better finish it quickly before anything happens to me, otherwise my last words will be that you maliciously delayed the mission and caused me to die in a foreign country."
Kanin seemed a little helpless: "Ms. Ji, I am not the workshop owner you know. Why do you have such strong malice towards me?"
"Bullshit, you're a complete jerk in my opinion!"
Kanin laughed heartily, dissipating into the flames of ambition. Ji Huaisu spread out all the remaining cards: "Did you hear that, Fander? Let's make a bet."
"There's no time like the present for us to not gamble!" Vander collapsed. "How many cards do you have left?"
There are only 6 cards left: a Fire Sword, a Shadow Claw, two Wind Blasts, an Ice Blast, and the unusable Dragon of Misfortune.
Finder scratched his head vigorously with his tentacles: "First, use fire to hit the House of Lords!"
Ji Huaisu played the Fire Sword card, conjuring a greatsword of Purifying Divine Fire. She rushed out of the alleyway and slashed with her sword. The blazing fire compressed into a straight line and surged towards the temple-like building in the center of the city. That was the House of Lords where Perriman was.
The torrent of pure fire raced along the main thoroughfares, like lava flowing into a crisscross of anthills. In an instant, the center of Mansa Star Fortress turned crimson, its deserted streets engulfed in flames. A turquoise divine shield illuminated around the House of Lords, easily halting the pure fire. The pursuers closed in on them. Vander whispered, "Ice now!"
The Frozen Card was deployed, and a vast mass of water elemental icebergs formed. Melted by the Pure Fire, it evaporated into high-temperature steam. The first team members, plunging into the steam, lost their bearings; even the Black Death Army lost their target. A vast amount of magical and emotional energy emanated from the hot mist. This chaotic flow of energy disrupted most reconnaissance methods, temporarily disrupting even divine surveillance.
Ji Huaisu took advantage of the chaos and sneaked into the fog. She whispered, "Your idea of hide-and-seek is good."
"It can only delay for a dozen seconds... at least it can't stop the Qi sensing." Fander muttered, "The Double Butterfly will catch up soon. What should we do with these few cards left?"
"Let's see what Hill does first. We're not here to fight."
·
Laerna stepped into the mist, observing her surroundings warily. She released numerous blood lines to expand her sense of consciousness, like a spider web sensing its prey.
"Don't rush me, please, please." She was still talking to herself as she walked, "She has been suppressed to particle 3. I can handle this... If you want to fight Chu Hengkong, you have to save some energy. It's better to leave this guy to me..."
Her face changed and she said to herself, "You will lose."
"How is that possible! Even if I can't use the Secret Sky Eye, I'm still a 5-point particle. How can a 5-point particle lose against a 3-point particle? Tell me—ah!"
A bloody murderous intent rushed towards him, like a vicious beast with its bloody mouth agape. Ji Huaisu suddenly emerged from the steam, her fist wrapped in invisible wind!
Lerna instinctively raised her hand to block, but the force of the free wind slammed her into the distant marble wall. Ji Huaisu rushed over, his wrists carrying the wind force and striking out continuously. Lerna rolled against the wall, the knight's fist armor barely missing her ear.
Her face was pale because Ji Huaisu's speed was too fast, too fast. Even if he could use the power of the free wind, a particle 4 shouldn't be so fast that even her Secret Sky Eye couldn't react!
Are all of the Sacrificial Snake's comrades as perverted as he is?!
(Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic. The sacred tree is suppressing her speed. This is definitely temporary. As long as she can hold on through this period, she will be fine. So don't panic, don't panic!!)
Lerna mentally tried to console herself, relying on her knife's health bar to fend off the enemy. Ji Huaisu's attacks were fierce and headed straight for her face, making anyone who didn't know her think they had a blood feud. In seconds, the two of them fought from the commercial district to the vicinity of the House of Lords. The madwoman was reckless, even attacking the divine barrier.
Guo Yutu's mocking voice echoed through the communication channel. The bastard seemed to have finally gotten rid of his entanglement. "After the sequel to Little Animal Chase, your next film is going to be about women's fighting, right?"
"Don't bother me, I'm fighting!"
"Ah, I'm watching. It's an exciting battle. I'm just wondering if you remember your assigned mission, which was to defend the Media Building. Have you ever wondered why the enemy would leave such a large target behind and come fight you?"
Lerna, distracted for a few seconds during the tense exchange, was struck in the side of the face by a hook. She scrambled to her feet, shouting desperately, "That means they think I'm a bigger threat than that lousy show!"
“…”
Lerna became more confident: "That's right! That's why she is determined to defeat me!"
There was silence in the channel for a second, and then a voice as relieved as if enlightened was heard.
"Forget it, that's it. I don't care anymore. Go for it."
"What I said is correct—"
At this moment, the incessant chatter suddenly stopped. The water screen images across the city-state changed, transforming from the studio to the backstage of the program. The space was filled with staff members busy editing surveillance footage and the director shouting anxiously!
"Hurry up and patch up the wound!" "Tell Landa to use the fourth version of the script and stop making mistakes."
"That's impossible! Judging from the images, the enemy has the advantage!" "That's why you're here!"
"After all, using images directly generated by divine power..." "The new media law doesn't allow it! They've been very strict since the inspiration mushroom incident. There's a risk that the captain will exploit this issue—"
The pot-bellied director suddenly turned around. "When did that camera start working?" "Director! The video has been hacked—" "Turn it off—"
Chaotic images, terrified voices. After a few flashes, the water screen cut back to the live broadcast room. The smiles of the male and female anchors were somewhat unnatural. Just ten seconds of real footage had already caused an uproar throughout Jingsha!
“…”
Lerna moved her mouth mechanically, her arms shaking with nervousness. Another voice rang out on the channel.
"If I remember correctly, the task I assigned to you should be 'cooperate with the first team to defend the media building', right, Double Butterfly?" Wang Quan said with a smile.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I must, I will..."
Lerna took off the blindfold tremblingly.
"I'll take care of it right away," she said.
(End of this chapter)
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