Chapter 20: Three Arts in One
Crimson lights flared up one after another in the dim corridor, as over a hundred metal war puppets awoke. They slowly raised their massive axes, and a cold, suffocating murderous intent instantly enveloped the entire corridor. "It's over... It's all over..." The young woman Chu Yun had saved, watching the hellish scene before her, collapsed to the ground, completely unable to think. "I knew it... I knew it would be like this!" Mo Li stood at the end of the corridor, gazing at Chu Yun, his voice filled with anger and despair. "You idiot! You self-righteous hypocrite! You've dragged us all down with you to save a doomed man!" Chu Yun ignored her rants. He pushed the young woman into a corner and stood up, facing the over a hundred slowly approaching axe-wielding bringers of death alone. His strength had been completely drained, leaving him only a mortal, slightly stronger than an ordinary man. But he didn't retreat, his eyes calm and resolute. "What are you still standing here for?!" Mo Li screamed hysterically at him. "Run! Do you think you can hold them off on your own?!" "If I run, what will you do?" Chu Yun asked calmly, without even turning his head. Mo Li was stunned by his question. She realized that she had been so angry and shocked that she had forgotten to move. The other jianghu who had already reached the end of the corridor were also frozen in fear by the terrifying scene before them. Chu Yun used his own body to buy everyone a final moment of time. "You..." Mo Li looked at the not-so-tall figure, and a strange emotion suddenly surged within her, a shock she had never experienced before. It was a shock, a deep, soul-deep shock brought on by a will she could not understand, yet incredibly powerful. At this moment, Li Ge, who had been standing by and watching coldly, suddenly moved. She did not rush to save anyone, nor did she blame anyone. Instead, she pulled out a dozen silver needles, as thin as cow hairs, from her bosom. With a flick of her wrist, a dozen silver needles transformed into a dozen imperceptible streaks of cold light, silently shooting towards the approaching metal puppets. The needles didn't strike the puppets' hard bodies, but instead precisely penetrated their ankles, knees, elbows, necks, and other joints. "Click, click..." A series of extremely subtle sounds, like parts snapping, emanated from the puppets' bodies. The dozen or so puppets in the front froze, their raised axes pausing...
Scarlet lights lit up one after another in the dim corridor, and over a hundred metal war puppets all woke up. They slowly raised their giant axes, and a cold, suffocating murderous intent instantly enveloped the entire corridor.
"It's over... It's all over..." The young woman who was rescued by Chu Yun looked at the hellish scene in front of her, collapsed to the ground, and completely lost the ability to think.
"I knew it... I knew it would be like this!" Mo Li stood at the end of the corridor, looking at Chu Yun, his voice filled with anger and despair, "You idiot! You self-righteous hypocrite! In order to save a dying man, you dragged all of us down with you!"
Chu Yun ignored her rant. He pushed the young woman into a corner and stood up, facing the more than one hundred slowly approaching death messengers, wielding massive axes. His strength had been completely drained, leaving him only a mortal, slightly stronger than an ordinary man. But he didn't retreat, his eyes calm and resolute.
"What are you still doing standing here?!" Mo Li yelled at him hysterically, "Run! Do you think you can stop them by yourself?!"
"What will you do if I run away?" Chu Yun asked indifferently without turning his head.
Mo Li was stunned by his question. She realized she'd been so angry and shocked that she'd forgotten to move. The other jianghu who had already reached the end of the corridor were similarly terrified by the horrific scene before them, unable to move. Chu Yun used his own body to buy everyone a final moment of time.
"You..." Mo Li looked at the not-so-tall figure, and suddenly a strange emotion welled up in her heart. It was a shock, a deep, soul-deep shock brought about by some incomprehensible yet incredibly powerful will.
At this moment, Li Ge, who had been standing by and watching coldly, suddenly took action. She didn't try to save anyone, nor did she blame anyone. Instead, she pulled out a dozen silver needles as thin as cow hair from her bosom. With a flick of her wrist, the needles transformed into a dozen barely visible rays of cold light, silently shooting towards the approaching metal puppets.
The silver needles did not shoot towards the hard bodies of the war dolls, but instead penetrated precisely into the joints of their ankles, knees, elbows, necks, and other joints.
"Click, click..." A series of extremely subtle sounds, like parts snapping, emanated from the war puppets. The dozen or so war puppets in the front froze in their tracks, their raised axes frozen in mid-air, unable to move forward. Though the red light in their eyes continued to flicker, their bodies seemed forcibly "locked" by something.
"This is..." Mo Li looked at this scene and opened his mouth in shock.
"These things are inanimate objects after all." Li Ge's voice came from the side, still calm. "As inanimate objects, they must follow the rules of 'structure'. As long as the energy nodes that transmit their joints are destroyed, they will naturally become immobile."
"You..." Mo Li looked at Li Ge, his eyes filled with disbelief, "How do you know the specific locations of these nodes?"
"I don't know." Li Ge shook his head, "But I can see how energy flows in their bodies."
Mo Li fell silent. She looked at Li Ge, then at Chu Yun, who still stood in the way. Her heart, which had always believed in logic and calculation, was shaken at this moment. She suddenly understood that perhaps there were some things in this world that couldn't be measured by "optimal solutions." For example, Chu Yun's reckless "stupidity" and Li Ge's unconventional "intuition."
Mo Li took a deep breath, and the fragility and confusion of a young girl on her face quickly faded away, replaced by the incomparable focus and confidence of a talented craftsman.
"I understand." She only said these three words, then quickly walked to Li Ge.
"Continue using your method to find the weakest energy points on them." She pointed at the temporarily immobilized puppets, then looked at Chu Yun. "Retreat and conserve your strength. I'll need your purest, destructive power later."
Finally, she pulled out a bunch of oddly shaped parts from the small bag at her waist that neither Chu Yun nor Li Ge could understand: gears, springs, small crossbow arms, and some shimmering crystals. Her hands flew, and with a dizzying speed, she began to "assemble" these parts together.
A temporary, contradictory yet interdependent "three-in-one" team officially began to operate at this moment.
"The third one on the left, three inches behind the knee." Li Ge closed his eyes and said softly.
Mo Li's hands didn't stop. She separated a small, spider-like mechanical beast from the half-assembled device, inserted a tiny crystal into its back, and with a gentle flick, the mechanical spider silently crawled along the corner of the wall towards the war puppet Li Ge had mentioned.
The spider crawled to the feet of the war doll, then moved up along its legs, finally stopping three inches behind its knees.
"Now." Li Ge's voice sounded.
Mo Li's fingertips moved slightly, and a sharp steel thorn that flashed with cold light suddenly popped out from the head of the mechanical spider.
With a soft "puff!" sound, the steel spike accurately pierced the energy node that Li Ge mentioned. The red light in the eyes of the metal war puppet, which was still struggling, instantly extinguished, and it completely turned into a statue.
"Success!" The bearded man couldn't help but cheer in a low voice.
"Don't be too happy too soon." Mo Li said without turning his head, "We only have half an incense stick of time. After half an incense stick, the backup energy circuits in their bodies will be activated. By then, no one can save us."
Time became extremely tight, and the cooperation between the three became more and more tacit.
"The fifth one from the back, on the left side of the neck."
"The second one on the right, the waist hub."
Li Ge was in charge of "positioning," her perception like the most precise radar, instantly pinpointing each war puppet's "weak point." Mo Li was in charge of "execution," her hands like the most efficient factory, endlessly producing a variety of delicate and deadly "scalpels." Chu Yun, however, became their last resort. He sat cross-legged, seizing every moment to recover his strength, his gaze fixed on the still-moving war puppets. If Li Ge's positioning deviated, or if Mo Li's mechanical beasts were discovered, he would immediately launch an attack with his remaining strength, buying time.
With the coordination of the three of them, one after another, the war puppets were silently "deactivated." The suffocating murderous intent in the corridor gradually subsided. The surviving jianghu were stunned. They could not imagine that these three people who looked so young and so out of place could actually unleash such astonishing power.
The Taoist talismans, the ghost doctor's secret techniques, and the Mohist mechanisms, these three legendary forces that are almost impossible to appear at the same time, are perfectly integrated at this moment.
Finally, when half an incense stick of time was about to expire, the last metal war doll stopped moving, and the entire corridor returned to complete silence.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Mo Li also stopped what she was doing. Her forehead was covered in sweat, but her eyes were shining with an unprecedented, bright light.
"We... succeeded." She muttered to herself, looking at her hands.
At this moment, Chu Yun, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes.
"No." He said in a deep voice.
"What's wrong?" Mo Li and Li Ge looked at him at the same time.
"The murderer." Chu Yun stood up, his eyes sweeping over the two rearranged corpses. "Since he wanted to frame you, he must have known that you were capable of breaking these mechanisms."
"So what?" Mo Li asked.
"Then have you ever thought about it," Chu Yun's eyes became extremely deep, "why did he lead us here?"
Mo Li and Li Ge were both stunned. Yes, if the killer had simply intended to frame someone and force them to kill each other, he could have chosen many methods. He could have chosen a simpler, more direct trap. Why here? Why did they create a new body right after they solved the mystery of the previous one? This didn't feel like a trap, but more like a guide, a path filled with malice and mockery.
"He wants us... to go somewhere." Li Ge reacted very quickly.
"That's right." Chu Yun nodded. He walked over to the two bodies arranged in the shape of an altar and squatted down. He no longer looked at the fatal cuts, but instead focused his gaze on the direction of the two "altars."
One pointed in the direction they came from, and the other pointed to the end of the corridor. And if you connect the locations of these two bodies with the first body on this map...
Chu Yun's brain was working rapidly, and a bold yet extremely reasonable guess emerged in his mind. He raised his head and looked at Li Ge and Mo Li. He knew that they had thought of the same thing.
"He's using the corpse to 'draw' a map for us." Chu Yun's voice was dry and cold, "A map... leading to where he is."
The end point of the map is undoubtedly the power core of the entire mechanical city - Tianshu Tower.
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