Volume Two, The Devil's Game: Chapter 49: The Warden's Counterattack

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“Sweetheart Yiyi: What! What is going on?”

“Black Phosphorus Sauce: Th-this seems to have a lot more to it than meets the eye.”

Clearly, the viewers in the livestream had also been shocked by everything that had just happened.

Tan Weiwei frowned, then slowly raised her head. “How did you find out?”

“Sweetheart Yiyi: There really is a story behind this.”

“One Fish: Is the internal conflict about to escalate?”

Lu Yi smiled and withdrew the hand that had been resting on Tan Weiwei’s shoulder. “The feel was wrong.”

“The feel?” Tan Weiwei frowned and pinched her own shoulder.

“I Am a Husky: Oh wow, the feel was wrong.”

“Warmhearted Man: A man seasoned by countless battles.”

“Sweetheart Yiyi: You two, shut up.”

Lu Yi continued, “You said you were chased by the Watcher the entire way. For the moment, I’ll set aside the question of how you managed to be pursued all that distance without incident, only to coincidentally stumble and fall right in front of me.

“Just the fact that you claim to have been chased all the way is already highly suspicious.”

Tan Weiwei asked with a trace of curiosity, “Oh? What’s suspicious about it?”

“If you were really chased the whole way, why aren’t you sweating? Not just your forehead—even your clothes show no sign of perspiration.” Lu Yi scrutinized her.

“So now I’m curious. At what speed was the Watcher chasing you for you not to break a single drop of sweat?” Lu Yi looked toward Tan Weiwei as he spoke.

Tan Weiwei gave a few cold snorts and ignored him.

Lu Yi merely smiled. He glanced at his watch. “The Watcher left me less than twenty minutes ago.

“There’s no doubt you were pursued by the Watcher. Otherwise, there’d be no reason for you to do something like this. But you can use talisman paper, and whenever I attack you, friendly protection reduces the damage. So you should be human.

“Then how do we explain everything that happened before? There are two possibilities. Either you can switch factions and gain part of the Watcher’s power, or the Watcher exists inside your body in some special form.

“So now I’m very curious. Are you really Tan Weiwei—or are you the Watcher?”

Tan Weiwei stared deeply at Lu Yi, then let out a soft laugh. “I never thought you’d actually discover it.”

“Phoenix: Just as expected. The Watcher appearing in front of the streamer was no coincidence.”

“Sweetheart Yiyi: Huh? Huh? What kind of development is this?”

“Warmhearted Man: This game is becoming more and more beyond my imagination.”

Tan Weiwei raised her right hand and rested it over her collarbone. “I am the Watcher. I have always possessed the ability to control prey, but using it requires transferring my core into the prey’s body.”

Lu Yi’s expression changed slightly when he heard this.

“Hehe. You guessed correctly.” The corners of Tan Weiwei’s lips curved upward. “Thanks to you, my core was split apart. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t have mattered. After all, I never thought I’d need such a method to deal with you.

“But you, you damned prey—how dare you trample on my honor again and again? That is an unforgivable sin.”

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“Tch. How can a loser speak of courage? What right does a failure who resorts to despicable tricks have to talk about honor?” Lu Yi mocked her without mercy, though inwardly he found the situation extremely troublesome.

“Hehe.” Tan Weiwei chuckled. Raising her right index finger, she pointed to her own head and said to Lu Yi, “I saw it clearly. You’re an arrogant prey, with an excess of useless kindness.

“Right now, you’re probably wondering how to drive me out of her body and save this prey.”

Lu Yi narrowed his eyes. “No wonder you knew about those things. If I hadn’t noticed something amiss and acted decisively, I would nearly have been deceived by you.”

“Then”—Tan Weiwei drew out the word and tossed her hair—“do you want to save this prey or not?”

Lu Yi frowned and carefully studied the figure before him. He had the distinct feeling that the Watcher was stalling for time.

Even so, he nodded. “You’re not going to tell me so generously, are you?”

“Hahahaha.” Tan Weiwei suddenly burst into laughter, leaving Lu Yi utterly baffled. She glanced at him. “It seems you didn’t obtain the method.”

Lu Yi was startled at first, then his expression changed. He understood what the Watcher meant: he had not received any information from the core about how to deal with this situation.

“Hehehe. Seeing that look on your face makes me so happy.” Tan Weiwei spread her hands and walked a few steps toward him.

“What happened to that water blade earlier? It had a little of my essence in it. Why not keep using it?” She stopped several yards away from Lu Yi.

With a mocking expression, she said, “Can’t bring yourself to do it?”

As soon as she finished speaking, Tan Weiwei lunged at Lu Yi. A dagger appeared in her hand, and she slashed it toward his neck.

Lu Yi nimbly dodged and frowned at her. Because of friendly protection, any skill he used to attack would suffer an additional reduction in power.

But he had no idea whether Tan Weiwei, while controlled by the Watcher, would be subject to the same restriction. And with a sharp weapon in her hand, Lu Yi had no intention of taking the risk without absolute certainty.

“You’re slippery, aren’t you?” Tan Weiwei spun the dagger and turned to look at him. Then her eyes shifted, and a smile appeared on her face.

Confused by her behavior, Lu Yi watched as she pinched the dagger between two fingers and waved it before him. “You said I wouldn’t generously tell you how to save this person. You were wrong. Saving her is actually very simple.”

“Oh?” Lu Yi raised a brow. “Go on.”

“Either let me kill you, or kill yourself in front of me. There is no other way.” Tan Weiwei gave a few coquettish laughs. She braced her left arm against her right and lightly tapped her temple with her left index finger.

“Lu Yi, you don’t need to waste time thinking about how to obtain the solution from me. Once I confirmed that you didn’t know what to do, I forgot the method myself.

“So even if you kill me, you won’t obtain it. And even if this prey is still alive when I leave, she will never escape my illusion. There’s even a good chance she’ll never wake up.”

As she spoke, Tan Weiwei extended her left hand. “So, what will you choose?”

“What can I do?” Lu Yi shrugged. “In a situation like this, I can only sacrifice the few for the sake of the many.”

“Hm?” Tan Weiwei frowned. “What do you mean?”

Lu Yi said grimly, “Don’t let me find your true body.”

With that, Lu Yi turned and started to run.

“Hehe. What a pity.” Tan Weiwei’s face filled with regret. “I had wanted to launch a surprise attack. I never expected you to see through it. This prey doesn’t seem capable of doing anything to you either. If that’s the case, then she’s no longer useful.”

After speaking, Tan Weiwei tilted her head back and raised the dagger above it.

A glance from the corner of Lu Yi’s eye made his brows twitch violently. He immediately activated the Wind-Control Pendant, intending to snatch the dagger from Tan Weiwei’s hand.

“Hehe.” Tan Weiwei’s eyes shifted, and a smile of triumph spread across her face.

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Lu Yi’s expression changed dramatically. He heard the faint sound of wood snapping. Without time to think, he immediately twisted and rolled sideways. A massive wheel of ice flew past his face by a hair’s breadth.

The chill radiating from the ice wheel coated Lu Yi’s hair and brows with frost, and his entire body stiffened.

Just as Lu Yi landed from his roll, his body still somewhat rigid from the cold, a strange light suddenly erupted in Tan Weiwei’s eyes. Her speed then surged, and in the blink of an eye she was before Lu Yi, slashing at him with the dagger.

“She’s awakened her innate ability!” Lu Yi’s expression changed drastically. He hurriedly drew in his abdomen and bent sideways, but Tan Weiwei’s dagger still sliced across the ribs on his left side.

Lu Yi staggered back several steps. A wind filled with bone-piercing cold swept past him, followed by wave after wave of frigid air mixed with frost and snow.

The six-pointed star in Lu Yi’s left eye immediately appeared and shifted to blue. He tried to manipulate the ice and snow in the air, but his expression changed at once when he realized he could not control them at all.

By then, the cold had already stiffened his entire body. The side facing the freezing wind was coated in a layer of frost.

“If I can’t control the frost and snow, then I’ll block them.” Lu Yi clenched his teeth. Trembling, he raised his right hand and drew an arc. Streams of water immediately converged beside him, quickly forming a circular shield that continued to expand.

Just as the cold wind was partially blocked and the water shield had grown to half a meter in diameter, it suddenly shattered without warning. The disintegrating shield instantly turned into crystal-clear droplets that scattered in every direction, freezing into ice crystals in the frigid wind before they could even reach the ground.

“What?!” Lu Yi’s expression changed dramatically. But the freezing wind suddenly intensified, and before he could react, he was buried beneath the ice and snow.

“What an opportunity.” Tan Weiwei charged toward Lu Yi and thrust her dagger into the mass of ice and snow.

At that moment, the ice burst apart. Exhaling white breath, Lu Yi spun and swept out with his arm, sending Tan Weiwei flying. Without even looking to see what had happened, he summoned a current of water to lift himself into the air.

Yet at that very instant, the water he had gathered collapsed once again—and at the same time, an ice spear shot toward him.

In his haste, Lu Yi summoned a small amount of water and used it as leverage to evade the spear by the narrowest margin. But the ice spear still grazed his right ribs, leaving a trail of ice fragments across his body, while its tip was stained with a faint red smear of blood.

Clutching his ribs, Lu Yi spun through the air and crashed to the ground. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself upright and fixed his gaze on the other person emerging from the forest.

“Deng Yuqi? The Chasing Wind Squad! Why?” Lu Yi asked through clenched teeth.

Tan Weiwei chuckled and hopped over to Deng Yuqi’s side. Only then did she look back at Lu Yi. “Oh, my. If I hadn’t stalled you for a little while just now, you really might have gotten away.”

Tan Weiwei patted Deng Yuqi on the shoulder. In perfect unison, the two of them said, “Luckily, I made it in time.”

“You—you two…” Lu Yi’s face turned grim. “Is the Chasing Wind Squad completely useless?”

“That’s right. They’re nothing but a bunch of deadweights,” Deng Yuqi said calmly.

“Lu Yi, I really have to thank you. You taught me how to defeat myself, and you also showed me how to defeat you.” Tan Weiwei smiled at him.

“I never intended to compete with you in controlling water,” Deng Yuqi said. “As long as you try to launch a water-based attack or use water to escape, I’ll make it collapse. How does it feel? This move looks familiar, doesn’t it?”

The corners of her lips curled upward as she fixed her eyes on Lu Yi.

Tan Weiwei spun the dagger. “If I faced you alone, I would indeed be at a disadvantage.”

Deng Yuqi immediately continued, “But it’s different when the prey attacks. In that case, you’re the one at a disadvantage.”

Tan Weiwei extended her left hand toward Lu Yi, while Deng Yuqi raised her staff and pointed it at him as well.

“Now our minds and bodies are one. Prepare to die, Lu Yi!”