Chapter 155

Lin Tu received the message and immediately used [Ultra-High-Difficulty Escape Technique] to slip past the frenzied cannibals and reach Guan Suiyue as fast as she could.

By the time she got there, Guan Suiyue was already covered in wounds. The man facing her, in his thirties or forties, had black hair streaked with white when he pushed back his hood, and deep lines on his cheeks from years of strain—just like any ordinary, unkempt middle-aged man. So plain and unremarkable, it was hard to believe he was a White Glove member at the core of the Temple.

When he saw Lin Tu, a flicker of surprise crossed his face.

"Are you okay!" Lin Tu rushed to Guan Suiyue's side, drawing her sword to deflect a flying leaf. Seeing Guan Suiyue's wounds, she asked, frustrated, "Where's your sister?"

Guan Suixing was on the second floor; she should have arrived before Lin Tu no matter what.

"Don't call her!" Guan Suiyue said quickly, wincing. "Don't tell her!"

Lin Tu was momentarily speechless. She turned her attention away from Guan Suiyue and fixed her gaze on the man. When she saw the number "55" above his head, she swiftly used the [Cannibal Hunter] profession skill to apply negative status effects on him.

Just now, after receiving the message, she had used [Serial Killer] to take down two cannibals along the way. Now she successfully marked No. 55, gaining critical damage and multiplying the negative effects.

Sensing his limbs stiffening, No. 55 sneered, "Overreaching!"

He stopped using the fallen leaves. Instead, he raised both hands and pressed them together. A faint beam of light pierced through the ceiling, illuminating him. He muttered to himself, as if in prayer.

[Divine Descent]! The White Glove's core skill.

Lin Tu had no intention of letting him finish. She left a wisp of moonlight at her spot and charged forward, blade in hand.

As she closed in, two more hands extended from No. 55's back—one holding a withered branch, the other a bottle.

The branch seemed to spring back to life, blooming with a pink azalea out of nowhere. The flower was in full bloom, and dense leaves burst from the branches as well.

Remembering how Guan Suiyue had been battered by those leaves, Lin Tu had a bad feeling.

"Blade Light!" She used [Lighthouse] to twist her body, swinging at No. 55 from an unguarded angle, then used moonlight to return to her original spot.

At that moment, the hand gave a light wave, and the leaves and azalea flowers flew into the air, beautiful enough to be a watercolor painting of spring. A portion of the leaves flew toward the Blade Light, effortlessly extinguishing that fierce, critical-enhanced attack.

Another portion of leaves seemed to anticipate—they didn't head toward Lin Tu's previous position, but flew to where she had teleported via moonlight.

The azalea drifted in the air, yet sent an inexplicable chill down the spine.

"Careful, it'll explode!" Guan Suiyue shouted.

Lin Tu immediately retreated, grabbing a few wire nets to shield herself while leaving a wisp of moonlight at her original spot.

The wire nets stacked and rose upward. As B-rank items, they failed to stop the seemingly harmless new leaves and azalea, only slightly reducing their number and slowing their speed.

Guan Suiyue, enduring the pain, lunged to the side. Fortunately, these attacks weren't aimed at her. She threw out a catching net, which emitted a faint golden glow and successfully wrapped up the leaves and azalea.

"It won't hold long—hurry!"

Just as she finished speaking, Lin Tu used moonlight to return to the wire nets. She grabbed a handful of corn cobs and wire nets, hurling them at No. 55. Dense illusions and wire nets rose before his eyes.

He was about to dip the withered branch into the bottle's liquid to create more leaves when he suddenly noticed a clump of pitch-black dandelions hovering right above the bottle mouth, firmly guarding it—

"Did you think I was stupid?!" Lin Tu mocked, seeing this. "Don't even think about using what's in that bottle."

Just as she spoke, she felt Xiao Hei's voice grow louder in her mind.

At the same time, Lin Tu noticed the metal dandelions at the bottle's mouth suddenly multiplying at an alarming rate—like magic Christmas tree paper blooming when watered—then exploding outward. Some metal dandelions, without instructions, drifted down from the bottle mouth and fell to the ground.

"My holy water!" No. 55 roared. "You damned thief!"

Lin Tu: "..." She really hadn't meant to.

So the effect of this holy water was to make plants grow rapidly.

Realizing this, Lin Tu acted decisively. She had Xiao Hei continue absorbing water while she ate a blueberry, fired two shots to shatter the corridor's light bulbs, and under the darkness' enhancement, circled behind No. 55 with silent, unprecedented speed, striking him unexpectedly.

Under the holy light, Lin Tu leaped out of the darkness.

Another barrier rose around No. 55, but the critical-enhanced blade slashed straight down. Breaking through the barrier only slowed it slightly as the blade severed the arm that had been holding the withered branch in a desperate defense, leaving a bloody gash across No. 55's back.

With a crack, the hand and the branch fell to the ground together.

At the same time, Lin Tu's blade also fell—her sword, unable to bear the strain, had shattered from breaking through the barrier.

"His [Divine Descent] is about to end—hurry!" Guan Suiyue shouted.

No. 55's right foot began to freeze, but the ice clearly wasn't hard enough to count as a "negative status effect." Lin Tu couldn't activate the stronger skill [Cannibal Hunter], so she could only trigger [Serial Killer].

As she quickly retreated, Lin Tu raised her pistol—"Critical!"

The bullet spun rapidly, flying toward the back of No. 55's head.

But the anticipated scene of blood spraying never happened. The bullet pierced into the back of his skull, and nothing occurred.

In the darkness, the light falling through the ceiling grew brighter. Vaguely, Lin Tu heard living creatures playing in fields, saw countless worlds spinning and cycling, saw a deity descending from heaven, gently brushing a hand over every person's head.

She felt an indescribable closeness, like an unborn baby instinctively curling up in warm amniotic fluid.

[Divine Descent] had succeeded!

Then, the severed hand rose and reattached itself to No. 55's arm. At the same time, the wound on his back vanished, and even the bullet crawled out of his head, spinning in reverse.

Lin Tu watched helplessly as those wounds, bloodstains, and the bullet, under the holy light, slowly flew toward her.

No. 55 gave Lin Tu a deep look, then retreated two steps and vanished into the darkness.

"Lin Tu!" Guan Suiyue raised her sword and charged toward her.

Lin Tu was held in place by an invisible force. In the distance, the holy light was fading. She saw Guan Suiyue's terrified, frantic shouts behind the light, and before the light, the bullet carrying the "critical" effect slowly flying toward her brow. Time seemed to slow to a crawl.

So [Divine Descent]'s effect was damage reflection! Guan Suiyue, you damn—you should've said so earlier!

Lin Tu knew full well she couldn't survive her own attack. She widened her eyes.

The next second, a faint light emanated from her body. Then, the bullet about to pierce her brow dissolved into nothing, and along with it, the bloodstains flying toward her back and the wounds flying toward her hands all vanished without a trace.

Lin Tu stood there dazed, stumbled, and nearly fell.

The fierce battle had attracted the nearby cannibals; frenzied noises rose from all directions.

"Let's go!" Guan Suiyue grabbed Lin Tu's arm and pulled her away from the spot.

The two hid in a corner to dress their wounds.

Lin Tu had a thousand questions, but her most pressing one was: "No. 55 can't be killed at all."

"He can," Guan Suiyue said regretfully. "That last shot was too slow. If you'd killed him a few seconds earlier, Divine Descent wouldn't have triggered. And the damage was too low—if it had been a higher level of damage, even if Divine Descent had triggered, he'd still be dead."

Lin Tu took a deep breath. "You should've told me that earlier."

Guan Suiyue's golden hair fell over her shoulders. She was silent for a moment, then apologized, "I'm sorry."

Lin Tu watched her coldly wrapping bandages around her own wounds, pale lips pressed tight, as if it weren't her own injury. She sneered.

—Truly cruel to herself, and even crueler to others.

Lin Tu wasn't stupid. No. 55 had clearly targeted Guan Suiyue on purpose—they were enemies, or had some other relationship. Either way... No. 55 wanted to kill Guan Suiyue. Everything, from the burned woods to the two dead cooks to the cannibal invasion, was very likely all a setup by No. 55 to kill Guan Suiyue.

If it weren't for the fact that the surprise and murderous intent in No. 55's eyes when he saw Lin Tu appear seemed genuine—confirming for Lin Tu that he was indeed the one who had harmed her—at least in that regard, Guan Suiyue hadn't lied to her, and Lin Tu would have already turned on Guan Suiyue.

After all, Guan Suiyue knew the effects of [Divine Descent] but deliberately kept it secret, because she guessed that if Lin Tu knew about damage reflection, she wouldn't go all out. Her goal was for Lin Tu to fight desperately to kill her enemy.

In Guan Suiyue's script, either Lin Tu died or No. 55 died—if not for that sudden light blocking the damage of [Divine Descent], Lin Tu would have already followed the script's ending and met an untimely death.

"I thought we were friends, but I guess not." Lin Tu coldly left those words and was about to leave.

"Wait," the voice from behind was as familiar as ever, yet now it sounded strange to Lin Tu, "He can only use [Divine Descent] once per disaster."

Lin Tu sneered again. "Contact me if you have news about No. 55." Then she used [Lighthouse] to leave. She was afraid that if she kept talking to Guan Suiyue, she'd start cursing.

The ship had attracted too many cannibals; Luo Yongzhi didn't go to the last system. Lin Tu used the remaining time to go to the last system and complete the puzzle, leveling [Cannibal Hunter] up to level three. Now she could apply critical hits to people under negative effects.

[Cannibal Hunter] and [Serial Killer] stacked together could produce quadruple critical damage.