Chapter 320: Cursed Puppet

Chapter 320: Chapter 320: Cursed Puppet

When He Xingluo saw He Yue Ning’s face, she froze. Her Ghost Fire seemed to be useless.

She stared blankly as the Pollution Body closed in on her.

One look at He Xingluo’s expression and Feng Ling knew she couldn’t be relied upon. She stepped forward, yanked He Xingluo behind her, and immediately unleashed her Spiritual Suppression!

However, after she unleashed her Spiritual Suppression, both He Xingluo and Huangfu Miaomiao began to tremble behind her, yet the Pollution Body in front of them had no reaction at all.

’Another Pollution Body immune to spiritual power?’

Feng Ling decisively retracted her spiritual power, and bony spikes abruptly erupted from her shoulder blades!

Segmented appendages grew rapidly, their surfaces covered in silver Scale Armor, with Teeth and Claws sprouting from their tips. They shot out, piercing both sides of He Yue Ning’s head in an attempt to wrench her free from the Pollution Body’s mass.

The moment her Teeth and Claws sank in, Feng Ling immediately sensed something was wrong.

One of her abilities was to absorb energy from fresh flesh. Regardless of whether the target was alive, the nutrients it contained should have converted into her energy upon contact.

But now, all she could detect was a void!

’Then again,’ she thought, ’absorbing energy requires fresh flesh. This Pollution Body’s form is most likely composed of various corpses, long dead. Is that why there’s no energy to absorb?’

’But that’s not right either. The medical staff were absorbed just a short while ago. How could they have no energy?’

’The failure of her ability probably wasn’t just because the flesh wasn’t fresh.’

In fact, He Xingluo’s Ghost Fire could also weaken a target’s energy by burning it, but her earlier burst of flame had also failed to affect the Pollution Body.

Feng Ling felt there had to be a reason for this.

She pondered these questions for only a couple of seconds, even trying to make her Teeth and Claws bite deeper, searching for any fluctuation of energy within the void.

Before she could find any energy, she was met with a violent blast of frigid air!

Alarmed, Feng Ling tried to retract her Teeth and Claws!

Her appendages tensed instantly, but their tips had been frozen solid!

White frost rapidly crept along the appendages, and a frigid chill rushed toward her!

Feng Ling acted decisively, drawing her Bone Blade. With a swift SLASH, SLASH, she severed the two clawed appendages. The gushing blood turned into crimson ice crystals the instant the frost hit.

The temperature in the entire hallway plummeted, as if it had become a walk-in freezer.

Feng Ling grabbed He Xingluo and Huangfu Miaomiao and retreated downstairs!

Their legs were still jelly from the Spiritual Intimidation, and Feng Ling had to drag them down two flights of stairs before they finally recovered.

He Xingluo’s first instinct was to go back. Whether He Yue Ning was dead or alive, she had to tear her sister away from that Pollution Body.

Feng Ling held her fast by the collar and asked, "There are still so many people in the building. Are you just going to ignore them?"

He Xingluo’s expression stiffened, and she hesitantly argued back, "Everyone should have already evacuated to a safe zone."

"You said it yourself—’should.’ I can’t be responsible for anyone left behind!" Feng Ling released her, frowning. "I can handle the Pollution Body, but I’m not in charge of rescue!"

At her words, He Xingluo finally sobered up.

’Bai Lu has become a Pollution Body, and all the members of the Special Attack Team have vanished. The only one who can take charge now is me, the Deputy Captain.’

’But just a short while ago, I was still in a training camp. I’ve been on the job for less than a week and haven’t even familiarized myself with the workplace. Can I really shoulder this responsibility?’

Feng Ling gave He Xingluo no room to think, giving her a push and urging, "Go on, quick!"

He Xingluo gritted her teeth and said quickly, "I’ll evacuate the crowd. Ms. Ling, do your best to hold it off! Don’t let it reach the street!"

With that said, she turned and ran downstairs.

Feng Ling shouted after her, "Hey! Where should I lure it? Is there a suitable place in the Inspection Bureau?!"

He Xingluo’s voice drifted up from the stairwell: "The third-floor banquet hall!"

"The banquet hall?... I guess that’ll work. It’s big enough. First, I’ll trap it in an enclosed space, then deal with it slowly." Feng Ling looked up. The Pollution Body was already in pursuit.

In just that short while, it had gone from a chaotic mass to gradually growing four limbs. And as its hands and feet became more defined, its movements grew faster!

Feng Ling felt this was getting tricky. Glancing at her freshly severed appendages, she thought, ’It’s probably best not to fight this head-on. For a monster that gives off its own cold air, a Flame Sprayer would be the most time- and energy-efficient solution.’

As she led the monster toward the third floor, Huangfu Miaomiao, at her side, said anxiously, "Feng Ling, I got a clear look! It’s not a Pollution Body!"

"It’s not?!" Feng Ling glanced back in surprise.

The monster swayed as it stood up, like a Headless Giant. Its lower limbs were thick, and its upper limbs forked at the elbows, growing into four separate arms. It was so tall its hunched back almost scraped the ceiling.

Huangfu Miaomiao studied it for another moment before saying, "It has a name! It’s called a Cursed Puppet!"

Feng Ling raised an eyebrow. "So it’s not a Pollution Body just because it has a name?"

"To humans, any creature that isn’t from Earth is a Pollution Body. But for us players, only a creature whose name is displayed as ’Pollution Body’ actually counts as one. Strictly speaking, Maze Creatures aren’t Pollution Bodies either. They all have names," Huangfu Miaomiao explained earnestly.

Feng Ling understood her meaning. All creatures have their own names—a cat is a cat, a dog is a dog—but if one mutated into a new life-form due to genetic contamination, it would only have one name: "monster."

Simply put, a Pollution Body is an incomprehensible kind of monster.

And since the creature before them had a name, it must be something that could be understood, something born of order and logic.

’But what exactly is a Cursed Puppet?’

’Who created it?’

Feng Ling retreated step by step, silently watching the Headless Giant’s limbs become increasingly coordinated and agile. The upper body of a woman was growing from the center of its chest—her face and figure were none other than Bai Lu’s!

’How did Bai Lu become a "Cursed Puppet"?’

Feng Ling was utterly baffled!

By now, the Headless Giant had grown distinct fingers and feet. Feng Ling could see many familiar faces on its body—the members of the Special Attack Team and the medical staff, all embedded into the giant’s body as tightly as building blocks!

As for He Yue Ning, who had appeared just moments ago, she had long since been squeezed out of sight.

An eye, unexpectedly, caught Feng Ling’s gaze.

Feng Ling froze, stopping on the stairs to take a closer look.

The eye wasn’t on a collarbone but was located on the leg of a twisted corpse. A few seconds after she spotted it, Feng Ling found another eye!

This one also wasn’t on a collarbone—it was on a corpse’s shoulder!

’Why?’

’Doesn’t Xing Guang always place the eyes on the collarbone? The whole point of an eye is to ’see’! If it’s placed on a shoulder or a leg, it would normally be covered by clothes. How could it see the outside world?’

’Unless Xing Guang had already predicted that the locations of these eyes would be exposed.’

Images suddenly flashed through Feng Ling’s mind.

Her eyes widened in shock as she finally realized something—the decommissioned Alien Species corpses at the incinerator might not have been a trap for just her, but a trap for Bai Lu as well!

Xing Guang knew that after the Inspection Bureau suffered heavy casualties, Bai Lu would use corpses to mend the bodies of the team members. So, Xing Guang had tampered with the corpses!