Chapter 107: Wai
The moment Rabbit’s voice fell, gunfire erupted from the woods to the left of the road.
It happened so fast there was almost no time to react. In the nick of time, the mouse in the air swooped down at incredible speed, intercepting the bullet aimed at Zhang Wenda’s head.
The bullet struck the mouse, sparing Zhang Wenda from a fatal headshot. However, this came at a price.
The instant the bullet hit, the translucent mouse exploded violently. At the same moment, Zhang Wenda felt a sharp stabbing pain in his chest as if he’d been knifed. His vision went black, and he collapsed.
Seizing the opportunity, the nearby cat fortress sprouted cat paws from its base, scurried over to Zhang Wenda, and enveloped him.
"Wenda? Are you okay? Can you hear me?" At Rabbit’s call, Zhang Wenda, his ears ringing nonstop, finally regained consciousness.
As he came to, the fragments of the mouse floating in the air coalesced into a new one. The previously translucent creature now looked even more transparent.
Clearly, the mouse and Zhang Wenda were connected. An attack on the mouse was reflected back onto Zhang Wenda—or perhaps, the mouse was simply a part of his own body.
"I’m fine, I’m fine." Zhang Wenda struggled, pushing himself up from Rabbit’s arms.
He peered out through a firing slit in the fortress. The surrounding woods had fallen silent; the enemy was nowhere to be seen.
"Is it the Big Circle?" Zhang Wenda asked, then immediately shouted outside, "2826! Stay back! The enemy has guns!"
But the experienced 2826 had already descended from a safe distance, refusing to remain a sitting duck in midair.
"I don’t know if they’re from the Big Circle you mentioned," Rabbit said while tending to the injured cat’s wounds. "But judging from the attack on me and the cat, there are at least fifteen of them."
’This isn’t good. The three of us are surrounded. They lured us here, so their objective is complete. Whether they lay siege or wait for reinforcements, we’re at a disadvantage.’
After a moment’s thought, Zhang Wenda said to the mouse in the air, "Friend, can you see how many enemies are in the woods for me? And what they look like?"
For the first time, however, the Wai Mouse didn’t do as Zhang Wenda asked. It raised its two small paws in a flurry of gestures, and only then did Zhang Wenda understand: the creature could only exist within his own line of sight. It couldn’t go where he couldn’t see.
He glanced at his Tri-Core, which had barely recovered. The Three-Line Spell was out of the question. Zhang Wenda realized he had no good options left.
"Let’s go," Zhang Wenda proposed. "We’ll head back. They don’t seem to dare attack in crowded places. If we move back slowly, we should be safe."
At Zhang Wenda’s suggestion, the cat fortress grew legs once more and began to carry the three of them slowly toward town.
It was slow, but it was a steady and relatively safe plan.
’I hope 2826 calls for backup quickly,’ Zhang Wenda mused as he walked alongside the fortress. ’This is no time for heroics.’
After walking for a few minutes, Zhang Wenda saw small red, blue, and yellow specks carried on the wind into the woods on both sides. As the specks blew past, all the leaves on the trees rapidly curled up and fell away, instantly exposing the enemies hidden within.
’2826 is making its move!’ A wave of relief was about to wash over Zhang Wenda when he suddenly felt heat rising from beneath his feet.
His scalp tingling with dread, he looked down. The entire concrete surface was beginning to crack, a dangerous red glow seeping from the fissures.
"Teacher!!" The moment Zhang Wenda shouted the word, the concrete ground erupted from below in a deafening explosion.
Amidst the flying dust, the black fortress, blasted into the air, slowly descended with the sound of meowing. Thirty meters away, a completely monstrous Zhang Wenda stood firm, having dodged the surprise underground explosion. He held Song Jianguo in one arm and had Teacher Rabbit slung over his shoulder.
"You bastards!" Zhang Wenda snarled, glaring at the figures in the trees, his teeth clenched in fury. They had been moments away from being completely wiped out.
Zhang Wenda threw his hands wide. Ten sickles shot out from them, blurring into afterimages as they flew toward the enemy.
Fierce gunfire erupted once more. Zhang Wenda dodged with incredible speed, and when he couldn’t dodge, he simply took the hits with his monstrous body.
The enemy tried to stop his counterattack, but it was utterly useless.
A mere two seconds later, with the sound of tearing flesh, two heads flew into the air. For a moment, it was as if red flowers were blooming in the leafless forest.
Like a hyper-efficient killing machine, Zhang Wenda weaved through the men, taking a life with every pass.
Watching these scum scream in despair before him, Zhang Wenda found his breath quickening with excitement.
But just as he was about to tear his enemies to pieces, the moment his vision was completely shrouded in crimson, Zhang Wenda snapped back to his senses.
’No! I can’t enjoy this feeling! I can’t take pleasure in tormenting the weak!’ Having come to his senses, Zhang Wenda quickly tried to leave the woods. But a streak of red light shot down from the sky, taking his place on the battlefield.
The red thing was incredibly fast, weaving recklessly through the men’s bodies, just as Zhang Wenda had done moments before.
As it rounded a corner, Zhang Wenda finally got a clear look at it. It was his translucent mouse!
His once-cute translucent mouse was completely transformed. Its body was dyed solid red. Its cute little mouth was split open to its ears, revealing terrifying fangs.
Barbed bone spurs, like a hedgehog’s quills, jutted from its back, glinting coldly. Its once-cute beady eyes now burned with a bloodthirsty light.
"Enough! Stop killing! They’re almost all dead!" Zhang Wenda yelled, but the creature paid him no mind, continuing to revel in the slaughter.
Zhang Wenda gave chase at top speed, trying to grab the mouse. But as he drew near, the creature attacked him without hesitation.
Its sharp fangs lunged for his heart and neck, clearly aiming to kill. If he hadn’t dodged so quickly, he would have been decapitated.
Taking a few quick steps back, Zhang Wenda stared at the bloodthirsty monster before him, at the deep hatred and malice in its eyes that promised to tear him to shreds.
Seeing this, Zhang Wenda felt as if he’d been struck in the head with a sledgehammer.
It finally dawned on him. The mouse from before had been an illusion. This monster before his eyes was his true Wai.