Chapter 82: Carnivores and the Bloody Painter (3)

But in order to obtain that tender meat exuding the scent of orchids and to eliminate the wretched fellow who had injured his precious Soul Concubine, Barbarian Butcher felt he could make a deal with the madman Jack Chen—even if it meant he might lose out a bit.

Relying on the unique resentment of living souls possessed by the Purification Society, he quickly located Jack Chen in the orphanage, painting on a relatively intact wall. At the same time, countless floating skulls with hair surrounded Barbarian Butcher and the blue-eyed anomaly. Hollow sockets, glowing with black mist, fixed their gaze upon the master and servant. Yet their attention was mostly on the blue-eyed anomaly; clearly, Four-Star Anomaly Hundred Towers intended to devour it.

Wounded as they were, Barbarian Butcher and his party dared not make a move, but he wasn’t worried about Jack Chen attacking him. The Purification Society strictly forbade members from killing each other; violators would be hunted by their superiors. Elders like them would be pursued by the president—a being whose power, akin to a high-level ghost spirit capable of founding a ghost nation, left them with no thoughts of rebellion.

Jack Chen seemed annoyed by the interruption, tossing aside his paint bucket. Once the brush, transformed by Hundred Towers’ true form, returned to normal, he looked askance at Barbarian Butcher, suppressing his anger, and asked, “Omnivore! What are you doing here?”

Jack Chen inwardly despised the pig-like creature before him—especially since this pig delighted in eating human flesh. Even among the perverse lunatics of the Purification Society, cannibalism was rare, but this pig reveled in it.

“I’ve found a superior delicacy—a tender meat with the scent of orchids. If her blood were made into paint, you’d love it.” Just as Jack Chen knew Barbarian Butcher’s weaknesses, Barbarian Butcher knew Jack Chen’s.

Jack Chen was ready to refuse; he didn’t believe such a foolish excuse. He’d searched for premium paint for ages; he wasn’t so easily convinced that this pig happened upon some. However, the anomaly Hundred Towers he’d tamed sent him a request.

“Is that so? I’ll help you, but I want that blue-eyed wolf.”

Hearing Jack Chen demand his blue-eyed anomaly, Barbarian Butcher hesitated, about to refuse and propose another condition.

“You and I aren’t fools. Just a piece of human meat, no matter how delicious, wouldn’t make you so desperate. To help you kill a powerful awakened one—one you’d come to me for help with—is worth far more than just a head and blood.”

As Jack Chen spoke calmly, Barbarian Butcher felt the blue-eyed anomaly beneath him trembling. Clearly, it had served him long enough to know Jack Chen was right. In fact, the likelihood of Barbarian Butcher agreeing was growing…

Seeing Barbarian Butcher wavering, Jack Chen pressed on, still calm: “I only want the opponent’s head and blood, plus this anomaly. All other soul matter, magnetism, and so on are yours. You can tell Hundred Towers has coveted it for a long time.”

Anomalies could devour one another, as with the forest anomaly and the building cluster beneath the Dragon Well. If not for the Purification Society’s rules, the blue-eyed anomaly would have ended up in Hundred Towers’ belly already.

And judging by the blue-eyed anomaly’s allure to Hundred Towers, Barbarian Butcher reckoned that even if they escaped this time, there’d be another attempt. If he factored in Xiao Keyan’s attraction to the Cheongsam Ghost Spirit… Barbarian Butcher’s inner scales tipped rapidly.

Before the blue-eyed anomaly could resist, Barbarian Butcher suddenly stomped on its back, and his fat body leaped three meters away with astonishing speed.

“Deal!”

His agreement echoed languidly.

With Barbarian Butcher’s consent, Jack Chen waved his right hand, and the surrounding skulls surged toward the blue-eyed anomaly.

Knowing death was inevitable, the blue-eyed wolf wouldn’t meekly submit. The fury Barbarian Butcher had suppressed within it erupted, and its claws gleamed with cold light, coated in resentful energy.

“Roar—”

The blue-eyed anomaly bellowed and swung its claws with all its might, slashing several skulls into pieces as they tried to bite it.

But that was the end. The gap between a Three-Star and Four-Star anomaly could not be bridged by sheer desperation—especially with Jack Chen by Hundred Towers’ side, and Hundred Towers’ true form yet unused.

Eventually, the blue-eyed anomaly was devoured by Hundred Towers’ skulls, leaving only a wolf-shaped skull; its flesh and blood had been quickly absorbed and assimilated.

Soon, all the skulls of Hundred Towers sprouted curved, wolf-fang-like horns. Their sharpness suggested that, aside from biting, the skulls now had other attack modes—such as headbutts.

The skulls formed a giant blanket, their new horns retracted. Jack Chen lay upon the skull blanket and, reluctantly, said to Barbarian Butcher, “Come up! Show me what kind of opponent made you pay such a steep price.”

Relieved, Barbarian Butcher climbed onto the blanket. His massive weight caused the floating blanket to dip, but Hundred Towers managed to hold steady.

As the blanket sped east, Wu Zui, following Xiao Keyan’s directions, was also pursuing westward.

Soon, the two parties met. But Barbarian Butcher and Jack Chen, distracted by the interference from the gold magnetic layer inside Dragon Soar One, failed to detect Wu Zui and his companions within.

Wu Zui and his companion, however, noticed the conspicuous floating skull blanket and the three long trails of sinister smoke—it was clear these weren’t friendly.

[Three trails?]

After a brief thought, Wu Zui turned the vehicle and pressed a button inside. A golden howitzer barrel quietly extended from Dragon Soar One’s underside—Wu Zui was clearly planning a surprise attack!

(￣▽￣)/

Boom—

A golden grenade blasted straight into the clustered skulls. The explosion split many skulls in half, and those not split were pierced by golden fragments, riddled with holes and seemingly powerless.

But inside, Jack Chen and Barbarian Butcher were unharmed.

A wave of soul resentment surged from Jack Chen’s hand, enveloping Hundred Towers instantly. The golden fragments dropped away, and the halved skulls found their counterparts, beginning to heal in the nourishing resentment.

“So this is the person who made you lose out? Doesn’t seem so impressive!”

As he spoke, Hundred Towers set Jack Chen and Barbarian Butcher down, and the skull blanket surged toward Dragon Soar One. The skulls, now showing their single horns and emitting eerie howls, surrounded the vehicle.

From that moment, the thundering impacts began!

If Dragon Soar One weren’t made of a magnet-gold alloy, it would have been shattered already. Even so, the material had been battered, and the horns had punctured the exterior.

“Master, what now? Should we go out and beat them up?” Xiao Keyan asked, hammering her golden mallet with a resounding clang.

“…”

Wu Zui glanced at Xiao Keyan’s bruised palm and the cracks in her mallet, sighed, and said, “Let’s wait. That fat man has a new face beside him; let’s use Dragon Soar One to probe a bit. Besides, we haven’t used all the weapons on this car yet. Load up!”

With that, Wu Zui activated the magnetic levitation mode on Dragon Soar One. Xiao Keyan responded, grabbing golden grenades and placing them in the launching compartment. Surrounded by skulls, Dragon Soar One swiftly flew above the watching, unfazed Jack Chen and Barbarian Butcher.

Whoosh—

Boom—

A shower of golden bombs dropped through the gaps in the skulls, blasting Jack Chen and Barbarian Butcher into chaos. If Hundred Towers hadn’t blocked some bombs, the two might have been sent to the afterlife.

Dragon Soar One didn’t escape unscathed; some explosions were too close, and the blast sent the vehicle tumbling. Hundred Towers’ skulls suffered heavy losses, but their numbers remained daunting.

Regaining control, Wu Zui frowned at the overwhelming skulls. This group was likely a Four-Star anomaly, highly resistant to golden weapons.

If Wu Zui and Xiao Keyan went out now, they’d be outnumbered, and with the fat man’s two ghosts and the unknown Jack Chen, their chances of victory were slim.

Four-Star anomalies were far more troublesome than ghosts of equal rank, since magnetism was less effective against them. So Wu Zui opted for tactical retreat.

Dragon Soar One, battered and scarred, broke through the skull encirclement and sped away.

[So many skulls—I need a good plan. If possible, hold out until nearby spirit investigators arrive. If I could capture one alive to learn more about the Purification Society, that’d be even better.]

Back at the scene, Jack Chen scoffed at Barbarian Butcher, “This is your opponent? Only knows how to ambush and run?”

Barbarian Butcher ignored the taunt, instead deeply inhaling. A faint orchid fragrance entered his nostrils, and his eyes lit up. “That’s the scent! It’s them!”

His sense of smell rivaled a dog’s—truly, all lunatics had inhuman abilities.

“Hah, is that so? Then let’s pursue them!”

Hundred Towers returned to Jack Chen’s side, forming a skull blanket. This time, Jack Chen’s soul resentment enveloped it completely. Within the resentment, the parts shattered by golden bombs began to heal swiftly.

Jack Chen and Barbarian Butcher, as if riding a black cloud, chased after Wu Zui’s fleeing direction.

Meanwhile, Wu Zui was searching for a battleground—ideally somewhere that would restrict the skulls’ movements. With the floating device, escape was impossible since the enemy could also fly, and the levitation had a time limit.

His time was running out…