The Slaughter Cape.
Xu Xiaoshou crossed his arms at his chest and looked at the puppet child that was doing the same. He then asked with a doubtful tone.
“What do they call you?”
“Jie…”
A shy voice was heard, yet it was no longer saying the word ‘Mama’ before and had said something else instead.
Xu Xiaoshou was delightfully surprised, noting that the child actually knew other words. While it was just a name, yet it was making progress.
“Little Jie, I, Xu Xiaoshou hereby extend my invitation again to you. Do you want to come with Mama?” The young man said, trying to puzzle the thing.
After the Sky Tree took form, the Tianxuan Gate was finally stabilized.
Yet, Xu Xiaoshou dared not stay for a moment longer. He wanted to get back to the portal and leave as soon as possible.
However, he needed to see to the matter with Jie the puppet child before that.
If the puppet child proved to be obedient and controllable, then it would definitely be a formidable weapon and it would do him more good than harm.
However, he wasn’t sure if that thing would actually behave. As such, if it was proven not feasible, he wouldn’t force it.
He already had a ‘Raging Giant’ which he had trouble containing and if he were to put yet another time bomb by his side, it would only be a matter of time before things go south.
“Mama…”
Jie’s voice sounded hesitant.
Repeated tests showed that he was indeed able to detect the child’s emotional fluctuations through ‘Sense’, which was one of the reasons why he dared to try to control such a devastating weapon.
“There isn’t much time for you to think about it, as I’m about to leave soon. If I were to stay here any longer, I’d probably be trapped in here.”
He looked up at the sky. “You see this world? While it’s patching up, yet it’s actually no different from that hole that trapped you. You just have more space out there, that’s all.”
“The true world lies outside…”
He halted as he recalled what Elder Sang said all of the sudden, that puzzling theory about the world.
He thought that perhaps even that world outside wasn’t actually the true world.
“Mama…” Jie looked at him and seemed to be moved.
Xu Xiaoshou didn’t mull over the matter too much and flashed a beaming, relieved smile, saying, “the point of living is to see a greater, wider world out there, right? What’s the point of keeping oneself trapped in a dinghy place, eh?”
Jie walked up to him and was no longer crossing its arms. It put its arms on Xu Xiaoshou’s shoulder and nodded.
“Mama.”
Xu Xiaoshou wore a twisted expression as he felt as if his shoulder blades were about to crack. He hissed and said, “Alright, alright, I know what you mean, just let go for now and don’t do anything rash.”
Jie looked up and doubt was seen in its red eyes.
“Let… let go! Release your arms and do it like me. Cross your arms!”
The corner of his mouth twitched and he was feeling not alright at all.
Go**damit, if I were to take this thing outside, it’d still be fine if it just come and pinch me somewhat, but if this thing were to play with other kids and got riled up…
“Let’s kick ball, eh?”
“Yippee!”
The head flew…
“Wuuuu, you killed the friend!”
“Alright, easy there. Let’s hug.”
The person shattered…
Xu Xiaoshou was feeling his legs wobbling, not daring to imagine the scene any further. If Jie were to not be able to control its own powers, there would definitely be trouble once they got outside.
He rather regretted his decision of extending such an invitation.
“If you’re going out with me, then we’d need to set up rules.”
Xu Xiaoshou crossed his arms before his chest all the time. Jie finally regained composure and imitated what he did.
“First, you couldn’t go about attacking people.”
Jie nodded.
“Second, unless I say otherwise, you’d need to stand with your arms crossed before your chest. This is utmost important.”
Jie nodded again.
“Finally…”
Xu Xiaoshou paused, wondering if that thing actually understood what he said.
He wondered what would happen if that thing were to simply nod without actually comprehending what he said.
“Could you shrink yourself?” He asked.
A puppet could probably shrink and hide itself, and if it were to be capable of doing so, taking it outside would be a piece of cake.
Jie nodded.
Xu Xiaoshou was delighted and gave his order. “Shrink!”
Jie continued to nod.
“…”
Xu Xiaoshou was feeling a massive headache by then, noting that the puppet was indeed more like a loose cannon.
Pop!
The puppet that had been the size of a child shrunk itself into a metal ball about the size of a fist all of a sudden, hovering midair.
Xu Xiaoshou’s eyes glittered, noting that the puppet could actually do so.
Good lord, you really know how to please me. Who the hell would find out if I were to just hide this piece of rock on my person, eh?
He grabbed hold of the ball and asked, “could you talk?”
“Mama…”
There were two red dots at the top of the ball, which should be where the eyes were.
“Nice. Unless told otherwise, you shall in this form at all times…”
The metal ball popped before he finished and Jie reappeared in puppet form again.
Okay, you’re not listening to me, eh?
Xu Xiaoshou was stunned and thought that the thing was going to be quite a handful. He was most wary of things that had erratic behaviors, as that meant that they would tend to go haywire at key moments.
At that moment, a shout was heard not far away.
“Xu Xiaoshou, come out and meet your doom!”
It was obvious that it was Zhou Tianshen’s voice.
Okay, it’s doing this because someone’s here eh… yet before Xu Xiaoshou was able to feel relieved, his eyes were thrown wide open, as jie was nowhere to be seen.
There was no need to speculate where that puppet ended up at all.
“Stop, that’s not the enemy! Do not attack!” Xu Xiaoshou shouted to the top of his lungs. His Sense was locked at Zhou Tianshen’s position as he took to the air.
“Remember the rules!”
Zhou Tianshen sensed movement behind his neck and turned around to find a child clenching its fist.
“Huh? There’re survivors in this world?”
He was pleased yet he was all furious when he heard Xu Xiaoshou’s voice, “So, you’re with Xu Xiaoshou then?”
“You align yourself with evil to wreck the world, now die… well, this is a child. Damn it, how do I go about this…”
That stout man cradled his blade and hesitated. He wasn’t one to kill a child.
Xu Xiaoshou got there and Zhou Tianshen’s eyes glittered with anger again. I’d just go about getting rid of the one responsible then.
“Xu Xiaoshou, you shall die on this very day!”
His piercing killing intent was every bit on par with that metal puppet from before. Xu Xiaoshou noted the shifting look in Jie’s eyes behind and stopped the puppet right away, “don’t do anything rash!”
“Huh, rash?”
“I, Zhou Tianshen, am not doing anything rash because I’m about to kill you!”
Xu Xiaoshou felt like he was about to fall over, noting that the man before him was still steeped in a fantasy world.
Now is not the time for jokes, man.
“Quit yapping. This is the Tianxuan Gate and I’m sorry that I lied to you, about taking 10000 years and all…”
“By the way, you actually recovered that quickly? You could come out already?”
Xu Xiaoshou noted that his ‘Amber Juice’ was indeed doing wonders.
“Hmph, you think that a black wall could trap me?” That stout man snorted dismissively and recalled that something was off all of a sudden, saying, “Lied? You’re trying to dupe me?”
Doubted, Passive Points +1.
Xu Xiaoshou felt like he was about to pass out, thinking that the man believed everything when he should have had doubts, yet go about doubting things when it was time to believe.
Zhou Tianshen drew his blade. He had no intentions of saying more to the man who wrecked the world.
He reckoned that it had been quite a pity, having seen that man before his eyes to be his guide 10000 years ago, never knowing that the man had such ulterior motives.
“Come, let us duel to the death!”
Whoosh!
That puppet child appeared before Xu Xiaoshou again, standing between the two of them.
Zhou Tianshen was furious. “Do not think for a second that I wouldn’t kill you just because you’re a child. Get out of my way!”
That shout caused Xu Xiaoshou’s heart to race. Damn, this really is the highlight of your life, Sir Zhou, even I, Xu Xiaoshou, wouldn’t dare to talk to the kid like that…
Booom!
Jie grabbed Zhou Tianshen’s blade as expected, throwing both the man and the blade so high into the sky that they became like stars.
Bling!
The man was gone before shrieks were even heard.
A passage appeared coincidentally and that stout man just happened to fall into that right afterwards.
Xu Xiaoshou was speechless.