Chapter Ten: Uprooting the Willow Tree

Liang Zhi frowned and asked the crow perched on his head, “What exactly is Heart’s Lead?”

The crow scratched its head with its claw. “I haven’t heard of it, but it’s probably some kind of drug concocted using a ‘psychologist’ ability. If you use it, you can guide someone to a specific place. Shameful, really. You’ve gotten too lax. If you’d had even a little vigilance, a drug like that would’ve been useless against you.”

Liang Zhi was speechless. “Who would ever think someone would poison lollipops?”

Only now did Qiu Shilu finally piece together what had happened. Those lollipops during the day were the bait these people used to lure their victims. So, was the Liang Zhi who snatched them away a scoundrel, or a hero saving children?

Her gaze toward Liang Zhi was layered with complexity. As a journalist, her mind had already spun out a thirty-thousand-word story. Then, anger surged in her. If it hadn’t been her who’d been brought here by that drug, but someone else, what would have happened to them?

She stepped aside, moving to stand next to a willow tree.

At this moment, the long-faced man also realized something was amiss. Usually, the “goods” they brought here were so terrified they lost all composure, but tonight, neither this man nor the woman showed a hint of fear.

Liang Zhi stroked his chin, then strode straight toward the long-faced man. “I thought you looked familiar earlier, but now I’m certain who you are. You’re Wu Zinan! Wanted for abducting twenty-seven people—a bounty of ten thousand coins... Judging by the look of things, I bet the real number is higher than twenty-seven, isn’t it?”

His eyes sharpened, ten fingers flexing and relaxing as his ability quietly activated. “Hey, Crow, in the Chapter of Killing, the last wish—there’s no restriction on who the target has to be, is there?”

The crow perched on his head looked up and replied, “There are three wishes in the Chapter of Killing. The first is to slaughter an entire city. The second is to kill someone renowned for their virtue. The third is to personally kill ten thousand people.”

“Then this Wu Zinan is just one in ten thousand!”

In the town of Antai, Liang Zhi had nearly died, wrongly accused of another’s crime; that man was Wu Zinan. Now, confronted with this disgusting face, Liang Zhi felt an overwhelming urge to kill.

Hearing his own name, Wu Zinan’s heart skipped a beat. He’d once made a mistake and ended up on a wanted poster. His superior had to clean up his mess, and until the warrant was rescinded, he couldn’t risk exposing himself.

“You may begin,” he said coolly.

The two burly men beside him, along with the two at the door, grinned savagely and swung their weapons at Liang Zhi.

Wu Zinan stood behind the pair, a glacial light in his eyes. Since all four had heard his name, they’d have to die tonight as well.

“This is my first fight, but I think I’ll manage,” Liang Zhi murmured, bending his knees and stretching his arms forward.

A Tricksmith—one who could reshape matter in uncanny ways.

Within one meter of his body, Liang Zhi could “connect” any inanimate, non-organic, non-plant material as he wished. The better he understood the material, the faster and more powerfully he could connect it, and the less energy it cost him.

“But facing four at once, I’ll have to focus.”

A shout rang out.

Behind him, Qiu Shilu, her fair hands as delicate as porcelain, gripped a willow trunk as thick as a grown man’s fist. With a powerful heave, she ripped the entire tree, roots and all, from the ground. A massive clod of earth dangled from its base.

All six men froze, finding this scene wholly out of place. The girl next door, blossoming into womanhood, suddenly displayed mountain-toppling strength...

“I’m not the type to hide behind others and wait to be rescued!” she declared.

She swung the trunk with the ease of a monkey brandishing a golden staff, the massive root-ball smashing into the two men at the rear.

With a scream, the two were thrown against the wall, their bodies slowly sliding down, leaving vivid streaks of blood on the white plaster.

The two men in front stared in horror. They’d come to bully, not to battle human monsters. Escape was already impossible; their feet felt as if weighed down with lead. Looking down, they found their shoes fused to the ground, mud crawling up their clothes.

Liang Zhi placed a gentle hand on their shoulders and smiled kindly.

The earth crept up, encasing them into two tight cocoons. The pressure threatened to snap their bones.

He had linked the mud on the ground with the fabric of their clothes.

Qiu Shilu dusted bark from her hands, surprised to discover Liang Zhi was an ability user as well.

The two of them turned simultaneously to Wu Zinan, the true villain of the night—he could not be allowed to escape.

“Now, it’s your turn.”

Wu Zinan leapt up, grabbed a chair, and hurled it at them. Then he darted toward the courtyard wall.

This compound was used to temporarily hold abductees. There was no exit but the main gate. The surrounding wall was four meters high and smooth as glass; without a ladder, no ordinary person could climb it.

But Wu Zinan’s fingers sank into the hard wall as if it were clay, and he scurried up like a gecko.

By the time Liang Zhi and Qiu Shilu rushed over, he was already on top of the wall, vaulting over the edge. Clearly, with skills like that, he was no ordinary man.

“Don’t let him get away!” Qiu Shilu shouted.

Liang Zhi pressed his palm against the wall and drew a deep breath. “Don’t worry. He won’t escape.”

The wall began to ripple and thin where he pressed, while the surrounding area thickened. A basketball-sized hole opened up.

With a thud, Wu Zinan landed on the other side, his back to them.

Qiu Shilu reached through the opening Liang Zhi had created, grabbing Wu Zinan by the back of his shirt.

“You’re coming back here!”

With a thunderous crash, cracks spiderwebbed through the wall. Wu Zinan was yanked backward by the spine and flung back into the courtyard, large patches of flesh scraped off by the stone.

It seemed Wu Zinan was at a disadvantage now, but Liang Zhi and Qiu Shilu both held their breath.

Wu Zinan landed with feline agility. Beneath the torn flesh gleamed cold, silvery metal. His left eye had shed its outer layer, revealing a terrifying red glow.

Liang Zhi’s mouth twitched. “Is this the Terminator?”

Qiu Shilu’s expression grew grave. “No, he’s a cyborg.”