Yu Sheng felt a strange yet dangerous aura from the iron Doll. Her smiling face, cast from white tal, showed no human warmth or emotion, but he clearly felt her gaze fixed on him, radiating a pure, emotionless desire for attack.
Yet “she” didn’t imdiately rush forward. Instead, she kept a distance of several ters, subtly shifting stance as if dancing, seeking the perfect angle to strike.
Her fingertips were deadly blades, slicing through the thin mist with flashes of cold, sharp light.
Yu Sheng’s nerves tightened. During their brief earlier clash, he’d felt her incredible speed and strength. Those seemingly thin blade-like fingers had deflected even his wolf-fang club—making her more dangerous than most Evil Wolves he’d encountered in the Black Forest.
Foxy slowly approached, posture low like a predator ready to spring. Her golden-red eyes shone brighter as clusters of Fox Fire quietly blood in the air around her.
“Irene, is this your relative?” Yu Sheng whispered.
“Absolutely not!” the little doll shouted, furious. “I’m an elegant, noble ball-jointed doll! This ugly thing is obviously a cursed C-type Buckle! How dare you even think it’s related to an Alice Doll?”
Yu Sheng’s mouth twitched. He had just casually asked, never expecting Irene to react so strongly—and precisely at that mont, the iron figure’s steps paused for an instant.
Spiritual intuition surged, a powerful warning. Yu Sheng didn’t have ti to plan; he instinctively raised his weapon in defense, and in that instant, the tall, slender “female” figure lunged forward like a ghost, blades slicing lethal arcs through the air.
tal clashed, sparks flew. Yu Sheng’s arm went numb, but the iron Doll retreated gracefully like a dancer, impossibly agile despite her tallic body. Dodging his next attack effortlessly, she blurred forward again, fingertips flashing like an endless storm of deadly strikes.
The mist echoed with constant tallic clashes and the slicing whispers of blades. Yu Sheng barely managed to block the initial barrage and stumbled backward. Imdiately, Fox Fire exploded around him, forming a fiery net around the iron Doll, followed by Irene’s layers of Black Spider Silk appearing from thin air, closing in ominously.
But at the exact mont the silk was about to ensnare her, the Doll twisted impossibly, her joints snapping into impossible angles, slipping effortlessly through the smallest gap in the spiderweb. With another series of shadow-like movents, she weaved gracefully through the Fox Fire barrage, her blade-tipped fingers aid straight at Yu Sheng’s heart.
Swift, silent, powerful—bloodless and emotionless.
The iron Doll had clearly chosen the group’s “leader.” Each strike went directly for Yu Sheng, devoid of wasted motion or sound, except the brief rush of air displaced by her agile movents.
An elegant, perfect killing machine.
Yu Sheng was now dripping with sweat. It was his first ti facing sothing like this. He relied completely on his enhanced, superhuman reflexes, backed up by Foxy and Irene. In this rapid and close-range combat, Foxy couldn’t unleash her devastating attacks, and even Irene’s summoned threads struggled to keep up with the iron Doll’s ghostly speed.
[Just what is this thing? Another entity born from the fog?] But her movents were unlike any Entity he’d faced before, thodical and professional rather than chaotic and instinctive. Yet, clearly, she was no human—especially considering Irene’s reaction.
“What on earth is this thing?!” Yu Sheng yelled.
He swung his Tetanus Staff high. Maybe his luck finally ca through—this ti his blow landed squarely on the Doll’s shoulder, interrupting her ghostly dance. The enemy staggered slightly, and Irene instantly seized the opening, wrapping black threads around the Doll’s joints.
“How should I know?! I’ve never seen anything like this before!” Little doll shouted frantically.
“Well, whatever it is, tear it apart first and ask questions later!”
Yu Sheng shouted and dashed forward, Wolf Fang Club raised high, seizing the chance as the iron Doll struggled to break free from Irene’s spiderweb.
But just as he was about to strike, the Doll lifted its head. Its pale, tallic face still bore that gentle, chilling smile, while suddenly, the armor plating on its chest snapped open—
A crimson glow pulsed within, throbbing like living flesh between shifting tal parts. A display flickered to life in the eerie red light, digits racing downward.
Yu Sheng’s eyes widened. “…What the—?!”
Too late to stop, he dug his heels into the ground, desperately skidding to a halt. Irene instantly reacted, withdrawing her webs and swiftly weaving them into ropes, hauling Yu Sheng backward. Foxy rushed forward to help—
But then, in an instant, the countdown stopped.
The iron Doll’s chest sealed shut again, and before any of them could react, “she” ripped free from her bindings, launching herself forward with terrifying speed.
Yu Sheng barely managed to adjust his stance and block his vital areas, but a sharp agony pierced his arm. Two razor-sharp blades stabbed deep through his flesh, spearing clean through his arm and burying themselves lethally into his chest.
For a breathless mont, ti seed frozen. Silence hung heavily in the air.
Yu Sheng slowly lifted his head, staring directly into that elegant yet nightmarish face—her gentle, empty smile re inches away.
“You… you can cancel your own self-destruct?”
Yu Sheng’s expression twisted incredulously, muscles twitching slightly in shock.
The Doll gave no reply, rely tilting her head slightly, seemingly perplexed by Yu Sheng’s strangely calm deanor.
Yu Sheng glanced downward, examining the twin blade-like “fingers” embedded in his chest. After a brief contemplation, he concluded [this wound should indeed be fatal].
But maybe dying repeatedly had given him so resistance—he didn’t feel death’s embrace imdiately.
“These blades of yours,” Yu Sheng murmured seriously, looking back up at the iron Doll. “They’re good. Give them to .”
Blood began seeping into the blades.
The Doll finally sensed sothing amiss. Though expressionless, her next movents betrayed subtle panic. She hastily yanked her blades free from Yu Sheng, leaping backward nearly ten ters in rapid clicks of tal heels.
Yu Sheng lunged forward to intercept, managing only to tear off the Doll’s nun-like head veil.
A short distance away, the Doll raised her arms again, preparing for combat—but one arm noticeably lagged half a second behind.
“She” paused briefly, then began shaking the arm furiously, as if trying to fling away so contamination.
Yet the loss of control spread swiftly. First fingers, then hand, forearm, elbow…
Yu Sheng’s head swam, dizziness washing over him. He staggered slightly, and imdiately Foxy rushed to his side, gently supporting him with worried eyes.
“Benefactor, dying again already?”
Yu Sheng waved weakly, eyes fixed firmly on the iron Doll struggling against her own rebellious limb. “Just… hold on a mont longer.”
“Next ti, maybe skip the fighting part and just sell your blood from the start,” Irene muttered. “Would save us a lot of trouble.”
“Had to at least try,” Yu Sheng retorted, glancing at her wryly. Pain lanced through his chest and arm, causing him to gasp sharply. Knowing his ti was almost up, he swiftly shoved the Doll’s torn veil into Foxy’s grasp, urgently instructing them, “You two go back, quickly. Once I die, that thing might go wild, and who knows what else might erge from this mist. It’s unsafe for you two out here.”
“Huh?” Irene protested in surprise, pointing urgently at the iron Doll still immobilized by its internal struggle. “Shouldn’t we just dismantle her right now?”
“No,” Yu Sheng shook his head slowly. “She’s not normal… doesn’t feel like a regular ‘Entity’. Don’t kill her. Let my blood seep in a bit more…”
Before he even finished speaking, Foxy and Irene nodded simultaneously. “Understood!”
Yu Sheng wasted no ti, opening a Door directly to Wutong Road No. 66.
Without hesitation, Foxy and Irene stepped swiftly through.
This was the silent understanding forged within their Hotel—no unnecessary heroics, no lodramatic hesitation, only unwavering trust.
Yu Sheng trusted Foxy and Irene to act decisively at this critical mont.
Foxy and Irene trusted Yu Sheng was definitely about to die.
As the Door vanished, Yu Sheng heard a sharp, wrenching sound of tal from behind. Looking up in shock, he saw the iron Doll furiously tearing at her rapidly deteriorating arm. With a desperate, brutal motion, “she” plunged her still-functional blade-fingers deep into her own shoulder joint—and with one violent wrench, ripped her malfunctioning arm entirely off.
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