My Misfortune Crushed Instances-Chapter 64: Fishing for Puppets
The three of them killed the faceless scholar and arrived at the site of its remains.
The reason I call it "remains" is that it can’t really be called a corpse. After it died, it only left behind a torn piece of skin, which appears to be human skin.
"No wonder, this should be a human skin puppet, not the real body," Brother Rui frowned, not really wanting to touch that piece of skin.
As usual, He Chengli fawned, "Brother Rui, you know so much, you even know it’s a puppet."
"...The event name is literally that," Brother Rui said, looking speechless.
He Chengli seriously replied, "Being able to connect the dots is impressive too. Look, Brother Wu didn’t notice it, right?"
"What the hell did I do to you!"
Brother Wu smacked him on the head.
Through numerous battles, the relationship between the three had improved significantly. Initially, there had been an underlying tension in Brother Wu’s demeanor towards the Hee family’s direct descendant, but now it had long vanished.
While the two bickered, Brother Rui checked the rare reward in his inventory.
[Blood Marrow Crystal Core]
[Quality: Rare]
[Description: One of the core materials for making Blood Evil Sect items.]
"Brother Wu, what’s the Blood Evil Sect?"
Hearing this question, Brother Wu pondered for a moment, searching his less-than-stellar memory for clues, then said, "It’s an evil sect in the Secret Realm World, frowned upon by the righteous path, known for using various sinister and vicious methods, like this human skin puppet."
Brother Rui asked, "Can we also use this crystal core to create puppets?"
"That’s not possible,"
Brother Wu replied, "Puppetry undoubtedly requires specific skills, and making one with human skin probably requires other abilities from the Blood Evil Sect, which I don’t quite remember. Besides, you can’t really... you can’t really flay someone alive, can you?"
He Chengli said, "The puppet we encountered belongs to a world NPC, at least level 50, but it still wasn’t that strong since we killed it. Making one is useless."
Brother Rui thought so too.
Brother Wu added, "That’s right. It can be used to make other things, like a blood mist bomb, a rare-quality consumable with great power."
That seems good.
Brother Rui set aside his thoughts on the reward and allocated the attribute points gained from the quest and leveling up to spirit and physique, then said, "Let’s talk more after we leave the Secret Realm; first, let’s take care of business."
"What business? We can’t go back to the camp now; the world NPC might still be there."
"We need to find a safe place to hide. After he leaves, theoretically, the Secret Realm will generate a new exit."
He Chengli wasn’t merely a sidekick. Having been nurtured by his family since childhood, he had a lot of theoretical knowledge. "If I’m right, the camp being attacked would lead the Liangting Ancient Kingdom to dispatch the Demon Suppression Bureau to handle it; that department has many experts too."
Brother Wu immediately felt encouraged, "So we just need to find a place to hang out and pass the time?"
Brother Rui waved his hand, "No, that’s a waste."
"What?"
The other two hadn’t caught on.
"There are still so many puppets; we need to find them, kill them, and gain experience," Brother Rui said seriously.
"No, no, no."
Brother Wu quickly objected, "The puppet is definitely connected to the real body. If we go killing others, we might attract the real body, and then we’re doomed."
Brother Rui pointed at the human skin on the ground, "When we took down No. 5, it already knew. Look at its methods; that guy wanted no witnesses. If it’s coming, it will come sooner or later." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
"So, we should seize the time now, eliminate the remaining puppets, and the experience should be enough to level us up to 13 or 14. Plus, it clears its eyes and ears in the forest, increasing our chances of survival."
He Chengli stood between the two, looked at Brother Rui, then at Brother Wu, "Honestly, without any bias, I think Brother Rui has a point."
Brother Wu was convinced and nodded, "Alright, but the problem is, where do we find the remaining puppets?"
"Find? We don’t need to find them."
Brother Rui gave a mischievous smile like a dragon king.
.....
Crunch.
Crunch.
The faceless scholar walked through the dark forest, holding an iron box with a seal, containing the souls of its last batch of prey.
It was merely a puppet created by its master, operating solely on orders.
Its current order was to kill all living beings in the forest and seal their souls in the iron box.
Having wandered through Silent Forest for a long time without encountering more living people, the puppet, with its limited thinking, believed that the task should be completed.
Yet, it continued to roam the forest because its master hadn’t ordered it to return.
As a puppet, it did not feel fear, so even in the dead silence of the forest, it walked leisurely as if taking a stroll.
In such a quiet setting, a sudden shout drew attention.
The puppet twitched its ear, following the sound, and soon saw three people.
"Help! Save us! Someone’s injured."
The puppet wasn’t human and wouldn’t consider plots or schemes, it only had one thought.
"Injured? Collecting their souls would be easy."
It moved forward, its hands transforming into crimson claws, seeing the three figures squatting on the ground, seemingly treating wounds.
As a puppet, it had no emotions, only an instinct to serve its master. It believed that collecting as many human souls as possible would please its master.
This might roughly be described as... happiness?
However, the next moment, Brother Rui made it understand that it was too early to be happy.
Brother Rui realized that these puppets were foolish and never schemed, yet they had extraordinary perception. To trick them required some unscrupulous tactics, as stealth alone wouldn’t work.
The fact proved the strategy correct. The puppet sprinted forward, intending to instantly kill all three and seal their souls.
But its exceptional speed became its doom.
Pretending to be injured, He Chengli and feigning treatment, Brother Wu suddenly launched an attack, clamping down on the puppet’s movement, allowing Thunder Vortex to strike it head-on.
With a thunderous crash, several towering trees met their end, and the puppet reverted to human skin.
All three had leveled up once just now, making this battle notably easier.
"Wow, it really gave us experience again."
He Chengli felt his worldview changed by the man he met at 19; leveling up could indeed be this fast.
Brother Rui calmed his excitement, saying steadily, "Now we can confirm the puppets don’t share consciousness, meaning we can repeat the trick. Earlier, we finished off No. 2 and No. 5, so there’s at least No. 1, No. 3, and No. 4 experience to be gained."
"Yeah, let’s go, find another spot, and continue the fishing."
"Alright, Brother Rui!"
Brother Wu reflected quietly on the side, finally understanding why Brother Rui reached level 11 with only two Secret Realms.
