Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
How could his face not turn green?
Someone who’d had their corpse ripped apart by his master had now appeared right here disguised as a courtesan ready for combing at this brothel. It was no less than a real-life horror story.
“Is this woman a ghost?”
Feng Zhen remembered the contact earlier and felt goosebumps rise all over his body in disgust.
“She’s a living person with the powers of a ghost. She can revive herself with full HP after she dies. Why are you so scared?”
What did she mean by “can revive herself with full HP after she dies”? It was already strange enough that someone could come back from the dead, but even after being dismembered?
Feng Zhen had no idea how to respond—his master may be brave and unafraid of ghosts or demons, but he was different. He was a wimp!
This lord sure was a great master for this child!
“My lord must be joking! This person is just a human with flesh and blood, how can I not be scared?”
After living almost 30 years and just now seeing the supernatural for the first time, he felt like he should be praised for remaining calm and not losing his composure out of fear.
“You’re scared too? I couldn’t tell. If I wasn’t here to keep a watch over you, you might have ended up getting in bed with her and forgetting about everything.” Jiang Pengji mocked Feng Zhen as she observed Huan’er’s actions. She noticed that Feng Zhen’s face looked as if it’d been brushed with green paint.
His stomach turned in distaste as he remembered how that demon had been in his arms earlier, trying to lure him to bed. At the thought, he almost puked out a mouthful of acid.
On the other hand, Huan’er looked at Jiang Pengji with immense hatred in her eyes. She ground her teeth.
“Liu Xi, I swear I will kill you one day!”
Jiang Pengji laughed lightly. “You said ‘one day.’ I guess it’s not going to be today.”
Huan’er’s face turned blue because of the direct ridicule.
The three attempts before told her that Jiang Pengji’s abilities were fearsome. She had no chance of escaping from Jiang Pengji.
Did that mean she would have to die again?
The pain of death once again resurfaced in her mind. Her body trembled in fear.
If the system didn’t insist on it, she wouldn’t even want to stand before Jiang Pengji.
She remained defensive on the outside while she asked the system for help inside her mind.
“Hey system, give me some ideas right now. Do you want me to die again?”
The system wanted to play dead and ignore the question, but it finally spoke up reluctantly and said, “Liu Xi is very strong, but Feng Zhen is different. If you can’t escape death, you can consider using Feng Zhen to tie Liu Xi up. If not, you can even consider using the Level 9 Loyalty Talisman on him. The Talisman only costs 2,500,000 popularity points, but it will cost you at least 10 billion points to revive.”
One revival required at least 10 billion popularity points, which was enough for her to buy 40 Level 9 Loyalty Talismans.
Her expression grew darker as she thought about the financial cost of this.
Her previous deaths were because she’d complained about the cost of the Level 9 Loyalty Talisman and paid the price with her life.
If she’d known earlier, she might have used the talisman back then. If she had, her situation would probably be much better now.
“What is that?”
Jiang Pengji frowned as she spotted a layer of strange spiritual power in Huan’er’s hands.
“I’ll turn you into the most loyal dog!”
As a precaution, she’d also purchased a few Life Substitution Puppet cards from the system.
This item was very useful. If not for the Life Substitution Puppet she’d used before, she would’ve been assassinated by Xie Qian!
At that moment, Huan’er didn’t care if she was half-dressed, she swiftly ran towards Jiang Pengji and the door.
As Feng Zhen watched, horrified, Huan’er’s silver-white fingernails extended unnaturally until they were three inches long. She sliced in mid-air and left ten silver flashes in the darkened room, successfully instilling fear and anxiety in poor Feng Zhen and the livestream viewers.
Jiang Pengji was already familiar with her methods of combat.
Just as she was about to strike Feng Zhen down, the intended fatal attack missed right before it landed on its target.
A chill ran down Huan’er’s spine as Jiang Pengji crushed a Life Substitution Puppet in her bare hands.
The system’s voice said in her head, “Distract Liu Xi before you attack Feng Zhen. She won’t be able to react in time.”
Huan’er cursed under her breath.
She knew what to do, what was the point of the system giving a bit of advice right now?
Feng Zhen retreated from the battlefield, discreetly wiping away his cold sweat.
He managed to figure out that his presence there would only hold his master back, so he decided that the best way to help would be to get out of the way.
As she watched the last piece of her Life Substitution Puppet be destroyed, Huan’er suddenly turned around. She was supposed to charge towards Jiang Pengji, but instead, she turned towards Feng Zhen. Her movements were swift like lightning. Jiang Pengji had already expected this and moved ahead to block the way, taking down the attack.
To her surprise, the attack didn’t hurt, only numbing her right arm.
Jiang Pengji looked a bit surprised, but Huan’er’s seemingly shocked expression immediately turned into one of joy.
However, her joyful emotion didn’t last too long. Something pierced her through her back and out of her chest. The light in her eyes quickly dimmed.
Feng Zhen got up from the ground frantically. “M-my lord…”
“Bring the lamp over here.”
Feng Zhen followed the order and handed a new candle to Jiang Pengji, then watched as his master dripped some oil onto the corpse and covered it with a few flammable pieces of cloth. She then poured some of the oil from the lamp onto the cloth. She finally lit the cloth on fire… Was she burning the corpse?
“Is this demon… completely dead?”
“The last time I dismembered her body, the others tossed her head away to feed the wolves and panthers. Her body was almost completely destroyed, yet she still managed to revive herself, right?”
Feng Zhen shivered in horror at this.
“Let’s go back now, I’ll explain everything to you in detail later.”
Watching the corpse burn, Jiang Pengji grabbed Feng Zhen and jumped out of the window from the second floor, then found an isolated study to rest in.
“…Earlier, that demon used something to hit your arm…”
Feng Zhen remembered Huan’er’s line about turning her into the most loyal dog and felt a bit uneasy.
“She did hit me. That thing seemed to be some sort of spiritual seal that can forcefully control a person’s soul and mind… You won’t understand even if I explain, so just know that if you got hit with it, you’d turn into a loyal puppet… tsk, how awful…”
Jiang Pengji lifted her right sleeve only to see a strange black marking on her white arm.
“My lord…”
Jiang Pengji let out a small laugh. “I purposely got myself hit. Why are you so worried?”
Just then, the black marking on Jiang Pengji’s arm looked as if it was coming to life. It moved towards her palm and then to the back of her hand.
Strangely, Feng Zhen felt as if those markings were slightly pitiful.
“You did that on purpose?”
“Including this time, I’ve already killed her four times total. The demon’s target is me, but unfortunately, she’s too dumb to succeed. She’s failed all four times. This time, she got a bit smarter and learned to target people around me. I can guarantee that she can’t hurt me, but I can’t guarantee that she won’t be able to hurt people around me if she gets an opportunity… I don’t even play with this thing anymore, I can’t believe she still thinks it’s a treasure.”
Feng Zhen went silent.
“Even so, you shouldn’t be venturing out and putting yourself in danger…”
Jiang Pengji lifted her eyes lazily. “She’ll only continue to target me if I got hit and attempt it a fifth time. If she doesn’t make an accomplishment this time, she’ll only hide back in the dark and plot something else. This time it was you, who will be next? I can stop her once, but I can’t stop her a second for the third time. If it’s going to be like this, I’d rather have her target me alone. I’ll kill her every time she tries to show her face!”
There was one other thing she didn’t say.
She wasn’t just afraid that the dimension-hopping woman would target her subordinates, she was more afraid that the woman would withdraw from her offensive.
The only way for the puppet system to spend its popularity points quickly was to let the woman continuously fail at attempted assassinations and repeat the process of death and revival. If she was given time to continue streaming and earning those popularity points, Jiang Pengji’s plan wouldn’t work out.