Chapter 344: Chapter 297: Mirage_2
"Chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu..."
"Chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu..."
Four submachine guns, all fitted with silencers, simultaneously spat out tongues of flame. The man who had been close and looking down at a cake bore the brunt of the assault, his face shattered by the dense barrage of bullets, blood, flesh, and bone fragments splattering everywhere, as he staggered and fell backward onto the ground.
It was a completely lopsided massacre, not at all like the scenes in TV dramas where there are screams and crowds scatter in every direction. Compared to Yang Xiao, Tong Han’s shooting skills were far more professional. They soon emptied their elongated magazines, and the scene had turned into a river of blood. After rapidly changing to new magazines, Yang Xiao kept guard with his gun while Tong Han moved closer to finish off those who were still writhing.
Reaching behind an overturned round table, Tong Han saw only the bodies of Yanhe Tian’s young wife and several others piled up together, but Yanhe Tian’s body was missing.
"Be careful! Yanhe Tian is missing!" Tong Han shouted a warning. No sooner had he spoken than the two of them suddenly heard a sound of water from behind.
The sound was loud, as if huge waves were crashing against the rocks. Yang Xiao could even smell the saltiness uniquely belonging to seawater, and the environment behind them had undergone a massive change. The door they had entered through was gone, replaced by a boundless ocean.
Yang Xiao quickly turned around, the familiar stage and the corpses spread everywhere still behind him. It seemed Yanhe Tian couldn’t completely change the scene here.
"Dare to come to my place to make trouble, to kill my wife and children, you all must die!!" A roar of despair came from the sea, and simultaneously, a lone island gradually emerged from the water.
The island drew closer, atop it was an ancient town, and on a bell tower made of reef stone stood a middle-aged man with a goatee, bloodstained, evidently wounded in the previous onslaught.
A chilling sensation erupted beside Yang Xiao, and suddenly, the Yanhe Tian standing on the bell tower on the lone island seemed to be restrained by something, his body struggling ceaselessly. Yang Xiao focused all his attention to see more clearly, and it was numerous things resembling seaweed. Those things wrapped around Yanhe Tian little by little and then tightened.
Yang Xiao turned his head and, sure enough, saw Tong Han biting her lip, holding a severed pigtail in her hand. What was more terrifying was that the pigtail was still connected to a wrinkled piece of scalp. As Tong Han concentrated her psychic power, the pigtail began to twitch continuously, and that wrinkled piece of scalp seemed to come alive. That was when Yang Xiao confirmed that what was wrapping Yanhe Tian wasn’t any seaweed, but strands of damp, greenish moldy long hair.
The next second, the Yanhe Tian hidden in the mirage could no longer resist and blew up with a "bang," but strangely, there was no flesh and blood sprayed out, instead, it was as if a bubble of air just disappeared.
Approaching, the lone island in the sea seemed to move towards them again, this time Yang Xiao could see clearer. He saw many nameless ancient buildings appearing on the lone island, and behind a church-like building, another Yanhe Tian walked out.
And it wasn’t over. One after another, Yanhe Tians appeared, scattered all over the island, dozens in total.
"Come on! Don’t you want to kill me?" Yanhe Tian’s entire face twisted with rage, his blood-red eyes as if about to drip blood, "Come on, kill me again!"
And Tong Han, who had just used her abilities to shred the "Yanhe Tian," no longer acted rashly, joining Yang Xiao in sweeping their submachine guns at the dozens of "Yanhe Tians" on the lone island, to no avail, the bullets seemingly shot into the mirage without effect.
The difference between firearms and the Power of Resentful Eyes was now apparent. Using the Power of Resentful Eyes allowed penetration into the mirage created by Yanhe Tian, whereas bullets were ineffective.
Based on a brief observation, Yang Xiao also had a general idea of Yanhe Tian’s ability, which seemed to be related to creating illusions, good defense, but only average offensive capabilities. After all, up to now, Yanhe Tian hadn’t made a move against them. His wife and brothers from the gang had been killed; when putting oneself in his shoes, anyone would find it hard to swallow this grievance. The fact that he hadn’t made a move yet indicated that the Resentful Eye’s offensive power was average, or even nonexistent.
"Think of something fast!" Tong Han urged in a low voice, "We can’t let that isolated island get close. Once that thing comes out, we’re in big trouble!"
Only then did Yang Xiao understand; Yanhe Tian was also waiting. The solitary island in the sea was slowly approaching them over time. Yang Xiao estimated in his heart that it would take, at most, another 10 minutes for it to emerge. The previous attacks from Tong Han had not been without effect - the bell tower built of rocks on the island had disappeared, that area was completely cleared out, looking very abrupt, as if it had been flattened by some strange force.
Now Yang Xiao understood. To deal with this Yanhe Tian, one needed either absolute power to suppress, destroying his techniques with sheer force, and flattening the entire "Yanhe Tian" on the island with overwhelming strength. But the power required for this was terrifying, and at least he and Tong Han would find it difficult to achieve now.
The second method was to find a way to break the illusion before them and to drag the real Yanhe Tian out. And this was Yang Xiao’s specialty - he had the Ghost Lantern that was specifically designed to counteract these types of abilities.
That device had even broken Granny Hong’s Ghost Hitting the Wall, so it was likely that Yanhe Tian’s mirage shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
"Come on, keep it up!" Yanhe Tian roared like a madman, taunting the two, "If you don’t make a move soon, once I capture both of you, I’ll definitely lock you up in my treasured island, skin and debone you, and hang you on the coast to dry into human jerky!"
"He’s trying to wear down our spirit energy. It seems that even if that isolated island comes out, he’s not sure he can defeat the two of us," Yang Xiao analyzed, "This person is very calm, not losing his composure."
"Stop talking nonsense, do you have a plan or not?" Tong Han gripped her braided whip tightly. She still had energy to spare at this moment, but could not act rashly. What Yang Xiao had seen, she naturally understood as well - unless they could find Yanhe Tian’s true body, they had to get ready to deal with that about-to-emerge isolated island, which was bound to be a fierce battle.
Their most pressing issue now was time, and this Yanhe Tian was not rushing; he was just buying time, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.
"Get ready, I’m going to break his mirage, and you immediately strike, strangle him to death," Yang Xiao whispered, his hand inching toward his waist.
Having learned from the last lesson, this time Yang Xiao was smart, and before coming, he had worn the Drama Robe underneath, layering it with other clothes on the outside. Initially, he had thought it would be ill-fitting and hinder his movements, but surprisingly, it was not only not bulky but also very light, almost as if he was wearing nothing at all.
The next second, with a thought from Yang Xiao, a Ghost Lantern immediately appeared in his left hand, and as he guided it with his spirit energy, the green light radiating from the Ghost Lantern quickly converged, eventually turning into a beam of green light that shot into the mirage of the isolated island.
Any "Yanhe Tian" touched by the green light quickly dissipated. After the third "Yanhe Tian" vanished, finally, Yang Xiao spotted a flaw. One Yanhe Tian at the northern part of the island panicked and immediately ran to the right.
"It’s you!" Originally, Yang Xiao wasn’t sure he could break through all the "Yanhe Tians," as each one required the consumption of his spirit energy, but what he wanted was for the real Yanhe Tian to expose himself.
With a thought, the green light instantly extended and enveloped the fleeing Yanhe Tian. This time the figure did not disappear, "It’s the real one!" Yang Xiao shouted.
Before his words fell, Tong Han had already made her move. In an instant, countless sticky green strands of hair spread out, tightly wrapping around Yanhe Tian, constricting wildly. Just as Yanhe Tian was about to be strangled, the Tang suit in front of him was torn to pieces, and a swollen, blanched human skin that had been bloated with water was revealed from his chest.
The skin rapidly expanded, and a ghostly figure struggled out of it. That was a Drowned Ghost, its bloated and engorged body rotten from lying in the water, its features indistinguishable.
