Chapter 469: Trust You Once

At the instant the battle broke out, he was pierced through by a joint extended by the Puppeteer.

He now lay on the ground, barely alive, his mouth opening and closing but emitting no sound.

Only the blood wound on his chest kept gurgling blood out.

The three remaining survivors spared him no pity, not even a glance in his peripheral vision.

The short-haired woman knew her own strength and, from the very start of the battle, had already found a safe hiding place.

Cheng Shuili was the one targeted, yet she was still alive and well.

Qing Qing's Kiss also followed Cheng Shuili upward.

Only the obedient man, a person who falls short of success but exceeds in failure, neither dodged nor avoided; frightened by the Puppeteer's attack, he stood frozen in place, and thus lost his life.

She neither knew nor cared about his fate; the Puppeteer's strength was too great, and she could barely hold it off with both hands gripping Night Hunt.

Cheng Shuili could feel that the difficulty of this Instance exceeded that of all previous Instances!

No… it's not that the Instance's difficulty is high.

It's that the difficulty of the path they chose is high.

Cheng Shuili took advantage of a gap and, with her peripheral vision, glanced at Qing Qing's Kiss.

This person came with her, and she naturally hoped to bring him back as well.

Apparently from excessive stamina drain, Qing Qing's Kiss panted heavily, struggling to block the Puppeteer's attacks with a dagger.

Yet in blocking, the dagger ultimately could not match a longsword; each strike was only parried by Qing Qing's Kiss's formidable physique through sheer force.

Together the two of them could barely withstand the Puppeteer's attacks, but both Cheng Shuili and Qing Qing's Kiss knew they were at a disadvantage.

The longer they dragged on, the greater their disadvantage became.

If they didn't seize the moment to turn the tide, continuing like this would leave them with only one fate—death!

Cheng Shuili focused on blocking the Puppeteer's attacks, occasionally glancing at its body with her peripheral vision.

She had already realized that this guy's bodily structure was very strange.

White clearly indicated the head; beneath the head was a body noticeably larger than the head yet rather slender.

And beneath that body were the white joints constantly attacking her and Qing Qing's Kiss!

This seemed to be the Puppeteer's sole means of attack; aside from these joints, it had no other weapons.

Is there any way…

…to restrain these joints?

As this idea surfaced, Cheng Shuili's eyes suddenly lit up!

Yes! She really did have a way!

Moreover, the tool needed for this method happened to be in her Abyssal Ring!

The only problem was… she needed to free a hand.

At this moment, Cheng Shuili hated intensely that those Gray Puppets obeyed only her commands.

After blocking another joint attack, Cheng Shuili turned to check Qing Qing's Kiss's condition; she was gasping heavily, seeming unable to continue.

Cheng Shuili felt some worry and shouted loudly, "Can you still hold out?"

She didn't look at Qing Qing's Kiss, and Qing Qing's Kiss didn't look at her; both were focused on fending off the Puppeteer's attacks, but once Cheng Shuili spoke, their communication never ceased.

"Still okay."

"How… Wuya Lao Da? Are you done for?"

Qing Qing's Kiss's voice came in broken gasps, yet she still asked Cheng Shuili this.

Cheng Shuili didn't argue either, merely asking, "Can you hold it yourself for a while?"

Feeling that this was too much, Qing Qing's Kiss forgot what she was doing and instinctively turned her head to look at her.

Had Cheng Shuili not shouted "Watch out!" at the critical moment, pulling her attention back, she would truly have made a mistake that would be regretted for eternity.

"Are you crazy?!" Qing Qing's Kiss barely blocked a thrust, her voice hoarse from shock and exertion, "In this situation, me alone? Wuya Lao Da, do you want me to die?"

"Not just holding on!" Cheng Shuili spoke rapidly, Night Hunt deflecting a sweeping joint; the blade scraped against the pallid bone with a screech, "Buy me a chance—if you can restrain it for a moment, I have a way to limit its movements!"

Qing Qing's Kiss gritted her teeth and glanced at Cheng Shuili's tense profile.

On that face there was no joking, only a near‑ruthless resolve.

She recalled Cheng Shuili's earlier unfathomable tactics and her extraordinarily calm judgment.

"... I'll trust you once!" she growled, suddenly changing her fighting style—no longer trying to perfectly block each attack, but using the dagger's agility and her relatively small frame to begin high‑risk, high‑frequency harassing counters and evasions.

She was like a slippery fish, actively meeting some joints, narrowly brushing past them at close range, even deliberately using her shoulder blade to catch and redirect a joint's trajectory, creating an opening for Cheng Shuili.

This was her fighting desperately.

Intense pain made the veins on her forehead bulge, yet she uttered no sound, her eyes fierce as they locked onto the Puppeteer's ever‑shifting head, as if she wanted to pin it down with her gaze.

After Cheng Shuili broke free, she sprinted at top speed toward the group of Gray Puppets that had finished their task and were now on standby.

Now… it was time for them to make their dazzling entrance!

Among the sea of puppets, Cheng Shuili instantly spotted the Gray Puppet Lao Da who had warmly welcomed her at first.

She had been sprinting a stretch, then suddenly remembered her persona, and immediately gave a light cough, suppressing her steps as she walked over as quickly as possible.

Cheng Shuili stood beside the Gray Puppet Lao Da, whispering rapidly and clearly into its ear: "Immediately mobilize all hands, split into two teams stationed on either side of the spectator stands—now, at once, right away, take your positions!"

This demand was absolutely strange for the Gray Puppets.

But the puppets understood one thing: this was an order from Cheng Shuili, their puppet leader.

Even if strange, they would obey the command!

Cheng Shuili knew that, had the Puppeteer not abandoned its own shell, these Gray Puppets would never have listened to her commands at this moment.

But the situation now is exactly this—everything… just happened to work out!

Cheng Shuili then leaned close to the Gray Puppet's ear again, whispering a few more words, instructing what to do after taking position.

Gray Puppet Lao Da saw the urgency of this new boss, perhaps to curry favor with her, it dared not be negligent in the slightest, using the fastest speed to assign the tasks downwards, and the Gray Puppets swiftly and silently sprang into action.

They marched in neat, uniform stiff steps, split into two gray streams, silently surged toward the edges of the audience seating on both sides of the stage.

Soon, under the dark red glow of the Blood Ring, the two rows of solemn gray figures, like a strange honor guard, half‑encircled the entire stage.

Their movements attracted part of the puppeteer's attention.