Chapter 3126: Cultist of Misfortune

As for the exam week after the Year-End Festival, the doctor claimed that he would definitely be able to make it back; last year, because Duo Luo Qian didn't review properly, she was the one with the worst grades among the group members, but this year she was very confident that she would get excellent grades in all subjects—

Because Princess Lei Qianya had also been reviewing very seriously this year.

"Alright, alright, it's about time."

The doctor stared at his pocket watch and ended the discussion about the recent major human trafficking case in the city. Duo Luo Qian retracted the flame, and everyone stood up under the tree.

After moving around a bit, Luweiya handed the last blank card from the envelope to Xia De, while the others scattered a few steps in other directions, preparing to meet unexpected situations.

The doctor's countdown voice was quite clear:

"Three, two, one."

Spiritual power was guided into the card along his fingertips, and Xia De saw the blank card face gradually covered by a silver-blue background.

However, he didn't rush to check the content on it, but vigilantly observed the surroundings to see if a "giant spider radiating silver moonlight all over its body" would appear.

The other four were also on high alert. Two seconds later, a dull crashing sound and a slight explosion sound did indeed appear. But that sound didn't come from nearby. The five members of the group all looked toward the darkness in the southeast, and Duo Luo Qian asked in confusion:

"Is the place where the 'Fate Weaver' appeared this time so far away?"

The doctor immediately shook his head:

"Of course not. It must appear near the card that was activated; this point cannot be wrong. What happened over there has nothing to do with us. It seems the detective's luck is the same as the diviner's... Is it my illusion? Why do I feel like something over there is rushing toward us?"

This was not an illusion. At the same time the doctor's voice sounded, the other four had already seen what exactly had appeared in the darkness.

It was not a single individual, but three humanoid creatures running fast in this direction. But calling it "running" was also a bit wrong, because two of the men were each riding on a wooden horse made of wood, and the limbs of the wooden horse were moving, leaving hoof prints on the snow.

The third "person" accompanying them was not a human, but a wooden puppet in the shape of a child, over a meter tall, wearing blue overalls, with black buttons for eyes, and a few bandages wrapped around its arms. It was not running on the snow either, but "flying" toward this side as if stepping in the air, manipulated by invisible silk threads.

No one recognized the two Ringed Shushi riding the wooden horses. They should have been in the middle of escaping, because the "three" were clearly being chased toward this side. The unfamiliar Ringed Shushi were both mid-level, and it was only a bit later that they discovered that there were actually five people standing under the tree not far ahead.

It stands to reason that seeing so many people ahead while escaping, no matter who those people were, they shouldn't have rushed head-on. But when the people on the wooden horses were preparing to urgently change direction, the corners of the puppet's mouth, which looked like crossed black lines, lifted upward, and then the two wooden horses accelerated and rushed toward the cypress tree.

The puppet boy's voice appeared in the ears of the two Ringed Shushi:

"The final act of this puppet show, 'Speed of Life and Death,' has entered the final battle segment. The enemies blocking the way ahead are the final enemies, the 'Cat Knight' and his servants. Defeat them, and you will get the final reward."

The wooden horses had completely broken free from the control of the two Ringed Shushi; even if they didn't want to rush over, it was useless.

And although the five people under the tree hadn't figured out what was happening, the three "people" rushing over were clearly not friends of theirs.

"Quick battle, quick decision; there are Church people behind."

Priest Ao Gu Si whispered, and stepped back with Duo Luo Qian and Luweiya. The high-level Xia De and the doctor walked forward. When taking the third step, Xia De transformed into a cold silver moonlight, and the doctor's body suddenly grew a circle larger.

The silver moonlight passed directly through the wooden horse on the left. The wooden horse was split into two, and the Ringed Shushi on the wooden horse had his hands and feet shackled by the moonlight and rolled onto the snow, not stopping until he hit a tombstone.

The Ringed Shushi on the wooden horse on the right threw an unknown incantation at the doctor, but that light dissipated immediately after hitting the black light covering the doctor's body surface. The doctor, over three meters tall, smashed the wooden horse with one punch, but just like Xia De, he didn't kill anyone, but instead knocked the opponent flying.

They both thought that the main enemy was not that human, but the flying puppet boy. Xia De even recognized what this thing was.

But the Ringed Shushi knocked flying by the doctor landed on the ground, stood up after supporting himself on the snow, and suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood forward. The black blood condensed into two extremely complex rune strings in the air, and then turned into ghostly light and shot toward Xia De and the doctor.

Before the two could dodge or defend, light purple light flew out from Luweiya's hand and scattered the rune strings formed by the blood.

She reminded in a very serious tone:

"This is the divine art of a cultist who believes in the Evil God 'Mr. Misfortune.' It cannot be defended against or dodged. Once hit, you will suffer quite serious damage to your fortune."

"People from the Divination Society!"

The eighth-level Ringed Shushi who spat out black blood squeezed out non-standard Delarion from between his teeth. He glanced at the puppet boy again, then grabbed his shackled companion and ran into the darkness on the right without looking back.

"Don't run, you've already acted to the final act; it's a pity to give up like this!"

The puppet boy was still shouting there, and because Xia De and the doctor were wary of the existence of this thing, they didn't chase after them. Both of them knew very well what this was, because Xia De had encountered it in the Randell Valley before this spring:

"The puppet boy in the Sage-level relic 'Crazy Puppet Theater'!"

The last time he encountered this relic was when he first met Vanessa in the Randell Valley. At that time, the Witch of the Earth was weakened by the influence of the "Filthy Earth" and was accidentally caught by the puppet, so the "Puppet Maid" Xilis traveled with Xia De in the puppet kingdom and embarked on the road to save the "Princess" (Chapter 1199).

As for the end of that story—

"Long time no see, Knight who rides a cat!"

The puppet clearly still remembered Xia De. It laughed quackingly in the snowy cemetery:

"Although the participants this time failed to complete the final act of the puppet show after paying a huge price, it's really great to meet you again, a guy blessed by the toy merchant wearing a clown hat. But you came a step late; otherwise, I would have arranged an interesting role for you this time.

That fierce cat who wants to dismantle my puppet kingdom isn't here this time, right? Wish us health!"

Behind it, the Church squad in the darkness finally rushed out from the obstruction of a pile of palm-sized puppet soldier dolls. Although the puppet soldiers wearing red uniforms, black top hats, and carrying guns were small, what they fired when shooting were clearly unrecognizable strange incantations.

At this time, the puppet army was suppressed, and the leading high-level Ringed Shushi in the Church squad soon saw that the cultists they were tracking had disappeared, and there were five unfamiliar people standing not far in front of the relic.

The doctor thought they were now going to cooperate with the Church squad to defeat this unfriendly puppet laughing wildly, but the puppet wearing overalls had no intention of paying attention to them at all:

"Since the participants have run away, then this reward for the failed performance will be given to you. Looking forward to the next meeting, of course, it's best not to bring that cat!"

The puppet threw a box that appeared from nowhere to Xia De very casually from a distance of ten meters, and then made a right-angle turn and ran into the darkness on the left hand side. After crossing two marble tombstones, even Xia De couldn't sense it anymore.

At such a close distance, it was impossible for the Church Ringed Shushi who were chasing from behind not to have seen the actions of both sides. So they split into two teams, one team continued to chase the puppet, and the other team slowed down their pace and walked toward the group of five under the tree:

"Who are you..."

Among the five members of the group, none of them wanted to have contact with the Church squad in this inexplicable scene. The other party had just opened their mouths, and the five of them had tacitly prepared to retreat. Xia De even thought about whether to throw away the box of unknown origin thrown by the puppet again, but gave up after being pulled by Luweiya.

"Let's go!"

Silver mist drifted from the void and enveloped the five people. In that mist, dozens of figures moved in different ways toward different directions of the cemetery. Among them, there was even a figure that looked like King Larus III rushing straight toward the Church squad, and then passed directly through them because it was a phantom.

"Chase them!"

The team of only four people split from the Church hurriedly rushed into the silver mist. Investigation-type strange incantations and a divination-type relic were used, but the strange incantations could not see through the illusion under the silver moon, and the divination for the five people just now led to a very outrageous result—

The mirror-like relic's mirror surface lit up with blinding moonlight, almost causing the mirror itself to lose control.

The leading Ringed Shushi of the Church of Peace had a level of eleven rings. After taking off his hat, the flock of pigeons released immediately hid into the night, chasing every escaping figure separately, not even letting go of "Larus III."

But those pigeons used for tracking hadn't flown far before they were swallowed by the cemetery, dissipating in the heavy death aura. By the time the main force behind wiped out most of the puppet soldiers and joined the front squad, the five strangers who were standing under the tree just now had long since disappeared.

"What happened here? Did those cultists have reinforcements?"

The ten-ring Ringed Shushi leaning on a cane walked to the tree, and the eleven-ring man put his hat back on his head:

"It doesn't look like reinforcements from the cultists; it looks more like those Academy correspondence Ringed Shushi who always appear inexplicably and disappear in the blink of an eye after causing trouble... I hope that what's in the box is not the most important reward for this 'Puppet Theater'."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3127 =====