Monster - Chapter 135
Chapter 135: Snowfield - A Trap?
The two continued toward Cactus Campsite. The June wind in the Disorder Land was already a bit hot. Lin Sandie looked out at the wide, gray-blue sky and the occasional passing shrubbery, contemplating what they would encounter next.
About half an hour away from Cactus Campsite, Lin Sandie, who had been gazing out the window, noticed the sky darken completely. Black clouds roiled, and the weather suddenly turned cold. Both Lin Sandie and Lou saw frost forming on the car windows at a visible rate.
The two heard a rumbling sound from the distance. Through Wei's perspective, Lin Sandie saw a cloud of dust rise from the dry horizon ahead. Immediately after, a dozen or so outrageously modified vehicles appeared in their view. This convoy of cars sped toward them with the force of a thunderbolt, and wherever they passed, a layer of frost formed on the ground.
The convoy quickly surrounded Lin Sandie and Lou's car, forcing them to stop.
Seeing these vehicles, Lou's expression grew as cold as the changing weather outside. She pushed open the car door, her killing intent palpable. The door of the lead vehicle opposite them was also pushed open. Two burly men who had approached the door bent over, and an old man wearing a golden crown stepped down from the car, using their backs as a stepping stool.
Now possessing the Guide's innate scanning ability, Lin Sandie's eyes darkened as she saw the elderly, white-haired, dark-skinned man's information.
Name: Great Khan Merk
Age: 78
Gender: Male
Current Identity: Leader of "Madness Material"
Resume: None.
Even though his skin was wrinkled and his body old and fat, as the Khan of Madness Material, his gaze was still sharp. When he stepped out of the car, the severe cold brought by the convoy pressed down like a mountain range. Lou walked forward to meet him, looking straight into the Khan's eyes.
"You're the one who killed Enzo?" the Khan's voice was as deep as thunder.
Technically, it was Cheng Gui who killed Enzo. But since only Lou and Lin Sandie had left the collapsed Dream Castle alive, many who were paying attention to their whereabouts mistakenly believed they were the ones who killed Enzo.
"That's right."
"Come work for me. Swear your loyalty, and I can forgive you," the Khan said with great authority. He then raised his hand, and Lou saw a bag of obsidian stones in a transparent silk pouch appear in his palm. The stones had been polished into eight-sided rhombuses and were shimmering faintly in the cold air.
With the speed of a lightning bolt, Lou reached for the obsidian in the Khan's palm. But the sudden, pervasive drop in temperature was everywhere. No matter how fast she was, as her fingers extended toward his palm, frost could be seen stiffening her knuckles, slowing her down.
The two burly men the Khan had stepped on earlier ran out from behind him. They each threw a punch, striking at Lou simultaneously.
Lou didn't back down. Meeting force with force, four fists collided, and it was the two men from Madness Material who were knocked back several times by her.
Lin Sandie sat in the car, watching through her Island as Lou spoke to the Khan in an icy tone, "Why don't you just give me the obsidian? Let's follow the normal transaction process and not waste my time."
From the intelligence Lin Sandie had gathered, the Khan of Madness Material was a vindictive man who would seek revenge for the smallest grievance. He was extremely protective of his own and would retaliate recklessly against anyone he considered an enemy. This style of doing things had been a good binding agent for the organization in his youth, and under his development, Madness Material had expanded to become the most powerful organization in the Disorder Land.
However, as the Khan grew older, his influence was no longer as strong as it once was. Madness Material was now a shadow of its former self, and there were even recent signs of it being surpassed by Bite Mark and the Rose Society.
With Madness Material's way of doing things clashing with the impatient Lou, who was eager to summon Pie, a conflict was inevitable.
From the car, Lin Sandie saw Lou's Lines stab toward the Khan and his swarming subordinates. The Khan must have used some kind of powerful artifact; a layer of ice and snow as hard as armor now surrounded him. Even at close range, Lou's Lines pierced through the Khan's men but couldn't penetrate his armor.
The rapidly freezing ground was stained red with blood. Realizing her Lines couldn't penetrate the Khan's armor, Lou changed her strategy. She held a gun in one hand, continuously shooting at the organization members trying to approach her. She occasionally engaged in close combat, combining it with the use of her Lines. She was like an entire army by herself, weaving through flesh and blood as if no one was there.
But even so, Lou still couldn't break through his armor. She could only see cracks gradually appearing in the ice on the Khan's body. Lin Sandie controlled Wei, making her get out of the car. She herself remained seated inside, her Island continuously enveloping Lou, a fact the latter was aware of.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through Lin Sandie's head. Inside her Island, Lou spread her five fingers, and countless invisible spikes instantly appeared within the domain, like a sphere covered in thorns. Everyone inside the Island, except for Lou, was impaled and strung up. The entire Island became like a meat grinder.
Lin Sandie endured the headache and saw that one of the Khan's shoulders had been pierced inside the Island. His somewhat pale eyes scanned the surroundings before he raised a hand toward Lou. His wrist detached cleanly, revealing a gun barrel inside, and he fired a shot at Lou.
This was like a signal. The organization's thugs, who had been relentlessly charging at Lou, suddenly stopped attacking her. Instead, they raised their guns and fired in unison at the car where Lin Sandie was.
Lin Sandie's headache immediately subsided, and the invisible piercing weapons within the Island all vanished. Lou glanced at Lin Sandie and saw Wei using her blade to slice through or use its force to alter the trajectory of some bullets, while Lin Sandie had already dropped to the seat to avoid some of the shots.
Lou didn't turn back. Instead, she launched an even fiercer assault, carving a path into the organization members who were shooting at Lin Sandie.
Lou's attack just now used my Island, so that's why I got a headache?
Terrifying gunfire erupted all around. Lin Sandie's mind was still racing. There was no fear on her face, but it was obvious she couldn't withstand such intense suppressive fire while hiding in the car. Madness Material had them surrounded, and bullets were coming from all directions.
Lin Sandie, who had long since put on the defensive Human Temporal Bone, mentally filtered through the artifacts she could use. The phone with its support functions, the poetry collection, and the Living Thing were useless in this situation. Summer wasn't with her. The Thunder Gun was very powerful against a single target, but there were too many enemies. Even if she killed the Khan, the swarming organization members would likely just become more frenzied.
The Pin and the Crown of Thorns she got from Saya might be useful, but was it necessary?
Lin Sandie rolled over, interlaced her fingers on her abdomen, and stared at the car's ceiling, silently listening to the spatter of bullets. She appeared calm, but bullets mercilessly pierced through the relatively sturdy SUV. She felt a searing heat graze the back of her hand and fly past her shoulder. A ricocheting bullet lodged in her thigh, and blood flowed freely.
Right now, Lin Sandie had only one important task: to completely pull Lou out of this frenzied, bedeviled state. Lou had been obsessed with the matter of Little Rabbit for centuries, even sinking into the misunderstanding that she herself had killed Little Rabbit. Based on Lin Sandie's understanding of Little Fool, she didn't believe that appearing before her now as the real Little Rabbit and trying to talk her out of it would be enough to break her out of this state.
Even if it could succeed, there would definitely be significant hidden dangers.
Because Lou had never considered facing a world without Little Rabbit, and Lin Sandie could never be the Little Rabbit in her mind. That Little Rabbit had existed in her heart for centuries, long since steeped in too much of Lou's own perceptions and distortions.
"Why can't you just grow up..."
Lin Sandie sighed softly. She maintained a state of calm so profound it was chilling.
Until a blood-soaked Lou pulled open the car door. The latter's face and body looked as if they had been drenched in blood. In her hand, she clutched a bag of obsidian.
"The next wave will be here soon. Let's go." Lou grabbed Lin Sandie by the collar and dragged her out of the car.
"My leg is injured. You go on ahead." Lin Sandie's leg dangled uselessly. As she was pulled from the car, she immediately went limp and was about to collapse to her knees, but Lou caught her with quick reflexes.
Lin Sandie saw that as Lou strained her arm to catch her, a deep, bone-visible wound on her forearm immediately gushed blood. Lou had many injuries, several of which were potentially fatal.
Lou saw that Lin Sandie's face was covered in a cold sweat from the pain. Wei, who had been acting as a bodyguard, had been shot to pieces, reduced to a shapeless pile of flesh on the ground. Lou gritted her teeth, draped Lin Sandie's arm over her shoulder, and dragged her toward the Khan's convoy. All the Madness Material members who had surrounded them today, including the Khan, were dead.
But Lou knew this was only the first wave. Just before he died, the Khan had left a message. A major siege from the Rose Society was waiting for her next.
Lin Sandie looked at the bodies littering the ground—at least a hundred of them. Lou dragged her and stuffed her into a smaller SUV, but for some reason, none of the vehicles would start.
With her hands covered in blood, Lou brought up the display screen, wanting to buy a vehicle, only to find that her account had become unusable at some point. She couldn't transfer points or buy anything.
But Lin Sandie didn't have enough points to buy an expensive vehicle. "The cars behind us were also destroyed by the Madness Material people. They're probably on their way here now."
Perhaps it was Lin Sandie's weak tone and her behavior, so different from usual, that made the heavily wounded Lou overlook the small loophole in her statement.
"You're a Guide now. Can you use your healing ability?" Lou pulled Lin Sandie up and carried her on her back.
"I can." Carried on Lou's back, Lin Sandie could feel her body temperature was like fire. Their roles had been reversed again. This time, it was Lin Sandie who couldn't walk due to a leg injury, and Lou was carrying her to escape danger.
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