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墨書 Inktalez
What’s happening? The words "so fast" flashed through my mind instinctively! My body instinctively leaned to the right, trying to dodge the blade, but the distance was too close; I couldn't completely evade it in time. I felt a chill on the inner side of my left arm, followed by a sharp pain. I knew I had been hit! Looking closely, I realized that this knife was rigged with a mechanism that allowed the blade to spring out, connected by fine steel wires inside the handle. Pressing the mechanism would make it pop out.
Even though I knew that the person in front of me was ruthless and deadly with every strike, I was still furious! "Shameless!" I shouted. There was no time to assess my injury or worry about the knife still embedded in my left hand. At this point, we were engaged in close combat; the Long Staff was useless. I pressed the spring inside the staff and swiftly pulled it apart, transforming the Refined Steel Rod into two Short Staves. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I held one in each hand and struck at his head.
He clearly hadn't expected me to dodge or for the Long Staff to split into two Short Staves in an instant. He froze for a moment, and by the time he tried to lower his head to avoid my attack, it was already too late.
With a loud thud, both staves struck solidly against either side of his head! The sound echoed as my strike landed heavily without holding back. He swayed slightly but still refused to let go of his katana, taking a step back while pulling on the blade.
I shouted again, twirling my left hand to wrap the steel wire at the back of his blade and forcefully swung down. A sharp pain shot through me as I yanked the blade out. Watching the Bloodless Slash hover in mid-air filled me with rage; I swung my right staff down hard—crack! The staff hit the blade, snapping it in two!
"What!?" Although he was dazed from being struck, disbelief washed over his face when he saw Bloodless Slash break apart. He muttered something in Japanese, completely stunned. Without hesitation, I swung my right staff down onto his shoulder. He grimaced as I followed up with a strike from my left staff against his right temple.
With a dull thud, he finally released his grip on the handle of his sword, clutching his head and staggering backward.
The fiery pain on my left side ignited a primal rage within me as I charged at him recklessly, raining blows down on his head, shoulders, and body with relentless strikes…
He didn’t fight back; he merely protected his head with his hands while retreating until he found himself cornered against a wall. Crouching down and making strange noises, he seemed utterly defeated.
It wasn't until he pleaded in Chinese, "Stop! Stop! I surrender! I surrender!" that I finally halted my assault. "Damn it! You really had to be beaten into submission before you’d confess!"
I cursed while pointing my staff at him. "Did you do something bad that harmed those three girls?!"
He looked up at me with pitiful eyes as he begged for mercy. Blood streamed down from his head; all traces of arrogance had vanished. "It was me! It was me! Please don’t hit me anymore!"
"What happened?!"
"I-I-I used Shikigami to follow those girls. When no one was around, I used Soul Retrieval Technique to draw out their souls and then let Shikigami perform Soul Devourer to strengthen its physical manifestation. Once Soul Devourer reached a certain level, Shikigami could materialize as a substitute for my true self!"
"You bastard! How many girls have you harmed?!" My heart sank upon hearing this; Xi was still in the hospital—I had no idea if she had been subjected to Soul Devourer.
"No! No! I just learned this; it’s something only my family taught me!" He squatted on the ground in a pathetic manner.
"What happened to the first girl Zhao Xinran? Why did you kill her?!"
His eyes went blank for a moment. "Who is Zhao Xinran? I've never killed any girl! I just got close to them and left Shikigami marks on them; when the time is right, Shikigami would come out to lure their souls."
So that’s why he always had an alibi. But who killed Eagerly? I pointed my staff at him firmly. "You’re coming with me to confess!"
I pointed my stick at him with my right hand, while my left hand dropped the stick and reached into my pocket to pull out my phone. My left arm was injured, and in my earlier anger, I had forgotten the pain. Now, even the slightest movement sent a sharp ache through me. Reluctantly, I slowly pulled out my phone from my pocket and brought it to my face to dial Ah Huang.
In that brief moment of distraction, Bu suddenly jumped up and shoved me hard against the railing, pushing me outward like a madman. "Damn it, crazy dog!" I regretted not knocking him out earlier.
My left hand was already too weak to help, so I had no choice but to drop the stick and grab his neck with my right hand. But Bu was relentless, pressing me against the railing while his hands began to lift my legs outward. Behind me was an advertising board, but I didn't believe it could support my weight.
As I gradually lost my advantage, I felt my body being pushed closer to the edge. This is it! I thought; tomorrow's headline would be about some officer falling to his death at an art festival!
In that life-and-death moment, I suddenly heard Bu scream, "Ah!!!" He released me and stepped back a few paces, swinging his arms wildly as if something was on his back. I didn't care about that; I grabbed the railing with both hands and kicked out with all my strength. Bu took the hit solidly and stumbled backward.
Little did he know that behind him was a spiral staircase connecting the Steel Frame Platform to the wall. He stepped into thin air and fell with a cry. Regaining my composure, I hurried over to check on him. Bu was head down, having rolled several times and getting stuck about seven or eight meters away from the platform on the spiral staircase.
I had no idea whether Bu was dead or alive, but I couldn't worry about that now. I spat down at the staircase and slowly leaned against the railing to sit down. Ouch! My left arm throbbed painfully again. Quickly, I took off my Work Uniform and wrapped up my arm as best as I could. Thankfully, it seemed like nothing was broken. I picked up the phone from the ground and called Ah Huang.
Upon hearing what happened, Ah Huang sounded very anxious. After confirming my location, he hung up. I sighed in relief; dealing with this mess would be up to Ah Huang. Luckily, there was that knife; it should serve as evidence.
Ah, that knife! My gaze fell on the ground where a broken blade lay quietly in the center of the steel corridor. Honestly, with my knowledge of Japanese Sword, it shouldn't have broken so easily. No wonder Bu's expression had been one of disbelief at that moment—could it have been fake?
And why did Bu suddenly let go of me? That was truly puzzling!
While I was lost in thought, someone shouted from below. Looking down, I saw Ah Huang! He had come up and was examining Bu's body. He turned him over, checked for breath, then stepped up beside me.
"What happened here?!" Ah Huang exclaimed in surprise upon seeing me.
"The Japanese Kid tried to kill me! We fought for a bit; I almost died, but in the end, he fell instead!"
"How could that happen?"
"Because I know one of his secrets!" I immediately told Ah Huang about Soul Guiding and the katana incident. Understanding dawned on him as he replied, "So that's how it is!"
But then Ah Huang looked troubled. "But we can't take legal action against him; who would believe you?"
"Isn't there a knife? We can check if it's fake; if it is, we can charge him with illegal possession of a controlled weapon and attempted assault! If it's real, we can accuse him of illegally trafficking Cultural Relics! You guys in public security are experts at this; do you need me to teach you?"
Ah Huang chuckled and turned to inspect the knife on the ground. I knew he was also a fan of cold weapons, so it didn't surprise me.
"Hey, can you call an ambulance for me?!"
"He's called!"
"Hey, how's the guy on the mat? Is he dead?"
"If he's dead, you're in trouble! Don't worry, he's just unconscious."
"What the hell! Can you pay attention to me? What are you looking at?"
"How's the knife technique on the mat?" "Not that impressive; he can't beat me anyway."
Ah Huang remained silent for a moment, staring at the broken knife blade. "Old Wang, I’m afraid you’re lucky. This knife has developed a tiny crack in the blade. Under severe impact, it couldn't withstand and broke into two pieces. Also, this blade has suffered damage; its sharpness has significantly decreased. In Japan, every knife needs to be repaired after being used once. It's a shame for this knife. This guy on the mat must not know about its condition; otherwise, he wouldn't use it to fight you."
I shrugged. "He's too obsessed with the knife itself to realize its flaws."
Ah Huang seemed lost in thought for a while. "There must be a story behind this knife."
(To be continued; tomorrow will be even more exciting!)
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