Chapter 192 Chapter 193 Escape
The small boat was empty, and the witch hunter on it had disappeared at some point. Ji Ma’s neck hair stood on end.
In the abandoned attic, the Necklace of Ultimate Goodness continuously released light and heat, causing the indoor temperature to rise steadily, with wisps of smoke rising from the wooden floor. Not only that, but an invisible questioning voice spread out.
“Do you deserve it?”
“Have you ever thought of others?”
“Are you guiltless…”
Even Ji Ma, who was heartless and had once served as a Demon King, couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt…
It seemed that she really owed George an apology. Clearly, she deserved her punishment, yet she had deceived him, used him, kept him hanging, and even undermined him, all while not telling him her previous gender—
Stop, stop, stop!
Ji Ma quickly shook her head to steady her mind.
It must be because her magical power was dwindling, causing her to become increasingly uncontrollable.
The things of the kind-hearted camp were cursed, as they sacrificially tried to save others, and then felt guilty about it. Guilt was bad enough, but this emotion even melted into extraordinary substances, forming extraordinary items that purified harm.
“It’s not you, not you, it’s her. She is the one who deserves it. Come on, come find me.”
The necklace seemed to be calling out.
Calling out to Jenna?
Ji Ma could guess with the tip of her tail that if Jenna wore the Necklace of Ultimate Goodness, she would feel even guiltier, and Yves would succeed more easily.
Damn it, I should have made a hard decision from the start, risking my life to send this extraordinary item to the cathedral using dream jumping.
Ji Ma took a deep breath of burnt wood smell, took out a pen and paper, glanced out at the sky, where the searching army outside was fighting among themselves out of greed. Agreements, industry standards, professional ethics, and all forms of order could not restrain their conflict.
Conflict brought bloodshed, bloodshed brought death, and death and blood further stimulated people, providing strong emotions that fed greed.
In Ji Ma’s eyes, the sky over the city was filled with blue clouds symbolizing greed, burning bright as if aflame. Smoke rose in the air, resembling the blue gas of burning.
Ji Ma realized she could manipulate the desire spreading through the air since all the greed was triggered directly by her. Just like during the auction in Shalin City, under the gaze of countless mortals, she performed a seductive dance that stirred desires, and the resulting emotions from the mortals became her power to manipulate hearts.
“The chaos of the search army outside the city was provoked by me,” Ji Ma wrote on the paper. “This is just a small warning. If Young Master Yves does not swear under the witness of the God of Dawn to never see Jenna again, and destroys the so-called cursed object that reveals the truth, agreeing to coexist peacefully, then tomorrow, Marin City will become a city filled with corpses and ruins.”
After writing this, Ji Ma picked up the cat and turned to leave.
This whole process only took exactly one minute.
She pushed open the skylight to the rooftop, where the old rusty lock had long been corroded clean by her potion.
And according to plan, the non-combatant cat had to hide first. Lianxi jumped down from her arms, reluctantly leaving.
Ji Ma walked onto the rooftop, invisible the entire time, using “Simulation” to enhance her wings. In a short period, she gained extraordinary flying ability, spreading her wings and soaring from the red-brick rooftop.
“Bang!”
The wooden skylight was kicked open, and a witch hunter wearing a tall leather hat appeared on the rooftop. He stepped on the wooden frame, tilting his head back, his black eyes indifferent like the pure white skull on his hat, surveying the surroundings.
So quick?
According to Ji Ma’s estimation, the port was quite far from here. Even if the witch hunter ran at first opportunity, with no one obstructing him on the way and having a very strong athletic ability—able to directly leap over two or three-meter walls—it should take at least five minutes.
This indicated that the other party might have a similar ability to “dream jump.”
Fortunately, I run fast and didn’t dawdle.
Ji Ma was just relieved.
Van Helsing suddenly turned his head and looked at her, his keen eyes piercing through her figure.
Ji Ma then noticed a faint wisp of smoke beside her; the airflow from her flapping wings had disturbed it. The witch hunter was twenty meters away from her, and the smoke was faint, making it hard for an ordinary person to notice even if they were looking closely.
But such a small detail was actually discovered by the witch hunter.
Van Helsing swiftly raised his crossbow, aiming at Ji Ma flying in the air, and pulled the trigger. The crossbow bolt raced toward Ji Ma, its tip glowing faintly white. The arrowhead had been blessed thrice, making it a deadly weapon against a demon like Ji Ma.
Ji Ma quickly rolled away, but the distance was too short to evade.
The arrow, deflected by the protective effect of her extraordinary charm, curved in the air, grazing the “force field armor” on her shoulder, but Ji Ma’s body flickered, shifting from translucent to opaque.
“Don’t run, little girl.” Van Helsing smiled, sprinting across the rooftop and leaving a trail of shattered tiles. “I haven’t burned a succubus yet.”
What a terrifying hunter.
Ji Ma flapped her wings hard, flying low across the rooftop, and tirelessly activated “Chameleon.” Despite the high magical cost to activate chameleon while moving, there was no choice in this critical moment.
Van Helsing was as fast as a cat with its tail on fire; he caught the falling crossbow bolt, reloading as he ran without any aiming motion, raising his hand to shoot an arrow. The bolt traced a beautiful parabola, lunging toward Ji Ma’s back just as she was about to dive into a dilapidated warehouse.
A piercing pain shot through her shoulder, and Ji Ma, whose body had just become half-translucent, became clear again. Gritting her teeth, she spun in midair, pointing her finger at the rushing Van Helsing and said, “The warehouse roof beneath your feet is in disrepair.”
Van Helsing instinctively glanced down, and indeed, it was an old warehouse in poor condition.
But what did it have to do with her specially hiding here and saying that on purpose?
Before he could finish his thought…
Van Helsing suddenly found his footing slipping. The rain-soaked wood couldn’t bear his weight, and with a snap, it broke under him. The renowned Van Helsing fell through the roof into the warehouse.
By the time the dust-covered Van Helsing climbed back up onto the roof, the succubus’s trace had long vanished without a trace.
…
…
The bronze bell above chimed the sixteenth time.
“Ow~~.” Ji Ma leaned against the black brick wall, turning her head to glance at her shoulder.
The crossbow bolt was embedded in her rear shoulder, but thanks to the “force field armor” provided by the silver ring from George, it didn’t go in very deep. Only the arrowhead was embedded, but it still hurt, buzzing as if a lump of sodium had been shoved into her wound.
The sensation was just as painful.
Tears streamed down Ji Ma’s face from the pain.
“This body is such a letdown, the nerves too young, not having taken many beatings.” Ji Ma muttered to herself, forcefully pulling out the crossbow bolt, revealing that the arrowhead had turned black.
After tending to her wound and applying medicine…
She felt an overwhelming fatigue wash over her, her head throbbing, swelling as if another heart had been added inside.
Looking at her personal system interface, good grief, there was only 25% magical power left.
“I really should burn this city down!” After saying something fierce, she downed a bottle of magic potion to speed up her magical recovery.
Feeling her body improve somewhat.
“Meow, meow!”
An orange cat climbed in through the window, tumbled onto the ground, and quickly ran to Ji Ma, wagging its tail anxiously, meowing loudly.
“Lianxi, what happened?”
“Meow… Na…”
“Jenna?”
The cat’s head bobbed eagerly.
Ji Ma’s heart sank as she asked, “Did she get captured?”
The cat’s head nodded.
“When she was captured, was she conscious?”
The cat shook its head.
Ji Ma gritted her teeth, looking out at the sky.
Seven clouds symbolizing different desires floated over the city.
She had to set them ablaze.
She retorted, “Aren’t you afraid of death?”
——
I found a great tip to invigorate oneself: lie in bed and sleep for thirty-five minutes, and when you wake up, you’re guaranteed to feel refreshed.
PS: The alarm clock must be loud enough.
