Chapter 1196: The Cat's Pride

"Hey..."

Zhuque twisted in Song Qi's hand for a moment, then grinned and said, "It's really a bit scheming."

"Thank you." Song Qi found himself completely immobilized, as if encased in cement.

Zhuque's "Duo Xin Po" was far more powerful than that of ordinary people. Fortunately, his voice was coming from this ugly mass of flesh; otherwise, even a louder sound might have been heard by others.

"If I had known earlier that you had this trick... I'd rather transfer to a rock now, bide my time until I rise again, and then toy with you one by one until you're all dead..."

Song Qi stared coldly at the lump of flesh: "So I kept quiet about it until you walked into my trap. After all, you don't have that much time to think things through."

"You mice... 'Jian Mo', 'Shuang Sheng Hua', 'Chuan Suo', 'Bao Shan', 'Mao Mu', 'Feng Chang'... taking turns to bombard..." That hoarse voice kept squeezing out words, "Every time it's a suicide attack. Don't you want to live at all...?"

"Only a suicide attack can catch you off guard and make you unable to dodge." Song Qi replied, "After all, even other 'Shen Shou' wouldn't use a suicide attack to kill you, but we can."

"Killing me... naive... so naive... do you really think..."

Song Qi took a deep breath, then interrupted Zhuque loudly, saying, "Old Five, this is over... Take the others and leave."

Qian Wu pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

He knew that regardless of the outcome, Zhuque had already turned into a lump of flesh.

There was no way he could stop everyone now, but as he looked at Song Qi's back, his expression grew increasingly somber.

Song Qi had lied.

"Old Seven... don't you want the brothers to see you off?"

"No need, Old Five." Song Qi said in his usual tone, "I'll go down and join them myself."

Qian Wu nodded, turned toward the teleportation gate, and glanced at Zhou Liu and Di Zhu. Both of them were injured, and although Di Zhu had a new body, he still looked very weak.

How many people from "Mao" had died in this battle?

Feng Shishi, Wu Shisan, and Cui Shisi had their heads chopped off; Qiu Ershi was cut in half; Yun Shijiu and Liu Ershiyi died in the final "Nuo Yi".

Their bodies hit the already severely wounded and nearly immobile Ning Shiba, and the three collided with a loud crack of breaking bones.

Now, even Ma Shi'er had been torn apart by "Bao Ran".

Excluding Officer Li and Su Shan, "Mao" had five survivors.

Qian Wu, Zhou Liu, Song Qi, Bai Jiu, and Luo Shiyi.

But even Song Qi was about to leave the team.

Besides them... Zhou Liu had also lost all the "Ji Dao" who followed her.

These two battles had nearly exhausted all the strength that "Mao" had accumulated over the years, but from the beginning, "Mao" was formed to kill "Shen Shou". Not everyone dying here was already a gain.

As for the plans that followed... who cared?

That "train" representing escape had never had anything to do with a group of "Mao" who didn't want to leave.

"Mao" originally wandered on the edges of the city, standing on high walls and hiding in the darkness.

They never believed they needed to be taken care of or pitied by anyone.

They had a pride that outsiders could never understand.

This pride would make them send away all their companions when death was imminent.

"I miss my cats a bit." Qian Wu murmured.

This battle was just as everyone had anticipated—completely different from killing Xuanwu.

When both sides knew each other's weaknesses, victory or defeat could be decided in an instant, and death could come in that same instant.

"Let's go." Qian Wu said to the group, "Xiao Jiu, stay with Eleven. He's not in good shape; there's no need to go in and die. Zhou Liu and I will handle it."

"I..." Luo Shiyi sighed, "Old Five... what kind of talk is that?"

"'Mao's mission is finished." Qian Wu said, "Disband on the spot."

Upon hearing this, Luo Shiyi and Bai Jiu suddenly felt empty inside, as if life had lost its purpose.

"But there are still 'Ji Dao'." Bai Jiu suddenly interjected to Zhou Liu, "Six Sister... without your squad, you won't be able to do much inside. How about Eleven and I act as your squad?"

"Tsk... have you all lost your minds?" Zhou Liu slowly frowned at those words.

"I can go too." Officer Li said, "With me, Su Shan, Bai Jiu, and Eleven, that's four people. We can barely help you out."

"You're all crazy..." Zhou Liu snapped angrily, "Don't you have enough pain already?"

"Stop pushing each other around at a time like this." Qian Wu said, "Don't cause more trouble for Old Seven. Hurry up and go."

At that moment, Zhou Liu noticed Qian Wu's face growing heavier, so she said no more. After exchanging a glance with Di Zhu, the group headed toward the teleportation gate.

In the final moment, everyone turned back to look at Song Qi. He still seemed controlled by "Duo Xin Po" and never turned around.

Zhou Liu reached up to her ear and whispered softly toward the distance:

"'Mao'... mission complete."

Song Qi heard the others enter the teleportation gate and finally relaxed. He looked down again at the chunk of flesh in his hand.

Good... they believed it.

Whether they truly believed or just pretended...

They had all left.

"Song Qi... why put yourself through this?" the chunk of flesh laughed.

"How so?"

"Normally, people lie to those who aren't important, right?" the chunk of flesh asked again, "You seem so close to them, yet you still have to lie?"

"If I don't lie, how can I send them away?" Song Qi said, "What I said just now was for you and for my teammates, so they can leave without any worries."

"You know I won't truly die... right?" Zhuque laughed, "You're not crazy enough to treat a piece of flesh with eyes as a bomb."

While Song Qi couldn't move, Zhuque began to slowly shift his body, crawling up Song Qi's arm step by step.

"Doesn't matter." Song Qi replied, "Even if I can't deal with you, this body of mine is already on an explosion countdown."

"So... you're going to blow yourself up and take me with you?" The chunk of flesh laughed even more happily, as if its body was trembling.

"Who knows." Song Qi answered, "Next, I might release the most powerful 'Bao Ran' in history. Its force could directly shatter your reinforced body."

"Ha..." Zhuque crawled step by step onto Song Qi's shoulder, "If a physical explosion kills me... I would've died when that middle-aged man exploded earlier..."

He slithered his sticky body toward Song Qi's mouth and then burrowed right in.