In the woods, Zhang Buyao and Niman walked ahead, while Yu Xian walked in the middle carrying Little Huangquan on his back, followed closely by Little Nora, Nora, and Shui Yuetian.
The party was heading toward Mingzhu City. Fortunately, Zhang Buyao roughly knew its location, so she took charge of guiding the way.
"By the way, do we actually have what it takes to kill Feng Laixian right now?" It was the first time Shui Yuetian had ever been left panting just from walking. She came to a halt, supported herself against a tree with one hand, and looked ahead at Yu Xian and the others to ask.
Yu Xian looked at Zhang Buyao. "Yaoyao should have an idea, right?"
"Me? I don't have one," Zhang Buyao said, glancing back.
Everyone fell silent.
Here they were, a bunch of weaklings, actually delusional enough to try killing a big shot.
Although Zhang Buyao had said Feng Laixian had been very weak when he was in Mingzhu City—possibly not even at the Star Rank—they were currently even weaker.
"Let's hope Feng Laixian is still just a baby," Yu Xian finally sighed toward the heavens.
Niman found this amusing and said, "Don't lose heart. Our strength may be gone, but knowledge doesn't disappear. I can try concocting poison; when the time comes, killing Feng Laixian might not be out of the question."
"My marksmanship is decent. If I can get my hands on a good gun, I can try sniping him," Nora chimed in immediately.
Realizing they didn't need to clash head-on, Shui Yuetian spoke up at once. "I'm actually pretty good at setting traps. With enough time and materials, I can give it a shot too."
"..."
Yu Xian looked silently at Little Nora.
"???"
Little Nora stared back at Yu Xian with an innocent look, a question mark practically popping above its head.
Quickly catching the meaning behind Yu Xian's gaze, it waved its hands in a hurry. "Big Brother, I don't know how to do anything except eat!"
"Little Nora and I are in the Idiot Alliance!" Zhang Buyao turned around with a bright grin and bounded over to Little Nora's side, throwing her arms around it. Unfortunately, in this world, she couldn't lift Little Nora, so she could only nuzzle against it.
Yu Xian let out a long sigh and gave a wry smile. "Then I might as well join the Idiot Alliance too."
He realized he truly didn't have any handy skills to show off. Once stripped of his various Shiny Vampire abilities, and without the cheat handed to him by Zhenwo Changjing, he was just a good-for-nothing.
He was practically born to play the useless protagonist.
...
...
Half a day later.
Yu Xian and the others stood beside a tree, staring at the distant city in collective silence.
At first, Yu Xian had imagined Mingzhu City guarded by towering walls, with a tall tower in the center, a luminous pearl atop it radiating pure white light.
Or at least a very beautiful city.
Instead, after trekking over hills and crossing streams, what met their eyes was a twisted, deformed city. It did indeed have towering walls, but the walls hovered in the sky, resembling a spiraling staircase.
The city itself was haphazardly stitched together; some buildings stood upside down, while others were grotesque chimeras formed by fusing two different houses into one.
"This doesn't look quite like the Mingzhu City I saw," Zhang Buyao admitted somewhat sheepishly as she stared at the city, which had become thoroughly Abyssified.
Yu Xian remarked dryly, "Isn't that glaringly obvious? The whole city looks bizarre at first glance."
"Here's the question: if the memory was already distorted to begin with, will killing Feng Laixian really do any good?" Niman asked, sighing as she looked at the city.
If the memory had been normal, subverting it might have worked. But against a memory that was already insane, what could they possibly overturn?
Could anything be more subverted than this hallucinatory city?
The same thought occurred to Yu Xian. He sighed deeply and said, "Now that we're here, we should scout ahead first. I'll go take a look while you all wait here for my news."
"Let me do it instead," Niman said with a smile, glancing at Yu Xian.
Walking all this way had confirmed one thing: though they differed in size and gender, their physical stamina and strength were essentially on the same level.
And with roughly equal strength and stamina, she was without a doubt the strongest fighter among them. Even without any special abilities, her martial arts were quite good—especially her pressure-point striking techniques, which could catch enemies off guard and finish them instantly.
An Abyss doctor: just as capable of saving lives, they were terrifyingly adept at taking them.
If she had hidden projectiles on hand right now, she could take on more than a dozen ordinary people. With enough space to maneuver and sufficient stamina, even fifty people wouldn't be a match for her.
Therefore, it was far safer and more sensible for her to scout ahead.
Yu Xian glanced at Niman and smiled wryly. "All right. I'll gladly settle for being the useless protagonist. Be careful out there, Niman."
"Don't worry. Unless the disparity is massive, I'll be fine," Niman replied with a confident smile, then set off toward Mingzhu City.
She did not approach the city in a straight line, instead using available cover and taking a winding route. The closer she drew, the more acutely she could feel a frenzied, chaotic will.
*Did the madness of death scramble your memories as well?*
Niman thought to herself as she observed pedestrians walking midair through Mingzhu City, children whose bodies endlessly twisted and looped, a fat man hanging from a streetlight, and a fox selling human flesh.
A city jarring and warped.
After a moment's thought, Niman pressed on. Two guards stood at the city gates, but one had his head facing the wall, and the other's head was mounted on his buttocks. Neither was in any state to watch anyone.
Perhaps this reflected Feng Laixian's own prejudices.
An inkling began to form in Niman's mind: Mingzhu City's warped state might not be solely the result of fragmented memories, but rather the frantic infiltration of Feng Laixian's personal biases. It was those biases that filled this memory with glaring anomalies.
Sure enough, both guards ignored her entirely, allowing her to slip into Mingzhu City without any trouble.
If the view from outside had been twisted enough, inside the city was outright absurd: foxes kicking human heads around like balls, running toilet bowls, and all manner of strange, indescribable people.
"An aristocrat?"
"Why would an aristocrat come down to our Lower City?"
"She looks pretty delicious. Should we sneak up and eat her?"
"If the nobles find out, we're done for. Don't do anything rash."
As Niman walked deeper into the city, the bystanders naturally took notice of her, whispering among themselves with greedy eyes fixed on her.
This was a world of memory, but it was nonetheless a real world in its own right.
Since it was a world, it operated by rules and possessed its own internal logic. Evidently, normal humans were rare in Mingzhu City and therefore held higher status.
Sensing danger, Niman promptly picked up her pace and slipped into an alleyway, breaking into a light jog. Several ill-intentioned figures pursued her immediately, but after a few sharp turns, only one or two managed to keep up.
She acted decisively. The moment the first pursuer turned the corner where she lay in ambush, she landed a strike squarely on their temple, followed by a rapid flurry of attacks aimed at various acupoints across their body—the entire sequence lasting barely ten seconds.
Catching the pursuer completely off guard, the result was a foregone conclusion: they collapsed on the spot.
Niman immediately rushed toward the second pursuer, only to freeze in surprise upon seeing them. "Yu Xian? Why did you follow me? And... why have you turned into a wooden man?"
"My name is Wang Jieming, not Yu Xian," a boy whose body was made entirely of wood said timidly.
He took a step back and whispered, "That guy was a thug. But since you're okay, I'll be on my way."
Evidently, his intention was nothing like that of the man before him.
Chapter 330