Chapter 592: Familiar Enemy

The "thoughts" flowing into his mind were messy and fragmented, far from being complete intelligence, more like a series of continuous instinctive keywords. And evidently, these "thoughts" came from the cats in front of him—maybe one of them, or maybe the collective reaction of the entire group.

Yu Sheng's expression froze for an instant, and he jerked his head up.

Hu Li, who had been watching nervously, afraid that something might go wrong when Yu Sheng touched the "cats," quickly spoke up: "Benefactor, are you okay?"

As she spoke, she had already tucked both tails under her arms, ready to unleash a foxfire machine-gun barrage at the slightest provocation.

"There are intruders," Yu Sheng said, getting up and pressing down on Hu Li's tail. "In the alley—the cats are hiding from them."

Little Red Riding Hood instinctively glanced toward the path outside the door. The misty alley showed nothing suspicious, but she immediately directed the wolves to spread around the bookstore and check every shadowy crevice.

At the same time, she quickly asked: "What kind of intruders?"

"The cats can't explain clearly; they only have the simplest 'instincts,' barely even consciousness," Yu Sheng said with a frown. He saw the pile of cats in the corner shrink back into a dense shadow, most eyes closed, only a few with glowing pale light nervously looking outward. "Even if we brought the King over, it wouldn't be able to communicate with them."

Little Red Riding Hood was puzzled: "When did you learn to understand what these 'cats' in the Dark Alley mean?"

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then rubbed his chin uncertainly: "…I suspect I somehow tamed these cats without realizing it…"

Little Red Riding Hood: "…?"

While speaking, Yu Sheng had already left that corner, checked around the bookstore, then walked back out into the Dark Alley. His eyes swept the surroundings, and he noticed that the thin mist hanging in the alley had thickened a bit somehow.

And in the drifting fog, the buildings across the street seemed even farther away.

This foreign domain had undergone a change not recorded in the data—the alley was widening.

"I don't know what's going on yet, but I feel like things are getting weird around here," Aileen said, growing nervous. She held the frying pan in one hand and grabbed Yu Sheng's hair with the other, speaking anxiously: "Yu… Yu Sheng, don't you feel like something is approaching? And it's suddenly gotten chilly."

"I feel it. It seems like we 'triggered' something when we entered the bookstore," Yu Sheng said with a frown, thoughts racing through his mind.

In the foreign domain, entities acted according to rules and instincts, but they rarely showed fear or retreat unless they were special individuals with complex intelligence. The cats in the Dark Alley, which hissed at everything, obviously didn't have that high intelligence—so why were they all hiding in the old bookstore now?

Did the intruders possess some characteristic that could counter them?

Something that didn't bleed, or even had no flesh and blood?

The cats and the intruders must have fought… They were driven into the old bookstore under unfavorable conditions… The intruders couldn't be seen with the naked eye, and they could alter the surrounding environment…

"Did the data mention anything about what those 'humanoid entities' appearing deep in the Dark Alley look like?" Yu Sheng suddenly asked.

"No detailed description," Little Red Riding Hood said quickly while riding on a wolf. "Witnesses said those things could turn invisible, only occasionally showing vague humanoid outlines when fighting. They were hard to deal with; even veteran Spirit World Detectives barely escaped with their lives…"

Yu Sheng frowned. This limited information gave him nothing to analyze, but considering the clues along the way, he had some faint conjectures forming in his mind. Just then, Luna, who had been keeping watch, reacted.

Before anyone could react, Luna suddenly stared in a certain direction, then leaped, her figure ghosting through the mist as her blade stabbed toward empty air.

Distortions appeared in the mist, and coldness and malice shed their concealment. A tall humanoid silhouette solidified out of the mist, raising a heavy sword to block Luna's blade with a harsh metallic screech.

A hollow, tall brass knight stumbled backward several steps from the mist, the fluctuations of its collapsing stealth field flickering across the thick armor.

Aileen yelled: "It really is these things!"

Yu Sheng didn't hesitate. He pulled the pin on a blood grenade, pressed the detonation button, and tossed it in front of him. A dull cracking sound came from the special "grenade," which didn't produce shrapnel or explosive damage but instantly released a wide blood mist that eerily hung in the air.

Yu Sheng immediately established a connection with the blood mist and directed it to spread rapidly in all directions.

The mist thinned but didn't hinder its effect. One by one, vague outlines lost their concealment in the blood mist as their stealth fields were eroded and disrupted. Chaotic, fragmented light streaked around them.

Several brass knights appeared in the alley, raising their heavy swords and charging without hesitation at Yu Sheng's group.

The space in the Dark Alley continued to widen, as if the mist blurred the "boundaries" of this foreign domain. On the increasingly open ground, more figures were gradually emerging.

Everything happened in an instant. Luna locked onto the nearest enemy, charging before the hollow armor could act. The knight's force-field heavy sword swung like the wind, and the energized coating on the brass armor glittered. But against the artificial saint's accelerated assault and indestructible blade, these flashy defenses didn't last two seconds.

Her sharp "nails" shattered the sword's force field, tore through the energized coating, and left several fatal holes in the brass knight.

The knight fell, drowning in the illusion of a national-protecting holy war. In his final moment, he held his head high proudly, as if still enjoying the fervent cheers from his faith and hallucination.

Luna landed, momentarily dazed as she looked at the fallen knight, but when a new enemy appeared in the air, she turned to face it without a millisecond of hesitation.

The little doll on Yu Sheng's shoulder shouted anxiously: "Hey! C-type buckle! Your fellow townsman! They're all your fellow townsmen!"

Luna swept across the battlefield like a gust of wind, briefly uttering two words as she passed Yu Sheng: "Enemies."

A fierce wind rushed over. Another tall figure appeared at the edge of the blood mist, charging at trailing speed. Yu Sheng raised the Blood Needle Launcher and fired a burst. The small, sharp blood needles seemed intelligent, drilling into the gaps in the enemy's armor and growing wildly inside the hollow shell. The brass knight immediately stiffened, staggering a few steps as if fighting for control of its body. Then, countless blood-red "thorns" of various sizes grew out from the gaps in its armor, and the entire suit of armor exploded with a bang.

Inside the shattered armor was empty, only a dark, strange substance slowly oozing from the cracks, like rotten flesh turned to mud.

"Rat-a-tat-tat…"

A series of sharp whistles tore through the air. Dense foxfire poured toward the other end of the alley, weaving a scorching, expanding net of fire in the widening lane. Two brass knights were hit directly by the foxfire, their protective force fields flickering intensely. One of them managed to hurl its heavy sword before being burned through, then collapsed upright into the sea of flames.

The heavy sword, covered in a decomposition force field, grazed Little Red Riding Hood's hair. She merely tilted her head, then continued directing the wolves to tear into the figures emerging at the edge of the blood mist.

The Dark Alley was full of dim corners, every shadow could be a "reflection" of the Black Forest. More and more wolves emerged from the dark corners, until they began to overwhelm the new enemies with numbers.

"Aah, forget it!" Aileen yelled. She didn't think too much and jumped from Yu Sheng's shoulder to the ground. She raised a hand, and twisting cracks appeared behind her. A dozen expressionless mass-produced dolls crawled out of the cracks and began firing at the opposite side.

Single Aileen rays couldn't penetrate the armor of those brass knights with their bizarre force fields, but when concentrated, their power was still considerable. The nearest brass knight had to slow down, holding its sword horizontally. A quickly solidifying energy shield expanded in front of it, blocking the barrage of rays and foxfire.

The other brass knights immediately used this cover to regroup.

But almost at the same time, Aileen's "main unit" charged forward. The golden-haired little doll scurried on her short legs, rushing between the mass-produced dolls at surprising speed. In a flash, she reached the heavy knight who had raised the shield, then with all her might, she jumped up with a "hey" and smacked her frying pan into the enemy's knee.

A loud "clang" echoed. The seemingly ordinary frying pan shattered the thick shield that even foxfire couldn't break. The knight standing with sword instantly stumbled, then its shield and half a leg were smashed into pieces by the pan. The tall armor fell, twitched briefly, then suddenly stopped as if losing its soul, motionless.

Not far away, Little Red Riding Hood was stunned.

Not just Little Red Riding Hood; even Aileen herself was a bit surprised. The little doll stared blankly at the frying pan in her hand, muttering: "Damn… this thing works that well?"

As soon as she spoke, the nearest Yu Sheng suddenly yelled: "Don't just stand there!"

Aileen jolted and noticed a shadow above her head. She looked up and saw a two-meter-tall brass heavy armor lunging at her like a collapsing mountain!

Then the brass knight swung its huge sword horizontally, bringing a sharp wind. The little doll screamed in fright, ducked her head, and dodged it.

Aileen froze. The brass knight seemed to freeze too.

The next second, Aileen put one hand on her hip and raised the pan with the other: "Ha ha ha, stupid—"

Before the little doll could finish, the brass knight stepped forward and stomped down like whack-a-mole, crushing her.

(End of chapter)