Chapter 1150: Boxing Ring
Perhaps Bonnie Bunny used some kind of trick, or maybe Ya Jiang"s [Common Comedy Tropes] tricked him again, but now Ya Jiang was back. He looked panicked, moving quickly, even more like a headless and confused bunny than the person named "Bunny." Several times he tried to turn and run away again, but the girl playfully stopped him each time. Bonnie Bunny seemed to enjoy how things were developing, intercepting Ya Jiang as if she were herding sheep.
After a few seconds, when he stopped in despair, Lin Sanjiu walked up and patted his shoulder.
"For you," she said, handing him a card. "You dropped this. I think you could use it."
She now suspected that the reason Ya Jiang kept his hair long might be to look more like a mop.
With a somewhat bewildered expression, Ya Jiang accepted the mop, glancing at it as if only now realizing what it was. "Oh, uh, thanks... What did she do just now?"
He had been intercepted by Bonnie Bunny multiple times, but he hadn"t figured out what she had done. The girl stood with her arms folded, sometimes lightly kicking her toes, and he stumbled as if running into a wall.
"When you rushed at her, she somehow enclosed this entire area," Lin Sanjiu said, circling her finger around the empty ground. "I tried earlier, and I couldn"t get out either."
Bonnie Bunny seemed to hear a compliment, and she smiled faintly. Half of her face was still covered with dried fake blood. With that smile, tiny cracks appeared on the dried blood.
"You can leave," she said seriously, "as long as you defeat me. We"re all on this boxing ring."
"Is this your ability?" Lin Sanjiu said, waving her hand, taking out her [Tornado Whip] card—this was her standard weapon, suitable for opponents whose abilities were unknown. Just as the whip slid from her palm, Bonnie Bunny"s eyes suddenly lit up but then quickly dimmed.
Why was she so interested in her Special Item?
Before Lin Sanjiu could answer, Ya Jiang said, "W-wait a moment, I think... The goal of the Lava game is not to eliminate other players. Even if you—"
"I"m not interested in your theory," Bonnie Bunny interrupted, s.h.i.+fting her gaze from him and returning to Lin Sanjiu. "Have you two seen boxing matches? The side that cannot stand up within ten seconds after being knocked down is the loser. If you defeat me, you can leave the boxing ring... Two against one, you have a big advantage. Do you want to play a game?"
They had no room to say no.
"You told me before that her strength is comparable to Puppeteer"s," Lin Sanjiu said, not answering Bonnie Bunny but turning to Ya Jiang. "You might have exaggerated there."
Ya Jiang looked at her with a pale face.
"Believe me, I"ve fought against him more than once," she said, though it seemed like she had never won.
"What are you doing?" Ya Jiang said, looking distressed. "Are you afraid she"s not determined enough, and you want to make her an angry warrior before you"re satisfied?"
An enraged opponent is more likely to reveal their weaknesses—Lin Sanjiu seemed to notice Bonnie Bunny at that moment and glanced at her, secretly hoping that she was someone filled with jealousy and compet.i.tiveness, and that she didn"t get along well with Puppeteer.
It seemed that Bonnie Bunny really hated Puppeteer.
"Are you comparing me to the Mad Dog?" she said, taking her hands out of her overalls" pocket. Sometimes she made fists, sometimes waved her hands, sometimes played with her fingers as if they had a will of their own. She seemed to be losing control over them. "If we talk about the Mad Dog virus in my mind, I admit that I have less of it than he does. However, even if it"s only one-third of me, I can still kill you—kill you and that dog who couldn"t even bite you."
As she spoke, she suddenly made an "oh!" expression, raising her finger to signal them to listen. Just at that moment, a clear "ding, ding, ding" sounded in the air, indicating the start of the boxing match. Lin Sanjiu"s heart skipped a beat, and even before she had a chance to blink, Bonnie Bunny in her field of vision suddenly lowered her waist and turned into a blur, charging straight towards her.
As Lin Sanjiu hurriedly retreated, her [Tornado Whip] immediately swung back, unleas.h.i.+ng a fierce gust of wind that engulfed Bonnie Bunny"s shadow. Honestly, she didn"t expect Bonnie Bunny to be a close-combat posthuman. Both her boxing ring ability and her attempt to close the distance with her first attack were not in line with her slender appearance.
In the dim and dusty wind, before she could clearly see Bonnie Bunny"s position, Ya Jiang suddenly let out a short exclamation. As Lin Sanjiu turned her head towards him, she experienced something that made him cry out in surprise—it was none other than her own [Tornado Whip] that she had swung out, and it was fiercely rebounding back due to the invisible boxing ring barrier.
[Tornado Whip] was indeed powerful. Although it didn"t lift Lin Sanjiu into the air like it did with Ya Jiang, it still caused her to stumble and fall backward. Fortunately, she managed to stabilize herself by planting her heels on the ground; otherwise, she would have collided with Bonnie Bunny behind her.
"Did I forget to mention?" Bonnie Bunny said, her sweet voice coming close to Lin Sanjiu"s ear, breaking through the howling wind. "Attacks that don"t hit will be bounced back by the ropes surrounding the boxing ring."
At the same moment, the hairs on Lin Sanjiu"s back and her [Defense Forcefield] stood on end. Just as the silvery-white glow of the [Defense Forcefield] appeared, a tremendous force struck her back, almost as if the skysc.r.a.per Taipei 101 had collapsed onto her. The Higher Consciousness used for defense was rapidly depleted in an instant, and the flickering light shattered, causing her heart to tremble.
"Is this also an ability?" she said.
Before Bonnie Bunny"s slightly disappointed tone could fall, Ya Jiang, caught up in the swirling wind, collided with the other side of the ropes. Suddenly, the ropes, which were initially empty, appeared out of thin air, and he was flung back to the center of the boxing ring by the resilient strings.
When [Defense Forcefield] finally couldn"t withstand the remaining impact, Lin Sanjiu rolled and fell beside Ya Jiang. The violent whip wind dissipated only then, revealing his groaning expression.
At this moment, Bonnie Bunny was already standing beside the two of them. Lin Sanjiu rarely encountered someone as fast as herself but had to admit that Bonnie Bunny was like someone who could travel through time, completely different from the usual meaning of fast.
"10, 9, 8..." Bonnie Bunny began to count down.
Of course, there were no referees in this boxing ring. Bonnie Bunny was uttering numbers one after another—a player doubling as a referee felt somewhat unfair.
What was even more unfair was that both Lin Sanjiu and Ya Jiang could have gotten up immediately. The reason they lay on the ground for a full count of three was because Bonnie Bunny had unfurled a ma.s.sive j.a.panese Ukiyo-e-style painting above their heads. Under the dark blue night sky of the painting, all kinds of specters crowded, and h.e.l.l"s gates opened at the boundary between heaven and earth. A deep red demon peeked out an eye and bared its sharp white fangs.
Lying on the ground, the two faced the demon directly. Half a second later, the door was pulled open slightly wider, and the demon grinned, as if ready to absorb both of them into the ukiyo-e painting as soon as they stood up together.
"7, 6, 5..." Bonnie Bunny counted down, one number per second, quickly reaching five.
Lin Sanjiu, keeping her back close to the ground, activated [Mosaic Censors.h.i.+p] and extended her arm to strike at Bonnie Bunny"s legs. Bonnie Bunny, clad in short boots, pushed against the ground, using the floating Ukiyo-e painting as a pivot. She flipped her entire body upward, performing a handstand on the painting, which remained stable as if it were on solid ground.
"Get over there!" Lin Sanjiu urgently shouted to Ya Jiang. She didn"t mean to scold him, but she really wanted him to roll away. Ya Jiang immediately complied, rolling away in a hurry. Just as Bonnie Bunny leaned down to grab him from the painting, Lin Sanjiu slapped the painting from below, activating [Planar World].
"Huh?" Bonnie Bunny suddenly found herself floating in mid-air. As she began to fall, she couldn"t help but cry out. She had been confident she could grab Ya Jiang"s arm, but due to this change, she ended up grabbing nothing. Before she could react, Lin Sanjiu swiftly flipped and leaped from below, delivering a punch straight to the girl"s body.
"You underestimated me," Bonnie Bunny said, laughing breathlessly. "You thought only my head was protected?"
As she finished speaking, her feet gently touched the ground. Lin Sanjiu"s fist was once again firmly stuck by some kind of invisible, sticky force in mid-air, unable to move. Ya Jiang scrambled up at the other end of the boxing ring. Seeing the situation, he became fl.u.s.tered and took something out of his pocket, quickly shouting to Bonnie Bunny, "Hey!"
In fact, he didn"t need to shout. As soon as he took out that item, Bonnie Bunny"s neck twisted sharply, startling Ya Jiang.
She glanced at Ya Jiang for half a second, seemingly somewhat disappointed, then slowly turned her head towards Lin Sanjiu. At this moment, the two were only a few centimeters apart, a distance that, in the eyes of close-combat specialists, was enough to resolve the problem with just one punch.
"You took something from me and thought there wouldn"t be any consequences? Well, now you"re going to fall." She wiped the fake blood off her face, revealing her full appearance for the first time. Lin Sanjiu didn"t understand why she had only noticed it now, but Bonnie Bunny"s right eye socket was empty—a hollow cavity with the eyelid fully open. At first glance, the dark hole was not easy to detect when obscured by blood. "Are you ready?"
The girl smiled at her, and one of her arms shot out like a snake, quickly aiming straight for Lin Sanjiu"s chest. Even though Lin Sanjiu"s fist was stuck in mid-air and unable to move, it didn"t mean she couldn"t defend herself. She immediately deactivated the cardification on the ukiyo-e painting she had just obtained, causing it to spread out and intercept Bonnie Bunny"s hand.
Bonnie Bunny"s eyes lit up again.
Before Lin Sanjiu could figure out why, everything suddenly went dark in front of her. Even though she had never touched lava in her life, she immediately understood. She had been swallowed by lava.