Chapter 299: Remedial Measures
Captain Mao anxiously stood outside the study room, shouting a few times but hearing no movement from inside the study room.
Considering the urgency of the situation, he gritted his teeth, twisted the door handle, and opened the study room’s house door.
“Master Lu, please forgive me, it’s really…”
Captain Mao’s words had just reached halfway when the rest were all swallowed back by him.
After all, the study room was only so big, not to mention that twisting and turning thing enveloped by three blazing golden light yellow talismans.
Just the nearly four-meter-tall Terrifying Scarecrow on the side near the window was enough to fill the entire field of vision.
The anxious expression on Captain Mao’s face had not yet faded when uncontrollable terror immediately surfaced next.
Complex emotions displayed on his face brought a powerful infectiousness that performance could absolutely not replicate.
“Captain Mao, you’ve come at a bad time. As you can see, I still have things to handle.”
Lu Bai glanced sideways at Captain Mao before returning his gaze to the Terrifying Scarecrow, though his tone of speech was quite casual.
Perhaps pacified by Lu Bai’s calm demeanor, Captain Mao also barely calmed down.
He took the pistol from his waist and gripped it in his hand, gritting his teeth as he said, “Master Lu, what do you need me to do?”
“Just take care of yourself.”
Lu Bai waved his hand without looking back, then actually took the initiative to step toward the Terrifying Scarecrow: “A little interlude, alright, let’s continue.”
He raised his hand to draw a yellow talisman and clamped it between his fingertips, the other end of the yellow talisman igniting out of thin air.
“I refuse to join, so what are you going to do? Kill me?”
The Terrifying Scarecrow, which had already raised its branch arm, upon hearing Lu Bai’s words, let its deformed humanoid face emit a harsh bursting sound like a viper rubbing its scales.
Without further delay, the two-meter-long branch arm swung straight down toward Lu Bai.
It was worth noting that although the surface appeared to have a decayed and withered texture, as the branch arm swung, it produced a sound of breaking air like gold and iron.
Moreover, careful observation revealed that in the area swept by the branch arm, there were patches of lingering shadows, as if oil had been splashed onto a pane of transparent glass.
“Careful!”
Captain Mao instinctively exclaimed upon seeing this.
However, there was no need for Captain Mao’s warning; facing an unfamiliar anomaly, Lu Bai was already maintaining vigilance.
Moreover, those patchy shadows were obviously problematic even thinking with one’s knee.
Lu Bai didn’t hesitate at all, casually tossing down the yellow talisman between his fingers while activating [Flash Time] and [Bursting Qi]. In the state where everything was quiet, relying on the temporary physical fitness boost from [Bursting Qi], he quickly exited the Terrifying Scarecrow’s attack scope and retreated toward the house door.
During this time, he even had the spare capacity to pull Captain Mao at the entrance.
0.5 seconds of [Flash Time] passed, and as time resumed flowing, Lu Bai had already brought Captain Mao to the center of the yard.
To be honest, even the anomaly itself still found this scene quite anomalous.
Even though the Terrifying Scarecrow’s face was hooded and its expression unclear, from its stiff action, it was clearly quite startled.
After a moment of quiet, the Terrifying Scarecrow’s distinctive strange voice line came from the room: “No wonder those guys wanted to pull you in.”
Before Lu Bai could reply, a somewhat rough voice sounded from the eaves, expressing approval.
“Obviously, he’s not human at all.”
Lu Bai looked toward the sound; the speaker was clearly another anomaly.
It had a crow-like sharp beak and a pair of pitch-black wings; aside from that, it had a fairly ordinary humanoid posture, wearing tattered yamabushi garb with a daito at its waist.
It didn’t flap its wings, just steadily suspended in the air above the house, eyeing Lu Bai with a gaze full of interest.
Sequence 59—Karasu Tengu.
“Master Lu…”
Captain Mao’s voice was full of daze, nearly a murmur.
Facing these successively appearing anomalies, his panicked heart finally died completely.
The anomalies’ extraordinary actions made it seem as if humanity in this world had no future.
Lu Bai released his grip on Captain Mao’s arm and looked at the Karasu Tengu as he inquired: “I’m rather curious—how many of you have exactly come?”
After leaving the room and coming to the yard, he could somewhat sense just how chaotic the Containment Center was now.
Various screams and exclamations came from all directions; in just the time of these few sentences, there had already been two massive explosions with firelight soaring to the sky.
“Regrettably, I don’t know either.”
The Karasu Tengu in midair spread its hands, seemingly somewhat helpless: “In the original plan, all these people should have become abomination fodder, but you turned out to be the variable.”
The original plan?
Lu Bai had no dissatisfaction with the anomalies’ attitude of treating the entire city’s humans as consumables in their discussion.
He just nodded somewhat belatedly: “So the Plague Doctor who appeared later was actually your remedial measure?”
During the conversation between the man and the anomaly, the twisting and turning thing and the Terrifying Scarecrow had also drilled out from the room.
The Terrifying Scarecrow interjected sinisterly: “If you hadn’t actually taken down that Crow’s Mouth, we wouldn’t get to enjoy such a feast.”
The Karasu Tengu glanced at the Terrifying Scarecrow before slowly drawing the daito from its waist.
“You can consider this our second remedial measure.”
Before the words finished, its wings flapped behind it, its entire body turning into a black lightning bolt as it shot toward Lu Bai.
Although Lu Bai wanted to say the Karasu Tengu didn’t play fair, this exaggerated attack speed forced him to use [Flash Time] to ensure he dodged the strike.
However, after catching his breath, the 0.5 seconds passed in an instant, and another blade light sliced horizontally.
Clearly, the Karasu Tengu had noticed Lu Bai’s unusual evasion method and had no intention of giving him any breathing room.
Lu Bai had to admit that [Flash Time], which couldn’t be used consecutively, had only this weakness against opponents with such blistering attack speed.
Fortunately, he now had more than just the [Flash Time] ability.
Before the blade edge arrived, his figure abruptly vanished, and clanging sounds rang out around the Karasu Tengu.
[Alpha Strike (Gold): Consume a certain amount of stamina; the user will shuttle across the battlefield at speeds imperceptible to the naked eye, cumulatively launching four attacks. Cannot be targeted during duration. Cooldown: 30 seconds.]
For safety’s sake, the Karasu Tengu flapped its wings and retreated a distance.
Lu Bai reappeared in his original spot; without pausing or glancing at the Karasu Tengu again, he quickly pulled out a yellow talisman and began chanting.
