Love, Gun, Cupid

Touched

Chapter 112 The Final Round (13)

“I am not hers, nor do I intend to be yours,” Lin Jiade said.

The only answer he received was a crisp sound from above. He turned around and saw that the tree he was leaning against had been cut down by the Earth Peach. The Earth Peach took a step forward and said, "Submit to me, or I will break your limbs and force you to submit to me."

"You've been reading too many novels."

"No, I am the kapok tree. You love the kapok tree, so you should love me too... No, I am not the kapok tree, I am the ground peach tree, I am the child that my parents love the most!"

Lin Jiade went mad upon hearing Di Tao's voice. Clearly, the Hart family's transformation of their less talented daughters into mass-produced, low-end Kapok models came at a price—cognitive confusion was one of the consequences.

The ground peach tries hard to transform itself into a kapok tree to gain its parents' favor. So, who actually gains the parents' favor, the kapok tree or the ground peach?

The tragedy of the Hart sisters killing each other led to Lin Jiade's tragedy, and also to their own. Di Tao wanted to hurt Lin Jiade to instill despair in Mu Mian; while Di Tao, who longed to become Mu Mian, wanted Lin Jiade to steal Mu Mian's identity. This is the reason why her actions are full of contradictions.

"Pathetic lunatics," Lin Jiade thought. "I often feel out of place with you because I'm not crazy enough."

With a tactical roll, Lin Jiade's bronze chariot sped forward, unleashing a whistling rain of arrows towards the most conspicuous Di Tao. While Di Tao was busy dealing with the Diana Vestals, Lin Jiade distanced himself from her... Yes, all those previous performances were meant to lure the Diana Vestals away.

After breaking free from contact with the ground peach, Lin Jiade continued his mission: to help the kapok tree break its golden branch and challenge the king of the forest. He suddenly realized a fatal problem: which tree's branch was the golden branch?

Kapok didn't tell him, because Kapok didn't know either. The clues for this part were either obtained by decryption on the ship in the initial scene, or they were information held by a specific NPC in Raven Town.

The ship was blown up, most of the town's NPCs died, and the contestants entered the woods without any relevant information, hiding from the Diana Virgins' hunt like a pack of prey.

If this were a multiplayer co-op game, Lin Jiade would definitely be turning into a Zaunite madman in the team chat, but since this is a real-life competition, he doesn't have much to say.

Exhaustive search... doesn't seem to work.

Looking at the endless forest, Lin Jiade rejected his idea of ​​breaking off a branch from every tree. So far, these trees had all grown unremarkable, none of them resembling a sacred tree. If he broke them off one by one, he would exhaust himself before the King of the Forest even got a chance to do so.

Lin Jiade took out his phone, which had a built-in compass. Since he had entered the woodland from east to west, he would continue westward.

He unscrewed the water bottle and took a sip. His hydration supplies were divided into two categories: one was the energy drinks that football players drink during matches; the other was plain water. The former had a rather strange taste, but Lin Jiade still pinched his nose and drank it down.

Although it had only been two hours since he ate, Lin Jiade was already quite hungry, so he took out his self-heating food and, a few minutes later, began to devour the beef, biscuits, undercooked rice, and canned fruit inside.

Among those present, he was the weakest in combat and consumed the most energy, so naturally he needed to replenish his supplies more frequently than the regular contestants. While others were playing hide-and-seek or fighting, Lin Jiade was eating and drinking like a mukbang streamer doing an outdoor live broadcast.

Hunting often happens in the instant the prey lowers its head. Lin Jiade was happily eating when an unromantic arrow struck his lunchbox. Lin Jiade nimbly jumped away, looking up in the direction of the enemy; Qi Yanli's figure disappeared into the woods.

He looked at the snack, which was only a third of the way through, with a pained expression, and muttered, "Emperor Lin, I'm going to get angry!"

The second arrow was aimed at Lin Jiade's back. The diamond elf's actions told Lin Jiade that she intended to hunt him down when he was alone.

Lin Jiade turned and expressionlessly chopped off the arrows. He swayed his head from side to side, dodging the next two arrows. He praised Wei Ying again; her second phase of relentless ambushes had allowed Lin Jiade to handle such situations with remarkable ease.

"That's it? That's it?"

Lin Jiade gave him plenty of taunts. Perhaps because of her strength, the Diamond Elf's single attack was not difficult to deal with. If she was determined to use the terrain to trap him here, she could replicate the Battle of Kalai.

However, the contestants also have to consider the costs of fighting. Lin Jiade is not a contestant, but a weapon of Kapok. Eliminating him from the competition will certainly weaken Kapok, but how much will it cost to eliminate him?

Even a mid-level magic researcher doesn't have enough energy reserves to act arbitrarily. So after four tentative arrows, Qi Yanli became serious, and Lin Jiade felt energy gathering.

Lin Jiade had no way to deal with this. His Thunder Spell could only counter spellcasters at short to medium range, while Qi Yanli was more than 100 meters away from him in a straight line. With his short reach, he was clearly outmaneuvered by the long reach of the opponent during the laning phase.

However, there is still a chance.

A flash of icy blue light entered Lin Jiade's vision. The young man realized that Qi Yanli's magic was ready to be unleashed. He raised his sword, channeled energy into it, and crimson flames clung to the blade.

The diamond sprite released its grip, and the arrow, carrying icy blue energy, hurtled towards Lin Jiade. Lin Jiade swung his sword, seemingly about to clash with Qi Yanli, but in reality, he crouched down, his sword pointing diagonally at the ground, the energy bursting from the tip propelling him into the sky.

He saw that the area where the blue light had flowed was now covered in silver, and death was spreading slowly, coldly, and intoxicatingly beneath it.

He dodged Qi Yanli's attack, but also turned himself into a high-quality flying target. Qi Yanli raised his hand and shot a few arrows, which Lin Jiade dodged by transforming into a sword. He swooped down from the sky, triggering Qi Yanli's protective spell. The shield, made of Bodhi leaf-shaped blocks, rippled and bounced Lin Jiade to the side.

Lin Jiade transformed back into human form. The excessive switching between forms made him a little dizzy. He leaned against the tree trunk and watched Qi Yanli draw his short sword and rush over. A second later, he gripped the celestial weapon and cut off the branch beneath his feet.

Qi Yanli lost her footing and fell along with the severed tree branch, but she reacted quickly, a hook popping out from her left sleeve, leaving five deep scratches on the tree trunk.

Lin Jiade figured she was good at ranged attacks and probably not good at close combat, so he jumped down after her and used the momentum of the fall to slash her head with his sword.

Qi Yanli raised her dagger to parry, but she immediately discovered that the part of her dagger that was in contact with the celestial weapon was melting like butter.

She had to dodge to the side, using the grappling hook to stop her fall. Lin Jiade left a deep mark on her shield, landed, turned and looked up at the diamond sprite clinging to the tree, saying, "Do we really have to keep fighting?"

Chapter 113 The Final Round (14)

The diamond elf coldly replied, "Humans... you cannot be trusted. To protect myself, I have no choice but to eliminate you."

Considering what humans had done to the Diamond Elves, Lin Jiade felt it was strange that the Diamond Elves could trust humans; they were merely forced to serve the Empire because of its military might.

"What about the King of the Forest?" Lin Jiade asked.

"That's none of your business."

Lin Jiade suddenly realized: "You know how to break the golden branch to challenge the King of the Forest."

"you guess."

"If that's the case, why did you save me in the early morning?"

"So that you can fight the King of the Forest and observe his fighting mechanics."

Lin Jiade recalled what happened in the early hours of this morning: "You deliberately put us in a place where the King of the Forest roams."

"Correct."

Lin Jiade scoffed, "Killing me was so difficult, let alone the King of the Forest around the Holy Day of Diana? Give up, Ali, the outside is full of Diana's Virgins, we can only defeat the King of the Forest if we join forces."

"To give the King of the Forest an advantage in the virtual space, the organizing committee deliberately obscured the conditions for victory. I think that after starting the battle with the King of the Forest, I don't need to defeat him, but rather ensure that I can survive longer under his control."

It seems you and the kapok tree don't know which tree will provide the golden branches.

"So you have to kill me, because you're afraid I'll follow you to Jinzhi and inform Mumian."

“I owe you a favor because of what happened in Karsac, and now I’ll repay it. I shouldn’t have told you this.”

The voice of the diamond elf entered Lin Jiade's ears: "The diamond elves seem to have shaken off the shadows of the past and are living in the Empire on an equal footing with the other thirty-seven races."

However, your empire still prioritizes humanity, controlling and restricting the development of us, these other races. We are forced to sell ourselves in exchange for a little bit of resources.

Races like the Minotaur are alright; humans look down on them, so they become eternal farmers in the human definition, growing grains and vegetables to generate meager profits, and then being harvested by humans as industrial products.

And for races like ours, many people covet our bodies... In addition to selling their strength, some members of our race also sell their beauty to serve the elders, the elders' offspring, their various confidants, and their cronies.

While we cannot fundamentally change this situation, we can at least choose our position within the Empire: the more warriors we provide, the fewer beauties we need to sacrifice.

Therefore, I must win first place, so that at least three of my kind won't have to become mistresses for anyone, giving birth to diamond fairies for those pot-bellied, disgusting men.

“I also have reasons why I cannot back down,” Lin Jiade said. “For my beloved family and for my peaceful and comfortable life, I must help her achieve her goal.”

In the broadcast footage, Lin Jiade and his opponent suddenly stopped fighting. The director quickly switched the camera to the other side, where Kapok and Peach were being chased by a group of virtuous women. After finally running out of arrows, the virtuous women temporarily let them go.

Of course, the virtuous women's true fighting power was not limited to this; they were merely deliberately torturing the murderers who destroyed their homes. After they left, Kapok took out her water bottle and drank some water, noticing that Peach Blossom was also replenishing her water nearby.

The two spotted each other almost simultaneously. Kapok threw her water bottle at the other, rolled behind a tree, and pulled out a submachine gun to fire.

Di Tao and Mu Mian had received the same training, and her reaction was the same as Mu Mian's. As a result, the water bottles that the two threw were the first to be torn apart by the bullets in mid-air.

The remaining bullets kicked up dust on the ground, left marks on the trees, and flew into the bushes behind. After emptying a magazine, Kapok threw a smoke grenade to the left and a smoke grenade to the right.

She threw a grenade from the left, then circled around through the smoke on the right, crawling on the ground amidst the explosion, using the bushes for cover as she tried to get behind Di Tao.

Unfortunately, Di Tao thought the same thing, and so they met halfway. Mu Mian dodged Di Tao's sweeping leg kick, drew her sword in mid-air, and swept an energy towards Di Tao. Di Tao turned around and used the X-steel wing with a missing corner on her back to take the hit.

"My weapon has the ability to absorb energy, watch out, Kapok!"

Jimo turned around smoothly, and two of the three swords on her back fell into her left and right hands. Momiji countered with her spare weapons, blocking Jimo's twin swords, and said, "What about the Hart family's interests?"

"The premise is that you see yourself as Hart, and you've been bewitched by a man, no longer Hart! So, what makes you think you can have the face of Kapok and be remembered by Mom and Dad? I am Kapok!"

Madness was the power of the earth peach. Under her fierce and relentless attacks, the kapok tree fought and retreated, leaving two deep scratches on the ground.

"Come on, again!"

Di Tao chose to make an encrypted call, roaring in Mu Mian's heart: "Do you remember what you did to your sisters after you returned to Brilliant City? You were the real Hart back then. I feared you, I hated you, I envied you, but I obeyed you. You were the real Hart back then!"

Look what you've learned in Fuxing City: cowardice, hesitation, retreat, restraint... Bah! These are all things that are completely out of place in our family. You've only picked up some rubbish outside!

What did you gain? No, you gained nothing. Even your sword and the man you loved betrayed you. You are destined to have nothing!

Everything else was fine, but Di Tao's last words really upset Mu Mian. She hadn't recovered from the grief of losing Lin Jiade, so Di Tao became the outlet for her emotions.

"If it weren't for you damn pursuers, I would have spent a wonderful summer with him. I would have been the one playing soccer with him, helping him with his homework, taking him out for free hamburgers, and catching fireflies..."

You acted with malice, using an innocent man to disgust me, causing my mental stress to accumulate, leading me to become insane, and ultimately committing an irreparable mistake!

I finally escaped this damned home and started anew in Fuxing City, building my relationship with him with lies. If it weren't for you, I could have kept this from him for a lifetime, letting the fabricated lies become our beautiful memories to tell our children and grandchildren.

But you still won't let me go. You ruined my life plans, destroyed my dreams, and destroyed the people I love most. I try so hard not to hate you, but I can't!

"That's right!" Di Tao laughed wildly. "Why bother pretending to mend our sisterly relationship? You hate me, and I hate you, so we should fight to the bitter end, until one of us breathes our last!"

Chapter 114 The Final (15) (16→15)

While they were bickering, their hands didn't stop, but neither of them used their trump card—a move reserved for the King of the Forest.

A few seconds later, the familiar ringing of bells interrupted their high-speed attack and defense. The Diana Maidens, who had changed shifts, once again unleashed their firepower. Kapok and Peach exchanged a glance, broke off contact, and fled in opposite directions.

Kapok was more familiar with the Virgin of Diana. After expending some energy, she quickly broke free. Just as she was about to catch her breath, the sound of a violin rang out from above.

Kapok jumped back, watching the clod of earth crumble where she had just stood. She threw a grenade and retreated to cover, but the living doll relentlessly pursued her, its violin transformed into a battle axe, leaping high into the air and striking Kapok's head.

"This is all for Rafaam!"

Mumian caught the attack, the inscription on her sword lit up, and Liufeng pushed the living doll away. She took a step to chase after it and found that the other party had already put away the violin and opened the parasol to sway in the air.

Kapok slashed at the air a few times, and arc-shaped energy swept over Yi Lutingfeng's body. The living doll's shield was activated, and by the time it landed, the orange-yellow shield was as thin as paper.

With a single sword thrust, Mu Mian pierced through the living doll's shield. Due to the height difference, her movement to stab Yi Lu Ting Feng's throat was slightly awkward, but it still pierced through the opponent's neck.

"Ah, what a strange feeling." Yi Lu Ting Feng spoke through his abdomen, "If I were human, I would probably be dead by now."

The kapok tree infused its weapon with energy, and the raging wind sent the living doll's head flying high into the air, but its headless torso remained mobile. Listening to the wind, he used his left-hand parasol to deflect the kapok tree's attacks, while his right-hand battle axe slashed towards the kapok tree's waist.

"?!"

Mumian hadn't expected the living puppet to attack so violently. She used her shield to take the hit, and combined with the energy she had consumed at Ditao's place, her energy reserves for supplying the shield were now less than half.

At the Dry Gate Restaurant in Pelican, Stardew Valley, Tianlong put down his glass, the ice clinking against the glass. After swallowing his whiskey, he said to the Hatter next to him, "None of the contestants who made it to the finals are easy to deal with."

"Kapok's backup weapon is too rubbish. Her main weapon is still being harassed by the Diamond Elf. I really don't know who gave her the courage to fight."

After the hatter had made fun of his old rival, he asked in confusion, "And what's the deal with that living doll?"