The mayor looked at the residents surrounding him, his eyes full of panic.
"Don't listen to her nonsense. She's making it all up! Everything I did was to protect all of us!
Without me, none of you would have lived this long. You can't be so ungrateful!"
But the residents no longer believed him and continued closing in.
The mayor tightened his grip on his shotgun, holding the approaching crowd at bay as he said,
"You were the ones who decided to burn him to death back then. How can you blame me?"
"You! If you hadn't told us he killed our children, how could we have killed him?"
"I admit I was misled by false information. He wasn't the one who killed your children, but I'm a victim too!"
"Stop making excuses. I know the truth!
Your son liked a girl, but she liked Xu Jing, so you framed him for murder and made me spread false rumors. You're the one responsible!"
"That's right! I can prove he's telling the truth!"
The mayor panicked. He knew that no matter how much he tried to talk his way out of it, he could hardly change the truth now.
"You kept telling us Xu Jing wanted to kill all of us. But he only wants to kill you and your son. As long as we sincerely repent, he'll spare us."
"This is all your fault! If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be in this situation!"
"It's all this old bastard's fault! Kill him! Kill him!"
The mayor looked at the furious crowd and said unwillingly,
"Fine, even if I'm the one responsible, he still won't spare you if you kill me!
Now, no matter what you do, none of you will survive."
"Die, you old bastard!"
"How dare you fool us! Die!"
The crowd roared and rushed forward. All they wanted now was to tear this man apart before they died.
The mayor took a step back. Seeing that he couldn't stop them, he fired. The bullet struck one of the men, sending him flying backward, his chest a bloody mess.
After killing one of them, he had expected the rest to scatter in panic, but now, that gun alone couldn't stop the furious crowd.
They were going to die sooner or later anyway. Now, all they wanted was to kill this selfish mayor who had doomed them to die with him.
"No, no! Spare me, please! Spare me! Killing me won't do you any good!"
Someone behind the mayor grabbed his arm, snatched his gun away, and threw it aside.
Without his gun, the mayor had nothing left to rely on. All he could do was keep shouting and pleading.
But no amount of pleading could change their minds now, nor could it extinguish the rage in their hearts.
"Spare me! It's not my fault! I didn't do this to you!"
The mayor continued making excuses, but the furious crowd had already closed tightly around him. They pulled at his limbs and head, holding his body suspended in the air as they tried to tear him apart by brute force.
Suddenly, a drill attached to a chain flew over from nearby and pierced straight through the mayor's body.
"Ah—"
He cried out in agony.
The crowd followed the drill's chain with their eyes and saw a massive puppet at the other end.
The puppet had six legs and a human body, but its arms had been modified into drills.
The drill that had pierced the mayor's body had come from its hand.
At the sight of the puppet, fear erupted through the crowd.
"He's here! He's here!"
"We're done for!"
"Run!"
The crowd immediately scattered, sprinting in different directions. They had completely lost their reason and wanted only to escape.
Even though running was utterly pointless.
The mayor let out a piercing scream as he watched the crowd scatter. The puppet behind him had begun retracting the chain, gradually dragging him toward it.
The drill was barbed, making the process particularly cruel.
The agony utterly destroyed what little reason he had left. Now he could only scream on instinct.
The puppet pulled him beneath it and planted a foot on his head, crushing it like a watermelon.
As the mayor died a gruesome death, the sky grew darker and darker. Before long, night had completely swallowed the place.
In the darkness, puppets kept appearing, their cheerful laughter contrasting with the screams and terror of the humans.
People kept dying in the darkness, and anguished cries echoed through the night.
This place had become a hell on earth.
But no one would pity them, because this was the price they paid for their crimes.
Jiang Yue watched the rampaging puppets, her eyes full of fear. "They... their bodies seem bigger than they were during the day, and their speed and strength have increased quite a bit too."
"Yes, they've grown stronger. With the benevolent thoughts gone, there's no longer any force that can restrain them."
Cheng Xu's heart was also full of fear. Although he had been through many instances, this was the most desperate he had ever felt.
Now, every possibility of clearing the instance was gone.
There was only one outcome for them: dying here.
No matter how powerful someone was, when they knew death was imminent, they could hardly help feeling afraid.
Gradually, the screams began to grow fewer, but the three of them grew even more tense, the fear in their hearts intensifying.
For now, the puppets were only hunting down the residents and ignoring them, but once all the residents were dead, it would be their turn.
Zhao Yuqing suddenly said, "We have to kill all those puppets now, kill everything that can threaten us! We can only survive if we kill them all!"
"But..." Jiang Yue glanced at the puppets and said, "How could we possibly do that with our strength?"
"You can also do nothing and stand here waiting to die."
Despite Zhao Yuqing's blunt words, Jiang Yue didn't argue with her. Indeed, this was all they could do now.
They couldn't just stay here and wait to die.
If they killed all their enemies, they could survive!
Cheng Xu glanced at Zhao Yuqing. Even in these circumstances, she remained calm, while his own performance was worse than this woman's.
He took a deep breath and took out his Demon Blade.
He had made up his mind: no matter how powerful his opponents were, he wouldn't sit and wait for death.
He would draw his sword. He hoped his enemies would see him as an opponent, not a piece of meat on a chopping block.
Zhao Yuqing also took something out of her inventory. It was a dark red crystal the size of a fingernail. On closer inspection, the dark red crystal could be seen writhing constantly.
It seemed to be alive.
The dark red crystal melted like ice in her palm and seeped into her skin.
A surge of power flowed through her body, reaching every part of it. Black things appeared beneath her snow-white skin, making her look very strange.
"I got this in an instance. It's the blood of a powerful demon. Anyone who merges it into their body will gain that demon's favor.
But it has severe side effects, and I didn't want to use it. Now I have no other choice!"
Zhao Yuqing's body changed again. The black things beneath her skin flowed into her bloodstream, causing her intense pain.
Jiang Yue looked at the two of them, and a powerful resolve rose in her heart as well.
Even though she had no supernatural items to deal with the situation before her, she didn't want to give up. At the very least, she had to fight for her life.
All three of them were now utterly determined.
Finally, the screams died away completely. No sound remained around them, only deathly silence.
All those people were dead. The puppets had completed their revenge.
They hadn't guessed wrong. Now it was their turn.
The three of them felt their hearts pounding wildly. Although they had resolved to fight to the death, even now, they still couldn't face life and death calmly.
Indeed, facing life and death calmly was anything but easy.
In the blink of an eye, the puppets surrounded them, leaving them no way out.
A fierce glint flashed in Zhao Yuqing's eyes, and she was the first to charge.
Having gained the favor of that powerful demon, she had obtained supernatural power. She was now in no way inferior to those ability users who had gained supernatural powers.
This was a supernatural power of the demon type. It greatly enhanced her body, granting her unparalleled speed and strength.
Her body shot toward a puppet like a bullet, her conviction unwavering: she would smash that puppet to pieces!
"Boom!"
A tremendous crash rang out.
Just as Zhao Yuqing was about to strike the puppet, its arm suddenly transformed into a massive spiked club and slammed into her.
Zhao Yuqing's body froze for an instant before she was sent flying backward and crashed heavily to the ground.
She struggled to get up and spat out a mouthful of blood. By now, her determined gaze had changed.
Her icy exterior, her confidence, and her firm conviction had all been reduced to dust by that one blow. Fear and despair rose in her heart once more.
This was a power they simply couldn't fight!
A puppet carrying a chainsaw appeared beside her, its roar echoing in her ears.
Zhao Yuqing was on the verge of breaking down. She let out a desperate yet unwilling roar.