Bald, but Stronger!

Feng Wu looked around and more or less identified the Medicine Garden, Weapon Rack, and so on. All the places nearby that held valuable items were close to the Puppets.

They were definitely already within the alert range of those eleven Puppets.

"Looks like there's no way to take the treasures through some clever trick." Feng Wu looked around. If he retreated now, at most he could pry down a few dozen Night-Luminescent Pearls from these safe areas where he stood.

As for those high-grade medicinal herbs, they had to be picked using special methods. He could not use Absorption Palm to rip them out by the roots.

The treasure chests, shelves, and such in the distance were all protected by barriers and firmly bolted to the ground. There was even less chance of taking them through some trick.

A few dozen Night-Luminescent Pearls were worth quite a bit and could probably sell for two hundred thousand Gold Coins. But compared to the other items, that was just scraps off a mosquito's leg!

After all, a single high-grade medicinal herb could sell for ten thousand, even a hundred thousand Gold Coins!

"Let's test it first. If I leave just like this, entering a treasure mountain only to return empty-handed, no one would be willing to accept that." Feng Wu frowned deeply. These eleven Puppets really were a little troublesome!

After observing for a while, Feng Wu found a fairly good angle and cautiously stepped forward, probing the precise boundaries of the Puppets' alert range.

To gain anything, accurate intelligence was essential. Before this, Feng Wu could only roughly guess their warning range. Now, he had to test it himself.

"Creak—screech!" Just as Feng Wu inched forward and entered within thirty meters of the Puppets, one of them finally moved!

A piercing sound rang out, like ancient machinery that had been dormant for decades or even a century being restarted. Rusted gears, neither replaced nor lubricated, ground against each other as they turned, producing a noise as unbearable as nails scraping a blackboard. The last Puppet on the right moved!

"Good, only one Puppet moved!" Feng Wu let out a long breath. If all eleven Puppets had been linked by their alert systems, he would have turned around and run without a second word!

He could barely handle one or two Puppets with the strength of a first-tier Dou Zhe. But if all eleven came at once, even a Dou Shi would have to consider how best to escape.

The Puppet creaked and clattered, sounding as though it were about to fall apart.

Yet its movements were astonishingly fast!

Though rust and age made its movements somewhat stiff, and it occasionally jammed and stuttered, causing it to move unsteadily.

It was still built on the foundation of a Tier 3 Puppet! And its entire body was metal, giving its fists and kicks terrifying strength!

Bang! Feng Wu stopped the Puppet with a strike, but he himself was forced back five steps!

Fortunately, Puppets could not use Dou Qi or Dou Skills. Otherwise, Feng Wu would definitely have suffered badly!

"This won't work!" Feng Wu looked at the reddened edge of his palm blade. Not only was he weaker than the Puppet, but his Mountain Splitting Palm had not even left a white mark on its surface!

He could not break its defense at all!

"This damn thing definitely has the power of a first-tier limit, peak Dou Zhe!" Feng Wu used Earth Spring Impact, blasting the Puppet away as he barely dodged its tough, sharp claws.

With all that rust on them, one scratch would definitely give him tetanus!

Feng Wu's physical constitution had already surpassed that of ordinary people after Perfect Foundation Establishment. Yet even paired with a Dou Skill, he was still at a disadvantage!

It was unbelievable!

"Looks like I'll have to bring out everything I've got. Flame Fire Body!" Feng Wu's Dou Qi circulation instantly accelerated!

From his dantian outward, it changed from circulation into eruption, violently spreading through every channel in his meridians and reaching every corner of his body!

With a whoosh, all of Feng Wu's clothes turned to ash. Peach-blossom-colored flames engulfed his entire body, transforming him into a man of fire!

At the same time, the traces of every meridian became clearly visible across Feng Wu's body, shining even brighter than the flames, as though scorching magma flowed beneath his skin!

The explosive sense of power was visible at a glance!

Boom—! This time, the metal Puppet took a step back!

"I really didn't want to use this move!" Feng Wu raised a hand and touched the smooth top of his head, his face full of refusal!

Yes, Feng Wu had grown stronger, but he had also gone bald!

Sacrifice his hair and eyebrows in exchange for combat strength!

That was the price of this Dou Skill. Compared to that, its rapid Dou Qi consumption was nothing!

And that was not even the most terrifying part. Feng Wu suddenly sensed something and reached downward...

"Fuck! My cock!"

Feng Wu's face filled with grief and fury. He transformed that grief and fury into strength, launching a savage assault on the Puppet!

For a time, Feng Wu actually beat the Puppet back step by step!

He still had no way to damage the material of the Tier 3 Puppet. But how could Feng Wu care about that right now?

Boom, crack! Suddenly, a strange sound rang out. The metal Puppet seemed to have frozen at 460, abruptly losing power and getting sent flying by Feng Wu's punch, thrown five meters away!

It lay on the ground five meters away, then only staggeringly climbed back to its feet half a breath later, turning around to attack Feng Wu again.

But clearly, the Puppet's stuttering movements had become even more severe.

It felt like before Feng Wu had transmigrated, when he played a game called Glory of the Dead and the game would lag whenever a team fight began.

Its strength and speed had also clearly dropped by a level.

"Something's strange! What's wrong?" Though Feng Wu was grief-stricken and furious, he retained his most basic rationality.

He noticed the changes in the Puppet immediately. Where was the problem?

During the fight, Feng Wu carefully observed the changes in the Puppet.

Suddenly, a circular component on the Puppet's chest caught Feng Wu's attention. He seemed to have found the key to breaking the situation!

That circular component resembled a raised cover fastened over the Puppet's left chest.

In Feng Wu's memory, the components on this Puppet had been very old, but they should all have fit tightly together, with nothing out of place.

Yet now, the round plate on the Puppet's chest was not only bulging outward by a large amount, but it also kept wobbling in and out, as though it were about to fall off at any moment.

Only a tiny portion around its edge remained connected to the Puppet's body, keeping the cover from falling away.

As the cover swayed with the Puppet's movements and shook from Feng Wu's attacks, the Puppet's stuttering became more severe!

And the rhythm of its stuttering seemed very similar to the frequency at which the cover swayed!

Moreover, as the cover protruded and shook, Dou Qi energy faintly leaked out through the occasional gaps!

There was definitely something wrong here!

Feng Wu decisively accelerated his barrage of punches, forcibly spreading the Puppet's metal arms apart and leaving its center wide open. Then he viciously struck at that opening with Mountain Splitting Palm!

Boom—! That was it. His palm blade struck the edge of the protruding cover, and it was hollow inside!

An even denser stream of Dou Qi spilled from the gap!

That was it, right here!

The Puppet had briefly crashed just then!

By now, Feng Wu had roughly guessed what lay beneath the cover—an energy source!

Or rather, a "battery"!