Volume Six: What She Lost, What I Gained - Chapter 574: Broken Wings

Fingertips landed on that slightly pale yet very beautiful skin, about to slide in through the gap in the white lining.

Not only the person who reached out their hand, but even the people watching from the sidelines began to breathe heavily.

Although the woman was now a corpse, her breathtaking beauty remained undiminished; she was like a life-size, exquisitely crafted doll.

Since she's already dead, she won't resist no matter how you use her to satisfy your lust.

The dangerous thrill of this profanity completely captivated them, so much so that they were a moment late in reacting when Xiao Wu's finger twitched slightly.

Just as that hand was about to touch Xiao Wu's skin--

Several things happened in succession:

Xiao Wu's hand suddenly reached for the holster hanging at her waist.

The gun she hadn't used from the beginning until now—White Night—appeared in her hand.

It was too sudden; the believers didn't react immediately.

Fisher was the first to react.

She became aware of Xiao Wu's actions, but her body couldn't keep up with her mind.

However, there is no need to dodge.

Even if Xiao Wu shoots him in the head, the damage will be distributed among thousands or tens of thousands of people, so it doesn't matter at all.

There is only one thing to do, and that is to command it.

"Don't even think about it!!!!"

Xiao Wu roared, her finger slamming the trigger all the way down! The muzzle flashed, the bullet slicing through the air, passing through the encirclement of several believers, and heading straight for Fisher—

"Chirp chirp chirp!?"

--The parrot, Dastan!

"No!!!!!!!!!"

This was the first time Fisher had shown such intense emotional turmoil. He even reflexively tried to shield it from the bullet with his hand—though his hand was no match for the bullet's speed—and a warm stream of blood splattered across Fisher's cheek. It was Dastan's blood.

Xiao Wu's shot never missed its target; the bullet pierced the parrot's chest cavity without missing a beat. Just as it was about to take flight, it flapped its wings and fell to the ground. Its emerald green feathers were stained red with blood, and its dark eyes lost their luster, making it look extremely pitiful.

"No--no no no no no no no no! Dastan... you... you bastard, how dare you!?"

"Yes, of course I dare! I'm not so soft-hearted as to pity an animal!!"

Xiao Wu leaped into the air, her swift hand strike easily cleaving the bones of several believers, sending them flying to the side, their fates unknown. She was certain that the ability to concentrate the damage of countless people onto one person—the "Savior"—was no longer effective. Fisher had lost the means to directly Sin Annihilation her, and more importantly, the fleshy fragment in her ear told her that Neumann had reduced the concentration of toxins in two million people to the maximum possible level, so she no longer needed to worry about anything!

"When... did you find out...?"

Fisher picked up Dastan's body, his face pale and his hands trembling. He had no idea that Xiao Wu do something like this so suddenly.

"It's probably just intuition..." Xiao Wu shrugged. "At first, I just noticed a detail: it seems like every time I'm about to attack, or when it sees me about to attack you, your parrot flies away on its own... And for someone as cautious as you, there's so much interaction between you and your bird during battle, isn't there? You're preening its feathers and feeding it. At first, I thought you were just trying to show off your 'effortlessness,' but gradually I started to feel something was off..."

"..."

"In the end, if you value this 'old friend' so much, why bring it to the battlefield? You don't want it to get hurt, and you want to maintain a good relationship with it... It's as if it's not just a pet, but also a 'combat support tool'."

"..."

"So!" Xiao Wu pointed at Dastan's corpse, a slight smile playing on her lips, "'Beautiful Mind' and 'Savior' are not both your abilities. Your only real ability is 'Beautiful Mind,' while 'Savior' is the special ability of your bird!"

Although they are animals, not human, they are still superhumans.

This is an extremely rare case; most people would even consider it impossible.

But Xiao Wu doesn't think that way. She herself is Oni, with half the blood of the strongest Ghost Clan. Although there are few demons with the Ghost Clan, they do exist. Xiao Wu herself and the two Ghost Clan sisters from that car team were both superpowered.

The Ghost Clan is classified as a race of demonic beasts, and demonic beasts are beasts, animals. If demonic beasts can possess supernatural abilities, then why can't ordinary animals?

Although this is extremely rare, one animal with supernatural abilities might not be discovered even once every few centuries.

"Tsk... Just... just based on this? Based on these utterly inconclusive clues, you can be so sure?" Fisher gritted his teeth.

"It's impossible to be sure, but there's no harm in trying. At most, we'll be condemned by some sentimental bird lovers. Pshaw, once you strip away that beautiful veneer, it's nothing more than a murder weapon aiding and abetting evil, utterly unworthy of sympathy."

"But why are you completely unharmed? The trauma of 3 billion suicides concentrated on you—even Gustav couldn't bear it!"

"What's it to you? Anyway, I'm fine. I suppressed my vital signs to the limit and pretended to be dead to lower your guard."

"Hateful..."

Fisher's hands trembled uncontrollably. He never imagined that his most valuable weapon, which he considered his only friend, would fall into the hands of this woman! If it weren't for his overly rational mind preventing him from doing something foolish, he would have pounced on Xiao Wu and fought her to the death.

"No... wait!"

Fisher seemed to remember something, and suddenly a cold smile appeared on his face.

"Dastan is dead... which means his powers have been deactivated... You're no longer protecting two million civilians from the poison! They're all dead! They all died because of you!"

That's right, that's exactly it, Urahara Sakura Dance. You're too kind. The fact that you "failed to save two million lives you could have saved with your own instincts" is enough to make you—

"Oh, it doesn't matter."

"Right—Huh!? Wait, what did you say?"

"I said, it doesn't matter! If it can kill you, anything is worth it!"

Moreover, thanks to Neumann's intervention, those two million people are still alive. Although they will certainly suffer from physical discomfort due to the greatly diluted toxins, this is already the best possible outcome.

"You... you... you... you..."

"What's wrong? Weren't you just bragging about your intelligence? Now you're helpless as reality deviates from your plans?"

As Xiao Wu spoke, she walked towards Fisher, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

Xiao Wu was now completely unrestrained.

Although the fact that she "almost entirely relied on the help of others" made her a little unhappy, the feeling of having someone to assist her was indeed great. Since Neumann could remotely reduce the damage she received and simultaneously adjust the toxin concentration in the bodies of two million people, reducing the damage to innocent civilians during Xiao Wu's attack would be a piece of cake, right?

(Hey, Xiao Wu?)

The piece of flesh stuffed in his ear suddenly emitted the sound of Sin Annihilation.

(What's wrong, Sin Annihilation? You'd better not bother me yet, I'll get this thing right away--)

(This might be a bit bad... Miss Neumann seems to have used some kind of forbidden skill to help Ye, and now... she's in terrible shape.)

(What!?)

(That means, sorry Xiao Wu, she can't help right now--ahhh!)

(Sin Annihilation? Sin Annihilation?)

A lot of noise came from the other end, and then the communication was unilaterally cut off.

It seems that the Sin Annihilation side has run into trouble.

Xiao Wu's lips twitched violently.

Although she almost blurted out a curse, she managed to hold back and try to keep her expression unchanged so that Fisher could see that something was wrong.

(Damn it... I don't know how she did it, but... I'm definitely in a disadvantageous position now!)

Fisher was sweating profusely. He glanced at Trister, but Trister was also completely bewildered.

(This guy is useless at times like this!)

Xiao Wu is closing in step by step, but she has lost Dastan and has no means of direct attack.

Although he still possesses his special ability—the capacity to distribute the damage he receives evenly—it is ultimately just passive defense.

(More importantly... something's wrong with her! The previous 3 billion suicide attempts should have been enough to kill her, but they didn't work! And she even said she doesn't care about the lives of those two million people anymore...)

At first, it seemed like a bluff, but Xiao Wu no longer showed any signs of poisoning. Could it be that the poison affecting two million people had been neutralized? How did she manage that?

(Could it be Ye? Theoretically, it's possible to transfuse blood into everyone's bodies to expel the poison, but has her strength recovered to that level yet? In any case, for now—hmm?)

Xiao Wu's lips twitched slightly.

Fisher, of course, didn't overlook this detail.

(Was Urushibara flustered just now? Why?)

"..."

Fisher was very observant, while Xiao Wu was not good at pretending. He could tell at a glance that Xiao Wu was putting on a brave face, even though she had looked confident just seconds before.

(She seems to be having second thoughts again... She just said she didn't care about civilian casualties, probably because she thought civilians wouldn't be hurt by the damage sharing mechanism, so she stopped worrying. Now she's starting to panic again... Does that mean she still doesn't have a way to break the damage sharing mechanism?)

Fisher seemed to see a glimmer of hope.

The situation is not entirely unfavorable to our side.

There is still a glimmer of hope.

Since she still cares about "Beautiful Mind", she can't immediately pounce on him and use a restraint technique that "won't hurt him" to subdue him. If she uses a life as a threat, she can still escape smoothly.

As for Trister, let him fend for himself.

The problem is, how can one threaten her? "If you don't let me go, I'll kill all the citizens"? But the bombs planted in the city have already been used up when dealing with Xiao Wu, and the poison is gone too. Besides that, what other means can directly harm the citizens' lives to threaten Xiao Wu?

(... Am I all alone now?)

Yes, it's possible! Fisher decides how many people the damage is distributed among; he can distribute the damage to just one person! If he's ruthless enough to inflict fatal damage on himself, and the innocent person sharing his damage is weak, then they will also be seriously injured or even die!

To put it bluntly, it's about taking someone hostage... It sounds easy, but where do you find one? While you could tell Xiao Wu that you've "reduced your target to just one person," if the hostage isn't in front of Xiao Wu, your threat will lose at least half its effectiveness...

Just then...

An outsider appeared.

Is she a resident from the suburbs? It was an old woman who looked so frail she could collapse at the slightest touch. She appeared shakily from the street corner, probably having heard the noise while out for an evening walk, so she came to check it out.

(Okay! She's the one!)

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Xiao Wu: What good are you anyway!

Fisher: Bullshit, I... wait, it really is a bird?