Unexpected Joy

Moke struggled to his feet from the ground, a dull ache in his chest making him want to vomit blood.

Protected by his subdermal armor, he should have only broken two bones. The good news was that this level of injury wouldn't stop him from fighting. The bad news was that the subdermal armor could probably only take one more hit like that.

The suffocating pain also surged at this moment. Moke had to reach out and, like taking off a sweater, pull the Balloon Puppet off his body. Only then did he let out a "wow" and spray a mouthful of blood onto the ground in front of him, breathing in the fresh air in large gulps.

Within that half-minute, Moke had first stripped off his upper body clothes, then deflated the Balloon Puppet and folded its lower half inside. Relying on the puppet's excellent extensibility, he had "slipped" the puppet's upper half onto himself.

It had to be said, Moke had a moment of quick wit, managing to devise such a method in mere seconds and successfully trick Lude.

It was a pity that this puppet was no longer usable.

To make Lude fall for it, Moke had taken six bullets squarely. His body might be fine, but the balloon on him now had twelve bullet holes and had completely deflated.

After taking that punch, Moke clearly realized he couldn't beat Lude.

All his alchemical prosthetics felt as if they didn't exist. The transplanted Lightning Falcon Nerve could barely keep up with Lude's movements. The Tendon Steel Cables and reinforced muscles, which he was so proud of for their strength, now seemed so weak. The tough subdermal armor was almost pierced by a single punch.

It was clear that even though the Vessel, from its initial design concept, focused on carrying capacity and stability rather than combat power, the opponent's manufacturing technology was simply too good. Even areas it wasn't specialized in were still incredibly powerful.

Moke immediately realized his only chance of winning was the third nail in his hand.

The extremely cumbersome casting process of the Voodoo Kingdom was exchanged for unparalleled destructive power. Whether it was an elephant or a mouse, a mortal or a spellcaster, or even a massive Dragon Beast, as long as three nails were driven into them, they would instantly suffer severe injuries that would incapacitate them.

"There are three of Teacher's puppets left," Moke thought to himself.

Three puppets meant the support of three gunmen. Considering Lude's poor combat skills, Moke took a deep breath—it could work. As long as he had Teacher's Secret Art to assist him, it would definitely work!

With that thought, he leaned against the wall and walked out of the kitchen, ready for a big fight.

However, as soon as he returned to the front hall, he found only a group of diners huddled on the ground with their heads in their hands, and Lude's figure had already vanished.

What was going on?!

Moke immediately panicked.

Just then, another window was suddenly shattered, and a thumb-sized smoke bomb rolled in through the opening. A faint blue mist instantly filled the entire first floor of the restaurant.

"What's happening, what's happening?"

Moke frantically looked around, only to see the mortals beside him collapsing one after another after inhaling the faint blue mist. He hurriedly covered his nose and mouth. Just then, his back was suddenly slapped hard.

Moke shivered and immediately shot out with a "whoosh," landing five steps away before turning back, pointing the nail menacingly at the person behind him. Only after seeing the face of the person behind him did he slightly relax.

--It was one of Teacher's remaining four balloon people, shaped like a little girl.

"Teacher, what's going on?" Moke hurriedly covered his nose and mouth with a damp cloth.

"It's a smoke bomb."

The little girl frowned, "To be precise, it's a special smoke bomb used by the Obsidian Hall. How much supplies has that damned Aleppo funded the enemy with!"

"Smoke bomb..." Moke frowned, covering his nose and mouth, "Teacher, smoke bombs don't make people fall asleep!"

However, this time, his teacher did not answer him promptly.

Moke blinked slightly and turned to look at the puppet, "Teacher, what's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

"No." The puppet glanced at the fallen crowd around them, "I just realized, his smoke bomb wasn't aimed at you."

"What... Oh no, it was aimed at you!"

Moke immediately turned around, "Teacher, hide among the crowd, don't show your head. I'll go back and protect you now!"

But the puppet just shook its head, "No need..."

A bad premonition suddenly struck Moke's heart. His pupils contracted to the size of pinpricks along with his cold sweat, "Teacher, what... what do you mean..."

"I mean," the puppet paused before continuing, "you'll probably have to deal with him alone."

Looking at the tall figure standing with his hands behind his back, Old Matos smiled bitterly.

He pulled the needle from his neck, twisted it slightly, and then drew the Iron Sparrow pistol from his waist. "So, your actions targeting Moke earlier were actually a smoke bomb to deal with me?"

"When my attention was focused on Moke, you used a smoke bomb injected with Black Tide Society's anesthetic, also because you deduced I would definitely have an antidote for that anesthetic?"

Lude shook his head slightly at this, gazing at the old man before him. "I'm also very surprised that you were hiding in this restaurant. I initially just wanted to screen out the inflatable puppets that don't need to breathe."

"I didn't expect to screen you out directly—what should I call you?"

"Matos."

The old man replied softly, then drew the Iron Sparrow revolver from his waist and pointed it at Lude.

Lude paid no attention to the muzzle of the old man's gun. He was just curious, "Mr. Matos, I'm curious. You could have simply not injected the antidote just now and been taken down by me. That way, I wouldn't have been able to screen you out from the crowd."

"After all, even if I knew you were in this restaurant through the state of those inflatable puppets."

"But I couldn't kill everyone in the restaurant. That way, after I dealt with your companion, you could have blended in with the crowd and quietly left to report my whereabouts to Don Juan."

"So I'm curious, why didn't you choose to do that?"

"..." Matos was silent for a moment, then spoke, "Because if I did that, my disciple Moke would die at your hands. You're not the type to leave your opponents alive, are you."

"No," Lude replied crisply, "but your staying here won't change that fact."

"I had to try."

Old Matos smiled and cocked the hammer of his pistol. "Perhaps I could leave you with a fatal wound at a critical moment. Who knows about such things."

"Moreover, even in the worst-case scenario, it would allow me to avoid the tragedy of an elder outliving his child, wouldn't it?"

"...I respect your choice." Lude's gaze carried a hint of respect.