Scarlet

In the corridor, the soldiers raised their carbines, aimed ahead, and advanced in perfect formation. They showed not the slightest hesitation or uncertainty, and they had only one target.

Just as the soldiers were about to reach the door to the room, Li Wei's voice rang out.

"Now! Do it!"

Before his words had faded, the wall beside the soldiers burst open!

Then...

"Haaaaaaaah!!"

Katie charged through the opening with a huge bookcase raised in her arms. With a shout, she hurled it straight at the soldiers!

Thud!

The sturdy bookcase proved its quality at that moment, slamming into the soldiers and knocking them to the floor. At the same time, Henry and Anthony rushed out through the doorway, each tossing a grenade into the gap beneath the bookcase.

Li Wei also raised his gun and pulled the trigger.

Bang! Bang!

Under Li Wei's control, the Hellfire bullets passed through the gaps in the bookcase and struck the two grenades. A brilliant burst of flame erupted before everyone's eyes, spreading in moments and engulfing every soldier pinned beneath the bookcase.

"...Whew..."

Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief. Katie patted her chest, then looked at Li Wei.

"Just what I'd expect from you, Mr. Detective! You could pinpoint their positions just by listening to their footsteps!"

"It's all right. Comes in handy."

Li Wei chuckled. Of course he couldn't locate people by sound, but he could cheat. With [Soul Sight], he could effectively turn on a wallhack and see the figures on the other side-and they were red.

Henry silently watched the soldiers engulfed in flames. Even now, they kept waving their arms like robots, trying to get up and fight. Only after a while did he turn to Li Wei.

"Will those flames burn them all to ash?"

"Well... I'm not really sure..."

Faced with Henry's question, Li Wei could only shake his head. He knew the incendiary rounds would definitely burn them to death, but reducing them to nothing but ash was another matter. During their earlier tests, Mr. Benjamin had only told him that these things could burn enemies to charcoal. Completely burning them to ash... probably only the fireball spells in games could manage that.

Henry stared at Li Wei, silent for a moment.

"Find whoever did all this. I'll make him pay."

"I'll do my best, provided we can get out of here alive first."

"Then I'll take care of Miss Elizabeth."

Anthony walked over to the dollified Elizabeth and hoisted her onto his shoulder. They couldn't leave her here alone, after all. Who knew whether their enemy would turn Elizabeth into a doll and set her against them when they fought their way back?

Anthony's abilities were practically useless here anyway, so he could handle lookout duty and cheer them on.

"Let's go, then."

Fortunately, once the soldiers were eliminated, no one else blocked their path, and the three of them soon returned to the earlier room. The fat boy was still sitting there, with the two maids standing beside him. When he saw Li Wei and the others return, he let out a giggle.

"Well? Did you have fun with those dolls?"

"You goddamn little bastard!!"

For Henry, who was already beside himself with rage, the boy's words were fuel on the fire. He angrily tightened his grip on his axe and strode toward the boy. Although the boy looked barely ten years old, Henry saw only a cruel, terrifying demon. He wanted nothing more than to raise his axe and hack the damned demon to pieces to avenge his men!

And he did exactly what he intended!

Henry gripped his axe, raised it high, and swung down hard!

"What are you doing!?"

Li Wei jumped in fright as the blade brushed past his head. Fortunately, he had reacted quickly and ducked into the shadows. Otherwise, that blow would have split his head in two!

"I-I don't know-"

Henry sounded utterly startled and bewildered.

"I wasn't trying to..."

Yet his body did something entirely different from what he said. He had already raised his axe again and swung it at Li Wei, who could only hastily dodge, narrowly escaping Henry's attack once more.

"Wait, Mr. Henry! What are you doing!"

Katie finally reacted and hurried forward to stop Henry. But as she rushed over, her body suddenly spun like a ballerina's, and she threw a punch at Li Wei.

Although Li Wei was prepared, the power of Katie's punch still exceeded his expectations. When her little fist struck him, he felt as though a sports car doing seventy miles an hour had hit him head-on. The next instant, a violent collision and shock came from behind him, jolting him so hard he nearly coughed up his organs.

Li Wei coughed, feeling a dull ache in his arm. His [Diagnosis] indicated that the left arm he had used to block Katie's punch had probably suffered a fractured bone...

Holy shit, those monsters really aren't human. Is that the kind of strength a person can block? Could this young lady actually be part troll?

Although Li Wei had seen Katie send people flying more than once, this was his first personal taste of the young lady's strength. He was starting to wonder who was really cheating here. Why did her combat power seem even more ridiculous than his? How could she do this much barehanded?

Of course, Li Wei's own lack of strength was part of the problem. An attribute score of 50 was the standard for an ordinary person, and his strength was ten points below that. If Katie's strength were converted into a number, it might well exceed 90.

With Li Wei's constitution and strength, he was lucky Katie's punch hadn't landed a critical hit.

"I-I'm so sorry! Mr. Detective! Are you all right!"

Katie looked completely panicked, yet she hadn't slowed her charge toward Li Wei at all. Seeing trouble coming, he immediately activated [Shadow Movement]. The next moment, he vanished into the shadows as though swallowed by a bottomless swamp. Almost simultaneously, Katie barreled over like an out-of-control dump truck, smashing the cabinet against the wall and the dolls inside it to pieces.

What the hell is going on?

Li Wei stepped out of a shadow on the other side and activated [Soul Sight]. Dazzling red light once again filled his vision.

Everything seemed the same as before, but Li Wei keenly noticed something different about Katie's and Henry's souls this time.

In [Soul Sight], living souls were white and the dead were black. Inorganic objects were also black, while organic things such as plants were white.

Now, as Li Wei watched, Katie's and Henry's souls remained white, but bright scarlet spots had appeared on their heads, wrists, joints, and other places.

What the hell are those?

Li Wei concentrated again, and the world before his eyes gradually grew clearer-as though a fogged-up car window were slowly clearing.

Then Li Wei saw them.

Scarlet strands, like threads, were wrapped around the two souls.

Is that why they're being controlled? But why isn't it controlling me?

As Li Wei puzzled over this, he suddenly saw a red thread descend from above and wind around his arm. Just then, the thread shuddered violently, released him, and dangled to one side.

Could that be [Occult Resistance]?

Li Wei figured that was the biggest difference between him and Katie's group right now. Clearly, this trick of manipulating other people's souls had to be some kind of occult power, and his [Occult Resistance] had blocked it.

Wait, that thread came down from above. That means...

Li Wei raised his head and looked toward the ceiling. Then he froze.

Through [Soul Sight], Li Wei finally discovered that this room had no ceiling at all. It was like a tiny toy box, and outside that box, an enormous doll was watching them with a grin. Its hands were raised high, countless red threads extending from its fingertips and connecting to everything in the room!

The sight left Li Wei utterly stunned.

How am I supposed to fight that?

To be fair, Li Wei had considered plenty of ways to fight the boss before this, but the scene before him was still beyond anything he had expected.

A gigantic doll controlling everything here?

What the hell is this thing? I'm not some bald guy with twin blades... How am I supposed to fight it?

Before Li Wei could think of a solution, Henry and Katie lunged at him again, forcing him to turn off [Soul Sight] and use [Shadow Movement] to dodge their attacks once more. He couldn't keep this standoff going. If that thing discovered it couldn't control him, it might make Henry and Katie kill each other instead.

Well, in Li Wei's opinion, Henry getting killed by Katie was the more likely outcome.

Wait...

As Li Wei dodged their attacks yet again, his eyes caught sight of his fluttering sleeve. His face lit up.

That red thread had tried to bind his arm earlier, but it had been repelled when it landed on him. If Li Wei remembered correctly, it hadn't even touched his body.

Does that mean not only I, but everything I'm carrying, has [Occult Resistance] too?

If that's the case...

Li Wei gritted his teeth.

Let's give it a try!

"Katie, Henry, tell me what you're about to do!"

Although their bodies were being controlled, their minds were still their own. Katie and Henry were currently complaining to each other about why the other wouldn't stand in front of them. Li Wei's words startled them both, but by then they had already attacked again, charging toward him.

"Watch out, Mr. Detective! I'm throwing a straight right!"

"Mr. Li Wei, I'm going to swing at your head from the left!"

Both were skilled fighters, so even with their bodies under someone else's control, they could predict their next moves from their own muscles.

All right, let's try it.

Li Wei narrowed his eyes as he watched the two charge at him.

[Death's Eye]!

Time around him instantly slowed, and their movements became incredibly sluggish. Li Wei darted forward, stepped on Katie's outstretched fist, and leaped again, dodging Henry's swinging axe and planting a foot on his broad shoulder. At the same time, Li Wei swiftly activated his second skill-[Soul Sight]!

The ceiling before him vanished instantly, replaced by a thin scarlet mist and the shadow behind it. Li Wei gritted his teeth and concentrated, staring hard at the mist. Then he saw it!

The enormous doll behind the red mist!

Whether this works... comes down to this!

Li Wei had already shot past where the ceiling had been. At that moment, he saw the doll turn its head toward him. A trace of astonishment appeared on its perpetually grinning face-as though a child had watched a character from a computer suddenly pass through the screen into reality.

At the same time, Li Wei raised his gun and pulled the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang-!

He fired every remaining bullet in one burst. They whistled through the air and struck the doll squarely in the face!

Then the doll opened its mouth and let out a bloodcurdling scream!