Beside the campfire, Li Chen stood with a Hand Crossbow a little over three meters from the wooden crates, his expression shifting uncertainly.
Zuo Hao's skill as a Puppet Master really is formidable. I can barely distinguish the real from the fake with my naked eyes. I can only put my hopes in instinct!
A Flying Disc he had deployed earlier hovered silently at the top of a tree, its Eye Crystal aimed at the clearing, but everything it detected registered as a living being.
He used his divine sense to communicate with the Illusory Painting, trying to contact Old Hou's prosthetic right arm, but he still could not pinpoint its location.
This was because special Dao Patterns had been inscribed on the wooden crates. They formed a simple restriction that could circulate Heaven and Earth vital energy to create a barrier, causing slight interference with divine sense and magic power. They also imitated the aura of living creatures, affecting an enemy's judgment.
In an actual fight, a little probing would have broken it, and even moving closer for a careful look would have revealed clues. But bound by the rules, Li Chen could do nothing.
The one in the middle looks remarkably like Old Hou in expression and bearing, but there are still flaws around the brows. It must be a dummy.
After pondering for a long time, Li Chen finally made up his mind. He raised his hand and shot a bolt through its head.
Sure enough, the wood split open. The entire head was knocked off and rolled across the ground.
"My turn." Zuo Hao looked somewhat displeased, but with so many decoys lined up there, having one or two exposed was hardly surprising. He raised his Hand Crossbow and took aim again.
The contest went on for another two rounds. Each of them successfully eliminated two decoys, and they remained tied.
But now, only one real person and one dummy remained on each side. The final choice had arrived.
After the successive eliminations, those left were the most convincing of all. Neither Li Chen nor Zuo Hao had been confident enough to reach a conclusion about them during the earlier choices, or they would not have left them until now.
Even if I guess at random, there's a fifty-fifty chance of getting it wrong. And that half represents a life.
Li Chen thought silently, unable to help looking toward Zuo Hao.
As though sensing his gaze, Zuo Hao snorted. "At this point, even a random choice gives me a fifty-fifty chance of picking correctly. But as a Skin-Painter, if I can't work out the reason, I'd rather concede than choose!"
"Oh?" Li Chen suddenly laughed. "I think this is precisely when you should trust your instincts!"
"Instincts?" Zuo Hao paused. "There's some sense in that. As a Skin-Painter, after encountering enough real people and decoys, practice naturally makes perfect, giving rise to an instinct for such things. But at your age, I don't believe you've reached the point where instinct can replace sensory judgment."
Li Chen neither agreed nor disagreed. "Perhaps. But in the end, a man still has to make a choice."
"You're right," Zuo Hao said. "And I've already made mine."
With that, he raised his hand to shoot at the figure before him.
"Wait!" Li Chen suddenly called out, stopping him.
"What?" Zuo Hao asked.
A strange look flickered across Li Chen's face as he asked softly, "Won't you take another careful look? That's a human life, after all. You should be cautious."
Zuo Hao smiled confidently. "Are you trying to mystify me? I'll tell you plainly. Although you've raised Zuo Shan's nose bridge with something and greatly altered the contours of his face, details such as his facial proportions and the distance between his eyes won't change because of that!"
With nothing but his naked eyes and his experience observing all sorts of people and capturing their appearances, he had made a judgment akin to facial recognition.
In his view, even though Li Chen had drastically altered Zuo Shan's outward appearance, those fundamental features remained difficult to change.
Having said that, he ignored Li Chen and fired his bolt.
But a moment later, Zuo Hao discovered to his astonishment that blood was flowing from the spot where the bolt had struck the head.
"I was wrong?" Zuo Hao exclaimed in shock.
Li Chen looked forlorn and sighed. "How could I not know the shortcomings of mundane techniques? I'd already used the Skin-Painting Art to lay a visual deception over him and mislead your judgment!"
Li Chen had covered Zuo Shan in garish makeup not out of some perverse amusement, but to plant a powerful suggestion: that these crude methods were all he had used.
In truth, however, Li Chen's real strength remained the Secret Art of Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting. By using techniques that readily created visual distortions, he had guided Zuo Hao into a mistaken judgment, and now it had indeed succeeded.
After making three correct choices in succession, Zuo Hao had let his guard down and fallen into the trap, shooting the real Zuo Shan dead with a single bolt.
Hearing Li Chen's explanation, Zuo Hao was even more shocked. "A visual deception! How could this happen? How could this happen...?"
Desperate to learn why he had failed, he actually jumped down from his Flying Chair and started forward to take a look.
Li Chen suddenly shouted, "You An!"
At the same time, mechanisms clicked inside all five wooden crates. More than ten sharp bolts burst through their sides in a flurry, launching a vicious attack on Zuo Hao!
The Sword Slave reacted swiftly, immediately drawing a sword to intercept the bolts. But You An charged forward a step ahead, attacking with his fists like a tiger pouncing on its prey.
"Demon Dragon Tyrant Fist! Cloud-Dispersing!"
Boom!
The Sword Slave's slender body was swept away like willow fluff in a raging wind and blasted backward.
Li Chen had already warned You An: if he struck at all, he had to move like thunder, ideally ending the fight in an instant.
Otherwise, their side's inferior strength would leave them in an extremely dangerous position.
Fortunately, the visual deception had successfully distracted Zuo Hao, even luring him down from his Mechanism Device, the Flying Chair.
The Sword Slave was also so eager to save the young master that, despite noticing You An's attack, the Sword Slave refused to change moves.
But just then, silvery-white gang qi suddenly sprang up around Zuo Hao. Of the dozen or so bolts fired by the mechanical crossbows, more than half were knocked down by the Sword Qi unleashed by the Sword Slave, while the remaining few all struck the gang qi.
After a series of metallic clinks and clangs, Zuo Hao remained completely unharmed. He merely stood rooted to the spot, looking somewhat dazed.
"Damn it, he actually has a Body-Protection Artifact!"
Li Chen leaped forward, sweeping a hand through his Storage Bag. A Hunting Knife was already in his grip.
He was no expert at close combat, but at this moment, he had no way to retreat. When foes met on a narrow path, the brave would prevail!
"Fuck you!"
Li Chen brought his knife down in a savage slash across Zuo Hao's chest!
That strike alone showed how badly he had blundered. Given such a perfect opening, any other skilled fighter would already have cut off Zuo Hao's head.
But Zuo Hao was clearly no brave, battle-hardened warrior either. He immediately toppled backward, clutching his chest as he fell to the ground.
In the face of danger, this young master, who very likely came from an extraordinary background, performed no better than any nameless underling. None of his trump cards or abilities had a chance to come into play.
Without hesitation, Li Chen snatched the crossbow from his hand, aimed at his chest, and pulled the trigger repeatedly.
Thud, thud, thud!
After three consecutive shots, Zuo Hao died on the spot, his eyes wide and his face frozen in shock and disbelief.