Novel11 Chapter 524: Wish Girl 3
Chapter 524: Wish Girl 3
Zhang Rongfang had a dream.
A very strange, bizarre dream.
He dreamt that he fell from the sky and landed on the ground, creating a huge crater.
Everything around was burning, roaring, shattering.
Then the scene shifted, and he became a puppet, living in a small Western-style villa, sleeping inside a clock tower at the top of the villa.
Every hour on the dot, he would push open the door from the wooden chamber below the clock and make a cooing sound.
He thought this life would never change, until one day.
A little girl with black hair and black eyes, dressed in a luxurious silk gown, took him out from the bottom of the clock tower.
"You’re so cute, we look alike."
She held him every night as she slept, and every day she polished him with special oil, maintaining him.
Until one day, the girl’s parents started arguing. They fought fiercely, seemingly over the girl’s matter.
Eventually, the father took a knife and cut the mother down, then, with tears streaming, he walked toward the little girl with the knife.
The girl did not resist; she just held the puppet and smiled at her father.
Thunk.
The first blow landed on her head, leaving a huge gash.
The little girl fell to the ground, her eyes wide open, her trembling hands stuffing the puppet into her head.
Forcing it through the gash in her head.
Even in death, she continued to smile.
The father dropped the knife, crying, and picked up the girl, bringing her to her favorite clock tower, leaning her against it.
Then he gently attached a beautiful blue butterfly hair clip to her blood-soaked long hair, using it to cover the wound, keeping her lovely.
After doing all this, the father plunged the knife into his own neck, kneeling, and soon died.
Whew!
A sudden deep breath.
Zhang Rongfang suddenly opened his eyes; he was still lying on the grass, only the grass around had grown tall, long.
They were like many trees, huge and straight, piercing the sky like needles.
He raised his hand, discovering his arms had turned gray-brown, wooden, with clear seams at the joints.
"What is this!?" His heart jolted, quickly standing upright, examining himself.
The seams were on his stomach, thighs, knees, ankles, toes, all seams, all wooden!
Zhang Rongfang was shocked, rushing forward, through patch after patch of grass.
He soon arrived at the edge of a stream on the grassy field.
At a waterhole filled with clear water, he walked over step by step, using the water’s reflection to see himself.
Reflected in the water was a puppet with slender limbs, a smiling face, eyes, mouth, and nose all drawn in red lines, with disheveled black hair resting on its head like dry, stray grass.
Zhang Rongfang reached out to grab it, and a lot fell to the ground.
"....." Shocked, he gently tapped the skin on his body.
Thud thud thud.
A dull wooden tapping sound reverberated.
No pain, no sensation, truly a puppet.
Zhang Rongfang steadied his mind, recalling the last moment his consciousness blurred, all the changes occurring.
And that absurd, strange dream.
’It seems.... This third trait talent.... should be related to being a puppet...’
He blinked, opening the attribute panel. His gaze fell on the newly appeared line of trait talent.
’Trait Talent:
1. Dark Light Vision.
2. Blood Ancestor.
3. Child’s Wish.’
"Child’s Wish!?" Zhang Rongfang furrowed his brow, carefully inspecting this option.
Generally, when he concentrated on an item, the attributes panel would offer a detailed explanation and notes.
This time was no exception.
Quickly, behind Child’s Wish, a bracket appeared, within which floated rows of small text explanation.
’Child’s Wish: Obtain a puppet avatar, in puppet form, for every child’s wish fulfilled, accumulate and gain a Blue Butterfly to dance around you.
During the twelve-hour rotation time of the Wish Clock, you can use the Blue Butterfly to infinitely substitute death. Each death consumes one Blue Butterfly.
Note: Each child can only receive one Blue Butterfly. The Wish Clock stops normally, but once started, it must complete its cycle. After completing, all previously accumulated Blue Butterflies disappear, requiring re-accumulation.’
"..... Puppet, Blue Butterfly, Wish Clock?"
Looking at this text explanation, Zhang Rongfang suddenly recalled the dream. The connection of the puppet, girl, clock, and blue butterfly.
He furrowed his brow.
This trait talent is undoubtedly a fairly complex ability.
At least compared to his other two trait talents, it is much more complex.
Clearly extending from Wish Girl’s own definitions and abilities.
"Limited Immortality?" He carefully pondered it.
’To avoid death, two conditions must be met.
One, have Blue Butterflies. Two, use within the rotation period of the Wish Clock. But once the Wish Clock starts, it will always complete, then wait for the next cycle to restart.’
’Blue Butterflies gained by fulfilling a child’s wish, using the puppet’s identity. How to fulfill this, is another issue. It must be attempted later.’
’The substitute ability is probably also the girl’s own wish in the dream. Using other children’s wishes to exchange for her own?’
Zhang Rongfang faintly sensed the hidden implication within.
Undoubtedly, this is a very powerful ability.
A child’s wish can sometimes be very large, and sometimes very small and simple, depending on luck.
But once the preliminary preparations are complete, during the cycle of the Wish Bell’s rotation, he can accumulate as many Blue Butterflies as he needs, thus gaining that many chances to escape death.
Indeed, very strong!
And also....
Zhang Rongfang raised his eyes and looked upwards.
In mid-air, countless white mists drifted. That was the natural fog floating in the gorge.
But these originally ordinary mists, in his vision at this moment, faintly revealed blurred human faces, as if gathering and scattering clouds, appearing at times and disappearing at others.
They were crying, they were laughing, they were frustrated, they were angry....
These faces seemed immersed in worlds of their own, unable to extricate themselves.
’In puppet state, even the perspective is different?’
Zhang Rongfang looked at the attribute panel again.
Indeed. Below the first item of trait talent, under dim light vision, another line of descriptive small text appeared.
’Dim Light Vision (Non-Living): Life will instinctively filter out all light harmful to itself, accepting only a minimal visible spectrum. However, non-living things will not.
Embrace the boundless unknown.’
’Does dim light vision continuously change with physical state?’ This thought flashed through Zhang Rongfang’s mind.
At this moment, a completely new, indescribable sense of novelty was overwhelming his heart.
Presented before him was a world entirely different from before.
’The Blood Ancestor is influenced by the Blood God, while the Child’s Wishing Ability is influenced by the Wish Girl.
That is to say... these abilities are likely derived from these gods and deities and evolved from them.
And now, what I’m accessing... could it be the perspective of gods and deities....’
Zhang Rongfang walked slowly to the edge of the stream and looked into it.
Beneath the flowing water, deep down, there vaguely seemed to be a female figure in a white dress with black hair, standing in the water, looking up at him.
Whoosh!!
Suddenly, everything around blurred for a moment.
A brief dizziness flashed through Zhang Rongfang’s mind, and when he came back to his senses, he was standing at the entrance of the Wish Girl Gorge.
His body had also returned to its original human form.
The gorge was still shrouded in mist, but strangely, it seemed to him that this poisonous fog now held a kind of peculiar friendliness.
He felt as if he could sense that this mist would not harm him.
"I somewhat understand now...." Zhang Rongfang thought for a moment, then suddenly sat down cross-legged. Then he quietly remained motionless.
Before long.
In the mist of the gorge, a small figure slowly approached from the grass and rocks.
As the figure walked out of the mist, it turned out to be a small brown wooden puppet, only the size of a palm.
The puppet walked up to Zhang Rongfang and stopped.
Then he reached out, picked it up, and put it into his pocket.
"It’s over."
Zhang Rongfang chuckled.
He could feel that this puppet was merely a vessel; as long as he wished, he could replace the puppet as the body at any time.
And there seemed to be no restriction on the control distance.
That is to say, it’s an additional auxiliary ability, capable of splitting off awareness at any time, attaching it to a puppet, and transmitting messages across distances.
In other words, this new talent, besides the substitute ability akin to worshiping a deity, also had the ability to become a puppet at any moment.
Moreover, the perspective in puppet state clearly possesses numerous exploratory options.
He could entirely use this to explore the special worlds belonging to gods and deities.
"Interesting."
Finally, Zhang Rongfang glanced at the direction where the mist was thickest, chose not to enter but instead turned to head back toward Wushan Prefecture.
*
*
*
In the dimness of night, a thin mist circled the crescent moon, diffusing the moonlight into a gauzy blur.
In King Mu Li’s military camp, within the main tent.
Bursts of laughter wafted out from the tent.
Within the large tent.
The main military commanders, aside from those patrolling, were all gathered here, assembled together.
Sitting in the chief position was King Mu Li, who was currently in high spirits.
He had a dignified appearance, with a majestic demeanor. Though lacking martial skill, he sat beside Spirit General Cosimo without losing any of his imposing presence.
The two kneeled together on equal footing, facing the many commanders inside the tent, accepting their toasts unreservedly, drinking bowl after bowl with gusto.
The prohibition on drinking in the military was not a big deal to them as warriors.
"This time, thanks to Cosimo’s assistance, along with the exquisite craft of Tian Gong, targeting skills, we managed to outsmart Yue Dewen. But speaking of which, he’s aged, and although we were more prepared this time than the last, he didn’t seem to be in as good a state." King Mu Li said with a laugh.
"Even among Spirit Generals, there are differences." Cosimo smiled slightly, raised a gold cup, and sipped the wine.
"Now with the Great Dao Teaching’s Jin Yuyan scattered, and the Sensing Sect naturally disunited, each with their own agenda. Yue Dewen’s great influence has waned, and if he fails to see the crux now, he’ll find it hard to meet a good end in the future."
"Zhenyi is closed off, Western Sect is arrogant, but ironically they are the easiest to deal with because of their heavy interest in profit." He spoke eloquently, composed and at ease.