*Thud.*

Something heavy landed on the ground.

Bai Youwei’s heart lurched. Her eyes snapped to the outside, and she forgot all about arguing with Shen Fei.

Zhao Mingdeng had been thrown to the ground. His face was deathly pale; he couldn’t cry out, couldn’t stand. His body trembled as he dragged himself forward, leaving a trail of vivid red wherever he went.

But it wasn’t blood.

It was a red, gelatinous substance that poured ceaselessly from his body — and from his mouth.

— BOOM!

Another tremendous crash.

The stuffed cat, roughly the size of a city bus, came lunging forward and landed not far behind Zhao Mingdeng.

Mary sat atop the cat, giggling, and began to sing a rhyme:

*”Crawl and crawl, crawl and crawl,*

*Blood turns to jelly,*

*Organs turn to cotton,*

*And in the end~ in the end~*

*Down goes the kitty-cat’s gullet~”*

A paw fell, pressing down on Zhao Mingdeng.

Like a cat toying with a mouse, it pinned him without killing him — simply watching him struggle.

Shen Fei’s expression revealed a flash of anguish. He murmured to Bai Youwei, “Mary says blood is too filthy — this is a children’s amusement park, and all violent and gory imagery must be given a harmonious resolution. She… she doesn’t see us as people at all. She sees us as toys.”

Outside, Mary laughed her high-pitched, gleeful laugh, endlessly delighting in the moment, chanting her rhyme over and over:

*”Crawl and crawl, crawl and crawl,*

*Blood turns to jelly,*

*Organs turn to cotton…”*

Several figures suddenly burst out of the shadows.

Mary’s laughter cut off in an instant.

Shen Mo and Yan Qingwen charged in, weapons raised, and brought them down simultaneously on the cat paw pressing on Zhao Mingdeng.

But the paw was soft and yielding — the blade struck it like a fist hitting cotton. Meaningless.

Yu Yaqing and Lu Ang worked in tandem, slashing at the cat’s abdomen from crossing angles —

Tufts of cotton spilled out from the torn fabric. The cat let out a wailing “Mroww,” but its paw still didn’t budge.

Luo Bin leapt down from a height in a surprise attack aimed at Mary atop the cat.

That was when a cat tail swung through the air and sent him flying straight into a wall.

Bai Youwei noticed that the hair on Shen Mo’s forehead was matted down with sweat.

Exhaustion showed on everyone else’s faces as well.

Yes — exhaustion.

In the fifteen or so minutes they had spent tangled up with this enormous stuffed cat, the physical toll had been enormous. If they couldn’t come up with something soon, forget attacking — they would barely be able to defend themselves.

Zhao Mingdeng’s heavy body was still pinned under the cat paw.

His body had been compressed into a distorted shape. He was in too much agony to make a sound; his eyes bulged, and his head and two hands flailed helplessly out in front of him — a sight that was, objectively, quite absurd — yet no one watching could bring themselves to laugh.

Bai Youwei thought of the hamster she had once kept as a pet, which had looked just like this when it squeezed through a door crack…

The body was compressed to its absolute limit. Great gobs of red “jelly” surged out from his mouth and nostrils, and finally white, cotton-like material began spilling out as well. Zhao Mingdeng’s body deflated like a doll being wrung empty — and at last, completely, utterly, stopped moving.

Just as Mary had said — the scene of Zhao Mingdeng’s death had been given a harmonious resolution: not the faintest trace of gore.

But Bai Youwei felt… that compared to dying as a ruined mess of flesh and blood, he must have preferred that far more. At least it would have been more dignified.

Shen Mo had not given up on attacking.

He had been searching relentlessly for an opening in Mary and the cat’s defenses. As Yu Yaqing and Lu Ang pressed the attack on the cat’s abdomen, he drove his blade into the cat’s paw and used the leverage to begin climbing upward.

The other paw swiped at him.

Shen Mo leapt, caught hold of the cat’s spring whiskers — and with the elasticity yanking at him, was launched into the air. He raised his broadsword — and drove it toward Mary!

Mary despised him to the core.

The half-arm that had been severed was his doing. Seeing him lunge at her again, she immediately wrenched the cat’s neck to make it rear its head.

“MREOWWW!~~~”

—