“Heh…” Zhu Que squirmed in Song Qi’s hand for a while, then grinned and said, “You really do have some tricks up your sleeve.”

“Thank you.” Song Qi discovered that his entire body was completely immobile, as if encased in cement.

Zhu Que’s “Soul Seizing” was far more powerful than that of ordinary people. Fortunately, his voice was now coming from these ugly fleshy crevices; otherwise, if the voice were any louder, it would have been heard by others.

“If I had known earlier that you had this move… I would rather transfer into a stone right now and wait until I can make a comeback, then toy with you all one by one until death…”

Song Qi looked coldly at this lump of flesh: “That’s why I kept my mouth shut about it until you fell into my trap. After all, you didn’t have that much time to think it through.”

“You rats… ‘Silence,’ ‘Twin Flowers,’ ‘Shuttle,’ ‘Flash Bang,’ ‘Flourishing Trees,’ ‘Wild Growth’ bombarding me in succession…” The hoarse voice continuously squeezed out sounds. “Every single time was a suicide attack. Don’t any of you want to live…?”

“Only suicide attacks could catch you off guard, and you wouldn’t be able to dodge in time.” Song Qi answered. “After all, even other ‘Divine Beasts’ wouldn’t possibly use suicide attacks to kill you, but we can.”

“Kill me… naive… far too naive… do you really think…”

Song Qi took a deep breath, then interrupted Zhu Que’s voice and said loudly, “Fifth Brother, this matter is already over… take the remaining people and leave.”

Qian Wu pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

He knew that no matter what the outcome was, Zhu Que had already turned into a lump of flesh.

He no longer had any way to stop everyone, but as he looked at Song Qi’s back, his expression gradually became dejected.

Song Qi had lied.

“Old Seven… won’t you let the brothers see you off?”

“No need, Fifth Brother.” Song Qi said in his usual voice. “I’ll go down to see them myself.”

In this battle, how many people from “Cat” had died?

Feng Shiqi, Wu Shisan, and Cui Shisi had their heads severed. Qiu Ershi was cut in half. Yun Shiqi and Liu Ershiyi died in the final “Displacement.”

Their bodies struck Ning Shiba, who was already severely injured and could barely move. The three of them collided together on the spot, with the sound of shattering bones echoing loudly.

Now even Ma Shi’er had been torn apart by “Combustion.”

If Li Jinguan and Su Shan weren’t counted, five people from “Cat” survived.

Qian Wu, Zhou Liu, Song Qi, Bai Jiu, and Luo Shiyi.

But even Song Qi was about to leave the team.

Beyond them… Zhoumo had also lost all the “Extreme Path” members who followed her.

Two consecutive battles had exhausted almost all the power that “Cat” had accumulated over the years, but “Cat” had been established from the very beginning to kill “Divine Beasts.” The fact that they hadn’t all died here could already be considered a gain.

As for the plans that came after… who cared?

That “Train” representing escape and a group of “Cats” who didn’t want to leave had never had anything to do with each other from the start.

Cats had always wandered on the edges of the city. They stood on high walls and hid in the darkness of night.

They never thought they needed to be taken care of, nor did they want to be pitied by anyone.

They possessed a pride that outsiders could never understand.

This kind of pride would make them send away all their companions when they were about to die.

“I kind of miss my cat.” Qian Wu murmured.

This battle, just as everyone had anticipated, was completely different from killing Xuanwu.

When both sides grasped each other’s weaknesses, victory or defeat might only require an instant, and death would also come in an instant.

“Let’s go.” Qian Wu said to everyone. “Little Jiu, stay with Shiyi. His condition isn’t good; there’s no need to go in and throw his life away. Zhou Liu and I will go.”

“I…” Luo Shiyi sighed. “Fifth Brother… what kind of talk is that?”

“‘Cat’s’ mission is over.” Qian Wu said. “Disband on the spot.”

Hearing these words, Luo Shiyi and Bai Jiu suddenly felt empty inside, as if their purpose in life had suddenly vanished.

“But there’s still ‘Extreme Path.'” Bai Jiu suddenly interjected, speaking to Zhoumo. “Sixth Sister… you’ve lost your own squad. Going in won’t accomplish anything. How about Shiyi and I serve as your squad?”

“Tsk… do you all have rocks in your heads?” Zhoumo slowly frowned upon hearing this.

“I can go too.” Officer Li said. “Me, Su Shan, Bai Jiu, and Shiyi—that’s four people. We can barely help you out.”

“You’re all purely sick…” Zhoumo cursed angrily. “Aren’t your bodies hurting enough already?”

“This isn’t the time to keep pushing back and forth.” Qian Wu said. “Don’t add to Old Seven’s troubles. Hurry up and leave.”

At this moment, Zhoumo noticed that Qian Wu’s expression was also becoming increasingly heavy. She could only stop talking. After exchanging glances with Di Zhu, several people walked toward the portal one after another.

At the last moment, everyone turned back to look at Song Qi. He still seemed to be controlled by “Soul Seizing” and never turned his head back.

Zhou Liu pressed her hand against her ear and said softly toward the distance:

“‘Cat’… all missions complete.”

Song Qi heard the several people behind him enter the portal, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. He lowered his head again to look at the shredded flesh in his hand.

Good… they believed it.

Whether they truly believed it or just pretended to believe it…

They had all left.

“Song Qi… why do you have to do this?” The shredded flesh laughed.

“What do you mean?”

“Usually when people lie… isn’t it to those unimportant people?” The shredded flesh asked again. “You seem so close to them, yet you still have to lie to them?”

“If I didn’t lie… how else would I get them to leave?” Song Qi said. “What I said just now was meant for both you and my teammates to hear. That way they could leave without any worries.”

“You also know that I won’t truly die… right?” Zhu Que laughed. “You’re not crazy enough to treat a piece of flesh with eyes growing on it… as a bomb.”

While Song Qi couldn’t move, Zhu Que began to slowly shift his body, crawling step by step up Song Qi’s arm.

“It doesn’t matter.” Song Qi answered. “Even if I can’t do anything to you, this body of mine has already entered its explosion countdown.”

“So… you’ll blow me up by blowing yourself up?” That lump of shredded flesh laughed even more happily, as if even its body was trembling.

“Hard to say.” Song Qi answered. “Next, I might release the most powerful ‘Combustion’ in history. Its power will be great enough to blast your reinforced body directly into pieces.”

“Ha…” Zhu Que climbed step by step onto Song Qi’s shoulder. “If exploding flesh could kill me… I would have already died when that middle-aged man exploded just now…”

He climbed stickily toward Song Qi’s mouth, then drilled right in on the spot.