Master of the Stars

Of all the people on the viewing platform, probably only Luo Nan understood the emotions of grievance within Tian Si’s words.

She really did follow Luo Nan’s instructions. She headed straight down the stairs of the fire escape. She didn’t use the elevator no matter how tired she was, and she kept far away from the crystal pillar in the center. And yet, she was still unable to escape from Puppeteer’s evil clutches. She got controlled by him and became a hostage.

Of course, Tian Si’s feelings of grievance were secondary to her fear. She was an intelligent person. From the methods chosen by Puppeteer and Black Beetle, she could surmise that the momentum of victory and defeat between the two sides had reversed. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any meaning to her being a hostage.

For the ’kidnappers’, her value lay in threatening Luo Nan. But from Luo Nan’s perspective, what value did she hold? Why should Luo Nan abandon his great situation for a hopeless reversal, just to risk saving her?

This situation put Tian Si to near despair.

But she still placed her hopes in Luo Nan. However, she grew all the more fearful that Luo Nan would find saving her too troublesome, and would sit back and watch. So her expression of grievance was intentionally conveyed, even though they stemmed from her inner feelings. She could only hope to engender a bit of compassion in Luo Nan, and give herself a chance to live.

Tian Si was more or less comforted by Luo Nan’s raised arm.

However, her response couldn’t satisfy the others.

Above the Heavenly Ocean Lake, Puppeteer sighed. He walked along the frame structure of the pool, and his figure smoothly made its way to the center edge of the pool. He faced Tian Si, then hooked his finger.

Tian Si’s feet involuntarily moved. She headed toward the pool, the distance close. The thumb of her left hand held up her jaw, roughly turning her head to slightly look up. She was forced to raise her head to look at the master who was in control of her life.

"Come, let us work together for a bit." Puppeteer squatted down and even lowered a hand toward Tian Si. His mouth split into a grin on a face half covered by diving goggles. His teeth gleamed white in this smile.

Puppeteer had a decent facial structure. There was the charm of a positive and good-looking guy. But this smile drowned Tian Si completely with feelings of fear. She could only look on helplessly at herself in the goggles’ reflection. She was like a marionette. Her entire body was controlled according to this person’s will.

She extended a hand upward to join with Puppeteer’s hand. Then, she was flung up. The rough action made her feel like her arm had dislocated. She couldn’t refrain from groaning in pain, but soon, even this sound was stuffed back down her throat.

Puppeteer used his own hand to take the place of Tian Si’s. He gripped her neck hard, and sized her up face to face. He was extremely satisfied with her deathly white and flushed red complexion, caused by her fear and suffocation. Then when she took in a deep breath of air, he took in the exquisite fragrance of her tidy hair and laughed.

"Beautiful girl. Whether you are willing or not, we are one body."

Tian Si really was about to suffocate. She had regained a bit of control over her body, but it was impossible to remove the steel-like grip Puppeteer possessed. Her two feet struggled to move. She couldn’t do anything else besides this.

Puppeteer lifted Tian Si’s slender neck as he walked easily back to his original position. Tian Si’s feet and hands struggled to move during this process, but soon she ran out of strength. Her body went weak, and her eyes were filled with despair.

Puppeteer’s gaze had moved toward Luo Nan at this time. Even though Luo Nan was half-squatting at the edge of the viewing platform and didn’t even turn his body around, the eyes behind Puppeteer’s diving goggles remained firmly fixed on Luo Nan. There was not the least bit of relaxation.

As for Black Beetle, his callous face stood in front of Heavenly Ocean Lake. He was blocking the only path of rescue to Tian Si.

Although things were like this, Puppeteer still didn’t feel completely secure. He continued talking, "I have to admit that we’ve completely underestimated your ability, Mr. Luo Nan. We’ve underestimated the perfection you’ve reached with your mental attacks. You dashed our plans. So we learned our lesson and decided to talk calmly and negotiate to solve this issue. For the sake of ensuring this, I specifically made a ’safety line’.

"Much thanks to the beautiful girl’s cooperation. Currently, my mental planes and that of the girl share a bit of a link. Anything I experience will be impartially shared with her. As for how much I can endure, I am confident that I surpass this frail and beautiful girl in this aspect.... An attack that is sufficient to defeat me will likely destroy the girl first. So, I can only hope that the two of you have a relationship that is close enough."

Having said this much, Puppeteer turned to look at Tian Si. "Speak, beautiful girl. Have you two slept together yet? No? That’s better. Maybe Mr. Luo Nan will feel more regretful if that’s the case."

Puppeteer sang an excellent performance, so it was natural that he hoped to receive a response from Luo Nan. However, only Xue Lei’s loathing gaze came from over there. Luo Nan still maintained his original posture. Even the arm he sent out in apology toward Tian Si had been withdrawn. It was unknown whether it was due to his injuries, or him being disdainful for this defeat.

Puppeteer sighed. He had no choice but to urge Luo Nan. "Mr. Luo Nan. It’s best to stop wasting time. The police may be idiots, but they should be regaining consciousness right about now. Let us resolve this quickly and return to our respective homes. This will be for the best."

Luo Nan still didn’t respond.

"Tsk. Are youngsters these days this cold and detached? Then, let me first warm up the scene and play a small game with this beautiful girl."

A smile was restored on Puppeteer’s face. He raised a single arm, swinging Tian Si above the water. "The devil ray broke through the tempered glass at the bottom of the pool. Now, Heavenly Ocean Lake is probably the world’s deepest pool;there’s no doubt about that. It is eight hundred meters, and the only one in the world! I have a premonition that the beautiful girl next to me has decent swimming skills. She can match those cute little friends, medium friends, and large friends inside.... Why don’t we give it a try first?”

"Hey! H-H-Hey!"

Tian Si had originally given up struggling, but the strength of Puppeteer’s hand ruthlessly increased as Puppeteer’s words entered her ear. This simply squeezed out her remaining energy, compelling her to struggle with her hands and feet. She couldn’t speak a word, and what was once beautiful eyes rolled back to white.

"Excellent. Beautiful girl, you really have a movie sense." Puppeteer laughed in delight, and he shook her a few times, making Tian Si struggle with increasing pain.

"Then let us officially begin. The first act of a hero saving a beauty. ACTION!"

Heavenly Ocean Lake blossomed with an explosion of water as soon as the words left his mouth. A terrifying dark shadow broke through the water’s surface, soaring seven meters high. It scrapped the soles of Tian Si’s feet, and it swung its long tail in a whip-like attack to sheer off one of Tian Si’s high heels. Her other high heel dropped down during her struggling.

"Shoes? My other partner has tender feelings for the fairer sex. But I will tell it to go for your delicate and small feet next. Do you want them to be symmetrical?"

The ice-cold water and the burning viciousness assaulted together. Coupled with the terrible and callous words of murder, Tian Si couldn’t hold it back any longer. Tears flowed down her face, and she just cried silently. The barrier of her willpower had completely collapsed.

At the edge of the viewing platform, Luo Nan still had his eyes closed. His eyelids just twitched twice. It was hard for him to exert energy. He supported himself against the protective glass as he slowly stood up. He turned around to meet the two vicious people face on, but he still didn’t speak.

Black Beetle saw the state of Luo Nan’s eyes, looking as if they were stabbed blind, and he turned to lock glances with Puppeteer. They were both thinking of the word ’whiplash’ in their minds. Black Beetle immediately chuckled. "You’re trash as a director. Have you forgotten that we’re not in an era of silent films? Even if we are, where’s voice-over explanation and dubbing?"

Puppeteer was not offended. He praised lightly, "Good idea."

He slightly loosened his palm that was exerting force when he said these words. This allowed Tian Si’s crying to barely squeeze through her throat, strand by strand.

Her breath, stifled with despair, pierced through the sound of Heavenly Ocean Lake’s water, intermittently entering the ear. It made Xue Lei grit his teeth until they creaked. However, Zhang Yingying had already given orders again and again. She forbade Xue Lei from being impulsive, for this might give Black Beetle and Puppeteer a gap to take advantage of. Xue Lei could do nothing besides grit his teeth.

As for Luo Nan, though his eyes were closed and blood continued to flow, he maintained a calm expression to the point of callousness.

The situation remained deadlocked.

Puppeteer gained a big headache facing this unwaverable Luo Nan. They were in Xia City, so time stood on Luo Nan and Xue Lei’s side. Puppeteer could only stand in opposition as he made contact with his own people through his own channels.

He snapped his fingers a few seconds later. "How about this. Let us switch methods. Beautiful girl. Beautiful girl, don’t cry. I’m asking you. This callous boy in front of us. Did you two plan to come together here? Why are you crying yourself blind? Can you tell me?"

Tian Si’s willpower had collapsed. She acted as if she was already dead. She couldn’t respond.

Puppeteer shook his head. "In this case, I will first tell you a secret for the sake of fairness. Our other partner...."

As he spoke, the Mutant devil ray broke through the surface of the water once more. It soared in the air, but it didn’t follow the laws of physics and fall. Instead, it defied gravity and floated beneath the dome. It revolved in the air around Tian Si’s body.

"Our partner can actually fly, yo. So it can use its large mouth and meticulously grind away at the flesh of your small feet. It will slowly eat you; it’s better for digestion this way.... So, let’s work together once more?"

The devil ray’s tail, glowing with electricity, wrapped around Tian Si’s small feet as Puppeteer spoke, slightly hooking into a bit of pantyhose. The tail spiraled upward and gradually tightened.

Tian Si felt the serpentine sensation on her tiny legs. The electricity even introduced a numbing sensation. Her entire body trembled. A gurgling sound mixed into her hoarse crying. She just wanted to faint already. But this was an excessive hope, for she was under Puppeteer’s control.

"Pay attention to the time,” Puppeteer warned in the end.

Tian Si’s thoughts and emotions were a complete mess. Fear dominated everything. It was like the claw of a demon had reached into her brain and stirred everything around. Whatever was in there was fished out.

"Because, because Gear! Gear is Senior Sister Qingwen’s representative work. We can see it from here...."

"Gear? Must be that society building we went in the first place." Puppeteer tilted his head, and he continued to ask, "Senior Sister Qingwen? Who is that?"

"She’s Junior Luo Nan’s mother...."

"I have a faint impression, but seems like this information is useless." Puppeteer cast a glance in Luo Nan’s direction as he talked.

Black Beetle stared in that direction with fixed eyes, and he suddenly thought of something. He got in contact with someone through his wristband.

"Hello, you guys are still in Gear, right? Yep, that society building. Hurry up, verify it.... Stupid, isn’t it easier to break things, set things on fire, and so on?"

He raised his arm and opened the speaker function as he spoke. He raised the volume to the maximum.

Large bangs and a series of crashes could be heard a second later. The sounds transmitted through, and it seemed that there was no intention of stopping.

Luo Nan’s eyelids trembled, and he opened his eyes at last. The thick blood accumulated within his eye sockets came flowing out. They carved two paths of blood upon his cheeks.