"Thud—" Sharp, coarse strands of hair pierced through Gao Yang's lower back, suspending him mid-air like a fish skewered on a harpoon. The first sensation wasn't pain, but an eerie chill spreading across his waist. Then came the mind-shattering agony, surging straight to his skull, before finally returning to the wound at his waist.
"Ahh..." Gao Yang screamed, wishing only for death.
In his haze, a thought emerged: How did Qing Ling endure this? She didn't utter a sound when her chest was pierced—didn't she feel pain? If I leave it like this, I'll definitely writhe on the ground, screaming until I die.
The "black needle," formed by thousands of intertwined strands of hair, withdrew from Gao Yang's body. The excruciating pain surged through him again, and finally, he had no strength left to cry out, leaving only a suffocating dizziness.
His body began to fall.
A few seconds later, he didn’t hit the ground. A gentle force held him, coming from two places—under his armpit and the back of his right heel.
Gao Yang opened his eyes with great difficulty and found himself still suspended in mid-air. Beside him stood a man wearing a fierce red tengu mask.
The man supported Gao Yang's arm with one hand, while his foot, resting lightly against Gao Yang's heel, effortlessly stabilized him.
"You are..."
"The Twelve Zodiac, Tengu," the man’s voice was lazy, listless, in stark contrast to the menacing mask he wore.
Only now did Gao Yang notice the man was dressed in black Taoist robes, his arms wrapped in white bandages, and a short ponytail tied behind his head, giving him a faint "Eastern ninja" vibe.
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"You all..."
"Leave the rest to me," the one called Tengu said no more, lazily raising one hand toward the hair monster in mid-air: "Slice."
Gao Yang felt the air freeze for a moment. More precisely, the space in front of him subtly shifted.
In the next second, the hair entangling Qing Ling was severed cleanly.
"Catch her." Tengu, still holding onto Gao Yang, "flew" toward Qing Ling. Gao Yang immediately understood, braced himself against the pain, and reached out to grab her.
"Ah..." The intense pain in his waist made him cry out involuntarily.
The young man called Tengu extended his right hand toward the hair monster once more.
"Slice."
The sensation of space freezing and shattering occurred again, and the hair monster was split down the middle. However, sensing danger, the skull swiftly shifted left. It lost a large portion of its hair but remained unharmed.
"Slice again."
Invisible space sliced once more, this time horizontally.
The white skull darted away rapidly, losing another quarter of its hair, but its core remained intact.
"Slice again."
"Slice."
"Slice."
...
In a mere ten seconds, Tengu turned into a barber, frantically trimming the monster's hair. Yet, each time he missed by a fraction, never quite managing to cut the skull itself.
Cunning, the skull stopped fighting and began flying upwards.
Tengu, still carrying two injured individuals, couldn't catch up. He looked down and shouted, "Rabbit, it's getting away!"
Gao Yang looked down and saw the white rabbit he'd encountered before.
This time, she wasn’t wearing a KTV attendant uniform. Her white rabbit mask had been replaced by a white mask painted with a cute pink bunny mouth.
She wore a baseball cap, a black-and-white jacket draped over her shoulders, revealing a red cropped top underneath, paired with light-colored denim shorts that showcased her toned, muscular legs. A pair of white sneakers adorned her feet, and in one hand, she casually held a sleek black baseball bat—looking every bit the stylish baseball girl.