Chapter 1185: Too Early

Song Qi ran wildly down the road while keeping an eye on the sun.

He knew the time they had to defeat Zhu Que was extremely tight—they had to succeed before all the “Zodiac” gates closed. Only then would the mission be considered complete.

They had roughly ten minutes to regroup and strike, which meant there was no time for a perfectly coordinated attack. Whoever arrived first would have to act immediately.

“At ‘Earth Pig’… the person is at ‘Earth Pig’.”

Zhou Mo’s “Whisper” echoed in Song Qi’s ears once more, and a few seconds later, Ma Twelve heard the same message.

“What’s going on…? Why repeat it?” Ma Twelve asked.

Song Qi gradually slowed to a stop, carefully considering the situation. Zhou Mo declaring a second time that Zhu Que had descended at Earth Pig’s location could only mean she had no other way to communicate with them.

“The signal flares are malfunctioning,” Song Qi said darkly.

“What?!”

Song Qi quickly scanned the ground nearby. What could he do to help Zhou Mo now?

But the streets around them were nothing but ruins, and the only things he could find were stones.

“Brother Seven…” Ma Twelve said anxiously, “What do we do?”

“Going there ourselves is pointless—we need to tell everyone where Sister Six is.” Song Qi hurried to the side and picked up three palm-sized stones. “I need your help.”

“Got it!”

After a brief discussion, once Song Qi confirmed Ma Twelve understood his plan, he pulled out his signal flare and used a hair tie to roughly bind it to the three stones.

“Brother Seven… I get it, but isn’t this too difficult?”

“If we fail, Sister Six dies.” Song Qi gently touched the stones and signal flare in his hand. “So we can’t afford to fail.”

“Okay… I understand.”

Song Qi took a deep breath, then took a few running steps before launching himself like a slingshot, hurling the makeshift device high into the sky.

The next second, Song Qi and Ma Twelve sprinted after the flying contraption, with Ma Twelve constantly waving his arms as if adjusting its trajectory.

Once the position was roughly set, Song Qi clenched his fist mid-stride, detonating the first stone and propelling the remaining two stones and the signal flare even higher.

The hair tie was nearly torn apart by the explosion, barely holding the stones and signal flare together as they wobbled precariously.

Without hesitation, Song Qi ignited the second and third stones in quick succession. The signal flare, propelled by the close-range “Blaze,” instantly gained tremendous momentum and shot toward the direction Ma Twelve had fixed.

“Brother Seven! The position is almost there!”

The two looked up at the sky. Once the general location was confirmed, Song Qi stretched out his hand from afar and clenched his fist, detonating the signal flare high above.

The signal flare, already battered by the explosions, burst apart with a final “Blaze,” scattering a thick cloud of smoke.

A waterfall of blood-red dust cascaded through the air, pointing directly to Zhu Que’s coordinates.

“Glad that worked…” Song Qi muttered. “Twelve, have you noticed something…?”

“What?”

“Maybe it’s just me,” Song Qi said, “but today, every ‘Cat’ member seems to be succeeding at using their ‘Echo’ with unusual frequency.”

“You mean…”

“Could you and I have ‘Shifted’ and ‘Blazed’ at this distance before?”

“Maybe we’ve grown stronger?” Ma Twelve suggested.

“Or maybe it’s just luck,” Song Qi replied. “Let’s hope this luck lasts until Zhu Que dies here.”

……

Zhu Que and Zhou Mo both looked up at the sky as golden-red smoke began to rain down upon them.

“Th-That’s great…” Zhou Mo murmured.

“Great…?” Zhu Que smiled and lowered his gaze to her. “Do you know the difference between me and Xuan Wu?”

Zhou Mo frowned and instinctively took a step back.

“I don’t have ‘Indestructibility,’ so I can’t afford to take risks.”

Zhu Que grinned, revealing a sinister glint deep within his mouth.

Earth Pig, seeing this, rushed forward just as Zhu Que thrust his hand toward Zhou Mo’s chest in the blink of an eye.

In a split second, Earth Pig grabbed Zhou Mo’s arm and yanked her back, then kicked out at Zhu Que.

Zhu Que vanished from his spot in the next instant, reappearing behind Earth Pig and slashing down with his claws. Earth Pig’s suit was shredded, revealing four deep gashes on his back.

Zhou Mo, meanwhile, crashed hard onto the ground—after all, the pull of an “Earthly Zodiac” was impossible for an ordinary person to withstand.

Earth Pig collapsed under Zhu Que’s overwhelming force, trying to reach for his bleeding back but unable to touch the wounds.

“Impressive durability,” Zhu Que remarked. “You weren’t torn apart?”

“Now I see…” Earth Pig coughed. “The power of a ‘Divine Beast’ is nothing special…”

“Stubborn.” Zhu Que grinned. “Forgot to mention—you actually had a shot at promotion. ‘Celestial Pig’ died last night.”

“Wha—” Earth Pig froze momentarily.

“Maybe all these years, you never saw a chance to rise, but now you do.” Zhu Que sighed, picking at the shreds of flesh between his claws. “Isn’t it ironic? You finally decide to rebel, only to get a shot at promotion right after.”

“Just a ‘promotion’… Don’t underestimate our pact…” Earth Pig slowly got to his feet, tearing off the remains of his suit before turning to Zhou Mo. “Lady ‘Whisper,’ I’ll keep you safe until your teammates arrive.”

“‘Whisper’…?” Zhou Mo looked puzzled. “How did you know?”

“Because I touched you.” Earth Pig said. “Unluckily for you, anyone I touch—or anyone who touches me—I learn their ‘Divine Art’…”

Zhu Que’s eyes widened slightly. “You—”

Earth Pig raised a finger, its nail grown unnaturally long.

“I keep my nails this long to avoid touching others—otherwise, my ‘Spirit Touch’ would be exposed.” Earth Pig smiled. “Zhu Que, did you ever imagine your trump card would be revealed so soon?”

Zhu Que’s expression darkened—as if having his trump card exposed meant he had already lost.

He made a decision instantly: if he could tear Earth Pig apart before he could speak, what did it matter if he was a “Spirit Touch”?

With that thought, Zhu Que vanished once more, reappearing behind Earth Pig and seizing his throat.