Chapter 1160: On the Same Frequency

Qiu Shiliu’s agonized scream erupted deafeningly from Jiang Shi’s left eye.

Bai Jiu, observing the battles on both sides, was momentarily overwhelmed with anxiety: “Sixteen… You…”

The “door” in Qiu Shiliu’s hand fell to the ground, rolling with a clatter until it came to rest against the wall.

Bai Jiu also witnessed the dizzying whirl in Jiang Shi’s left eye before it finally revealed the horrifying scene.

Qiu Shiliu’s right arm had been completely torn off, blood gushing out like water from a fire hose, her face instantly drained of all color.

But due to the limited perspective, Bai Jiu couldn’t make out Qiu Shiliu’s expression.

Turning his head again, he saw Wang Ba’s “Giant Form” being dispelled, his body rapidly shrinking, also spewing blood in torrents.

Simultaneously, the two Xuanwu—one inside the scene and one outside—raised their severed arms like whips and lashed them down on the person before them with perfect synchronization.

Qiu Shiliu and Wang Ba were sent flying at the same moment. Wang Ba was caught midair by Wu Shisan’s “Suspension,” while Qiu Shiliu crashed into the stove, stirring up a cloud of dust.

“It’s not working…” Bai Jiu muttered, frowning. “Though the little Xuanwu wants to die, when she’s on the verge of death, she synchronizes with Xuanwu… Sixteen alone can’t succeed…”

The group exchanged uneasy glances, unsure of what to do.

“**Probe the Pouch**…” Qiu Shiliu whispered weakly from the ground. “Fourth Brother…”

“I’m here.” Officer Li stepped forward, standing beside Jiang Shi.

“Her power is the same as Xuanwu’s… I can’t beat her. Try **Probe the Pouch**…” Qiu Shiliu spoke through gritted teeth, her voice barely audible. “The eye is right there… her right eye.”

Bai Jiu pondered carefully.

When Qiu Shiliu had reached out to brush aside the little Xuanwu’s hair earlier, she had dodged—proof that the little Xuanwu had always known there was something unusual about her own eye.

“Use **Probe the Pouch** to take the eyeball…”

Officer Li froze for a long moment upon hearing Qiu Shiliu’s suggestion. Though he understood her meaning, the sheer absurdity of the task overwhelmed him.

Now, he had to stare into Jiang Shi’s eye, locate the little Xuanwu’s right eye within that minuscule scene, and then pluck out one of her eyeballs.

The principle was sound. The method was feasible.

But the only obstacle was that Officer Li was a detective. Though Bai Jiu had explained the situation in detail, his years of police work had ingrained in him an unwavering commitment to materialism.

Crimes in this world could never be attributed to ghosts or gods, and metaphysics was not a tool of criminal investigation.

Bai Jiu’s earlier explanation had been so fantastical that Officer Li could barely suppress his skepticism, let alone fully believe it in his subconscious.

Xuanwu had stored her eye in another space—inside her younger self. Now, he was supposed to stare into Jiang Shi’s eye, transcend time and space, and physically transfer the eyeball from that realm into his own hand.

Even if he could accept and half-believe all this, Officer Li had no idea what it would feel like to hold an eyeball in his hand.

He closed his eyes, steadied his thoughts, then reached into his pocket, focusing intently on retrieving the little Xuanwu’s eyeball.

The sheer absurdity of the task tore at his mind.

How insane would he have to be to truly believe his pocket contained the eyeball from someone else’s eye?

The slightest doubt in his conviction would leave his pocket empty.

Back when he had trained himself to “take out a heart,” he had gone days without sleep, keeping a heart in his pocket, pulling it out and putting it back thousands of times. But now, in such a short time, he had to forget the sensation of a “heart” and replace it with an “eyeball”—it was nearly impossible.

“It’s not working…” Officer Li shook his head after a dozen attempts. “A child’s eyeball is different from an adult’s… And I genuinely don’t know what it feels like to hold an eyeball…”

Bai Jiu frowned in thought before decisively saying, “Fourth Brother, take the heart.”

“The heart…?” Officer Li nodded. “…I’ll try.”

He stared intently into Jiang Shi’s left eye, then reached into his pocket again, forcing himself to forget all notions of “space” and “time” in his mind. That little Xuanwu was standing right in front of him.

She was just an ordinary, helpless prey.

Before long, Officer Li’s eyes snapped open—he felt something pulsing in his pocket.

But when he tried to pull it out, he found it utterly immovable.

“Wait… what’s going on…?”

He looked down, his right hand straining, but the heart refused to budge from his pocket.

“What’s wrong, Fourth Brother?” Bai Jiu asked.

“I think I got it…” Officer Li replied. “But the heart won’t move…”

“Won’t move…?”

Officer Li quickly withdrew his hand and peered into his pocket—it was empty. The heart had vanished the moment he let go.

No, it wasn’t that the heart disappeared when he released it. Rather, his hand hadn’t been in his pocket at all—it had pierced into Xuanwu’s chest.

The heart inside that chest was as immovable as stone.

“Her heart is unbelievably solid…” Officer Li looked down at his hand, which still carried the lingering aura of that other space. “In theory, **Probe the Pouch** should bypass any physical connections, but this heart is just… strange. I can’t take it.”

“So even this path is blocked…”

Bai Jiu knew this wasn’t something effort alone could overcome. The little Xuanwu’s body was inexplicable—if she possessed something like “Indestructibility” or some other power, retrieving her eye with a severely wounded Qiu Shiliu and Officer Li trapped in another space was simply impossible.

In the ruined temple, Qiu Shiliu lay on the ground and let out a weak, bitter laugh. “You said, ‘Come kill me’… yet you fight back when death is near… How foolish of me to believe your lies…”

“Impudence.” The little Xuanwu slowly raised her head, her icy gaze piercing through her disheveled hair. “You may kill me—but not here.”

“Hah… So the real you finally shows up.”

Qiu Shiliu turned her head slightly, reaching into the stove to pull out a charred piece of wood before pressing it ruthlessly against her severed shoulder.

The stench of burning flesh mingled with her screams.

She knew she couldn’t die yet—she had to stop the bleeding as fast as possible.

“Xuanwu…” Qiu Shiliu gasped. “Your younger self’s life belonged to the Bodhisattva… What about now?”

“What…?” The little Xuanwu glared coldly.

“You’ve already reached a place like the **Land of Finality**… Why don’t you just die on your own?”