CHAPTER 246: CHAPTER 159: XIA PINGZHOU’S SECOND CONTRACTED DEMON

"Is it really necessary to be so rough?" Xia Pingzhou felt a phantom pain in his head.

"Weren’t you also rough with my duplicate?"

"That was just a demon."

"This is also just a demon." Bloodline flicked her light golden hair dismissively.

She stood with one hand on her hip, the red hem of her dress swaying.

In the next moment, the headless Cloning Demon slowly kneeled on the ground, its body trembling, writhing, and gradually becoming transparent, finally shrinking down to a small paper figure.

"Don’t kill me, don’t kill me, go kill my brothers instead!"

The paper figure curled up on the ground, hugging its knees and shivering. Tears welled up in its dark eye sockets.

"This is its true form." Bloodline crossed her arms, looking down at the paper figure, "So, what are you going to do with it?"

"Form a contract." Xia Pingzhou replied.

Bloodline curiously asked, "Does it make sense to form a contract with such a weak demon? Although it can mimic our appearance and some abilities, its actual capabilities are far inferior to the copied target."

"It blocked one of your attacks."

Bloodline pressed a finger to her chin and pondered, "That’s true... I didn’t expect it to withstand my attack, was that your ability just now?" She looked at Xia Pingzhou.

"Yes. It can copy my abilities, regardless of strength, that’s enough for me."

Saying this, Xia Pingzhou stepped toward the paper figure. The Mobius Ring Road surrounding him suddenly transformed into a key flowing with black and white halos, hovering in mid-air.

The front of the key was engraved with the form of a Shadow Demon, while the back was densely etched with chess shadows: Empress, King, Knight, Soldier...

This was the "Contract State" of a Celestial Driver, which, as its name suggests, only appeared when forming a contract with a demon.

And within the memory of Xia Pingzhou’s mechanism, each Celestial Driver’s Contract State was different, but most were in the shape of a "container."

Some appeared as wine glasses, some as kettles, some even as glass spheres...

But as seen before them, Xia Pingzhou’s Celestial Driver "International Chess" formed a "key."

This was evidently extremely rare, as a key did not fit the definition of a "container."

"If possible, I’d also like to be an Exorcist, more fun than being a Superpower User." Bloodline suddenly said.

"If you were an Exorcist, you’d already look like a hundred-year-old lady. The demon you just dismembered wouldn’t choose to become an old lady, but would turn and run... That way, I would have killed one less demon."

"Didn’t the young miss teach you anything?"

"What?"

"If you can’t say anything, you can simply not speak."

"She doesn’t speak either."

With that, Xia Pingzhou reached out to grasp the key, then bent down, extending it toward the paper figure.

"Form a contract with me," he said, "or die."

The paper figure hesitated for quite a moment, gently releasing its grip on its knees before stumbling forward two steps, opening its arms wide to embrace the key that was a size larger than itself, as if a human were hugging a pillar.

Its body merged with the key, immediately transforming into a pattern etched on the front of the key, next to the Shadow Demon.

The Shadow Demon covered its mouth, laughing "kekekeke," as if welcoming the new occupant.

The black and white flowing light enveloped the key, returning to Xia Pingzhou’s hand.

Subsequently, a series of notification panels sprung up in his field of vision.

[Notification: The second mechanism’s Celestial Driver "International Chess" has formed a contract with the rare demon "Cloning Demon."]

[The abilities of the Cloning Demon are as follows: Copy one chess species on the chessboard within 8 seconds and gain the opponent’s authority. (Excluding fused chess species)]

[Note: The Cloning Demon’s stats and authority will be noticeably lower than those of the copied object.]

[The maximum existence time for the Cloning Demon: 8 seconds]

[The maximum existence time for the Shadow Demon: 5 seconds]

[The remaining empty slots for the current Celestial Driver are: 0 (The Exorcist must upgrade to tier three to contract a new demon)]

"Shall we continue?" Bloodline rubbed her forehead, tugging at the corner of her mouth, "Even though I feel like I’ve drunk too much, keeping you company for a night shouldn’t be a problem."

"Then we continue."

With that, the key in Xia Pingzhou’s hand dissolved into his palm.

As the team member said, the water city was crawling with countless demons. In just a short time, the two cleared the surrounding demons as they chatted.

Most were below C-level, with only five or six above C-level.

[The cumulative kill count in the "Winter of the Wild Hunt" system is updated: 26/40]

[The advancement progress for the second character’s Celestial Driver "International Chess" is: 30%]

After purging around a dozen demons, Xia Pingzhou paused on the street, looking at the data on the character panel.

"We’ll stop here for tonight," he said.

"I’m not even tired yet?" Bloodline placed a hand on her hip, turning to him.

"It’s not that I don’t want to continue..." Xia Pingzhou paused, "But I can’t continue."

"Why? Did the young miss call you back to play house with her?" Bloodline speculated.

"No, someone nearby is going on a rampage,"

Saying this, Xia Pingzhou glanced at the map on the app.

The blinking red dots on the map vanished one after another, signifying that the local demons were being swiftly slaughtered. This Exorcist seemed relentless, sweeping through the city’s prey at a whirlwind pace.

"Who?" Bloodline asked.

"Who else could it be?"

"Oh, the Ripper girl." Bloodline said, "Not surprising... After all, her Celestial Driver is nearing tier three, urgently needing sustenance."

Xia Pingzhou thought for a moment: "Will she become the first Catastrophe Level in our group?"

"Hard to say, I, Origami girl, Bai Tanlang, we touched the brink of Quasi-Calamity a long time ago, just not sure who will be faster." Bloodline paused, "As for the group leader, nobody knows his situation."

"How did someone who took a hundred years to reach Quasi-Calamity sneak in here?" Xia Pingzhou sneered.

Bloodline yawned, nonchalant in her defense:

"Because the one who took a hundred years to reach Quasi-Calamity has a superpower side effect. While granting her immortality, it greatly slows her superpower cultivation pace, got it?"

I could reach "Quasi-Calamity Level" in a month at most, and it’s not just one mechanism, all my mechanisms would synch up to Quasi-Calamity Level...

Xia Pingzhou wanted to say this to her, but that would be blatant sarcasm.

"Want to come back and drink with us at the booth?" She asked, "It’s a good opportunity to get acquainted with the new Number 5."

Just as Xia Pingzhou was about to accept, a page flew out from his sleeve, somehow hidden there.

Soon after, the page split apart, turning into paper confetti. The paper shreds twisted in the air to form two skewed words:

— "Come back."

Bloodline chuckled, placing a hand on Xia Pingzhou’s shoulder, maliciously saying, "Looks like someone seems mad?"

Xia Pingzhou watched as the paper confetti landed on the bridge and was blown away by the wind, then replied expressionlessly, "No, I’ve never seen her actually mad."

"Why do you say that?"

"I think... her anger is more like an emotion she’s performing, to make herself seem more like a ’real person.’

"Why do you make our young miss sound like a robot."

"What else?"

Bloodline thought for a moment: "But she doesn’t perform ’emotions’ in front of everyone."

She paused, leisurely saying, "Is it possible that she only stays cold and distant toward those she doesn’t care about?"

"Let’s head back to the tavern." Xia Pingzhou said after a moment of silence.

"Oh?" Bloodline raised an eyebrow, "I thought you’d obediently head back."

"Bring her along, she’s awake now."

"Bold move."