Clown Game
Chapter 409 - 387 Slender Hands

Chapter 409: Chapter 387 Slender Hands

Malay Archipelago, beneath Unnamed Volcano... The Splitters’ base.

Just moments ago, a fighter jet crashed deep underground here, the flames raising the temperature even further.

Within the fierce fire, that gigantic figure easily lifted off the wreckage of the plane from its body, this act triggering several more explosions. But the force of the blasts might as well have been a sea breeze against a flood memorial tower, the adversary didn’t even budge.

Fear is a very real thing; facing a ferocious animal or standing on the edge of a cliff, for instance. The postal worker, watching the silhouette in the flames becoming clearer, felt his body trembling uncontrollably. This had nothing to do with cowardice or inability, but was an instinctual defense mechanism. And amidst this fear, there was also a part of him that feared for the pile of collapsed machinery nearby.

"Is there really... no way left?" he asked Amin.

His meaning was clear, essentially asking:

"Has Eniak been destroyed?"

"Is it no longer possible to block detection?"

"Has this base fallen?"

And "Is it no longer possible to contact the others?"

In short, all combined, he was asking... faced with this sudden appearance, do we really have no recourses left?

Amin’s eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the wreckage of the machine in front of him. He was angry, frightened, but indeed, without any solution.

At this moment, the other members of The Splitters were all busy with something important. Normally, with Eniak, Amin could easily contact everyone without worry of being traced. But now that the computer was scrapped and the Foundation had blocked all signals on the island, the postal worker only had a general idea of where the other members were. With the current situation, there was no chance for him to go looking for them (he was only able to find the nurse because she was guaranteed to be holed up at home).

While they were talking, Prince Nineithiel had already walked out of the explosion range. He surveyed his surroundings expressionlessly, seeming to find no other valuable targets left to destroy, and then his gaze fell upon the three huddled figures.

In the next instant, the prince was already in front of the three people, the explosive sonic boom and burst of air only catching up afterward. He intended to capture these few alive if he could, since living people were always more useful than corpses. If he had wanted to kill them, they would already be dead.

Thus, Prince Nineithiel reached out to grab Amin. It wasn’t very fast, the postal worker thought he saw the movement and could have teleported away, but his body froze in place, unable to move.

It was an unprecedented fear of death. Even those who feared neither life nor death, when the gaping maw of a behemoth hovered right in front of them, with its throat and esophagus clearly entering their line of sight, would involuntarily freeze for that instant.

In that instant, the postal worker was locked in place by an overwhelming pressure... unable to move an inch.

Just then... "Pfft," flesh tore apart, bones snapped, crushed, emitting a chilling sound. The nurse was seen charging towards the giant, colliding her body into the outstretched hand, then desperately struggling to get closer.

It was a bizarre sight: a hand, halfway to forming a fist, remained still, not sharp, but like a piece of exceedingly hard steel rebar, it easily and slowly penetrated the nurse’s frail body. Meanwhile, the nurse continued to cling to the sleeve that had pierced her chest, attempting to pull herself even closer to her attacker.

This absurd action did indeed hinder the hand that was reaching for Amin.

Prince Nineithiel’s movement slowed by a beat. His reaction was more of an instinct honed over millennia rather than rapid thought, certainly not as swift as individuals like Chen Xiao or Amin. However, he too had his advantages, such as an immense capacity for memory. Once, he had made 20 of his derivatives recite dossiers on all Anomaly Items of Class A and below without sleep or rest in extreme excitement until they literally collapsed from exhaustion. Thanks to that, he now knew by heart all the anomalous items. Quickly, he recalled the nurse’s "regenerative repair" anomaly.

Immediately, he swung his massive arm, flinging the nurse against the wall with such force that she became nothing more than a lump of flesh. This very action gave the postal worker a moment of reprieve. His eyes flashed with resolve. He roughly pushed Amin aside and leaned forward, trying to touch the prince.

Yes, if Amin could not leave, he could at least take this dreadful being away from here. What price he’d pay for those moments of contact was a worry for later, far better than waiting here for death.

However, just as his hand was about to touch the prince, the postal worker’s gaze shifted, meeting the other’s eyes...

Those were lifeless eyes, cold, filled with unfathomable despair and calm, staring at him. For a moment, the postal worker felt absurd, likening himself to an old mosquito that had weakly landed on a person, shakily extending its proboscis in an attempt to pierce the skin for blood, only to look up and find the person had already been watching for a long time.

Yes, that kind of gaze, as if watching a mosquito that couldn’t even fly properly.

The next moment, a fierce gale howled towards him. Prince Nineithiel struck with his palm, more accurately, he merely waved his hand as if to shoo away a mosquito. The wind created by the motion was enough to blow the postal worker far away, crashing into a broken piece of the plane’s wing, causing him to cough out a mouthful of fresh blood.

From beginning to end, he had not even touched the prince’s sleeve.

The prince glanced at him without much concern, confident in his control over his own strength. He knew that after this strike, his opponent would be on the verge of unconsciousness if not already passed out, unless the man could use his abilities even in his dreams, teleportation was definitely impossible now.

Both the nurse and the postal worker had exhausted all means to stop him, yet they had only delayed the inevitable for barely two seconds. The prince extended his hand once more towards the bald child slumped on the ground.

Just at that moment... a slender hand suddenly appeared, lightly touching Prince Nineithiel’s massive palm... preventing it from moving any further.