Karni felt eerily calm right now, even as he watched a Soul King rushing at him. A Soul King which had his Battle Armour on. One which was wearing Tang Sect garbs. It seemed that the Tang Sect had a traitor in their midst. Either that or a preplanned infiltration. He had never heard of such a place in the original timeline. Was it because it was wiped out in the background?
If that was the case, Karni would not let it happen. Purple Demon Eyes combined with Golden Insight, and Karni had to admit that the guy looked surprisingly slow now that his abilities truly showed their might.
The traitor seemed like a pure shadow, definitely an agility type… but when he had to go face to face with Xie Xie's new speed and Lin San recently? This guy was just average. The only thing going for him was the surprising silence, but with Still Resonance coming into play a whole new layer of detection exploded. The man would not surprise Karni anymore.
Karni dodged simply with the Drunken Ghost Dance before counterattacking with a Drumstick. Not yet time for the reveal of his powers. He should only use them as detection for now. He had the odds against him, he had to be smart about how his abilities showed.
But the man was quick in speed, and quick to change. Quick to answer in kind.
His very first Soul Ring shone, and he quickly changed forms. The body increased in size, gaining powerful muscles, and the shadowy aspect disappeared, switched for an animalistic one. One resembling the very Pandas around here.
Karni felt his anger boil as he felt essence of the pandas around him inside that guy. Did the bastard absorb their powers? Their vitality? Karni shook his head. He had neither the comfort to think about it for long, nor to get angry over it. He had to channel these feelings. In a few short instances, he reached the 18th hit in the Disordered Spiral Resonance.
The opponent's body spun as the hit connected, reversing his movement for just a bit, disrupting his balance. But the man who was now a Panda didn't look too bothered. Either he was strong against this effect, or the Pandas were surprisingly durable.
So, Karni opted for a simpler option. He grasped the other Drumstick between his middle and ring finger and punched at the guy's head. Knocking him completely off his feet.
That Battle Armour was eerily adaptable. Karni knocked him off his feet yes, but the Battle Armour almost moved to defend him.
No, not almost. It did move.
Karni didn't let the man get a free breath in. He had to end this quickly. The Sound changed a further. Three, four hits, and Karni already reached the 27th threshold. "Hits" were just an arbitrary thing with which Karni learned the skills—the way he counted. What really counted was the quality of each hit. He did not have to raise it one hit at a time anymore. Especially now when he made so much progress.
But the bastard's battle armour moved once more. Despite the hits increasing, the 27th releasing a boom of Sound, the Armour protected the crucial parts from the Sound. What was this annoying Battle Armour?
The 36th hit Sounded. The surroundings compressed together, attacking the very body of the enemy. Suppressing it. Karni heard a crack. He summoned his own Battle Armour and the cracks increased.
Faster. Hit, hit, hit. 45. The power at its peak, increased by almost twice the strength. The bombardment of Sound increased. The Armour did not stop moving, but it started cracking.
And cracking. Until Karni felt something familiar and homely. A Sound of familiarity.
The man looked up, the Sound suddenly not affecting him much anymore. An evil grin on his face.
Karni now got the gist of this guy's Martial Soul. The man's third and fifth Soul Rings shone, increasing the power of Sound of the enemy. It was a Mimic of some sorts. Except instead of a skill, it's abilities empowered the Martial Soul it imitated.
Right. The best way to delay elementalist type Martial Souls was to face them with their own element and overpower them, or to give them a complete opposite.
And Karni could feel it. Whoever this guy was, that Martial Soul was top quality. But it was more than that. The man attuned to Karni's Martial Soul and Karni's Martial Soul felt like it started slipping from his grasp. Getting detached from his very soul. This was definitely an Evil Soul Master. Detaching a Martial Soul would almost surely cripple a Soul Master.
The Sound got stronger. Karni actually had to Shift away from the attack. An attack done with the 4th Soul Ring of the enemy. Karni himself didn't really have a Sound strengthening ability. He had one which produced Sound, granting better control, but not strengthen it.
Most elementalist types were the same. Elements rarely had strengthening. They maybe had strengthening of control, but not strengthening itself.
This man on the other hand apparently could strengthen his skills. In this case, the Sound. The 3rd and 5th Soul Ring, and even the 4th Soul Ring for an attack of whatever thing it imitated.
Interesting.
A shame though. This might have worked on a talented elemental based Soul Master. It would start to show its cracks with geniuses who also understood their element, but it should still overpower them.
However. Karni wasn't a genius. He was a monster. He was a Shrek Student. Karni had made a promise to himself after the fight with Long Yue and that voice. Karni's talents were monstrous, yet his mentality was that of an ordinary. That stopped here.
His comprehension had recently gone through not just a breakthrough, but multiple. But his mentality transformed along with it.
Karni stopped and waited for the next attack. Focusing. Sill Harmony working. Sonic Rhythm active. And finally, the Spiritual Abyss level Soul Power fused. And the world changed.
Black and White. And only Sound. Soundwaves created the world as he saw it. And only Soundwaves existed.
And that Sound sent to him? It was strong. It could compete with his base Sound above the 36th hit of Disordered Spiral Resonance.
But it was simple. It was so damn simple Karni almost felt sorry for the guy.
The man was forcefully stopped with a simple raise of Karni's hand.
"Cute trick. Now kneel." Karni spoke and the Sound changed. Controlled. He made the man immobile.
Then he saw the first ring shine. That one worked to change the mimicked Martial Soul.
"Nope." Karni was unbothered, and the Soul Skill got immediately disrupted. One does not simply wield Sound against Karni and expect to get away with it. His body might as well have become Sound itself now. Karni made it so all of his body was overflowing with Sound. Even the Spiritual Sea was infiltrated with Karni in that Black and White world of Soundwaves.
If only the guy hadn't imitated Karni's Martial Soul and Sound, his fate might have been different.
Karni looked away from the man. No time to play anymore. The bigger Panda was almost dead! Karni brought out a weapon. The Guardian Greatsword Mark Two. It automatically attached itself on Karni's Martial Soul, the automated function working perfectly.
The Guardian was still stronger than expected. Karni still had not found the reason as to why that happened.
Before he Shifted, he issued a final order to the Mimic guy. "Kill yourself."
Karni reappeared in front of the Brown Lotus Panda, immediately placing the Guardian in front of what seemed like a slimy pierce attack.
He blocked, but immediately sensed a problem. Part of his Soul Power got sucked away. It felt like even more wanted to be sucked. His very Spirit and Life Essence was in danger. But luckily, hitting the Guardian, it could not do that.
Karni felt chills. Before a release of Sound suddenly exploded in the background.
"Huh?" The Evil Soul Emperor got confused, looking back, seeing that his companion which was supposed to protect him killed himself in a big explosion of Music.
Karni was also out of the special state of the Black and White Spiritual Senses, as he used 30 percent of Spiritual Power just by being in that state for such a short time. He had named the state the Wave Abyss a week ago.
This short exchange with the Mimic guy made Karni realise how grand his progress had been. Karni could simply… decide the life and death of people with a Sound type Martial Soul now, if they had less understanding than him. It was both terrifying and relieving.
He took the one bit of sloppy confusion of the enemy to apply Vision Bestowal on the two Pandas. Immediately, the two could sense his intentions and nodded.
Karni Shifted, and all three of them disappeared.
The opponent, Fu Juan looked around and whistled. "Hoo. They're good. Where are they? Come out, come out, wherever you are." The man chuckled cruelly. He wasn't worried one bit.
But where were they? Karni's favourite trick. Attack from above. A dive bomb of Sound, Pandas and a Greatsword. Karni charged the Greatsword full of power, to his very maximum, and just before they crashed, the sword even shone in the bright light of Vision Bestowal.
Fu Juan noticed them soon enough, his instincts were sharper than expected. He had ample time to dodge- He didn't dodge. Instead, he grew and grew and grew into a big round slime the size of a building. His fifth Soul Ring shone in a deep black colour with a tinge of blood.
Karni crashed into the slime and felt pushback from the bounciness. Then he felt a push into the slime immediately after. The Pandas crashed with him. And they had some raw power to showcase.
Like one would squeeze a balloon, they squeezed the slime. And popped.
"Hoho. That's some power there." Fu Juan smiled.
But Karni felt pricks in the next minute. That slime was not just a slime shield thing. There were tiny spikes. His power was drained.
The bigger, older Brown Lotus Panda fell with a deep breath, barely keeping it together.
"Hahahahaha." The man laughed maniacally. "Ahhh. They're so pure. Such clean energy. Uncorrupted. Tasty."
He turned to look at Karni. "And you're tasty too. I did not expect such pure energy from a human." The man stood in the oasis, smiling. Enjoying the whole situation.
Karni heard the big Panda struggle from behind. Its fur was rugged and multiple spots of it were missing. There was also one big hole in the stomach. But the newest injuries on both Pandas seemed to be on the legs. It looked like they crashed into the slime feet first.
"New plan. You're not attacking anymore." Karni told the Panda. Who looked at Karni with anger.
"We'll be going with range." Karni limited the Sound to their area. "Smaller Panda." Karni looked at it. "Do you have any ranged attacks?"
The Panda nodded.
"Good. I'll keep him occupied. Keep yourself safe. Attack with everything you have."
Karni Shifted, disappearing. In the next instant, the smaller Panda roared, and Lotuses bloomed from the ground around him, raising up into the sky and then they started to spin like drills. In the next instant, they were flying into the man.
Karni reappeared his power filled with his most powerful Sound, a melody reaching the surrounding area. He hit the man.
… his Greatsword bounced off. It just… bounced. The body changed into jelly and effortlessly absorbed the Sound as well.
But the attack was not over yet. The smaller Panda's attack arrived. The arrowlike Lotuses hit the slimy body of Fu Juan and obliterated his head.
It wasn't over yet. Lotuses appeared all around the oasis. Vines going back to the bigger Panda. Their paw was tapping the ground, leading vines to the Lotuses. The Lotuses opened, blooming, and Karni suddenly felt a rich energy enter his mind. A calm Spirituality.
Most importantly, this energy seemed to also put pressure on the slime; squeezing it together.
Then Karni saw the slime reform, the 3rd Soul Ring shining. Then the 2nd, growing spikes and stabbing the Lotuses. The body reformed, and that terrible, cruel laugh returned.
"You guys are good! You guys are fun! Come on! Attack me! Resist! Only to fail!"
Karni Shifted, releasing his Sound again, waiting to see what would happen. He needed to force the guy into revealing more of the abilities somehow.
Yet as Karni sent more Sound, as he flashed the man with Vision Bestowal, as the Pandas summoned more Lotuses to put more pressure on him, as they continued on and on and on, the man just stood there. And he smiled. He fucking smiled. He only used the 3rd Ring to reform himself and the 4th Ring to use those spikes and absorb energy.
"Aaaah." The man seemed satisfied. "All of this pure energy. And this oasis is just… divine." The man completely ignored them.
They needed more pressure. If only the Panda were able to move freely enough that they could close distance-
As if the smaller Panda could read Karni's thoughts, it went into action. No, perhaps it did sense something—Karni's thoughts might have leaked through the Vision Bestowal.
But what this Panda did was not just a leap. No, it was a rush. The sort of power one would expect from a Strength type Titled Douluo.
Karni saw it closely. The panda pushed only from its hind legs. And it exploded in power. He almost missed it, that's how fast it was. This was the strength and speed that equalled Xie Xie's rush!
The slime exploded all around, and Karni did not hesitate to once again explode in Sound. The Disordered Spiral Resonance cycled now. After the first 45th hit was reached, Karni could continue endlessly, just like before he truly fused the techniques. The power stopped rising after the 45th hit, but the abilities repeated.
Now at the 27th hit again, the Sound was released all at once, exploding further and scattering the slime. The injured Panda showed their might with a single, great Lotus blooming right in the middle of the slimy creature, scattering it around ruthlessly.
But laughter ensued once again. The man reformed the mouth first for the sole reason of laughing in their face. It was a liquidy, disgusting laugh. Over and over again.
The small, brave, Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Brown Lotus Panda jumped again, furious and roaring.
"Not this time." The man was ecstatic while saying it.
Another part of the slime extended in a giant pike and used the very charge of the Panda against it, piercing it right through.
"Aahhh." The man screamed with satisfaction. He breathed in, as if it was the most wondrous feeling in the world. "Such purity! To be consumed by me!"
The small panda yelped. The big panda roared in anger, trying to stand up.
Karni Shifted immediately. Slashing with the Greatsword in one big movement, cutting apart the spike inserted in the panda. The remaining slime in the panda simply became normal liquid, no longer having a connection to the main body.
And then Karni felt a rise of power and a shine of black from behind. He looked back horrified.
A ring was rising. A seventh ring. The Evil Soul Emperor… just became a Soul Sage.
Fu Juan smiled cruelly. "Thank you for this, friend. If not for your pressure, I would not have broken through. Now please. Please do not give up." He transformed into a pure slime. "Struggle. Struggle and show me as many expressions as you can muster. Face my purity at its finest!"
The seventh ring transformed the man. And instead of the body, a full giant slime appeared in the oasis. Fuelling off the oasis. Sucking in the power. And then the tentacles rose and swiped toward the panda behind Karni.
Karni Shifted into action, his Bo Staff splitting into Drumsticks, the Guardian automatically adapting. A small dagger attached itself to one drumstick and a wide longsword attached itself to the other.
He threw the dagger at the tentacles he couldn't reach and swiped at the ones he could.
The dagger returned just like a boomerang. As it should. He designed it to return like the Drumstick.
He slashed and cut. He magnetised the Sound. He released Sound, he pressured the very air, he reversed the movements. He released double the power. He slashed an cut. He magnetised the Sound…
Faster and faster, only two hits separated one phase from the other.
But it wasn't enough. A simple improvement like that was not enough to stop a bombardment of the slime. Could not stop a Martial Soul Avatar. Attack after attack would not be enough. Nor did reversals or simple disruption. The 7th Ring was called one of the major transformations of a Soul Master for a reason.
And all the while in between, the small Panda was still getting poked and had his energy drained.
So much was happening. So much information to take into account… Slashes from all sides, protecting the panda from fatal wounds, hundreds of attacks, hundreds of predictions to perceive.
And a hidden attack, silent, far. A Golden Drill of slime forming in the background. His Golden Insight "saw" it, but Karni sensed it just too late. It was hidden behind the body of the slime, outside of his focus.
It was big. It was sharp. It was fast. And Karni could not dodge.
Then he saw a shadow.
… … …
The human was weird. Kind, but weird, just like the rest of the humans who used to be here. Lily never understood them. The humans had a wonderful world, but their infighting was something she did not truly understand. Wouldn't the same species stand together?
The one that killed himself with a boom of sound before was just like the rest until a couple of months ago, but she never thought about it much. Humans changed all the time. And they aged so fast. But they were ultimately kind. At least the Tang Sect was.
She had met them ten thousand years ago. Her little brother Bei Bei had only just reached some hundred years.
They were always interesting, but she never got attached to them like Bei Bei did. They died too quickly, even when she went on a few adventures the past 6000 years as a temporary Spirit Soul that kept her Origin essence and could return—a technique the Tang Sect taught that the first Spirit Souls of Huo Yuhao could use, unless they sacrificed their Origin power. Those were wonderful adventures that redefined her knowledge of the world, but she never attached herself to the human she accompanied.
Yet she was always thankful to humans. They helped protect the Bamboo Oasis. Her home.
And then this happened. Most of her family dead. Her father. The leader of the whole pack, dead—a Hundred-Thousand-Year-Old Brown Lotus Panda could not survive. A few hits from one of those powerful Hyper Douluos at the very start.
The rest of the Tang Sect tried to fight. But almost none of them survived. Only a few of them escaped to their refuge where some of the kids hid along with her Aunt as the final protector. But how could she defend against this when her father couldn't. She had yet to reach the Hundred Thousand Threshold. If they lose here, the last of her species will die here, today.
Half of the kids died before they could take shelter. Her brother and herself tried really hard to defend the rest.
But this monster of a slimy human was too powerful. Every attacked sapped at their power. Sapped at their very life given not just by Bamboo Oasis, but by their lineage.
The Brown Lotus Panda. Proud Pandas, whose ancestors once mixed with the Duskgold Dreadclaw Bears. It was why they were strong, but because of their other Ancient Panda ancestry—the Royal ancestry—they focused on defence. The Duskgold Dreadclaw bloodline developed in their hind legs instead. They had high kicking power. It made them great swimmers.
Swimming was fun. A fun thing to reminisce about in what she felt was her last moments. They could overpower this asshole, but she knew her time would come. Her injures were more than fatal, it was a miracle she was still keeping it together.
She tapped her front paw, connecting to the earth, to the water of the oasis and sprouting Lotuses. They bloomed, enforcing a pressure on the bastard while helping the kind human and her little brother.
She developed differently from her brother. She focused on her body, which was now mostly ruined, and the Lotus as a support. Her brother focused the Lotuses as direct weapons instead.
Then she felt a slight tug at her thoughts, connected with these golden shadows the human bestowed her. A tug that they needed more pressure.
She watched as her brother leaped forward, utilising his powerful legs, leaving deep cracks in the ground behind.
They smashed the slime to pieces. Good! The human teen attacked. Great! She pushed with all her might, focusing a single powerful Lotus to bloom where the cruel monster was.
Finally! Destroyed-
But the laughter returned.
And a seventh ring appeared.
And then the man slashed and slashed. All the while she had to watch from behind as a giant drill was being created by the disgusting slime.
She had to move.
The human was about to die.
Her little brother was about to die!
No, no, no.
The drill built, and readied.
"Human, please notice. Please." Her thoughts ran wild.
The drill shot forward.
Her instincts moved for her. Her legs, her proud, powerful legs leaped.
And there she was.
… … …
Pierced through. The big Panda was pierced through.
Then tossed aside. Like trash, to the side of the lake.
"No!"
The Panda behind Karni roared with a might of a hundred bears. Grief. Regret.
"Yes! Ahahaha! That's the face I like to see. That desperation. The smell of despair. The realisation, that there is nothing. You. Can. Do." A giant smile appeared across the man's ugly slime face.
"Ohhh. I love that look! And what's better! You never stood a chance!" The man raised his voice, as if it was the funniest thing he'd ever said.
"I thrive on purity! And guess where we are! The purest lake on the whole continent! You never stood a chance." He rubbed it in with such satisfaction, revealing why it was hopeless from the beginning.
Karni watched as the small Panda went to the big one. Yelling. Crying. And his heart broke. Because the big Panda did one small thing. She put her paw on the small panda, comforting him. She could still comfort the small one!
Karni was shaken to his very core. But it gave him clarity.
This lake was the purest lake on the continent! In fact, he was not sure it was even of the Water element or something purer.
And that monster of a slime could suck in that purity.
He should remove him from the lake somehow.
But he did not see a way to do that. No, he had to do something else.
He moved around and saw the ripples. Waves.
His Sound. He should use Soundwaves.
Waves. Soundwaves. Different, but in constant interaction hidden from the eyes of the world.
He closed his eyes. And focused. Focused on the Sound. On Still Harmony. On his Spiritual Senses.
"Oho? Still trying something?" The man said with glee, just waiting for Karni to realise he still couldn't do anything.
The Black and White world of Soundwaves appeared.
The ripples in the lake. Like Sound. Waves. Just a different kind. He repeated to himself
Same, but different. Different, but the same.
He put his Drumsticks in the water and spun them slowly. Sensing the frequencies.
Then he manipulated them. Make them resonate. Connect with the waves of the water!
Make the whole lake resonate.
The bastard was made of liquid too! Liquid was always better at transferring Soundwaves than air!
Make that slime monster resonate.
And then destroy it.
"Oh? Oh, I feel something." The slime laughed. "Oh, it tickles. Like a massage."
The frequencies got stronger. The Sound filled everything. Karni could see everything!
"Aggressive massage. A… No, no." The tone finally changed. "Oh, I don't think so!" The man for once laughed while attempting to hide a slight tone of desperation and reached with a spike of slime, only to pause before hitting Karni. The whole slime was vibrating.
"No, no, no! This isn't real!"
Like muscles which were overused and would simply stop working when too much vibration goes through them, so too did the liquid slime simply stop responding. They would not listen to Fu Juan.
"Help!" The man yelled. "Hel-" His mouth was cut off. He could no longer speak. He had no control over any part of the body.
The vibrations increased, built up, the whole body moving like a tsunami was about to explode out of the lake and out of the body of the slime.
Sound, when used right, was terrifying. Strength didn't even necessarily matter. Just the right frequency of normal Sound could shatter glass into pieces.
All Fu Juan could do was scream. But his scream was mighty. All Sound escaped from him.
Waves of Lake ruptured. Went wild, and Karni knew, he felt it, a single solid core in that giant slime. A heart.
Cracking!
… … …
Where did it all go wrong! How did the fucking master of the whole Star Luo Tang Sect get here at just this timing!
Pan Rui hated it. And somehow that darn kid Fu Juan still hadn't finished! What was going on?
It was pure luck that he happened to counter Hu Jie, but he could do nothing to the Smiley Face Douluo either! His Martial Soul just happened to be of a ghostly type that ignored a lot of physical attacks, but it could also barely affect the physical realm.
Then he heard it from the distance. First a single call for help. Then a scream filled with the pain of the very soul. And it was Fu Juan's voice!
This was over. They had to escape. His ninth Soul Ring shone with full power, and he vanished from Hu Jie's view, immediately reaching Fu Juan. From the side he noticed that their spy was dead as well.
He rushed right into that slime and grabbed a small core in that slime. The culmination of all the purity that Fu Juan gathered. His very essence.
He pulled it out of the slime as well as what seemed like a loose form of a human slime body as well. But he was shaken.
What was that resonance that attacked him! That was too powerful! He looked at the human child that was producing it. That kid could cause trouble in the future. A Sound that could affect Hyper Douluo to a slight degree inside a Soul Ancestor? He had to die!
Pan Rui sent out an attack toward the kid, only to see Hu Jie immediately block it.
Fuck. He had to escape. He used his 9th Ring for the second time in a row, leaving him with barely 40 percent of his Soul Power and rushed out. Hu Jie should not have the means to follow him. It was the ultimate escape skill. He was confident that he could escape even Limit Douluos with it! That was why he was chosen for the job today.
After rushing for a few kilometres, he finally stopped, and that's when he realised that the slime had been screaming the whole time.
"Let me go! We have to kill that bastard! He almost killed me!"
"Fu Juan. Calm down. We would have died. We already lost a top-level spy and the Star Luo Tang Sect Master was here. He killed the other Hyper Douluo we brought."
"We have to return! There was still more Purity I could absorb!"
"No." The man refused to listen to this tantrum, and simply continued running.
Until he felt a stab of pain in his shoulder. That fucker.
He threw Fu Juan into the ground, not caring for any injuries he might inflict. "Stop acting like a child. And you know my power isn't pure. What if you dirty your reserves?"
"Like I care! Master cares about that, not me! Purity is like desert, but if I could absorb everything, my speed would surpass yours in two years!"
Pan Rui sighed, and flickered to the man's side, grabbing his throat. "If it was anyone else, they would have killed you as soon as you stabbed them. You're lucky it was me!"
"You wouldn't dare! I am under direct tutelage of the master!"
"Of the master of a branch, yes. You really think you're that important? You almost lost to a Soul Ancestor! In the pool of the Oasis of all things! We both know you were not the real reason we were here. You were just given a chance to develop because your master cares about you absorbing pure life essence. You're a pig being bred to be eaten later."
Fu Juan exploded with rage at that. He formed a spike of slime, trying to break free.
Pan Rui just slapped it away, then pushed the manchild into a tree, destroying it. "I might not kill you. But I'll at least make sure you need a few months to recover to you full strength." He put his hand in the slimy form around the Dantian and twisted.
The screams of Fu Juan echoed for ten minutes straight before they subsided.
"Now let's leave. You're lucky that despite the deaths, we got the bone."
"I'll kill you. No. I'll absorb you when I become stronger."
Pan Rui scoffed. "I'd like to see you try." Then he continued running, bringing the limp Fu Juan with him. It was time to return. The Empire could not treat them as mere annoyance after today unless they deliver the bait quickly enough.
… … …
"Karni, are you alright?" Hu Jie quickly turned to examine Karni, only to find almost no injuries on him. Only exhaustion.
"I'm fine, but they aren't!" Karni Shifted directly to the Pandas. The small one was crying, while the big one was just looking at him. Seemingly content.
"No, no, no." Karni looked over the injuries of the big Panda. That was just too much. A hole in the middle of the stomach. He could see straight through it. The injury was inflicted in the chest before Karni came. The fur was torn off everywhere, bare skin showing, bones and flesh inside showing. It was just. It was… It was sad.
Karni actually felt like crying, but his heart was filled with greater rage. And guilt. This panda saved his life. The slime overwhelmed his Golden Insight and his senses to such a degree that he missed a hidden, deadly attack. He couldn't process all of it. If only he thought of using the water before.
Pandas were supposed be durable creatures, filled with vitality. This whole place was filled with vitality. And now with death. All the bodies shrunk; their very life was sucked out of them by that slime fucker. Even this one looked like that. Fu Juan was the guy's name. Karni will remember him.
Karni was forced to refocus his gaze when he felt a soft paw tap his head. The big Panda. She looked at him with kind eyes.
Hu Jie arrived quickly. "Lily… Are the rest still alive?"
The Pandas looked at each other. Giving a yes and no answer.
"So only a few remain. I am sorry. We failed to protect your family."
The Panda grumbled, shaking her head and patted Karni as if to say: "You saved some of us."
Hu Jie took notice of how Lily treated Karni and kneeled, an idea getting to him. "Lily. There might be a chance to save you, but you might not like it." He turned to look at Karni. "And it's you who can save her."