Chapter 81: Seizing the Token

The sheer brutality, lightning speed, and utter viciousness with which the Heaven-Cutting Master acted completely exceeded my expectations.

Watching Zhao Shuihe wailing at the top of her lungs and staring at her continuously bleeding hand, I suddenly understood the truth!

During his time spent living among the cats, this Heaven-Cutting Master had been "assimilated" by them, transforming into a creature akin to a "cat" himself. He ate raw meat and living prey just like wildcats, had grown claws as sharp as theirs, and possessed a terrifying, chilling speed.

In my anxiety, I hurried over and cradled Zhao Shuihe’s hand.

Right across Zhao Shuihe's left palm, there was a deep, slashing wound that ran straight across all four fingers. It had sliced through her slender, scalloped fingers like a surgical scalpel—precise and merciless.

Zhao Shuihe’s cries were steeped in absolute despair, as she screamed like someone who had lost her mind, "My hand is ruined! My hand is gone!"

Her words, accompanied by tears falling like a torrential storm, stirred a profound sense of pity and fury within me.

For I knew what those hands meant to Zhao Shuihe.

Six or seven tenths of a Huaiyang pastry chef's culinary skill lay precisely in those dexterous fingers. If Zhao Shuihe's fingers were crippled by this wound, it would be the equivalent of a pianist having their fingers broken.

Zhao Shuihe's entire future, along with her status within the Suzi Workshop, would come to an end right here and now.

I stood up straight, looked at the smug fraudster, and demanded, "Do you have any idea what you've just done?"

The fraudulent master was laughing, clutching the string of Five Emperors Coins tightly in his fist as he crowed, "With this in my possession, you are dead meat! Hahaha!"

"Dead?!" I straightened my posture, tightened my grip on the wooden handle of the shovel, and thrust my hand—stained with Zhao Shuihe's blood—right toward his face. "Whatever injury he inflicted on Zhao Shuihe, I will repay you a thousandfold!"

With those words, I lunged forward, charging straight at the Heaven-Cutting Master!

Emboldened by the Five Emperors Coins, the Heaven-Cutting Master was brimming with confidence. He was arrogant enough neither to dodge nor to retreat.

He hoisted the ancient coins high into the air and let out a shrill howl to summon every single cat present.

Instantly, the horde of beasts charged fiercely toward me, crashing forward like an overwhelming wave, blotting out the sun like heavy storm clouds.

The Heaven-Cutting Master laughed arrogantly, watching the cats charge toward me with an ecstatic gleam in his eyes, as if eager to relish the spectacle of me being torn apart by the feline pack.

Unfortunately for him, his calculations were about to fail.

Having endured this situation three times prior, I now knew how to properly handle these cats.

The feline pack relied entirely on a "sea of cats" tactic, and their greatest weakness was their "leader"—or, as the old saying goes, to capture the bandits, you must first capture their chief.

Previously, the leader of the cat pack had been the "Lantern King," but now, it was the Heaven-Cutting Master clutching the Five Emperors Coins!

Just like before, I didn't need to worry about the movements of the ordinary cats; I had only one target, and that was the frantic-looking Heaven-Cutting Master!

Take him down, and the rest of them would scatter!

Thus, a plan instantly formed in my mind!

"A-Si!" I spun around to look at him and barked out quick instructions. "I'll carry you on my back, and we'll charge together! The rest is up to you!"

Although A-Si didn't fully understand, he nodded anyway. He scrambled up onto my shoulders, and with him clinging to me, I brandished the shovel, weaving through the feline horde like an eel swimming against a violent torrent, charging straight toward the Heaven-Cutting Master.

As the shovel rose and fell, I first batted away the two front-most yellow-striped black cats, and then hurled the tool forward with all my might, aiming straight at the Heaven-Cutting Master's face!

The whistling iron shovel startled the Heaven-Cutting Master, but his reflexes were fast enough; he ducked in a frantic scramble, and the shovel merely grazed the side of his temple.

Driven to fury by humiliation, the Heaven-Cutting Master cursed, alternating between cat-like yowls and ghostly gibberish, which only served to summon even more cats to block my path and forward momentum.

Before long, my legs were set upon by seven or eight cats whose claws dug deep into my flesh, causing my movement to slow down drastically.

Even so, I had no intention of stopping, because I knew that stopping meant death, and stopping meant abandoning all hope.

Persisting through the immense pressure, I forced my way forward against the crashing tide of cats, taking a few more steps before hastily deploying my final trump card!

At the very instant the cat pack was about to leap and knock me down, I yanked A-Si off my back, hurled him forward with every ounce of my remaining strength, and roared at the top of my lungs, "Snatch the token!"

The moment the words left my mouth, A-Si was projected through the air toward the Heaven-Cutting Master like a flying missile.

Immediately afterward, the swarm of cats tackled me to the ground, pinning my body down ruthlessly.

In the final split second, I had thrown little A-Si out like a "weapon," with the sole objective of utilizing his nimble agility to snatch back the "Five Emperors Coins" from the Heaven-Cutting Master. Although I hadn't explicitly communicated the plan to A-Si, I felt certain he understood my intent, and I trusted him implicitly.

After all, we were now grasshoppers tethered to the same blade of grass! Our survival hinged entirely on this final gamble!

Soon enough, A-Si gave me my answer!

Just as my heart hammered with anxiety amidst the scratching and clawing of the cats, I suddenly heard a heart-wrenching, prolonged howl erupt from the direction of the Heaven-Cutting Master!

That shriek reeked of fresh blood, and it instantly brought the cat pack's frenzied assault to a dead stop, scattering them in all directions like startled birds and beasts.

I lifted my head, catching sight of the sun once more, and beneath it, the Heaven-Cutting Master.

At that moment, the Heaven-Cutting Master was rolling back and forth among the low earthen mounds, trembling uncontrollably. I could tell he was consumed by pain and sheer terror.

Little A-Si stood right beside him, his muzzle stained with fresh blood, while clutching two items in his paws:

Zhao Shuihe's Five Emperors Coins and one of the Heaven-Cutting Master's fingers.

I knew I had won the gamble.

Pulling myself up from the ground, I sprinted toward the Heaven-Cutting Master. Before he could react, I delivered a swift kick straight to his face, knocking him unconscious on the spot.

After that, I paid him no further mind. Instead, I turned around and hurried back to Zhao Shuihe, who was still wailing miserably.

I took her hand and inspected the wound.

Zhao Shuihe clearly had never suffered such a severe "blow" in her life. Though she had stopped screaming at the top of her lungs, she was still convulsing, repeating the same phrase over and over: "My hand, my hand, my hand..."

Realizing this little girl needed some comforting, I forced away the grimness of the bloodbath, squeezed out the gentlest smile I could manage, and said, "Hey, Shuihe, it's fine! Just a superficial wound. I'll patch it up for you, and I promise it won't leave any lingering scars. Deal?"

My words snapped Zhao Shuihe out of her daze. She stared at me blankly and asked, "Can you really heal my hand?"

To be completely honest, I had no earthly idea whether I could heal her, but in order to console her, I made a solemn and confident promise: "I learned emergency field treatment in the military. I know how to handle this—leave it to me!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Shuihe miraculously stopped crying on the spot. Teary-eyed, she extended her injured hand toward me with innocent trust and urged, "Really? Go ahead, then!"

I froze for a moment, my brain briefly short-circuiting as I thought, *You're actually letting me treat this?*

Zhao Shuihe nodded frantically. "Hurry up! Look at me bleeding! Fix it right now!"

Her demand instantly threw me into a panic.

After turning it over in my mind, weighing every option, I was left with only one desperate, utterly unorthodox solution.