Chapter 257: Who to Rely On

"If it's a person, it can be killed. And it's not like we're fighting alone, either."

Hu Maomao floated down. Looking at Zhang Wenda, who was giving off white steam, he took a deep breath and said, "I don't know what happened to you, but your personality has clearly become much more impulsive, far too radical."

"But you need to think about this rationally. Even with Big Circle Leopard's help, how are we supposed to defeat Qianxi? On you alone? Are you really that strong? If Qianxi spares even a moment, he could take our lives!"

Zhang Wenda flickered. A fierce wind swept past, tearing apart all the emerging thoughts around him.

Seeing Zhang Wenda calm down again, Hu Maomao breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't be rash. We need to go. Qianxi isn't easy to deal with, and we've already more than completed our mission."

Zhang Wenda shook his head, the killing intent returning to his eyes. "No. Not on my own. On her."

As he spoke, the tip of his sharp scythe pointed to Song Jianguo, who was standing to the side, fidgeting and ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

"Huh? On me?" Song Jianguo pointed to herself, a confused look on her face.

"On you alone? Of course not. But what if you had this? This thing from Tang Xingxiong is a perfect match for your cat." As Zhang Wenda spoke, he plunged his two scythes into an enamel basin stuffed into a cavity in his own body and gently clamped down.

A Double Fish Jade Pendant, wrapped in cloth, appeared before Song Jianguo.

Under the influence of the Double Fish Jade Pendant, Song Jianguo's black cats began to multiply endlessly. The one-eyed black cats grew more numerous and larger, until they finally merged, becoming a giant black Godzilla.

This transformation was smoother than ever before, as if she herself were its main body.

Only, this Godzilla was a bit peculiar. Two cat ears sprouted from its enormous head. It seemed that anything the black cats transformed into had cat ears on its head.

"Yes! This is it! This is it!!" Zhang Wenda stood on the giant monster's shoulder. As he raised a single hand, the red energy within his body dispersed. At his prompting, the red within all the black cats flared, making them as frenzied and aggressive as he was, feeling no fear in the face of any enemy.

"ROAR~~" Incredibly excited, Song Jianguo controlled the giant monster, which stood dozens of meters tall, and let out a heaven-shaking roar. She had never felt so powerful—powerful enough to squash that damn Haozi flat with her butt.

Just then, she saw Qianxi's head emerge from the ground once more. Excited, she lifted her right foot and stomped down hard on Qianxi's head.

The sudden attack clearly caught Qianxi off guard. Its huge head was immediately caved in by Song Jianguo's stomp.

"Hm?" A giant cursor arrow flew in from nowhere, clicked lightly on Song Jianguo, and was about to select "Delete" from the pop-up list box.

"Cat Breath!" Zhang Wenda commanded the monster's head to open its mouth and spray with all its might. The still-replicating black cats shot out like a tidal wave.

The black cats scrambled all over the list box floating in mid-air, using their furry bodies to block it from view and prevent the enemy from clicking.

Qianxi was just about to emerge when it was suddenly yanked down a notch by something underground. Seizing the opportunity, Song Jianguo had the monster spray forcefully at Qianxi's screen again.

What looked like a bolt of red lightning shot out of its mouth, flying forward at lightning speed.

It was Zhang Wenda who had flown out. He had turned himself into a bullet, smashing violently into the enemy's screen.

With the sound of shattering glass, Zhang Wenda carved a giant, seven-to-eight-meter-long crack straight across the screen.

"You little pest! Annoying as a fly!" Qianxi was about to retaliate but was once again yanked down hard by the Big Circle Leopard from underground.

At the same time, the huge wound Zhang Wenda had just created began to grow fangs of shattered glass, turning into a mouth that started spouting vulgar curses.

Zhang Wenda knew he had this ability. What he didn't know was that it now seemed to be much stronger.

The large mouth on Qianxi's face didn't just curse; it began to gnaw at other parts of Qianxi's screen.

And when Zhang Wenda, floating in mid-air on a platform of thoughts, once again controlled the red within Qianxi, while Song Jianguo attacked at the same time—under the multi-pronged assault—Qianxi finally couldn't hold on any longer. Its body slipped and was once again dragged into the earth.

This time, there was no more surging from beneath the ground. Everything became deathly quiet.

Just as a helicopter from Bureau 507's combat division flew over, the Big Circle Leopard, now with one arm missing, slowly emerged from a fissure in the ground.

"Where's Qianxi?!" Zhang Wenda came up to him and demanded through gritted teeth.

"He realized he couldn't beat us, so he ran. The network of thought is his home turf."

Hearing this, Zhang Wenda swore viciously, but then he immediately thought that this was a good start.

This was Qianxi. Even with the Big Circle Leopard's help this time, he could finally stand before him, fair and square, and actually inflict damage. He was no longer just scrambling to escape in disgrace like he did in Thought Wave One.

Just then, the Big Circle Leopard looked at Zhang Wenda with great surprise. "I really didn't expect you to be of some use, kid. If you hadn't stepped in, it's hard to say who would've won between me and Qianxi."

As he spoke, he reached out to pat Zhang Wenda's shoulder, but Zhang Wenda violently shook it off. "Don't touch me!"

The sheer volume of his voice surprised not only everyone else, but Zhang Wenda himself.

Crushing all the thought-clusters again, Zhang Wenda said to the Big Circle Leopard, "Sorry. I'm not very emotionally stable right now."

Hearing this, the Big Circle Leopard couldn't help but frown, as if he understood something. "Kid, did you go down the wrong path?"

"What?" Zhang Wenda looked up at him. "Do you know what's happening to me?"

"I don't. That's your own business. I can't interfere, and I don't know the specifics of your situation, but there's a high probability that something has gone wrong."

"I won't say more. All I can tell you is that this path of having your own thought wave... it's not an easy one to walk. Quite a few people have practiced it until they went insane. I hope you don't follow in their footsteps."

After saying this, the Big Circle Leopard turned and walked toward the military helicopter in the distance.

Hu Maomao floated over. He was about to pat Zhang Wenda's shoulder but ultimately didn't. "Let's head back first. With your situation, we should have the others at the Bureau help figure out a solution."

With the Big Circle Leopard's departure, Zhang Wenda could no longer see the thought-clusters around him, nor could he calm himself down by attacking them.

Zhang Wenda gritted his teeth, reigning in his out-of-control emotions. "I need to find Old Tan first."

As he spoke, he started toward the military helicopter, but a giant foot blocked his path. "Wait."

Zhang Wenda looked up to see that the giant Gomira had transformed into a mountain of cats more than ten meters high.

"Don't be in such a hurry to leave, Haozi! What am I supposed to do with all these? There are 152,941 cats in total, and they're all saying they're hungry! You feed them."