Community Traversal: I Have a Daily Rescue Kit

38: Life Skills Card, Puppeteer

"Not again?!"

Su Chen's eyes narrowed, and he gripped the red-tasseled spear tightly with both hands, sweeping it horizontally. The spear shaft, accompanied by a whistling sound, slammed into the oncoming puppet.

With a muffled thud, the wooden puppet was knocked back two steps, and a crack appeared in its wooden body.

It only cracked slightly!

You should know that after his enhancement, the strength in his hands is extraordinary.

Although the blow landed on the thickest part of the puppet's shoulder, the fact that it only cracked into such a small fissure was still a bit hard for him to accept.

Just then, the puppet suddenly turned around and lunged at the pile of firewood in the corner.

Its severed hand pressed against the pile of firewood, and the firewood visibly and rapidly melted away, transforming into a pale yellow woody energy that flowed into its body. The crack that had just appeared healed completely in the blink of an eye, leaving not a trace.

"It can actually be repaired?!"

Su Chen immediately stepped back.

The basement was already cramped and cluttered, leaving very little room to move around. Now, with the puppet blocking their way, their escape route was further reduced.

He had just regained his footing when he noticed with his sharp eyes that thick, black liquid was dripping from the broken part of the puppet.

The next instant, the liquid began to writhe like a living black snake, meandering along the ground and coiling towards his ankle!

"What the hell is that?!"

Su Chen immediately dodged.

The liquid missed its target, paused on the ground for a moment, then changed direction and slowly flowed back into the wooden puppet, re-integrating into its wooden body.

"This blood...is it from living blood?!"

Su Chen's expression was grave.

Before I could think any further, the puppet had already pounced again, its hand making a "whoosh" sound as it cut through the air.

Su Chen could only dodge to the side, his back slamming into a dilapidated wooden crate with a thud. The crate lid flew off with a crash, scattering its contents all over the ground.

Using the recoil, he thrust his red-tasseled spear forward with a backhand motion, the tip of which precisely pierced the puppet's chest.

With a crisp "crack," a hole was pierced in the puppet's chest, and black liquid gushed out.

But this thing was completely unaffected, still waving its hand to grab Su Chen's neck without the slightest hesitation.

Su Chen withdrew his gun and retreated. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the gushing black liquid was starting to stir again—part of it flowed back into the puppet's body, while the other part split into several thin streams with a "hiss," spreading towards his feet from different directions as if it were consciously trying to escape.

"Does this thing have to be so weird and difficult to deal with!"

While dodging the liquid attack, Su Chen wielded his red-tasseled spear to parry the puppet's attacks.

In the cramped space, the figures of a person and a puppet collided and jostled in the flickering firelight. Debris was knocked over, and sawdust and dust mingled and flew everywhere.

Although this puppet is fragile and has low defense, its regeneration speed is ridiculously fast—it can instantly repair its injuries as long as it touches a wooden object.

What's more troublesome is that each time it's repaired, its size will increase slightly, as if it's absorbing the wood's energy to grow stronger.

But what's most troublesome is the black blood. It's like an inescapable plaster, always managing to launch a sneak attack from unexpected angles.

Su Chen nearly got his ankles tangled several times, only managing to avoid it with agile movements, and a fine layer of cold sweat had already seeped out of his forehead.

"You damn puppet, that's incredibly unethical! You resort to these weird contraptions when you can't win, is that it?"

Su Chen became fierce, wielding his red-tasseled spear with impenetrable speed, creating layers upon layers of spear shadows.

He tried attacking the puppet's limbs and joints, but even if he broke its arm at the shoulder, it could quickly regenerate and recover as long as there was wood nearby, making it impossible to kill.

However, as the fight went on, Su Chen figured out the trick – although the puppet was strong, its moves were extremely clumsy, consisting of only a few straightforward attacks!

After exchanging blows for a while, Su Chen had completely gotten used to its fighting rhythm.

He tried several other methods: first, he smashed its arms with a hammer, then he took out a pistol and aimed it at the puppet's head.

"Bang! Bang!"

Gunshots echoed in the basement. He hit his target!

The pistol bullet hit its target squarely on the first strike, creating a hole in the puppet's forehead.

Unfortunately, in just a short while, the puppet absorbed the energy from a nearby wooden chair and returned to normal, even the bullet hole on its forehead disappeared.

"Is this never going to end?!"

Su Chen glanced at the torch he had placed against the wall earlier.

Or... should we just burn it?

No, no.

This basement is too enclosed, with extremely poor ventilation. And who knows if the foul-smelling liquid oozing from the puppet is some kind of flammable substance like petroleum? If the fire gets out of control and I end up burning to death in this basement, that would be truly ridiculous.

Therefore, fire attacks should never be used lightly unless there is absolutely no other way!

At this crucial moment...

While the puppet was recovering from its injuries, Su Chen took out the [Demon Hunter's Compendium].

He flipped directly to the second half of the illustrated book and decisively pressed his fingerprint on those blank, unknown pages.

[Use 10 survival points to verify the current monster?]

Su Chen answered "Yes!" without hesitation.

Ten people's survival points were deducted, leaving him with 445 personal points.

The pages of the "Demon Hunter's Compendium" automatically flipped open with a "whoosh," stopping at one of them. Lines of neat, square characters quickly appeared, arranged in paragraphs as if they were alive.

Su Chen caught a glimpse of those words out of the corner of his eye, and the relevant knowledge immediately flooded into his mind:

[The Corrupted Doll]

Danger level: Level 3

Morphological characteristics: A doll made with the remains of Pinocchio as the core material, with a wooden structure throughout and dark red patterns spreading on the surface.

Behavioral Habits: After being given the core command of "cleaning up trash", it will indiscriminately attack all living things in its field of vision until the target loses its life signs or it is completely destroyed.

Weaknesses and countermeasures: The combat logic is simple, making it easy to be deceived by feints, and attention can be briefly diverted due to external interference.

"What the hell is Pinocchio?!"

Su Chen frowned—wasn't Pinocchio the little wooden puppet in the fairy tale whose nose grew longer when he lied? How did he become a real-life material?

But the battle was raging, and he had no time to think. The puppet's hand was already swinging in front of him again, and the wind it generated hit his face.

Su Chen quickly seized upon the weakness indicated in the encyclopedia—this thing is easily fooled by feints!

He deliberately adopted a stance of launching a full-force attack to the left, his body weight leaning to the left, and the red-tasseled spear in his hand also clearly tilted to the left, as if he were about to stab.

The puppet fell for the trick and immediately adjusted its posture, raising its left arm to prepare to block the attack from the left.

It's now!

Su Chen suddenly lunged forward, his right hand already gripping a hammer. He aimed at the puppet's raised arm joint and slammed it down hard!

"Bang!"

The puppet's arm shattered instantly, scattering wood chips everywhere.

Having landed a successful blow, Su Chen gave it no chance and immediately followed up with another hammer blow, slamming it heavily onto the puppet's neck joint!

"Bang!"

The puppet's head finally detached from its body and rolled to the ground.

Su Chen was afraid that the puppet could absorb more wood and revive itself, so he dared not be careless in the slightest. He stepped forward and struck the puppet a few more times, dismantling all the remaining hands and feet, leaving it in pieces.

Next, he separated the parts and threw them into different locations on the ground, making sure they were spaced a distance apart from each other.

After doing all this, Su Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief, slumped to the ground, and gasped for air. But the foul odor of the liquid emanating from the puppet assaulted his nostrils, forcing him to cover his mouth and nose and slow his breathing.

"It stinks... What is this smell?!"

Su Chen covered his mouth and nose, intending to leave the basement.

Just as he turned around, a soft white light suddenly shone from among the scattered remains of the puppet. A card the size of a palm slowly rose from the remains, hovering in mid-air and rotating slightly.

"It's...it's shipped?"

Su Chen was immediately overjoyed.

So it turns out that only living creatures can drop cards? As long as something is classified as a monster, there's a chance it will drop a card?

Curious, he reached out and took the card. It was cool to the touch, with a peculiar texture—neither wood nor paper. The card depicted a figure holding a carving knife, meticulously carving a wooden puppet, with the words "[Life Profession Transformation Card: Puppeteer]" clearly written below.

"A career change card? Or a puppeteer?"

Su Chen was even more surprised, as he had never encountered this type of card before. Previously, he had only received combat-related skill cards or item cards; this "life skill" type was a first for him.

He carefully examined both sides of the card, which detailed how to use it: after use, one could transform their profession into a puppeteer, master basic puppet making, repair and maintenance skills, and be able to perceive the properties of wood materials.

But after looking at it for a while, Su Chen's mind was once again filled with the words on the encyclopedia: "Using the remains of Pinocchio as the core material." His attention was drawn back to the three words "Pinocchio," and his mind was filled with doubts.

He stood up, walked to the scattered remains of the wooden puppet, and squatted down to examine it closely. The black blood was still writhing slightly, slowly seeping into the ground, as if it were alive and unwilling to disappear completely.

Looking at the scattered doll fragments and the eerie blood seeping into the ground, Su Chen felt a strange, indescribable feeling well up inside him.

He felt as if he had inadvertently touched upon some hidden, true secret of this world.

And this secret seems to be inextricably linked to those fairy tales and legends.