"Baizhu, Su Yuan, get out of here, now!"
Zhongli spoke urgently to Su Yuan and Baizhu:
"I'll hold Hu Tao back. You two find out the reason behind her eerie transformation and figure out how to undo it!"
"My dearest Consultant Zhongli," Hu Tao said with a grin, "I always knew your identity wasn't simple, but I didn't expect you to have such extraordinary martial prowess…"
Still smiling cheerfully, Hu Tao continued:
"Sacrificing yourself to stall me so the others can escape? Do you really think that's possible? Do you really think you're worthy of that?"
"I already said it—everyone here today… will be buried along with Qiqi as part of her funeral offering!!!"
"None of you… move!!!"
As Hu Tao's eerie power surged through the room, everyone present suddenly felt their bodies locked in place, completely unable to move…
The current situation had already spiraled beyond Su Yuan's control.
Though he desperately wanted to pull out the strategy pouch hidden in his robes to figure out how to respond…
His body was completely paralyzed under the eerie force's suppression.
How could he possibly retrieve the pouch like this?
But in the next moment, something unexpected happened—despite being unable to move his body at all, his left hand suddenly moved on its own…
His left hand reached into his robe and directly pulled out three strategy pouches.
"Hu Tao" noticed this too and was visibly surprised…
She couldn't understand how Su Yuan was able to move under the overwhelming suppression of her eerie power.
And the thing he had taken out from his robes—it looked like some kind of strategy pouch…
"Haha, Su Yuan, you really do know how to surprise me!!!" "Hu Tao" laughed gleefully.
"What are you trying to sneak a peek at? Why don't I take a look instead?"
"Hu Tao" let out a loud laugh and temporarily ignored Zhongli.
She walked straight over to Su Yuan and snatched the three strategy pouches from his left hand.
"What's this? Could it be some clever stratagems from a military advisor, like the ones in Liyue's romance novels?"
"Well then, let me see what these three pouches contain that could possibly help you deal with the current situation!"
Su Yuan was at a complete loss for words…
He still had no idea why his left hand was able to move on its own despite being under the suppression of the eerie power…
But even if his left hand was trying to take out the strategy pouches to help, couldn't it have done it more subtly?
Making such a big movement like that just got "Hu Tao"'s attention right away…
Also, why did you take out all three strategy pouches at once?
Couldn't you have just taken out one at a time?
By taking out all three at once, didn't you just expose all your trump cards to "Hu Tao"?
These were supposed to be really useful pouches!
And I haven't even gotten a chance to read them myself—now the enemy "Hu Tao" is the one reading them instead...
Under Su Yuan's despairing gaze, "Hu Tao" slowly opened the first strategy pouch—and then showed a puzzled expression.
"That's strange... why is this pouch empty?"
"Don't tell me... even your strategy pouches are trying to pull an Empty Fort Strategy on me?"
Still unconvinced, "Hu Tao" opened the second pouch…
Her expression remained one of confusion—indicating this pouch was empty too.
"How odd... the second one is empty as well?"
"Hu Tao" let out a confused sound and said:
"Don't tell me… the third pouch is also empty?"
She then opened the third strategy pouch—and couldn't help exclaiming:
"Oh my gosh! The third pouch is actually empty too!!!"
Hu Tao looked at Su Yuan as if he were a complete fool and said:
"Su Yuan, did you get scammed by some shady strategist?"
"These three beautifully and elaborately wrapped pouches… are all completely empty!"
Su Yuan was also stunned and couldn't make sense of it.
He stared at the scene in utter shock…
These were the strategy pouches Kokomi gave him!
She even solemnly told him only to open them in moments of extreme crisis…
And the hint on the palm of his left hand had already been verified—it said these pouches would be extremely useful.
So how could they possibly be empty…?
However, before Su Yuan could figure it out, he suddenly saw "Hu Tao" clutching her stomach in pain, foaming at the mouth, and then collapsing to her knees on the ground…
"So that's… so that's what it was…"
"What a cunning scheme… Su Yuan…"
"The three pouches weren't empty at all… they were filled with deadly poison gas…"
"So this was part of your plan too… Su Yuan!!!"
With that, "Hu Tao" collapsed onto the ground, her body twitching twice before falling completely still…
Immediately after, Su Yuan, Baizhu, and Zhongli all felt the eerie force that had been suppressing them vanish entirely.
Their bodies returned to normal, and they could move freely again.
Su Yuan looked at Hu Tao, whose life force had completely faded, then glanced at his now-responsive left hand, still unable to understand what had just happened…
What was going on?
The pouches Kokomi had given him contained no instructions or clues—only deadly poison gas???
And the poison's effect… was terrifyingly potent…
Back in Fontaine, when Sigewinne fed Wriothesley anesthetics, it proved that even those controlled by eerie force still had bodily functions similar to ordinary humans—anesthetics could still take effect…
So now, this potent poison gas being able to kill the corrupted Hu Tao isn't all that surprising…
But the real issue now is—these pouches were originally prepared by Kokomi for him to open!
If he had opened them, wouldn't he have been poisoned to death completely unaware?
Wait a second… After thinking for a moment, Su Yuan suddenly realized something…
Kokomi emphasized that these pouches should only be opened in a desperate situation, when there was no other choice…
He had no idea what was inside these pouches.
If he had opened them himself, he would've been poisoned without knowing…
Unaware… poisoned to death…
Death… was the condition for triggering his Death Rewind—but due to the restrictions of the rules now, he couldn't commit suicide, nor could he provoke or manipulate others into killing him…
But if he were in a desperate situation, completely unaware of what was inside the pouches, and chose to open them—wouldn't that, in a way, be an unintentional, alternative form of suicide?
Now Su Yuan finally understood why, the last time, even though he had clearly used these pouches, the prompt in the palm of his left hand refused to tell him what was inside.
It only said they were "very useful," but must be used with caution…
Of course—it all made sense now.
As long as he opened the pouches, it would trigger a death rewind…
And the reason it had to be used with caution was also simple—because his ability to rewind upon death was limited in uses.
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