Chapter 98: Spirit Curse

Liu Ye only heard an explosion before blood and fragments of Tian's brain flew all over the place. The impact was nothing scary but Avi still knocked them down to avoid most of the blast.

"Ouch…" Liu Ye hissed in pain when his injured back reacted to his fall. He wasn't fully healed yet so he was sure some of the wounds reopened.

"Are you okay?" Avi asked as she pulled away but that only made the situation worse. She was grasping onto his chest and didn't realize she was pushing him down to the cold ground.

"I'm not. Can you get off me?" Liu Ye questioned back while lifting himself up. "What was that for? You cracked my back open." 

His brow was constantly twitching as the pain was even worse than before. 

"Oh, I'm sorry but that was necessary," Avi explained as she sat on his thighs and gathered water to wash his back. "Don't move, I will clean it for you." 

She didn't get up to look at his back and simply embraced him with her arm wrapped around his neck before he felt cold water touch his wounds.

"Don't worry, you will be fine," Avi assured after clearing all the dirt and blood from his back. "It would be best if your sister can heal you back up since we don't have time to visit a hospital." 

She didn't wait for him to reply as she shifted to the front and ogled his body while cleaning him up everywhere. When her hands traveled down his chest and belly which wasn't even dirty, he knew she had some ulterior motives. 

"Okay, that's enough," Liu Ye cut her advances short by lifting them up. "I will finish the rest by myself."

Avi only smiled amusedly and began to clean herself as well. "If you wonder what caused this explosion then it was one of the Spirit Curses. Once activated, a person cannot betray you, or else they will die with their brain exploding." 

"Don't tell me Xu Yue is under the influence of such a curse?" Liu Ye pointed out with his eyes widened. He remembered how she couldn't speak about Avatar Online's secrets before. 

"No, it's not. We are not as cruel as them," Avi denied right away as water passed through her whole body, clearing all the dirt within seconds. "What Katherine uses is a simple Spirit Restriction. One can't speak of the secret else they will feel a headache. They cannot die from it." 

"So they know that Tian is dead?" Liu Ye figured as he pointed at the headless body of Tian. 

"The creator of the Spirit Curse will naturally know when it's broken and that is not all," Avi replied while gazing at all the blood and brain fragments. "She can also visualize where the person died during the explosion. If I didn't push us to the ground, they would know our identities." 

Liu Ye was about to question what they can do with the body but Avi was already taking care of it. She extended her arms and performed a massive clean-up. 

All the ice created in the garden suddenly melted and she filled up the pool once again. She moved such a massive amount of water so casually and didn't even break a sweat. 

"It is best if the police don't find his body," Avi commented as a flame lit up on her palm and a massive Fire Stream swallowed Tian's body. She only needed 30 seconds to completely burn him to ashes. 

A power like that was definitely enough to kill hundreds if not thousands in a matter of seconds. 

Huh?

Liu Ye moved back towards the Villa only to stop, seeing Avi crouch next to the ashes, and pulled out a silver chain necklace with a single blue crystal. She used water to cool it down before displaying it. His experience with Avatar Online caused him to change his perception on jewelry. 

"Don't tell me this is a real-life item?" Liu Ye questioned and Avi threw it at him in return. 

"You can have it," Avi replied while spreading the ashes so they wouldn't be too obvious. "Let's go, we need to get out of here." 

Liu Ye followed Avi back in the villa but his gaze was glued to the necklace in his hand. He cleaned it from the ashes and wore it on his neck. At first, he didn't feel anything but after he tried to use his Waterbending, the crystal finally reacted. It shone brightly and spread a pleasing feeling around his chest. 

"It's a rare Water Essence. It will make you less tired when you use your Water Element," Avi explained as she pointed at her own chain on her neck. "I have one of them for each element already." 

"Are there also some that increase your damage?" Liu Ye asked curiously only to realize a second later how stupid it sounded. 

Avi chuckled in response. "Of course not silly. Do you think real life is a game? A single stone can be as deadly as an Ice Spike. It only depends on how you use it." 

She gazed at him for a moment as if she wanted to say something more but stopped herself after something buzzed in her black uniform. 

"Anyway, go get your sister and Xu Yue outside as soon as you can. Don't forget to grab your gaming headsets and take some clothes for the next few days. I need to take you three away from here and I don't plan to stay for the police interrogation," Avi muttered as she pushed him lightly towards the villa. "The transport is already coming." 

Even if Tian was the intruder, they would still need to report killing him and that was too much paperwork for them to stay. 

Only when Liu Ye left did Avi pull out a hidden phone and saw multiple notifications on the screen from no one other than Katherine. Avi chuckled as she called her back and spoke as soon as the call connected. 

"Before you get mad, listen to what I have to say. I think I know why they target Liu Ye..."

———

"Damn, I knew I should have followed him…" 

The moment Tian died, a lady hiding under a blood-red cloak cursed and pulled away from the cold wall of the dungeon. She opened her eyes and was about to disappear when her prisoners stopped her. 

"Did the attack on my son happen to fail?"

She turned around and saw the male prisoner looking at her calmly as if it wasn't his son being hunted down. It was the first time those two have ever spoken so she couldn't help but get curious. 

"Are you really not even a bit worried about your son?" 

They have always been calm and collected without any concerns. Sometimes she felt like they knew they would eventually get out of there. 

"Will worrying help him at all? We are locked up behind a barrier we can't breach so it's not like we can do anything," Liu Ye's dad replied with a shrug. "So? Care to tell us the details?" 

"I would but I'm on my way to kill him," the lady replied playfully, planning to tease them before leaving but she froze on the spot after his next words. 

"Go ahead, Sunny. No one is stopping you." 

Her face darkened underneath her hood and she stormed back towards the barrier. "How do you know this name...?" 

"Oh, my bad. That's your sister's name. You are Star, aren't you?" Liu Ye's dad asked back with a gentle smile. 

Star momentarily exploded with fury and banged on the barrier with her fist. "How do you know about my sister?!"

Liu Ye's parents didn't even flinch at her outburst. 

"My, my. You should be careful or you can free us by accident," Liu Ye's Dad warned. "You wouldn't want—"

"I don't care about the barrier! Tell me!" Star cut him off sternly while clenching her fists. "You must have heard about her when you worked as researchers, right? What do you know?"

"You would be surprised how much one can learn while having access to all secret data in the world," Liu Ye's Dad muttered as he smiled mysteriously. "How about you tell us about our son in exchange for information about your lost sister? What do you think?"