Chapter 17: Fifteen, I can't even remember how many times I've brushed you without any harm.
When Ulu opened his eyes again, the fear and pain-induced distortion on his face had vanished, replaced by... excitement.
For it was no longer Ulu who controlled this body, but Bai Wei.
After traversing for so many days, Bai Wei finally had a body he could control, not just a finger. He could now sense every part of the body and easily mobilize it, a function normal people take for granted, which Bai Wei had been without for quite some time.
Even with all his might, these past days he could only manage to stand, stand, stand, straighten up, straighten up, straighten up, like a gaunt figure reaching for the sky.
But now things were different; he possessed a whole body, albeit temporarily.
Yet, before he could feel joy for his new body, what arrived on the battlefield was a figure that had leaped high, with a wolf head already spreading its fangs in mid-air.
Bai Wei lifted his head to meet the gaze of the wolf head.
He was all too familiar with this scenario, utterly unafraid. When the wolf head lunged for his head, Bai Wei didn't dodge immediately but instead counted silently in his mind—one, two.
At the moment he was about to count to three, Bai Wei's body leaned slightly to the left, took a step, and narrowly dodged the wolf head's fangs.
With a "bang," the wolf head smashed into the floor, sending a big splash of wood chips and dust into the air.
Thus, Bai Wei, who appeared to be trapped in a desperate situation, escaped in an instant and now stood leisurely aside, watching his attacker who went from having the upper hand to looking somewhat in disarray.
"Biter Roger," Bai Wei drawled, "I shouldn't be mistaken, right?"
Biter Roger emerged from the dust, staring at Bai Wei intently, "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
Bai Wei chuckled, "Well, I'm an old acquaintance of yours, but you probably don't recognize me."
An old acquaintance... they didn't know each other?
The statement sounded strange, but even stranger to Roger was Bai Wei himself.
This bar was a secret outpost of Esoteric Buddhism, never activated before today. It was only because Esoteric Buddhism learned of Visas's finger appearing here that they sent him, Roger, to this place, so his movements were supposed to be absolutely secret. But upon his arrival, he found Bai Wei and saw a corpse lying on a table; he didn't know whose body it was, but seeing it dressed in a Priest Robe, it must be a lackey of the Rhein Divine Sect.
So who was this guy?
Was it he who killed Rhein's priest? Then why throw him here? Was he here specifically, waiting for him?
What puzzled Roger even more was that at the beginning, this man seemed like an incompetent coward, easily suppressed by him. If he hadn't wanted to ascertain the man's identity before delivering a fatal blow, the man should have been dead at their first encounter.
But now… oh no, accurately speaking, just moments ago, this man dodged his attack effortlessly.
Moreover, it was at the very last second, which made Roger slightly uneasy.
Because Roger's vertical biter attack was not that easy to dodge; if the opponent dodged too early, his wolf head would track and bite, not letting go until it had secured its grip, which was why he was called Biter Roger.
But it was not entirely unavoidable, as you could dodge it by moving at a very close distance to the wolf head. The volume of the wolf head required a certain buffer distance to change its attack direction.
However, this was not easy to master, as the shorter the distance, the lower the margin for error, and any slow reaction would result in being caught by the wolf head and unable to escape. Thus, even if one knew this weakness, they wouldn't dare try to dodge lightly, especially since most people didn't know the wolf head would track and would get caught on the first attack.
Yet this man dodged it, and he did so with such ease, standing there as if counting silently, as if he knew Roger so well that he could easily grasp the timing of the attack.
Combining this with what Bai Wei just said about an "old acquaintance," it naturally made Roger nervous.
Was it luck, or...
Roger didn't stand still for too long, soon he launched the second round of his offense.
Whether it was luck or not, he was about to find out.
The wolf's head bit down once again from above, like a hungry wolf in the midst of a hunt.
And Bai Wei, just like before, evaded at the last moment the wolf's head could bite down; once again, he dodged the attack, seemingly in peril but actually with ease.
This guy, it's no coincidence!
Roger immediately confirmed this!
This guy either had combat skills superior enough to see through the weakness of his move at a glance, or he was very familiar with him.
Roger decided to test his theory once more.
All of these calculations happened in the blink of an eye.
After biting into the ground again with his attack, Roger didn't retract his hand immediately, but propped himself up with the wolf-transformed right hand on the floor and then kicked out at Bai Wei with his foot.
Compared to the right hand that had transformed into a wolf's head, his foot seemed rather harmless.
And Bai Wei seemed to think the same as he did not pay much attention to the kick, focusing all his attention on Roger's right hand instead.
Success!
A moment of joy flashed in Roger's heart.
The next second, the wolf's head on Roger's right hand disappeared, reverting to a normal hand.
But the leg he kicked out at Bai Wei suddenly grew ferocious.
"Roar!"
His right leg turned into a wolf's head in an instant; with its gaping maw, it seemed inescapable at such close range!
Let me bite through your shoulder, and then see who you really are!
Roger screamed in his mind.
Then, he saw Bai Wei nonchalantly kick out a light-footed kick.
But this kick landed on Roger's right hand.
The very hand that was supporting his entire body, which was no longer transformed into a wolf's head.
Naturally, Roger lost his balance, and his entire body fell with a "thump," stirring up more dust and wood shavings than before.
...He had completely taken a nosedive.
Bai Wei, however, retreated to a safe position once more, still looking at ease.
Soon, Roger got up, staring fiercely at Bai Wei: "Who exactly are you?! Why do you know me so well?!"
"I find it difficult to explain this to you," Bai Wei shrugged, "but I do indeed know you very well because I've lost count of how many times this guy has been brushed aside by me without a scratch."
Roger: "?"