Return of the King, Dominating the City-Chapter 1478 - 1463: Human Puppets

Song Yun grasped Qisha and Ghost Blade in his hands and walked forward, saying as he went, "It’s only two-thirds of the journey, and the Yin Beast has appeared already. The rest is sure to be more interesting."

As he continued along the path, Song Yun was surprised to find that the ghosts he occasionally spotted before had all disappeared, as if they had evaporated.

The entire road was only illuminated by faint flickering lights.

The air was filled with a slight scent of blood.

This scent was drifting from behind Song Yun.

Along the way, Song Yun and Shi Huntian had killed a total of 73 people, with Song Yun taking down 37 and Shi Huntian 36.

Of course, they encountered far more than these 73 people along the way; many had run away, which frustrated Song Yun considerably. He didn’t know the Shadow Clone Technique—if they ran, chasing down one or two might be possible, but if ten or so scattered, how could you chase them down?

"Did you notice that there are fewer people?"

Shi Huntian looked around and said, "Not a single person!"

"Yes!"

Song Yun nodded and said, "Moreover, the atmosphere feels off somehow!"

"Are they planning to bomb us to death with missiles?"

Shi Huntian suddenly proposed.

"Impossible!"

Song Yun shook his head and said, "Missiles are large targets; we’ll notice them before they fall and have plenty of time to escape. It would make more sense to bring out a bunch of machine guns and spray us with bullets—at least that might have some effect!"

"Then why is there no one?" Shi Huntian asked puzzledly, "Could it be they’re too scared to come out?"

"Impossible. Japanese people won’t be afraid unless you practically beat them to death. We’ve only killed around seventy-something people, and there are still hundreds more. There must be experts among them. Whoever they were calling esteemed guests at the gate earlier, I believe is Abe Jinming. This time, the Koushan Group captured Chen Mengjie and Feng Gang with the obvious intention of drawing me out. What’s the point of bringing me here? It must be to avenge his disciple; a master avenging a disciple wouldn’t stay behind," Song Yun explained.

"And what then?" Shi Huntian asked.

"Since Abe Jinming is here, it’s impossible for the disciples of the Onmyoji who followed him not to appear," Song Yun said, "Though they’re not particularly impressive, they’ll definitely drain our stamina. It’s impossible for there to be no people like this." Song Yun continued.

"Not really no one!"

Shi Huntian remarked, suddenly stepping back. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Bang.

A gunshot rang out.

A bullet hit the spot where Shi Huntian had been standing.

Sniper.

Song Yun bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, spun around, and threw it toward a certain spot.

Smack.

A sound echoed.

Then, someone fell from a distant tree.

"Are they resorting to ambush tactics now?" Song Yun wondered aloud.

"With this level of skill, even if they plan an ambush, it won’t work!"

Shi Huntian said disdainfully, "The killing intent leaked before they fired, they’re too weak!"

Song Yun didn’t reply but continued to walk forward.

No matter what schemes they have, his goal was simple—to rescue those he came for.

Anything blocking his way, he would tear apart. That was all there was to it.

After walking for about ten minutes, no one appeared, not even those attempting ambush.

The journey remained smooth and uneventful.

Song Yun even arrived close enough to see the Koushan Group’s headquarters, still without encountering anyone.

Just as Song Yun was wondering if they planned to use a trick with an empty town.

A truck suddenly drove toward them from the distance.

The truck moved leisurely, not appearing as if it intended to crash into Song Yun and Shi Huntian. Even if it did, they would have no trouble dodging it.

The truck stopped about fifty meters in front of Song Yun.

Subsequently, the tailgate of the truck’s bed was opened by someone.

Thud, thud, thud,

One by one, people jumped down from the truck bed.

At first glance, Song Yun was shocked by their bodies.

These people’s bodies displayed an oddly cyan-purple hue, similar to the Ghost King, and they were extremely strong—almost disturbingly so. Their arms were thicker than Song Yun’s legs.

Each of them had stick-like objects inserted into their bodies; some were lodged in their joints, others in their muscles, making them quite eerie to behold.

"What are these things!"

Song Yun exclaimed in surprise as he noticed their eyes.

Their eyes were completely hollow and lifeless.

What was going on?

It’s said that eyes are windows to the soul. Normally, a person’s eyes can’t be utterly vacant unless they’re blind; otherwise, they’d always show some emotion. Yet, these people’s eyes showed none—not even a trace—like soulless zombies.

Soul-less zombies.

Yes, that’s what they felt like to Song Yun.

"These people seem to lack souls!"

Shi Huntian remarked, frowning.

"Yes!"

Song Yun nodded and said, "Moreover, their life-force is extremely weak, but they give off a very dangerous vibe."

"This... is somewhat reminiscent of the Corpse Chaser techniques from Xiangxi!"

Shi Huntian noted.

"Corpse Chaser from Xiangxi!"

"Yes, people who drive corpses, or what the average person calls zombies. But those people use certain techniques to stimulate the corpse’s nerves. Although the corpse lacks awareness, it can still follow directives to perform actions like jumping. The people before us aren’t dead, yet they feel just like those corpses," Shi Huntian explained, "To me, these people resemble something derived from Gu poisoning!"

"Derived from what!"

Song Yun asked.

"Humanoid puppets!"

Shi Huntian explained, "Years ago, someone in the Miao Border discovered a type of poisonous insect that could crawl into a person’s brain and control some behaviors. Not very mystical though—mostly made one’s limbs uncoordinated, occasionally causing unintended actions. Later, Gu Technique Masters cultivated these bugs to control people. Eventually, it spread to Thailand and became known as Curse Technique. These people appear to be controlled puppets; they retain awareness but are manipulated by others. But later, because it was overly sinister and difficult to practice, the technique gradually fell into oblivion. I only read about it in family records!"

"So are these people like humanoid puppets." Song Yun asked.

"Yes, if they’re truly humanoid puppets with such strong bodies, they’ll be hard to deal with," Shi Huntian said seriously.