CHAPTER 42: CHAPTER 41: THE PRICE OF VICTORY

Just like the puppets in the commercial district outside the square before, Wu Liang’s enveloping mist instantly caused the surrounding puppets to break down.

Taking advantage of this, He Zhan also took action against the body of the Puppet Ghost.

The Priest and Cannon watched the Puppet Ghost change from resembling Liuyun back to its plastic shell form, their eyes instantly reddened.

If the comrade who had been with them was a ghost all along.

Then the real Liuyun might already be...

"You bastard! Where the hell did you take Liuyun?" Cannon’s forehead bulged with veins, his fists clenched so tight they almost bled, as he punched fiercely towards the Puppet Ghost’s abdomen.

Beside him, the Priest also took out his Scepter.

After smashing it into the ground fiercely, he chanted obscure and difficult Sanskrit, an intense golden light spreading from the base of the Scepter to the ground, slowly climbing up the Puppet Ghost’s body.

"Roar——"

As the golden light covered its body, the Puppet Ghost emitted a miserable howl from its mouth, with such penetrating force that even He Zhan’s eardrums, closest in proximity, suffered some damage, bleeding slightly.

This bizarre Holy Light felt like poison to the Fierce Ghost, inducing immense pain.

As soon as the howl arose, Cannon’s fist had already impacted the Puppet Ghost’s abdomen.

The release of his Awakened Ability with this full-strength punch made Cannon’s own face pale, his Spiritual Power nearly exhausted, his chest heaving with heavy breaths.

On the Puppet Ghost’s side, the entire plastic shell emitted painful cracking noises.

This punch nearly shattered its Fierce Ghost essence completely!

At this moment, it couldn’t even struggle out of He Zhan’s Palm Eye suppression and was forced to curl up on the ground, continuously attempting to repair its soon-to-be-broken body.

The group’s anger focused on it, with only He Zhan maintaining composure.

While suppressing the Puppet Ghost, he opened his mouth and said, "Wu Ming! Can you find out where Liuyun is?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone’s eyes turned to Wu Liang, full of expectation for him to nod in affirmation.

But Wu Liang glanced around the area.

The mist held countless puppets suspended in mid-air, like meat hanging in a slaughterhouse ready to be burned.

He shook his head and said, "Sorry, I haven’t found any trace of living people among these puppets."

The hope in everyone’s eyes gradually turned to disappointment, taken aback by the sudden unexpected twist; a comrade they had spent over a year with had inexplicably died in a supernatural event.

Cannon and the Priest lowered their heads, sighing.

However, Wu Liang then altered his tone and said, "But I haven’t found Liuyun’s puppet either. She seems not to be among these things."

"Huh?"

Those who had lost hope lifted their heads to look at the newcomer whose face was obscured by mist.

Cannon smiled bitterly and said, "Brother, could you please refrain from giving suspenseful pauses like that? I fear my heart can’t take it."

"Wouldn’t exorcising this Puppet Ghost reveal everything? Once it’s gone, this area’s supernatural barrier will lift, making it much easier to search for people in the square afterwards," Wu Liang said quietly.

Upon hearing this, He Zhan was about to take a small knife and a vial of strange blood from his pocket when he noticed a whiff of mist approaching.

He was taken aback.

Could this mist actually exorcise Fierce Ghosts?

In He Zhan’s team, only two people had Awakened Abilities capable of directly exorcising Fierce Ghosts.

One is Liuyun, and the other is currently away from Chengyang City attending headquarters training in Jing City.

Cannon’s powerful strikes could cause damage to Fierce Ghosts but never sufficed to exorcise them entirely, an issue of fundamental origin.

Liuyun’s slashes perfectly compensate for this fundamental gap.

Otherwise, only that strange blood vial He Zhan carried could exorcise Fierce Ghosts from the root.

This was a rare resource, as captain of Supernatural Handling Squad Team Two, using this vial required an application to headquarters for another.

Sigh——

Still shocked, the mist already enveloped the Puppet Ghost struggling beneath his Palm Eye’s pressure, and Wu Liang’s expression turned serious.

"Dismantle it, divvy up the essence fragments among yourselves, and leave some behind for me as evidence."

His command echoed in the Ghost Compendium, and within the mist, one by one Fierce Ghosts emerged, extending greedy claws to dismantle the Puppet Ghost bit by bit.

The Hanged Ghost, particularly eager since it never experienced this before, devoured the Puppet Ghost’s body impatiently.

Outside the mist, He Zhan and the others only felt that within the mist, a fierce struggle occurred, with a strong bloody odor permeating the air, sickening them.

Even through the mist, they sensed powerful Fierce Ghost energies, assuming the Puppet Ghost was fighting back as it faced demise.

Even cast concerned glances at Wu Liang, worrying that he might suffer from this counterattack injury, with He Zhan vigilantly observing the mist, ready to intervene.

Little did they know it was actually multiple Fierce Ghosts consuming the Puppet Ghost causing the illusion.

With five Fierce Ghosts surrounding it, there was no force left for it to counter!

Bam——

A moment later, a crisp sound rang out.

The mist dissipated, leaving only a puppet head rolling to He Zhan’s feet.

Upon once again using his Palm Eye suppression, he found it contained no Fierce Ghost energy anymore, seemingly just an ordinary plastic mannequin head.

"Is it exorcised? Why is only the head left? What about the body?" Everyone was shocked.

Wu Liang scratched the back of his head, casually spouting nonsense, "Uh, the power within the mist is slightly corrosive, so the body might have been digested."

As those words fell, the entire square suddenly brightened significantly, sunlight pouring in, allowing everyone to clearly see the surrounding exercise equipment made of limbs.

They hadn’t disappeared, proving their real existence.

Not a single surviving victim could be found in the whole square; there was no need to guess where they went.

They were all right there in front of everyone...

Instantly, everyone was silent.

The triumph of exorcising the Fierce Ghost vanished.

Looking at the puppets covering the square, it was impossible to distinguish which had been manipulated within the mall, transformed from humans by Fierce Ghosts into puppets.

"Priest, notify the people outside... come in and collect the bodies..."

He Zhan’s voice turned somewhat somber, reaching out to pull Cannon up from the ground where he sat resting from exhaustion and turning to seek Liuyun’s whereabouts.

Since Wu Ming said there were no signs of Liuyun among these puppets, she must have been hidden elsewhere.

Hopefully, she hadn’t been turned into a puppet yet.

"By the way, Wu Ming, how did you realize the Puppet Ghost had taken on the form of Liuyun and infiltrated among us?" After taking two steps, he suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Wu Liang in confusion.

Facing this question, naturally Wu Liang couldn’t reveal he discovered the Puppet Ghost’s intent through its behavior indicated by the Ghost Compendium, seeking to transform humans who hadn’t lost resistance, staying close for extended interactions.

The only possibility was blending in with them during the search, subtly transforming them into puppets.

Also recalling how when they described what they saw, Liuyun’s remarks were incongruent with others!

Wu Liang always believed the methods of the Fierce Ghost followed certain patterns, and the Puppet Ghost influenced everyone’s vision to create the appearance of a "normal square."

At that time, Liuyun’s claim of "the activity site was deserted" seriously contradicted the images others saw, which led Wu Liang to suspect her.

Confronted with He Zhan’s query, he simply responded quietly: "Intuition!"

He Zhan: "Huh?"

This evasive reply drew a twitch at his mouth, making him ready to pursue it further, but attention was entirely diverted by a familiar voice full of anger erupting not far from the shrubbery:

"Who knocked me out and dumped me here!?"

"!!!"