Chapter 503: A Village of Puppets
"Bring... me... the woman."
The distorted voice coming from Chief Gao’s mouth did not belong to him.
His completely white eyes fixed on Leng Pan.
The villagers struck the mist barrier again.
Several weapons broke from the impact, but their owners did not stop. They continued using their bare hands, tearing their nails and splitting their skin against the barrier.
"Don’t kill them," Leng Pan ordered. "They are being controlled."
"That will make things more difficult," Ouyang Jin said.
"Since when have we been afraid of difficulty?" Lu Zhen asked coldly.
He raised his hand.
A wall of fire appeared behind the villagers, sealing the paths between the houses.
The flames did not touch anyone, but the sudden heat forced several people to hesitate.
Chief Gao did not.
He walked directly towards Leng Pan’s barrier.
The skin on his face twitched as countless thin creatures moved underneath it.
"Open," the voice demanded.
Leng Pan’s eyes became cold.
"You are hiding underground and still dare to order me?"
Chief Gao’s head tilted.
"Strong... body. Powerful... energy."
The thing controlling him could sense Leng Pan’s strength.
It wanted her as a host.
Unfortunately for it, not everything it desired could be obtained.
Leng Pan pressed her palm forward.
The mist barrier expanded.
Every villager was pushed backwards, but the force was carefully controlled. They fell without suffering serious injuries.
"Silk, restrain them!" Ouyang Jin shouted.
Silk reacted immediately.
Thin, durable threads shot from her hands and wrapped around the nearest villagers.
She controlled the threads precisely, binding their arms and legs without cutting their skin.
ZaiZai, Su Yan, Blaze, and Janna moved forward.
They avoided using their most destructive abilities. Instead, they struck pressure points, knocked weapons away, and forced the villagers to the ground.
Lu Hao and Lu Tao protected the sides.
Shade rushed through the crowd, biting clothes and dragging people away whenever they attempted to attack from behind.
The wolf could easily tear through flesh, but under Lu Zhen’s command, it did not injure anyone seriously.
The villagers felt no pain.
Even after being knocked down, they struggled to rise.
Those bound by Silk twisted so violently that their joints began bending at unnatural angles.
"Stop resisting!" Silk shouted.
They did not respond.
Their eyes had turned dull and unfocused.
"They cannot hear you," Leng Pan said. "The parasites have suppressed their consciousness."
Only a few villagers still showed signs of resistance.
The young woman who had warned Janna had fallen to her knees.
She gripped her head and cried out as something moved beneath her scalp.
"Get it out!" she screamed. "Please!"
Leng Pan immediately moved towards her.
Chief Gao lunged from the side.
Lu Zhen appeared between them.
He grabbed Chief Gao by the throat and lifted him from the ground.
The village chief clawed at Lu Zhen’s arm, but his strength was far below Lu Zhen’s.
"Your opponent is me," Lu Zhen said.
Chief Gao’s mouth opened.
Several pale threads shot from between his lips.
Lu Zhen’s palm ignited.
The parasites burned before they could touch him.
Chief Gao screamed.
This time, the scream sounded human.
His white eyes returned to normal for a brief moment.
"Help..."
Then his pupils rolled backwards again.
The thick bulge in his neck moved towards his chest.
Lu Zhen threw him into the mist barrier.
The purifying energy entered Chief Gao’s body.
His back arched.
Black veins spread across his skin as the parasites inside him fought against the purification.
"Don’t use too much power," Leng Pan warned. "If the parasites are attached to his organs, destroying them suddenly could kill him."
"I don’t care whether he survives."
Chief Gao had willingly helped the underground creature capture travellers. Even if he was now controlled, that did not erase his earlier crimes.
"We still need information from him."
Hearing this, Lu Zhen reduced the flames surrounding his palm.
Chief Gao collapsed but remained conscious.
Leng Pan crouched beside the young woman.
"What is your name?"
"Mei... Mei Lin."
"Try not to move, Mei Lin."
"I can feel them." Tears flowed down the woman’s face. "They are inside my head."
Leng Pan placed her hand above Mei Lin’s forehead.
She did not touch her skin.
A thin layer of mist entered through the woman’s nose and ears.
Mei Lin began convulsing.
"Hold her," Leng Pan instructed.
Janna and Su Yan restrained the woman’s arms while ZaiZai held her legs.
Leng Pan controlled the mist with extreme care.
She could sense dozens of parasites intertwined with Mei Lin’s nerves and blood vessels.
Some were wrapped around her spine. Others had gathered near her brain.
Removing them forcefully would cause severe damage.
Leng Pan used purification energy to weaken them instead.
The parasites writhed.
Several abandoned their positions and travelled towards Mei Lin’s throat.
"She is going to vomit!" Janna shouted.
Leng Pan turned the woman onto her side.
Mei Lin gagged.
A pale thread crawled from her mouth.
Then another.
Within seconds, dozens of parasites spilled onto the ground.
Lu Zhen burned them instantly.
Mei Lin’s eyes cleared.
She stared at the creatures burning in front of her before fainting.
"She is alive," Leng Pan said after checking her breathing. "But the parasites were deeply integrated into her body. She will need treatment."
"What about the rest?" Ouyang Jin asked.
"We cannot purify all of them here. Bind those who are fully controlled and separate anyone still capable of resisting."
Silk increased the number of threads.
With help from the others, the villagers were restrained and divided into groups.
However, the parasites seemed to realize their hosts were being captured.
Thin creatures began emerging from wounds, mouths, ears, and noses.
They crawled away from the villagers and gathered in the centre of the road.
"What are they doing?" Lu Tao asked.
"Don’t let them combine!" Leng Pan warned.
Lu Zhen released a wave of fire.
Most of the parasites burned, but those at the centre piled on top of one another.
Their bodies melted together.
A pale creature rose from the mass.
It resembled a centipede, but hundreds of humanlike fingers grew from its sides instead of legs.
Several mouths opened across its back.
The mouths screamed simultaneously.
"What an ugly thing," Lu Tao said.
The creature lunged towards him.
Lu Tao jumped aside and released his superpower.
The attack struck the parasite mass, blasting away a section of its body.
However, the pieces continued moving independently.
They crawled towards the restrained villagers, attempting to return to their former hosts.
Janna and Su Yan blocked them.
Blaze struck the larger pieces while Lu Hao guarded the unconscious villagers.
"Fire works best!" Lu Zhen shouted.
He expanded the flames surrounding the area.
The parasite mass attempted to retreat but found every path blocked.
Leng Pan compressed her mist around it.
Purification energy weakened the creature, preventing the separated pieces from merging again.
Lu Zhen closed his hand.
The wall of fire collapsed inward.
The combined parasite creature burned until nothing remained but black ash.
The villagers stopped struggling.
Many lost consciousness.
Others opened their eyes with confused expressions.
The immediate threat on the surface had been suppressed.
But Sonny and Vanish were still underground.
Leng Pan looked towards the guest house.
"The mist protecting them is weakening."
"We go now," Lu Zhen said.
"Ouyang Jin, remain here with Silk, Lu Hao, Janna, Su Yan, and ZaiZai. Protect the villagers and Old Chen’s house."
"I’ll come with you," Blaze said.
"No. We don’t know whether more parasites will emerge. They need someone with a suitable offensive ability."
Lu Zhen turned to Lu Tao.
"You stay too."
"But, Brother..."
"No arguments."
Lu Tao wanted to protest, but the expression on Lu Zhen’s face stopped him.
Shade moved to follow.
"Stay and protect them," Lu Zhen instructed through their mental connection.
The wolf lowered its head but obeyed.
Leng Pan, Lu Zhen, and Little Vine hurried towards the guest house.
Chief Gao remained trapped inside a small mist barrier that floated behind them.
Although Leng Pan disliked him, he was their only source of information.
Vanish and Sonny had entered the house without leaving visible signs.
The stone floor appeared completely intact.
"There is an entrance below us," Leng Pan said. "I can sense my mist."
Lu Zhen struck the floor with his fist.
The stone cracked, but it did not collapse.
A strange energy held the slabs together.
"It is protected by the same meteorite affecting the village," he said.
Little Vine slid from Leng Pan’s wrist.
It entered the crack and spread beneath the floor.
Through their connection, Leng Pan saw the hidden mechanism.
Pale roots had wrapped around the stone slabs, controlling whether they opened or closed.
"Those roots are part of the creature."
"Can Little Vine move them?"
"It can try."
The mutated vine expanded beneath the floor.
It wrapped around the pale roots and pulled.
The roots fought back.
Green and white tendrils pushed against one another under the stone, creating muffled impacts.
Little Vine released an angry emotion.