97 Chapter 097 A Series of Schemes
Chapter 97 A Series of Schemes
"Don't look." Bai Cen himself found it terrifying, but he knew Wang Sumo was curious, so his first words were to warn Wang Sumo.
“Yutang, you’re here too.” Old Master Weng stepped forward.
Although they were mentally prepared, both Weng and himself felt a chill run down their spines when they saw the several monster-like people trapped together in a net.
He is human, but seems to have lost his reason.
At first, Bai Cen was startled, thinking that the other person had no skin on their face, but upon closer inspection, they did have skin, but it looked like a cooked crab.
Although these people have lost their minds, they still respond to light and human voices.
For example, among Grandpa Weng and Bai Cen, whoever speaks first, all the monsters—no, people—in the net of heaven and earth will unconsciously turn in that direction.
But it's also clear that they've lost their minds.
Because a rational person wouldn't keep trying to bite into a trap that shrinks smaller and smaller, eventually binding them tightly together.
"How could such a thing exist??" Old Master Weng was still exclaiming in disbelief.
Although I had seen signs saying "Monsters, leave quickly" on the exterior walls of houses opposite the arched bridge before, the emotions I felt when these signs actually appeared in front of me were still indescribable.
"I wonder what they went through before..." Bai Cen said softly.
He had been poisoned himself and could empathize with the experience.
His poison only caused him to lose his internal strength, but it did not make him lose his mind.
But he vividly remembers the feeling of being worse than dead every time the poison took effect.
He felt more pity and sympathy for those people on the internet who were tortured beyond recognition.
He was actually quite hesitant to look closely at these faces, fearing they might become nightmares later.
But the old man looked at them one by one.
He knew that the old man was checking if there was anyone he knew.
Only the old man who recognized the bloody handprint on the wall would look at each face one by one...
"Grandpa..." he said softly.
The old man said in a deep voice, "Help me hold his hand."
Um? ?
Before Bai Cen could react, the old man had already reached out and grabbed one of the people. To Bai Cen's astonishment, the old man placed that person's wrist in his hand.
Bai Cen was startled, but while shouting, he didn't let go.
Wow!
This person is incredibly strong!
Grandpa Weng sighed, "When you lose your mind, you can't judge when to use what kind of force; you just use as much force as you can."
Bai Cen: !!!
In short, it took Bai Cen a lot of effort to control it.
At this moment, Bai Cen suddenly missed Zhao Tong terribly. If Brother Zhao were here, it wouldn't be a problem for him to subdue this group by himself. But he, a person without internal energy, was going to have to subdue these strange people who, although they had lost their minds, still possessed internal energy...
Take the old man's hand and grasp it in the hand that Bai Cen had held down, barely preventing it from moving.
Although the old man was not a doctor, pulse diagnosis was not only used for diagnosing illnesses, but also to examine the pulse of these strange people and whether there were any abnormalities in their bodies.
Just as Bai Cen was about to lose control, the old man let go.
"How is it?" Weng He asked.
The old man's face was grave: "He's been poisoned. Let's see another one."
Upon hearing this, Bai Cen was stunned.
Finally, Jiang Yutang stepped forward.
Although Jiang Yutang did frown when she saw those strange people in the net, she held their hands, pressed them down, and avoided looking at them. Surprisingly, she held them down more firmly than Bai Cen had before.
Soon, the old man also took his pulse.
"How so?" This time it was Bai Cen's turn to ask. He didn't need to be told; his mind and mouth were already working quickly.
"The poisoning occurred in a short period of time," the old man concluded.
Bai Cen blinked. "So, it's not just one group of people who were poisoned. There were people who were poisoned earlier, and then there were those who were poisoned later..."
“Only their faces are red; their bodies are normal.” Weng He observed them carefully for a long time.
As if remembering something, the old man grabbed the other wrist of one of the strange men he had just seen. Bai Cen was startled, but quickly helped to hold him down, afraid that the strange man would hurt the old man.
No.
The old man then grabbed the hand of another strange man.
No.
There was some disappointment in the old man's eyes. These two strange men did not have any marks on their wrists where they had been cut and stitched up—unlike the person Zhu Yu had seen.
However, the other descriptions are almost identical.
His face was exposed and red, with beads of sweat on his forehead; he sweated very easily…
"What's wrong?" Weng He asked, looking at him.
This time, the old man didn't hide anything: "Someone is using these people for experiments."
test?
Several people gasped in shock.
Wang Sumo also stepped forward. Although seeing these things was indeed somewhat frightening, being alone in the carriage was even more terrifying.
But when he saw it, Wang Sumo couldn't help but close his eyes.
"Grandpa, do you mean there are more people like this here?" Bai Cen understood; there couldn't possibly be only a few in such a big town.
"How skilled are these people?" Wang Sumo asked.
Jiang Yutang, who had just helped, succinctly stated, "These two are on par with me."
The surroundings fell silent again.
Jiang Yutang may be a jack-of-all-trades, but he is also quite skilled in martial arts.
There are only a few people trapped in this net. The old man just checked the pulses of the two men, and they are both no less skilled than Jiang Yutang. There are probably quite a few martial arts masters imprisoned here.
Weng He sighed softly: "I recall the earliest rumors about Bewitching Town. There was a treasure and weapons that appeared in the town a long time ago, which attracted many martial arts practitioners to come here to search for treasure."
Bai Cen continued, "Someone set a trap to attract these martial arts masters."
Suddenly everything made sense.
Nothing attracts martial arts masters more than treasures, weapons, and martial arts manuals.
Moreover, it attracted mostly wandering knights and wolves, and those who were truly bound by sects rarely came in groups, unless they came later to investigate the situation in Bewilderment Town.
Even if these small groups of wandering knights-errant disappear or get into trouble, few people will know.
This was a setup from the very beginning.
A scheme to attract martial arts practitioners with some skill to this place...
"What is the purpose of the person behind this?" Bai Cen wondered. "Looking at the outer layer of the Bagua Formation earlier, someone wrote a blood letter saying there were monsters and to run. Now it seems these strange people also appeared suddenly. And the place we just passed through, the secret chamber below should also be holding these people..."
Bai Cen sighed softly: "These people haven't greatly improved their martial arts skills, nor are they invulnerable to swords and spears, nor are they controlled by anyone. So what's the point of attracting them here? Why have they become like this?"
Bai Cen's words indeed raised questions for everyone present.
"What should we do with these people?" Jiang Yutang pondered this question. The net of heaven and earth would loosen; at that time, should they be killed or taken away for medical treatment?
But Jiang Yutang seemed to notice something about the age of these people: "Have you noticed that these strange people are all quite old? There are none of them young."
Wang Sumo and the others rushed over to check.
really!
It's estimated that no one has ever looked at it as calmly and carefully as Jiang Yutang before. The old man had looked at it, but he was obviously looking for someone. Others just glanced at it, not as meticulously as Jiang Yutang.
Jiang Yutang's reminder made everyone realize what was going on.
"It really is!" Bai Cen exclaimed in surprise, after all, no one had looked at the age.
Wang Sumo realized, "According to rumors in the martial arts world, shortly after a large number of martial artists flocked to Bewitching Town to search for treasure more than ten years ago, rumors of hauntings began to circulate. After that, not many people dared to come to Bewitching Town. Those who did come were mostly from martial arts sects, such as the Rakshasa Alliance. The last group of people to come to Bewitching Town seemed to be about ten years ago. So, Yu Tang is right. After that, Bewitching Town became a forbidden area, and hardly anyone came."
Bai Cen understood, "So all these people flooded in at that time."
Wang Sumo nodded: "The rumors about Bewitching Town have a beginning and an end. Something must have happened ten years ago. The person behind Bewitching Town gave up on bringing more martial arts masters to Bewitching Town and instead made it a forbidden place that no one dared to come to. Don't forget what we discovered first when we arrived in Bewitching Town."
Bai Cen continued, "Disaster relief grain?"
“That’s right.” Wang Sumo’s mind gradually became clear: “Before, for some reason, they spread rumors about treasures, martial arts manuals and weapons, causing many martial arts people to rush here; but ten years ago at this point in time, their purpose changed, and they wanted to slowly hide this place. Later, this place was hidden so well that it would be a pity not to use it as a place to hide disaster relief grain.”
Wang Sumo took a deep breath and continued, "After all, there are vicious dogs on the outside, and if you go further in, you might accidentally encounter piranhas. If you're lucky enough to avoid them, you might also encounter these strange people. No one would dare to come to this place, let alone want to. To the uninformed, this place is haunted; and those who enter will be terrified when they see the strangeness of this place."
Weng He said softly, "So, the person from the Rakshasa Alliance who managed to return was deliberately released so that outsiders would hear that the rumors about the ghosts in the Bewitching Town were true."
"Humorous." Bai Cen crossed his arms. "They've really all connected."
“Look at the top of their heads,” Grandpa Weng suddenly said.
Bai Cen realized what was happening and quickly went to check, then exclaimed in shock, "Everyone has a wound on their forehead!!"
Grandpa Weng said in a low voice, "Then I guessed right. These strange people are not guarded. Instead, they are locked in some kind of hidden room with mechanisms. They have no consciousness, but before they lost consciousness, they should remember to hit a certain kind of mechanism on the top of their heads. They can get out of the room before the mechanism closes. That's why each of the strange people has a wound on the top of their head."
"Oh!" Bai Cen recalled, "Those sounds I heard in the carriage just now!"
“That’s right.” Old Master Weng said in a deep voice, “So these strange people always come out in groups of several, every once in a while. We just happened to run into them this time.”
Everyone frowned; Old Master Weng's analysis was reasonable.
These people must have gradually lost their minds, and before they did, they knew that there was a mechanism above their heads that allowed them to escape, which is why they have remained there until now.
Wang Sumo suddenly frowned.
"Are you alright?" Bai Cen asked worriedly.
Wang Sumo pulled his clothes tighter, then gently shook his head and said in a deep voice, "I just suddenly remembered why those piranhas and vicious dogs outside were still alive..."
Wang Sumo's words caused a great stir.
Jiang Yutang covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes filled with panic.
Bai Cen was so surprised that he couldn't speak. After a long while, he whispered, "The vicious dogs and piranhas can guard the outside of Bewitching Town, preventing outsiders from easily entering; they can also guard the inside of Bewitching Town, preventing these strange people inside from having a chance to leave. This is like keeping them in captivity."
The old man clenched his fist, veins bulging on his forehead!
“This person is ruthless and insane, and his plans are flawless…” Weng He also fell into thought, “With these things guarding the disaster relief grain, they would never discover it…”
This is a complex scheme.
In the silence, the inescapable net was suddenly released when the appointed time arrived!
The strange creature inside struggled to pounce out. Everyone was still lost in thought. When faced with the strange creature that pounced out, the old man tried to stop it with one hand, but the strange creature had lost its mind and struggled desperately, tearing and even biting.
There was also someone in front of Grandpa Weng. Bai Cen and Jiang Yutang protected Wang Sumo behind them, with two people blocking each of them.
This has brought us to a point where we have no choice but to make a decision.
The old man gritted his teeth, lowered his head, and reached out to grab the two men by the neck.
“Grandpa…” Bai Cen knew he was in a dilemma.
But the expected "snap" didn't come. The old man received the news that two people had been knocked unconscious. Old Master Weng, Jiang Yutang, and Bai Cen all followed suit.
Although everyone knows it's meaningless.
Even if they weren't killed, they had already lost their minds. There were vicious dogs and piranhas outside, so they still couldn't get out. Killing them wouldn't cause them any more pain, but the old man couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Let's go!" Old Master Qu's heart had never felt so heavy as at this moment.
[Author's Note]
We should be able to see Wei Meng and Zhao Tong in two more chapters.
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