Puppeteer of the Wasteland World 9 (2nd and 3rd update)
Early the next morning.
Most people have woken up and are eating their meals.
Suddenly.
The door of one of the cars opened, and Liu San, who was always carrying a backpack, walked out. Many people immediately cast subtle glances at him, with different expressions.
The fact that Liu San always brings an exquisite doll with him when he goes on a mission has spread to the point where everyone knows about it, and many people look down on Liu San's hobby.
Whatever happens in the end times is normal.
If one day you see a monster that looks nothing like a human, but can speak human language and wants to exchange supplies with others, at most the people around it will subconsciously become nervous and on guard, fearing that the monster will completely turn into an insane monster on the spot.
But of course this transaction must continue.
They despised and looked down on Liu San, not because Liu San, a grown man, liked to play with dolls that only little girls liked, but because when he was out on a mission, whether it was day or night, most of his attention was focused on the doll in his backpack.
It makes people feel that this person is unreliable.
Liu San also vaguely noticed the changes in the attitudes of the people around him. He didn't understand why and didn't want to put his energy and thoughts on these unnecessary things.
His mind was full of the doll in his backpack.
When he woke up this morning, he carefully opened his backpack and looked into the doll's pockets, but nothing inside was missing.
Which means... this puppet ate this thing.
Liu San's awe of Mr. Ding grew deeper. He had personally witnessed Mr. Ding carving out this doll bit by bit. But how could such a doll actually eat human food?
Who would believe this if I told them?
Liu San carefully avoided passers-by, fearing that they would touch the doll in the backpack. He found the person in charge of food distribution and asked to exchange it for some dried meat. He didn't need too much, just a little bit would be fine.
The other party looked confused.
The dried meat is as big as a fingernail, and you can just taste it at most. Why would you exchange it for half a compressed biscuit?
Liu San said: "Can it be changed?"
When he had no expression on his face, he looked particularly ferocious, which was completely different from the image that was circulated last night of him liking to talk to his dolls.
The other party came to his senses and quickly said, "Yes."
Liu San returned to the car and opened his backpack. The ferocious expression on his face instantly switched to one of flattery and fawning. He spoke in a slow and low voice, "I've got some dried meat. Try it. If you don't like it, don't eat it. I'll get you something delicious tonight."
The exquisite little doll closed its eyes and did not move.
Liu San slowed down his breathing, fearing to disturb the little doll. He quickly put the dried meat into his pocket and carefully closed his backpack, looking relieved.
The team leader and several high-level psychics who happened to be walking over and witnessed this scene: "..."
The tone and expression used to coax the baby are exactly like serving the ancestors.
The leader coughed.
Liu San turned around, not showing any embarrassment or awkwardness at being seen. Instead, after everyone got in the car, he asked, "Do you mind if I open the window?"
The leader said, "Let's go."
Liu San lowered his head and unzipped the backpack chain, leaving the open position facing the car window, as if allowing the doll in the backpack to see the scenery outside the window.
Everyone had different expressions, and they felt more and more that Liu San was mentally abnormal.
The journey was relatively peaceful. The convoy only encountered a few wandering monsters and a level zero alien. The two teams seemed to be in a competition to see who could eliminate more monsters faster.
The team leader acted as if he didn't see anything the whole time. As long as there was no conflict between the two sides that affected the mission, it was fine.
Liu San rarely gets off the bus.
When they were about to reach their destination, the team leader immediately sent a signal to stop moving forward. The two team captains and several high-level psychics sent from the base all came to the team leader's car to inquire about the situation.
The team leader motioned for everyone to be silent. He carefully observed his surroundings and finally asked Liu San, who was standing nearby: "Can you see if there's anything wrong around here?"
He always had an indescribable feeling of unease.
Liu San nodded and opened his other eyelid which had been closed the whole time, revealing a pupil that looked no different from a real eye. He stared at his surroundings carefully, and soon, the familiar feeling of having his mental strength drained away and his body feeling inexplicably tired came over him.
The other eye immediately turned red.
His eyes saw two completely different pictures. One was a normal picture, with a quiet road and an empty city standing in the distance, ruined and silent.
Everything seems perfectly normal.
The other one was a dense crowd of corpses standing there, forming a semi-circular shape. In the distance, just blocking the entrance to the city, there was an extremely tall tree growing. Corpses were hanging on the tree, dancing in the wind.
He quickly looked away, and the rapidly consuming feeling of emptiness subsided a lot.
Liu San realized something belatedly and quickly closed his eyes, panting as he said, "That tree has grown bigger again, and the area of the corpses has expanded by at least three times compared to the last time I saw them."
No one saw anything, even the captain, who had a strong sense of danger, did not feel anything unusual.
If not all the psychics sent out by the base, including some teams that took the initiative to accept the mission, were killed, they might not believe what Liu San said.
If what Liu San said is true.
This must be the most bizarre plant species they have ever encountered.
The convoy fell silent in an instant.
Liu San hugged his backpack, as if only in this way could he gain a sense of security. He quickly and carefully explained what he had just seen.
The team leader's expression changed. He looked at the two team leaders and several high-level psychics and said in a deep voice, "Each of you should send a psychic with a speed advantage. Liu San will lead the way and go in to check the condition of the tree."
They had to find a way to destroy the illusion of the tree.
Everyone can go in together, but if something goes wrong with Liu San, everyone will have to go in.
In other words, they didn't quite believe in Liu San's strength.
Liu San disagreed with this idea: "Each monster corpse has the ability to confuse people. Once you go in and want to get out, these corpses will directly block the exit."
People outside can't see anything.
And all of them will die in there.
The team leader was well aware of Liu San's importance. After much deliberation, he gritted his teeth and said, "Then we'll just leave a few speed-type psychics outside to provide support. We'll try our best to send signals to you."
The two teams had no objection to this.
As long as they can complete this task, the base will definitely give them a lot of benefits and alien cores, enough for them to live a good life for the next year.
"Everyone, pack up and leave in ten minutes."
Everyone checked their weapons, and when they were done, only one car was left outside. The others were assigned to other cars. The team leader led the way, and Liu San sat in the passenger seat to lead the way.
"Keep going, stop...turn right."
Liu San tried to save the use of his artificial eye as much as possible. After confirming the general route, he would close his eyes and open them for a quick look after fifteen seconds at most.
Make sure those bodies aren't moved.
Everyone held their breath and looked around carefully, but still found nothing. Even the most stupid people didn't make trouble at this time.
Liu San's forehead gradually began to sweat. The intense tension and repeated use of his prosthetic eye had caused a dull pain in his brain. He opened his eyes again and observed his surroundings. "Drive forward three hundred meters."
The tree in the distance became clearer and clearer.
Liu San didn't even dare to look.
Everyone could see that Liu San's condition was getting worse, and his inner anxiety and tension were growing stronger and stronger, until Liu San suddenly said, "We... are here. A hundred meters ahead is the tree."
He clutched his forehead tightly and opened his eyes again: "Those corpses are standing there without moving."
After he finished speaking, he immediately closed his eyes, his facial muscles twitching with pain and tension. "I didn't see the specific shape of the tree. I must save some strength to ensure that we can all escape safely."
The team leader, who originally wanted Liu San to take a few more looks at the tree to find its weaknesses, was speechless.
The team leader suggested: "Then try attacking the surrounding corpses first, and then test this tree little by little."
Another team leader objected, "No! What if the tree gets enraged? We're probably the only team that can get close to it safely. We should seize this opportunity and attack it with all our might until the illusion is broken."
Both of their opinions made sense, but neither could convince the other, and finally they looked to the team leader who was the only one who made the decision.
The leader said, "Attack the monsters first and see if we can dispel the illusions around here. Get rid of as many monsters as possible, and then we can deal with the tree."
According to the information Liu San provided earlier, the tree seemed to be an illusion created by the corpses. The real danger was actually these moving corpses, not the tree.
It doesn't matter if he guessed wrong. Without the obstruction of these corpses, their chances of escaping will increase.
The other team looked displeased, but still nodded in cooperation.
But the only one who could see the monster was Liu San, and they had no way to make an effective counterattack. Since the team leader proposed this method, he naturally thought of a solution.
That's a long-range attack.
Liu San first pointed out the approximate range, and then launched intensive attacks towards this position, sprinkling some quicklime powder in the middle to see if he could print out the monster's footprints.
Liu San's task is to confirm the location of these monsters every minute.
"boom--"
The leader pulled the trigger and the energy bullet was immediately fired.
A faint light net like lightning flickered, and it made a crackling sound as if it had hit something.
There was a sound like something falling, but they still saw nothing. It was obvious that the illusion had also hidden the monster's dead body.
Everyone was excited.
This means that the blind attack method is effective.
Soon, all kinds of energy guns and ordinary guns attacked a fixed range, and crackling sounds accompanied by the sound of something falling came one after another.
Liu San quickly opened his eyes and closed them again in just one second.
But that's enough.
He quickly reported the situation: "There are only four monsters left in front, but there are more than a dozen monsters approaching on your left and right."
Seeing this, the others immediately dispersed and attacked.
Everyone fully realized how important Liu San's ability was. Without the leader's reminder, they spontaneously protected Liu San in the most central position to ensure that he would not be attacked by any monster.
Liu San suddenly felt extremely complicated.
There's a little bit of excitement, and also a little bit of indescribable feeling, like the emotions surging inside me need an outlet to vent.
The reason these people subconsciously protected him, besides the fact that he was too weak, was also largely because his presence would play a crucial role in this battle.
In other words, he, who had always been looked down upon because of his one-eyed nature, was finally recognized by others one day because of his abilities.
Even though he bought this ability with money.
Liu San didn't care, he just felt more grateful to Mr. Ding.
Suddenly, one of them screamed, and his body continued to shrink at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if all the water and blood had been sucked out, and he instantly turned into a mummy.
Everyone panicked and quickly attacked the area around this person. Sure enough, there was a crackling sound, which meant that a monster had unknowingly approached them.
And at this moment, they also understood the abilities of these monsters.
You can't be touched by those monsters, otherwise you will be infected and become a monster and become one of them. What's more terrifying is that the infected team member disappeared out of thin air, and then another person screamed. I don't know if it was done by the person who just turned into a mummy.
"Retreat, retreat quickly."
"But where do we retreat?!"
Without the leader's reminder, Liu San quickly opened his eyes, his expression suddenly changed, and he roared loudly: "Hurry and run to the eight o'clock direction. That tree has dumped all the bodies here."
This is also the reason why he didn't discover it the first time.
There was no sound around, and this illusion even hid the sound of the corpse hitting the ground.
Everyone ran towards Liu San in unison, while also using laser guns to attack the surroundings to ensure that no monsters caught up with them.
Monster corpses were thrown at him one after another, and Liu San had no way to remind everyone how to dodge. The others could only follow Liu San closely and remember where the other party's feet were.
But one person after another was attacked by the monster, and several people with special abilities immediately activated their respective abilities to fight back. At this time, they had to use their trump cards.
Flames appeared in the team leader's palms and were thrown towards the location Liu San had pointed to. The flames suddenly grew larger as if they were ignited, and the quiet space around them seemed to have some fluctuations.
Everyone noticed this.
The leader hurriedly shouted: "Quick, everyone, attack that tree!"
The team leader who had previously proposed to attack the tree now had no time to blame the leader. He gritted his teeth and used his supernatural powers to launch a desperate attack.
Liu San also took out an energy gun to help attack the monsters around him, but he still protected his backpack at all times.
There were too many bodies on that tree.
There was nowhere for everyone to hide. Some people wanted to run to the car, but Liu San yelled, "Don't go over there. There are monsters all over the car."
But it was too late.
The other party turned into a mummy at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then disappeared out of thin air.
The tree was enraged by the attack, and the air fluctuated a few times, revealing its trunk and branches. Seeing this, everyone attacked even more desperately.
Liu San's brain and body began to overdraw, and the world before his eyes seemed to become hazy. A tree so huge that it blocked out the sun was baring its fangs and claws, and its body was shaking like dumplings.
Corpses came one after another, surrounding them completely.
Everyone looked despairing, because they also saw that the tree no longer used illusions to hide its shape, and the aura it exuded was definitely more than just a first-level alien species.
Let alone killing it, it would be great if we could escape now.
"Run, run quickly."
The leader roared with a pale face.
Everyone struggled to make a path through the sea of corpses, but the corpses kept pouring in, completely blocking the way ahead.
Everyone's superpowers have been exhausted, and the only weapon left to fight back is the energy gun, but facing these corpses is like an ant trying to shake a tree.
"Boom, boom, boom—"
The alien tree seemed to be completely enraged by these difficult-to-kill prey, and its huge branches shook and slammed down in the direction where everyone was.
Everyone was horrified, but there was nowhere to hide.
They are all going to die here today.
Everyone was filled with despair, their guns still firing at the tree, except for Liu San, who quickly threw away his gun, opened his backpack, clasped his hands together, and pleaded urgently and pleadingly towards the little doll with closed eyes inside: "Auntie, please save us this time."
He didn't know if it would be any use.
No one cared about Liu San anymore. Only one person who had long disliked Liu San could not help but cursed him: "It's already this late and you're still chatting with this idiot!"
"whee--"
Amidst the chaotic noises, a very clear laugh suddenly emerged. The voice of the little girl was particularly unique, yet inexplicably creepy.
The little doll opened her eyes, and the carefully carved knife in her hand seemed to emit black mist. She climbed out of the backpack very nimbly and jumped to the ground.
A smile hung on her delicate and beautiful face. She raised her head and looked at the huge lush branches and leaves falling in the distance. The wind blew her long hair, and the bow on her skirt fluttered like a butterfly.
Extraordinarily beautiful.
Everyone's expression was shocked, and the guns in their hands shook.
This doll—it actually moves?!
Before they could react, they saw the extremely petite puppet jump directly onto the shoulder of one of them, and then use the force to jump onto the falling monster's body, rising up little by little until it flew high, raised the eight-centimeter knife in its hand, and chopped it down quickly.
The little girl seemed to make a sound of "Hey!"
The huge branch broke instantly, and the little girl continued to chop it several times. The branch broke into pieces and fell to the ground with a bang.
The ground shook, splashing stones and dust.
Everyone stood there covered in dust, still in shock and staring blankly at the little puppet in the air, unable to believe what had just happened.
That's a branch of a different species, and it's not something you can just cut off.
You know, even their super powers and energy guns couldn't cause any damage to the tree, but this little doll solved the danger with that knife that looked very plastic.
Is this reasonable?
Liu San sat down with his buttocks, clasped his hands together and muttered: "Thank you, Mr. Ding, thank you, Auntie, for saving my life. I will definitely go back and give you better meat."
The others didn't understand what Liu San said, but they saw him kneeling with his hands clasped together in front of the little girl. They immediately remembered how he had been particularly respectful to the little doll in the car these days, and was afraid of wronging it.
They no longer think that Liu San is mentally ill!
If they had such an awesome little doll, not only would they worship it as a goddess, they would even kneel down and kowtow to it every day!
As for Liu San, he carefully guarded his backpack every day and even opened the car window to let the little doll enjoy the breeze and the scenery. If it were them, they would have wanted to put the little doll in the passenger seat so that it could watch and play as much as it wanted!
The little puppet raised its head with a calm look, tightly gripping the big knife in its hand, and once again made a childish "hey ha" sound, and went straight up to the tree, chopping off several more branches with a whoosh, and also chopped off the heads of several corpses.
A lot of branches and corpses fell from the sky like fairies scattering flowers.
Everyone looked at each other, and then as if realizing it belatedly, they quickly raised their energy guns to help the little puppet deal with the tree.
The little doll climbed all the way to the alien tree and chopped it with a knife. Black mist invaded the trunk, and the pain and torture it brought made the alien tree struggle.
The little doll shook its long hair and dug into the tree trunk with a "hey yo" sound until it saw the shining alien core inside. Suddenly, light burst out from its dark eyes.
She made a sound of surprise, pried hard with the knife, and jumped out of the tree trunk holding the shiny alien core. She fell to the ground at a rapid speed, leaving everyone with a cool and powerful back.
The wind blew its skirt.
The tree fell with a loud crash, its branches and trunk withered, and it was completely motionless.
The monsters around seemed to have lost their strength and fell down one after another.
The little doll slowly turned around, revealing a smiling face, but everyone instantly gasped, because the alien core was actually level three!
You have to know that the third-level aliens are extremely powerful. Small bases cannot kill them at all. Only large bases can barely kill the aliens, and they have to sacrifice most of the aliens in the base.
For a moment, everyone fell silent, their hearts beating fast.
Liu San was also shocked.
He never expected that the little doll carved by Mr. Ding was so powerful, and even felt a little panic.
How much would such an amazing puppet cost?
The little doll held the alien core and jumped into Liu San's backpack and lay down, ignoring everyone the whole time.
Liu San swallowed and clasped his hands together again: "Thank you, Auntie, you have worked hard."
The little doll still didn't respond.
Liu San mustered up the courage to pull up his backpack and put it on his back carefully. When he looked up, he saw everyone's complicated expressions of awe and envy.
The man who had scolded Liu San for still thinking about the baby at this time had a face full of ashes, and after a long while he came over and said in a trembling and cautious tone: "Liu San, no, Brother Liu, can you help me apologize to this lady? I really didn't mean it."
He was about to cry as he spoke.
He was really afraid that this little doll would stab him again in the middle of the night, just like those beheaded corpses.
The team leader held his breath for several beats before patting Liu San on the shoulder. "This time, thanks to you and... this lady, we would have been defeated here otherwise. When we return, I will ask the higher-ups to allocate more resources and alien cores to you."
As for the alien core taken away by the little doll, he tacitly pretended to know nothing and began to order everyone to bandage the wounds quickly while he would check the alien tree.
Everyone put the mummies together and finally lit a fire.
Liu San was still sitting in the car, and this time no one looked down on him. Instead, they looked at him with envy as he whispered to the doll in his backpack.
Someone who had heard of Liu San lowered their voice and said, "I heard that Liu San was just an ordinary person. He went out with a fixed team to search for resources. In the end, he was kicked out of the team by a person with special abilities. After that, he inexplicably gained special abilities."
Everyone who heard this felt tears of envy, jealousy and hatred flowing from their hearts.
They also want to have an aunt.
What kind of chosen person is Liu San? Not only does he have the ability to see through illusions, but he also has such an awesome lady protecting him.
Liu San was completely unaware of this. He thanked the little doll earnestly and put a piece of candy that he had specially exchanged with someone else in the doll's pocket.
Maybe the little doll will like it.
Liu San didn't dare touch the alien core. He carefully pulled the chain and returned to the city with a nervous feeling that he didn't know how many years it would take to pay off the debt in installments.
The convoy returned to the city safely.
The senior executives of the base came out to greet them, but when they saw the huge tree being pulled behind, their expressions changed.
With such a large alien tree, one can imagine how high its level is.
So many people actually managed to deal with this alien tree?
The people in the city exclaimed when they saw this, but they were extremely excited and happy in their hearts. This meant that another alien species that could threaten the base had disappeared nearby. It also meant that the base was extremely powerful and they would be safer staying here.
The team leader told the higher-ups everything that happened after they left, especially emphasizing that Liu San had a puppet that was extremely powerful and could kill a level three alien single-handedly.
The senior executives were stunned. If not everyone here was a witness, they would really think that these people were colluding to lie and deceive others.
It is understandable that animals and plants can transform into different species, but no one has ever seen a puppet possess strange abilities.
When Liu San came in, the attitude of the senior executives was gentler and more approachable than last time. They took the initiative to give Liu San a lot of rewards and thanked him again and again.
Finally, Liu San was solemnly invited to become a member of the base's superpower team, with food and accommodation provided, a house in the upper city area allocated, and an extremely generous bonus.
Liu San was nervous when he heard this. "This is too much."
He vaguely felt that his ability was not worthy of the base's attention, so the last reason remained.
That's the little doll.
As if noticing the change in Liu San's expression, the senior executives quickly explained: "We just want to know where you got this little doll. Don't worry, we won't touch your doll."
The base has not lost its conscience to this extent.
What's more, if this puppet is really snatched away, it may not be possible to order it to cooperate in carrying out the mission. It is better to find out the origin of the little puppet.
They were very keen to notice that Liu San's artificial eye and the appearance of this little doll were particularly abrupt. It was very likely that they were obtained from someone or somewhere.
If the base had something similar, it might be able to better deal with all crises and no longer have to be exploited for resources by other bases.
Several senior officials knew that life was difficult for people in the city area below the base, but they had done their best to allow those who were missing limbs and children to stay in this base that could protect them from being harmed by alien species by simply handing over a little bit of resources.
But more than that, they are helpless.
The base lacks powerful psychics and even more so food. Whenever danger comes, it has to spend resources to ask people from other bases for help. As a result, the people in the base become even more short of food and have a hard time.
Winter is coming again.
They don't want to see any more deaths on the base.
Two chapters combined into one, 9,000+ completed.
I will continue to work hard tomorrow.
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