Chapter 327
The night rain poured down, filling the night sky with a layer of ominous mist.
By the time I arrived, the warriors were in a tough battle. It wasn’t because the enemy was too powerful. On the contrary, they had to be cautious to avoid hurting their overly weak opponents.
Faced with a group of children who were not even as tall as their chests, no one dared to use any of their true abilities. They could only constantly dodge the orphans’ attacks as if they did not care about their lives. Some of them were slightly injured but still dodged in a sorry state and did not fight back.
The children’s state was visibly abnormal. They seemed to be controlled by something. Their dull eyes and stiff limbs were like puppets, and they were attacked in unimaginable positions by the ‘puppet master’.
Some of the children’s limbs were twisted and deformed and must have been fractured. However, they could not feel any pain at all. The civilians were pestering the soldiers who were trying to control them.
Seeing this, I couldn’t give an order rashly. I raised my voice and asked, “What happened?”
The squad leader knocked a boy unconscious and replied loudly without turning his head, “These children are being controlled by sorcery. They can’t communicate with us and are constantly attacking us!”
I saw Master Kevin standing in the safety zone, surrounded by a few warriors, writing and drawing something. His head was full of cold sweat. Obviously, the current situation was very difficult to even him.
With no other choice, I could only order the soldiers to knock the children unconscious in a way that would not hurt them. No matter what, we had to end this meaningless fight first. However, these children’s ability to recover was extraordinary. They would wake up again in less than a minute after being knocked out, turning the whole thing into a never-ending vicious circle.
“Plan change. We don’t have to make the target lose consciousness. We only need to make the target lose the ability to move!” I tied up the two children who were pouncing at me with ropes and ordered the soldiers, “Be careful. Some of the children have very serious fractures. Try not to let them get injured!”
After a long time, we finally subdued all the orphans. Including the children rescued by the army, we have recovered a total of seventy-nine orphans. Eleven of them had unfortunately passed away, and the whereabouts of the remaining four were unknown. The wanderers we were pursuing were the last members who planned the kidnapping. They might have been killed if the four missing orphans were not in their hands.
I tried my best not to think about this cruel possibility. I ordered the team to organize and count the injured.
Although the controlled orphans were crazy, these children were still not enough in front of the soldiers who had been through hundreds of battles. Most of the injured soldiers only had superficial wounds, and only one had a broken palm because he had fallen to avoid the attack.
I didn’t waste any time. I immediately conjured a few black-gold moths from the New Flow to treat the soldiers’ injuries. The soldiers were all surprised by this method they had never heard of before, but their long military life made them understand that it was best to shut up when it was time to. On the other side, after many attempts, Master Kevin finally had to admit that he was helpless in the situation of the orphans.
“This isn’t a power that a mortal can gather.” He handed me the test strip in the isolation petri dish. “There are some traces of this scarlet liquid on the ground. Even without any examination, I can feel its evil and filth. Ordinary people can’t gather such power, and if there is a werewolf grandmaster or wizard with such power among the wanderers, they wouldn’t have to hide like stray dogs.”
“So you think that this thing is related to the devil?”
“Yes.” Master Kevin nodded. “I think this liquid is a concentrated solution of demonic power. The user doesn’t need to know any magic or strange power. They only have to sprinkle it like water. The madness and depravity in the condensed liquid will make people lose their minds and become the devil’s puppets. This worries me the most: these children who have been drenched in the liquid might have been poisoned too deeply and can no longer be saved.”
Looking at those children who were constantly struggling and screaming, unwilling to stop even when ropes ate into their flesh, I couldn’t accept Master Kevin’s vision. “Even with your vast knowledge, you still can’t think of a way to deal with it? So, how about we contact the Lycan pack now? The Royal Library and the Sorcery Research Association might have related records. No matter what, they are a group of innocent children. We can’t give up just like this!”
Master Kevin agreed with my idea but didn’t have much hope. “The gap between man and divinity is too big. History has recorded many stories of ancient people being contaminated by divine power. Whether the power is light or evil, it is an incurable poison to people. The number of people who can escape from disaster can be counted on one hand.”
Even if the chances were slim, I had to try.