Inside Dawn Paradise, Zone 2, in front of the Attribute Enhancement Hall's main entrance.
"We're here. The last usable 'Potential Transcendence Device' is right inside. By the way, this has already become my home. As a polite Hunter, I trust you won't mess with things in someone else's house."
Dean walked into the Attribute Enhancement Hall. After a few steps, he realized the man behind him hadn't followed.
"What, are you afraid I set a trap? That's not like you Hunters."
"..."
Su Xiao said nothing. He merely took out a Crimson Card that was unusually scarlet. The smile on Dean's face instantly froze.
"This... What is this? How could I..."
Dean's body suddenly stiffened. A huge phantom vaguely appeared behind him. Strings hung from each of its ten fingers, connecting to Dean's body.
As expected, Su Xiao's perception hadn't been mistaken. Dean was a sub-body controlled by one of the five fragments of the Forbidden Mark—the Puppet Mark. In other words... he was the Gray Gentleman's puppet.
In theory, the Gray Gentleman was dead, so Dean should have died along with him like the other puppets. The key point was that the Gray Gentleman had once been one of Dawn Paradise's hopes of revival. With his authority level in Dawn Paradise back then, sending a puppet into the Dawn Ruins had been no difficult task.
Dean wasn't a Violator from the previous era at all. He was a Violator of the current era. He had been sent into the Dawn Ruins, and the memories infused into him were those of his former identity as a Worker of Dawn Paradise in the previous era, mainly responsible for the daily maintenance of Dawn Paradise's infrastructure.
Because he bore an origin-sharing Violator imprint, the wandering Violators here naturally didn't attack Dean. This