The Insect Trapped in the Cocoon

Xu Zhou deeply realized just how powerful the anomaly Bai Zuo had contracted truly was.

As long as he was in a crowded place, once Bai Zuo released his limits, his combat power was absolutely terrifying!

It could be said that the more people Bai Zuo controlled, and the stronger those people were, the more his strength had no upper limit.

Moreover, as long as it was a sapient being—or rather, as long as it was human—it was nearly impossible to escape his control.

After all, mental and psychic manipulation was too insidious; you knew he was controlling you, but you couldn't break free from his grip, forced to watch your own body being driven by someone else, fully conscious.

Just thinking about it was horrifying!

Xu Zhou quietly approached Ji Wu and asked in a low voice, "Brother Bai's anomaly is this strong—isn't the Aberration Association afraid that all its members will be marked by Bai Zuo?"

Ji Wu replied, "As long as the President is still alive, that problem doesn't exist."

"Why?"

"Maybe it's a case of one thing subduing another," Ji Wu said after a moment of thought. "Because of the President's existence, those Contract Anomalists with bizarre temperaments can honestly abide by the Aberration Association's rules."

"I've never met the President. What kind of person is he?"

Someone who could make even Brother Bai obey so obediently—he couldn't imagine such a person.

"The President... he's a very powerful, very tolerant, and very charismatic person. You just joined not long ago, so it's normal you haven't seen him. You'll have a chance later."

As the two talked, they beat back the occasional stray anomalies that slipped through.

The anomalies on the ground barely caused much trouble, and since there were many people and few anomalies, the two soon stood idly by, watching Bai Zuo's controlled crowd crush the anomalies.

In places with fewer people, however, there were more anomalies.

Kong Yubo fled down from the rooftop in a sorry state.

Countless floating ghost fires surrounded him, attacking relentlessly. Though their force was light, each contact left him frostbitten by the ghost fires' extreme cold.

Kong Yubo accepted this feeling of being hunted by countless anomalies quite well; he even felt that this was the proper way to start. These anomalies, though strong and impossible to kill, at least gave him the courage to flee and the will to fight back.

Unlike that giant spider—just looking at it made any thought of resistance vanish.

"Captain!"

Several teammates fought as they retreated.

Almost all of them were injured.

"There are too many anomalies here! Let's head down to the ground!"

Kong Yubo approached the window and saw the streets below almost completely covered in murky water, with countless human heads floating inside, mouths agape.

Monsters were everywhere!

It was similar to what they had encountered on Huayuan Ridge—no, the anomalies here were even more numerous than there!

A teammate exclaimed, "Captain! Look over there!"

Kong Yubo looked to the left and saw a group of tourists charging at the anomalies in the water in bizarre postures. They were numerous, and when they swarmed forward all at once, it conjured an illusion of a zombie siege.

Hundreds or thousands of anomalies in the water were stomped underfoot, one by one, by this strange crowd.

The dispatch team watched, utterly dumbfounded.

Were all the people in this city this fierce?

Did every single one of them have the physical fitness of trained personnel?

Amid his shock, Kong Yubo noticed something off. These people moved with speed and strength far beyond ordinary humans—only those who had undergone intense training could display such qualities.

But these were all ordinary people; it was impossible for everyone to have received training.

Moreover, there was an indescribable strangeness in their movements. Though fast, their joints had a certain stiffness, like puppets controlled by strings.

In a daze, he seemed to see a thin, barely visible white thread at the chest of each person.

That white thread stretched all the way up into the sky. What was up there?

Up in the sky was that giant spider, large enough to cover the entire Anyang Island!

Could it be... that all these people were being controlled by that spider?

Kong Yubo couldn't tell for a moment whether that spider was good or bad.

Their combat was restricted inside the building, so soon, the group covered each other as they retreated downstairs.

Once on the ground, the ghost fires stopped approaching, and the anomalies in the water were being dealt with by the rampaging crowd.

Leaning on each other, they suddenly found themselves with nothing to do.

Every teammate wore an expression of lingering shock.

This was the first time they had encountered an anomalous incident so easily, with no one dead.

Kong Yubo smiled bitterly. "I know who that person is."

"Captain, who are you talking about?"

"Which person?"

"Remember what Zhang Lin said? The demon who can manipulate hearts and must not be provoked—the other Contract Anomalist we've never been able to track down!"

Kong Yubo had always assumed that the "demon who manipulates hearts" referred to some kind of master strategist—someone with extraordinary wisdom, able to see through human nature, lay intricate plans, and gradually control others through schemes.

Because such intelligence was so heaven-defying, his methods of manipulating people seemed almost inhuman, hence the title "demon."

He never expected...

Kong Yubo looked up at the enormous spider in the sky, then recalled the shot he had fired at it.

The creature radiated a deep, abyssal malevolence, as if it had gathered all the evil in the world. The colossal spider was like an incarnation of a demon—he was the demon who manipulated hearts, the convergence of all malice!

Truly someone not to be provoked, not to be crossed!

"Could it be...?"

The unspoken understanding between team members made them all look toward the altar at once.

Even from this distance, they could vaguely make out three figures standing on the platform.

"The Holy Prince!"

"He's that Contract Anomalist!"

"Why did that guy shoot at him earlier? Aren't they on the same side?"

"No wonder I felt he was unusual the moment I saw him."

Kong Yubo's heart grew heavy.

His thoughts were in chaos, racing through many things—the shot that man had fired earlier, and the shot he himself had taken.

He wondered if the other party would hold a grudge.

If so, he hoped the revenge would be directed only at him, and not involve the others.

This wasn't Kong Yubo being paranoid. From the fragments of information he had gathered and the few encounters he had witnessed, he could tell that the man's personality was extreme.

Someone with power and a vile temperament would not magnanimously forgive a weakling who dared to offend him.

On the contrary, crushing that person like an ant underfoot—that was exactly the kind of thing someone like that would do.

"Ding! Character completion increased by 10%!"

"Unlocked Anomaly Artifact: Information Cocoon (b)."

"Details: When you are trapped in a 'cocoon' like a silkworm's, how do you break free and return to reality? Weave a piece of information (a lie) that compels others to follow your thoughts without their own will, turning them into insects trapped in a cocoon, forced to receive information."

"Ability: Within a certain range, you can erase specific cognitions, but the range is limited. The more complex the information you weave, the shorter the duration it lasts."

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