Sudden Change
Outside the bunker, before the Liu Household father and son could deal with the unconscious zombies scattered on the ground, a commotion arose from the crowd.
Liu Duanyue patted her son's hand as he cut the puppet threads and asked, "Go check on those people. Instead of taking advantage of the good opportunity to get rid of these zombies, what are they doing making such a fuss?"
But Liu Chengzhi, whom he was questioning, remained silent for a long time. Liu Duanyue, not waiting for her son's reply, was about to look up and ask when she saw him staring blankly at the sky without saying a word.
Liu Duanyue followed his son's gaze and immediately noticed the countless plumes of black smoke floating above Moonless City.
The black smoke, in wisps, seemed to be alive as it continuously descended into the city.
Liu Duanyue examined the spot where the wisps of black smoke had landed closely, her eyes widening instantly. "The location where the black smoke landed looks like it's in the center of the city!"
"Indeed, it's in the center of the city, and Father, do you remember what place that center of the city is?" Liu Chengzhi looked at his father, and their expressions simultaneously turned serious as they gave the same answer, "The City Lord's Mansion!"
"Oh no! You must quickly lead the sect disciples to the city lord's mansion and protect all the mortals!" Liu Duanyue made a decisive decision and pushed her son out.
But Liu Chengzhi hesitated. "But Father, there are so many living corpses here. What if they suddenly awaken? The City Guard alone might not be enough..."
"We can't worry about that now. There are so many mortals in the City Lord's Mansion. Even cultivators have a hard time protecting themselves. If the Sun-Chasing Hall really attacks the City Lord's Mansion, those mortals will really have no chance of survival!" Liu Duanyue hurriedly summoned several elders of the sect, quickly explained the situation, and urged her son to go and help.
Seeing his father's resolute attitude, and also worried about his elder brother and younger sister who were also placed in the city lord's mansion, Liu Chengzhi finally listened to his father and led the sect disciples to the city lord's mansion immediately.
After seeing her son off, Liu Duanyue devoted herself even more diligently to cutting the puppet's strings.
Suddenly, a plume of black smoke shot straight down from the sky, causing a flurry of panicked screams wherever it went.
Everyone avoided this like the plague, fearing it was yet another strange concoction from the Sun-Chasing Hall.
Seeing this, Liu Duanyue also drew his sword and stepped forward. He was just about to disperse the black smoke when, unexpectedly, the black smoke seemed to sense something and suddenly accelerated, crashing into the crowd in the blink of an eye!
Liu Duanyue was astonished and immediately exclaimed, "Quick, look! Who has that black smoke landed on?!"
The crowd slowly parted, making way for Liu Duanyue. A trembling voice answered him, "That black smoke... it seemed... it seemed to have seeped into that person's body!"
Everyone looked in the direction the man was pointing. The young man in the black robe had his back to them and slowly stood up.
He suddenly turned his head, and his hoarse growl startled those around him, causing them to scream immediately. The young man, who had already turned into a zombie, seemed to be disturbed by the screams and swung his claws at the person closest to him.
Liu Duanyue recognized him at a glance; the person was clearly Yu Heng, who had come with them to explore the bunker!
Yu Heng's transformation was just the beginning. After him, low growls following the transformation echoed through the crowd. Liu Duanyue couldn't care less about the unconscious zombies at this moment and could only lead Hu Weicheng to subdue those who had just mutated.
Strangely, after Liu Duanyue finally defeated Yu Heng, she reached out to touch the puppet silk on his body, only to find nothing.
"What's going on? Why doesn't he have any puppet silk on him?" Liu Duanyue pressed down on Yu Heng's struggling head with one hand and continued to search his hands and feet, but still couldn't find anything.
Not only Yu Heng, but soon the City Guard were pressing down on the other zombies also came to answer, "Lord, these zombies don't have any puppet threads on them!"
Countless thoughts flashed through Liu Duanyue's mind, and then she immediately shouted at the crowd, "Lift up their clothes and see if they have any red markings!"
Zhou Xuan was the first to act. He was a clever man and understood the city lord's order almost immediately. He quickly took off the shoes and socks of the zombie under his hand and, sure enough, saw obvious red markings on the zombie's feet.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Xuan naturally understood. "City Lord, this person is Curse!"
After he said that, how could the others not understand?
Upon further investigation, everyone discovered that all those who had been infected and mutated by the black smoke had red markings on their bodies to varying degrees.
Clearly, the black smoke is targeting those afflicted by the Curse!
"Damn it!" Fear rose in Liu Duanyue's heart. "There are many people afflicted with Curse within the City Lord's Mansion's formation. They're mixed in with ordinary people; if that black smoke falls..."
Before Liu Duanyue could finish speaking, the low growls coming from the city confirmed his guess.
Sang Ying lost track of Wuyue Sha.
Jiang Zhuoxue blocked the zombies for her, Sang Ying immediately went to the location Yu Heng had indicated.
Wuyuesha was Wuyue Sha to be seen in the dark room. Sang Ying arrived too late and could only see the Image-Retaining Stone he had left behind and the entrance to the secret passage hidden in a secluded location.
Instead of foolishly rushing into the secret passage to chase after the person, Sang Ying rummaged through her Storage Bag and pulled out a ball of red thread. She then made a hand Method Formula, and the red thread seemed to come alive, chasing after Wuyue Sha's aura and plunging into the secret passage.
Jiang Zhuoxue was not idle either. The undead suddenly lost their dragon blood and fell into a brief coma. He first cast a trapping formation to surround all the undead in the bunker, fearing that they would cause trouble after they woke up.
Once she was certain that the undead wouldn't escape the formation and pose a threat to those outside, Jiang Zhuoxue finally had time to return to the room where she had previously imprisoned Dongdong, gently and swiftly stripping the dragon blood from his body.
Sang Ying's red thread moved quickly, and she soon had a clear understanding of the situation inside the secret passage.
Wuyue Sha seems to have taken the art of having multiple burrows to the extreme. The secret passages he ordered to be built are interconnected, and if someone unfamiliar with the area were to enter rashly, they risk being trapped and dying in the passages.
After Hongxian entered, he quickly marked out all the routes of the secret passage for Sang Ying, including the path that Wuyue Sha had specially left out to lead out of the city.
Sang Ying retrieved the red thread, patted the other person twice, praised them with "Great job!", and then turned and left the house.
She knew very well that Wuyue Sha must have escaped the city through the secret passage, and given the difference in their speeds, by the time she arrived through the passage, Wuyue Sha would probably already be nowhere to be found.
The secret route is winding and circuitous, making it difficult to catch up with the opponent. However, if one were to leave the bunker and use a flying sword to pursue them, the chances of catching up would obviously be much greater.
Sang Ying didn't have time to think and immediately sped up to leave the bunker. But when she passed the group of zombies, she also cast a trapping spell on them, making sure that the zombies couldn't escape before leaving with peace of mind.
Outside the bunker, chaos reigned. When Sang Ying looked up and saw the black smoke in the sky that seemed to obscure the entire Moonless City, the Floating River Sword in her hand trembled violently...
A note from the author:
Here's one chapter, another one will be posted later!