no puppet

The rain was overwhelming, ferocious and rapid, constantly devouring the defenseless ancient town in front of me.

"Xiao Tao—"

"Where are you, Xiao Tao?"

"Sister Xiaotao, can you hear me?"

Just after midnight, several layers of overcast clouds covered the sky, instantly covering a bleak beam of light overhead.

The girls in Kongzhanlou held a lamp in one hand and held an umbrella in the other, walking side by side in the gray screen of heavy rain, wading back and forth in the water, trying to call Xiaotao's name at the top of their voices.

Along with them were Yin Chun and Kang Wen from the Biyu Mansion, and a small group of enthusiastic townspeople from the neighborhood.

The girl was lost in broad daylight.

Judging from Xie Hengyan's memories at that time, at the last moment when he turned his head to look for Yin Chun, Xiao Tao was still standing a few steps away from him, and did not go too far immediately.

However, when he turned around and called Xiao Tao's name again, the person had disappeared out of thin air.

Not in the empty building, nor in all the places I just passed.Liu Zhou'er took the girls and searched them all inside and outside the town... Fortunately, the consciousness of the residents in the town was not too loose. After experiencing two accidental drowning incidents in succession, they had no choice. Excessive indifference, but choosing to raise the lamp, muster up the courage to explore the unknown truth ahead.

The place where Xiaotao was finally found was one hundred and eight thousand miles away from the river beach at Zhenkou, separated by three or five long and winding narrow alleys, next to a dry well covered by four dilapidated courtyard walls—according to a nearby resident What I said was that before I fell asleep in the middle of the night, I heard a sudden and sudden strange noise. I lit the lamp and went out to look outside. I almost didn't scare the old man at home out of trouble.

Xiaotao is dead.

Leaving aside the rotting of the whole body, the color of the skin is almost the same as that of the two girls who unfortunately died before—pale and weak.This is enough for a preliminary judgment, and there was no sign of struggle before death.

In other words, either she was killed on the spot, and the assailant didn't have the slightest chance to react to her.

Either she didn't have the strength to struggle at all, and the assailant used spells to forcibly suppress all her actions.

"But the most frightening thing is... the dry well in the yard has been disused for almost two or three years, and the water line, which is swelled by the rain on weekdays, can't even submerge the ankles at all." The nearby residents were terrified, "Then this little girl, How did he drown in the well? Could it be that there are ghosts and spirits haunting him?"

As soon as the words came out, the little green girl who hadn't slept all night finally lost control of her emotions, knelt down on the wet stone floor with a plop, and began to cry loudly.

"Xiaotao is my best dancing partner... Now that she is dead, who else will be able to sing and dance with me?"

As soon as Xiaolu cried, Liu Zhou'er hurried up to hug her, and the girls in the whole Kongzhanlou huddled together, sobbing in unison like singing.

Xie Hengyan stood beside him dumbly, crying for a while, or not crying, and finally just shaking a few drops of water on the tip of the umbrella, silently listening to the ticking sound after they landed.

But all the enthusiastic townspeople who were helping to find the person, suddenly saw such a miserable scene in front of them, they couldn't help but stunned one by one, with panic and panic on their faces.

The next morning, it was still dark.Last night, a heavy rain surged like a tidal wave, still covering the entire ancient town, as if it was tireless.

The wooden door of Biyu Mansion has been in disrepair for a long time, and it has long been dilapidated.At that time, he was pushed, slapped, and shaken by someone, and then there were calls from behind the door that were close to exhaustion:

"Old man Cheng, old man Cheng of Bi Yu Mansion, old man Cheng!"

"Wake up, don't sleep any more, there's a catastrophe—a catastrophe!"

"Old Master Cheng, wake up, coming to Feng Town is going to be over!"

Not long after the last sound, the door creaked and was pushed open forcefully, the old housekeeper Huo Shitang held a broom, barged at the door ferociously and shouted: "Everyone is so noisy this early in the morning? "

The first few uncles and aunts all looked pale with horror. They were obviously dazzled by excessive panic, and they were so noisy that they couldn't help but want to come in to find Cheng Daofeng to talk about the matter.

"Recently, so many things happened in the town, and three people died one after another. How come you are an old man and still squatting at home without even the most basic explanation?"

"Yes, when the old man was still young, he was one of the best exorcism masters in the town!"

"Old man, come out and help, the sky is about to collapse, you old man, don't rest!"

Huo Shitang put a broom in his hand, stopped in front of the door and said in a bad tone: "What are you yelling in such a hurry, even if you are innocent, you have to wait for Master Cheng to rest before you come to bother me... It's not yet dawn, so I'm stuck What are the words at the door?"

"I've come here, so I need to ask for something urgent!" Someone quickly retorted, "Families that have been married for a hundred years have continued to this day, and they are all families of magic that the townspeople unanimously recognize... Everyone used to be in awe, offering incense to the ancestral hall. Money has never been short, why is it that the old man doesn't care about the effect now that it's a critical moment?"

Huo Shitang's forehead popped with blue veins, and he immediately said furiously: "The ancestral hall? You have the face to mention the ancestral hall? How long has it been since the shrine on the mountain has been left unattended, don't you know?"

During the dispute, there was a sudden sound of footsteps.People thought that Cheng Daofeng was finally willing to show his face, and rushed forward to raise their heads, scrambling to express their grievances.

Not wanting to squeeze aside and dawdled for a long time, the tall and slender figure of the great apprentice Yin Zhu finally appeared in the center of everyone's eyes.

"...Everyone, calm down first."

Yin Chun's expression was indifferent, and his voice did not fluctuate: "Right now, the monsters are making trouble in the town, people are panicking and it's hard to settle down, so why do you want to mess around here?"

Everyone said indignantly: "There are only a hundred people in the town, and three of them died in the past two days, and they were all young girls... How can we prevent people from panic?"

Yin Chun said: "No matter how flustered you are, the matter can't be solved on the spot. Master has repeatedly warned about the overly careless defense of Zhenkou and the area outside the mountain. You think that your life is comfortable enough, so you can relax all your concerns about foreign things at will. Control, the wanton invasion of existing monsters is also an inevitable consequence."

"Then what should we do? There has been no disaster in Feng Town for more than [-] years. Who would have expected such an unexpected situation like today?"

"What should be the specific countermeasures? Master will naturally make a certain decision." Yin Chun's eyes were condensed, almost without any special meaning, "Everyone present, instead of making noise outside Biyu Mansion, it is better to go to your own house Paste talisman paper behind the front window to prevent night monsters from coming to disturb the door."

After all, there was another long ending sound of squeaks, and the rain-soaked wooden door was completely snapped shut amidst the noise, and even the last trace of the gap disappeared.

Everyone stood in the middle of the rain curtain in silence for a while, and finally they were still noisy, and many sighs and questions were heard endlessly.

Behind the gate, the house surrounded by low walls on all sides is quiet.

After a long time, the old man's low and helpless voice sounded from the side: "All gone?"

Yin Chun replied: "It's not over, it's still standing in front of the door."

"This group of people, really." Cheng Daofeng smiled wryly, "Now I know I'm afraid, what did everyone do earlier?"

"Otherwise I'll..."

"No need, it's useless no matter how many times you go out... When they calm down, they will try their best to save their lives." Cheng Daofeng said, "Speaking of which, have you dealt with everything I asked you to do yesterday?"

Yin Chun clasped his fists and replied respectfully, "Miss Xiaotao's body has been carefully inspected."

"how?"

"The spell used by the murderer on her body should belong to the category of control." Yin Chun pondered for a while, before quietly speculating, "Perhaps it is the same reason as our manipulation of talisman paper? Through some kind of material medium, force her Unable to move about, throwing himself into the water and drowning?"

"uncertain."

Cheng Daofeng raised his jaw slightly, and under the light and shadow, a wrinkled old man's cheek was sometimes dim and sometimes glaring and sharp, like a piece of broken porcelain, wantonly showing its fragmented and dangerous brand.

"Chun'er, you act too rigidly. Most of the time, you don't know how to think about things in a wider area."

Cheng Daofeng tapped on the table with one hand, and then said meaningfully: "There are many types of control, and media control...is just one of the simplest and easy to practice."

Yin Chun stared at him blankly for a while, and finally bowed his head humbly, and said sincerely: "... Please forgive me for being dull, for not being able to understand the meaning of Master's words."

Cheng Daofeng's eyes were lingering, but his smile was as gentle as usual: "Have you ever heard of a deeper control technique?"

"what……?"

Cheng Daofeng said every word and sentence very clearly: "There is no need for any third medium, it is purely an extreme technique of interaction between the two."

"In short, it is what we often say-mind control."

At the same time, there was a narrow alley with continuous rain.

Under a large dark brown wooden sign engraved with "Yuhuju", dozens of flies were buzzing to avoid the rain.The tables and chairs in the tavern have not been taken care of for several days, and now they are covered with an extremely greasy layer of oil stains.

In front of the threshold, there stood two indistinct figures, one fat and one thin.

"Xiaozhu went back to her room that day, and never came out again... In the past, when the tavern was closed, she would go directly to rest, and she never ran around at night."

"What else? She really hasn't been anywhere, and hasn't seen anyone?"

Under the smog and rain, Xie Hengyan was wearing a light blue shirt, leaning against the door of the tavern with folded arms, the ferocious red light in his pupils surged up like a tide at that time.

And half kneeling in front of him was Boss Gan who lost his beloved daughter in the store.

The fat and bloated man's eyes were empty, like a lamb completely unconscious, under the suppression of Xie Hengyan's long and fierce gaze, he was powerless to resist, and even unable to send out any signal for help.

So he could only shake his head numbly and mechanically, and continued to answer aloud: "No, she hasn't been anywhere."