Wendy had been wondering what was going on ever since they left.
Enya hadn’t given any explanation, and with Wendy’s little brain, how could she possibly figure it out? So, after stepping out of the inn, she kept looking at Enya, hoping she would explain.
Unfortunately, Enya was neither in the mood nor had any intention of giving an explanation. She swept her indifferent gaze over those people and then gave a cold smile.
The moment the corner of Enya’s mouth lifted, the puppets nearby seemed to go mad, charging forward with ferocious faces, their expressions as if they wanted to devour Enya and Wendy alive.
Yet, the eyes on those faces remained utterly vacant.
Enya turned her head and spoke to Wendy.
“Don’t hold back.”
“Yes, mistress.”
Wendy responded, then shifted her gaze from Enya to those bizarre humans. Just moments ago, she had seen these people each going about their own business, and now this was happening.
The Forest Elf girl raised her left hand in front of her, fist loosely clenched. A white flower bloomed in her palm, then brown roots sprouted from the top and bottom of the flower. Within a few breaths, it grew into a beautiful brown longbow!
Her other hand, with her thumb against her index finger, pinched a seed the size of a grain of sand. When she touched the bowstring, the seed rapidly grew into a verdant arrow.
Wendy drew the longbow, aiming at the feet of the group charging toward them. As she released her hand, the verdant arrow flew out.
When it struck the stone pavement, the ground began to tremble. Bricks were pushed aside, and sharp brown wooden spikes emerged, quickly growing wildly into thorns that hoisted those fearless individuals into the air. Instantly, blood spread everywhere.
The moment Wendy smelled the blood, she couldn’t help but frown. During her service in the Moonlight Mountain Patrol of the Forest Elf Kingdom, she hadn’t truly seen much blood.
The humans she saw now, each had their bodies torn by the thorns. Even with wounds gushing blood, deep enough to see bone, they still fearlessly tried to squeeze their way through.
Seeing this scene, Wendy was momentarily stunned, doubting in her heart whether the creatures before her were even human.
Enya scanned her surroundings. These creatures were of all ages, not just men but also women, children, and the elderly. They were all the same.
She turned and placed a hand on Wendy’s shoulder, directly carrying Wendy as they flew to the building opposite. Then, with a Sword Qi Slash, she struck at an empty spot on the roof of another building. It seemed to miss, but from that empty space, bright red blood gushed forth.
Witnessing this, Wendy couldn’t help but widen her eyes.
Enya’s pupils shifted, looking toward another location. She snorted coldly, and bloodstains also appeared out of thin air not far from there.
The blood appeared abruptly in the air, as if there was an invisible creature there. As he was slain by the sword qi, the invisibility gradually failed, revealing his true appearance.
It was a creature with six arms, wearing tattered black robes. The hood was not up, revealing a doll-like, milky-white mask for a face. It had no openings for eyes, nose, or mouth, only the general shape a face should have.
“What is that thing?”
Just as Wendy was puzzled, she suddenly noticed that the humans on the street had all suddenly stopped their frenzied movements. Instead, they seemed to have lost their support, their flesh-and-bone bodies collapsing onto the ground.
Like marionettes with their strings cut, after losing their puppeteer.
However, at this moment, there were still some puppets who seemed shocked by what had suddenly happened and hadn’t reacted yet.
Enya glanced at Wendy and said.
“Southwest.”
“!”
Upon hearing these three words, Wendy instantly raised her longbow and shot an arrow in that direction. The guy who had been stunned by Enya swiftly dealing with his companion was struck squarely by Wendy’s arrow.
The arrow did not pierce through the White-faced Man but lodged in a spot just below his collarbone, which didn’t seem to be a vital point.
The White-faced Man, feeling the pain, immediately used one of his six arms to pull out the arrow while frantically fleeing.
But he had only run about ten meters when he felt a piercing pain from the wound. Instantly, his limbs lost strength, and he fell from the rooftop, yet not a single drop of blood spilled.
Then, in just a short while, the White-faced Man lay on the ground, roots beginning to sprout from his body. After they burrowed into the ground, new shoots emerged from his back, gradually growing into a small tree. By this time, his body had already begun to shrivel.
The seed forcibly absorbed the nutrients from his flesh and blood, growing into a fruit tree. If nothing unexpected happened, it could bear fruit next year.
Weird?
But this was one of the Forest Elves’ combat methods. Of course, just one of them. In this world, there were plenty of strange and bizarre things.
Enya walked behind Wendy, pressing against her maid’s back. Wendy’s body couldn’t help but tense up.
She wanted to turn her head, but Enya said.
“Don’t look back.”
“….”
Wendy didn’t understand why, but she still followed Enya’s instruction. After all, Enya was the boss; she paid Wendy to be her maid.
Besides, Wendy still owed her money!
So in this situation, if Enya told her not to look back, she absolutely would not, no matter what Enya was going to do behind her.
Enya placed one hand on Wendy’s right hand holding the longbow and grasped her left hand with the other, turning her toward another location.
“Let’s play a little game. See how accurate your shots are.”
“Mistress, is there a reward?”
“Depends on your accuracy.”
“Yay!”
Wendy felt a small thrill of excitement. She was quite confident in her archery skills. As long as the target didn’t have some protective method or a special Blessing, Wendy could achieve a hundred shots, a hundred hits, capable of shooting a falling leaf from a hundred meters away.
Enya rested her chin on Wendy’s shoulder, turning her and telling her the specific positions. Then, Wendy drew her bow and shot.
Even if the target was hiding behind several walls, Wendy could shoot through.
And once the arrow hit, it would cause the struck person’s body to bloom and bear fruit—a snow-white, five-petaled flower and a small, bright red fruit.
As the White-faced Men were picked off one by one, the people in the town also began to fall. Whether poor, rich, or whoever, at this moment, they all lay like puppets, having lost their souls and consciousness.
Wendy grew tired of picking them off. She felt like she had wallhacks, but since her mistress was calling out the spots, could she not shoot?
If Wendy had turned around at this moment, she would definitely have seen that Enya’s eyes were golden-red vertical pupils, not human eyes.
It wasn’t that no White-faced Men survived, but those were the ones who abandoned their Living Puppets and fled beyond Wendy’s shooting range, thus preserving their lives.
Enya closed her eyes. After a while, she opened them again. The golden-red vertical pupils had disappeared, reverting to light golden eyes.
She released Wendy and stepped back a distance. Wendy turned slightly to look at Enya, her heart filled with even greater reverence.
That was so satisfying to shoot!
With Enya calling out the spots for her, then picking off those weaklings one by one, hitting every single one—what could be more satisfying than that?
Enya gave Wendy a sidelong glance.
“That’s all it takes? Wendy, is your threshold too low?”
“Huh?”
Wendy’s face was full of confusion.
Enya sighed lightly, not explaining the hidden meaning in her words, only saying she would help adjust it later.
Wendy didn’t understand, thinking Enya was going to teach her something. Her expression was shy, but her heart was already blooming with joy.
‘Mistress’s teachings, hehe~’
Enya led Wendy down to the ground. Looking at the streets almost paved with people, the teasing smile on her face faded.
She crouched beside a woman, reached out, and tore off the other’s face skin. Underneath was a young man. At this sight, the corner of Enya’s mouth twitched, and she quickly threw away the woman’s face skin in her hand.
Seeing this, Wendy was also very curious and crouched down, picking through the pile of bodies.
She finally chose a man. After peeling off the face, she found it was a woman. Wendy couldn’t help but round her small mouth in surprise, then went to peel off other face skins.
A moment later, Wendy exclaimed.
“It’s all mixed up! Everything’s mixed up!”
“….”
Enya hadn’t peeled off anyone’s face since the first one.
These Living Puppets lying on the ground were left with only their respective shells. Their souls had been misplaced into others’ bodies, and after the puppeteer abandoned them, the souls disintegrated on their own.
Men were swapped with women, women with men, the poor became the rich, the rich became the poor. None of them had a true self; each was living someone else’s life, manipulated by strings from above.
“Living Puppets…”
Enya murmured softly. At this moment, she thought of Sylvia locked in the birdcage. Sylvia was also a Living Puppet.
She looked at Wendy, who was having a great time playing, like experiencing scratch-off lottery tickets or blind boxes, and the impact was strong. Under an unremarkable character’s face skin, there might be a beautiful woman hidden, and under a beautiful woman’s face skin, who would it be?
…
Fun, so much fun!
“Ahem!”
Enya cleared her throat, also reminding Wendy to stop playing. They still had serious business to attend to. Since that Parit and Lucia were fake, where had the real ones gone?
They needed to find them, as they were quite important things after all.
In the dark space, the air was turbid. Anyone entering here would instantly feel it difficult to breathe. Yet, deep within this gloom, there were actually two people!
However, they did not live here but were chained in a cage, filthy and looking almost inhuman.
They were a young man and a young woman, sallow and emaciated, their appearances terrifying. If they suddenly rushed out from the darkness, they would surely scare someone half to death, at the very least causing them to wet their pants.
Yet, there was still a glimmer of light in their eyes, proving they were still living beings, not evil demons from The Abyss.
The emaciated young man was leaning against the emaciated young woman, using his withered hands to try and unlock the shackles on the girl’s ankles.
Everything was so quiet until a creaking door opening sound rang out. About eight or nine meters away from the cage, a sliver of external light appeared, making the two in the cage tense up.
The emaciated young man grasped the girl’s hand, signaling with his eyes for her to be quiet.
The girl’s eyes were filled with sorrow and fear. Her memories were chaotic. A segment of painful memory dominated, suppressing another segment. It was as if she had lived two lives, and now her soul was being torn apart by two selves.
She didn’t know which was the real her, which was the invading memory, but she had an intuition: if she didn’t find her true self, she would forever sink into falsehood.
Who can tell me, who am I…
As a figure slowly descended from the stairs, the two of them held their breath.