Chapter 256

The squad members were Xu Jiutian, Chen Ke, Liu Derong, and Xu Hu.

I don't know if Zhu Xiaoshuang arranged it on purpose, but Su Yang had helped them all recover from ferocious beasts before.

Especially Xu Jiutian and Chen Ke—they were old teammates.

When they saw Su Yang, their faces lit up with smiles.

They knew Su Yang's abilities, his strength, and his combat record.

Su Yang had even helped them capture excellent pet beasts; they deeply respected him!

Seeing this squad composition, Su Yang felt reassured.

They were strong, experienced, and easy to command—nothing would go wrong.

At nine o'clock, Su Yang and his four companions departed the camp on time.

At half past nine, they arrived at the train station.

Su Yang and his four companions wore crisp military uniforms, carrying suitcases, standing before the station—extremely conspicuous.

Especially Su Yang—young, handsome, with a calm and serious demeanor—he stood ahead of the others, who clearly regarded him as their leader, making him even more striking.

Many people waiting for the worm train unintentionally cast glances toward them.

"I wonder when the train will arrive!"

"It's already two hours late!"

"Isn't it normal for trains to be late? I've never once encountered a train that wasn't late!"

"Look, that soldier is so handsome—should we go introduce ourselves?"

"Stop being infatuated—he'd never look at you!"

"Why not? I think I'm pretty!"

"Look at his uniform—he's from the Emergency Unit, at least a Gold-Rank Pet Master, not some ordinary soldier!"

"…."

Civilians didn't know the exact arrival time of the train in Changwu City, so they complained about delays.

At ten minutes past ten, the worm train slowly came to a stop, its doors opening gradually as passengers began to disembark.

After all passengers had exited, Su Yang led his four companions onto the train.

After showing their credentials to the attendants, they were assigned to Carriage No. 3.

Changwu City was over half a month's journey from Nanyucheng; Su Yang installed a core in his desk lamp and opened the book he had brought along.

The day before, he had borrowed two books from the Changwu City Library.

One was a popular science book on psychic ferocious beasts; the other was the Huaxia Federation's investigation report on the Shoushen Sect.

The Shoushen Sect was a cult that gradually emerged during the Great Catastrophe three hundred years ago.

Its doctrine was blunt and brutal: humans were guilty, the Beast God sent ferocious beasts to destroy humanity, and only those who worshipped the Beast God could earn his favor and escape harm.

Three hundred years ago, when the Great Catastrophe first struck, people were terrified; some with weak wills chose to worship the Shoushen Sect.

At that time, the Shoushen Sect was extremely weak.

Its leaders dared only to develop secretly, manipulating their followers' minds to satisfy their own desires.

They feared drawing the attention of the Huaxia Federation.

But when Pet Masters appeared, the threat level of these cults instantly rose severalfold!

Shoushen Sect followers once used psychic abilities to hypnotize large numbers of civilians and soldiers, seizing a base city and attempting to establish a terrestrial divine kingdom.

Of course, that was merely the fantasy of those madmen.

They were swiftly exterminated by elite forces dispatched by the local military.

Over the past century, regional military units have maintained zero tolerance for cults, showing no mercy whatsoever.

That's why the Emergency Unit reacted so swiftly after Nanyucheng reported the presence of Shoushen Sect followers to Changwu City.

After reading the investigation report on the Shoushen Sect, Su Yang simply said: "In a big forest, any kind of bird can be found."

For over ten days, no one else boarded Carriage No. 3.

The train attendants frequently came by to inquire after Su Yang and his team.

No incidents occurred along the way; in the evening, the worm train slowly pulled into Nanyucheng Station.

As soon as they stepped off the platform, Su Yang heard someone shouting loudly: "Humans are guilty, they will perish; only by worshipping the Beast God can one attain eternal life!"

Su Yang turned toward the voice and saw a disheveled middle-aged man shouting.

The man's face was sallow and gaunt; he wore blue work clothes stained with dark spots.

As he walked, he chanted his slogan.

"Humans are guilty, they will perish; only by worshipping the Beast God can one attain eternal life!"

This time, the one shouting was an older woman sitting at the entrance to the platform stairs.

Su Yang took a deep breath and smiled: "I feel like they're giving us a warning."

Xu Jiutian nodded with a smile: "That's exactly the intention."

"Let's go check the Nanyucheng Military Headquarters—how did they mess this up? They clearly lost control!"

"Mm."

On the way to the Nanyucheng Military Headquarters, Su Yang and his team encountered several more people shouting about worshipping the Beast God, but they were quickly taken away by patrolling soldiers.

Su Yang and his team reached the Nanyucheng Military Headquarters, showed their credentials, and were led inside.

They were greeted by Deputy Mayor Zhong Ruili of Nanyucheng.

"Deputy Mayor Zhong, how's the Shoushen Sect situation?" Su Yang asked bluntly. "We just got off the platform and already saw Shoushen Sect followers—it looks bad!"

Zhong Ruili sighed: "We haven't found the Shoushen Sect members yet."

"Not even caught one?" Su Yang frowned.

Logically, if Nanyucheng wanted to find that person from the Shoushen Sect, it should have been easy.

This world's household registration system is equally strict, especially due to the impact of poor transportation, so the floating population is actually very small.

To find an outsider, as long as Nanyucheng's military puts in serious effort, there are almost no people they cannot find.

"Yes, we didn't catch anyone!" Zhong Ruili said. "We stumbled upon the Shoushen Sect members entirely by accident. We brought that follower back for interrogation and indeed extracted some leads—but when we went to arrest them, we found nothing. Since then, almost every day someone runs onto the streets shouting that same nonsense, as if taunting us!"

"Have you searched the entire Nanyucheng?"

"Not yet!" Zhong Ruili said. "From those Shoushen Sect followers, we found traces of hypnosis. We preliminarily deduce that the opponent must possess a Spirit-type pet beast. Finding them is difficult. Nanyucheng can only deploy Spirit-type pet beast masters to search, and the progress is very slow!"

Spirit-type pet beasts mostly possess several illusions.

If you send ordinary soldiers to search, the opponent could stand right in front of them—and those soldiers might still not see them!

"I understand!"

"Major Su, you've all endured long journeys. I've prepared meals for you—why not rest first?"

"Alright!"

After spending over half a month on the Worm Train, their spirits were indeed low.

After a hearty dinner, Su Yang and the other four quickly rested.

The Shoushen Sect matter can wait until tomorrow, after they've regained their strength!

If it's just about finding people, Su Yang is actually quite skilled!