Chapter 612

For safety, Peng Xiangming sent a flying pet beast into Ancheng to investigate.

The result: all members of the Shoushen Sect in Ancheng had fled…

A Star Radiance–ranked Beast Tamer entered Ancheng and opened the city gates from within.

Inside the city, not a single Beast Tamer was to be seen—only densely packed, ragged civilians kneeling on the ground!

Nearly ten thousand civilians nearly blocked the entire entrance to the city.

These civilians glared angrily at Su Yang and his group, muttering strange incantations nonstop.

Su Yang listened closely—it sounded like they were begging the Beast God to send divine punishment and annihilate them here!

Any mentally sane person would never believe this.

Yet, somehow, they all believed it.

An old man staggered to his feet, pointing at Peng Xiangming and Su Yang's group and roaring: "All of you, get out of Ancheng! This is a city bathed in the glorious light of the Beast God! If you take another step forward, the Beast God will surely unleash divine punishment and obliterate you here!"

If these were Shoushen Sect members, Su Yang would have obliterated them on the spot.

But they were civilians!

Su Yang did not wish to dwell on them too much.

Fortunately, there were still personnel from the Western Army's Emergency Response Unit.

A Star Radiance–ranked Beast Tamer issued a direct warning!

Some of the kneeling civilians, sensing danger, slipped away quietly.

Others, who fully believed in the Beast God, continued to resist stubbornly.

Su Yang did not interfere with what came next.

He leapt onto the walls of Ancheng and scanned the city interior.

The entire city of Ancheng looked as if it had suffered a massive fire…

Everywhere were collapsed houses and walls blackened by soot.

Even now, flames still spread in the distance.

Su Yang flew over the Shoushen Sect followers and walked casually down a relatively intact, secluded side street.

"Intact" was relative—several doors had still been violently smashed open.

Several corpses lay on the road, rotting.

From behind the intact doors, Su Yang sensed people crouching by the windows, secretly watching him.

At that moment, Su Yang suddenly heard footsteps around a corner and stopped.

A panicked young man ran out from the corner and slammed straight into Su Yang.

But before he could hit Su Yang, a wall of ice suddenly appeared before him.

The young man crashed into the ice wall, screamed in pain, and fell to the ground.

Liu Mengyun jumped down from the Black Tiger Hawk and stood beside Su Yang.

The ice wall blocking Su Yang shattered into a pile of ice shards and quickly melted into water.

The young man looked up, saw Su Yang, and flinched—then, upon noticing their military uniforms, immediately knelt and cried:

"Officer! Officer! I'm not a Shoushen Sect follower! I'm not a Shoushen Sect follower! They forced me into the sect—I never believed any of it! But they had food, and I had no choice but to join them! Please, spare me!"

Many civilians had joined the Shoushen Sect simply for petty gains.

They thought themselves clever, believing they could exploit the situation.

Yet they didn't realize: once you join the Shoushen Sect, it's nearly impossible to leave!

The Shoushen Sect has a complete, systematic brainwashing technique.

Even without psychic pet beasts, they can turn an ordinary civilian into a devoted follower of the Beast God!

Those brainwashed are hard to save.

They lose all normal habits of life and thought.

It's nearly impossible to return to normal civilian life.

Only if the Western Army deploys Beast Tamers with psychic pet beasts—and invests tremendous effort—might they possibly be restored.

This… is difficult.

Su Yang remembered this young man.

He had been among the civilians kneeling at the gates earlier.

But after hearing the Emergency Response Unit's warning, he ran!

"You're lucky. Go."

The young man assumed Su Yang's "lucky" meant he was in a good mood and would let him go.

He quickly bowed his head: "Thank you, Officer! Thank you, Officer! I'm leaving now!"

Just as the young man tried to leave, a door tightly shut to Su Yang's left opened.

"Officer, you can't let him go—he led men to kidnap my sister!"

A boy, thirteen or fourteen years old, ran out.

The young man saw the boy and turned pale with panic.

Clearly, he was guilty.

He tried to flee, but his feet felt glued to the ground.

He looked down—his feet were covered in white frost.

"Tell me."

Su Yang had nothing else to do.

The boy trembled violently under Su Yang's gaze.

Su Yang's current appearance was truly terrifying!

If not for his sister's disappearance, this boy would never have dared to step forward.

"It was him who led the Shoushen Sect to take my sister!"

"Is that true?" Su Yang turned to ask the young man.

The young man forced a smile: "Of course it's false—how could an officer believe a child's nonsense?"

Anyone could see he was lying.

The boy feared Su Yang would believe the young man's lie and hurriedly said, "Officer, he's lying—every neighbor saw it!"

Su Yang's blood-red gaze pinned the young man.

"Where is she?"

"Dead!"

The young man shuddered and dared not lie anymore.

"How did she die?"

"She was sacrificed!"

The boy froze.

The Shoushen Sect had recently taken complete control of Ancheng.

He knew full well what "sacrificed" meant.

"Why her?"

The young man lowered his head and answered, "The Shoushen Sect specifically demanded her for the sacrifice!"

"You're lying! It's because my sister rejected you a month ago—you held a grudge and led the Shoushen Sect to kill her!"