Chapter 461: Black-Haired Horse (5/10, Autumn Subscription)

Sure enough, upon hearing this, Captain Wu finally stopped moving and turned back.

"Fine, then let the Qingsi prepare. I don't have money on hand for now, but if Qingsi County ever needs help in the future, you can call on me anytime."

After a pause, Captain Wu glanced at Fang Yue: "Also... I want to see Lord Han of Gu Yue Cun. May I ask where Captain Ye is currently staying?"

"I'll take you there in a bit."

Fang Yue walked over beside Captain Wu, stared at Black Crow for a moment, and asked: "Black Crow, do you have any idea what's happening outside now?"

Everything the Phoenix Organization fellow could spill, he had already spilled.

So what Fang Yue wanted to ask now was something else.

Or rather, if Captain Wu hadn't suddenly appeared, they would have already started interrogating Black Crow by now.

"Outside? What happened? How would I know..."

Black Crow looked bewildered. He had been so frightened by Captain Wu that he had already become very obedient.

"The fire-pattern token you traded to Xiong Duoduo of the Blazing Fire Sect caused Dou Baiyi to become possessed, and Qingluan Lou was burned down. And after that, just last night, most of the survivors of the Qingluan Lou case all became possessed, and then underwent a weird resurgence, attacking the people around them."

What?!

There's such a thing!

Black Crow froze, completely dumbfounded, then suddenly jolted awake and hurriedly felt himself all over.

"N-no, I'm fine, nothing happened to me..."

Phew, he let out a breath of relief and asked: "So then, were those people all killed by your Qingsi?"

"No, the real problem comes after. All those possessed people returned to normal, as if the weird inside them had been suppressed. The fire-pattern token, the source of everything, was brought in by you. Do you have any clue about this?

Think carefully before you answer. Captain Wu doesn't necessarily need to keep you alive—bringing your corpse to Yingzhong Cun should work just as well. I don't think the horse-head mask man cares whether you're dead or alive either."

Under Fang Yue's threat, Black Crow's face turned ghastly pale and ugly.

But he truly had no clue about this matter. If he had to say something...

Black Crow said, somewhat trembling: "At the time I didn't feel anything, but now that you're pressing me, let me think back carefully.

I feel that the weird hidden in the darkness that made me pick up the fire-pattern token gave me the sensation of communicating with a mountain range—endless, bottomless. Just like... the legendary 【Heiqing Weird】..."

Heiqing Weird?

The legendary one?

Fang Yue's face was full of bewilderment.

But behind Fang Yue, You Sisi and Tian Erjun both had their pupils contract, their eyes go wide, and cried out in shock on the spot.

"Heiqing Weird?!"

"Impossible!"

The two spoke almost simultaneously, faces full of disbelief, their whole bodies trembling.

"You know about the Heiqing Weird?"

Fang Yue asked in bewilderment, and Captain Wu beside him also looked completely lost.

Obviously he didn't know what the 【Heiqing Weird】 was either.

Hearing Fang Yue's question, You Sisi and Tian Erjun exchanged a glance and said in lowered voices: "Let's go back up first before we talk."

The four of them, along with the long-faced Black Crow, left the underground cell and returned to the surface.

Tian Erjun immediately sent someone to take Captain Wu to the inn, and to put into action the plan they had previously drawn up for dealing with the Qingluan Lou survivors.

One order after another went out, and the entire Qingsi began to operate.

This was the largest organization in Qingsi County, and also the most powerful!

Under the coordination of the highest command from the Green Attire, it worked like a tightly meshed machine, with each level cooperating in turn to control the overall situation of the entire Qingsi County.

After finally getting all the orders sent out, Tian Erjun still had to busy himself with handling the follow-up.

After all, it was his idea to keep these possessed people around; he had to do it perfectly.

Elsewhere, Fang Yue was in the next room, discussing a question with You Sisi.

"What exactly is the 【Heiqing Weird】, and why did it scare you two like this?"

"The 【Heiqing Weird】 is a legend passed down in the 【Heiqing Shanmai】.

The legend says that the endlessly stretching 【Heiqing Shanmai】 is actually a Transcendence-level Weird. Its endlessly stretching body forms the entire Heiqing Shanmai, all in one stroke, connected as a single whole!

The cliffs on both sides of the Heiqing Xiagu are the 【Heiqing Weird】's head and tail.

The endlessly stretching mountain range is its body.

Anyone who sets foot on the Heiqing Shanmai is stepping on the 【Heiqing Weird】's body, so all who venture into the Heiqing Shanmai are ultimately swallowed up, and not a single person comes out.

But... this is only a legend, a legend story I heard when I was little. It was made up to scare outsiders away from entering the Heiqing Shanmai casually—that's what it should be!

So I think Black Crow is simply lying, just trying to scare us with the legendary 【Heiqing Weird】."

Is that so...

Fang Yue looked at You Sisi, who was usually quite calm but was now trembling slightly, and couldn't help asking: "How likely do you think it is that the weird Black Crow encountered was the 【Heiqing Weird】?"

"Not one bit likely! I told you, that's a legend story, a story! It can't be real!"

"Hypothetically, I'm saying hypothetically—if it's true, if the 【Heiqing Weird】 really exists, and it made Black Crow bring the fire-pattern token into Qingsi County... what do you think its purpose is?"

"... I don't know, or rather, if all this is true, then the legendary 【Heiqing Weird】 is being rather petty. If it wanted to destroy Qingsi County, with its legendary Transcendence-level power, it could wipe out Qingsi County in an instant, and even destroy the entire Heiqing Shanmai, every village, every area of human activity!

So it can't be the 【Heiqing Weird】! Black Crow must be lying to us!"

Fang Yue said nothing, only thinking that if everything went in the worst possible direction...

Then... he would probably have to run.

A gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall!

He had never before heard that the entire Heiqing Shanmai was actually a goddamn Transcendence-level Weird.

If everything were true, then in the entire Heiqing Shanmai region, the lives of everyone could be wiped out in a single thought of the 【Heiqing Weird】!

No! I have to go talk to Lord Han!

He knows Meiyu Xianzi, he's an epoch-level old grandfather, he must know more insider details.

Just as Fang Yue thought of this, a sudden knock sounded from outside the door.

"Come in."

The flustered You Sisi immediately shouted.

The person outside the door paused for a moment, then steeled themselves and pushed the door open to enter.

Unexpectedly, the visitor was actually Yu Baiyi, who had previously been dispatched to investigate the special-grade bloodstain case file 【the Wuyu Clan serial village-annihilation case】.

"Lord You, Captain Ye."

"You're back? How did the investigation go?"

"After our investigation, we can basically confirm that the matter regarding Captain Ye is entirely true. The follow-up details still require more personnel to carry out a meticulous reconstruction of the case. To ensure the news reaches Lord Qingyi as soon as possible, I came back first to report."

"Understood."

(End of chapter)