A Strange Town

Chapter 222: A Strange Town

Zhang Ye’s hand froze in midair. His ear twitched as he heard a wave of clamor rapidly approaching.

Turning around, he saw countless townspeople suddenly rush out from the town. They stared angrily at Zhang Ye, apparently displeased that this uninvited guest had trespassed onto their territory.

"Who are you? Outsider, you’re not welcome here!"

The man in front shouted loudly as he raised the pistol in his hand.

Zhang Ye showed no reaction upon hearing this. He merely watched the villagers in silence, curiously sensing the chaotic magic blanketing their minds.

On the surface, their speech, thoughts, and reactions were no different from ordinary people’s. But the eyes were the windows to the soul. You could corrupt a person’s mind, but you could not defile their soul.

Through the reflection of the Wizard’s Eye in his witch doctor mask lenses, Zhang Ye could clearly see the fear in the leading man’s gaze. The being identical to his outward appearance was currently bound within that controlled body.

Strictly speaking, these people could no longer be considered real people. Their consciousnesses were all trapped inside their bodies. In Bruce Banner’s words, "Hulk had taken the wheel of the body, while he himself had been locked in the trunk."

"As expected of an expert at corrupting minds. Is this the power brought by the Darkhold?" Zhang Ye muttered to himself, ignoring the villagers who were closing in step by step.

In Zhang Ye’s eyes, these puppets were not enough to threaten his life. However, finding a way to save them would not be easy either.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Get the hell out of here!"

The townspeople charged forward. The nearest person had even come within three meters of Zhang Ye. They held all sorts of weapons, and Zhang Ye even spotted a little boy clutching a kitchen knife.

Zhang Ye gently removed his Helmet of Black King, as elegant as a gentleman taking a bow. His inexplicable movement drew no response, because the instant the Helmet of Black King came off, the entire scene abruptly fell silent!

A massive storm of psychic power swept out. Enormous energy, like a cold current, enveloped Zhang Ye’s surroundings at an imperceptible speed. The villagers who had been shouting curses were now as silent as statues.

Everyone around Zhang Ye except Agatha stopped moving. They maintained their original poses like wax figures, even the expressions on their faces frozen in that instant. It was deeply unsettling.

Watching Agatha continue mechanically weaving red thread according to her predetermined thoughts, Zhang Ye frowned slightly.

Sure enough, the telepathic power he had only just acquired by absorbing Shadow King was still far from sufficient to break the Darkhold’s magic.

Moreover, even with these villagers’ minds, Zhang Ye could only barely control them. He still could not forcibly free them from Baron Mordo’s control.

Zhang Ye slowly walked up to a villager, casually chose a girl who looked relatively pleasing, and gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

The next moment, the girl whose expression had been frozen in anger suddenly reacted. She took a deep breath, and then endless terror filled her young face.

The instant she broke free of control, the girl instinctively tried to flee. Yet for some reason, she could not feel her body at all. The only thing she could control was her head.

And this was the difference between psychic energy and magic. Zhang Ye could use telepathy to awaken the girl’s mind, but he could not break the dark magic cast upon her.

"Run, hurry and run! Leave this place! It isn’t safe here!"

After realizing that she had truly lost control of her body, the girl hurriedly spoke to Zhang Ye. Although they had only just met, she sincerely did not want this man to become another member of Puppet Town.

"I know. I came here to deal with this." Zhang Ye smiled faintly, though the mask prevented the girl from seeing his expression.

"He’s a devil. He can’t be defeated. Leave quickly, before he finds you." The girl looked anxious.

From the girl’s words, Zhang Ye could genuinely feel her kindness. It was a virtue he could not find anywhere else in the wasteland, and something most humans in this world lacked.

"Actually, he discovered me the moment I entered."

Zhang Ye gave a calm explanation, but quickly continued. "Can you tell me where he is? Wandering around a town built by a wizard will waste quite a bit of my time and energy."

The girl was slightly stunned, but she quickly realized that this strangely dressed person before her seemed to possess mysterious powers as well. Perhaps he truly could free all the town’s residents.

Without any hesitation, the girl immediately said, "The Lord is always in his castle, right at the center of town. But not just anyone can enter. The Lord placed a powerful magic formation at the entrance."

Zhang Ye was not surprised. This was Baron Mordo’s territory, after all. He would have been surprised if Mordo had not set up traps.

Zhang Ye also knew about this so-called magic formation. It was a lock on the entrance to an alternate dimension. To enter the inner world where Mordo was located, one had to complete the "trial" set by Baron Mordo.

Simply put, entering that gate required paying a corresponding price. The price Baron Mordo had set was for entrants to forget the most important memory of their lives.

In the comics, Doctor Doom, Doom, had thus forgotten precious memories such as casting magic for the first time, going to the Hell Dimension to reclaim his mother from Mephisto, and the woman for whom he had secretly developed feelings.

It had to be said that Baron Mordo’s move was truly vicious. As a master magician immensely powerful in the fields of the mind and soul, the trial Baron Mordo had established was practically designed to make intruders cut off both their own arms.

Memories were extremely important. They were the foundation of an intelligent being’s mind and soul.

If a person lost important memories, their personality—or rather, everything about them—would undergo earth-shaking changes. At that point, would they still be themselves?

And if an intruder was unlucky enough to lose memories that should never have been lost, the consequences would be even more severe. For example, a wizard might forget how to cast spells, or an agent might forget how to fight.

Quietly gazing at the towering castle in the distance, Zhang Ye slowly withdrew his eyes. Looking at the townspeople around him, still unable to move under the psychic storm, Zhang Ye let out a faint sigh.

He could not keep using telepathy to suppress the magic forever. Zhang Ye understood that once he stopped, these townspeople would return to their controlled state.

Unfortunately, Zhang Ye’s understanding of mental magic was not deep enough. He could not break the magical restraints Baron Mordo had left on these people.

Fortunately, when mysticism failed to work, scientific creations could still provide a fallback.

Zhang Ye raised his hand slightly. The next moment, an azure-green aura spread from the Black Umbrella and swallowed everyone present at a visible speed.

"Breathe it in. This scent is called fear."

My head still hurt after sleeping all day. I just saw the ten-thousand reward, so I’ll rest for a while before posting more.