Starting as a prodigy wanting milk? A world-destroying deception in the opposite direction.

Zhao Huaijin and his companions rode their horses forward at a slow pace.

Qi Xuejian took out the compass and lightly tapped it with her fingertips, gathering her mental energy.

After the compass needle spun wildly for a few rounds, it trembled slightly as if it had lost its target, and finally stopped.

"Strange..." Qi Xuejian frowned.

"The energy field is chaotic, yet it's as if something has forcibly smoothed it out. I can't pinpoint a clear source, but something just doesn't feel right."

Soon after, Zhao Huaijin reported back:

"Captain Shen, things seem normal in the town..."

The shops were open, there were people on the street, and a shop called Youyuan Inn had its lights on, with a waiter greeting customers at the door.

"Normal?" Shen Zhen frowned, wondering if she had misjudged the situation.

Li Qingyan's response:

"There were quite a few pedestrians on the street, but their eyes were a bit off. When we went in, they looked at us, and when our eyes met, they looked away and continued walking and doing their work."

The innkeeper was very enthusiastic, but his smile... didn't seem genuine; it was a bit... stiff.

Everything was strangely normal.

Shen Zhen took a deep breath and said cautiously:

"Enter the town and check into Youyuan Inn."

Everyone be on high alert, work in groups of three, and no one may be alone.

Then, looking at Ye Zhi Qiu and the other deputy envoys, he said:

"Vice Envoy Su, Vice Envoy Qiu, you two should keep an eye on the townspeople's words and actions;

"Vice Envoy Ye, please check for any signs of a barrier. Vice Envoy Gu, record any abnormalities in the layout."

The group accepted the order.

The convoy slowly drove into the town entrance, a light mist brushing against their faces, carrying a hint of coolness.

Upon entering the town, the "normal" hustle and bustle immediately hits you.

The glow of lanterns dissipated in the blue mist, and shops lined both sides of the street, with vendors, children running and playing, and women leaning against doors.

The aroma of food, the smell of livestock, and the earthy scent mingled together.

It's too normal, so normal it's like an overly realistic painting.

A very faint ripple of mental energy spontaneously emanated from Shen Zhen's body, and he instinctively became alert.

His gaze swept over the townspeople with their formulaic smiles; deep in their eyes, there was a lack of the vibrant light that a living person should have.

The innkeepers warmly greeted us, arranged our accommodations, took care of the horses, and answered our questions fluently.

Shen Zhen asked casually:

"Has anything new happened in town lately?"

I've heard that a bluish fog often rises in the evening; is there any significance to it?

The waiter's smile froze for a moment, a fleeting look of confusion crossing his eyes before returning to normal:

"Peace and tranquility prevail; this has been the way things have been for generations, nothing special."

His tone was fluent and his logic was clear, yet it revealed a rigid, classroom-like recitation style.

Shen Zhen exchanged glances with Su Mingyuan and the others.

After settling in, everyone gathered in Shen Zhen's room at midnight.

"The townspeople's actions seem to follow fixed routes and times."

Qiu Zhengnan unfolded the simple layout diagram she had drawn and pointed out a few locations.

"I discovered that the night watchman would appear precisely at a fixed street corner at a specific time, and sometimes he would do strange things, such as suddenly turning sideways to go around obstacles when there were no obstacles in front of him."

There were also a few children, who appeared to be laughing and playing.

Upon closer inspection, however, their running routes appeared to be pre-planned. They would pause briefly at each point, performing similar movements, before continuing along the predetermined path.

"I've checked it too, and these aren't illusions," Ye Zhi Qiu said, fanning himself.

"They are all normal living people, with their souls intact, but it's as if their backbone has been removed, leaving them only passively following the rules."

"Memory Filth?!" Everyone exclaimed in unison, their first thought being this mutated variant.

"No," Gu Chengye disagreed, pondering for a moment before speaking:

"It's like... some kind of massive ritual, where everyone is part of the ritual, repeating fixed steps."

"Vice Envoy Gu is right," Shen Zhen said slowly at this moment.

"At first I also thought it was the work of the 'Memory Evil,' but people controlled by the 'Memory Evil' wouldn't have such a clear mind."

"Vice Envoy Gu said it was a ceremony," Zhou Shi couldn't help but ask.

"What is the purpose of doing this...?"

No one can answer that.

Night fell over the town, and the blue fog grew even thicker.

Everyone takes turns resting.

Shen Zhen lay down fully clothed, but found it difficult to fall asleep.

The sounds of the night watchman's gong and faint laughter coming from outside the window created a monotonous repetition that was unsettling.

He tried to use his mental power to perceive, but he only felt that the blue mist was like a thick net, dissolving and absorbing his mental power bit by bit.

In the middle of the night, Shen Zhen suddenly woke up.

It's too quiet.

The previous commotion has subsided.

Dead silence.

You can't even hear the chirping of insects or the barking of dogs.

He quietly got up and opened the window.

The fog outside was so thick it seemed impossible to dissipate, and the streets were deserted. The lanterns at the entrance of the inn were swallowed by the fog, illuminating only a few steps ahead.

"Captain Shen?" Zhao Huaijin from next door also appeared alertly.

"Something's wrong. Wake everyone up, keep your voices down."

Soon, everyone gathered in Shen Zhen's room. Even Feng Yu was escorted over by Yan Feng, his face showing displeasure at being woken up.

"What's going on?" Feng Yu asked in a low voice, his tone somewhat dissatisfied.

"It's silent. It's too quiet," Shen Zhen said. "Go out and check it out. Stay alert."

The group left the inn quietly.

Thick fog blanketed the area, reducing visibility to extremely low levels.

The streets were deserted, with the doors and windows of the shops on both sides wide open, but there was no one inside.

Even more strangely, some shops still had unfinished work displayed on their counters.

A garment half-sewn, a half-chopped wood-chopping knife, and even a pot of porridge still steaming slightly.

In what seemed like an instant, everyone... vanished.

"Let's go to the town center and take a look," Shen Zhen said in a low voice.

The group moved cautiously toward the town center.

The closer they got to the center, the more alarmed they became.

Suddenly, Wu Xian, who was walking in front, tripped and almost fell.

He looked down and saw a fallen embroidered shoe.

Then, more traces appeared: a scattered vegetable basket, a broken earthenware pot, and even a small pool of dried, blackened blood.

Finally, they arrived at a small square in the center of town.

The scene before them sent chills down everyone's spines!

In the square, many people were lying, sprawling, or leaning haphazardly.

There were about a hundred men, women, and children, who were the same "normal" townspeople from the daytime!

They all had their eyes closed, their faces an unnatural flush, their lips curled into stiff, identical smiles, and their chests rose and fell slightly.

Still alive, still breathing.

Looking closer, their eyeballs, visible beneath their eyelids, seemed to be moving extremely slowly.

But no matter how much they called out or pushed, there was no response.

Feng Yu gasped, instinctively taking half a step back, his voice filled with barely suppressed fear and disgust:

"This...this is the kind of sleeping position a human could possibly have?"

Wu Xian's voice trembled slightly: "How could you...fall asleep like this?"

"No," Su Mingyuan said, crouching down to examine someone, his face pale.

"His pulse and breathing were frighteningly steady, as if something was forcibly maintaining him in a certain state."

It doesn't look like it's sleeping; it's more like it's being stored here.

Shen Zhen approached an old man slumped over a food stall table, checked his breathing, and then touched the still-warm bowl of wontons on the table.

The special mental power within him fluctuated once more, this time even more clearly.

Countless extremely fine strands of psychic energy permeated the air, seeping out from the blue mist and penetrating the pores of the mouths and noses of these "sleepers".

Their breath carried a hint of grayish impurities.

"They are being fed, but their life essence is being drained."

Shen Zhen blurted out the words, his voice icy cold, without even realizing why he had said them.