The Ultimate Fire Master of Avatar

Chapter 149 Conspiracy and Unexpected Encounters

After observing Judy for a while, he noticed something was wrong.

"As you've probably noticed, Judy's behavior has been a bit unusual along the way."

Kahn's words resonated strongly with everyone, and Soka retorted:

"It's not just abnormal, every time I bring up the matter of meeting the emperor with her, she acts as if she doesn't hear me and changes the subject, as if she doesn't have ears."

Katara also said with a slight hesitation:

"Moreover, she always had the same smile on her face, but it made me feel like she was never smiling, which sometimes gave me the creeps."

"This is what they call a forced smile!"

An Ang suddenly thought of an idiom and looked very proud of himself. Ignoring the silly An Ang, Tofu asked Kahn:

"So, these behaviors alone aren't enough to conclude that she's been brainwashed, are they?"

"Of course. But her abnormality goes far beyond that."

Kahn shared his observations:

"From what I observed, all her statements and answers, even the smile on her face, were quite programmed, as if they had been pre-programmed."

"Whenever the topic of war and meeting the emperor came up, her emotions became quite unstable, as if she were afraid of something."

"At this moment, she would freeze for a moment, then continue talking to herself as if she hadn't heard anything, seemingly deliberately avoiding the question, but this was different from her normal behavior."

"This extreme discrepancy between her inner self and outward appearance is why I judged that she had been brainwashed."

"Even so, why was she brainwashed?"

Katara asked, puzzled, a question that others also wanted to ask.

Kahn shook his head and said:

"I don't know either."

Brainwashing is usually done to control a person's thoughts and behaviors. For example, what Aozai did to Azura can be considered a long-term, subtle form of brainwashing.

However, the brainwashing method used by Aozai is more troublesome and more thorough. Once successful, it can have an almost irreversible effect on the brainwashed person, who is almost unaware of it and unable to resist.

In contrast, the brainwashing methods Judy suffered were obviously much more brutal, leaving many loopholes and allowing the brainwashed to potentially revert back to their original state.

However, he had no idea why a mere palace maid would be brainwashed.

Kahn could only guess:

"Whether intentional or not, Judy is indeed preventing us from meeting the Emperor, and her attitude towards the war is also strange. Perhaps this is why she has been brainwashed?"

"If people are to be brainwashed just for this reason, that's terrifying!"

Katara said incredulously.

Tuofu scoffed:

"What's certain is that the person who sent Judy here definitely had ill intentions."

"You mean the emperor of the powerful nation isn't a good person either?! What should we do then?"

An Ang was startled upon hearing this, and at that moment, Soka suddenly seized on the blind spot and said:

"No! She never seemed to mention that the person who sent her to receive us was the emperor; she only said that she was sent 'from above'!"

"I think she might not be referring to the emperor, so the question is, who exactly is this 'above'?"

Kahn gave Soka an appreciative look. Although he couldn't control magic, his mind always worked very quickly at crucial moments, making him practically the strategist of the supernatural team.

However, the information available at present only allows them to speculate to this extent.

Kahn concluded:

"In any case, based on the information we have so far, the situation in Yonggu City is more complicated than we thought, and there are people secretly targeting us. We don't know what their purpose is, so we must proceed with caution."

"."

Everyone nodded heavily. Kahn's speech was like a bucket of cold water being poured on everyone's mood, and the once glorious Everlasting City seemed to be shrouded in gloom.

Seeing that everyone's expressions were somewhat somber, Katara broke the silence by saying:

"In short, we'll have to gather intelligence ourselves from now on. That request to meet the emperor didn't sound very reliable to begin with."

"But since someone wants us to stay in the city and not see the emperor, why don't we take this opportunity to rest and relax in the city, and secretly gather intelligence?"

"That's a great idea!"

Soka and Anang's eyes lit up immediately. To be honest, everything here intrigued them, and they really wanted to relax.

Tof wasn't too interested in this; she hated the feeling of being enclosed by walls. However, she eventually gave in to Katara and agreed to spend some relaxing time with her, just like the girls.

"But with Judy following us and monitoring us, how are we going to gather intelligence?"

An Ang asked.

The question was simple, Soka snapped his fingers and answered with a relaxed expression:

"We can just split up and act separately. She can't possibly be in two places at once, can she? At worst, we can find a chance to shake her off."

"But such a big city, I'm afraid you can't see it all in a whole day."

As they talked, Soka started daydreaming about what to do tomorrow.

Seeing how quickly they adjusted their mood, Kahn couldn't help but chuckle.

Of course, he also planned to take a good look around the city. As the capital of the Tuqiang Kingdom, Yonggu City is one of the few prosperous metropolises in the world today, and he was quite curious about it.

After finalizing the next steps, everyone settled down, enjoyed a sumptuous dinner, and then had a good night's sleep.

The next morning, the group went out to play separately. Katara and Tove went out together, while the boys went out separately. Judy had no choice but to go with Katara and the others.

The plan is in place.

Walking down the street, Kahn soaked in the atmosphere of the capital of the powerful nation of Turkey while searching for a place where he could gather intelligence.

He first took a human-powered train to the lower city. He had to admit that the human-powered train, driven by magic, was quite smooth and comfortable.

The lower city is mostly inhabited by refugees who have fled from outside the city, as well as some artisans of lower social status. It is a chaotic area within Yonggu City. This mixed area does make it easy to obtain some intelligence, but unfortunately, the local residents are not very friendly to outsiders.

He had originally considered using some tricks, but considering the current situation where the enemy was in the dark and he was in the light, he had no choice but to give up and continue walking into the city.

The further you go in, the more orderly the streets become, with pedestrians coming and going and bustling markets appearing on the road. Yonggu City gradually shows its prosperous side as the capital of the Tuqiang Kingdom.

But for some reason, he always felt a strange sense of oppression here.

Restaurants, teahouses, and taverns are always good places to gather information when people gather. But speaking of which, he never thought tea was anything special when he was with Ai Luo, but now he was starting to crave some.

So Kahn casually asked a passerby for advice:

"Which teahouse in town has the best tea?"

"If we're talking about the best craftsmanship...that's right..."

The passerby told him the name of a teahouse and pointed him in the right direction:

"I heard that the teahouse recently hired two new workers, one of whom is an excellent tea brewer. Everyone who has tried his tea raves about it. You should check him out."

Thank you.

Kahn then set off for the teahouse recommended by a passerby. When he arrived, he found that the teahouse was doing very well, with almost all the tables occupied, proving that the rumors were true.

But the next second, Kahn was stunned.

Two workers were bustling about inside the building. Kahn would never mistake those two familiar yet unfamiliar figures, but he never expected to run into them here.

Zuko and Airo, they actually became tea workers in Yonggu City!

Coming!

(End of this chapter)