Under One Person: The Puppet Immortal in the Tang Sect

No matter how Cui Ming urged it, the split soul power provided by the Tomie puppet stagnated after reaching a thousand, and could no longer generate new souls that could be independently controlled.

No matter how hard he tried to force it, Cui Ming's already very powerful divine soul could no longer split into other divine souls.

It's unclear whether Shi Cuiming's own soul was too powerful, preventing him from splitting, or whether it was due to Tomie's insufficient development of her abilities.

In short, Cui Ming stopped trying.

He understood that this was the inevitable result of transforming Tomie into a human puppet.

Puppetization locks in the possibility of further growth and in-depth development of innate superpowers, keeping them forever in the state they were in when they were modified.

One thousand is the upper limit of this ability.

After a brief deliberation, Cui Ming accepted the restriction.

If Tomie were allowed to develop freely, who knows what terrifying consequences it would cause.

If countless bodies are controlled by the split soul of Tomie, a psychopath who has killed countless people, and wreak havoc throughout the Eastern Kingdom…

In comparison, a thousand puppets completely under his control were already an extremely powerful asset.

Cui Ming does not regret his initial choice.

Despite the limitations, Cui Ming's puppets quietly took root within the Harbin Special Higher Police Department.

The superhumans he controlled gradually occupied some middle and lower management positions and key operational roles.

Through them, Cui Ming gradually figured out the organizational structure, personnel list, communication codes, and some of the action plans of the Harbin Special Higher Police's Special Forces' Extraordinary Personnel Unit.

As for those unimportant spy puppets, they were controlled by Cui Ming to carry out certain death missions, or to deliberately let them down during the missions.

The effects of this approach became apparent very quickly.

Many of the Special Higher Police's actions began to make inexplicable "mistakes".

Intelligence regarding the capture of resistance fighters was always a step behind or inaccurate;

Encirclement and suppression operations targeting key objectives have repeatedly failed due to "poor communication" or "unexpected interference."

The allocation of supplies was chaotic, and the equipment that should have arrived was delayed.

During encirclement or pursuit, the soldiers, who were originally rigorously trained, all became aimless shooters.

As for those who shoot accurately?

Oh dear! How did it go off by accident? How did I get hit by a stray bullet?

In one operation after another, soldiers who were originally highly skilled in military affairs were gradually targeted and eliminated.

Those who remained were either poorly trained or controlled puppets…

This gave the underground resistance organizations in Harbin a valuable respite and room to grow, leading to increasingly frequent activities and a significant increase in sabotage incidents.

Cui Ming went a step further.

He instructed the controlled or parasitic individuals to "cleanse" their own internal affairs.

Those traitors and spies who were most ruthless towards their compatriots in East Asia and most devoted to serving the Japanese devils suffered successive losses due to various "accidents" or "internal strife".

Meanwhile, some Japanese intelligence agents who were actually infiltrating the Japanese army escaped danger time and time again due to the enemy's "negligence," and even obtained some valuable intelligence.

Harbin became Cui Ming's testing ground.

He verified the effectiveness of this top-down, gradual erosion control model.

By having the controlled Japanese commanders make seemingly reasonable decisions that actually harm their own side, they can both delay and wear down the enemy and sow internal suspicion.

In three months, Cui Ming obtained a massive amount of intelligence through this network.

He clearly understood that the island nation's resources were already strained, and its plunder of the occupied territories of the Eastern Kingdom was becoming increasingly rampant, but its efficiency was low due to internal problems.

What caught his attention even more was the conflict between the army and the navy that was repeatedly mentioned in the intelligence reports.

From military spending allocation to strategic priorities, from equipment standards to personal grudges among generals, the rift is deep.

A plan took shape in Cui Ming's mind.

Since we want to weaken the enemy, why not let them fight each other even more fiercely?

Harbin, as an important city in Northeast China, is not directly under the command of the Navy, but there are naval intelligence personnel and supply channels between the two cities.

Cui Ming began instructing the controlled Army system superhumans to deliberately obstruct and thwart matters related to the Navy in their daily work, spread rumors detrimental to the Navy, and even create several minor conflicts to shift the blame to the Navy.

At the same time, he is also searching for suitable targets through intelligence screening.

A Japanese naval commander who could move freely in Harbin, held a certain position, and harbored deep resentment towards the army.

He needs to put on a show: on one hand, keep the army under pressure, and on the other hand, contact the navy as a "sympathizer" or "ally of interests" to add fuel to the fire.

The Thousand-Faced Puppet has now reached the perfect stage to shine.

Cui Ming disguises himself as a Japanese businessman dissatisfied with the army's domineering style. Through the secret connections of a puppet, he begins to contact a naval lieutenant commander stationed in Harbin who is responsible for coordinating the inland transport of some maritime supplies.

Initially, they were cautious and reserved, only complaining that the army's numerous checkpoints were severely impacting their business.

As expected, the other party felt the same way. After drinking a few more cups, he opened up and his resentment towards the army was even deeper than Cui Ming had anticipated.

The person to take the blame has been selected.

Cui Ming then planned to use him to reach out to others and elevate the major to a higher level, thus accelerating the rift between the Japanese Navy and Army and turning this internal rift into an unbridgeable gap.

This gradually influenced the entire war situation in the Eastern Kingdom.

His vision has expanded beyond just Harbin.

This approach can be used to deeply infiltrate and erode the Japanese forces in all the major towns and cities that have fallen in the East.

Chapter 170 Serial Tactics

After taking control of the Harbin Special Higher Police, what followed was not only power, but also a massive flood of unprocessed intelligence.

Cui Ming, using the identity of Kiriguchi Keiichiro, was in charge of the office, where he handled a mountain of telegrams, reports, and personnel files every day.

His powerful mental processing ability was on full display at this moment, rapidly filtering, memorizing, and cross-referencing.

Many previously overlooked details have come to light.

One of the findings surprised Cui Ming.

Despite the fact that all the major sects in the Eastern Kingdom's supernatural world have explicitly forbidden their disciples from getting involved in worldly disputes, and even more so from participating in direct actions such as assassinations.

However, the infiltration and assassination attempts by various factions behind the scenes never ceased.

In the past few months alone, at least seventeen of the “accidental deaths” and “unexplained attacks” that have occurred in Harbin and the surrounding areas have shown signs of supernatural abilities.

However, most of their techniques were immature, leaving behind many clues.

If the superhuman agents in charge of the investigation hadn't already been Cui Ming's puppets and deliberately misled the direction of the investigation, the exposure of these actors would have been almost inevitable.

This is not.

A preliminary investigation report on the "Songhua River Wharf Warehouse Explosion Case" was placed on Cui Ming's desk.

The remaining Qi at the scene was weak, but its characteristics were too obvious, belonging to the techniques of a small sect in the southwest region.

The perpetrators were clearly inexperienced and chose an inappropriate escape route after detonating their homemade explosives, almost colliding with a patrol that had been alerted to the incident.

The result was that a large amount of witness testimony and physical evidence was left behind, but fortunately the person still managed to escape.

Furthermore, the Japanese had very little understanding of the Eastern martial arts sects; otherwise, there would be no way to explain it.

The conclusion at the end of the report was altered by investigators controlled by Cui Ming.

"It is suspected that the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Forces used high explosives, and the traces have been destroyed." As for the physical evidence, it was quietly disposed of.

"I don't know how high the sky is."

Cui Ming put down the report and unconsciously tapped the table with his fingertips.

These young superhumans, full of enthusiasm, underestimated the Special Higher Police's and the superhuman forces' reconnaissance capabilities, and overestimated their own survival skills in harsh environments.

Their actions are often reckless, and their choice of targets is sometimes unwise.

But Cui Ming couldn't say much about this fearless spirit that risked his life.

After some thought, Cui Ming suddenly realized that these assassins might become useful pieces on his chessboard.

While achieving their assassination goals, they could also serve his deeper strategic plans.

And this opportunity came soon.

Three days later, a confidential report from an inside informant was delivered to Cui Ming's desk.

There are newly discovered signs of suspicious activity near an apartment building in Daoli District where mid-level Japanese officers reside.

The target is suspected to be a major from the Kwantung Army General Staff who resides there.

The tip described the characteristics of the suspicious individuals being monitored.

Young, he showed signs of martial arts training, but seemed unfamiliar with the city environment, wandering into dead ends several times and scouting the same area multiple times.

Cui Ming also reviewed the target major's information.

This person is not an extraordinary individual, but he has a very poor reputation among the people and often cruelly suppresses ordinary people, leaving behind a trail of bloodshed.

He definitely deserved to die.

He pondered for a moment and then issued the order.

Additional plainclothes officers were deployed for surveillance, but the core instruction was to "cast a long line to catch a big fish" and not to alert the enemy.

The executors were naturally the superhuman agents under his control.

Meanwhile, he secretly dispatched two shadow spiders to the area to investigate.

After two days of observation, Cui Ming had basically figured out the situation of this young assassin.

He was a young man in his early twenties, with decent skills and abilities, but his stealth, reconnaissance, and counter-tracking techniques were extremely crude.

The weapon he used was a short blade coated with poison, and his martial arts style vaguely resembled that of a small sect from the Qilu region.

The young man was very patient and kept looking for the best time to take action.

Little did they know that their whereabouts had already been exposed to the Japanese soldiers, and were completely visible to Cui Ming.

The apartment building wasn't heavily guarded, but there were regular sentries and patrols.