"Xia Zhen, don't be angry. Give in a little. Besides, you were the one who was rude first. Speaking of which, Brother Ling Yun is two years younger than you and just graduated from high school. Although this is my first time meeting Brother Ling Yun, I truly admire him and really want to make good friends with him. Your brother Zhao Yu has excellent judgment; his recommendation was indeed correct." Xia Tian said to Xia Zhen, a little embarrassed.
Xia Zhen was annoyed by Ling Yun's indifferent attitude and the fact that he had once again retorted. The girl's pride was deeply bothered. She simply didn't even glance at Ling Yun, and haughtily said to Xia Tian, "Brother, I don't think I did anything wrong, and I don't see anything admirable about him. He looks average but is quite arrogant, and his strength is probably nothing special. I wonder which little kid from some family with superpowers is so ignorant. I think you've really misjudged him this time."
Xia Tian's expression changed, and she said somewhat angrily, "Xia Zhen, how can you talk like that? It's so rude of you."
Ling Yun silently walked to Xia Tian's side: "Mr. Xia, I'm sorry, I'd like to take my leave. What happened today was very unpleasant. I was originally interested in communicating with fellow ability users, but today I've really learned something. If ability users can be unreasonable, impose their own ideas on others, and act superior in every way, then I think, although my strength is not that great, I am ashamed to associate with such people."
He smiled dismissively: "Mr. Xia, you are the boss of Sihai Group, a very important figure. You shouldn't have any dealings with someone as insignificant as me. Let's part ways here."
Xia Tian sighed: "Ling Yun, are you looking down on me? Are you deliberately saying these things to provoke me?"
Ling Yun smiled again, said nothing, turned around and strode away.
"Hey, Ling Yun, wait a minute." Xia Zhen was still annoyed, but when she heard Ling Yun's words, she was suddenly shocked. She felt wronged and ashamed, but she was speechless. She knew she was in the wrong, but she was proud as a young girl and was embarrassed by Ling Yun's retort. Feeling that she had lost face, she simply refused to reason with him.
She hadn't expected Ling Yun to speak so resolutely and then turn and leave. This boy was too stubborn. Didn't he know that giving way would also give others a way out? For some reason, Xia Zhen suddenly felt a strange mix of emotions, as if a bottle of mixed flavors had been spilled, an indescribable discomfort. If Ling Yun were to misunderstand her as just a spoiled, arrogant young lady with supernatural abilities, Xia Zhen suddenly felt that would be incredibly painful. Therefore, she hurriedly wanted to call out to Ling Yun, but didn't know what to say.
Ling Yun seemed not to hear her words, his steps never faltering. He had already reached the alley entrance and was about to turn and disappear. Xia Zhen grabbed Xia Tian's arm anxiously: "Brother, what are you standing there for? Quickly call him to stop!"
Xia Tian gave her a deep look and laughed, "I'm not in a hurry, why are you? I just asked you to back down, but you not only didn't back down, you also provoked her with your words, and as a result, you provoked her away."
Xia Zhen pouted and said, "Who told him to talk about me like that? I'm a girl, can't he give me any leeway? Now look what's happened, I was just a little trainee, and now I've become the representative of unreasonable and domineering superpowered individuals. I'm so depressed."
Xia Tian laughed and said, "You know that too? Don't worry, I can get him back with just one word."
Xia Zhen curled her lip in disdain and said, "Keep bragging. Try saying one sentence."
Ling Yun had already disappeared most of his body at the alley entrance, with only one foot still in mid-air remaining in their sight. Xia Tian shouted, "Ling Yun, don't you want to investigate that strange middle-aged man anymore?"
The foot that had been stepped out suddenly stopped in mid-air, then slowly extended back. In the blink of an eye, Ling Yun returned from the alley entrance to the two of them and asked nervously, "You noticed it too? I just chased after him here and then the middle-aged man disappeared. I was about to chase after him when you suddenly appeared. I thought you were the one causing trouble."
"I spotted you as soon as I arrived here looking for you. Don't worry, I've already used a special tracking technique to lock onto that middle-aged man's aura; he won't escape our sight." Xia Tian's carefree smile vanished, replaced by an unprecedented seriousness.
"What are you two talking about? So mysteriously," Xia Zhen asked, interrupting, still confused.
"Lingyun, let me test you. Do you know what kind of aura that strange middle-aged man had?" Xia Tian didn't answer Xia Zhen, but asked Lingyun with a smile.
Ling Yun remained silent, carefully recalling the events. In fact, he felt a strong sense of familiarity with the middle-aged man; he seemed to have seen him somewhere before, and the aura emanating from him was extremely unsettling. It was as if he were smelling the rotting scent of a corpse.
Wait, a corpse? A scene from not long ago, along with Yu Xiujie's words, suddenly flashed through Ling Yun's mind.
“Corpse puppet, that’s a spirit communication technique,” Ling Yun blurted out.
Chapter Nineteen: Tracking
After Yu Xiujie explained the psychic arts to him, he never mentioned it again. He only warned him that any psychic who could use psychic arts, no matter how weak their abilities, was someone he couldn't afford to offend at his current level. So, he shouldn't pretend to be a righteous hero and meddle in other people's business. The corpse puppets created through psychic arts usually had specific purposes and wouldn't harm ordinary people.
Since the teacher said so, Ling Yun, although vaguely uneasy about the appearance of corpse puppets in Tongjiang City, didn't take it too seriously. However, when he first encountered the corpse puppets, their craftsmanship was still very crude, and the appearance of the corpses hadn't been improved. Even ordinary people could tell they were corpses. But now, apart from being able to sense their absence using his mental energy field, the corpse puppets looked almost exactly like normal people.
Could it be that Brother Ma and his gang of thugs have also become corpse puppets? Ling Yun suddenly recalled the backs of Brother Ma and his gang of thugs when he met Chen Feng and Zhao Yu that day, and was suddenly horrified.
"What happened?" Xia Tian and Xia Zhen, the siblings, felt a pang of anxiety when they saw his tense expression and asked in unison.
Ling Yun then recounted his encounter with Zhao Yu and the others that day. After listening, Xia Tian and Xia Zhen's faces darkened, their brows furrowed. Xia Tian's expression was grim: "I thought that middle-aged man was the only corpse puppet in this city. But now that you mention it, it seems there are quite a few corpse puppets. Could someone have been using spirit communication techniques all along?"
"Regardless, spirit communication is a kind of dark magic, especially within China. Such a thing shouldn't happen here. We should investigate and find out who is using spirit communication, then report this to headquarters." Xia Zhen pondered for a moment, a determined expression appearing on her still somewhat youthful face. This made Ling Yun glance at her sideways; it seemed this girl wasn't entirely unreasonable after all…
Xia Tian looked at Ling Yun: "Ling Yun, you're not from the National Superpower Headquarters, so this matter originally had nothing to do with you. Actually, strictly speaking, I'm not either, but I do have intricate connections with the headquarters. Xia Zhen is even an intern at the Superpower Headquarters, so whenever we encounter anything related to superpowers, we always have to get to the bottom of it. Would you be willing to join us in investigating the origin of the corpse puppet?"
Ling Yun hesitated. Although Yu Xiujie had explicitly ordered him not to meddle in other people's business, Ling Yun was still young at heart, and possessing supernatural abilities had made him much bolder. Naturally, he was curious about things related to supernatural abilities. Moreover, with Xia Tian and Xia Zhen, both supernatural beings, traveling with him, and with the mysterious National Supernatural Abilities Headquarters behind them, they could at least provide each other with protection. Even if they encountered danger, at least they could escape. Ling Yun was quite confident.
After some consideration, curiosity ultimately prevailed over conservatism. Besides, since Xia Tian and Xia Zhen had already decided to investigate, not going would make him seem cowardly. Ling Yun thought for a moment and then nodded.
"Okay." Xia Tian didn't waste any more words and simply said, "You two come with me. I can sense that the middle-aged man's aura has already left the city."
With a leap, he landed on the side wall of the alley, his toes barely touching the ground before he used the momentum to jump onto a lamppost outside the wall. Without pausing, he sped towards the roof of a tall building while still in mid-air. Almost instantly, he had created a distance of over a hundred meters between himself and Ling Yun.
Xia Zhen followed closely behind Xia Tian, leaping and bounding along. She was practically inseparable from him.
Ling Yun was taken aback, not expecting the Xia siblings to be so fast. Fortunately, he had been practicing martial arts in Elder Yu's barrier and had undergone rigorous training in speed, so he quickly followed Xia's movement and caught up with her.
The three superhumans bounced and ricocheted among obstacles in the city, sometimes on streetlights, sometimes on treetops, and sometimes weaving between buildings. The only sound was the whistling of air being rubbed together. Although pedestrians passed by, no one noticed the strange phenomenon in the sky.
After a meal, Xia Tian and his companions arrived outside the city and, sure enough, found the ordinary middle-aged man on a suburban highway. However, it was clear that the corpse puppet wasn't just a walking mechanical doll, as the middle-aged man was sitting in a taxi. The taxi driver was also a corpse puppet, appearing to be around the same age as the man. This reminded Ling Yun of his first encounter with a corpse puppet, also a taxi driver.
The taxi wasn't traveling fast; even on the suburban highway, its speed was only around 60 kilometers per hour. Ling Yun and his companions could easily keep up without using their full strength.
Xia Tian told the two not to get too close to the corpse puppet. This was because a psychic might attach fluctuations of their spiritual energy field to the corpse puppet, and these fluctuations were very sensitive to the aura of psychics. If they got too close, the corpse puppet would easily detect them.
Ling Yun suddenly realized why he had sensed a strange fluctuation emanating from the corpse puppet the first time he saw it. The puppet's driver must have also sensed his ability and offered him a ride. Although the puppet was likely discovered by passersby, no news of it appeared in the media, presumably due to strong suppression to avoid causing a public uproar.
Xia Zhen asked in confusion, "Why create so many corpse puppets? Don't the psychics know that this could easily cause panic? And if this goes on for too long, the Supernatural Headquarters will find out about this sooner or later."
Xia Tian shook his head: "I don't know then. We'll keep tracking it and find out sooner or later."
Xia Zhen nodded. Although she was an intern at the Superpower Headquarters, she was still young and had far less social experience than Xia Tian, the behind-the-scenes boss of the Sihai Group. Ling Yun was even less capable and two years younger than Xia Zhen. Naturally, Xia Tian took the lead among the three.
Xia Zhen drifted through the air like a wisp of smoke, and said regretfully, "Brother Xia Tian, if you were willing to work harder to cultivate your superpowers, you would definitely have entered the Superpower Headquarters earlier than me, and maybe even earlier than Sister Xia Lan."
Xia Tian curled her lips in a cynical manner: "Don't mention that girl Xia Lan. My dad loves to compare me to her. He's always saying that I'm not doing anything productive. He says Xia Lan is a few years younger than me, but look at her, she's already a senior member of the Superpower Headquarters. Hehe, how many people can compare to her? Isn't she known as the most talented superpower user in the Xia family in the last three hundred years? No wonder she trains so hard, she probably wants to be an instructor."
Xia Zhen rolled her eyes at him. "Uncle is right. You're not doing your job properly, you don't train hard, and you just hang out all day and then blame others. Sister Xia Lan is my idol. I bet she'll be promoted to deputy instructor in a few years."
Xia Tian chuckled: "Even if I cultivate a hundred times harder than her, I still can't catch up with her. I'd rather stick to my financial business. I can make money, eat, drink, and have fun. I'm also the boss of a criminal organization. What's wrong with that? How is it not doing my job properly? Besides, I'm just a puppet boss. I still have to obey orders from headquarters. What's the point of being a gangster?"
As Ling Yun traveled, he listened silently to the conversation between Xia Tian and his sister, feeling somewhat surprised. He hadn't realized that superhumans could have families; he knew nothing about it before, not even having heard of it. But then he chuckled to himself. It was obvious to anyone with half a brain that such extraordinary beings as superhumans couldn't possibly be known to ordinary people. They were the most mysterious beings, just like how he had never heard of an official organization like the China Superhuman Headquarters before.
"By the way, Ling Yun, I haven't asked you yet. Your family must be quite large, right? Your mental energy field is so well controlled; you must have received formal and rigorous training." Xia Tian turned back to ask Ling Yun as he jumped through the air. Xia Zhen also turned her head curiously, observing the silent and unassuming young man, clearly wanting to know about Ling Yun's background. However, she was somewhat indifferent. The Xia family was the largest and strongest superpowered family in China. Judging from Ling Yun's appearance, he was probably from some small superpowered family. There were quite a few superpowered individuals like that in the secret files registered at the Superpowered Headquarters.