Da Yu walked into the courtyard.
Butler Xu Bo walked out in astonishment. The moment he saw Da Yu, his face turned ashen: "What happened to my young master?"
Da Yu said calmly, "Your young master is probably not going to make it. You should leave. I know you're just an ordinary person and I don't want to make things difficult for you."
Xu Bo was stunned for a long time. He silently looked at the flowers and trees in the courtyard, then suddenly rammed his head against a pillar and died.
Da Yu sighed, "This Uncle Xu has served the Chen Yu family for forty-two years, which can be considered extremely loyal."
He went inside to look through the documents, the most important of which was the list of Chen family painters.
This document records the lineage of all the Chen family's inheritors over the past thousand years. He held the document and looked through it for a long time, then suddenly exclaimed softly, "How come there are so many people who have devoted themselves to painting and ignored worldly affairs in recent years? I remember these old guys, but they haven't come out to serve the family. I thought they hadn't received the inheritance."
Chen Xuanwu devoted his entire life to his art, and finally achieved godhood with his A-level strength in one battle because he released all of his paintings at the age of 127.
Chen Xuanwu was a genius with a photographic memory. After his death, he even extracted the taboo word "confident and well-prepared".
Throughout the history of the Chen family, there have been people who have tried to emulate him, but this kind of thing requires patience and perseverance, and it's something that most people can't really learn.
But how come in this generation, there are suddenly 12 masters who never make a move and stay at home?
“Something’s not right,” Da Yu frowned. “If they were Chen Yu’s trump cards, why didn’t he use them when he was hunting down Qing Chen? You know, Chen Yu even used his own masterpiece. He shouldn’t still have any trump cards left.”
Zard chuckled and said, "Why don't you go and see for yourself?"
Da Yu pondered for a moment: "Meeting this kind of person might kill us. Let's go back and tell my grandfather about this, so he can investigate and handle it, and see what's going on with these 12 painters who are in seclusion."
...
...
6 a.m.
Upon returning to the manor, the two immediately asked the butler to help wake up the head of the Chen family.
The butler asked curiously, "Young Master, what happened?"
Da Yu said, "I have discovered twelve Chen family painters who are acting strangely. I suspect they are being controlled by puppeteers."
However, no sooner had he finished speaking than laughter echoed from the dark living room: "I'm curious, how did you find out?"
Da Yu suddenly turned his head and saw more than a dozen people already standing in the living room, looking at the two of them with the same eerie smiles.
The Chen family head, steward, and several skilled painters have all become puppets, while Da Yu's mother is being held hostage and remains silent.
Zard turned to look at Da Yu: "What do we do?"
At this moment, a young artist said with a smile, "I generally don't like turning the elderly into puppets because the process of making puppets is quite complicated and takes a long time, so it's not worthwhile. But the head of the Chen family is different. His status is relatively special, so the cost-effectiveness is very high. Especially now, Qing Chen has actually helped me remove his biggest obstacle within the Chen family."
As they spoke, another young artist smiled and said, "I know Qing Chen has already advanced to demigod, and I believe in his magic, so there's no reason why Chen Yu should have left the Forbidden Land No. 001 alive... The Chen family is the first conglomerate I've controlled. Perhaps, there will be another one soon."
Da Yu: "Fuck your mother."
The young artist laughed and said, "You've been to the underground base, so you should know very well that I don't have a mother and can't understand the meaning behind your insults."
Da Yu looked at his mother, Chen Ningzhi, and he was now unsure whether his mother had also been turned into a puppet.
Logically speaking, the entire manor was already under the control of the puppeteer, and his mother, who had lived there for many years, could not have escaped unscathed.
If his grandfather and mother had already become puppets and things were beyond repair, then what he should do was fight his way out.
The young artist laughed and said, "I know what you're thinking, but are you willing to bet?"
Dayu looked at his mother: "Mom, are you alright?"
Chen Ningzhi said calmly, "Xiaoyu, don't hesitate, let's go."
But the more Chen Ningzhi said that, the more Da Yu felt as if his heart was being gripped tightly.
He looked at the young painter: "What do you want?"
The young painter smiled and said, "I need you to cooperate with me and lure Qingchen here. Your grandfather is beyond saving, but your mother is not a puppet yet. You just need to summon Qingchen, and I will return your mother to you."
Da Yu frowned. Now that Chen Yu was gone, the puppeteers had already seized control of the Chen family. Chen Yu's faction was leaderless and could not compete with the family head's lineage.
Even if Qing Chen were to advance to demigod status, it would be impossible for him to lead the Qing Clan into war against the Chen Clan at this time. If the other party were truly deceived and came, they would likely die in the south.
On one side is Qingchen, and on the other is his mother.
Chen Ningzhi said, "Xiaoyu, don't do anything to betray your friends."
Zard suddenly said from the side, "Why did you call my boss over? Everyone avoids him. I've never seen anyone as bold as you."
The young painter was rendered speechless. After thinking for a long time, he replied, "Qing Chen is just a mortal. He is not omnipotent."
Zard: "You're going to die!"
The young artist laughed heartily: "I'd like to trouble you two to stay in the secret prison in the manor for a while. I think you'll figure out what to do there."
Da Yu suddenly said, "What you really want is not Qing Chen, you just want to keep us here and turn us into your puppets."
At this moment, the gene warrior next to Chen Ningzhi exerted a little force, and the sharp blade cut a thin line of blood on Chen Ningzhi's neck.
Da Yu originally wanted to fight his way out, but ultimately gave up: "Zard, you go, I'll stay. Tell Qing Chen what happened here."
Zard shook his head: "I want to see how the boss kills this thing. I'm not leaving."
"You fucking get out of here!"
"You're not my boss, why should I listen to you?"
Da Yu: "..."
The two were taken to the dungeon together, which was made of a single piece of alloy, and Zard could not escape with his awakened abilities.
On the way, Zard muttered to himself, "What are you planning to do?"
Da Yu was silent for a moment: "I want to save my mother."
The puppet laughed: "What a filial son."
Da Yu asked, "What do I need to do? Deny discovering the puppet? I already notified the parents' meeting on my way here."
The puppet shook its head: "He will see through your lies. When you return, tell him the truth that you were imprisoned."
...
...
At this moment, Qing Chen was taking stock of his spoils.
First and foremost, the biggest prize in this battle was Chen Yu…
He estimated that this was the first time the marionette had controlled a demigod since its creation, so much so that after the threads wrapped around Chen Yu's wrist, the marionette had fallen into a state of complete arousal, with the threads dancing back and forth like the tentacles of an octopus.
Those tentacles swayed around Qing Chen, as eager as dogs, almost bowing and scraping to him.
It is estimated that none of the previous owners had ever seen the marionette in this form.
Qingchen took out Xuan paper and a paintbrush from the satchel on the back of the green ox, and manipulated Chen Yu to quickly paint a picture, then tore it up.
But nothing happened.
The painting process of the Chen family painters is a very complicated one; it's not something Qingchen can just paint whatever he wants.
He manipulated Chen Yu to remove all his clothes, leaving him standing naked in the maze.
"Left arm, right arm, left thigh, right thigh, left chest, right chest," Qing Chen sighed, "not a single tattoo remains."
He checked the satchel on the ox's back again and confirmed that the other party had destroyed all the paintings, then cursed his bad luck inwardly.
He had painstakingly plotted with Chen Yu for several days, running around in a kayak and performing magic tricks for Chen Yu, but in the end he only got an empty shell.
Qing Chen muttered under his breath, "What use is a Chen family painter without paintings? At most, he's a demigod-level gene warrior, and the worst kind at that. But his combat ability is greatly reduced; he's not even as good as my shadow..."
It should be noted that even a puppet controlled by a string can retain its own thoughts. After Chen Yu lost control of his body, he was furious upon hearing these words, but there was nothing he could do.
Not only that, besides Qing Chen's incessant nagging, he also had over two hundred fathers around him constantly cursing him for being stupid!
The key point is that this time he couldn't even retort.
All I can do is take the scolding!
Chen Yu's mental pollution has worsened again.
Suddenly, Qing Chen's eyes lit up as if he had thought of something. He quickly left the maze and came to the place where Chen Yu had previously smashed the paintings: Chen Yu had smashed four paintings of flying goddesses and two paintings of subduing demons in this amusement park, and the fragments should still be scattered on the ground.
...Da Yu's paintings can be restored with a shroud, and so can Chen Yu's!
With the six demigod paintings refreshing every hour, Qing Chen and Chen Yu will be able to bring Storm City to its knees.
Upon arriving outside the maze, they found that some fragments were still intact, while others were already submerged in the Weak Water.
He spread Chen Yu's coat on the ground and carefully picked up all the intact fragments, not letting go of even the smallest corner. How many he could restore depended entirely on luck.
Secondly, the secondary spoils of war were Chen Yu's eyeballs. That Hundred-Eyed Demon kept calling him "Lord" and even helped him sink so many fighter jets. He had to think about the other party when it came to such good things.
Hyakume-ki was originally short 7 pairs of eyeballs. Her request to Qingchen was that each of the next pairs could be A-grade. But she certainly didn't expect that Qingchen would be able to find her another pair of demigod eyeballs.
Each pair of demigod eyes can dramatically increase Hyakume's strength. Previously, he could cut through a kilometer in front of him; perhaps after obtaining Chen Yu's eyes, he could cut through two or three kilometers.
This can be considered one of Qingchen's main top-tier combat forces, making up for their lack of air combat capabilities.
Next are the forbidden items.
Qing Chen found three forbidden items on Chen Yu: a small jade ox pendant, a jade thumb ring on Chen Yu's thumb, and a green bamboo stalk that said "confident and well-thought-out".
The first item was definitely taken by Qing Chen himself. This blue ox directly made up for the knight's lack of flight ability. It would be a bit unreasonable for a demigod not to be able to fly.
Previously, Boss Zheng had obtained information about the Green Ox from the Bystanders Organization. The method of containment was to wrestle with the Green Ox and win before it could be contained.
Qingchen dripped his blood onto the object, and the green ox materialized and charged at him.
Just as the blue ox was about to collide with the bull, Qing Chen swiftly and accurately grabbed its two horns, tripped it with his leg, and slammed the blue ox to the ground!
This green ox possesses brute strength that is almost at the peak of A-level; an ordinary person would not be able to contain it.
Qing Chen pressed the green ox to the ground and laughed, "Are you convinced now?"
But then the blue ox mooed and became docile.
The second ring is a defensive barrier to prevent others from getting close. It's not very useful for Qingchen to have it; it would be better to give it to Yangyang. However, the conditions for containing this forbidden item are still unknown.
The third item is for enhancing memory, allowing Chen's painters to achieve twice the results with half the effort. It will definitely be left to Da Yu. This item has always been in the hands of Chen Yu's lineage, and the conditions for its containment have not been revealed. Everyone will have to figure it out slowly.
Finally, the biggest gain was Chen Yu's identity.
The Chen Yu faction is deeply entrenched within the Chen family, and has been suppressing the Chen family head's lineage. The two Chen family air force units and the main force of four army groups are all forces that can confront Roosevelt's continent in the future.