The attitude of the Blessed Army, the cleaners, the Purgers, and the 'photon troops' toward them confirmed Yun Haixin's speculation.
The medical center had been crowded at the beginning, but when they arrived, everybody made way for them tacitly. Some even lowered their heads, not daring to look at them in the eyes.
It was almost as if they might be indirectly infected by the Puppet King's fatal virus just by looking at them.
The yaksha squad had been used to such an attitude since a long time ago, but it was particularly obvious today. Everybody was much more distant from them.
The deeper they went into the hospital, the fewer the Blessed Army and the photon troops there were. The few of them were also covering themselves in helmets and armor that were as smooth as mirrors.
Their faces were blocked by the helmets. When the yaksha squad looked at them, they could only see their own faces from the mirrors of the helmets.
In the atrium of the inpatient department of the medical center, a metal box about three meters in length, width, and height was placed.
There were a few portable crystal processors nearby that told them the location of the target and the usage of the metal box.
He opened the metal box. Instead of calling it a weapon, it would be better to call it an intimidating torture device. It was specially made to suppress the Puppet King.
Chu Zhixiao, Yun Haixin, Guan Qixing, and Yuan Kou armed themselves indifferently and continued walking to the fourth floor of the inpatient department, which was the 'deep coma zone'.
The stairs and the corridors were empty. There was not a single doctor, nurse, or soldier.
In the wards on the sides, a lot of patients who had been in a coma for a long time because of serious brain damage were lying.
Only the patients who had been in a coma for more than a year and were in a 'vegetative state' would be sent here.
Because of the nutrition liquids for a long time, the patients had lost a lot of weight. Their body shape was similar to that of their ancestors hundreds of years ago — normal human beings.
"This is the place."
Chu Zhixiao stopped at the door of Ward No. 4. Looking at his crystal processor, he said, "This is the place according to the information from above."
Beep! Beep! Beep!
When they adjusted the sensitivity of the magical equipment that searched for the remaining brainwaves to the maximum, it was still shrieking. Pu! Pu! Pu!
Pu! Pu! Pu!
Yuan Kou then sprayed a large amount of fluorescent spray into the air. Immediately, traces of viciousness, madness, and ugliness, like twisting poisonous snakes, appeared. They spread from the ward to the corridor, from the corridor to the window at the end of the corridor, and then out the window.
It was as if an invisible flame had just invaded the entire building, and the source of the fire was the ward in front of them.
This was a unique sign left behind when his brain waves expanded wildly and his vitality magnetic field was released to the limit.
Judging from the shrieks of the magical equipment and the reaction of the fluorescent spray, it was as if ten thousand people had blown up his head at the same time.
Holding their breath, the four of them pushed the door of Ward No. 4 open with their storm bolters.
Li Yao also condensed a layer of thorny shell on the surface of his soul and tailed him warily.
Ward No. 4 was a single ward. Submerged in a pile of messy medical equipment was a very thin and weak young man. He was so thin that he did not look like a human being at all. Instead, he looked like a toy, a … puppet.
However, when they saw his head that was full of tubes and wires, the four members of the yaksha squad gasped at the same time.
Even Li Yao did not expect that the shell that Lu Qingchen, the King of Puppets, had used this time would look like this.
This young man's height was no more than 1.7 meters, and whether or not he weighed more than 50 kilograms was a big question mark. Just his head alone seemed to have a diameter of half a meter, and weighed at least 50 to 60 kilograms. He looked exactly like a big-headed baby, no, a big-headed baby's skull.
All the nutrients in his body had been absorbed by his head. No matter how the nutrition liquids around him were replenished, they could not keep up with the speed of the brain. As a result, the bones in his limbs and his chest were protruding and would pierce through his skin at any moment. There was barely any flesh on his face. His face took up one-fifth of his head at best, and the rest of the body was his brain.
His head was deformed and expanded. Even his skull could not be closed. His entire head was in the shape of a 'heart'. His scalp was as thin as a cicada's wings, and the brain inside was clearly visible. Some organs that looked like hearts were growing inside his brain, which were still beating on their own, giving the most creepy feeling.
The young man's body was bright gray, and there was no sign that he was still alive.
But his brain was still beating slowly and firmly. Every time it beat, a drumbeat from the deepest level of hell seemed to be exploding in everybody's brain and heart at the same time.
Although the young man was in a deep coma in a vegetative state, and the 'superiors' had assured them that the King of Puppets had lost all his combat ability and the ability to release brain viruses, the four members of the yaksha squad could not help but clench the chainswords and storm bolters in their hands, as if the cold machines could protect them.
"He is … the King of Puppets?"
Guan Qixing mumbled. "How weird!"
It was what everybody else, including Li Yao, wanted to say, too.
"According to the files of the hospital, the young man was hospitalized because of an unknown brain tumor when he was eleven. He fell into a long-term coma half a year later and has never woken up."
Looking at the information transmitted by the tactical crystal processor, Chu Zhixiao said, "The doctors in Guang Ming City tried all the methods they could, but they failed to remove the tumor in his brain. They could not find the name and cause of the tumor, either. They could only adopt conservative treatments. But the tumor grew bigger and bigger and gradually spread out.
"In the five years that followed, the tumor occupied most of the young man's brain. It even swallowed and replaced the original brain tissues. That's how he ended up like this.
"The brain is the most mysterious thing in the universe. Nobody can pry into all its secrets. Nobody knows what happened to the young man exactly. However, other than his expanding brain, there is nothing abnormal about him. Therefore, he is not on the list of dangerous persons. The investigation on the King of Puppets in the past never led to such a conclusion, either."
"The biochemical probes seem to be directly inserted into his brain to monitor the reaction of his brain all the time."
Deep in thought, Guan Qixing said, "In other words, his consciousness — if he is conscious — can be connected to the Spiritual Nexus through the biochemical probes and the crystal wires."
Chu Zhixiao understood what he meant. "That's right. This is probably the King of Puppets' original body. Let's get to work. Be careful. The boss wants him alive. He must not die."
The four of them replaced the bed of the King of Puppets with a portable medical cabin that could move freely and moved the entire life support system to it.
Then, they injected carefully brewed brain tranquilizers into the veins on the neck of the King of Puppets.
Then, they nailed almost a hundred medical screws that were carved with complicated runes to the head of the King of Puppets to fix the chips and the rails, freezing and suppressing the head of the King of Puppets.
After that, they bound the hands and feet of the King of Puppets, which had long shriveled, with chains that were strong enough to trap a ferocious beast. Then, they sent him into the portable medical cabin. They did not forget to install a reflective layer, a ceramic layer, and a lead plate on the outside of the medical cabin.
It was not until an hour later that they finally moved the body of the King of Puppets into the 'foolproof' coffin.
Li Yao observed coldly nearby, but he knew that no matter how 'foolproof' the portable medical cabin was, it would be useless.
It was because the young man who unfortunately suffered from a brain tumor was not the original body of Lu Qingchen, the King of Puppets. He was just a target that Lu Qingchen had 'possessed' at best.
Lu Qingchen did not have a real body at all, just like Li Yao right now.
Then, had Lu Qingchen's soul really been heavily wounded by the two Ultimate Benevolence Masters and been sealed inside the poor young man's brain, or had it escaped in an unexpected way and was lurking in darkness, observing everything and coming up with an even more mysterious plan?
A big question mark was popping up in Li Yao's soul.
The four members of the yaksha squad cleaned up the medical cabin. Then, they activated the anti-gravity rune arrays below the medical cabin and pushed it out slowly.
As they expected, the number of soldiers and priests who were waiting for them outside was even smaller, as if they would be responsible for the hot potato that was stained with viruses all the way to the end.
"It seems that the leadership does not want more people to get in touch with the King of Puppets."
Yun Haixin pulled himself together and smiled bitterly. "It does make sense. If one more person gets in touch with the King of Puppets, the risk of being infected will be higher, and the King of Puppets may take the opportunity to escape.
"Since the few of us are unlucky guys who have been bewitched by the King of Puppets and are likely to be deeply infected, we have no choice but to be the scapegoat until the end.
"But we do not know what awaits us next. Will we be thrown into the incinerator together with the King of Puppets? Haha! "
It was as if he had died once, so he was able to see past everything.
When they returned to the atrium of the hospital building again, it was not the leadership of the Inquisition that was waiting for them but an emotionless photon.
The photon had brought the 'decree' of the Ultimate Benevolence Masters.
"Congratulations, Major Chu. You have finally accomplished the most important mission and captured the King of Puppets, our most ferocious enemy," the photon said casually.
"Although there were some twists and turns during the capture, Major Chu and the rest of the yaksha squad have proven your loyalty and your ability to resist the scourge of the King of Puppets' virus.
"Then, to be safe, there is no need to ask other people to escort the King of Puppets.
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