novel-bin Chapter 362 Abnormal
Chapter 362 Abnormal
Chapter 362 Abnormal
While Taichi was "vacationing" in Loulan, Tsunade, who was in Konoha, was restless and wanted to kill someone.
Looking at those 32 pairs of clear yet foolish eyes in front of her, Tsunade felt like dying.
Having mentored a genius student like Taiyi who could learn everything instantly and apply what he learned to other situations, I now find myself struggling to teach these ordinary children.
"Damn old man, there are so many ninjas in Konoha, why do you have to send that kid on the mission?"
"We're really short-staffed, you can send me!"
While secretly harboring resentment and grievances, one still has to maintain a good image in front of these students.
Tsunade was truly on the verge of tears.
I really miss the days when Taiyi filled in for me. I've only had a few days of leisure, and now I have to go back to those office work days.
I wonder how long it will take Taiyi to complete this mission. Given his strength, it should be quick!
Taichi had anticipated Tsunade's frustration; he knew this would happen the moment he received the mission.
It's fortunate that he didn't leave any shadow clones in Konoha, otherwise Tsunade would definitely have killed even his clones.
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However, not seeing Tsunade's depressed expression in person still left Taichi a little disappointed.
However, as they approached Loulan, Taiyi stopped thinking about these things and instead became more interested in the surrounding environment of Loulan.
"Can you feel it, Kakashi?" Taichi asked softly.
Kakashi and Rin focused their senses, and after a long while, Kakashi nodded slightly: "There's a faint chakra fluctuation in the air here? And, it has a... very comfortable feeling?"
"It's not just chakra." Taiichi closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and a strange sense of comfort appeared on his face. "It's natural energy! The concentration of natural energy here is extremely high, almost—within reach."
As the distance between them grew closer, this feeling became increasingly intense.
The power of the dragon veins is indeed well-deserved; it is not only an ocean of chakra, but also a node of natural energy!
Using their superb stealth skills, the three avoided the few pedestrians and silently scaled the not-so-high city wall, sneaking into the city.
Upon entering the city, the scene before them seemed to confirm the descriptions in the intelligence report.
The streets were clean, and the houses, though peculiar in style, were arranged in an orderly fashion.
The residents, dressed simply but neatly, either hurried home in the evening or chatted quietly in the small shops along the street, their faces showing a calm and content expression.
The three wars did not reach this area, and the closed and self-sufficient environment made it seem like a place where people could "live and work in peace and contentment".
"It looks like... there's nothing wrong?"
Lin lowered her voice, somewhat puzzled. Apart from the strange architectural style, the residents all seemed normal.
Kakashi carefully surveyed the surroundings, his brow furrowing slightly: "Most people are fine, but some people—"
Their movements had an inexplicable stiffness.
"That's not all."
Taiyi's voice was solemn like never before, and a faint light, imperceptible to ordinary people, quietly emerged deep in the pupils of his eyes.
Soul Vision Unlocked!
In his "vision," the entire city instantly lost its surface color, revealing a chilling truth!
Inside those seemingly ordinary building walls, within the metal frames supporting the towers, lies a dense network of energy transmission pipes!
A deep blue stream of chakra surged rapidly within it.
Even more terrifying is that chakra threads would silently extend from these pipes from time to time!
The other end of these chakra threads precisely pierced the back of the neck or spine of some "pedestrians" on the street!
According to Taiichi's soul vision, the "people" connected by these chakra threads do not have a soul inside their bodies.
These are puppets dressed in human skin, so realistic they're hard to distinguish from real people!
"Hiss—" Even with his strong will, Taiyi couldn't help but gasp when he saw this scene with his own eyes, a chill rising up his spine.
It has already developed to this point.
The city's apparent peace and tranquility are actually a terrifying stage created by countless manipulated puppets and unsuspecting real humans!
He told Kakashi and Rin about his findings, and their expressions immediately turned extremely grim.
"How could that be?"
Lin's pupils suddenly contracted to their maximum size, her face turned deathly pale, and she instinctively covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming.
She looked at the woman Taiyi was pointing to, who was smiling at her companion not far ahead. She couldn't believe that beneath the woman's beautiful exterior were cold, metallic joints.
This extreme terror of being "human-like" yet "inhuman" instantly strikes at the deepest fears of the human psyche—the uncanny valley effect!
The overwhelming sense of terror made her hair stand on end and her heart pound wildly.
"Concentrate your chakra in your eyes and control it carefully. You should be able to see the chakra lines connecting them."
Taiichi reminded the two that this was a high-level application of chakra.
However, Kakashi is a Jonin-level ninja, and Rin is a medical ninja with high chakra control, so these techniques should not be difficult for them to master.
A faint glimmer appeared in Kakashi's eyes!
He stared intently at a "worker" repairing a pipe on a street corner. He could vaguely see a faint chakra line extending from the back of the worker's neck, connecting to a pipe above.
"—Puppets! They've actually used puppets—to replace living people?!"
His voice was low and hoarse, filled with disbelief, shock, and intense anger.
It seems that part of the answer to the population disappearance problem has been found. The cruelty and bizarreness of this practice of replacing living people with puppets far exceeded his imagination.
"See?" Taiyi's voice was extremely low, yet it contained a chilling killing intent.
"At least one-tenth of the city's inhabitants" are no longer alive. They are puppets remotely controlled by some force, perfectly integrated into daily life, monitoring everything. This is what the Queen sensed was wrong; this is the truth behind the population disappearances—the living were abducted or murdered, and then "replaced" by these things!
He pointed to the ubiquitous energy pipes hidden inside the building: "These pipes are the energy source and also the control channels. There must be a big shot at the top helping to cover up this project, otherwise it would have been common knowledge long ago."
Kakashi forced himself to calm down, his eyes fixed on the "merchant" puppet pushing its cart past: "We should find the Queen as soon as possible; she's probably in great danger. Find her and tell her the truth!"
Lin also tried to calm her churning stomach and fear. As a medical ninja, the scene before her made her feel physically uncomfortable and had a strong sense of mission: "I must stop him!"
Taiyi's gaze quickly locked onto the tallest building, which was where the Queen resided.
"Wait until nightfall. The defenses will definitely be tightest during the day. We'll sneak in at night."
Loulan's underground pipe system is vast and complex, and Taiyi and his companions easily found their hiding place within it.
Through the narrow gap, Kakashi monitored the patrol patterns near the palace, gathering intelligence for his nighttime infiltration.
"Patrol interval 37 seconds, blind spot lasts for 3 seconds."
Kakashi's voice was lower than the sound of air flowing. Taichi and Rin simply nodded silently to indicate that they understood.
As the moonlight was sliced into fragments of silver foil by the tower, Taiyi and his companions carefully traversed the palace under the cover of shadows until they arrived at a magnificent room.
The sandalwood door, inlaid with malachite, was pushed open a crack. The bedroom was filled with the calming scent of incense, and at the far end of the room, a luxurious large bed was placed.
Perhaps the door opened too loudly, or perhaps the Queen wasn't asleep at all.
As Taiyi and the other two approached, Queen Seram suddenly rose from behind the velvet bed curtains. Moonlight illuminated the jeweled dagger she gripped tightly in her hand, its blade gleaming with a dark, purplish light.
"Who?"
Her voice carried a forced air of authority, but the trembling at the end betrayed her fear.
However, when her gaze fell upon the Konoha headbands on Kakashi and Rin's foreheads, the dagger silently slipped from her hand and fell onto the bed.
She seemed to have suddenly lost all her strength, collapsing limply back onto the bed, tears streaming down her tired face, "Finally... I've finally waited for you!"
Taiyi walked at the back without uttering a word.
Kakashi and Rin exchanged bewildered glances; the Queen's reaction had clearly surprised them.
At this moment, Lin, the only woman, stepped forward, her voice gentle yet firm, trying to soothe the still-shaken queen.
"Your Majesty, we are Konoha ninjas sent to Loulan on a mission by the Hokage. I am Nohara Rin, this is Hatake Kakashi, and that is our captain Matsushita Taichi. Now that you are safe, please tell us what's going on."
Queen Seram tried to calm her breathing and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, but the fear and worry in her eyes did not diminish at all.
She leaned there weakly, her gaze sweeping over the three young yet composed faces, lingering especially on Taiichi's face for a moment.
Matsushita Taichi's reputation was known even in a small, isolated country like Loulan.
"In recent months, I've received a constant stream of reports of young and middle-aged men mysteriously disappearing. At first, it was just a few here and there, and I sent An Lushan to investigate. But before the reports arrived, the number of missing persons kept increasing!"
Her voice rose with excitement, then she began to cough violently.
Lin immediately stepped forward and gently patted her back, a faint trace of chakra probing in, trying to ease her discomfort.
However, Lin's expression froze slightly.
The Queen, her breathing calming slightly, grabbed Lin's wrist as if grasping at a lifeline, her eyes filled with even greater despair: "What's even more terrifying is—myself. Lately, I've been feeling increasingly heavy, dizzy and weak, with a poor appetite, and sometimes—even breathing is difficult."
I suspect—no, I'm almost certain—that someone has poisoned me! In my food!
I dare not trust anyone in the palace anymore—the cooks, the maids—I even dare not sleep! I feel—I feel like I could die at any moment without knowing why—”
Her body trembled slightly with fear.
"Every time my minister An Lushan comes to report, he vows that he is investigating. I used to trust him a lot, but recently he has disappointed me time and time again."
A week has passed, and the disappearance case remains unsolved, while my health is deteriorating day by day. I'm scared—
I don't have much time left!
In desperation, I risked using the secret channel left by my mother to send a plea for help to Konoha—thankfully, thankfully you came! Please save Loulan, save my people!
The Queen's voice was full of pleading.
"Your Majesty, please allow me to examine you."
Lin's expression turned extremely serious. She gestured for the Queen to lie down, then covered her hands with a soft green aura of medical chakra and began to carefully examine the Queen's physical condition.
The bedchamber was completely silent, save for the Queen's slightly rapid breathing.
Kakashi stood vigilantly by the door, his ears catching any unusual sounds from outside.
Taiyi stood a little further away, his gaze deep, his soul vision silently monitoring the entire palace.
He understood that everything the Queen described was part of An Lushan's plan to control the power of the dragon vein.
However, since everything is still under control, these things cannot be said explicitly. This is both a trial for Kakashi and Rin, and it is also possible for me to explain the source of the information.
Time passed slowly, and Rin's brows furrowed more and more. She withdrew her hand, the green chakra light faded, and she looked at the Queen with a grave expression, then turned to Taiichi and Kakashi, saying in a deep voice, "The Queen's feeling was right. She has indeed been poisoned, by a very insidious, slow-acting mixed toxin."
It is cleverly mixed into daily diet in tiny doses, but over time, it gradually erodes the internal organs, destroys vitality, and eventually leads to organ failure, which looks like—dying from natural weakness.
The poisoner was extremely skilled, and the method was incredibly subtle. If Her Majesty hadn't been alert and sought help in advance, perhaps—”
Lin didn't finish her sentence, but the unspoken meaning sent a chill down the spines of everyone present.
The Queen's face turned ashen, her body trembled uncontrollably, and the last glimmer of hope in her eyes vanished, leaving only cold despair and rage.
"Don't give up so easily." Taiyi spoke for the first time since entering, successfully rousing the queen from her deep despair. "Lin, can the queen's condition be managed?"
Lin nodded immediately, her eyes firm: "Although the toxins were deeply deposited, they were discovered in time and did not truly damage the root cause."
I need some time. Using the technique of extracting the toxins along with an antidote, I should be able to remove most of the poison. With proper care afterwards, I should recover. However, the process will be quite painful.
"Pain doesn't matter! As long as we can survive!" the Queen said urgently, her will to live overcoming everything.
"Alright, Rin, begin the detoxification process for Her Majesty immediately. Kakashi, you stay inside and keep watch to ensure Rin's treatment is not disturbed. I'll go outside and investigate further."
Taiichi swiftly issued the order. Kakashi nodded silently, focusing all his attention on the interior of the sleeping quarters and the direction of the entrance.
Lin took a deep breath, gathered green chakra in her hands again, and precisely pressed her fingertips onto several acupoints on the Queen's body, beginning a delicate and complex detoxification process.
The Queen clenched her teeth, large beads of sweat instantly appearing on her forehead, and her body convulsed slightly from the pain of detoxification.
But she endured the pain without uttering a sound, her eyes burning with the flames of revenge and the will to survive.
Just as Rin was focused on curing the Queen's poison and Kakashi was on high alert, Taiichi suddenly disappeared from his spot and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to arrive in the city.
The following day, after Lin's treatment, the Queen was exhausted, but she could feel a long-lost vitality deep within her body.
However, for the sake of this crumbling country, Seram had to force himself to meet with officials who came to see him, despite his weakened state.
As the first rays of dawn climbed the cold metal spires, Queen Seram of Loulan, accompanied by Kakashi and Rin Nohara, was already seated on her throne.
Below her stood An Lushan, her "most trusted" minister.
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