Chapter132

After Elara arrived at the prison room, the two boys who had been unconscious in the dog cage seemed to slowly wake up. The parasites inside them must have sensed her presence. Their eyes looked at her blankly at first.

Then a craving, far stronger than the other puppets, burst from the two of them and rushed straight into Elara's mind. She looked at the chains binding their naked bodies and the wounds all over them, and her eyebrows tightened slightly.

When the boys saw her, they didn't look away again. They stared at her like she was the only place they belonged. Despite the chains on their bodies, they struggled desperately to get closer to her, eyes filled with eagerness, submission, and hunger.

They tried to push themselves toward her but ended up pressing tightly against the cage. It was obvious they had suffered a lot during the time they were dragged into the mine. Their minds no longer seemed like those of normal people.

Aside from that overwhelming craving, Elara couldn't sense any normal emotions from them. It was like every part of them had been transformed until only she remained in their minds.

Had the Puppet Sect targeted them on purpose? Were they trying to turn them into complete puppets to control the Qi family?

Compared to the townspeople outside who were still being tamed, these two grandsons of the Qi family had already shown much deeper signs of being turned into puppets. Thinking of the old Qi master crying and begging her for help, Elara walked to the front of the cages.

She used the blood pearl in her body to calm the two boys inside while ordering Uno to unlock the cage and remove their chains.

As soon as the locks were released, the two boys, one taller and one shorter, rushed toward Elara together. Elara stopped Uno from acting and let the two boys hug her.

She then took out two pieces of clothing and draped them over their shoulders. After that, she cut her finger and dropped two drops of blood onto a pill before feeding one to each boy.

Once her blood finally calmed the craving inside them, Elara turned to the sixteen-year-old boy, the eldest grandson of the Qi master, who was nearly half a head taller than her. She ordered him to let go of her.

The tall young man holding her didn't want to let go. Over the past few days, their minds had been pushed to the brink, almost losing themselves. Right now, all he could think about was getting close to Elara.

He had no other thoughts. He couldn't remember his name, didn't remember who he was. He didn't know he was the oldest son of his family or that he had once lived a life of wealth and peace for more than ten years.

All he wanted was to stay near her.

The young man kept nuzzling her for a while until Elara raised her hand and gently patted his head. Then she gave a silent order from within. Only then did the boy rub his face against her, reluctantly loosen his arms, and step back two small steps while still wearing the clothes she gave him.

He stood behind her, refusing to move any farther. That more or less settled the old man's eldest grandson, so Elara lowered her gaze to look at the younger boy clinging to her leg.

According to the old man, this child was already nine years old. But from what Elara could see, the boy was clearly malnourished, and his body looked only the size of a six or seven-year-old.

His thin frame was covered in more blood stains and bite marks from Gu worms than even the older boy.

Elara stared at the wounds for a few seconds and then gently patted the child's head. When he happily raised his face to rub against her hand, his eyes sparkled black like gems. Elara gave the same silent order for him to let go and stand to the side.

But unlike with the older boy, her order had no effect even after four or five tries.

The boy still clung tightly to her leg. Her brows furrowed. He didn't seem to hear her command at all. His whole body was pressed against her. After trying again a few more times without success, she finally activated the blood pearl's power and looked inside his body.

What she saw shocked even her.

With other people, even those fully tamed into puppets, she had only ever seen one or two Gu worms. But in this little boy's body, there were seven.

Was it because of the high number of Gu worms that his craving for her was so strong it overpowered her command?

And how could such a small and skinny body handle so many worms that even adults couldn't withstand? Elara thought for a moment and turned to look at the older boy standing behind her.

He also had more Gu worms than normal people, but only three.

Elara turned back and looked at the younger child still hugging her leg. She stared at him for a few seconds and tried again to make him let go.

But not only did he not release her, he clung tighter. His small hands grasped her with all his strength.

Elara watched him for a while and noticed he wasn't ignoring her command. He had received it. He was resisting her.

This was the first time since gaining the blood pearl that Elara saw a creature controlled by Gu worms actually fight back.

And this was just a tiny, frail child. His little face was dirty, his eyebrows furrowed, and he was clearly trying to resist the order. Somehow, this filled his expression with a twisted determination and anger far beyond his age. Not only was he fighting the control of the worms inside him, but if anyone nearby tried to pull him away from her now, he would probably bite them to death.

This child was far from ordinary.

Elara stared at his face and carefully compared it to the old man's description. She used the blood pearl again to examine the inside of the boy's body more closely.

There was no mistake. His face was exactly as described. His body showed nothing strange aside from the unusually high number of worms.

Could it be that because he had been homeless and in danger his whole life, his vitality had been tempered at such a young age? His skinny body was covered with all kinds of wounds and scars. Elara remembered what the old man said about the boy's tragic life.

He had been dragged away by wolves and still survived. Then he was kidnapped and turned into a slave, but he still lived. Now even after being turned half into a puppet, he hadn't died. Maybe this strange toughness really was his kind of "normal."

Given what he had been through, perhaps his abnormal reactions could be explained.

Elara looked at the child hugging her leg for a few more seconds, watched him again, then used the blood pearl a third time to scan his body.

Once she confirmed that aside from the seven or eight worms, there was nothing abnormal in him, she thought of the old man with white hair who had knelt and wept while begging her. Elara stayed quiet for a moment, then finally leaned down and picked up the child.

Forget it. She'd take him back first. Maybe she was just overthinking. After all, for now, he was just a pitiful child around seven or eight years old.

Later, she would let the old man take a closer look.

The child seemed to realize that she was picking him up on her own. He finally let go of her leg, and some of the anger and obsession in his eyes faded. He looked up at her, blinking those dark eyes without looking away.

Just moments ago, he looked so fierce. Now, he actually looked a little cute?

When Elara held him in her arms, he looked at her for a few seconds, then suddenly smiled in a flattering way. His small arms reached out and wrapped gently around her neck. When he saw that Elara didn't push him away or look disgusted, he clung tightly to her.

He buried his little face in the crook of her neck, rubbed it there, and hugged her harder. The obsession that had faded from his expression now seemed to return through the strength of his arms wrapped around her. He pressed tightly against her.

Elara saw all the changes in his expression clearly.

At such a young age, he already knew how to read people's reactions. He even knew how to hide his instincts and act with caution. That must be from his time as a slave.

Elara raised her hand and pinched the back of the boy's neck. He twitched, as if it tickled, then rubbed against her palm and hugged her again.

With the help of the blood pearl, holding this thin child didn't tire her at all.

She thought this pearl was really a great item. She would have Oswyn take a good look at it later. As she held the child, she gave silent orders for the puppet guards in the mine to report on everything happening inside. She also ordered the recovered Wei clan to keep saving people, destroy any remaining puppet sect materials, and spread the news outside the mine.

By the time the Wei clan finished clearing everything, Elara had already returned to the mine entrance. The older boy followed behind her.

The mine itself was extremely valuable, but beyond that, the supplies the puppet sect had moved there to build their base also gave Elara a decent reward.

The things cleared out by the Wei clan included over a thousand taels of silver ingots, seven to eight hundred jin of grain, many rare poisonous herbs and medicines, a large pile of gold, silver, and carved jewels that must have been stolen, and of course a variety of valuable Gu worms that had not been used yet.

There was also a full box of bamboo slips recording the puppet poisons made by the "Poison Spider," along with the basic Gu raising and poisoning techniques used by the puppet sect.