Catastrophe Containment Facility
Chapter 166 - 164: Puppet

Chapter 166: Chapter 164: Puppet

Li Lantian sighed, their kind of small place Supporters seldom encountered an anomaly, but casualties always occurred with each incident.

This time, at least, there were no fatalities.

No matter where, being a Supporter was considered a high-risk profession.

Generally speaking, ordinary Supporters could retire by the age of forty, unless they were at a squad leader level or above.

But in reality, to retire with disabilities was already considered lucky.

For most Supporters, the only way out was death!

Supporters like Li Lantian, who were still active on the front lines in their fifties, had become rare.

But it didn’t feel good seeing his people changing one after another.

"Have you seen that puppet?"

"No, I haven’t. Anyone who has seen that puppet got their knees shattered. If I had seen it, you wouldn’t be able to meet me here." Li Lantian said with a shake of his head and a bitter smile.

"What I can do is evacuate the villagers to another camp for comfort and aid, and then isolate this village to prevent others from being attacked by that puppet."

"Then let me go and see the injured Supporters," Wen Wen stood up, intent on questioning the eyewitnesses himself.

Li Lantian nodded and led Wen Wen to the two injured Supporters.

Upon seeing the two Supporters, Wen Wen sighed inwardly. They were all so young.

He walked over and squatted beside one of them, asking gently, "Describe what the puppet was like when you saw it, I’m here to deal with it."

The young Supporter struggled to sit up and said to Wen Wen:

"We were carrying an elderly man with a shattered knee out of the village, then we saw that puppet mechanically coming out from a pigsty."

"A pigsty?" Wen Wen asked in surprise.

The Supporter nodded and continued, "After it noticed us, the puppet’s speed became incredibly fast, smashing our knees directly, then it returned to its lifeless state and slowly left us."

It seemed the puppet only attacked people’s knees, and would only do so upon detecting someone; otherwise, it remained in a harmless state...

Wen Wen continued to ask, "What did the puppet look like?"

"It was a wooden puppet about twenty centimeters tall, wearing a red vest, with a black bow tie, and holding a small hammer—a rusty ram’s horn hammer."

Wen Wen squatted beside him, placing his hand over the Supporter’s shattered knee.

Feeling the wound, his expression became grave. This looked to be an injury inflicted by a ram’s horn hammer.

The force was significant, perhaps similar to what Wen Wen’s own strike would be, yet it only shattered the knee, leaving no other damage...

Wen Wen’s movement seemed as if he wanted to aggravate the wound, so another Supporter tried to stop Wen Wen from further hurting their teammate, but was stopped by Li Lantian, who trusted Wen Wen would not harm his subordinate.

Wen Wen possessed the ability to sense blood and control water flow, so he could help the Supporter clear some of the contusions, which was the only assistance he could provide.

Likened to the Demon Hunters, these obscure Supporters deserved respect just the same.

They too were always protecting humanity, battling indefinable evil with their flesh and blood, without that special Talent.

In ancient times, before Superpower users had established their system, the first Demon Hunters were people like them.

"Continue, what other characteristics did the puppet have?"

"It could talk, yes, talk. The voice sounded like a child’s, roughly saying... ’If anyone dares look down on me, I’ll jump up and hit your knee...’"

The Supporter’s broken leg gradually felt better, and he looked at Wen Wen in amazement.

"My leg... Thank you."

"It was just a trifle, but that’s all I’m capable of."

Wen Wen stood up, went to another Supporter’s side, and after tending to his wound, he walked out of the tent.

"Next I need to go inside and catch that thing. Tell your people to stay back to avoid being accidentally hurt."

Li Lantian paused and said, "That thing is very dangerous. Are you sure you want to go in alone? I can get some people to accompany you for backup."

Wen Wen shook his head, "It’s precisely because it’s dangerous that I have to go in alone. More people would just mean more injuries."

Having said that, Wen Wen casually walked into the village.

The wooden doll had been wandering around the village, smashing the knees of anyone who saw it, and Wen Wen was determined to find out exactly what the thing was.

Once he was out of sight of the other Supporters outside, Wen Wen shrieked, and after a moment, a large number of bats flew over to him.

"In this village, there’s a wooden doll about twenty centimeters tall. Find it for me!"

The bats flew off, scouring every corner of the village.

However, to Wen Wen’s surprise, the bats did not find the doll. When he called all the bats back, he discovered that a few were missing.

"That’s not right..."

He took a deep breath and, following the scent of those few bats, traced his way to one of the bats he had released.

He saw that the lower half of the bat’s body had been smashed by a tremendous force, it had bled to death without sending any information back.

"They didn’t fail to find the doll, it’s that they did find it, but then the doll discovered them and smashed their knees. Since the bats are rather small, other parts were shattered as well..."

"It seems that I won’t be able to find it with the bats, but now I’m even more intrigued."

Wen Wen continued to stroll around the village, believing he would inevitably find it in a village this size.

The scenes he came upon along the way were somewhat bloody. All the large animals in the village—pigs, dogs, cattle, and others—lay on the ground, unable to get up due to their shattered knees.

"Not only humans but also animals are being attacked..."

After such an incident, the Supporters could only prioritize the humans, so the animals in the village all suffered.

Most of the livestock were already dead since it had been a long time since their knees were smashed, and too much blood loss was enough to kill them.

The few living animals were just waiting to die.

"Since you’re going to die sooner or later, I’d better help relieve your suffering."

Wen Wen walked over to a dying yellow cow, tapped it gently with his hand, and the cow immediately lost consciousness. Then, Wen Wen dragged it into the Sanctuary.

The dead bodies littering the ground should not go to waste—they could be sent to the Sanctuary to serve as food for other monsters.

There are several large cold storage facilities inside the Sanctuary that can perfectly store these animal corpses.

He knew the Association’s style—places where incidents occurred, even if the issue was resolved, would be sealed off for several days. By then, the bodies would be rotten, and the Association would offer compensation to the victims.

The compensation money comes from the Federation’s taxes, so even if it’s left unused, it would be wasteful.

Well, it’s mainly because Wen Wen is short on cash at the moment. Providing for the meals of so many monsters usually pains him, so he decides to save where he can...