The Poker General leaped from the rooftop and vanished into the ground. He didn't know how dangerous his mission was, but even if he did, he couldn't refuse Wen Wen.
Meanwhile, Wen Wen remained on the rooftop, observing the three individuals as they moved forward through the Poker General's eyes.
These three people had vacant expressions, their eyes seeming to perceive something others couldn't. Their footsteps were unceasing as they proceeded in a single direction.
After leaving the village, their speed increased significantly, far beyond what a normal human could achieve.
On the other end of the Qingqin Grassland, several demon hunters were also moving in a specific direction.
The leader of this group was a bald man, his gleaming head conspicuous in the night. This bald man was, of course, Wu Liugen.
He was on a mission, commissioned by the Hunter Association, to address an anomaly in the vicinity.
Around the Qingqin Grassland, and indeed in a large surrounding area, people frequently heard inexplicable voices calling their names. Anyone who heard their name would eventually disappear into the vast night.
Not only ordinary people nearby, but even weaker supernaturals could fall victim!
While in a single village, it might only mean one or two deaths a day, across the entire region, the daily death toll was staggering.
This was why the demon hunter squad was mobilized. They had to uncover the identity of the perpetrator and eliminate it!
Although the undead did not truly die, even if killed, their resurrection would take longer the stronger they were.
Someone capable of calling out to people over a wide area would be indisposed for a period after dying once.
Furthermore, once the method to kill them was discovered, it would be much easier to kill them again.
In fact, with the Hunter Association's current strength deployed in the Qingji Plateau, it wouldn't be difficult to sweep through all the undead in the plateau, provided they were willing to incur some casualties.
The real difficulty lay in the fact that these beings would revive after some time.
As long as this bizarre domain remained unpurged, the disaster would repeat endlessly.
Xun Ying had also taken time to visit this place and had bled most of the powerful monsters there.
However, he was powerless against the strange environment and couldn't stay to suppress it permanently. Thus, the problem of the Qingji Plateau had reached a deadlock.
This squad comprised six individuals. Besides Wu Liugen, there were Chu Wei, Gu Panxi, and the wandering hunter 'Kong Die' – three acquaintances of Wen Wen.
Although Chu Wei hadn't revealed his true form to the demon hunters, his combat record was formidable, earning him a spot on the team.
Gu Panxi now possessed the strength of the Disaster Mid-order, and her ability, the Holy Crystal Angel, had a significant damage bonus against the undead, making her more effective than many Upper-order supernaturals.
As for Kong Die, she had been researching the possibility of using poisons to specifically eliminate the undead, and this mission was also for research purposes.
The other two minor demon hunter roles are not detailed here.
Undoubtedly, this was a strong, elite demon hunter squad. Yet, upon entering the Qingqin Grassland, the squad immediately encountered a crisis.
That crisis was Chu Wei falling victim!
He had heard a mysterious voice calling his name. On the first night, his expression turned vacant, and he began walking directly in one direction.
The Hunter Association understood this phenomenon far better than Rabbit Village. Within a specific range, about one percent of living beings would hear strange voices calling their names daily.
The probability of disaster-level or higher beings hearing the call was extremely low, but this small probability event had inexplicably occurred within the squad.
This was also related to the side effect of Chu Wei's ability. Within the range of his ability, if any event that could lead to death occurred, then that victim was inevitably Chu Wei...
Thus, this hastily assembled demon hunter squad had no choice but to follow Chu Wei forward.
Looking on the bright side, Chu Wei himself couldn't die, so perhaps this was the fastest way to find the culprit.
...
The Poker General followed the three individuals. About ten minutes after setting off, he was subjected to mental influence from an unknown source, causing his actions to become slightly sluggish. However, this influence was easily overcome.
It seemed that some of those who had set out to track them had disappeared in this manner.
Unexpectedly, this tracking continued for nearly two hours. Along the way, Wen Wen encountered other individuals walking with a similar dazed state.
The undead they encountered on the road allowed these moving individuals to pass unhindered, not attacking them. This suggested that the matter was indeed related to the undead.
Wen Wen's expression became slightly grave. It appeared this was not a monster specifically targeting Rabbit Village.
Instead, something was calling out over a large area, and the victims from Rabbit Village were merely a part of it.
After advancing for a few more minutes, Wen Wen noticed a difference. Ahead, a grove of withered trees appeared.
The desolate moonlight shone upon the leafless, withered trees, and the green-glowing puddles on the ground added a touch of eeriness to the grove.
Within the forest, there was a faint, extremely evil power. This must be the source of the voice calling out names.
The Poker General stopped, not entering the forest, following Wen Wen's orders. He suspected that Village Chief Bai Xiaoman had also met her end here. Moving further forward, the Poker General would be in constant danger of losing his life.
Although his strength was only at the Disaster Lower-order, and Wen Wen didn't usually need to use his ability, Wen Wen was reluctant to expend it in such a place.
Besides, people entered the forest constantly. Without needing to follow the three people from Rabbit Village, he could still find the direction to proceed.
So, Wen Wen snapped his fingers, releasing several tiger-like puppets, and imprinted a spatial mark on the back of each puppet.
Then, Wen Wen instructed one of the tiger-like puppets to feign being entranced and follow one of the entranced individuals into the forest.
Initially, everything seemed normal. However, after advancing less than a hundred meters, Wen Wen lost contact with the puppet.
The puppet was instantly killed. Wen Wen didn't even see what had killed it.
But it didn't matter. Wen Wen had plenty of puppets; he would just experiment with them one by one.
Changing direction, Wen Wen released another puppet. It was also instantly killed. It wasn't until three puppets were dead that Wen Wen figured out what was attacking them.
It was a suddenly appearing red hand, its palm larger than an entire person. The wrist was as long as it needed to be, and as soon as it appeared, it crushed the puppet!