"You all forgot, didn't you? This city is shrouded in Mimōkō (Mimō Fragrance). Under this scent, hallucinations will occur. Those ninja cannot even tell right from wrong."
"Then we'll fight anyway, even if it costs us our lives!"
Hearing this, Shigeo spoke up: "Everyone, don't rush. Here's what we'll do—I'll come up with a plan and tomorrow I'll tell you what action to take!"
"Good, good!" The crowd was overjoyed at his words.
That night, the city remained restless. After Shigeo finished researching the antidote to the Mimōkō, he left the commoners' home and swaggered straight into the Yao Hai Tower.
As soon as he stepped through the door, the old shopkeeper rushed forward.
"Everyone, the killer is here! Hurry, report to the city—"
Before he could finish, Shigeo's hand clamped down on his throat. With one squeeze, crack—the man's life ended.
Moving deeper inside, two servers rushed out with blades. But when they saw the dead body of the shopkeeper, they collapsed to their knees with a thud.
"This has nothing to do with us! We only want to live, please spare us!"
Shigeo's Sharingan appeared. Both men fell under genjutsu and fainted.
By then, the staircase corridor and the doorway behind him were already blocked by seven or eight figures—ninja resting here on their shift tonight.
"You've got guts, coming here to die!" one of them shouted, charging forward.
Shigeo dodged, spun, and kicked the attacker. Then he flicked his wrist, tossing several pills into the air. Each ninja caught one.
"These are the antidotes to Mimōkō. If you want to know the truth, swallow them. Tonight you'll see who the real killer is. But remember this—if you want the truth, you'll have to learn how to fake sleep. If you can't, then go look at how the townsfolk sleep at night."
With that, the air twisted. Shigeo vanished with a space–time shift.
Meanwhile, in the castle, the thirty or so medical ninja had all been lured into the back courtyard's basement, then taken into the underground laboratory.
Only then did they realize they'd been tricked. Even the highly praised teacher Shennong, whom freelance medics admired, was working with Wuyouhua.
Wuyouhua had deceived them into doing medical work—attaching purple hair to flayed bodies, making the corpses obey the command of hair strands. If the bodies could act under the control of the hair, the experiment was deemed a success.
"Absurd, sheer nonsense! How can corpses follow the command of hair? Such an experiment can't succeed!"
A medic from Kumo shouted in protest. In the next instant, Shennong tore out his heart and lungs, silencing him forever.
"Everyone, this experiment has already been proven. It will succeed. You are not allowed to question me. Follow my instructions. In those vats are over a thousand human corpses. If you work as I say, you'll create the warriors the lord requires. If you cooperate, you live. If you fail, you will be the next test subject. Any objections? No? Then begin!"
Shennong's voice thundered. No more pretense—reaching their goal justified any means.
Only now did the captives realize the blind youth had told the truth: the lord of Wu Wang City was the real killer.
She absorbed the blood of the dead, while the flayed corpses were hidden in the castle's vault, preserved in formalin to fake natural decay—ready to become the so-called Ghost Hair Soldiers.
They had been too stubborn before. Even when they noticed the strange fragrance, they refused to admit it. They had seen everything with their own eyes, yet chose to look away. Now, all were prisoners.
Had they believed Shigeo back then and resisted together, there would have been a chance. But now, if they did not obey Shennong and Wuyouhua, death awaited them.
The experiments began. Wuyouhua sat high, supervising. She even knew some medical ninjutsu, at times using forbidden arts to stabilize corpses.
Led by Shennong, the thirty medics followed his instructions step by step. With Wuyouhua's assistance, one after another, Ghost Hair Soldiers emerged.
Their abilities varied. If the dead were ordinary people, the resulting soldiers were weak. But if the deceased had once been powerful ninja, their reanimated forms became terrifyingly strong.
With so many medics, production sped up. In just one afternoon, they created over a hundred Ghost Hair Soldiers.
They dressed them in black robes and white ghost masks—indistinguishable from the mysterious masked killers.
By nightfall, Wuyouhua was exhausted. After using forbidden jutsu repeatedly, her figure hunched, her face shriveled into that of an old crone.
The medics dared not comment.
"Shennong, continue as planned. We only have ten days. I must search for more antidote." Weak and wheezing, Wuyouhua left the lab, climbing to a cliff edge.
Night blanketed Wu Wang City in terror. The eerie call of nightingales pierced the sky. With her withered face twisted like a demon's, Wuyouhua sneered.
"Who will it be tonight?"
She leapt from the cliff. Her body unfurled like a human skin, guided by long purple hair drifting toward the city.
The previous night, she had devoured the blood and chakra of five ninja, leaving her vigorous all day. Even after using forbidden jutsu on over a hundred masked warriors, she felt no strain.
Had she not cast jutsu today, her chakra would have risen yet another step.
So tonight, with the ninja still ignorant, she would drain even more to fuel tomorrow's production of Ghost Hair Soldiers.
Landing on Yao Hai Tower's roof, she spread Mimōkō again. The whole city drowned in the fragrance. Even distant dogs fell silent.
Masked men appeared once more, searching for victims on her behalf.
She entered the corridor. Glancing back at the doorway, she noticed the tower's boss hadn't come out to greet her.
She gave a cold laugh, hunched her back, and climbed upstairs. Her shadow stretched long, her aged eyes watching as several masked men entered the rooms ahead.
(End of Chapter)
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