The train chugged along, halting intermittently, as time slipped away.
The sky outside was a hazy dawn, signaling their imminent arrival.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, a shrill scream echoed from the compartment.
Shen Yuqing’s eyes widened as she looked at Lin Fan, who was beside her pillow.
"You, why are you in my bed?"
"Big sister, this is my bed, okay? Look who's on the upper bunk!"
Shen Yuqing looked up and saw Liu Muxi peering down.
She then glanced to the other side and saw Xiao Yue, also startled awake, a playful smile on her face.
"You wicked Xiao Yue, still laughing!"
Shen Yuqing’s face turned crimson with shame, and she quickly buried her head under the covers.
She then felt something she shouldn’t be holding with her small hands.
"What is this?"
She gave a hard tug.
"Ugh!!!"
Lin Fan let out a pained groan.
Only then did Shen Yuqing realize and immediately let go. "Um… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… If it hurts, I can blow on it for you."
After saying that, she realized something was amiss.
Her small face flushed all the way to her neck, wishing she could disappear into a crack in the floor.
Shen Yuqing got out of bed and quickly returned to her own covers.
"Sister Yuqing, what’s wrong?" Xiao Yue asked.
Shen Yuqing’s eyes were bewildered. "I don’t know! I slept so soundly last night, I didn't even dream. Who knew I'd end up in his bed."
"That’s strange, you don’t usually have a habit of sleepwalking, do you?" Xiao Yue asked curiously.
At that moment, the train slowed down as it emerged from a tunnel.
A ray of sunlight shone in, reflecting scattered gleams.
"Don't move!"
Lin Fan spoke, approaching Shen Yuqing’s bed.
Shen Yuqing jumped, lying on the bed, her eyes wide open, unblinking.
Lin Fan slowly leaned in, his lips drawing closer and closer to hers.
"Wha-what are you doing? I already apologized."
Shen Yuqing closed her eyes nervously. "Oh well, if I die, I die! I slept with you last night, so let me give you a kiss today as compensation."
"But I'm warning you, just one kiss!"
She murmured with her eyes closed, but felt Lin Fan make no move.
Curiosity piqued, she opened her eyes.
She saw Lin Fan holding a tiny thread, his brow furrowed.
The thread was extremely fine, attached to the back of Shen Yuqing's neck on one end and extending to the gap in the compartment door on the other.
"Is this… puppet string?"
Liu Muxi exclaimed in surprise.
Lin Fan looked up at her. "You recognize it?"
Liu Muxi nodded. "This kind of string is made from a special material. It's as fine as a spider's web, yet incredibly strong, unbreakable even by a knife, and fire-resistant. Puppeteers use it to control their puppets."
"Puppeteers?"
Lin Fan frowned.
In his mind, puppeteers were akin to shadow puppetry.
Using a few sticks and strings to manipulate paper figures into various movements for entertainment.
Liu Muxi continued, "The puppeteers we know are merely how this grand sect presents itself in the mundane world."
"True puppeteers, like sorcerers, have a history stretching back thousands of years."
"They possess many secrets, one of which is connecting puppet strings to the nerves of living people, controlling them from the other end with the strings."
"The controlled person becomes like a marionette, at the puppeteer's mercy."
Shen Yuqing asked, "Miss, do you mean I was controlled, and that's why I ended up in Lin Fan's bed?"
Liu Muxi nodded.
Xiao Yue then asked, "Why? Why would they do that?"
Everyone shook their heads, unable to fathom the reason.
From Liu Muxi's words, Lin Fan gained some understanding.
The sect of puppeteers was called the String Manipulation Gate.
Its period of prominence was so ancient that it was impossible to ascertain.
The String Manipulation Gate and the Sorcerer Gate had clashed several times, and eventually, the Sorcerer Gate gradually suppressed and diminished them.
By a thousand years ago, the String Manipulation Gate no longer had any powerful puppeteers.
To survive, they had to perform as entertainers.
With the advancement of technology, people had more and more forms of entertainment.
As a result, puppet shows gradually faded from public view.
Disciples of the String Manipulation Gate found alternative paths, using their skills to transport corpses in the Xiangxi region, only to be attacked by the corpse handlers, causing them to disappear completely.
"I've heard that many existing puppeteers now work as animal trainers in zoos, using puppet strings to control fierce beasts for performances."
Liu Muxi’s expression was strange. "However, they've been warned by the Animal Taming Sect multiple times, so they probably won't last much longer."
Lin Fan listened and felt that the String Manipulation Gate was just a bunch of losers.
Good at nothing, their once proud art was now on the verge of disappearing.
"Why did they control me to get into Lin Fan's bed?"
Shen Yuqing was internally conflicted, racking her brain but unable to understand.
Lin Fan glanced at her intentionally or unintentionally.
Sorcerers, puppeteers, corpse handlers, animal trainers.
These things that sounded so mysterious to ordinary people didn't seem to faze this young woman at all.
Liu Muxi, due to her grandfather, knew some hidden things, which was understandable.
However, Shen Yuqing was just an ordinary person, yet she remained so calm upon hearing all this.
This made Lin Fan certain that her identity was by no means simple!
"Find the person, and we'll know once we ask."
Lin Fan finished speaking and pulled with all his might.
There was no resistance whatsoever; he easily pulled it in from outside the door.
"They ran off after leaving the puppet string?"
Lin Fan was stunned. What was going on?
Did controlling her for this one instance, wasting a puppet string, just to make Shen Yuqing get into his bed?
"Hey, don't jump to conclusions. Hurry up and get the string out of my neck!"
Shen Yuqing exposed her entire neck.
Lin Fan gently pinched the puppet string, wrapping it in spiritual energy to avoid hurting her.
"Be gentle when you pull it out. I'm afraid of pain," Shen Yuqing instructed.
Lin Fan's mouth twitched. What kind of suggestive words were these?
He pulled gently, and the puppet string came out directly.
"Ah!"
Shen Yuqing cried out in pain and covered her neck.
"It’s like a mosquito bite, not too painful!"
Xiao Yue said matter-of-factly. "Sister Yuqing, it must be because it was so thin that you didn't feel much when it went in and out."
"Nonsense!"
Shen Yuqing rolled her eyes, annoyed.
The train had arrived at the station, and the four of them disembarked with their luggage.
The platform was bustling with a dense crowd.
Not far away, two men squatted on the ground, smoking.
"Damn it! You brag about being the last descendant of the String Manipulation Gate, but you're just a useless piece of trash!"
The man in the Hawaiian shirt threw his cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it fiercely with his foot.
His eyes were fixed on Shen Yuqing in the distance, as if he could swallow her whole.
The other young man, somewhat lewd in appearance, wore white gloves on both hands.
"Young Master Qin, you may not know, but there was an expert in that compartment. I sensed the aura emanating from him; he was incredibly powerful, definitely a great sorcerer!"
"In the end, I got nervous and messed up."
*Slap!*
Young Master Qin slapped him on the back of the head. "I don't care if he's a great sorcerer or a small one! You took twenty thousand yuan from me, so tell me, what do we do next?"