Wen Wen remained silent for a long time, unsure whether to let Xiong Ying go.
Forcing him to leave felt against his principles, but leaving him unsupervised meant the devil's heart within him was a ticking time bomb.
Human hearts weren't always trustworthy. Even with all Xiong Ying had done previously, Wen Wen couldn't guarantee he wouldn't truly succumb to the devil's heart's will before death.
With only a year left to live and unable to fight for others, joining the Hunter Association was out of the question.
After some thought, Wen Wen said to Changsun Jing, "Since I've captured him, my mission is complete. How he's handled from now on is entirely up to your Qingchuan City Hunter Association."
"You must supervise him closely during his final year. If he encounters trouble, I will help him as best as I can."
With that, Wen Wen turned and left.
Publicly handing him over to the Association was the best course of action. Wen Wen planned to have Xiong Ying join the containment facility after dealing with the museum.
Even if the facility's strength couldn't save Xiong Ying from death, at least he would always be under Wen Wen's control.
Wen Wen didn't participate in the specific aftermath work, as his mind was entirely focused on the museum.
Without waiting for the next day, Wen Wen arrived outside the museum.
It was around three in the morning, a time of deep silence, when only nocturnal creatures like wild cats and bats were active.
Wen Wen stood in the shadows outside the museum, his gaze somber.
He intended to obtain information from within the museum, but barging in to ask would be the most foolish approach.
He didn't know which faction the museum belonged to, how powerful it was, or even if they were friend or foe.
Therefore, he needed something to test the museum. He entered the containment facility and went to Xu Hai's cell.
At that moment, Xu Hai was busy with some peculiar tools, working on non-human limbs. Those corpses were all enveloped in an ominous aura; an ordinary person seeing such a scene might faint.
"It's been some time since I gave these to you. Do you have any finished products? I have a use for them," Wen Wen said to Xu Hai.
Seeing Wen Wen, Xu Hai stopped his work and respectfully said, "Sir, super-powered puppets are much more difficult to create than ordinary ones. I've only completed one disaster-class puppet so far..."
Indeed, Xu Hai was now using the corpses of demons to craft super-powered puppets.
During the previous raid on the demon stronghold, Wen Wen hadn't just captured some demons; he had brought back a large number of their corpses.
Due to the monsters' rough handling, more demons had died than were captured. Wen Wen had given all these corpses to Xu Hai to create super-powered puppets.
As long as he had sufficient materials – the corpses of super-powered individuals or monsters – Xu Hai could create puppets with the strength of super-powered beings. His current strength had a ceiling of disaster-class.
Before meeting Wen Wen, he had also created a disaster-class puppet using the corpse of a three-tailed demon leopard he had found.
While these puppets were far inferior to their living counterparts, they were obedient, and their destruction wouldn't cause regret. Thus, Wen Wen planned to use this puppet to probe the museum's true nature.
"One is enough. Give it to me; I need it to accomplish some tasks."
Xu Hai nodded, opened a coffin-like box next to the display case, and revealed a demon covered in black fur with goat-like horns on its head.
He introduced it to Wen Wen, "This demon had the ability to control corpses when it was alive. Now that I've made it into a puppet, it has become a corpse to be controlled."
"Curiously, it has retained some of its corpse-controlling ability, so you can also use it to control other corpses..."
Wen Wen nodded. He wasn't particularly concerned about the demon's specific abilities; it was meant to be cannon fodder anyway.
Wen Wen then removed his liquid shaping ability and replaced it with puppet manipulation. With a snap of his fingers, the black goat demon puppet stood up, its movements slightly stiff, and moved to Wen Wen's side.
"Get me another batch of poker-sized metal sheets. I have a use for them."
Without the liquid shaping ability, Wen Wen naturally needed weapons to perform his poker dart skills. Objectively speaking, metal pokers were much more effective than water pokers.
After preparing the puppet for testing, Wen Wen also needed to disguise himself.
In case he had to appear personally, he absolutely couldn't use his real appearance, so he needed to create a pseudonym.
With his faceless demon ability, he could alter his appearance freely, even without imitation.
After some thought, Wen Wen made his physique more robust, his skin as black as coal, his eyes as large as light bulbs, and his set of small white teeth transformed into shark-like serrated ones.
Looking in the mirror, Wen Wen nodded in satisfaction. With this appearance, absolutely no one would recognize him.
"Now, let me see what secrets this so-called Federation's First Museum holds!"
...
Wringing out the mop and placing it aside, Qiao Kun wiped the sweat from his brow with the towel on his shoulder, diligently cleaning the entire museum.
Although he was only an apprentice, he knew countless ways to clean the museum quickly.
However, only by doing it himself could he show his respect for the museum and his reverence for knowledge.
Despite Qiao Kun's disdain for these traditions, if he wished to become a 'scholar,' he had to adhere to these rigid rules during his apprenticeship.
Every apprentice in their internship period was assigned to manage a special building.
Qiao Kun's was the museum, and as far as he knew, there were also libraries, rune halls, and material exhibition halls.
Management, in essence, meant he was to act as the building's servant. The museum would grant him certain permissions, and he had to use these to assist the museum in fulfilling its mission.
If he made any mistakes in his operations, the museum would revoke his permissions, a prominent figure would take over, and he would lose his eligibility to become a scholar.
Of course, for Qiao Kun, this was merely a formality. His father was a 'Professor,' and as long as he followed the prescribed path, his future would be bright.
With less than a month left in his internship, the thought of officially becoming a 'scholar' and accessing new knowledge made him so excited he wanted to jump.
He had already dedicated everything to knowledge and wisdom. His lifelong destiny was to strive to absorb more forbidden knowledge.
There was just one point of dissatisfaction: every item in the museum was a treasure, yet he could only look at them and not use them. The control of all items belonged to the museum itself.
For instance, two months ago, despite his inner dissatisfaction, he could only hand over a heart containing immense power to a clumsy ordinary person.
However, he had to conceal all this discontent within himself, unable to express it.
Suddenly, he stopped his thoughts and looked towards the museum's entrance, where a dark silhouette was slowly approaching in the shadows.