Chapter 20 – The Trap

Volume 3

"Retreat."

The moment Xiao Xue said it, she turned and withdrew toward the cave entrance.

Unfortunately, the trap had already been set. How could they possibly let the fish slip away so easily?

Before they had even gone a hundred meters, the path ahead was sealed off.

Three strange figures stood there, cloaked in Black Robe.

"Uncle Wang, you owe me an explanation!"

Xiao Xue stared at the three shadowy figures hiding their faces and snapped at the soldier in charge of scouting.

Unfortunately, her words received no response.

Behind them, three more figures slowly emerged from the endless darkness.

"Come back."

A low voice sounded from the mouth of the strange figure in the middle, whose entire body was shrouded in Black Robe.

Then the scout walked straight past Xiao Xue and up to the Black-Robed Man.

If Xiao Xue still did not understand that she had been set up, then she would have wasted all her years of living.

"Whose people are you? Peng Jun's? Or Li Haoran's?"

Xiao Xue narrowed her eyes and questioned the person in the middle behind her who had just spoken, while carefully sizing up the surrounding figures in Black Robe.

Every inch of them was covered by Black Robe. Not even the slightest bit of skin was exposed, and a faint stench drifted from their bodies.

At Xiao Xue's question, the six strange figures in Black Robe remained silent.

The leader, a Black-Robed Man, placed his hand directly on Uncle Wang's head. Then…

A cloud of white gas continuously seeped out of Uncle Wang's body, gathering in the Black-Robed Man's palm until it condensed into a trembling, dough-like lump.

As for Uncle Wang, he simply stood there without making a sound. Only after the white dough-like mass had fully formed did he topple headfirst to the ground.

He was dead.

…

Faced with the bizarre scene before her, Xiao Xue still said nothing.

Clearly, Uncle Wang had been controlled long ago, then led the entire group straight into a trap.

And traps existed for hunting. Naturally, the deeper they were dug, the better.

Without the help of Sequence 2, Xiao Xue held no overly optimistic hopes for how things would end for them.

"Perhaps we can talk. What is your goal? Are you trying to use me to threaten Commander Lin, or are you hoping to reach some kind of arrangement with the Military? I don't think fighting is a good way to solve problems. Maybe we can look at this from another angle."

"For example, you could join Commander Lin's command. Trust me, for powerful people like you, the Military will offer extremely good treatment."

After Xiao Xue finished speaking, the scene once again fell into an eerie silence.

After a long while, the leading Black-Robed Man put away the dough-like lump. He first glanced at the soldier before turning to a companion beside him.

"Wan Ping, is the mission target among these people?"

"No."

"Mm. Magpie, scout the direction and find Wen Yu's location."

His voice was not quiet. It was loud enough for Xiao Xue and the others nearby to hear.

Then, without needing Xiao Xue to say another word, the remaining soldiers immediately drew their weapons and launched an attack at the three figures blocking the road ahead.

For a moment, gunfire roared.

"Interrupting someone while they're talking really is impolite."

Watching the seemingly intense battle ahead, the leading Black-Robed Man made no move at all. He simply spoke to the person beside him, whose code name was Magpie.

"Prepare to wake Simba. Then have your little darlings find Wen Yu's position."

"Oh, right."

As if remembering something, the Black-Robed Man shouted toward the three companions currently fighting Xiao Xue and the others.

"Leave the woman alive! A Peak Level 3 Class Holder, and a tender little chick at that. She should taste pretty good!"

…

By the time Wen Yu was about to descend the mountain, there still had not been any major commotion in the distance.

"Maybe Simba really isn't here anymore."

Wen Yu muttered to himself.

"Right, One-Eye, can you smell Simba's scent?"

One-Eye shook his head.

"Forget it. Then we won't look for him."

"Woof, woof."

"He beat us up pretty badly back then."

Wen Yu instantly fell silent.

"Then we'll search for one more week! This task is yours. If we still can't find him, we have to set out for somewhere else! Raising our strength is what matters most!"

Just as Wen Yu and One-Eye were chatting and bickering, the entire mountain seemed to suddenly come alive.

Countless insects and birds that had yet to become Mutated cried out incessantly. Their calls rippled far into the distance. At the same time, a faint spiritual fluctuation mixed into the waves of sound and swept directly over Wen Yu and his two Soul Pets.

Sensing the mental fluctuations brimming with malice, Wen Yu frowned.

"Looks like we might have dragged someone else into this."

Wen Yu could already confirm that this was a trap.

But even after Xiao Xue and the others had walked into it, the other side had still launched a mental scan on such a massive scale. In that case, their true target went without saying.

Wen Yu hesitated briefly. Then he entered Combat State, turned around, and headed back toward the cave.

Since they had set him up, they were his enemies. And when it came to trouble like this, dealing with it as early as possible was undoubtedly the best choice.

Hiding would only mean handing the initiative over to the enemy. Rather than do that, he might as well strike first, find out exactly who had plotted against him, and send them to their deaths while he was at it.

A dead enemy was a good enemy. And the sooner they died, the better!

…

"Found him!"

Magpie had his eyes closed, connected to the mental fluctuations of the small animals.

This ability was like turning every non-Mutated creature within the Skill's range into his eyes.

Its range was vast, but it could only sense a person's location.

"He's currently at the foot of the mountain and is about to leave the mountain area. Mm, the target has turned back. He's running this way. Fast!"

The leading Black-Robed Man nodded, then spoke again.

"Switch Skills. Check the target's strength."

Magpie nodded and pulled a small bird out from beneath the Black Robe.

The bird had not become Mutated. It was very weak.

But being weak meant its life fluctuations were weak as well, which also meant it was hard to detect.

And for reconnaissance, the more concealed, the better.

Magpie slowly took off his hood, revealing the face hidden beneath the Black Robe.

He looked about thirty, with very ordinary features.

However, Magpie's skin was far too white. Not fair, but a sickly kind of pallor.

Magpie gently grasped the little bird's body, then held it up in front of his eyes.

Their gazes met, and the red light in Magpie's eyes suddenly flared.

Soul Grafting (A-Rank, Active Ability): After activating the Skill, the Host can separate a portion of their soul and send it into a body far weaker than their own, establishing a Soul Link between the two.

Once Magpie used this Skill on the little bird, it was as if he had opened a moving eye in the sky.

In terms of reconnaissance alone, this Skill was indeed powerful.

"Go on, baby."

Magpie gently stroked the bird's body twice. Then the other portion of his soul, now inside the bird, controlled it to avoid the battle up ahead that was about to end and fly straight outside.

The little bird was fast, and Wen Yu was fast as well. So when they were less than a kilometer from the cave, the bird under Magpie's control had already spotted Wen Yu's figure.

A faint mental fluctuation swept over Wen Yu, instantly putting him on alert.

Life Detection (Rank C, active Skill): After activation, it can distinguish the life strength of the detected target.

And life strength meant level.

The strongest part of Soul Grafting was that the grafted target could use the original body's Skills!

"Level 4! All three life fluctuations are Level 4!"

As he sensed the information transmitted by the Skill, cold sweat immediately trickled down Magpie's forehead.

This level, this number… something was not right!

They had thought the hook was strong enough and the fishing line tough enough, only to realize now that what they had reeled in seemed to be a great white shark!

"Three Level 4s? Wan Ping, your intel was wrong!"

Hearing the leading Black-Robed Man's words, Wan Ping slowly nodded.

"The intel was wrong. I didn't expect that the Level 4 Mutant Dog that caused such a stir in Mudanjiang some time ago would turn out to be my enemy. This dog's evolution speed was too fast. It exceeded my expectations."

When One-Eye killed Wan An, it had only been Level 2. Yet in just two months, it had become a Level 4 Mutant Beast.

It was precisely because of this that Wan Ping had assumed the Level 4 Mutant Beast that had caused such a huge commotion a while ago could not have been One-Eye.

"But that doesn't matter, does it?"

Wan Ping slowly turned his head, looked at the Black-Robed Man, and asked in a calm voice.

The Black-Robed Man was silent for a long while before slowly starting to laugh.

"No, you may have misunderstood me. I wasn't blaming you just now."

"A Level 4 Class Holder. Tsk, tsk. Do you see that? I'm practically drooling!"