Chapter 67: Long-Range Assassination
Chapter 67: Long-Range Assassination
In the camp of the Beast Garden Hunting Party, most people had retired for the night. Only two sentries remained awake, each keeping vigilant in their respective dim corners, occasionally getting up to inspect the battle pets outside the camp.
There were three Red-eyed Mountain Eagles perched in the trees, a pack of Thousand Peak Retrievers below, a Night-vision Eagle with keen senses, and a Wind-riding Eagle with exceptional hearing. With these three types of battle pets on watch, there was little worry about intruders, so the sentries remained relaxed.
Suddenly, a peal of thunder rolled across the sky.
Just as the two sentries looked up, three bolts of lightning struck the camp in an instant, accompanied by explosive sounds.
Boom! Boom! Whoosh!
The three sounds overlapped, followed by a painful cry.
The entire camp erupted into chaos.
Everyone was jolted awake and rushed out of their tents. The battle pets outside the camp let out uneasy roars, while the falcons and blood crows took flight, screeching anxiously in the sky.
Pei Hong had just fallen asleep when the attack occurred, but he opened his eyes, albeit too late to react.
He drew the longsword at his waist and jumped up, but couldn't spot the enemy.
It seemed that Liu Yusu's tent had been the target of the attack.
A foreboding feeling washed over Pei Hong. Liu Yusu's tent was in tatters, and she hadn't moved from where she lay.
He rushed forward and lifted the torn canvas, only to behold Liu Yusu's corpse. A silver-white arrow, crackling with electric light, was embedded in her left eye, piercing her brain and pinning her to the ground. She was clearly dead.
"Leader!"
"What happened?"
The members of the hunting party cried out in shock, most of them having not witnessed the assault.
Pei Hong was equally incredulous.
While beast tamers channeled most of their strength into their battle pets, their physical attributes were usually unremarkable, with average strength and defense. Liu Yusu hadn't gained any abilities to enhance her physical body from her beasts either, but didn't she have a White Jade Parrot?
When its owner was under attack, the White Jade Parrot would automatically deploy a "White Jade Shield," capable of resisting physical and energy attacks, its defensive prowess comparable to alloy plate armor.
Liu Yusu's White Jade Parrot was always by her side, even when she slept. Why hadn't it reacted?
Pei Hong continued to lift the tent canvas and found a bloody, charred mess next to Liu Yusu's body, along with two arrows stuck in the ground, surrounded by blood-stained feathers.
"The White Jade Parrot is dead too."
Pei Hong's pupils contracted as he carefully examined the scene, piecing together what had transpired.
There had been a total of three arrows. The first two had targeted the White Jade Parrot, somehow piercing through the White Jade Shield and killing it.
Then, the third arrow had delivered the fatal blow to Liu Yusu, who was now unprotected.
All of this had happened in the blink of an eye. Liu Yusu might have just been startled awake, not even fully comprehending the situation before the fatal arrow struck.
Pei Hong picked up one of the arrows; it felt light and sturdy in his hand, and a faint electric current still coursed through it, causing his arm to go numb.
"Capacitance Arrow..."
He recognized this special type of arrow, having seen it earlier that day.
"That ranger!"
A chill ran down Pei Hong's spine, and he felt a sense of hindsight dread. He immediately turned and asked, "Did you see which direction the arrows came from?" He had been in his tent when the attack happened and had only sensed the danger without knowing the arrows' origin.
"Over there," one of the sentries replied, pointing in the direction of the cliff.
Crackle!
Pei Hong vanished from his original spot, turning into a bolt of lightning.
The next second, his figure reappeared a hundred meters away, and then he transformed into a streak of electric light, dashing through the forest. After four consecutive dashes, he arrived at the bottom of the cliff. He leaped into the air, and an invisible air current lifted him up. As his momentum was about to fade, he summoned a transparent air wall beneath his feet, using it as a stepping stone to propel himself upward, landing gracefully atop the cliff.
Pei Hong scanned the area and spotted several footprints on the ground, but they were too blurred to make out any details.
He raised his hand and shot a beam of light upward.
Boom!
A ball of light exploded high in the sky, momentarily illuminating the area within a few hundred meters of the cliff. However, Pei Hong couldn't detect any traces of the attacker.
The light soon dissipated, returning the area to darkness.
Pei Hong shook his head helplessly. Superconducting tamers were formidable and versatile in combat, but they lacked effective means of sensing and tracking enemies.
He ignited a flame in his palm and searched the cliff but, as expected, found nothing.
The ranger had long fled the scene.
Pei Hong gazed in the direction of the camp, his night vision providing little clarity at such a distance. He couldn't even pinpoint the camp's exact location.
"430 to 460 meters away," he muttered.
"So far away..."
"His etheric fluctuations suggest he's a mid-level ranger, at most an advanced one. How could he shoot and kill a target from such a distance?"
Pei Hong was perplexed.
Even a legendary ranger would have found it challenging to fire three arrows and kill Liu Yusu in such darkness and from that range.
Yet, Liu Yusu lay dead, slain in a perplexing manner.
"No," Pei Hong shook his head inwardly, "her death wasn't unjust."
He had been assigned by the corporation to join Liu Yusu's 7th squad over a year ago.
This super tamer came from a privileged background, endowed with exceptional talent. She had been doted on by her parents and elders, leading to a domineering and self-centered personality. On Earth, she had learned to restrain herself, but once outside the cities of the Star Realm, she would fully unleash her true nature, acting with utter recklessness.
The corporation had placed Pei Hong by her side to keep an eye on her and intervene if necessary, to prevent her from causing trouble.
However, his efforts had been futile as she refused to listen to him, stubbornly doing as she pleased.
In the end, she had reaped what she had sown.
"This is tricky..."
Pei Hong turned to look around, sighed, and jumped off the cliff.
Upon returning to the camp, he found the situation to be even worse than he had imagined.
Most of the seventh squad's battle pets belonged to Liu Yusu, and now that she was dead, many of them had gone berserk. Several beast tamers were trying to soothe them, temporarily preventing a riot.
Given time, most of these battle pets would still run away.
How were they going to track down the enemy now?
Pei Hong had completely lost heart. He hadn't intended to pursue the attacker in the first place, firstly because they would most likely be unable to catch up, and secondly, even if they did, more people would undoubtedly die.
An enemy who could move stealthily in the dark and shoot a target from several hundred meters away was best left untouched.
"Vice-captain, what do we do now?" asked one of the squad members.
What to do? Nothing!
Pei Hong wanted to wash his hands of the whole affair, but thinking of the group's three thousand-year salary, he said, "Try to keep the battle pets under control, especially the three giant-mouthed pterosaurs. Don't let them fly away. At daybreak, we'll return to Olympia."
The squad members exchanged glances but did as they were told.
What they didn't know was that their every move was being watched by someone in the shadows.
Ji Xinghuo had already made his way around to the other side of the camp.
He stood behind a tree, in a state of stealth, his magnetic field sensing encompassing the camp over seven hundred meters away. After observing for a moment, he confirmed that these people had no intention of tracking him, so he silently slipped away.
"It's time to leave Juefeng Valley."
Ji Xinghuo traveled through the darkness, but instead of heading directly east towards Olympia, he first went north, intending to take a longer, more roundabout route.
By daybreak, he had traveled over a hundred kilometers away from the area where the meteor had fallen.
Yet he continued northward.
It wasn't until noon that Ji Xinghuo finally stopped to rest. He took out the little green snake from his pocket and said, "Spit everything out."
The little green snake opened its mouth and spat out the backpack and the bag containing the exotic creatures, both of which were intact.
There was also the object wrapped in a cloth strip.
Ji Xinghuo picked it up and unfolded the cloth.
Instantly, a dazzling light shone from his hand, and a large, colorful gemstone appeared before him.
Its size was comparable to a table tennis ball, and its shape was irregular. There were signs of high-temperature scorching on its surface, like glass formed after burning away impurities, leaving behind a hard core with distinct ridges.
"It really is a Tear of the Stars!"
"So hot!"
Ji Xinghuo had seen videos of it before, and the one in his hand was identical to the one in the video. Then, his hand trembled, and the Tear of the Stars fell to the ground.
Once again, he felt the immense energy contained within the Tear of the Stars, an energy so violent that his body couldn't withstand it yet.
"I wonder how much stellar power one can absorb from a Tear of the Stars?"
Ji Xinghuo was curious.
He examined it carefully and, based on the intensity of the etheric energy fluctuations, guessed that if he absorbed it, his stellar power would increase by at least 1000 to 1500 points! That was five to seven times more than his current total.
And after absorption, he would be able to fuse with one more exotic creature.
"What a great thing!"
Ji Xinghuo couldn't help but exclaim, his heart filled with joy that was difficult to put into words. It was worth all the effort he had put into searching for it over the past two days, even if it had almost exposed him to those two superhumans.
Tears of the Stars rarely entered public transactions, and their prices were not fixed.
But selling one for two or three hundred million was definitely possible.
Overnight riches!
However, Ji Xinghuo wasn't foolish enough to sell the Tear of the Stars. He couldn't absorb it yet, so he would keep it for later when he became a super-being and could use it immediately.
At that moment, the little green snake swam over, evidently curious about the Tear of the Stars as well.
It instinctively stuck out its tongue to lick the stone, only to immediately retract it as if burned, quickly slithering backward.
"Hahaha..."
Ji Xinghuo couldn't help but laugh at the snake's reaction.
It was said that monsters could also absorb Tears of the Stars, but only those at the Super Beast level. The little green snake was only an Elite Spirit Beast, one rank lower.
Ji Xinghuo picked up the Tear of the Stars, wrapped it in a clean cloth bag, and had the little green snake swallow it again.
The energy fluctuations of the Tear of the Stars were too strong, and carrying it on his person would easily attract attention. Keeping it in the little green snake's belly was the safest option.
In addition to the Tear of the Stars, Ji Xinghuo also reorganized his luggage.
He took out items that wouldn't be needed until they made camp, such as the tent and sleeping bag, as well as things that weren't urgently needed, like most of the spare arrows and the compound bow repair tools, and put them in a separate bag, which he then had the little green snake swallow. This reduced the weight of his backpack by seven or eight percent.
Ji Xinghuo had wanted to travel completely unburdened, but considering that this might attract unnecessary attention, he put the backpack on again, appearing no different from any other solitary traveler.
He traveled north for two days.
Along the way, he passed by the group he had previously annihilated, and the weapons and equipment he had left behind were still there. He picked up a few useful items, figuring that with the little green snake, he could carry more now.
Only then did he turn east, taking a roundabout route of several hundred kilometers.
Five days later, he finally caught sight of the walls of Freedom City. After entering the city, he immediately boarded an airship.
As the airship descended in Olympia's East Xia District, Ji Xinghuo looked at the familiar yet long-unseen neighborhood and felt his tension ease. "I'm back!" he thought.
(End of Chapter)
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