"This feeling… It's awesome!"
The thrill of instantly assassinating a target and vanishing in an instant left Li Ran feeling exhilarated.
He felt like a swordfish lurking in an underwater river, leaping out of the water to strike down a target, then diving back into the river, killing without a trace.
With all his attributes improving, especially his agility, he became even more elusive during assassination missions.
His movements flowed effortlessly, like water.
Even beneath the shade of a tree in a park neighborhood, his shadowy trajectory was so fleeting that anyone who saw it would likely think it was just a passing insect or mouse.
"Zhao Yingzhi?"
In a high-floor suite of Building 3, a man with a bare torso and a blood-red scorpion tattoo on his back stood by the window, peering through a small gap in the curtain with a telescope, focused on Building 4.
In his hand was a tablet showing Zhao Yingzhi's profile and identity information.
"700 Eerie Power? About the same as mine, this is going to be tricky." The man furrowed his brows slightly.
He then swiped through the tablet and turned to the next page.
"Team member, Li Ran, Eerie Power???"
The man's face changed slightly, unsure why the Eerie Power of Zhao Yingzhi's teammate was shown as a question mark.
Based on past experience, anyone whose Eerie Power was 500 higher than his would show up as a question mark.
"Could this guy's energy be over 1200?"
As he was surprised by Li Ran's strength, he saw a flicker of cold light from the dense tree canopy below through his telescope. He was puzzled when suddenly, that cold light shot toward him like lightning.
Before he could react, the cold light pierced through the window in front of him. The cold light passed through the telescope’s tube, and the man only had time to notice a flash before his left eye went completely dark.
"Ah, my eye!"
An arrow pierced through his left eye and came out the back of his head.
The man screamed and rolled on the ground, his body forming layers of hardened blood-brown armor, and his lower body started transforming into a massive scorpion-like tail...
Just as he was about to fully transform into a monster.
"Bang!"
A loud explosion rang out, and the arrow that pierced through his head exploded.
In an instant, the suite was splattered with watermelon juice and blood tofu.
"Five kills!"
A faint voice came from within a tree canopy in the neighborhood.
A shadow fell from the dense tree canopy and then eerily vanished into the shadow below.
From noon until 5 PM, for a full five hours, there were abnormal deaths happening all over the residential area, apartments, tree groves, rooftops, lotus ponds, and high walls. All the victims were killed in one blow or left mutilated, dying in various bizarre ways.
The assassins used all sorts of methods to infiltrate, with some even transforming into birds, trying to approach Building 4 from the air.
Unfortunately, under Li Ran’s "Divine Sense," the killers' cold auras were incredibly obvious, like being detected by radar.
"Twelve kills!"
Li Ran walked out of a restaurant on the street. Just a while ago, he had entered the restaurant invisibly and silently killed an assassin who was dining. The restaurant staff thought he was just tired, resting on the table, and it wasn’t until an hour later that they noticed the blood on the ground and realized the man was dead.
Li Ran looked up at the dark sky.
It was 5 PM, and the sky had turned completely dark.
"Chirp, chirp."
In the darkness, Chitong transformed into a shadow and leapt onto Li Ran's shoulder, holding its fists together, asking for food.
"I almost forgot you also killed one. I’ll count it as eleven kills." Li Ran smiled and pulled out two dried fruit pieces for Chitong.
"Chirp."
At night, Chitong' passive ability, "Child Of The Night," provided a significant boost to its attributes. By day, Chitong' total attributes reached 1000, but at night, it could reach at least 1200.
Just now, Li Ran had informed Chitong about a nearby assassin's position.
Chitong transformed into a dark spirit and swiftly eliminated the assassin without a sound.
"That's twelve kills. Only one left. If I kill him, the 'Survival Task 2' should be completed. This guy's Eerie Power should only be slightly lower than mine, but I don’t just have Eerie Power."
Li Ran smirked coldly. In his spiritual world, a bright light occasionally flickered, dimming and brightening in intervals. When dim, it merged with the darkness; when bright, it shone like the sun.
"This guy has a special way to hide his aura. Even under my Divine Sense, his presence is intermittent, hard to pin down."
...
Happy Home, Backstreet.
The backstreet was brightly lit at night, crowded with people, a stark contrast to the empty, quiet daytime.
"Your grilled squid and lamb skewers are ready. Take them, please, and come again next time."
A middle-aged man with a fisherman’s hat and a beard chewed on freshly grilled squid, his tall figure and well-proportioned build contrasting with the lascivious way his eyes roamed over the white, long legs of the women walking by.
Though he seemed relaxed, his entire body was in a state of high alert, with deep, piercing eyes that seemed to contain a hidden sharpness, ready to explode with dazzling light at any moment.
"All the auras disappeared in the past afternoon."
While scanning the street for women, the man was inwardly shocked.
"He's back."
Suddenly, he sensed a powerful mental fluctuation sweeping toward him, as if detected by radar. He frowned and looked toward the direction of the neighborhood. "Is this a powerful expert Zhao Yingzhi hired? Such perception abilities."
The man leisurely raised his right hand and flicked it in front of him. A green, crystalline light instantly enveloped his body. Then, with one step, he passed by someone, and the next moment, he appeared as a frail, white-haired old man.
"No matter how strong your perception ability is, so what?" The man sneered, "I can change my appearance at will, my aura shifts freely. How can you lock onto me?"
Li Ran walked into the backstreet, surprised at the bustling crowd.
"Everything's upside down."
Seeing the crowded backstreet, Li Ran understood what it meant to experience the "darkness of night that daylight could never grasp."
"At least it's not midnight yet. Otherwise, it would be a monster furnace," Li Ran thought, his scalp tingling as he looked at the dense crowd. He knew that these people were all monsters who would transform into beasts at midnight.
Li Ran entered the backstreet, wondering, "That guy's aura vanished again."
It seemed the killer had used some strange technique to erase his aura from Li Ran's Divine Sense. After disappearing for a while, he would use the same technique to erase his presence and vanish again.
Li Ran was certain the assassin was somewhere in the street, hidden in the vast sea of people, like searching for a needle in a haystack.
But the power of Divine Sense was that no matter how someone disguised themselves, they could always be detected.
The killer's concealment was only temporary. It wouldn't take long before Li Ran found him again.
"Cat and mouse game, interesting," Li Ran muttered, a faint smile curling at the corners of his lips.
(End of Chapter)