Chapter 47: The Mysterious Intruder
Tang Mu trembled despite himself as the terror stabbed deep into his heart. He breathed deeply, forcing himself to relax. However, his muscles remained taut as he observed the mysterious nighttime visitor with his spiritual sense.
The cloaked intruder seemed to have not noticed that Tang Mu had already returned and was still crouching low inside the bathroom without making any motion or sound whatsoever. The person hadn't even detected his spiritual sense or the energy waves he exuded, meaning their perception powers were mediocre.
Even then, Tang Mu didn't dare underestimate the nighttime intruder, especially since he knew nothing about the person.
Maybe it was because of a particular treasure or a stealth ability of the person, but Tang Mu couldn't discern the identity of the cloaked figure under the hood or the rank and nature of their psionic powers. All he knew was that the person was a dangerous predator who might have snuck into his room to harm him.
Due to insufficient information about the adversary, Tang Mu immediately decided to play it safe. He extended his spiritual sense in the shadow of a building 700 meters from the hostel and used his imagination to construct the shadow teleportation array. His Mentifery powers worked like a charm, and he manifested the mysterious runic diagram before triggering it with just a thought.
As silent as a phantom, his body instantly flickered out of his room before shuttling through space and appearing in the building's shadow 700 meters away. He took a few seconds to collect himself before triggering his spiritual sense and extending it back into his residence.
He immediately noticed that the cloaked figure hadn't made any movements and was still crouching in the same position in the bathroom. It seemed the person was still oblivious to his abrupt arrival and departure and thus continued lying in ambush.
Tang Mu breathed a sigh of relief and swept his surroundings with his spiritual sense. He meticulously scanned every detail, including the parked automobiles, the nearby sewers, and some alleys shrouded in the nighttime darkness.
He also extended his perception into the buildings closest to him, and only after determining that there were no other threats in his one-kilometer vicinity did he let out another breath and activate his stealth ability to disappear into the shadow of the building.
"Phew..."
Tang Mu expelled another heavy breath. He felt more secure after gaining distance from the intruder and confirming that no other threats existed in his immediate surroundings.
Of course, he didn't dare relax and continued monitoring the person lying in ambush in his bathroom with his spiritual sense. But at the same time, many questions emerged in his head, causing a frown to outline his facial features.
For instance, how did the intruder enter his residence without his PIN and access card? Why was he or she even in his room in the first place? What had he done to attract the intruder's attention? Was the Star God Pagoda exposed? Did the intruder mean to hurt him?
Tang Mu thought and thought. But his mind couldn't produce definite answers for some of the queries even after contemplating for minutes.
Shaking his head, Tang Mu adjusted his thought process and began considering how to handle the intruder. The safest way out of the situation was to call the police immediately. But that would expose his uncommon psionic abilities as the men in uniform would surely ask how he noticed the intruder and escaped without making any noise.
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Tang Mu didn't want to expose himself and his capabilities to the government that had always kept a tight leash on all the powerhouses outside the official federal organizations like the military, the police, and the Psionic Society. He naturally discarded the option and considered the next.
The second way forward was to wait patiently for the intruder to leave his residence, especially since the person couldn't remain in ambush forever. If his assumptions were correct, the mysterious nighttime visitor would leave before dawn to avoid the risk of exposure during the day. Then, all Tang Mu had to do was ignore the incident and continue his life as if nothing ever happened.
But the problem with this was that he would always be tense with the knowledge that someone who invaded his room was still lurking out there, waiting to harm him at another opportune moment. He also discarded this option since it couldn't solve the problem at its roots.
The third option was likewise to wait for the intruder to leave his room. But he wouldn't ignore their threat. He would instead stealthily follow the intruder and find out who they were and hopefully their motives. And if everything went according to plan, he could even eliminate the threat at its roots.
The option was feasible, and Tang Mu liked it since he possessed psionic abilities best suited for tracking enemies. He decided to take it without considering anything else.
He glanced at his watch and noticed it was only a few minutes past five in the morning. He settled on the pavement in a cross-legged position and popped a few origin essence crystals in his mouth. He then felt his energy recovering as he waited while monitoring the intruder with his spiritual sense.
Twenty minutes passed in silence, and just when the clock hand on his watch was about to point to the 5:30 AM mark, his spiritual sense caught some movement in his room. It seemed that the intruder had grown impatient and was about to depart.
Tang Mu took action immediately. He triggered his spiritual sense and noticed the cloaked figure contorting and elongating the size of their body before wriggling out of the tiny bathroom window like a snake. With practiced ease, the person's hands then grabbed a pipe before sliding down from the eighth floor and landing gracefully on the ground.
The intruder's body then shortened and expanded to its standard size, and the person glanced around seemingly as if to check whether anyone had noticed their actions. Then, after ensuring that the coast was clear, the person walked away from the hostel building and pushed off the ground to jump over the fence with an agility akin to that of a cat.
So, the intruder is a psionic with body manipulation powers that allow them to change the size of the body at will.
The intruder also has incredible fitness. But based on the trace of energy waves the individual just exuded, their powers should be at the level of a rank one psionic like me.
Tang Mu silently made a few conclusions as he continued monitoring the cloaked person, who had just reached the zenith of his leap over the fence.
Suddenly, a morning breeze blowing across the place worked against the intruder while in the middle of the jump. The abrupt gust propelled back the hood, concealing a large part of the intruder's face, and allowed Tang Mu to capture the person's facial features with his spiritual sense.
It was a bald Caucasian man with a prominent flaming tattoo covering a large part of his face. His eyebrows were sharp, and his eyes were abnormally red. His other features were almost ordinary, but he still exuded a dangerous aura. He was most likely an individual used to taking lives.
The man quickly landed on the other side of the hostel fence before glancing around. He then pulled his hood back over his head before picking a direction and walking away from the hostel, his pace neither slow nor quick. Save for his cloak, he was just like any other person from the neighborhood as he traversed the silent streets in the morning.
"That flaming tattoo on his face," Tang Mu thought with a frown. "Why does it look so familiar? Where could I have seen it?"
Tang Mu worked his mind, hoping to recall any information about the tattoo. But after a few seconds, he noticed the man about to leave his perception scope and halted his thought process. He popped another crystal of red-tier origin essence into his mouth, desiring to recover some energy before tracking the mysterious intruder.