Chapter 49: Early Morning Battle

The pitch-black darkness of before dawn enveloped every nook and cranny of the forest. The shadows of the trees blended together, forming bizarre apparitions eerily similar to grotesque and sprawling limbs hovering all over the place. Insects were buzzing and chittering as the early morning chilly breeze stirred the canopies, spooking the small creatures within.

But all these were no business to Tang Mu, who was already in a battle-ready state.

His shadow stealth was still active, and he was as still as a thousand-year-old statue while crouching low in the shadow of one of the trees. He held his death's whisper runic longbow at arm's length with a special arrow drawn back to his cheek in a ready-to-shoot pose.

Some tiny mosquitoes and forest bugs had already found their way into his shadow veil array and climbed over some parts of his exposed body. Their brutal mouthpieces occasionally sank deep into his skin and caused him bouts of excruciating itchiness.

But he didn't dare move and break his stealth. He remained motionless while monitoring the happenings within the forest clearing beside the small stream.

In the meantime, the two mysterious men had started taking slow steps toward the parked van-shaped aeromobil while still scanning their surroundings. After sensing someone hidden in the dark, they seemed to have decided to retreat while guarding against abrupt attacks.

Tang Mu tried to extend his spiritual sense into the black van-shaped aeromobil but failed miserably. It seemed like its outer body comprised of unique materials that prevented perception abilities from intruding within. He immediately ignored the peculiarity and continued watching the men gradually getting closer and closer to the vehicle.

It was at that point that something interesting occurred.

A barely audible noise similar to a squeak sounded from the opposite side in the tranquil forest. Surprisingly, the mysterious man wearing the black hat and overcoat of the same color reacted as before with abnormally fast actions. He nimbly spun his entire body and unleashed a bullet towards the source of the sound with his long pistol weapon.

Chance!

Adrenaline pumped through Tang Mu's entire body, causing his blood to boil as he saw the man take action. Without hesitation, he immediately loosed the special arrow through the trees by relying on the guidance of his spiritual sense.

The already-activated electromagnetic runes of the death's whisper longbow immediately worked wonders, and the arrow disappeared into the darkness at a hypersonic velocity, more than five times the speed of sound. Before Tang Mu could even blink, his spiritual sense caught an eerily swift black bolt piercing straight into the man's chest and shaving off a large portion of his lungs and other ribcage components before coming out of the other side and shattering another tree.

Everything happened within an instant, and only after a second did Tang Mu hear the expected whooshing sound left by the arrow and the heart-wrenching yelp made by the pitiful man before his death.

He swallowed hard, once again feeling surprised by the strength of a runic weapon. But he didn't dare dawdle and lose concentration as one more enemy still lurked in the forest.

As silent as a cat, he relied on his rank-one fitness to swiftly change his position and move into the shadow of another tree. Concurrently, he also summoned another special arrow from the Star Orb storage space before nocking it on the bowstring while still monitoring the enemy with his spiritual sense. Additionally, he didn't forget to continue feeding traces of his psionic energy into the runic bow.

Meanwhile, the other enemy, who happened to be the tattooed man who invaded Tang Mu's room, had reacted strangely. He had covered his entire body with his black cloak and started running towards the abnormally long pistol his departed comrade had flung a distance away when the arrow smashed into his body. The man probably hoped to pick up the powerful weapon and use it to retaliate against Tang Mu.

Tang Mu's eyes flashed with ruthlessness when he saw the man about to pick up the weapon. He raised his already-charged death's whisper longbow and unleashed a hypersonic arrow within a second. With practiced ease, he relied on his abnormal perception to dispatch it toward the enemy.

Like before, the arrow moving at more than five times the speed of sound covered the distance in no time. It ruthlessly smashed into the man's back with boundless momentum and sent him flying. But surprisingly, it didn't manage to pierce through the black cloak and wound the enemy.

What the fuck?

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Tang Mu's eyes flickered with surprise. Through his spiritual sense, he could discern that the enemy was still alive and kicking. He had landed in a sorry state on the ground, with the hood of his cloak propelled off his head. But he was still trying to extend his arm and pick up the pistol weapon of his fallen comrade.

Not a chance!

Tang Mu quickly summoned another arrow and nocked it onto the bowstring. But that time, he went for the man's head that had lost protection from the strange cloak before unleashing the attack.

Lady luck was obviously on Tang Mu's side. The hypersonic arrow again covered the distance in a matter of microseconds before blasting the man's bald head into a mangled mess of smithereens. His decapitated body fell back while spewing blood like crazy. He was as dead as a doornail before he hit the ground with a thud.

Tang Mu felt out of sorts after confirming the kill with his spiritual sense. The adrenaline propelling his ruthlessness faded into the background, and feelings of guilt, fear, and regret threatened to overwhelm him.

What if the two enemies had families? What if they had children, wives, and relatives who relied on them for support?

He thought of many what-ifs and surprisingly felt grief for his adversaries after taking human lives for the first time in both his lifetimes.

He remained standing there motionless with the bow still in his hands. He didn't know why, but he felt scared and lonely. Even the forest seemed to turn darker until a sudden breeze swept across his face and woke him from his trance.

No, I can't go down this rabbit hole of needles guilt.

If I hadn't taken the enemies down, maybe they would have taken me down. I had to do what I did.

Tang Mu expelled a heavy breath he didn't know he had been holding.

His eyes flashed with resolve, and he started walking through the trees and towards the forest clearing at a steady but not fast pace. The sound of his combat boots crashing dry twigs and fallen leaves allowed him to calm down, and by the time he arrived before the two fallen foes, he was already back to his normal state.

By then, that sun was starting to rise, and its golden rays were already penetrating the canopies and illuminating the forest. The morning light allowed Tang Mu to view the two bloodied corpses lying on the forest floor up close with his eyes, and he immediately felt like vomiting. He had to take a few more seconds to collect himself before once again calming his mind.

Killing a person is no easy feat.

He sighed and used all his willpower to look at the corpses again. The abnormally long pistol and the strange cloak that had protected the second enemy immediately attracted his attention. The two were most likely powerful runic treasures that could enhance his powers considerably.

But since he didn't wish to leave any fingerprints on the scene, he didn't make careless moves. Instead, he first expended his scarce psionic energy to manifest a pair of gloves using his Mentifery powers. Then, after putting on the gloves, he calmly collected the two treasures and stowed them in the Star Orb storage space.

His next order of business was to check the bodies of the two men, hoping to gain some clues about why one of them had intruded into his room. He went at the task carefully and eventually retrieved several items, including a few notes of Earth Federation Dollars, two holographic smartwatches, an executive coupon for the Pink Tiger Club, a box of special bullets that matched the long pistol weapon, and other useless things.

Not desiring to waste rare resources, Tang Mu shamelessly stowed the ammunition box and the Earth Federation Dollars into the Star Orb's storage space. He then went through the other items but found nothing that could give any hints about the identity of the two men. He couldn't even get past the locks of the two holographic watches and ended up with nothing after the search.

Maybe this aeromobil has some clues.

Tang Mu immediately pivoted his gaze onto the black van-shaped aeromobil parked in the clearing. But before he could take any step towards the vehicle, one of the holographic smartwatches in his hands vibrated, meaning it had received a call.

Tang Mu's heart skipped a beat. He immediately glanced at the small screen and noticed that it was an unsaved number calling. Without hesitation, he turned off the holographic video transmission function and placed the accept button.

"Red Stalker! What's your status? It's already morning, but you're not yet back! What's wrong with you? Why is your holographic video transmission function off?"

The person communicating from the other end of the line was clearly a woman. She spoke fast and fired many questions in a few seconds.

But Tang Mu didn't utter anything since he didn't wish to give any clues about who he was to the woman. He feared she could use voice recognition software to unearth his identity, so he remained silent and waited for the woman to continue speaking.

There were a few seconds of silence on the other end of the line before the woman's voice sounded again. "You're not Red Stalker! Who are you?"

In response, Tang Mu remained silent.

"Where is the owner of the smartwatch you're holding?" The woman sounded annoyed.

Tang Mu once again remained silent.

"No matter who you are," the woman spoke quietly, "I'll find you and kill you if you do anything to my men. Mark my words!" She then ended the call with a click.

Tang Mu breathed in and out heavily as his eyes flashed with a strange light.

At least he had learned that the codename of one of the men was Red Stalker. He could start from there and search for more clues. As for the woman's threats, he took comfort in the fact that there was nothing to give his identity away and tossed them out of his mind.

Tang Mu then placed the holographic watches and other items he had gained from the two men to the side before approaching the parked van-shaped aeromobil. He went around it and pushed open its already-unlocked sliding side door, expecting to access the interior and search for more clues about the mysterious men and the woman behind them.

But just as the door opened, his eyes narrowed.

His face instantly turned pale as he saw four pitiful girls and two miserable boys, all in handcuffs, passed out on the aeromobil's ice-cold metallic floor. Moreover, what was more alarming was that among them was Hu Ning, the same cute girl who had always been one of Tang Mu's hostel mates and close buddies during his three years of high school.