Chapter 121: They Couldn't Possibly Be That Fast!

Chapter 121: They couldn't possibly be that fast!

In the jungle, following the direction given by Bai Xu, Ji Xing sprinted forward with all her might.

Her body weaved between the treetops, snapping countless fragile branches, yet after a brief fall she sprang off the ground and leapt back up to the canopy once more.

She pushed herself to accelerate as much as possible, even though her skin was scraped by branches, she showed no intention of stopping.

She was in a hurry.

But not because she truly felt urgent.

In fact, she harbored no fondness for Huadu or its people, especially after discovering they used drugs to control civilians and expanded their power through licentiousness, turning her once-neutral stance into outright disgust.

Thus, seeing these people suffer, she actually felt a dark, schadenfreude-like emotion.

She wished those even more perverse than monsters would perish soon, especially those in power.

But she also knew a principle.

In her station, she must attend to her duties.

As a guard, she had no right to choose her clients.

Especially after leaving the Holy Blood Hall, her room to survive grew even smaller.

Each mission was undertaken with trepidation, like walking on thin ice, fearing that any mistake would not only fail the task but shatter the reputation she had painstakingly built.

By then, merely wanting to stay alive would not be so difficult.

But losing this profession would make realizing her impractical wish nearly impossible.

So, she could only give it her all.

Even if the words she spoke were poisonous, when faced with the task Bai Xu entrusted her with, she still had to carry it out without compromise.

At this moment, she had been sprinting through the forest for five minutes.

According to her familiar pace, she had likely covered about a kilometer.

Still too slow.

The target lay four kilometers ahead, and according to the town mayor, that squad had departed half an hour earlier.

Even if they were merely ordinary people, even if their progress through the woods was much slower than hers, they should now be extremely close to the target.

She had to be faster.

If she couldn't intercept them before they reached the target, the mission could be declared a failure outright.

——

But the question is, what exactly is there?

Bai Xu merely said that the 'Huaxia Army' intended to attack the outpost Huadu had established in the wilderness, but he didn't say anything about the outpost's defenses.

Could it really be that just four people could overturn the entire outpost?

Even if two of them were Holy Blood warriors, that possibility seems too small.

Huadu is no soft persimmon anyone can squeeze; in small-scale combat, they are even stronger than the Machine God Sect!

Perhaps Bai Xu is merely worried about an accident.

Perhaps he had me rush over just to add an extra layer of insurance.

After all, didn't he also say?

"Leave as many survivors as possible."

That also means he still has considerable confidence in the outpost's defenses.

Thinking this, Ji Xing's heart settled a little.

She took out her compass from her bosom to confirm the direction once more, then slightly adjusted her posture and darted toward Mount Wu Lake.

From the treetops, she could already faintly see the lake shimmering with sunlight in the distance.

Another 500 meters forward, and she would break out of the dense forest onto the lakeshore, where her speed could increase even further.

She could make it!

Ji Xing finally relaxed.

——

But just then, a gunshot suddenly rang out from the distant air.

Immediately followed by more concentrated gunfire and explosions!

"Bang bang bang bang bang—"

"Boom—"

They've started fighting!

Ji Xing furrowed her brows; the instant her feet hit solid ground, she exploded with force, her body shooting out like a cheetah.

Only the final two kilometers remained.

These two kilometers, she could cover in just two minutes!

Those Huaxia troops surely couldn't have taken the outpost in two minutes, could they?

Impossible.

She could make it.

There's still a chance!

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Chen Jian replaced the magazine of his Type 201 rifle and stowed the weapon rack on his back.

Zeng Yi wiped clean the blood from his long blade, while Xie Liu habitually picked up the spent casings lying on the ground.

He Shuo, meanwhile, kept his eyes on his drone, searching for any fish that might slip through the net.

This raid went off without a hitch.

With a rough position established, the drone exerted its maximum reconnaissance advantage.

And with the high mobility of Zeng Yi and Xie Liu bolstering them, Chen Jian's squad swiftly established a solid fire position before the camp's occupants could react.

Under the cover of two Type 201 rifles, the few of them effortlessly reaped the sinful lives within the camp, as if calling roll.

Even that astonishingly fast monster was swiftly knocked down by the infrared tracking of the sleeve-arrow missiles, as if it were a joke.

After spotting the target, it took less than a minute to sweep all enemies away.

The formidable firepower revealed its razor-sharp fangs; those exposed to the hail of bullets had no chance to retaliate.

Around the four of them lay chaos; blood streaked from corpses stained the ground red, and the 'evil beast' that had caused great trouble for Wuxue Town lay prone, its belly torn open by a blast from the sleeve-arrow.

It—or rather, he—still breathed, but with both legs and arms shattered by bullets, it had lost any ability to move. Chen Jian leveled his gun at the creature's head, stepping forward slowly; when he made out the blood-skull mark on its chest, he exhaled a long sigh of relief.

"It's a blood skull."

“The mutant among the blood skeletons must be of the same kind as that Blood Day General.”

As his words fell, the blood‑skeleton monster on the ground strained to open its mouth, as if trying to say something, but its lungs, shattered by shrapnel, could no longer support it.

In the end it merely emitted a few short gasps; the fragmented words loaded within were utterly indecipherable.

Even so, Chen Jian’s gaze was drawn to the creature’s attempt to speak.

He furrowed his brow slightly, lowered his head to look at the monster, and asked:

“Do you want to speak?”

A cold smile curled the monster’s lips; it did not nod, but after spitting out a mouthful of blood, it rasped:

“You… are the monsters.”

As the words fell, the gazes of the four squad members turned simultaneously toward the monster.

“Can you speak?”

Chen Jian exclaimed in astonishment.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than he realized how foolish the question was.

Nonsense—blood skeletons can certainly speak.

They are merely blood‑thirsty by nature and low in intellect, not to the point of being unable to speak at all.

But the problem is, from that brief utterance of the monster, Chen Jian still sensed a different meaning.

It was logical.

And logic, for low‑intelligence beings, is an exceedingly rare commodity.

This is no ordinary blood skeleton.

He is very likely a high‑intelligence individual among the blood skeletons!

The situation seemed to grow even more perplexing.

If it is a high‑intelligence individual—so high that it can communicate smoothly with humans—then is there still any need for the medicines that Huadu has brought in?

They could cooperate through other means; why resort to drugs to control them?

Or perhaps those drugs are merely an auxiliary means of control?

Countless questions rose in Chen Jian’s mind, and upon hearing his question, the blood skeleton on the ground stirred.

He struggled to swing his arm for a killing blow at Chen Jian, but his bones, already shattered by bullets, could not support the weight of his muscles.

His thick arm fell limp, dragging his body to roll sideways.

Chen Jian frowned tightly as he watched the creature’s movement, then asked again:

“Can you understand my words?”

The blood skeleton coughed violently, haltingly, yet with evident reluctance it said:

“I… I was almost… successful.”

“You… you are the true monsters.”

“You are the blood‑thirsty monsters; I am merely… I am merely…”

“Hah… hah.”

Accompanied by a violent spurt of blood, the skeleton’s words were abruptly cut off.

Chen Jian cautiously circled to its front, only to find the creature staring with unblinking eyes, motionless.

Chen Jian let out a long breath, slipped a bullet into its skull, and carefully extinguished its last spark of life.

Thereafter, he lifted his gaze to Zeng Yi beside him and asked:

“What’s going on with this blood skeleton? Why is its intelligence so high? Have you heard of anything like this?”

Zeng Yi shook his head and replied:

“We haven’t had many direct clashes with blood skeletons, and we know little about them.”

“As far as I know, high‑intelligence individuals do exist among blood skeletons, but one like him is quite exceptional.”

“He said he was about to succeed—what was he about to succeed at?”

“He clearly had dealings with Huadu; what exactly are these people doing here?”

“I asked you one question, and you answered with three—how am I supposed to respond?”

Chen Jian spread his hands helplessly and then said:

“I suppose the only thing to do is go ask the people from Huadu.”

“But this isn’t within our business scope—better to hand it over to the Ring Trade Guild; those information brokers would surely be interested.”

Having said that, Chen Jian lowered the muzzle of his 201 rifle and then gave the order:

“The job’s done; prepare to withdraw.”

“No matter what, Wuxue Town will no longer be threatened by monsters.”

“The contract is fulfilled; it’s time to collect the pay.”

“Withdraw along the original evacuation route and return to Wuxue!”

“Understood.”

At the command, everyone immediately packed up their gear and marched off.

But they did not know that, far behind them, concealed within dense thickets, a pair of eyes stared fixedly at their movements.

The owner of those eyes was Ji Xing.

She witnessed the entire raid.

She had the opportunity to close to within 200 meters and launch an attack to interrupt the raid.

Yet her acute sensitivity to danger told her she absolutely could not expose herself.

For exposure would mean death.

For the first time in her life, she felt a fierce fear.

Those people merely held their guns and fired like the Divine Machine Sect’s guardian troops, yet the sensation they gave her was utterly different.

It was as if they simply stood there, already strong to a terrifying degree.

They absolutely must not be made enemies.

Ji Xing held her breath and focused, remaining hidden until the squad had completely withdrawn, only then did she slip out from the thicket.

Looking at the camp strewn with wreckage, she drew a conclusion that left her utterly despondent.

This job, she had truly botched it.

(End of chapter)