Chen Jinzhao called out a few times but received no response from Wu Lingyun.
After a moment's thought, Chen Jinzhao concluded that Wu Lingyun had not fallen into the enemy's hands. Otherwise, the enemy would have waited for Chen Jinzhao to walk into their trap. This meant Wu Lingyun had likely discovered something and fled under the cover of night.
Since he hadn't encountered Wu Lingyun on his way here, she was probably heading in a different direction.
Chen Jinzhao patiently lowered his head to examine the distribution of the weeds.
Dark clouds covered the sky, not a single star or moonbeam shone through, plunging everything into an impenetrable darkness. Yet, Chen Jinzhao quickly adapted, seeing everything clearly.
He had long grown accustomed to this, finding nothing strange about it.
Besides the path he had taken and the route he used to escape here, a third path had been trampled.
As expected, this must be the path Wu Lingyun had taken to escape. Chen Jinzhao thought to himself, "Why didn't this girl run in the direction I was going?"
"Wait for me, I'm coming."
Without overthinking, Chen Jinzhao followed the path where the weeds were trampled.
Wu Lingyun, who had already fled a considerable distance, occasionally looked up at the sky. She saw the drones hovering persistently above her, unable to shake them off, which filled her with despair.
However, as she continued to flee, the trees became taller and denser, allowing her to use them to evade detection as much as possible.
After gaining a moment to breathe, she felt a surge of fear, leaning against a tree and murmuring, "Chen Jinzhao, if you don't come soon, I might die."
"I wonder how Dad is..."
Loneliness, despair, and confusion, along with various other negative emotions, swirled around her.
Two kilometers to the northeast of this location, the bearded man, along with three snipers, was approaching Wu Lingyun's direction. He took out his walkie-talkie, relayed Wu Lingyun's coordinates to the others, and said, "Our target is Li Qiutao, but if the opportunity arises, we must also kill Chen Jinzhao and Wu Lingyun. Try not to leave any traces."
"Boss, we understand!"
The bearded man counted his men. There were now a total of eighteen people carrying out the hunt on the mountain, along with six sniper rifles. The remaining twelve were armed with lethal weapons. He narrowed his eyes and murmured, "Regardless, the current individual combat strength is eighteen to one. The advantage is ours. I wonder if Chen Jinzhao ever imagined he would die at my hands?"
"This hunt is getting more and more interesting."
As the bearded man was murmuring, his phone suddenly rang. It was Second Master from the capital. The bearded man answered and said, "Second Master, we are about to succeed. Li Qiutao has been shot and is already surrounded from four directions. In just an hour, we should be able to take Li Qiutao's head."
"Hmm, you've done well," Second Master affirmed.
"However, you need to speed up your actions. Wu Peici and the Zhulong Special Forces have already reacted and are dispatching forces from Gushan Village to search for their whereabouts."
"If the situation becomes unfavorable, don't push yourselves. Try not to expose your tracks."
"Second Master, I understand," the bearded man nodded.
Second Master said finally, "Alright, then I won't disturb you further. Strive to complete the mission quickly."
"Yes!"
After hanging up the phone, the bearded man immediately used his walkie-talkie to instruct the remaining three teams to accelerate their actions.
Chen Jinzhao must die.
Chen Jinzhao moved swiftly along the overgrown path. Midway, his footsteps suddenly halted as he pricked up his ears, listening for faint sounds in the forest.
It sounded like someone was coming!
Moreover, their footsteps were irregular, indicating four or five people.
He knew without a doubt that they were likely the hunters, otherwise, they would have been shouting with loudspeakers.
Thinking of this, Chen Jinzhao held his breath, preparing to launch a preemptive strike to hunt these individuals!
With his excellent night vision, Chen Jinzhao quickly identified a total of five people, clearly a well-equipped squad. He pressed himself against a tree, holding his breath to avoid detection. When the squad was only twenty meters away, Chen Jinzhao picked up two stones from the ground. He threw one into the grass fifty meters away, causing the group to immediately become vigilant and look in that direction.
The other stone flew from Chen Jinzhao's hand, directly at one of the members of the squad.
It was important to note.
With Chen Jinzhao's ability, at such a short distance, the thrown stone was no different from a bullet.
The squad leader was killed instantly, collapsing without even a chance to utter a sound. The leader's death caused the remaining four to panic. In an instant, they drew their guns and fired.
"Who?"
"Come out, you're surrounded!"
"Come out!"
"..."
The four fired indiscriminately towards the grass.
They did not yet know that it was merely Chen Jinzhao's diversionary tactic. There was no one in the grass.
In the dim corner, Chen Jinzhao knew his trick could not be used a second time, so he took advantage of the night to launch his attack. His figure moved like a phantom in the darkness. Before the four could react, Chen Jinzhao arrived with his Tai Sui. The first person to react raised his gun to aim at Chen Jinzhao, but in the next moment, his throat was already slit by Chen Jinzhao's Tai Sui!
In close-quarters combat, Chen Jinzhao held an overwhelming advantage.
Another man fell, making the remaining three's blood run cold.
Chen Jinzhao did not stop, continuing his assault on the remaining three. They could only respond hastily. Furthermore, since their individual combat prowess was not particularly high, they were easily dispatched by Chen Jinzhao, leaving only one survivor.
In the darkness of the night, cold glints flashed.
The last man was trembling with fear and shouted at Chen Jinzhao, "Don't kill me, you're not our target."
Chen Jinzhao seized this opportunity to sever the man's right hand, then grabbed him by the throat and said, "Tell me, who sent you, and why do they want to kill Li Qiutao?"
The man knew nothing. Chen Jinzhao's gaze turned cold. "If you don't tell me, don't blame me for killing you."
"I, I really don't know!" the man cried out in pain.
At this moment, the walkie-talkie that had fallen to the ground suddenly flashed red. Then, a rough, hoarse voice came from it, inquiring, "Team Three, what's your situation? I thought I heard gunshots from your direction just now."
"Do you need support?"
"Hello?"
Chen Jinzhao picked up the walkie-talkie. The voice suddenly sounded familiar. Just as he was about to ask, the last remaining team member suddenly yelled, "Save me! Chen Jinzhao is here! He killed four members of our Team Three, and I'm already incapacitated!"
"Talkative," Chen Jinzhao said.
As the words fell, his Tai Sui directly pierced the member's throat, ensuring his death.
There was a long silence from the other end of the walkie-talkie before the rough, hoarse voice spoke again, "Chen Jinzhao? Very good. You killed my squad members. I promise I will kill you."
"Do we know each other?" Chen Jinzhao retorted.
The bearded man laughed heartily, not giving a direct answer.
"When you see me, it will be your death."