161: Chapter 161 I heard you were looking for me? I'm right above you.

Poison Fang roared as he rampaged through the deathly silent forest.

Aside from scattering a few patches of thick mist and bringing back some dull echoes...

...he gained nothing at all.

The surrounding white mist gradually gathered.

Little by little, it began to envelop the remaining dozen or so people.

The lackey in charge of communications had a trembling voice.

His hands couldn't even hold the equipment steady.

The screen of the expensive Tactical Radar in his hand was now a flat, silent green light.

"Boss! Old Six... Old Fifteen, they're all gone! We haven't even caught a damn glimpse of his shadow!"

This invisible pressure was more nerve-wracking than a face-to-face brawl.

Poison Fang gritted his teeth hard.

The scar on his face twisted from the sheer intensity of his strain.

"Shut the hell up! Back to back! Spread out into a defensive formation!"

As he gave the order, he held the Poison Dagger in his hand across his chest.

But the assassins under his command were already on the verge of a breakdown.

They were elites of the Shadow Blade Alliance.

Usually, they were the ones hiding in the shadows to harvest lives.

When had it ever been their turn to be besieged and hunted?

A team member with weaker mental fortitude suddenly began to scream.

"Where is he? Where the hell is he?!"

He spun around abruptly.

Facing the vast expanse of white mist behind him...

...he frantically pulled the trigger of the Light Crossbow in his hand.

Swish, swish, swish.

Over a dozen crossbow bolts coated in lethal poison vanished into the mist.

Aside from piercing the bark of a few old trees...

...there was no feedback at all.

Poison Fang rushed over, trying to grab him by the shoulders.

"Old Five! Calm the hell down!"

Old Five spun around violently.

He delivered a backstab with a reverse grip.

The dagger grazed Poison Fang's neck as it zipped past.

"Get away! Don't touch me! He's behind me! Right behind me! I can feel it... he's breathing down my neck!"

Old Five's eyes were bloodshot.

He had fallen into a state of total hysteria.

This unknown threat of death was slowly grinding away the sanity of these killers.

Poison Fang looked at his subordinates' pathetic state.

His heart skipped a beat.

This team was finished.

Their morale had completely crumbled before they even saw their target.

Poison Fang roared at the magic-user assassin in the team.

"Old Three! Cast Flaming City! Burn all this damn mist away!"

Old Three tremblingly raised his staff.

He muttered an obscure incantation.

A massive fireball exploded in mid-air.

Ripples of scorching energy spread out in waves.

Forcing the surrounding thick mist to disperse a few meters.

Under the light of the fire...

...aside from the withered leaves covering the ground and several cold corpses...

...there was still no one to be seen.

Old Three slumped onto the ground.

His staff fell into the mud.

"No one... how is there still no one..."

Striking empty air with such a flashy Spell...

...did nothing but waste mana and deepen their despair.

Poison Fang looked at the two corpses on the ground.

Old Six's throat had been slit.

Old Fifteen's skull had been pierced from behind.

The technique was clean and efficient.

Not a single wasted movement.

This was definitely not something a Rank 5 Blank Slate could pull off.

Poison Fang finally gave the order he was most reluctant to give.

"Retreat! Everyone, retreat now!"

He pressed his earpiece.

His voice was low and urgent.

"Calling headquarters! Calling Young Master Li! The intel was wrong! The target is extremely dangerous... suspected to have high-level stealth skills! Requesting support from the Bounty Hunter Guild!"

"Repeat! Requesting a large-scale, indiscriminate carpet-bombing attack!"

After giving the order...

...Poison Fang took the lead and sprinted toward the outskirts of the forest.

The remaining team members ran for their lives.

Diving into the thick mist without looking back.

They only wanted to leave this suffocating area.

To get as far away as possible from that invisible devil.

Poison Fang ran in the middle of the group.

As he ran, he kept looking back.

The thick mist behind them continued to churn.

Following closely behind them.

Poison Fang screamed inwardly.

"Faster! Run faster!"

As long as they could make it out of this core mist zone...

...and reach open ground...

...they could use their numerical advantage and long-range firepower to suppress the enemy.

They ran for about ten minutes.

The surrounding trees gradually thinned out.

A bit of sunlight could faintly filter through.

Poison Fang breathed a slight sigh of relief.

He came to a halt.

He leaned on his knees, gasping for air.

"Sound off! How many are left!"

Old Three approached, his face covered in cold sweat.

"Boss... there are nine left."

Poison Fang nodded.

Just as he was about to say something...

...he suddenly felt a wet liquid drip onto his head.

Patter.

A drop of dark red liquid landed precisely on the tip of his nose.

Poison Fang instinctively reached out to wipe it.

It was blood.

It hadn't dried yet.

It carried a metallic, sweet scent.

Every hair on his body stood on end at that moment.

He froze in place.

His neck stiffly tilted upward, inch by inch.

A face so calm it was almost indifferent...

...appeared in his line of sight without any warning.

Less than half a meter from the tip of his nose.

Lin Qi had his feet hooked around a thick branch above.

His entire body hung upside down in mid-air.

His body swayed gently with the breeze.

A pair of pitch-black eyes stared at Poison Fang with great interest.

"You run quite fast. Have you practiced sprinting?"

Lin Qi's voice was very soft.

Yet Poison Fang felt a powerful sense of suffocation.

Poison Fang's pupils constricted sharply.

He opened his mouth to scream.

"You... when the hell did you..."

Lin Qi was countless times faster than him.

His right hand shot out quickly.

His fingers curved.

He firmly clamped down on the lower half of Poison Fang's face.

"Shh. Don't be noisy. It wouldn't be nice if you attracted those flies over here."

Lin Qi waved his other hand in front of Poison Fang's eyes.

Two bloodstained metal nameplates were held between his fingers.

The names of Old Six and Old Fifteen were clearly engraved on them.

"These two little trinkets are well-made. They must be worth quite a bit, right?"

Lin Qi smiled.

But there was no hint of a smile in his eyes.

Poison Fang struggled desperately.

But the hand gripping his face was incredibly firm.

No matter how he tried to circulate the magic within his body...

...there was no response at all.

Poison Fang squeezed out a few muffled syllables from his throat.

"Old Three! Save... save me!"

But when he looked around...

...he fell into complete despair.

The remaining team members...

...were all frozen in place.

A long, thin Bone-Piercing Nail was lodged in each of their necks.

Their bodies were still twitching slightly.

But they couldn't utter a single word.

Lin Qi released his toes.

He landed lightly on the ground.

He casually tossed Poison Fang into the bushes.

Lin Qi brushed the dust off his hands.

He looked down at Poison Fang, who was slumped on the ground.

"Don't waste your energy. With that grab just now, I used Spiral Force to mangle your Meridians. You're now less than an ordinary person."

Poison Fang looked at Lin Qi in horror.

His lips trembled.

Lin Qi continued his questioning.

"How much did Li Pojun pay you to come here and die?"

"Two... two hundred million..."

After hearing this...

...Lin Qi raised an eyebrow.

He clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.

"Only two hundred million? It seems that kid from the Li family... still looks down on me."

As he spoke...

...he squatted down.

He skillfully untied the Advanced Storage Pouch from Poison Fang's waist.

"This is mine now. Any objections?"

How could Poison Fang dare to have any objections?

All he wanted now was to stay alive.

"Young Master Lin! Spare me! We were just doing a job for the money! The intel was all provided by Li Pojun! He said you were just a Blank Slate..."

Lin Qi ignored his pleas for mercy.

He occupied himself by rummaging through the loot in the Storage Pouch.

"Three Enchanted Daggers. Two high-tier Tactical Hand Crossbows. And quite a few Recovery Potions."

"Tsk, tsk. The Shadow Blade Alliance really is dripping with wealth."

Lin Qi put the items away.

He looked toward the depths of the forest.

The mist there was churning violently.

The faint sound of numerous footsteps and magical fluctuations were approaching.

Lin Qi stood up.

A mischievous, dark smile curled on his lips.

"It seems your distress signal was quite effective. The main force is about to arrive."

Poison Fang was stunned.

"You... you're not going to kill me?"

Lin Qi looked down at him.

His eyes held the playful mockery of a predator watching its prey.

"Killing you would be such a waste. You're my most important bait right now."

Having said that...

...Lin Qi extended his index finger.

He tapped Poison Fang's chest lightly a few times.

Poison Fang felt a cold aura surge into his body.

He instantly lost all control over his body.

He couldn't even move his eyelids.

"The game has only just begun."