73: Chapter 73 Zhou Xiong's Acting Skills

By the time Zhou Xiong arrived with four elites from the Sixth Battalion, the battlefield was already silent.

The Rock Beast was dead.

The remaining Mimics had also withdrawn.

He looked at the ruins before him, the muscles on his face twitching uncontrollably.

This wasn't an act.

He was truly shocked.

When he left three hours ago, this was still the station for two battalions, with barracks, fortifications, and over three hundred living people.

Now, everything was gone.

Most of the barracks had collapsed, and the rest were still burning, the firelight turning half the sky red. The fortifications were completely destroyed; several large holes had been smashed through the three-meter-thick reinforced concrete walls, the largest of which was wide enough for several trucks to drive through side by side.

Bodies were everywhere.

Some lay prone on the ruins, some had fallen into craters, and some had been trampled into the ground, leaving only a blur of flesh and blood. Charred bodies, severed limbs, and disemboweled remains—there were all kinds of deaths.

Zhou Xiong's gaze swept over these corpses, counting rapidly in his heart.

One, two, five, ten...

Old Zhou.

Old Sun.

Zhao Dadan.

Wu Yong.

Yuan Shoucheng.

Zhou Xiong's gaze stopped on the last corpse.

The Seventh Battalion Commander, a fifth-rank early-stage Awakener, and an old brother of twenty years.

Right now, he was lying in a pool of blood, eyes open, staring at the night sky.

His hand still gripped that blade with a curled edge.

Zhou Xiong's eyes reddened.

He walked over quickly, squatted in front of Yuan Shoucheng, and reached out to check for breath.

Cold.

It had long been cold.

"Old Yuan!" Zhou Xiong's voice trembled.

He knelt down, grabbed Yuan Shoucheng's shoulders with both hands, and shook him forcefully.

"Old Yuan, wake up! I'm back! I've brought people back!"

Yuan Shoucheng did not respond.

He would never respond again.

Zhou Xiong lowered his head, his shoulders shaking violently.

The four elites from the Sixth Battalion stood behind him, silently watching this scene.

They had just set out with Zhou Xiong for the depths of Nanling to track the Beast King Dihou. However, only half an hour after leaving, they received a distress signal from the camp. Returning to see this tragic sight, no one felt good.

One person stepped forward and patted Zhou Xiong's shoulder.

"Battalion Commander, my condolences."

Zhou Xiong didn't look up; he just knelt there, his shoulders shaking, an oppressed sob coming from his throat.

"I shouldn't have left..."

"I shouldn't have taken you all away..."

"If only I had stayed here..."

His voice was already choked with sobs.

The people behind him looked at each other and sighed.

Who could have expected it?

Who could have expected that just over half an hour after they left, the camp would suffer an attack of this scale?

A Fifth-Order Lord.

Over a dozen Mimics.

This was fucking intended to wipe out the camp.

Zhou Xiong slowly stood up and turned around, his eyes as red as a rabbit's, his face covered in tear stains and dust.

"Are there any survivors?"

One elite pointed into the distance.

"There are a few over there."

Zhou Xiong looked in the direction he pointed.

At the edge of the ruins, several figures were leaning together.

There were students and veterans, a scattered dozen or so who had just survived the battlefield. Some had broken arms or legs, some were covered in blood, and some sat there in a daze, their eyes empty.

Zhou Xiong's gaze swept over them.

Then, his pupils contracted slightly.

He saw Lin Mo.

The young man leaned against a broken wall, covered in blood, his combat suit tattered beyond recognition. A deep wound on his left shoulder, visible to the bone, was still seeping blood. He looked very weak, his face pale, his breathing shallow.

But he was still alive.

Zhou Xiong stared at him for two seconds.

Lin Mo also looked up and glanced at him.

Their eyes met.

Zhou Xiong's expression didn't change at all; he simply nodded toward Lin Mo, then looked away and continued scanning the survivors.

One, two, five, ten...

No Shen Yi.

Zhou Xiong's brow furrowed slightly.

Where did he go?

No, where did she go?

According to the plan, she should have been here.

She was the number two person, the one who planned this attack with him, the most critical link in the entire operation. If Yuan Shoucheng and the others hadn't died completely, she should have torn off her disguise and launched a sneak attack.

But now Yuan Shoucheng was dead.

All the high-ranking officers of the Seventh Battalion were dead.

Everyone who knew their identities, except for Lin Mo, should be dead.

But where was Shen Yi?

Zhou Xiong's gaze swept around once more.

Still nothing.

An indescribable irritation welled up in his heart.

But he showed nothing on his face.

He turned around and walked toward the survivors.

"Lin Mo." He walked up to Lin Mo and squatted down, his tone very concerned.

"Is the injury serious?"

Lin Mo looked at him.

His eyes were as calm as a pool of stagnant water.

"It's alright, I won't die."

Lin Mo said with feigned ease.

But the fingers behind his back were trembling slightly.

The red light on this guy was almost smoking; he really was a Mimic, and at least a fourth-rank late-stage one at that.

Zhou Xiong nodded, his gaze falling on the wound on his left shoulder.

It was very deep.

The bone was visible.

If I were to deliver a finishing blow now...

The thought had just surfaced in Zhou Xiong's mind before he suppressed it.

There were still four people standing behind him.

Four fourth-rank late-stage experts, the strongest combatants of the Sixth Battalion. He had specifically reassigned them to track the Beast King Dihou as a key part of his plan.

Without these four, Yuan Shoucheng indeed died at the hands of that Rock Beast.

But now, these four had become his obstacle instead.

If he tried to kill Lin Mo now, these four would definitely stop him.

Even if he could kill them, he would expose himself.

If exposed, he would have to die here.

It wasn't worth it.

A pained expression appeared on Zhou Xiong's face.

"I shouldn't have left. If I had stayed here, Battalion Commander Yuan and the others..."

He couldn't go on.

Lin Mo looked at him.

This guy's acting was too realistic.

The tears were real, the pained expression was real, and the self-blame and regret were so convincing that one couldn't find a single flaw.

If he didn't have the Eye of Sin-Eating, and if he hadn't seen that dark red outline on him with his own eyes, he really would have been fooled.

"Battalion Commander Zhou," Lin Mo spoke.

Zhou Xiong looked up.

Lin Mo looked at him and slowly raised his hand.

On that hand, he wore a ring.

It was the very spatial ring Zhou Xiong had given him earlier.

"This ring is the one you gave me. I haven't done anything to deserve it, so I think I should return it to you."

Zhou Xiong's pupils suddenly contracted.

He stared at the ring, as if something had exploded in his brain.

The heart.

That heart was still inside.

If Lin Mo returned the ring to him, the heart would be back in his hands.

But why?

Zhou Xiong looked up into Lin Mo's eyes.

Those eyes were still so calm.

So calm that it made his skin crawl.

Does he know?

Does he know I'm a Mimic?

Does he know I planned this attack?

Does he know what that heart signifies?

Countless thoughts flashed through Zhou Xiong's mind.

But on his face, he only showed a hint of confusion.

"Why return it to me?"

Lin Mo didn't answer.

He just held up the ring and looked at him.

Zhou Xiong was silent for two seconds, then shook his head with an unnatural expression:

"Since it was given to you, there's no reason to take it back. You keep it."

He stood up and patted Lin Mo's shoulder.

"Recover well."

Having said that, he turned around and walked toward the four elites.

Lin Mo thoughtfully put the ring away.

As expected, this guy's target is this ring!

Specifically, the heart inside!

Just now, he had been observing Zhou Xiong's expression, and that flicker of unnaturalness hadn't escaped his eyes.

"He gave me the ring probably to use my hand to smuggle the heart into the city along with that pile of materials?"

"He thought that as a student under twenty, I surely wouldn't discover the secret of the heart!"

"His target... which city is it?"

"It probably isn't Jiang City!"

"Every city has a Hualian Chamber of Commerce warehouse, so the materials they collect each time are transported to the nearest city!"

"It's Lingwu City!"

Lin Mo suddenly stared at Zhou Xiong's back, having guessed the other party's intention.

Zhou Xiong's figure gradually disappeared. Lin Mo leaned against the broken wall and closed his eyes.

His consciousness sank into the system panel.

[Name: Lin Mo]

[Class: Awakener]

[traits: God Speed (top-grade purple), Lightning Flash (high-grade purple)]

[cultivation: Rank Two, Ninth Level]

[Strength: (39) 131]

[Agility: (44) 147]

[Constitution: (37) 126]

[Spirit: (36) 123]

[Techniques: Flowing Cloud Aurora Slash LV5 (32/100), Basic Saber Technique LV12 (64/100), Lingyan Steps LV4 (15/100), Turtle Breath Technique (13/100)]

[slaughter value: 9465]

[achievement points: 4]

The side effects of the berserk potion had already set in. All his attributes had dropped significantly, falling to the level of a first-rank Awakener.

Lin Mo's attention was entirely focused on the slaughter value column.

9465 points.

That Fifth-Order Lord, the Rock Beast, had provided Lin Mo with a full 8,000 slaughter value points.

"Only 535 points left to reach 10,000 slaughter value points!"

"Should I raise my cultivation or advance God Speed..."

Lin Mo was a bit torn.

"When Zhou Xiong saw I was still alive just now, there was a momentary flash of killing intent in his eyes."

"He wants to kill me!"

"He just couldn't do it because there were people around."

"And Shen Yi, the red light on her is even more intense. Is she really fifth-rank?!"

Lin Mo wasn't sure, but he knew that with his current strength, he was no match for Shen Yi and Zhou Xiong.

Not to mention he was currently in a weakened state; even if he were in perfect condition, he would have no power to fight back against these two.

Lin Mo wouldn't think he had the strength to rival a Fifth-Order Lord just because he had killed one.

Without the others fighting to the death to heavily wound the Rock Beast, he wouldn't have had the ability to even harm it.

"System, how much slaughter value is needed to upgrade to Rank Three, Level One?"

Lin Mo asked directly.

[Host, upgrading to Rank Three, Level One is a major realm breakthrough and requires 2,400 slaughter value points.]

"2,400?"

"It doubled again!"

The joy that had just arisen was instantly extinguished.

After Rank Three, with every level up, attributes would soar again, but the slaughter value consumed would also increase.

This nine thousand-plus slaughter value could at most raise him to Rank Three, Level Three!

"Rank Three, Level Three..."

"It's still not enough!"

Lin Mo's face was somewhat grim.

Rank Three, Level Three plus two purple traits would be enough for Lin Mo to sweep all Rank Three opponents.

But against a peak Rank Four, or even Rank Five...

It was still not enough; the gap was still massive!

Only by advancing God Speed.

From purple to gold, there might be a slim chance!

The boost from a gold trait was too immense.

In the entire Great Xia, only three gold trait Awakeners appeared all of last year.

Every single one was an incredibly dazzling genius.

"Then I'll advance the God Speed trait to gold!"

Lin Mo didn't know how strong a gold-tier God Speed would be, but he knew it was his only chance right now.

He opened his eyes and looked at the distant ruins.

Zhou Xiong's figure had already disappeared at the end of the ruins.

The four elites followed behind him, gradually walking away.