78: Chapter 78 Lure the snake out of its hole

Lin Mo opened his eyes, felt the surging power within his body, and slowly rose from the bed.

It was pitch black outside the tent; even the moon had hidden behind the clouds.

He checked the time: 12:17 AM. The absorption of the dragon blood ii had been faster than he expected, taking less than half an hour.

Now, even if he were to face Zhou Xiong head-on, he wouldn't be afraid.

The only problem was—Shen Yi.

The red light on this woman was deeper than any Mimic he had ever seen.

It was highly probable that she was a Tier 5 Mimic.

Her strength was unfathomable!

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the tent.

Lin Mo frowned slightly.

Who would come at this hour?

He listened intently.

The footsteps stopped outside the tent.

Then, a lowered voice called out: "Lin Mo? Are you asleep?"

Li Chengxi.

Lin Mo's frown deepened.

What was this guy doing, running over in the middle of the night?

"Come in."

The tent flap was lifted, and Li Chengxi poked his head in, glanced around, and then crouched down to sneak inside.

Uncle Zheng followed behind him. After they both entered, Li Chengxi even took care to tuck the tent flap in, as if he were afraid of light leaking out.

"Battalion Commander Li? Is there something urgent that brings you here so late?" Lin Mo asked with a smile.

Li Chengxi rubbed his hands together, forcing a smile onto his face.

"Um... Little Lin, I didn't disturb your rest, did I?"

Lin Mo looked at him.

"You already have."

Li Chengxi's smile froze for a second, but it quickly returned.

"Haha, well... I just came to check on you. I heard you went into the mountains to hunt ferocious beasts today, and I was worried you might be injured, so I brought some good things."

He pulled a small cloth bag from his bosom and handed it to Lin Mo with both hands.

"Five vials of Tier 3 healing medicine. Ten vials of Tier 2 energy supplements. And this—"

He pulled out an even smaller cloth bag, opened it mysteriously, and revealed three pale golden pills inside.

"Burst Pills. They can save your life in a critical moment. You can't buy these on the market; my father gave them to me."

Lin Mo looked down at the items, then raised his head to look at Li Chengxi.

"Why?"

Li Chengxi was stunned for a moment.

"Why what?"

"Why are you giving these to me?"

Li Chengxi blinked, then laughed.

"Little Lin, you're good in every way, but you're just too guarded."

He put away his smile and said seriously: "Fine, I'll be direct."

He looked into Lin Mo's eyes.

"You are currently the strongest of the younger generation in our entire War Zone. Your future is limitless!"

"I, Li Chengxi, am not a big shot, but I have a father who is the acting Army Commander. If you encounter any trouble in the War Zone in the future, I can put in a good word for you. Likewise—"

He paused. "If I ever run into trouble in the future, I hope you won't just stand by and watch."

Lin Mo looked at him, silent for a few seconds.

Then he reached out and took the two cloth bags.

"I'll accept these items."

The smile on Li Chengxi's face instantly brightened.

"Good, good, good! So from now on, we are—"

"But there is one thing I must tell you."

Li Chengxi's smile froze. "Wh-what is it?"

Lin Mo looked at him, enunciating every word: "Zhou Xiong is a Mimic."

The air in the tent froze instantly.

Li Chengxi's smile was completely frozen on his face.

Uncle Zheng's pupils contracted sharply.

The two of them stood motionless, as if they had been hit by a paralysis spell.

After several seconds, Li Chengxi finally spoke with difficulty: "You... what did you say?"

"Zhou Xiong is a Mimic," Lin Mo repeated.

Li Chengxi's legs went weak, and he plopped down onto Lin Mo's bed.

"I... holy crap... you can't just say things like that!"

Uncle Zheng's expression also turned extremely ugly.

"Lin Mo, are you sure?"

Lin Mo raised his hand. In his right eye, a circle of dark golden light slowly lit up.

"This eye of mine can see through all Mimics."

"In my eyes, Zhou Xiong is dark red, exactly the same as the Mimics that have died by my hand."

Uncle Zheng's breathing hitched.

Li Chengxi's face turned even paler.

"Any... anything else? Do you have any substantial evidence to prove what you're saying..."

"Also, you remember back at the Temporary Base when Zhou Xiong gave me a spatial ring, right!"

Li Chengxi nodded. He had been on the scene when Zhou Xiong gave Lin Mo the ring.

That was a spatial ring, worth a fortune. Although Li Chengxi had one himself, he wouldn't have been willing to give it to Lin Mo.

At the time, he had even wondered why Zhou Xiong was being so generous. Why hadn't he noticed it before?

"Inside the ring he gave me was a pile of materials from Tier 3 and Tier 4 ferocious beasts, and besides that..."

"There was also a heart!" Lin Mo said in a deep voice.

"A heart? What kind of heart?" Li Chengxi asked immediately.

"I don't know what kind of creature's heart it is, but it can be sensed by Mimics. A while ago, a late-stage Tier 3 Mimic tracked the scent and came looking for it!"

"Late-stage Tier 3?!" Uncle Zheng suddenly raised his voice. "Then what happened? That Mimic didn't do anything to you?"

Lin Mo glanced at Uncle Zheng. "He wanted to kill me to get the ring back, but I killed him instead!"

"You killed him instead?" "Are you saying you killed a late-stage Tier 3 Mimic?"

It was Li Chengxi who spoke, looking at Lin Mo in astonishment.

"Can you stop acting so shocked?!" Lin Mo was speechless. Why was communicating with these two so painful?

"Holy crap, how can I not be surprised? That's a late-stage Tier 3 Mimic. Brother, you're saying you killed a late-stage Tier 3 Mimic. Are you sure he was late-stage Tier 3?"

Li Chengxi was numb. He knew the strength of Mimics too well; they were much stronger than human Awakeners of the same tier, and definitely not comparable to ferocious beasts.

If Lin Mo had said he killed a late-stage Tier 3 ferocious beast, Li Chengxi wouldn't have been this surprised. But a late-stage Tier 3 Mimic—that carried a completely different meaning.

"Many students in my team were present at the time. If you don't believe me, go ask someone tomorrow!" Lin Mo rolled his eyes at him.

"Hehe, no, I believe you, continue." The way Li Chengxi looked at Lin Mo was starting to get intense.

"That late-stage Tier 3 Mimic came to snatch the ring, but I killed him."

"So, I suspect that Zhou Xiong sent him! He sent a late-stage Tier 3 Mimic to kill me and take it back."

"And I suspect that when Zhou Xiong gave me the ring, he wanted to use my hands to bring that heart into a certain city!"

"He must have thought that as a student, I would definitely not see the special nature of that heart!"

"But unfortunately, I discovered it. I sold the other materials in the ring, but kept the heart!"

"However, this also caused Zhou Xiong to target me. He will definitely look for another opportunity to snatch this ring back."

As he spoke, Lin Mo placed the spatial ring containing the heart on the table.

Li Chengxi stared at it for a while and asked: "The heart you mentioned is still inside?"

"Yeah, do you want me to take it out and show you?"

"Don't, don't take it out now, just put it away!" Li Chengxi was startled and immediately refused.

Are you kidding? Is this something you can just take out and look at? He was just here to pad his resume; if he got dragged into this, he was done for.

"So that means... that... that Tier 5 lord..." Uncle Zheng suddenly thought of something.

"Was also his doing," Lin Mo nodded.

Li Chengxi's pupils contracted sharply. "He... he..."

"How did Yuan Shoucheng die?" Lin Mo asked.

Li Chengxi opened his mouth but couldn't speak.

Uncle Zheng answered for him: "Besieged by Tier 5 lords... Zhou Xiong led the team to provide support at the time, but he arrived too late..."

Lin Mo nodded. "He did it on purpose."

Li Chengxi's face was as pale as paper. "S-so Battalion Commander Yuan was killed by him..."

He suddenly remembered something and shuddered. "Then I... I..."

"You are the Battalion Commander now," Lin Mo looked at him. "You are in more danger than he was."

Li Chengxi was completely dumbfounded. He sat there, his whole person looking as if his soul had been drained.

Seeing Li Chengxi like that, Uncle Zheng sighed and patted his shoulder. "Battalion Commander, pull yourself together."

Li Chengxi raised his head, his eyes red. "I... I'm scared..."

"I know," Uncle Zheng said. "But being scared is useless right now."

He looked at Lin Mo. "What are your plans?"

"How about... how about I go to my father?" Li Chengxi swallowed, feeling more and more that it made sense as he spoke:

"My father is the acting Army Commander of the War Zone. He has countless experts he can command! As long as I tell him the news that Zhou Xiong is a Mimic and have him send a few Tier 5 experts over, Zhou Xiong won't be able to escape!"

His eyes grew brighter. "Yes! By then, not only will I be out of danger, but I'll have performed a great service! Exposing a long-hidden Mimic right after taking office, this merit..."

He stopped abruptly because he noticed that both Lin Mo and Uncle Zheng were looking at him. With a very strange expression.

"Wh-what?"

Uncle Zheng sighed. "Battalion Commander, do you think Zhou Xiong doesn't have anyone behind him?"

Li Chengxi was stunned. "You mean..."

"Could he have created a Tier 5 lord all by himself?" Uncle Zheng shook his head. "There must be someone behind him. And that person is definitely stronger than Zhou Xiong."

"If you tell your father now, what if there's a Mimic by your father's side? What if the people your father sends are actually Zhou Xiong's accomplices?"

Li Chengxi's face turned pale again. "Then... then what should we do?"

Lin Mo spoke: "Lure the snake out of its hole!"