260: I've found you, immortal.

Led by Shen Mingyuan, the three of them quickly slipped into the Mountain Forest.

The Mountain Forest under the night was full of biological heat sources; the traces of birds, beasts, and even some snakes and insects were interwoven in Shen Mingyuan's perception.

He needed to quickly distinguish and exclude them. Humanoid heat sources were not the only ones, but by combining the contours and postures fed back by ultrasound with the most important factor—the possible characteristics of the "Immortal" described by Lu Jianchuan—the screening range was rapidly narrowing.

Ultimately, in a dense forest on the more remote side of the villa near a cliff, Shen Mingyuan locked onto his target.

It was a heat source that matched a humanoid form, moving with a certain regularity.

But strangely, several abnormally "cold" spots were embedded within this heat source, forming a sharp contrast with the surrounding warm muscle tissue, as if several pieces of ice had fallen onto the thermal image. This contradictory characteristic immediately caught Shen Mingyuan's attention.

"Northeast direction, below the cliff, I've found something," he informed his teammates in a low voice. At the same time, the ultrasonic imaging clearly outlined the other party's location—beside a shallow pit half-hidden by vines.

The three of them immediately and quietly flanked the position.

Pushing aside layers of vines and shrubs, they saw the Hanfu Immortal.

He was indeed there, the silk covering his eyes as before, but at this moment he was somewhat hurriedly digging a pit with a tree branch. Scattered beside him were several small cloth bags covered in mud and one or two metal objects reflecting the moonlight; he seemed to be digging up previously hidden valuables.

The Immortal's digging motion suddenly stopped, and he tilted his head to listen. Although he could not see, his extraordinary hearing had clearly captured the sound of leaves being brushed aside, as well as three steady breaths and footsteps approaching that were distinct from those of wild beasts.

He slowly straightened up and turned toward the general direction of Shen Mingyuan and the others. Although he could not "see," his posture was already full of alertness.

"It seems," the Immortal's voice remained calm, but it had taken on a hint of imperceptible gravity and coldness, "that there is no hiding anymore."

Wei Ziqing shook the bone sword in his hand and said coldly, "There's no hiding. The net of justice is vast; do you think you can just walk away after deceiving the villagers and using venom to control people's hearts?"

The Immortal chuckled, the sound particularly harsh in the silent forest. "Hehehe... Is that so? That’s not necessarily true."

Before his voice had even faded, he suddenly bent over and pulled a sealed pottery jar from the depths of the freshly dug pit. He slapped open the mud seal with one hand and actually grabbed a mass of dark red flesh that was constantly squirming as if it had an independent life. He threw the flesh onto his arm without hesitation, and several Centipedes that had burst through his skin immediately coiled around and devoured it greedily.

Almost visibly to the naked eye, the bodies of those Centipedes began to swell and thicken, their carapaces taking on an ominous oily luster, and a rapid hissing sound came from their mouthparts. Immediately after, several Centipedes raised their heads simultaneously and spat a large amount of viscous, dark green venom that gave off a pungent, sickly sweet smell at the three approaching people, like a poison net being splashed out!

"Retreat!"

Lu Jianchuan barked a low command, and the three of them reacted extremely fast, retreating instantly. While backing away, Shen Mingyuan had already raised both arms, his twin stars pistols held in his hands at some unknown point. The muzzles spat out a hot barrage of black-red energy bullets, accurately meeting the patch of venom. The black-red flowing light and the dark green venom collided and annihilated each other in mid-air, producing a sizzling corrosive sound and temporarily containing the spread of the poison net.

The Immortal had no intention of fighting at all. Taking advantage of the poison mist filling the air and blocking their vision, he actually tore an exceptionally large main Centipede—the one most closely connected to his flesh and blood—from his shoulder blade. Using it like a shield behind him, he fled at full speed toward the village without looking back! His speed was actually several points faster than during their previous encounter; he had clearly activated some secret technique regardless of the cost.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Shen Mingyuan's black-red plasma bullets chased after him. Most were blocked by the hard carapace and rapidly depleting body of the Centipede being used as a meat shield. The carapace shattered and fluids splattered, but it failed to stop the Immortal's fleeing footsteps.

"Chase him! We can't let him enter the village!" A flash of lightning flickered around Lu Jianchuan's body as he was the first to rush out.

Wei Ziqing and Shen Mingyuan followed closely behind. Three figures shuttled rapidly through the forest, tightly tailing the figure ahead that was constantly changing direction using the trees and terrain like a startled bird.

The distance of the chase was constantly shortening, and the scattered lights at the edge of the village were already in sight. The night was deep, and most villagers had long since fallen asleep, completely unaware that a dangerous pursuit was rapidly approaching their quiet sanctuary.

The Immortal burst out of the last patch of woodland in a disheveled state, stepped onto the stone-paved road leading to the village, and without hesitation, ducked toward the nearest houses and alleys.

The three followed closely, also rushing out of the Mountain Forest and arriving at the edge of the village.

When Lu Jianchuan and the others caught up to the edge of the village, they saw the Immortal had actually stopped in the middle of the stone road. No longer fleeing in panic, he instead let out a raspy and triumphant low laugh.

"Guess," the Immortal tilted his head to "look" in the direction of his pursuers, his voice carrying a hint of playfulness, "why I didn't just flee far away, but insisted on risking a return to retrieve these worldly possessions?"

Alarm bells rang loudly in Lu Jianchuan's heart, and he shouted sharply, "What do you mean?"

"It means," the Immortal slowly raised an arm, and under the damaged cuff, a subtle pulsation under the skin that was different from ordinary people could be faintly seen, "that the reason I could be chosen as a 'Recruiter' walking the outside world is not because of those little tricks... but because of my 'essence'."

His tone turned into a low, almost fanatical murmur: "What my evo factor granted me is 'Assimilation'. My blood, my cells, possess unimaginable aggressiveness and mimicry... Any contactee will be guided toward a specific evolutionary direction with me as the 'The Mother'. Those 'Immortal Pills' given to the villagers—one of the main ingredients was my blood."

As if to confirm his words, deep in the village, near the ancestral hall, a bright flash of fire suddenly shot up, followed by a second and a third! Flames quickly licked the dry wooden houses, and thick smoke billowed up.

At the same time, terrified screams, roars, and sounds of fighting erupted from different corners.

Under the reflection of the firelight, some villagers could be faintly seen acting as if they were insane. Some were brandishing farm tools to attack each other, while others were aimlessly destroying everything around them. Some even used their hands to slap at the spreading flames, letting out howls of pain but refusing to stop.

The originally silent village instantly turned into a furnace of chaos and violence.

The Immortal tilted his head slightly, as if appreciating this chaotic movement he had personally ignited:

"Although I still can't achieve fine control of their thoughts... igniting the violence and chaos in their blood to turn this place into a muddy pond where friend and foe cannot be distinguished is more than enough."

Before his voice had even faded, his body moved, and he actually took the initiative to rush toward the interior of the village where the fire was raging and the sounds of killing were deafening!

He seemed extremely familiar with the terrain, nimbly avoiding several red-eyed villagers brandishing wooden sticks and fighting each other, and with a flash, he vanished into a smoke-filled alley.

"Bastard!"

"We must stop him! The source is on him!" Shen Mingyuan made a quick judgment, his red visor scanning the chaotic scene, "But these people..."

Facing the village that had instantly fallen into a sea of fire and madness, Wei Ziqing made a prompt decision and shouted to Lu Jianchuan and Shen Mingyuan, "Leave this place to me! I'll handle the villagers; you go and finish him!"

"No problem!" Lu Jianchuan did not hesitate.

"Alright, I'm leaving them to you!" Shen Mingyuan nodded, his red visor instantly locking onto the Immortal's figure weaving through the chaos.

The two of them moved rapidly, bypassing the crazed villagers who tried to block them, and chased urgently in the direction the Immortal had fled.