NOVPUB"Does anyone know where exactly Inspector Qing Chen has gone?" Director Zhou squatted in front of everyone with a smile, his gaze on the crew members huddled on the ground like a cat watching mice.
Mockery.
No one responded to him.
Director Zhou lifted his hand, aimed to the front right, and pulled the trigger. Director Zhang from the crew was shot in the chest, and he fell into a pool of blood with a pained expression.
The people in the camp screamed in alarm. Some tried to get up and flee, but before they could stand up, they were knocked down by the armed personnel next to them with the butts of their guns.
Director Zhou said nothing and shot those crew members trying to escape one by one, including a star he had brought with him.
For a moment, everyone was silent as death. These criminals were more brutal than they had imagined, killing without any hesitation.
Smiling, Director Zhou asked, "If no one answers yet, who do you think will be the next to die? Did anyone see which direction he went?"
Qing Yi coldly said, "Next, you can kill me. Everyone listen, these people are showing their faces; they clearly don’t plan on leaving any survivors. Don’t think groveling will let you live to return. If you live to return, they won’t make it back to the Federation, only left to wander the wilderness."
This wilderness is full of federal fugitives; unable to return to the Federation, they must abandon modern life and live like savages.
Without sufficient medicine, entertainment, or food.
This is very tragic for many federal people.
Director Zhou exclaimed, "The Shadow Candidate indeed has great courage."
"Killing a Shadow Candidate from the outside is a dead end just as much as wandering the wilderness," Qing Yi sneered. "Once you kill me, the Shadow will hunt you to the ends of the earth. With so many people on this mission together, do you guess that someday someone might betray you?"
Director Zhou chuckled and shook his head, apparently not worried about it.
Qing Yi was momentarily stunned.
Killing a Shadow Candidate is unforgivable for the Qing Clan, but if certain conditions are met, the Qing Clan will not intervene.
That is, to participate in the strife of the Shadow.
So, if Director Zhou genuinely isn’t afraid of the Shadow’s retribution, that implies there is another Shadow Candidate backing him.
All these, from the Qing Clan?
Who is the Shadow Candidate behind them?
Is it because those top executives have firmly decided to clip the Shadow’s wings?
Director Zhou said, "The person you respect, the one who supported you in the Shadow strife, has already discarded you and run away. Why bother protecting him now?"
Qing Yi pursed his lips and said nothing.
Li Yu said, "Just when you guys arrived, he was sitting by that campfire on the very edge, right, and he had put on a duck-billed cap. I think he might have already escaped into the woods. You better go chase him."
Qing Yi coldly glanced at Li Yu, "If letting the sir escape, he would still have a chance to seek support. Now, you’ve thrown away the last chance, pretty foolish."
Director Zhou stood up with a smile and said into the communication earpiece he wore, "Pay attention in the woods; maintain a five-meter spacing."
The crew members held captive in the camp despaired, as there were still bandits in the woods.
Strangely enough, after a few minutes, Director Zhou frowned and asked into the earpiece, "Any traces found?"
"None, 212."
"None, 231."
"None, 712."
...
...
Twenty-four people in succession all replied with nothing.
The numbers behind were each member’s action code to prevent anyone from infiltrating and assuming another’s identity.
Moreover, this capture operation had a fail-safe; each person carried a sensed bomb tied to their vital signs.
If anyone’s heart suddenly stopped or their blood oxygen levels fell, it would explode immediately.
In contemporary warfare, for mountain or carpet searches, and standard for death warriors, this was equipped. In this world, aside from a few, nobody could substitute or assassinate undetected, nor silently navigate through a five-meter gap.
Director Zhou’s expression grew colder.
If the target hadn’t passed through the woods, that meant he was still within the camp and had never left?
"Cut open every tent," Director Zhou said coldly.
The camp’s armed personnel rushed out, their daggers drawn, slashing every tent to check if anyone was hiding.
The result was nothing found.
Next, Director Zhou ordered, "Check all the vehicles, including the undercarriage and cargo holds, make a thorough search."
The result was still nothing found.
The situation became strange. Director Zhou, who had initially appeared confident and certain, now exhibited a look of hesitation; he couldn’t even think where Inspector Qing Chen could possibly be hiding.
Indeed, this was proving to be a person even more troublesome than the legends suggested!
At that moment, Director Zhou sneered, looking at one of Qing Yi’s followers, "Where did Qing Chen go?"
The follower said, "During the confusion earlier, he slipped into one of the tents, that one."
Pointing, the follower indicated, but no one was inside the cut-open tent.
Qing Yi turned, his expression grave as he looked at his follower. So, the insider was among his own ranks, no wonder the attackers had arrived so punctually. They had barely reached the camp before the people came to kill the sir.
This realization brought a sense of guilt and unease to Qing Yi; it turned out it was his own side that had leaked the information.
Zhou Dao observed the crowd sitting in the camp, his expression clouded and uncertain.
He suspected that Qing Chen was hidden among these people, but he could not determine which one it was.
"Kill them all, find him after they’re dead. Qing Chi, come out," Zhou Dao said, then stepped back.
It seemed they were ready to open fire on everyone.
But as Zhou Dao looked up at the insider named Qing Chi in the crowd, he was shocked to find a line of blood forming on his neck, seeping out!
He had not noticed when exactly Qing Chi had been ambushed.
Qing Yi was also stunned.
It was at that moment that a huge explosion roared from the woods, only discernible upon careful listening as scattered, continuous sounds.
It was as if someone had killed twenty-four people in a second, causing them to lose all vital signs.
Zhou Dao roared, "Fire!"
Qing Yi subconsciously tried to stand up for one final resistance, unwilling to die sitting like a coward.
As a descendant of Qing and one came from Autumn Leaf Courtyard, he preferred to die standing.
However, just as he tried to forcefully rise, he suddenly saw a woman in the distance smiling at him.
Qing Yi recognized her, she had come with this film crew, seemed to be a third-tier actress.
And next to him, a stranger was holding his shoulder, smiling at him, "Don’t move, someone else will handle this."
That familiar voice... it was the Master’s.
Qing Yi had not expected that the Master had never left, but had always remained by his side.
For some reason, he felt the warmth transmitting from the hand placed on his shoulder.
All of Zhou Dao’s earlier sneering dissipated in that instant, and Qing Yi felt that if he survived, he must share this story with Li Ke to make him envious...
But, those men were about to fire their guns!
Qing Yi even saw the gunfire bursting from the barrels!
Instantly, the bullets seemed to slow down as if they had entered into a thick hydrogel, only traveling a little over a meter in the air before stopping in mid-air.
Qing Yi even saw a bullet stop slowly just at his forehead, suspended in the air.
That was Yan Chunmi’s ability, and her presence there meant to protect Qing Chen.
Qing Chen had once asked Yan Chunmi what her level of strength was.
Yan Chunmi’s answer was that her power was very low.
However, she once was a spy, demoted to Kite Falcon to assist Qing Chen.
The person personally chosen by the Shadow for Qing Chen, how could her strength actually be so low?
Now Qing Chen understood, just like Uncle Li Dong’s Mother Ye, the Shadow had also selected for him an assistant capable of ignoring light firearms.
That’s why Shadow had advised him to work more with Kite Falcon.
Qing Chen couldn’t help but ponder, if Yan Chunmi was carefully chosen by the Shadow, what about the remaining 11 Kite Falcons, were they also the same?
After the assassins pulled the trigger, automatic rifles fired bullets in an orderly manner, embedding them in an invisible barrier outside the crowd.
They seemed like decorations in the air.
In the dark forest, a young man wearing a black duckbill cap and black mask walked out calmly.
Behind him followed seven others, dressed the same.
Qing Chen wondered, if the spy has 12 Kite Falcons, does Shadow also have 12 Kite Falcons?
What level are the Shadow’s Kite Falcons?
But he saw those seven people move as fast as thunder, crushing Zhou Dao’s men effortlessly with their rapid and devastating approach.
As confident as they were approaching, now they were just as disheveled.
At that moment, Shadow, with a smile, said, "Don’t kill them, leave some alive. Let’s see who dares to harm my people."
Qing Chen immediately understood that it had been the Shadow who intervened, using the ability to slow time, he had killed 24 people within a second...
To be honest, even Qing Chen had not expected that the Shadow would personally come here.
Qing Chen stood up and moved over, speaking in a low, annoyed tone, "Before I came out, you only told me to act as bait once, you didn’t say it would attract so many people."
"Without attracting so many people, how could it match your current status," the Shadow said with a smile, "nor could it match the cost of you impersonating me."
"So, is that impersonation over with?" Qing Chen tentatively asked.
"It’s over," the Shadow cheerfully replied. "But it’s a pity to not use you as bait anymore; you could catch big fish."
Qing Chen said, "Give it a rest, you could have acted earlier, but you deliberately waited until the last moment to create a thrilling part, didn’t you?"
The Shadow glanced at him, "Isn’t it to help you expose the insider among Qing Yi’s people? Moreover, without reaching that critical moment, how could Qing Yi have an unforgettable experience? You want him to be your Shadow, but you still don’t know how to make him wholeheartedly be that Shadow. Or else why do you think I personally came to capture these minor characters?"
Qing Chen was stunned, behind Shadow’s playfulness, there was always more or less a reason.
This time, Shadow was worried he couldn’t control Qing Yi, so he schemed until the very last second.
Qing Chen sighed, "Actually, there’s no need for this."
Shadow coldly said, "In front of the clan’s interests, there is no room for personal losses, put aside your knightly naïve heart. If you’re too merciful, more people will die because of you."
Qing Chen shook his head, "I don’t believe calculation can bring about sincerity."
Shadow calmly said, "That’s alright, you can continue being sincere, I’ll handle the rest."
