Chapter 52: Counter-Tracking

Ji Xinghuo glanced back. “Brother Qi, what’s up?”

Qi Zhaofeng approached with a smile. “I was waiting here for you because I have something to discuss. Let’s go, I’ll treat you to a drink.”

Ji Xinghuo found the smiling Qi Zhaofeng somewhat odd.

Qi Zhaofeng, a hunting team leader, had tried to recruit him on his first day at the Extreme Martial Hall, but he had refused.

They sparred often but had no interaction outside the gym.

Why not speak at the gym?

With this doubt, Ji Xinghuo declined the invitation outright. “Brother Qi, I’m busy with other things. If you have something to say, please speak directly.”

Qi Zhaofeng glanced at the bus station where several people were waiting, hinting it wasn’t the best place to talk.

Ji Xinghuo followed him to a quieter part of the street, a few meters away from anyone else.

“Here’s the thing,” Qi Zhaofeng lowered his voice, “my team just finished a hunt last month and we are currently resting. Most members have dispersed. But today, I got news. There’s a trace of a Feathered Serpent in the Razor Valley south of Flying Dragon City. I plan to leave tomorrow with a hunting party, but we need a good archer, so I’d like you to join.”

After that, he added, “There are too many prying eyes in the gym, I feared the news might leak.”

“Is the information reliable?” Ji Xinghuo looked hesitant.

Feathered Serpents are highly prized creatures, each one is an elite. If hunted, one could fetch at least three exotic species.

Among them, the essential exotic ability ‘Air Manipulation’ is a core ability of the Wind Riders.

Also, there’s a slim chance of encountering the exotic ability ‘Flight,’ a dream of all high-level beings, worth over a hundred million!

That is, if the information is true.

Ji Xinghuo, however, was highly skeptical that there were any Feathered Serpents at all.

“It’s definitely true. I know some teams have already set out,” Qi Zhaofeng’s expression was utterly sincere as he earnestly said, “I’m a Fast Strider; I’ve spent my life dreaming of flying. If I can get the Flight ability, I’ll give everything for it!”

Ji Xinghuo couldn’t tell if he was lying and thought for a few seconds, “Let me consider it overnight, I’ll give you an answer tomorrow.”

“Don’t wait longer than tomorrow, or it’ll be too late,” Qi Zhaofeng cautioned.

“Alright, see you at tomorrow’s training session.”

Ji Xinghuo bid him farewell and boarded the bus.

The cityscape outside the bus window flew by. Ji Xinghuo, uninterested, closed his eyes to rest. Suddenly, he opened them.

His magnetic sense detected someone trailing the bus.

The follower was quite fast, easily keeping up with the bus, about one hundred fifty meters behind. Every time the bus stopped, so did the follower, making no effort to hide, blatantly standing on the street as if unconcerned about being seen.

Ji Xinghuo subtly turned, his peripheral vision catching a glimpse of a transparent silhouette.

Without his All-Sight Eyes, which could see the true nature of things, it would be hard for the average person to notice.

“Invisibility?”

It didn’t seem like invisibility but rather another ability masking his figure, silent even while running.

A cold smile appeared on Ji Xinghuo’s lips.

“Qi Zhaofeng!”

Without needing to see directly, his magnetic sense told him it was Qi Zhaofeng who had just invited him to join the hunt.

“He’s up to no good.”

Ji Xinghuo recalled his recent sparrings with Qi Zhaofeng, confirming he had not offended him. Not only had he not offended, but their interactions had been quite harmonious. Why the sudden ill intentions?

Qi Zhaofeng was a high-level variant human, 32 years old, with exceptional martial talent and formidable strength.

His profession was “Fast Strider.”

A Fast Strider’s greatest strength is speed, possessing significant stamina and cardiopulmonary capacity, driven by the pursuit of ultimate speed, often equating to power.

Whether surviving in the wild, facing danger, or fighting, the quick usually live longer.

If things go south, they run.

As long as you run faster than your teammates, you generally survive.

Fast Striders also have advantages in hunting, reaching their targets before others; they can also provide faster support to teammates, have higher attack frequencies, and if they can’t win, they know guerrilla tactics.

Though abilities weren’t allowed during martial arts training, Qi Zhaofeng’s speed was a significant advantage in sparring.

Ji Xinghuo had experienced this firsthand.

Now, he was witnessing Qi Zhaofeng’s speed again, running behind the bus breathing easy, his expression unchanging.

Ten minutes later, the bus arrived at the entrance of a villa area.

Ji Xinghuo didn’t get off but continued riding a few more stations, disembarking about five kilometers from the villa. He pretended not to notice he was being followed, acting familiar with the neighborhood, and walked a few hundred meters into a roadside inn.

The inn’s lobby also served as a restaurant with a few scattered tables.

Ji Xinghuo sat at a table visible directly from outside, casually ordering dinner.

The reason for choosing a seat by the door was to prevent Qi Zhaofeng from coming in and asking the reception desk about him, which would reveal that he wasn’t staying there.

In his magnetic sense, Qi Zhaofeng indeed didn’t approach the inn.

He deactivated his invisibility at an unseen street corner and entered a coffee shop across from the inn, sitting by the window and covertly glancing at the inn’s entrance.

“You really think I wouldn’t notice you?”

Ji Xinghuo remained composed, eating like a normal customer.

He deliberately ate slowly, dragging out the meal for nearly half an hour. After finishing, he sat at the bar, ordered a bottle of wine, chatted with the bartender, and looked over the newspapers—appearing just like a regular visitor killing time in the evening.

During this time, Qi Zhaofeng changed his watching spot two or three times but never dared enter the inn.

After more than two hours, Qi Zhaofeng finally lost patience and left.

Ji Xinghuo stayed put until Qi Zhaofeng, according to his magnetic sense, had moved to another street, over 500 meters away. Then, he casually walked out of the inn and started following.

The maximum range of his magnetic sense was about 800 meters, so there was no fear of losing track.

Tracing someone half a kilometer apart in a city with dense human traffic is almost an impossible task.

But for Ji Xinghuo, it was as easy as flipping his hand.

Qi Zhaofeng reached a station and quickly boarded a steam bus.

Ji Xinghuo could keep up with the bus if he ran, but without invisibility, running in the streets would be too conspicuous.

He briskly walked a few dozen meters and entered a street-side stable.

Olympia’s city area was vast. Besides taking the bus, another popular mode of transportation was riding mounts.

However, most people don’t have mounts, and taming them can be troublesome, so stables have a market.

The so-called “stable” actually offered various types of mounts.

Antelopes, forest wind deer, rock sheep, tamed camels, steel mane beasts, dread claw dragons, etc., the faster the mount, the more expensive the rental.

Entering any stable, depositing the corresponding grade of payment allows renting a mount. You take the mount receipt, are billed by time, return the mount to a nearby stable at your destination, settle the fee, and get your deposit back.

Soon, Ji Xinghuo was riding an antelope in the street.

Antelopes are common beasts in the Star Realm, similar in appearance to Earth’s horses but have two hard, short antlers on their forehead, larger and robust, capable of carrying heavy loads with prolonged stamina, far surpassing Earth’s horse breeds, commonly seen in the wild and easily tamed.

Renting this type of mount is quite cheap and often the first choice for most renters.

Ji Xinghuo had learned horse-riding in college, and although somewhat rusty now, regained his riding skills after a few hundred meters.

He urged the antelope to trot, keeping pace with the bus.

Mounts frequently ran down the street, with specialized mounts lanes making Ji Xinghuo riding not out of place at all.

He followed in this manner for half an hour.

Qi Zhaofeng got off a few hundred meters ahead at a stop and walked into a residential area.

Ji Xinghuo returned the antelope at a nearby stable, his magnetic sense continuously locked onto the target while scanning the area.

The residential area wasn’t very crowded, a moderately populated district, and as it neared night, pedestrians on the street gradually decreased.

Qi Zhaofeng turned into an alley and eventually entered a courtyard.

It was a separate yard, not large, around two hundred square meters with walls on three sides and two- to three-story buildings on the other three. The alley had similar standalone courtyards on both sides, offering good privacy, very suitable for a hunting team’s base.

There was no one inside the courtyard, and after Qi Zhaofeng entered, he sat in the living room, apparently waiting for someone.

Ji Xinghuo didn’t approach rashly.

He made a big detour, slowly walked from the other end of the alley, climbed over the wall into the neighboring courtyard, which was empty—its dust suggested it hadn’t been inhabited for two to three months.

Time slowly passed.

An hour later, as night was about to turn into dark, two people came from outside the alley into Qi Zhaofeng’s courtyard.

Sounds of unlocking came from next door.

“The captain’s back,” a deep male voice sounded, footsteps heavy and a bit unstable, as he entered and called out, “Boss Qi.”

“Captain Qi.”

The second voice was a woman’s.

“Why did you two go to the bar again?” Qi Zhaofeng sounded displeased, “I’ve told you, we’re leaving the day after tomorrow at the latest. Drink less, don’t screw this up.”

While they talked, Ji Xinghuo also moved.

He activated his Swift Wind Boots, lightly tapped at the base of the wall and leapt up three meters.

At the top, his right hand gripped the wall edge, deftly exerting force like a spider climbing to the rooftop. The “Balance” feature of the boots allowed him to precisely control his body, silently flipping over the rooftop and sliding down wallside, clearly able to hear the room’s activities.

“It won’t mess up anything. Doing preparations tomorrow isn’t too late,” the man, unconcerned, explained and asked, “Boss Qi, did that guy agree to join?”

“He said he’ll consider it overnight,” Qi Zhaofeng replied.

“Smart guy. Burp…” The man burped, “He might have his own information channels to confirm tonight whether the info about the Feathered Serpent is true.”

“Anyone who can make it in Olympia is no fool,” the woman chimed in, “Captain, what if he agrees to join?”

“That would be better,”

Qi Zhaofeng said flatly, “Xin Liaoyuan is very strong, his martial talent is among the best I’ve seen. He’s a Ranger, and with him in the team, we have a better chance of hunting the Feathered Serpent.”

Eavesdropping, Ji Xinghuo was surprised—there really was a trace of the Feathered Serpent?

“And if he doesn’t agree?” the man asked.

The room fell silent for a few seconds.

Qi Zhaofeng’s voice then sounded, coldly, “I’ve already figured out where he lives. If he doesn’t join, we’ll take the opportunity to deal with him tomorrow night, then head straight to Flying Dragon City.”

He paused, then added, “It’s best if he agrees. That way, he can help us hunt the Feathered Serpent, and after it’s done, we can kill him and take his knife—kill two birds with one stone.”

“Hehe, perfect!”

The man seemed to nod, “It could sell for almost twenty million. If not for Boss Qi’s keen eye, who would have thought a youngster’s weapon was a super-power two-star level item? Most people wouldn’t recognize it.”

Hearing this, Ji Xinghuo suddenly understood.

Ultimately it was wealth that moved people. Even though he always tried to hide his expensive equipment, it didn’t escape the eyes of those intent on it.

“Could he have backing?”

The woman seemed hesitant, “After all, to afford such expensive weapons…”

“What’s there to fear? Kill him and we leave Olympia. We can blend in in another city, come back after a year or half, who would know?”

“What about the other team members?”

“We’ll recruit more in another place. With Boss Qi, do we fear not finding good team members?”

“Alright, no more arguing,” Qi Zhaofeng sounded impatient, “That’s settled then. Everyone rest early, prepare for hunting tomorrow. If Xin Liaoyuan agrees to join, I’ll bring him back. You all better perform well, don’t let slip any flaws.”

“Boss Qi, can’t you trust us two?” the man scoffed disdainfully, “Those past few jobs, no one found out until it was too late.”

“This Xin Liaoyuan is different. Tu Hongda values him a lot…”

Qi Zhaofeng was mid-sentence when he suddenly stopped.

He saw a man appear from around the corner of the courtyard wall, calmly walking toward the living room as if he were a guest, holding a silver-blue battle blade with three lightning-like patterns on its broad blade, emitting faint electric light.

“Xin Liaoyuan!”

Qi Zhaofeng’s face changed drastically as he abruptly stood up.

As they discussed their sinister plans, their target suddenly appeared before them, leaving them unprepared and momentarily stunned.

Upon hearing the name, the other two quickly stood up and turned towards the living room entrance, their expressions registering surprise.