Chapter 67: Long-Distance Assassination

Most in the camp of the Beast Garden Hunting Group were asleep.

Only two extrahumans on night watch remained awake, each sat alert in a dim corner, occasionally checking on the battle pets outside the camp.

There were three Crimson-Eyed Mountain Eagles in the trees, a pack of Thousand Peak Retrievers below, and a Wind-Riding Eagle with night vision, keen smell, and strong hearing on guard. With these battle pets alert, they were relaxed, not worrying about enemy intrusion.

Suddenly, thunder cracked in the sky.

The two extrahumans looked up only to see three bolts of lightning strike the camp, exploding on impact.

Bang! Bang! Pfft!

The sounds overlapped, followed by a scream.

The camp erupted like a pot boiling over.

Everyone was startled awake and ran out of their tents as the battle pets outside bellowed uneasily, falcons and blood ravens took flight, screeching in panic.

Pei Hong had just fallen asleep. He opened his eyes at the attack but couldn’t react in time.

He drew his long sword and leapt up but found no enemy in sight.

Only Liu Yusuo’s tent had been hit.

Pei Hong immediately had a bad feeling. Liu Yusuo’s tent was ripped to shreds, but she did not rise.

Approaching, he lifted the torn tent fabric to find Liu Yusuo dead, a silver-white arrow emitting bursts of electric light stuck in her left eye, piercing through her brain and pinning her to the ground.

“Commander!”

“What’s going on?”

Members of the hunting group yelled in shock, most having not seen the attack.

Pei Hong was incredulous.

Though a master with his battle pets, Liu Yusuo lacked physical enhancement abilities and her defensive measures were ordinary. Didn’t Liu Yusuo have a White Jade Parakeet?

The White Jade Parakeet would automatically deploy a “White Jade Shield” upon its owner being attacked, resisting physical and energy impacts, its defense comparable to composite armor.

Liu Yusuo’s White Jade Parakeet was always by her side, even while sleeping. Why hadn’t it reacted?

Pei Hong continued to check the tent, finding beside Liu Yusuo’s body a charred, bloody mess and two arrows stuck in the ground surrounded by blood-stained feathers.

“The White Jade Parakeet is also dead.”

Pei Hong’s pupils dilated as he pieced the events together.

There were three arrows in total. The first two targeted the White Jade Parakeet, somehow penetrating the shield and killing it first.

The third arrow then delivered a fatal blow to the now unprotected Liu Yusuo.

It all happened in an instant. Liu Yusuo might have just been waking up, still clueless as to what was happening when her head exploded from the arrow.

Pei Hong picked up an arrow, light yet hard, with slight electric currents making his arm numb.

“Capacitor arrow…”

He recognized this type of special arrow, having seen it earlier that day.

“That ranger!”

A chill ran through Pei Hong, mixed with a hint of fear. He quickly turned and asked, “Did anyone see from which direction the arrow came?” He had been in his tent, only sensing the danger but not seeing its origin.

“Over there,” pointed one of the night watchers towards the cliffs.

Snap!

Pei Hong turned into a streak of lightning, disappearing from his spot.

The next second, he appeared a hundred meters away, then turned into a bolt of lightning again, dashing through the woods and reaching the base of the cliff in four bursts. With a leap, an invisible current of air lifted him. As his force was about to run out, he formed a transparent air wall under his feet, stepping on it to rise further and landed gracefully atop the cliff.

Pei Hong looked around, finding only vague footprints.

He shot a beam of light upward with his hand.

Boom!

A burst of light exploded high above, illuminating the cliff and its surroundings for hundreds of meters, but Pei Hong saw no trace of anyone.

The light quickly dissipated, returning the area to darkness.

Pei Hong shook his head in resignation. As a superconductor technician, he had great combat abilities but was lacking in tracking skills.

A flame ignited in his hand as he searched the cliff, ending up with no findings as expected.

The ranger had long fled.

Pei Hong looked towards the camp. His night vision abilities were decent, but at such a distance, he couldn’t see clearly, nor could he determine the exact location of the camp.

“The distance is between 430 to 460 meters.”

“That far…”

“His ether fluctuations seem mid-level at best; even a high-level ranger shouldn’t be able to make such a shot.”

Pei Hong was baffled.

Even a legendary ranger would struggle to kill Liu Yusuo with three arrows in such darkness and distance.

Yet Liu Yusuo had indeed died mysteriously.

“No.” Pei Hong shook his head internally. “Her death wasn’t unjustified.”

He had been placed in Liu Yusuo’s Team Seven by the group’s direction over a year ago.

Coming from a privileged supermaster background with exceptional talents, she was pampered since childhood, developing a domineering and self-centered style. She was somewhat restrained on Earth, but once out of the city in the Star Realm, she was utterly unrestrained.

The group leadership had positioned him by Liu Yusuo’s side hoping he could look after her and intervene if necessary to prevent disasters.

Unfortunately, it was futile. She didn’t listen to him and continued her willful ways.

In the end, she reaped what she sowed.

Pei Hong felt no sadness over Liu Yusuo’s death nor had any thoughts of avenging her.

He even had a premonition this day would come, but now he was troubled about how to report this to the group leaders.

Liu Yusuo’s father was a board member of the group, with a substantial family background, which contributed to her arrogance.

“This is going to be difficult…”

Pei Hong looked around, sighed deeply, and leaped down the cliff.

Back at the camp, he found the situation worse than anticipated.

Most of the battle pets were Liu Yusuo’s; now with her dead, many had lost control. A few masters were constantly soothing them, preventing an outbreak.

Soon, these pets would run off in large numbers.

How could they possibly track the enemy now?

Pei Hong was thoroughly disheartened. He had no intention of pursuing; it was highly unlikely to catch the foe, and even if they did, it would only lead to more deaths.

An enemy who could move freely in the darkness and attack from several hundreds of meters away was best left unprovoked.

“Vice-commander, what do we do now?” a team member came asking.

What to do? Make the best of a bad situation!

Pei Hong was tempted to wash his hands of the matter, but remembering the thirty million annual salary from the group, he said, “Try to stabilize the battle pets, especially the three Giant Beaked Pterosaurs. Don’t let them fly away. We’ll head back to Olympia at dawn.”

The team members exchanged looks but followed his orders.

Unknown to them, every move was being closely monitored from the shadows.

Ji Xinghuo had already moved to the other side of the camp.

He stood behind a tree, in stealth mode, his magnetic field sensing encompassing the camp over seven hundred meters away. After observing for a moment and confirming these people had no intention of pursuing him, he silently left.

“Time to leave Peak Valley.”

Ji Xinghuo advanced in the darkness, not heading directly east towards Olympia but first north, preparing to take a longer route.

By dawn, he was over a hundred kilometers away from the meteor crash site.

Yet he continued north.

By noon, Ji Xinghuo stopped to rest, letting the small green snake come out of his pocket and said, “Spit everything out.”

The small green snake opened its mouth, and out came the intact backpack and the bag holding different species.

And the item wrapped in cloth.

Ji Xinghuo picked it up and unwrapped the cloth.

Instantly, his hand lit up with dazzling light, revealing a large, multicolored gem.

Its size was comparable to a table tennis ball, irregular in shape with surfaces showing signs of being scorched at high temperatures, like glazed glass, seemingly having burned off impurities leaving only a hard, faceted core.

“It is indeed a Star Tear!”

“So hot!”

Ji Xinghuo had seen such a gem in online videos before, the one in his hand identical to those in the videos. Then, with a start, the Star Tear fell to the ground.

He felt again the immense energy contained within the Star Tear, wildly volatile and still too much for his body to handle.

“How much star power could one gain from absorbing a Star Tear?”

Ji Xinghuo was curious.

Carefully observing and judging from the ether energy fluctuations, if absorbed, star power could increase by 1000 to 1500 points!

This was five to seven times more than his current total star power.

Moreover, after absorption, he could integrate an additional different species.

“What a great item!”

Ji Xinghuo couldn’t help but marvel, the joy in his heart indescribable, all worth the two hard days of searching and nearly exposing himself in front of two super extrahumans.

Star Tears were rarely traded publicly, and their prices were not fixed.

Selling it for two to three hundred million was definitely feasible.

Overnight riches!

However, Ji Xinghuo of course wasn’t foolish enough to sell the Star Tear. For now, he couldn’t absorb it, but once he advanced to a super extrahuman, it would immediately be useful.

Just then, the small green snake came over, clearly curious about the Star Tear.

It instinctively stuck out its tongue for a taste, immediately recoiling as if burnt, quickly crawling back.

“Hahaha…”

Ji Xinghuo chuckled at its reaction.

It is said that monsters can absorb Star Tears too, but only at a supergroup level, while the small green snake was merely an elite spiritual creature, a level below.

He picked up the Star Tear, wrapped it in a clean cloth bag, and had the small green snake swallow it again.

The energy fluctuations of the Star Tear were too strong to carry openly. Hiding it in the small green snake’s stomach was the safest option.

Besides the Star Tear, Ji Xinghuo also reorganized his luggage.

Items only needed for camping, such as tents and sleeping bags, along with other non-urgent items like spare arrows and compound bow maintenance tools, were packed into another bag and stuffed into the small green snake’s stomach, reducing the backpack’s weight by seventy to eighty percent.

Ji Xinghuo intended to travel light but considering it might draw unwanted attention, he still carried the backpack, appearing no different from a normal lone traveler.

He traveled north for two days.

Conveniently passing the team he had previously eliminated, he picked up a few useful items left there, now able to carry them all with the small green snake’s help.

Then he turned east, covering several hundred kilometers.

Five days later, he finally saw the walls of the City of Freedom, immediately boarding an airship upon entering the city.

As the airship landed in Olympia’s East Xia District, Ji Xinghuo looked around the familiar and long-missed district, his mood relaxing as he thought, “I’m back again!”