Chapter 840: Shadows on the Wasteland

Although he knew the Black Spade Office had already issued a bounty on his head, Lu Xin paid little heed. His only priority was to retrieve the children from the Orphanage, enlist their help, and uncover what the Old Director was scheming, so he could complete Mom’s plan and secure their escape.

Bounties, assassins, or even the Black Spade Office were secondary concerns.

Qinggang’s research had come through, and he would find them in due time.

He even mused that when the time came, he might ask, ‘Since I brought myself in alive, could we split the bounty fifty-fifty?’

But, just as Qinggang suspected.

Perhaps everyone with ears to the ground already knew his identity and that he wasn’t so easily killed.

Yet, under the high bounty on his head, many would still be tempted, and quite a few at that.

……

……

On the first day outside the city, they drove steadily onward.

Thanks to Qinggang’s ever-growing influence and strength, even security in the wasteland—at least within Qinggang’s sphere—had improved considerably.

They passed several major settlements and zones frequently patrolled by the Knight Orders, yet not a single highway robber dared cross their path.

Even when a few with hostile expressions watched from afar, they scattered as soon as Lu Xin drew near.

Presumably, the imposing Jeep and the futuristic Motorcycle had warned them of the danger.

The first day passed quietly.

By the end of the morning on the second day, nothing unusual occurred.

It wasn’t until that afternoon—when Lu Xin’s Jeep was about a hundred meters behind—that a towering off-road vehicle approached from the front. Its windows were covered with privacy film and its massive tires stirred up a tornado of dust.

As it brushed past Lu Xin’s Motorcycle, the vehicle’s speed suddenly dropped.

Inside, a man wearing sunglasses studied Lu Xin carefully, sizing him up in an instant.

Through the tinted glass, Lu Xin could feel that piercing gaze.

It was as if the man had locked onto his prey—dangerously and with no subtlety.

Lu Xin turned his head toward that gaze, meeting it through the privacy glass.

Then, he politely nodded.

Flashing a standard smile that revealed six teeth on both the top and bottom, he said, “Hello.”

“Ugh…”

The man inside offered no reply to Lu Xin’s greeting, instead accelerating sharply to put distance between them.

Lu Xin muttered inwardly, “Is that what they call professionalism?”

He had never ventured into the world of assassins before and lacked the necessary experience.

Yet, from those guarded eyes behind the tinted glass, he saw cautious scrutiny and careful observation.

So, was someone from a faction sent to watch him?

Surprisingly, within just a day and a half, someone had already locked onto his location.

Traditionally, assassins preferred striking from behind, blasting at the head when the target least expected it.

He suddenly realized he had been oversimplifying the assassin trade.

Every line of work has its own specialists…

Although he sensed the enemy’s intent, since they made no move, Lu Xin chose not to react.

He didn’t even alert Fourteen or Little Nineteen behind him; he simply eased his pace, drawing a bit closer to them.

From the moment that vehicle appeared, Lu Xin began noticing more and more people watching his every move.

Some hid along the roadside in the wasteland, waist-deep in grass, silently observing him.

Others concealed themselves in abandoned villages, using telescopes to keep a close watch.

Still others just stood by the road with guns in hand, casting cold, unsettling stares as he passed.

Yet, none of them actually made a move.

The worst they did was not return his smile as he greeted them while passing a group.

One even brazenly spat on the ground.

Lu Xin felt a tinge of displeasure at that, but he chose not to stop and cause trouble.

It was the unwritten code among assassins—knowing that he wasn’t an easy target, they dared not act hastily.

Perhaps they were waiting for the hotheaded youngster to test their firepower first?

In any case, it confirmed that his route had been leaked.

That explained why so many people had appeared ahead of him, watching and scheming.

Maybe his travel route could even be sold for a profit…

This made Lu Xin suddenly realize his own oversight; he should have hired someone in the underground market to sell his location in real time.

After all, any cash from valuable intelligence was worth pocketing.

……

……

This tense atmosphere—where only the assassins felt the pressure—lasted until the following night.

When the red Moon rose high in the sky, Lu Xin, as usual, arranged a rest.

No matter how relentless the journey, even in the wasteland one must not forgo rest.

After all, the wasteland is treacherous.

So Lu Xin, along with Fourteen and the others, found an open area near a water source, built a fire, and used Qinggang’s supply of pure water to cook instant noodles and canned beef. He even readied a bucket to heat sealed mutton and beef for Fourteen.

After dinner, they pitched a tent, fetched water from the river, filtered it, and prepared a foot bath for Little Nineteen.

Little Nineteen still resembled her time at the Orphanage—she hadn’t grown much, and her maturity remained largely unchanged.

She was, after all, still just a child in need of care.

Yet compared to the well-behaved Little Nineteen of the previous day, now she was brimming with suspicion.

She stubbornly refused to remove her shoes and clutched the bright dining knife in her hand, her eyes constantly scanning her surroundings.

Lu Xin understood why she had changed and could only sigh in resignation.

Straightening up and drying his hands, he nodded subtly at Fourteen before turning back into the wasteland.

……

……

Standing beneath the Red Moon in a deserted area, with only the occasional startled bird circling in the distance,

Lu Xin could sense a multitude of eyes locked onto him.

It was those dangerous gazes that made Little Nineteen uneasy.

To help her relax during the foot bath, Lu Xin boldly chose the most intimidating stare and walked straight toward it.

His steps were measured as he headed toward an abandoned village roughly 1,200 meters away.

At that moment, atop a three-story building in the village, a man draped in camouflage vines was stationed.

He had set up a long sniper rifle and, through a night vision scope, fixed his gaze intently on Lu Xin in the distance.

Controlling his breathing and with special bullets already loaded, he had long locked onto his target yet dared not be careless.

He patiently waited for the perfect moment.

Until suddenly, the target rose and began walking in his direction.

……

……

His heart skipped a beat; he had thought the target had merely gotten up to tend to some business nearby.

After all, from such a distance, even the most formidable Ability User couldn’t presumably be so precise.

But soon he saw that the target was indeed walking straight toward him.

It looked effortless, yet with not an iota of error.

……

……

“Thump, thump…”

The sniper’s tension suddenly spiked.

As one of the top lone assassins in the wasteland, he knew full well that many targets were not easily killed—they required special bullets, unique conditions, and even a gambler’s mindset to execute the job.

So he had prepared special bullets and adjusted his state accordingly.

His heartbeat and blood flow had slowed to near-baseline levels, blending with the environment to avoid detection.

But now, over a thousand meters away…

the target was actually walking straight toward him.

Was it that he had truly been discovered, or was he just excessively nervous?

This seasoned assassin found himself unable to decide.

Should he retreat?

The target was still so far away; if he backed off, there’d be no chance—what if someone else struck first?

Or should he wait a bit longer?

It couldn’t be that he was seen from such a distance, could it? Or perhaps others in that direction had also caught his attention?

While he pondered this, his night vision scope suddenly revealed the target looking up and smiling at him.

“Swish!”

Under the red Moon, the night vision scope displayed a green, grainy image of a serene smile.

In that instant, the sniper felt a chill run down his spine.

He immediately confirmed that the target was indeed approaching.

And he quickly decided it was time to retreat.

But just as that thought emerged, the mounting pressure crescendoed to an unbearable peak.

Even his normally steady, mechanical hands trembled for a moment.

The safety had long been disengaged.

In that tremor, a bullet flew out of the chamber uncontrollably.

The immense force of the gunpowder sent the bullet spiraling forward at breakneck speed.

Its surface began to emit fine blue electric arcs.

Moments before it reached the target, it burst into a blue flash capable of obliterating any living thing.

……

……

“Hmm?”

At that moment, Lu Xin fixed his gaze on the incoming bullet, frowning.

He could sense that the shot—and that bullet—had attracted considerable attention.

Finally, someone couldn’t hold back any longer and made the first move.

But as Lu Xin observed the rapidly closing, sharply dangerous bullet, he didn’t slow his pace; instead, the black particles in his eyes quivered before he suddenly flicked his right hand diagonally forward.

“Snap!”

He clutched the bullet in his hand, and the blue electric arc exploded from his clenched fist.

A flash of blue light illuminated his face.

Lu Xin waited until the blue sparks subsided before lifting his gaze slightly, the black particles in his eyes trembling.

In the next moment, a mass of black particles burst beyond the limits of distance.

Lu Xin’s figure elongated into a line, with segments spanning nearly 200 meters.

Half a second later, his silhouette reappeared atop the three-story building, right beside the prone sniper.

“This is yours, right?”

With a warm smile, he placed the charred bullet next to the sniper.