The person Gu Ding saw was none other than the fake Teacher Ellie who had questioned him in class earlier that day.
Ordinary people did not come to places like the Red Light District, much less teachers who taught cultural subjects at military academies. The real Teacher Ellie, like most other cultural-subject teachers, was an ordinary person with a Cell Comprehensive Index of around 1. As for combat ability, she had none at all.
The instant Gu Ding saw Teacher Ellie, he confirmed that Reed's earlier speculation had been completely correct. When he saw Teacher Ellie dart into an alley even faster than he could move, he quickly followed.
The alley was deep and dark. His footsteps were light, but he was not slow.
Not long after Gu Ding disappeared, a tall man wrapped from head to toe in a cloak abruptly appeared at the entrance to the alley. After only a brief pause, he followed them inside.
At the end of the alley was an empty street. Gu Ding poked his head out and looked around, but found no one. Just then, a chilling killing intent rose behind him. Before he could react, a hand reached around from behind and clamped around his throat, nearly suffocating him. At the same time, a faint fragrance drifted over from behind him. Gu Ding clearly remembered that it was the perfume Teacher Ellie usually wore.
"Tell me, who sent you to follow me?" A voice sounded beside Gu Ding's ear. It sounded like Teacher Ellie's, but much colder, carrying a dangerous sense of intimidation.
"Teacher Ellie, I..." Gu Ding was about to explain when he was interrupted.
"You even brought help. Don't come any closer. Move again, and I'll kill him." The woman dragged Gu Ding in front of her as a shield.
The alley was dimly lit. Not far from them stood a tall man wrapped in a black cloak, even his face hidden beneath the hood's shadow. Though Gu Ding could not see his features clearly, his instinctive sense of danger told him that this man was extremely dangerous—dozens of times more dangerous than the "Teacher Ellie" holding his throat. He could also clearly sense that the man's target was not him, but the "Teacher Ellie" behind him. But he also knew that the man would not give up on attacking "Teacher Ellie" just because Gu Ding was in the way.
Sure enough, after the woman spoke, the cloaked man merely paused for a moment before taking another step forward, utterly ignoring her threat.
The woman immediately made her decision. Her clawed hand became a palm, and she chopped Gu Ding across the neck. With her other hand, she forcefully shoved him away. She clearly intended to use him to escape.
Gu Ding felt a burst of pain in his neck, followed by a wave of dizziness. A tremendous force struck him from behind, sending his body flying. At the same time, he lost consciousness.
After an unknown amount of time, Gu Ding slowly woke up to a horrifying sight.
Not far away, "Teacher Ellie" had been pierced through the chest by a rod that had grown from the man's hand. Even stranger, "Teacher Ellie's" face gradually became blurry, as though a layer of human-skin mask pasted over it was being peeled away, revealing her true appearance. She was a woman even more beautiful than Ellie, with a seductive, foxlike charm. But no matter how beautiful she was, she was already dead. The rod had nailed her firmly to the wall, and she had completely stopped struggling.
The man in the large cloak reached into the woman's close-fitting pocket and took out an item. In the dark night, even with Gu Ding's exceptional eyesight, he could not make out what the man had taken.
Just then, the Cloaked Man suddenly turned around, his gaze landing on Gu Ding. The instant their eyes met, Gu Ding felt as though an icy reaper's scythe had been placed against his neck. The intense sense of danger left him completely unable to move. His instincts told him that if he made even the slightest motion, he would be sentenced to death in an instant.
"Target detected. Scanning!"
"Scan complete. Target: Gu Ding, student of Deep Sea Star Basic Military Academy. Eliminate?"
"From a military academy? Leave him alone. That woman's body will be discovered sooner or later anyway. How is the mission progressing?" A deep, resonant adult male voice quickly came through the earpiece.
After receiving his instructions, the Cloaked Man turned to look at the cold corpse.
Target: Many-Faced Fox, Lin Na Fourth Order Gene Body Special ability: Disguise Cell Comprehensive Index: 181 Affiliated Pirate Crew: Judicator Pirate Crew Bounty: 7 million Star Coins Target deceased. Target item acquired. Mission complete! Awaiting instructions.
"Since the mission is complete, withdraw." The deep male voice gave another instruction.
Only after receiving the order did the Cloaked Man turn and leave. At the instant he turned around, a gust of wind happened to sweep past, lifting his cloak and revealing his left hand.
Gu Ding had exceptional eyesight. Though he only caught a glimpse, he clearly saw a white number printed on the man's left sleeve—108.
"108? What does that mean? A codename? Or the designation of some organization?" Gu Ding was slightly distracted.
When he came back to himself, the man had already vanished. He looked around, but the street was still empty. Only then did he walk toward the corpse.
The corpse had been pierced through the chest by a strange black rod, whose other end was nailed into the wall. Criminal cases happened every day in the Red Light District, and Gu Ding had seen more than twenty death scenes like this. He had nothing to fear. He had approached only to confirm whether this woman really was Teacher Ellie.
Upon closer inspection, Gu Ding was certain that, just as Reed had said, this woman was an impostor. Aside from her face, her frame was several sizes larger than the real Teacher Ellie's. Teacher Ellie was not short, standing at around 1.68 meters, but after the disguise faded, this woman was at least 1.75 meters tall. Her fingers were slender, and her nails were painted crimson. Teacher Ellie had never worn nail polish...
Just as Gu Ding was examining her closely, a metal wristwatch slipped from the woman's wrist and rolled to a stop at his feet.