Major Discovery

Behind him, Chang Ye and Number 88 followed cautiously as well...

At last, he had entered his area of expertise.

Two days had passed while tracking the footprints. After mountain floods had washed through and wild animals had disturbed the forest, could he still track down Number 325?

At the very least, they could not have done it themselves.

But after following Lin Xiaosu for seven or eight hundred meters, their eyes lit up. A footprint appeared in the wet ground, and the mark had clearly been left by specialized shoes.

These shoes were exclusive to Qianlong.

"Between these two, who do you think is the real talent?" A thread of Number 88's voice reached Chang Ye.

"Why can't they both be talents?" Chang Ye said.

"That's true! Xinyue's unique ability simply has very few chances to be displayed. She has always been struggling in fields she isn't good at. To achieve what she has in an area she isn't suited for does indeed make her a genius!"

"That isn't the key. The key is that she still has one chance to trigger her supernatural ability. That is a privilege exclusive to second-generation Gene People. Some say second-generation Gene People are the most likely to 'awaken'!"

Awaken!

Even when the word came from their mouths, it carried boundless mystery...

"Second-generation Gene People... that truly is a profound subject." Number 88 said, "What does a Grandmaster of Medicine like you think of second-generation Gene People?"

"Our ancestors once said that fortune and misfortune depend on each other! Applied to second-generation Gene People, that is probably the most accurate judgment..." Chang Ye suddenly raised her gaze and stared at Lin Xiaosu above them.

Number 88 raised his gaze as well. "Did you find something?"

With a swish, the two of them appeared beside Lin Xiaosu at the same time.

From the side, Lin Xiaosu's face bore an unsettled expression of lingering fear...

Lin Xiaosu took a deep breath and pointed at a solitary cliff ahead. "That should be where he sent the photo."

Number 88 let out a breath. "It's fine. Just climb that cliff. You won't fall."

He assumed Lin Xiaosu was still shaken because the lone cliff was extremely dangerous. As an ordinary person, he was afraid of heights.

Yet he could never have imagined that Lin Xiaosu had "seen" a truly horrifying scene.

When Number 325 passed through here, a white snake slid through the grass. It was incredibly fast, and Number 325's reaction was equally astonishing. He spun on his foot and stepped three paces forward.

However, he still failed to completely avoid the white snake's attack. The snake slid past his leg, and in that instant, the scales on its body abruptly flared open like sharp swords, actually slicing a gash into his Dragon Scale Armor.

By the time Number 325's sharp eyes fixed on the grass below, the white snake had already burrowed underground.

He probably had not seen it clearly.

But when he saw the gash in his Dragon Scale Armor, he was greatly startled.

This was the "major discovery" he had mentioned!

There was something unusual in the mountains that could tear apart Dragon Scale Armor.

But he had not seen clearly what it was.

Lin Xiaosu had seen it clearly. It was a white snake. It looked exactly like an ordinary snake, except when it attacked.

Its speed surpassed that of ordinary snakes by more than tenfold.

Its scales could even rip apart Dragon Scale Armor.

How formidable was Dragon Scale Armor? Even the imitation Dragon Scale Armor Lin Xiaosu wore could not be easily torn apart by wild mountain beasts.

Lin Xiaosu remained shaken because he had suddenly realized that even with powerful equipment and three Qianlong experts beside him, if that snake launched a surprise attack, he would still be doomed...

Even these three Qianlong experts would be in great danger.

Lin Xiaosu climbed the solitary cliff, and Number 88 followed. Taking out his communicator and checking it, Number 88 nodded lightly. "Indeed, there is a faint signal here. Number 325 sent the photo from this spot."

"The next step is to trace where he went down the mountain. When you came up just now, did you find any signs of him descending?" Chang Ye asked Lin Xiaosu.

"No. He didn't go back the way he came."

"If he didn't go back the way he came, then it can only be over there..." Chang Ye pointed toward the forest where Lin Xiaosu had found the white snake. A mountain ridge there led toward another range.

Lin Xiaosu nodded and returned to the woodland where the white snake had appeared. Once again, he saw Number 325. Number 325 made the same movements as he had, only far more clearly.

He deliberately walked into the deep grass...

He was using himself as bait to lure the unknown hunter into attacking.

In his hand, he gripped a Dragon Scales dagger, his mind intensely focused.

In modern society, on the eve of the genetic age, miraculous genes were what every nation dreamed of. Encountering a mysterious creature capable of tearing apart Dragon Scale Armor, he regarded it as a "major discovery." So despite the danger, he lured the hunter to attack in the deep grass. Yes, at this moment, he had made himself bait. Wasn't the attacker the hunter?

Of course, as a Qianlong Gold Medal, he himself was also a hunter!

It would depend on whose methods were superior.

Second by second, time passed...

Lin Xiaosu seemed to have slipped into the role of the person he was "observing"...

He unconsciously held his breath and concentrated...

Number 88 and Chang Ye exchanged a glance, unable to understand. Yet they keenly sensed that Lin Xiaosu had discovered another mystery.

What was it?

They looked in the direction of his gaze, but could see nothing at all.

Within Lin Xiaosu's "vision," he finally saw the whole picture...

It was so terrifying...

As Number 325 took a step forward, a white snake burst from underground, swift as lightning. From the way it moved, it hardly seemed like a living creature at all. It was unmistakably like an arrow.

It shot toward Number 325's lower abdomen.

Number 325's reaction speed was astonishingly fast.

He suddenly reached out, and his hand, clad in a specialized glove glowing with faint blue light, firmly seized the white snake.

The snake's tail snapped violently, sweeping across Number 325's chest like a sword. The Dragon Scale Armor over his chest split in two, and blood sprayed out.

Yet Number 325's face was as grim and still as water as he clutched the crazily struggling snake in a death grip.

The snake struggled with unprecedented force. Though it was only two feet long, it writhed in his hand like a gigantic crocodile. Number 325's expression was ferocious, veins bulging as he clearly exerted all his strength.

The snake continued using its tail as a blade, again and again tearing his Dragon Scale Armor to pieces and slicing chunks from his flesh.

For the first time in his life, Lin Xiaosu witnessed such a savage and brutal fight to the death, and his heart tightened again and again.

As time passed, the white snake finally went limp.

It looked as though Number 325 had finally succeeded in capturing the strange white snake.

But then, an entirely new scene unfolded...

Two people suddenly rushed out from a cave behind Number 325, dressed like hunters...

The moment they moved, their speed became unbelievably fast...

A cold glint flashed from their hands. Number 325's eyes abruptly widened as a sharp knife precisely plunged into his chest. If his Dragon Scale Armor had still protected him, the stab might not have pierced through. But his armor had already been torn apart by the white snake.

If Number 325 had not fought the white snake to the death, he theoretically could have avoided this fatal strike. But after that unprecedented battle, he was already utterly exhausted.

Here on Laoshan, he had reached the end of his life in the most unimaginable way.

He was already dead.

The spoils he had won with all his strength became someone else's spoils. The two murderers quickly cleaned up the scene and covered the bloodstains. Before long, the grass returned to normal. That was why they had not immediately noticed with the naked eye that a bloody battle had taken place here.

Lin Xiaosu moved his foot and brushed aside the turf.

Chang Ye's gaze sharpened, and she was greatly startled.

Number 88 also saw the bloodstains on the ground.

He crouched down, extending a silver needle from his glove toward the blood. Light flickered across his glasses as the database compared the results. Though there was no signal here anymore, the glasses had another function: storage. They contained Number 325's genetic information, and after comparing the data, they quickly reached a conclusion. "It's him!"

"He was injured. How?" Chang Ye's expression darkened.

With a swish, a figure that seemed both real and unreal rose from below. It was Xinyue.

She had crossed two mountaintops in a short time and scanned the distance with all her might, yet still failed to find her target. She could only catch up with the main group.

The moment she joined them, her heart sank. "C! You brat, you again..."

Her voice cut off abruptly because she saw Chang Ye's dark expression.

Xinyue lowered her voice. "Sister Chang Ye, what happened?"

Chang Ye did not answer. Her gaze shifted to Lin Xiaosu. "A Qianlong member being injured is no small matter. We need to hurry..."

Lin Xiaosu walked toward the cave.

Chang Ye's figure flashed, and she arrived beside him, fully on guard.

Just as she had said, a Qianlong member being injured was no small matter.

Under normal circumstances, a fully equipped Qianlong member could not possibly be injured. Once one was injured, it meant a major crisis had emerged.

Lin Xiaosu had locked onto this cave. There might be danger inside.

She was worried about destroying the traces ahead and did not dare walk in front of Lin Xiaosu, but she also had to ensure that if danger arose, she could rescue him immediately.

The cave was dim, as though no one had ever entered it. Yet with careful observation, traces of human activity could still be found.

Light shone ahead. The four passed through the tunnel-like cave, and a sheer cliff lay before them.

Below the cliff was a pool.

"Have the traces ended?" Chang Ye let out a soft breath. She had held her breath the entire way until now.

Lin Xiaosu nodded lightly. "They went down from here. Let's take a look!"

He pointed at a rock whose edge had broken off recently, showing that someone had descended from there.

"Down!" Number 88 tapped the ground with the tip of his foot. His clothes spread open like a paraglider, and he leaped down from a height of dozens of meters.

Xinyue spun, changing endlessly in midair as she descended more than ten meters through thin air. Landing on a tree, she grabbed and sprang from a branch, then stood steadily atop it.

Chang Ye reached out and grabbed Lin Xiaosu's belt. "I'll take you down!"

Lin Xiaosu felt the wind stir beside his ears as Chang Ye's clothes spread open too.

Her clothes differed from Number 88's. Number 88 wore standard skintight clothing, a Qianlong uniform.

Her own clothing resembled ordinary autumn clothes, the kind commonly seen outside. But when she spread her arms, those clothes also became like a paraglider. The clothing she wore was clearly Dragon Scale Armor as well, only it had returned to simplicity, transforming Dragon Scale Armor into everyday clothing.

Lin Xiaosu had always been somewhat puzzled about what rank she held within Qianlong.

Number 88 arranged the operations while she cooperated. It seemed her rank was lower than Number 88's, which was normal. There were tens of thousands of official Qianlong members, and being ranked Number 88 was already extremely high.

But whenever Number 88 spoke to her, his tone was especially gentle. Chang Ye rarely voiced an opinion, but whenever she did, Number 88 obeyed directly.

From that perspective, Chang Ye's status seemed to surpass even Number 88's.

Now there was another confirmation: Chang Ye's Dragon Scale Armor was more advanced than Number 88's.

What exactly was her identity?

As Lin Xiaosu glided down through the air, a chain of thoughts ran through his mind.