You What Weapon Do You Use?

Fu Qian glanced at the middle-aged man who had emerged from behind the stone tablet.

He was slightly plump, with unremarkable features and a loose-knit sweater. His hair was a little thin at the temples, and he wore a genial smile. At first glance, he looked like a twenty-five-year-old programmer.

The moment Fu Qian had left the group, he'd noticed someone following him. He'd ignored the man the whole way, never expecting him to pursue him all the way here.

Though he looked harmless, the man had emerged without making a sound. He moved as lightly as if he had no weight at all—clearly an expert at sneaking around and pulling off dirty tricks.

Getting targeted by someone like that was usually no good.

"I have to say, you've really impressed me."

The middle-aged man looked at Fu Qian with the gaze of a cat toying with a mouse.

"You don't stand out on the surface, but you're probably the strongest in your group. I nearly lost track of you myself."

"So quiet and patient. Given time, you'll surely amount to something. Of course, that's assuming you have any time left."

"You flatter me."

Fu Qian kept his eyes on the ring of invisible barriers and answered perfunctorily, as though he hadn't heard the man's last remark.

His reaction clearly took the middle-aged man by surprise. He narrowed his eyes.

"I'm a little curious, actually. Can you tell me why you left your group and came all the way here by yourself?"

"To make a getaway."

"To make a getaway?"

The answer clearly caught the middle-aged man off guard.

"Yeah. The atmosphere's a little oppressive, so I'm heading home to get some rest."

Fu Qian said it as matter-of-factly as someone announcing he needed to use the bathroom.

"An expedition led by Li Weixuan himself—people would kill for a chance like this, and you want to go home?"

The middle-aged man's smile turned cold.

"If that's really the case, then you don't need to hurry. I'll be sending you on your way soon enough."

"By all means, try to run. Or take out your Arrow Bell and see whether Li Weixuan can get here in time to save you."

Arrow Bell?

Fu Qian thought it over. He seemed to have heard the team members mention it while they were chatting earlier. In short, it was a survival tool the academy issued to every student sent out for field training, something like a flare gun for calling for help.

Since communication devices failed entirely in many forbidden areas, you could activate and launch one when facing a life-or-death situation to call for help and support.

"It's fine. I don't need to call for backup just yet."

Fu Qian waved a hand, then frowned at the middle-aged man and asked the question he actually cared about.

"What weapon are you going to use to kill me?"

What weapon?

The middle-aged man looked dumbfounded, as if he were thinking, Are you crazy?

"Don't you care why I'm trying to kill you?"

"No. And are you really trying to kill me?"

Getting no answer, Fu Qian sighed.

"What do you mean?"

The middle-aged man's gaze sharpened.

"I'm just guessing. You've followed me all the way here since I left the group. You've had countless chances to make your move, yet you insisted on following me this far.

"And now that you're about to attack, you don't ambush me—you show yourself openly and tell me I'm going to die. It feels like you're deliberately trying to put pressure on me and make me run."

"You even reminded me that I could use my Arrow Bell to call for help. None of that seems like something an assassin would do."

"Your target should still be deeper in the ruins. Are you trying to create a diversion?"

"You want to drive me as far away as possible, then use the Arrow Bell to lure Li Weixuan over to rescue me while you go back and kill your real target?"

"Interesting... Then why don't you guess who my target is?"

The middle-aged man lowered his voice. He seemed to be accepting Fu Qian's guess.

"That's not too hard to guess. First, we split into three teams. Since you targeted me so quickly, your target and I are probably in the same group. You noticed me leave while you were tailing us, figured it was a good opportunity, and followed me."

"There are nine others in my group besides me. Judging by your actions, you're clearly good at stealth and assassination. You followed us the whole way without even being noticed by Dean Li Weixuan."

"Li Weixuan can't keep his eyes on our one group the whole time. You could have looked for an opening, killed your target in one blow, then slipped away. That wouldn't be much worse than what you're doing now.

"But you didn't choose that. You're not confident you can kill your target in one strike, and you're worried Li Weixuan would come after you before you could get away. So you need more time to make sure you finish the job.

"Given your abilities, who in our group are you not confident you could kill in one blow—Ji Liushuang or Yuan Xin?"

Fu Qian looked at the middle-aged man. His pupils had clearly flickered when Fu Qian mentioned Ji Liushuang.

"Got it. Ji Liushuang."

"Hahaha."

The middle-aged man burst into laughter.

"If what you say is true, then why do you think I want to kill Ji Liushuang?"

"That's a little much to ask me. That classmate Ji looks like someone with a very high status. I'm guessing it's some kind of feud over the interests of a consortium or family.

"When things like that are involved, it makes sense for someone like you—a dog who's good at assassination—to show up."

Fu Qian remained expressionless. He had absolutely no interest in this kind of stupid mess, yet it kept finding its way to him.

"You're asking for death..."

After Fu Qian's string of taunts, the middle-aged man finally lost his composure and delivered the usual line of someone enraged and humiliated.

"Once I kill you, I can activate the Arrow Bell myself. It's the same either way."

In the next instant, the middle-aged man shot forward like lightning and appeared at Fu Qian's side. He silently struck out with a palm, murder in his eyes—

Sigh. After all that, this guy used his fists and feet too.

Fu Qian sighed.

What a waste of my precious time!

He'd thought an assassin like this would at least have a divine weapon, something he could test against the barrier to see if it could damage it.

What a disappointment.

Facing the terrifying strike, Fu Qian flashed to one side.

The middle-aged man hadn't arrived when Fu Qian tested the barrier earlier, so he definitely didn't know there was an invisible obstacle here. How could Fu Qian not take advantage of that?

That was why he'd been standing still the whole time.

Fu Qian's speed took the middle-aged man by surprise. He hadn't expected that even after being as cautious as possible, he'd still misjudged him.

His strike missed. Just as he was about to change tactics, he slammed headfirst into some kind of obstacle.

What was that?!

Staring at the empty space beside him, the middle-aged man was momentarily at a loss.

Before he could recover, pain flared beneath his ribs. A red whip flashed past, spraying blood into the air.

At the same time, an inexplicable surge of irritation rose in his heart.

There's something wrong with this whip!

Bracing a hand against the invisible barrier, the middle-aged man dodged the next two lashes, and the irritation in his heart eased a little.

It was only a minor wound beneath his ribs. He needed to avoid getting hit by the whip and close in to fight...

The thought had barely formed when Fu Qian's face appeared right in front of him.

This guy had given up his ranged advantage to fight me up close?

For a moment, the middle-aged man couldn't understand Fu Qian's move. Then pain flared beneath his ribs. Something seemed to pierce through the wound, its tip splitting into countless fine threads that burrowed deep into his internal organs and tangled with them.

The next instant, heat surged out in a burst. Amidst a sky full of blood, his corpse dropped heavily to the ground.