Autumn Leaf Blade (Bonus Chapter for Penguin Golden Alliance)

"Am I now the hunted deer?" Cao Wei thought to himself with a bitter smile.

To his even greater surprise, even with his exceptional hearing, he couldn't detect Qing Chen's footsteps.

This prevented him from locating the other party, leaving him unable to find a target even when he wanted to fight to the death.

While catching his breath, Cao Wei suddenly didn't want to run anymore.

He shouted into the woods, "Since you're too scared to come out, I won't run away either. Let's just stay here and wait it out."

As he spoke, he sat down alone, adjusting his breathing on the spot.

Cao Wei was gambling, betting that the other party wouldn't dare let him, C-Class expert, recover his strength and injuries in An Xin!

He silently lowered his arms to his sides and gently dug them into the soil. If the boy came out to kill him at that moment, he would launch a desperate counterattack.

But Cao Wei had just sat down when a sharp weapon suddenly whistled through the woods.

He suddenly flipped backward, the sharp weapon spinning and hissing in the air, just grazing his nose before embedding itself in the ground behind him.

Cao Wei looked behind him and saw a leaf, sharp as a knife, buried three feet into the ground.

He was startled. Autumn Leaf Blade!

This ability to cut leaves like knives seemed very novel to Qing Chen, but who in the Inner World didn't know about it?

The problem is, only knights who have reached B-Class have the basic ability to use the Autumn Leaf Blade. How can this boy who has just become a knight use it?!

Could it be that the knight chasing him now is no longer the young man from before, but a knight who has been famous for a long time?

Chen Jiazhang, Wang Xiaojiu, Li Shutong!?

No, if it really is these three, why would they waste their time with me?

Cao Wei suddenly realized that this was a prodigy who could unleash the Autumn Leaf Blade so soon after becoming a knight!

Before he could figure it out, another Autumn Leaf Blade came hurtling through the air, and he quickly rolled to the side.

If he hadn't dodged in time, he would probably be disemboweled by now.

Cao Wei gritted his teeth, got up, and continued running towards the woods. Since his opponent had the ability to kill from a distance, he could no longer recuperate in place.

The other party is more troublesome than I imagined!

Countdown: 33:00:00.

The hunt in the woods continued silently, seemingly unknown and uncaring to anyone.

In the silence, the sense of oppression grew stronger and stronger, and a tangible threat lingered behind Cao Wei.

But this hunter was more patient than Cao Wei had anticipated.

No matter how much he vomited blood, no matter how much he showed weakness, his opponent seemed to have no intention of coming out to fight him.

The boy simply hid silently in the darkness of the Forbidden Zone, like the most experienced lone wolf, waiting for his prey to exhaust itself.

Countdown: 30:00:00.

Cao Wei ran from morning until night.

But no matter how he ran, he couldn't escape the Forbidden Zone.

The injuries to his internal organs continued to worsen, and even a C-Class expert could not withstand it.

Cao Wei originally thought that as time went by, he would get tired, and the other party would definitely get tired too.

When the heart and lungs are overburdened for an extended period, the blood oxygenation efficiency will begin to decrease, the brain's thinking ability will decline, cold sweats will appear in the hands and feet, and judgment will become less accurate.

Their temper will gradually become irritable, and they will lose patience.

But for some reason, the feeling of oppression grew stronger and stronger as time went on!

In Cao Wei's perception, during the nearly ten-hour chase, the other party's steps never faltered, and he never managed to seize any opportunity.

The other party is like a cold, powerful, emotionless machine, and the body is merely a tool to perpetuate the other party's powerful will.

Cao Wei repeatedly asked himself, "Is this the kind of person who is qualified to be a knight?"

Without a doubt, the boy's raw strength was not as good as his, but his opponent was definitely the most patient opponent Cao Wei had ever encountered in his life.

The enemy is nowhere to be found, and the road is endless, which makes people feel desperate and suffocated.

Whenever Cao Wei wanted to rest, the vicious Autumn Leaf Blade would arrive as promised, urging him to continue his escape.

Countdown: 25:00:00.

Cao Wei was suddenly tripped by a tree branch and fell to the ground.

This time, however, he didn't intend to get up. He simply lay back on the ground, panting, and said to the dark woods, "Aren't you tired? I know your target is actually Qing Huai, so why don't you go find him first instead of coming to me?"

No one answered.

But Cao Wei didn't care. He continued, "When I was a kid, I also wanted to become a knight, but I wasn't as lucky as you. Later, I joined the army and used my military merits to get a gene serum. I thought that even if I couldn't become a knight, it wouldn't matter, I could still become a superhuman. But today I realized that I'm still far from it."

As they spoke, the Autumn Leaf Blade pierced through the air once more from the woods.

"Found you!" Cao Wei suddenly sprang to his feet.

Amidst the thunderous roar, he unleashed all his remaining potential!

Like a dying tiger, charging into a dark forest!

Cao Wei lying on the ground just now was not to admit defeat, but to put his ears closer to the ground so that he could better determine Qing Chen's location!

He knew that when the other party used the Autumn Leaf Blade again, they would immediately change their location to avoid being able to find their hiding place by following the trajectory of the Autumn Leaf Blade.

So, that's when you'll hear footsteps!

Having served in the army for over a decade, Cao Wei's meteoric rise in rank was not solely due to luck and physical prowess, but also to his intelligence, courage, and perseverance.

He fought his way up in the federal military, even being demoted to work as a dog for the Tuanzi, but he gritted his teeth and climbed back up. This kind of person would never sit idly by and wait for his doom!

In an instant, Cao Wei had already rushed into the dark forest. After more than ten hours, he was finally able to see the boy again, as well as the Flame Markings on the boy's cheeks.

They were so close, yet the boy's eyes showed no emotion.

It was as if he hadn't found the other person, but rather the other person was standing in this Forbidden Zone waiting for him.

Cao Wei found it strange, however, that the boy was looking at him with a strange gaze, like a butcher staring at a bull waiting to be slaughtered.

In the darkness, the federal soldier angrily slashed the dagger in his right hand in front of him. His arm and the dagger cut through the tangled leaves, viciously slashing towards Qing Chen's chest and abdomen.

But Cao Wei discovered that as soon as his muscles tensed up, the boy in front of him seemed to know what he was about to do, as if he had foreseen it.

After a chase that lasted more than ten hours, the expert's strength was also reduced to its lowest point by his injuries. He only felt his hand go empty, and his seemingly fatal blow missed.

The boy retaliated, his dagger grazing past the other's and leaving a deep gash on the boy's arm.

Cao Wei's legs arched like a bow, and he lunged forward again. As he swung his arms, the dagger could not touch the boy's body.

His opponent always seemed to be able to anticipate his next attack based on how he exerted his force.

Then launch a counterattack.

Just over ten seconds later, Cao Wei had more than ten wounds on his body, but he didn't even touch Qing Chen's clothes!

Cao Wei knew that he had slowed down and become weaker, but that was not the reason he was being suppressed.

The reason I was suppressed was because of the boy's judgment.

Cao Wei felt that the other person's reaction speed was not faster than his own. However, the other person was able to judge what action he was going to take by observing the changes in the folds of his clothes, the areas where his muscles bulged, the changes in his eyes, and the changes in the force exerted by his waist and legs.

He didn't know how the boy did it; he only knew that he was very close to death.

Very close.

Chapter Ten!

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