Stirring Up Trouble

"Invisibility??"

Xu Tong's pupils constricted sharply, but he soon relaxed. After a closer look, he realized Zhang Hu's ability wasn't true invisibility, but rather a camouflage ability similar to that of a chameleon.

While invisibility and camouflage might seem similar, they were, in fact, worlds apart.

There is no need to go into the technical details here; suffice it to say that if one looked closely, Zhang Hu's trail could still be detected through subtle shifts in the environment.

"Wait for me here. If the situation changes, you can retreat at any time and rendezvous with the boss."

Zhang Hu's voice was low, yet it radiated immense confidence. He seemed completely unconcerned about any potential complications, his only worry being a dead weight like Xu Tong—after all, high-quality "pigs" were hard to come by.

Xu Tong nodded blankly, and with a single stride, Zhang Hu lunged toward the guards stationed at the entrance.

In the dead of night, the two guards were completely caught off guard. They only felt a gust of wind rush toward them, and by the time they realized something was wrong, a hand-blade had already struck the back of their necks with brutal force.

"Thud!"

With a dull, muffled sound, the two men collapsed to the ground. The entire process was devoid of any ripples, as easy as plucking a piece of fruit.

Zhang Hu grinned, tossed the unconscious guards aside, and slipped into the building with a sidestep.

Watching Zhang Hu's figure vanish into the hallway, Xu Tong slowly narrowed his eyes and glanced at the stone beneath his feet.

The wind on the rooftop of the building howled, biting at one's face with an indescribable sting.

The guard stationed on the roof squinted, scanning his surroundings vigilantly, shifting his position from left to right every so often.

Just then, a faint sound came from the distance. He hurriedly poked his head out to look, only to have a stone—flown from who knows where—trace a perfect parabola through the air and strike him squarely in the face.

"Aiyah!!"

A piercing scream tore through the night, exceptionally jarring, and the lights throughout the hallway suddenly flared to life.

"Who's there!!!"

Soon, a cacophony of crashing and banging erupted from within the building; clearly, Zhang Hu had been discovered.

As for Xu Tong, after throwing the stone, he turned and left without a second thought, paying no heed to the commotion and fighting behind him.

He did not go to rendezvous with Yang Zixuan and the others as Zhang Hu had instructed. Instead, he turned and headed straight for Zhou Huasheng's room.

Pushing the door open, he found the room already empty. It was to be expected; since Zhou Huasheng had directed Yang Zixuan and the others to steal items and people, he certainly wouldn't be sitting in his room waiting to be caught.

However, Xu Tong still rummaged through the room. He remembered that when Zhou Huasheng arrived, he had brought a large suitcase. Since he was heading up the mountain, he obviously wouldn't be carrying it with him.

Before long, he found the large trunk under the bed. Without taking the time to check its contents, he tossed it directly into his Prop Catalog and hurried away, heading straight for the poplar forest outside the logging camp.

Although Yang Zixuan and his group hadn't told him where they were meeting Zhou Huasheng, the logging camp wasn't large, but the surrounding woods were deep and dense. Given it was the middle of the night, it wasn't realistic to expect a man nearing seventy to travel too far to wait for them.

Therefore, without much thought, he could guess it was the poplar forest outside the camp. It was easy to navigate, close by, and once you exited the woods and turned left, you were met with the endless expanse of the mountain forest—undoubtedly the best location.

When he hurried over and took a careful look, he indeed found the furtive Zhou Huasheng hiding in the woods.

The old man had clearly been waiting here for a while; one didn't even need to get close to smell the pungent scent of tobacco lingering in the air.

Watching the old man hiding in the woods, craning his neck in anticipation, the smile at the corner of Xu Tong's mouth turned increasingly sinister.

He didn't understand schemes or plots, nor had he ever studied them, but in the mental hospital, there was an old man who loved to steal other people's things.

Once, when he was caught red-handed by a roommate and was about to face a "fist-based education" from his peers, the old man actually claimed that the person in the next bed had forced him to steal, and that he intended to use the stolen items to frame him.

The result was chaos throughout the ward, nearly leading to a death. The head nurse on duty that day was severely punished by the hospital, and the roommate who tried to beat him was locked in the solitary confinement room in the high-security ward.

Yet, the old man himself was completely unscathed; he was even rewarded with a large chicken leg for acting as an eyewitness.

Ever since then, he had remembered one phrase: "When trouble arises, first muddy the waters."

"Bang! Bang!!"

Suddenly, gunshots rang out from the direction of the logging camp. Zhou Huasheng's expression shifted: "What on earth is going on?"

The words had barely left his lips when a shadow came rushing through the woods. Zhou Huasheng tried to dodge, but it was too late.

A hand emerged from the darkness and clamped onto his wrist: "Zhou... Zhou... Mr. Zhou, something has gone wrong! Our people have been caught, we... we have to run, run now!"

Seeing the young man before him gasping for air, Zhou Huasheng couldn't quite process the situation: "Wait, aren't you... Comrade Xiao Chen?"

"No time, no time to explain! People are dead! If you don't leave now, the trouble will be massive."

Xu Tong didn't give Zhou Huasheng a chance to think, pulling him along as he ran deeper into the woods.

Zhou Huasheng was naturally filled with suspicion, but upon hearing that people had died and the situation had escalated, his old face paled, and he fell into a panic.

As he ran, he cursed: "What is going on? I specifically said to keep things quiet and not to escalate it. Why didn't they listen?"

"No time to explain, it's too complicated. Mr. Zhou, run along this path ahead. My friend is waiting to receive you in the woods up ahead. Don't stop for anything."

Xu Tong pointed toward the forest ahead and urged Zhou Huasheng.

Zhou Huasheng looked at the pitch-black woods in the distance, feeling skeptical, but before he could dwell on it, he heard the relentless sound of gunfire from the logging camp.

Xu Tong urged him even more frantically: "Go! If you don't go now, it'll be too late. As long as you aren't caught red-handed, no matter what happens, Zhang Hu and the others will take the fall."

Zhou Huasheng's heart skipped a beat. That made sense; regardless of whether he could find the Ascension Bureau, he absolutely could not be saddled with a murder charge.

Thinking of this, he stopped hesitating and patted Xu Tong's arm: "Comrade Xiao Chen, great kindness needs no thanks. If I find the Ascension... no, the ancient ruins in the future, I will certainly reward you handsomely."

With that, he turned and hurried off in the direction Xu Tong had pointed.

Watching Zhou Huasheng leave, Xu Tong gave a cold, mocking laugh: "What a fool!"

He then turned and headed back toward the logging camp.

Barely ten minutes had passed, but by the time he returned, the camp was in total chaos; on one side, a raging fire had broken out, while on the other, the sound of gunfire from Zhang Hu's direction was incessant.

After a moment of thought, Xu Tong walked directly toward where Zhang Hu was.

In theory, given Zhang Hu's strength, a few police officers should have been no match for him.

Yet, when he crept closer to take a look, he was deeply shocked by the scene before him.

The unassuming Captain Wang was actually trading blows with Zhang Hu, blow for blow.

It wasn't just him who hadn't expected this; Zhang Hu himself likely never imagined that this Captain Wang's strength was far greater than he had anticipated.

The two were standing in the corridor. A layer of ceramic-like armor had manifested over Zhang Hu's body, and the bullets from the surrounding officers' pistols were completely ineffective, bouncing right off.

He swung his fists, smashing away with wide, sweeping strikes.

Captain Wang was forced into a corner with nowhere left to retreat. A savage grin appeared on Zhang Hu's face; this guy had nearly made him suffer a major loss earlier, and even if he couldn't kill him, he was at least going to break a few of his bones.

Thinking of this, Zhang Hu's expression darkened as he raised his fist to smash into Captain Wang's chest. It was a strike meant to finish it, but Captain Wang suddenly crossed his arms and took the blow head-on.

Just as Zhang Hu tried to retract his fist, Captain Wang suddenly grabbed his wrists, pulled hard, used the momentum to step forward, bent his knees slightly, twisted his waist, and slammed his elbow directly into Zhang Hu's chest.

"Bang!"

Zhang Hu's face turned the color of liver. His body was actually lifted off the ground and slammed hard against the wall behind him, the ceramic plates on his body instantly cracking from the impact of that elbow.

Before he could even crawl up, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet struck him square in the chest.

Zhang Hu felt his chest go numb, and then, radiating from that point of impact, a searing, agonizing pain spread out like a spiderweb.

"Pah!"

The muscles in his chest burst open, and one could even see the shredded muscle fibers exploding outward. He opened his mouth to scream, but only blood sprayed out.

Watching Zhang Hu struggle to his feet, Captain Wang spat out a mouthful of blood and tossed his pistol aside, tearing off his tattered shirt to reveal a lean frame that looked as if it lacked any real bulk.

Yet, his bronze-colored muscles gave the impression of being tempered through fire; it was as if his physique were made of refined steel forged through countless blows, especially when he spread his arms, the latissimus dorsi muscles under his armpits providing a powerful visual impact.

"Come on! I've been training in the military for nearly twenty years, and there aren't many people who can take me on!"

Zhang Hu stood up with a dark expression. Facing Captain Wang's provocation, he clutched his chest, his eyes burning with a wicked fire as his killing intent became nearly impossible to suppress.

However, just as he was about to throw caution to the wind and kill this man, even at the risk of being reprimanded by his boss:

"Screeeeee—"

A sharp whistle cut through the air. Zhang Hu's expression shifted; he knew the boss had succeeded and was urging him to return and regroup.

The whistle was urgent, signaling that the boss was already losing patience.

After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Hu's face darkened as he pulled an item from his Prop Catalog and threw it forward.

"Bang!"

The entire corridor was instantly blanketed in thick, billowing smoke.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

When the smoke finally cleared, Captain Wang and the others looked around to find that Zhang Hu had vanished without a trace.

"Search! He must be nearby!" Seeing this, Captain Wang's expression turned ugly. He turned to retrieve his gun, but when he looked back:

"Eh? Where's my gun?"