The Mysterious Man

"Boom!!!"

The sound of the bowstring snapping loose plunged deep into his innards, making Xu Tong feel so miserable he wanted to vomit blood.

The arrow gleamed with a cold light, like a tiger leaping from its cage. It arrived in an instant, carving a sharp streak of lightning through the air, and in the blink of an eye was less than ten feet from Xu Tong! It gave him no time to react, dodge, or block!!!

But just then, a thickset, muscular figure slammed into him from the side, bringing with him a howling gust of wind. His body shimmered with a pale golden Light Armor, like a solid rock standing firm amid a raging storm.

"Divine Spirit Shield!"

The bone arrowhead struck Xiong Tao's Light Armor with a bang.

Unexpectedly, Xiong Tao's supposedly invincible Divine Spirit Shield proved utterly fragile beneath the arrowhead. It didn't even last a second before the arrow pierced straight through.

Fortunately, the arrow's trajectory had also been deflected, but the immense force still tore a long strip of flesh from his arm.

The moment he was ambushed, Xu Tong raised his gun—but his target wasn't the woods. It was Mad Dog beside him.

As he spun around, he pulled the trigger without the slightest hesitation.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Before the bullets could even fly, Mad Dog burst into motion at incredible speed. He rolled sideways across the ground, then his body rapidly began to swell.

"Wolf Transformation!"

A faint layer of black fur appeared across his body, and his muscles quickly bulged.

"Rip!"

As his clothes tore apart, Mad Dog's appearance changed completely. He had a wolf's head and a man's body, just like a werewolf in the movies.

His dark gray beastly eyes fixed on Xu Tong's face. "When did you start suspecting me?!"

He'd always thought his disguise was flawless. Besides, he hadn't spent much time with Xu Tong, and he'd followed his instructions precisely in everything they did.

What he couldn't understand was how the man had figured out that he was the problem.

Xu Tong didn't explain. He just kept firing.

But the bullets were clearly too slow to catch the transformed Mad Dog. He dodged them again and again, then charged right up to Xu Tong. His sharp iron claws slashed down, showing no mercy.

But two blades came slicing through the air even faster than his claws.

"Bang!"

Mad Dog smacked the Flying Blades away with one swipe, but in that instant, Xu Tong seized his chance. Black flames burned around one of his hands as he punched Mad Dog in the chest.

[Demon Power]

Consumes 5 Script Points. When activated, temporarily doubles the user's strength for 30 seconds. While active, grants the special ability Demon King Hand, which allows the user's hands to inflict demonic flame damage.

The demonic flames clinging to Xu Tong's fist caught on Mad Dog's fur and instantly roared to life.

The intense burning made Mad Dog grunt. He kicked Xu Tong away, then quickly took out a bottle of Yellow Talisman Water and splashed it over himself.

Looking at the flames extinguished on his body, Mad Dog turned to Xu Tong, surprise and shock rising within him.

The last time, Xu Tong had only given him 300 Script Points. He hadn't told him that he'd actually gotten two Prop Cards by swindling Zhang Hu.

That was why Mad Dog had been caught off guard and suffered a small setback.

Suddenly, Mad Dog seemed to realize something. He cried out, "You were already guarding against me back then!"

In an instant, he thought of all kinds of things that hadn't made sense. For instance, Yang Guanjin had clearly wanted to tell him something, but Xu Tong had cut her off as soon as she opened her mouth.

And when he'd been teaching Yang Guanjin how to be a good actor, he hadn't even felt like listening, yet Xu Tong had insisted on dragging him up to listen along.

At the time, he hadn't thought anything of it. But looking back... that bastard had been using the lesson to mock him!

As those details fell into place, a complicated feeling swept over Mad Dog. It was as if Xu Tong had been grinding him into the dirt and making a fool of him from beginning to end, while he'd actually been standing there clapping and cheering.

Seeing Mad Dog only just wake up to the truth, Xu Tong shook his head. "Slow on the uptake!"

"I'll kill you!!"

Mad Dog's eyes instantly turned bloodshot! It was as if all the blood in his body had surged into his head. His barely restrained rage swept over him in an instant, completely consuming his reason. With a howl, he lunged at Xu Tong.

Facing Mad Dog, who had gone completely berserk, Xu Tong had no choice but to activate his title skill, Retributor. A shield of invisible light enveloped him.

At the same time, he raised both hands and met the sharp claws Mad Dog brought crashing down.

A deafening boom rang out. Gravel blasted into the air, and thick clouds of dust rippled violently through the air.

Mad Dog howled and slammed both fists down again and again. Xu Tong deftly dodged them, but he had still underestimated just how much Mad Dog's strength had increased after his transformation.

The powerful shock wave hurled him into the air. The instant he lost his balance, Mad Dog spun around and punched him flying.

You might ask: what about everyone else?

As he tumbled away, Xu Tong caught a glimpse of Yang Zixuan summoning his Flying Blades and positioning himself in front of Xiong Tao. He knocked away every arrow shot from the woods.

At some point, numerous Miao people had emerged from the surrounding forest.

Unlike the Miao people who had adopted Han ways, these Miao people had thick mud smeared across their faces. They were short, dressed in pale blue clothes, and wore crooked horned hats.

Each of them held a bow and arrow, firing rapidly at the group.

But the truly fearsome one was the man standing behind them. He was tall and powerfully built, with well-defined muscles and rough skin, a deathly pallor mixed with brown.

Sparse gray-white hair hung over his shoulders. Strange tattoos were etched across his face. Though he said nothing, he bore down on them like a mountain.

"It's you!"

When Zhou Huasheng recognized him, he let out a shriek. He would never forget that demonic face. More than twenty years ago, this was the man who had attacked the village.

He was the real culprit who had slaughtered the entire village.

Hearing Zhou Huasheng's shriek, the man slowly turned and bared his black teeth at him. In heavily accented Chinese, he said, "Mr. Zhou, we meet again. I remember telling you that the next time I saw you, I'd skin you and make myself a pair of shoes."

Then the man glanced down at his own shoes and said to Yang Guanjin, "Perfect. Your mother's skin has cracked several times already. At last, I can replace it."

"Beast!"

Yang Guanjin's eyes reddened. She spat a black venomous bug from her mouth. Unlike the other bugs, it looked something like a beetle, yet also quite unlike one. Its wings fluttered as it streaked through the air toward the man.

She had kept this venomous bug for more than ten years. She could only use it once, and once it released its venom, it would die soon afterward—but whoever was struck would almost certainly die too.

The bug flew so fast it was nearly impossible to see, but the man suddenly thrust out his hand and caught it. He opened his mouth and tossed the bug inside.

The sound of him chewing—"Crack, crack, crack!"—made it seem as if he were popping a potato chip into his mouth, and he savored every bite.

"Not bad. A little tender, though."

As he spoke, he casually spat out a mouthful of black phlegm. It landed on a nearby tree, corroding a hole the size of a coin right through it.

"I'll deal with you later. First, I'll entertain our honored guest!" He looked toward Yang Zixuan and gestured for the others to stop firing.

He casually tossed aside his bow and clenched both fists. His beast-hide clothes visibly bulged as his muscles tensed.

Sensing the man's gaze, Yang Zixuan furrowed his brow. He could smell danger coming from him.

But rather than retreat, Yang Zixuan summoned all his Flying Blades and charged at the man.

As Yang Zixuan suddenly surged forward, a look of disdain appeared in the man's vicious, gleaming eyes. He let out a roar, and an acrid stench rushed straight into Yang Zixuan's face.

The stench washed over him. In an instant, warnings rang out beside Yang Zixuan's ears.

[Warning! You have been attacked by a special toxin. Your mental strength has decreased by 35%.]

[Warning! You have been attacked by a special toxin. The cost of all your skills has increased by 45%, and their cooldown times have doubled.]

[Warning! ...]

"Screw your warnings." Yang Zixuan's expression changed when he sensed something wrong with his body, but he didn't stop. Under his control, six Flying Blades formed a terrifying storm of blades.

But what Yang Zixuan never could have imagined was that his usually unstoppable Flying Blades were pushed aside by some force the instant they touched the man's body.

His heart filled with shock. The man had already raised his fist and rushed right up to him, bringing it down toward his head.

Yang Zixuan instinctively crossed his arms over his chest to block the blow, but his hurried defense failed. The man's punch smashed his arms aside and struck him squarely in the shoulder.

His vision went black. It felt as if an indescribably immense force had surged straight into him.

Then unbearable pain erupted in his shoulder. His body began to spasm uncontrollably, and an agonizing pain tore through him.