Yaxi Street.
The streetlights along the entire road looked like bleary-eyed old men.
The light spilling from the lampshades was somewhat dim, leaving the whole street with poor visibility at night. Whenever a car passed by, its headlights could illuminate half the street.
Mosquito dismissed all his men, including Xie Dong, and secretly slipped alone into an alley opposite Yaxi Street.
Long before dealing with Tang Jian, he had already sent his men to investigate Tang Jian's movements. He knew that whether Tang Jian was heading home or going out, he passed through the alley on Yaxi Street every day.
This particular alley was pitch-black at night, without even a single streetlamp. It was a dark passage between two old buildings, making it ideal for doing things that could not see the light of day.
Calculating the time, Mosquito pulled a black stocking from his pocket and pulled it over his head. His entire face was obscured, save for two holes around his eyes. It had clearly been prepared in advance.
His cold, dark eyes shifted as he leaned against the corner of the alley wall. With a flick of his sleeve, a card appeared in his hand.
It was a White Card, its surface covered in intricate, complex lines and specks of starlike patterns.
A closer look revealed that those lines and dots formed a black mosquito, its long, vicious needle-like proboscis extended, its long legs hanging as its wings beat.
Pet-type Combat Card—White-quality four-star card—Poison Mosquito Card!
This card sold for around thirty thousand on the market.
Because it was a pet-type Combat Card, it was even more expensive than some auxiliary seven-star cards of the same tier.
The reason Mosquito had managed to earn a bit of a reputation in the local underworld was largely because of this Poison Mosquito Card.
"One light bite is enough to make that brat sick for several days. Hehehe... Where should I bite him?"
Mosquito stroked the Poison Mosquito Card in his hand, a cold sneer appearing beneath the black stocking covering his face.
To him, a student from an ivory tower like Tang Jian might have decent vitality and card energy, but he was far too green. He was nowhere near comparable to a social card disciple like Mosquito, someone who had fought and clawed his way through society and experienced plenty of brawls.
Especially since Mosquito was one of the best among them, possessing a pet Combat Card.
The Poison Mosquito's lethality was tremendous. If it bit a vital spot and injected its venom into the enemy's body, an ordinary person with vitality below 10 would undoubtedly die.
Even if it did not bite a vital spot, the affected area would immediately swell and itch unbearably. In severe cases, various infectious diseases could develop, causing serious fever, vomiting, drowsiness, and even coma.
At that moment, Mosquito was like a sinister venomous mosquito lurking in the dark, waiting for his prey to arrive.
Tang Jian was eager to get home. He had spent quite a lot recently, and the twenty-five thousand yuan Sun Yiying had given him was basically used up. That was why he had progressed so greatly over these ten days.
However, after absorbing all the Energy Cards bought with that twenty-five thousand yuan, he still had over sixteen thousand points of energy left unspent.
Tomorrow was the start of the Interstellar Tower assessment. Tang Jian planned to enter the dream once more tonight and strive to raise his strength by another level.
He stepped into the dimly lit Yaxi Street and headed toward another nameless alley that seemed slightly damp.
The moment he entered the alley, Tang Jian's heart contracted faintly. A shiver-like sense of palpitations ran through his entire body.
This feeling was not unfamiliar to him. In his previous life, he had experienced this vague, instinctive warning from a sudden impulse before encountering danger on many occasions.
He had even felt something similar recently while fighting in his dreams.
"Hmm?"
Tang Jian abruptly stopped. His bright black eyes scanned the pitch-dark alley, his gaze like that of a hunting hound watching its prey, full of vigilance.
Deep within the alley, Mosquito narrowed his eyes, somewhat surprised.
From his position, he could see the figure appearing at the brightly lit entrance across from him. He was certain it was Tang Jian.
But Tang Jian could not possibly see him hidden in the darkness. Yet Tang Jian had stopped at the alley entrance instead of walking farther in.
"Did he notice? He really does have some skill."
Recalling Xie Dong's description, a vicious glint flashed in Mosquito's eyes. He abruptly concentrated card energy onto the card in his palm.
Bzzzz—
The card transformed. The lifelike mosquito depicted on its surface suddenly had crimson eyes and bulged free from the card, flying out.
The Poison Mosquito beat its wings, its compound eyes and antennae turning. Its forelegs, covered in black-spotted rings, rubbed against its vicious needle-like proboscis as it dragged its heavy hind legs and shot forward.
Almost the instant the Poison Mosquito flew out, Mosquito slammed himself against the wall. His face turned deathly pale as he panted heavily, but his eyes remained fixed cruelly on the Poison Mosquito's flight path and the prey at the alley entrance ahead.
The card energy in his body had been almost completely exhausted in that instant, but now that he had summoned the Poison Mosquito, this battle could already be considered over.
"How dare he!"
At that moment, in a dark corner behind Tang Jian, killing intent and ferocity flashed through a pair of beautiful eyes. Sun Yiying could barely stop herself from rushing out of the shadows.
But when she saw Tang Jian's next action, Sun Yiying forcibly held back, staring intently at the card he flipped into his hand.
Mechanical Combat Card—Sleeve Arrow Card.
Tang Jian's gaze became incomparably cold.
The instant he heard the faint buzzing, he entered a combat state. The card energy throughout his body condensed to the extreme, ready to activate his card and attack at the first opportunity.
Just moments ago, he had clearly seen a pair of crimson lights suddenly flare up across the alley entrance, followed soon after by a faint buzzing.
There were few mosquitoes in this season. Even if there were any, unless it was a swarm, there was no way they could produce such an intense buzzing sound.
In that instant, a flood of information flashed through Tang Jian's mind.
His experience from his previous life immediately warned him that he had encountered a card cultivator. The card his opponent had activated was the pet-type Combat Card, Poison Mosquito Card.
Now, however, the buzzing had become extremely faint, nearly inaudible, and the crimson lights that had first appeared had vanished as well.
Tang Jian knew very well that this meant the Poison Mosquito had entered a lurking state. So long as he made the slightest careless move and gave it even a sliver of an opportunity, this predator would unleash a thunderous strike at once.
The Poison Mosquito could freely perform forward and backward rolls, dives, sharp turns, sudden acceleration, sudden deceleration, and other "high-difficulty maneuvers."
Moreover, the Poison Mosquito did not search for prey using those crimson compound eyes from earlier, but rather its antennae.
The fine hairs on its antennae could react to changes in airborne chemicals and were especially sensitive to compounds such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid, as well as humidity.
Now, the Poison Mosquito lurked in the night like an assassin hidden in darkness, waiting in stillness to strike, ready to launch a fatal blow at any moment.
Tang Jian narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, his body sprang forward like a released spring, taking a diagonal step ahead.
The movement made Sun Yiying's eyes light up from where she hid behind him.
Tactical footwork—Arrow Step Sprint.
Unlike ordinary relaxed walking, this footwork resembled a fierce tiger launching an attack. The sole of the foot made a driving, ground-scraping motion, while the spine and other muscles coordinated with the sprinting step to generate force. It was difficult to use without mastery of fighting techniques.
Almost the instant Tang Jian sprang forward, a terrifying buzz of beating wings suddenly rang out. A black shadow flashed past behind him in an instant.
Missed—
The Sleeve Arrow Card in Tang Jian's hand suddenly lit up, and his arm snapped out like a whip.
A crisp smack rang out clearly through the alley—
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