Proactive Strike!

Everyone who knew Phoenix understood that when she was unhappy, the calmer her tone was when speaking to you, the more furious she actually was inside.

What kind of feeling was that?

They had agreed to grow old together, but he had secretly dyed his hair.

In Phoenix's eyes, Tang Fei's actions were far more serious than dyeing his hair.

Dyeing hair changed hair. Cultivation harvested heads.

Deception!

Yes, this was blatant deception!

"Explain?" Tang Fei looked at Phoenix and asked with a baffled expression, "Explain what? Oh, you mean deliberately exposing the fact that you're in the Qi Control Realm? I thought that even if I didn't say it, they'd know. Calling it out like that would just make us seem especially uncultured and ignorant."

"Then they'd underestimate us refugees from Old Earth." Tang Fei smiled sincerely. "There wasn't any other reason. I just wanted to make things a little easier for us."

"With your strength, stalling them for a while shouldn't be a problem. Once we deal with that Shadowless, we can go help you deal with Wufeng too. Isn't that killing two birds with one stone?"

"That's not what I'm talking about."

"Then what is it?"

"The matter of killing him." Phoenix pointed at Shadowless, who was lying on the ground. Even now, his eyes were wide open, his face filled with indignation and grievance at dying without closure.

Phoenix had been busy dealing with Wufeng and had not seen the details of their fight. However, she had seen the short arrow in his neck and the powerful crossbow the Old Man had been holding earlier.

She deeply understood Shadowless's feelings.

"Didn't you do the same thing? We relied on our own talent and strength to kill an invading enemy." Tang Fei shot back.

Though he had been dealing with Shadowless, he had kept an eye on Phoenix as she fought Wufeng.

If she got killed, then the supplies she had promised them would be gone. Wouldn't all their efforts during this time have been for nothing?

He did not do losing business.

Then he watched Phoenix deceive Wufeng with her terrible acting before stabbing a spear straight through his chest.

He could not understand it. Why were these people from New Star all so easy to fool?

Assassins?

Pah! They were not even as clever as the red-eyed rabbit they had roasted earlier. Even red-eyed rabbits knew to keep three burrows and wiggle their butts a little more when running away.

"I'm a Cultivator. I already told you that before." Phoenix looked at Tang Fei. "But aren't you a refugee from Old Earth? Aren't you the unremarkable top hunter of the Hate Mountain District? Aren't you the barbecue master's final disciple?"

"I'm not the barbecue master's final disciple. I am the barbecue master. I taught myself how to barbecue; I never had a master." Tang Fei said.

"You know that's not what I mean." Phoenix felt as though her chest were swelling with anger.

It hurt!

Tang Fei knew he could not dodge the issue any longer. He sighed softly and looked at Phoenix. "You know I'm a man with very little sense of security."

"So I don't wash my face in order to conceal my handsome looks. I didn't tell you I was a Cultivator in order to hide my strength," Tang Fei explained.

"Besides, we've only known each other for a short time. We haven't established a foundation of trust, and you came from New Star. What if you wanted to hurt us? What if you wanted to force us into serving you like beasts? So I had to keep something in reserve, so that if you had ill intentions toward us, I'd have a way to resist and struggle."

"Tang Fei, I thought we were friends." Phoenix felt deeply hurt.

"Friends? Of course we're friends." Tang Fei did not even blink as he spoke with a grave, earnest expression. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have shown you my true self."

"This is your true self?"

"Not entirely. You haven't seen my talented, profound, low-key, and cultured side yet." Tang Fei said. "There's plenty of time ahead. You'll get to know me slowly. Right now, the most important thing is discussing what we do next."

Phoenix's expression also turned solemn. "You're worried their companions will come looking for us?"

"Yes." Tang Fei nodded. "They found your trail, but they didn't notify their companions. That's a little strange."

Phoenix knew why, but she could not say.

"But if the two of them could find us, their companions can find us too. So we need to think about what to do next."

Tang Fei glanced toward the inner room. The Old Man was fighting Little Fatty for the last chicken foot. Tang Fei snapped irritably, "Are you two full yet? If you are, get out here and get to work."

The Old Man took advantage of the instant Little Fatty was distracted to snatch the chicken claw from his hand. Stuffing it into his mouth, he chewed hard and said, "Coming."

He walked out of the inner room and looked at Tang Fei and Phoenix. "Finished arguing?"

"Arguing about what? We were merely having a friendly discussion regarding certain matters," Tang Fei said.

"Looks like your relationship hasn't reached that point yet. Once it does, women can't stand being deceived." The Old Man smacked his lips. "Forget it. Let's discuss serious business. What do you two think?"

Tang Fei looked at Phoenix, and Phoenix looked back at Tang Fei.

Tang Fei immediately knew she had no ideas. He said, "When I brought her back, quite a few people saw us. Shadowless Wufeng Combination is such an unlucky name. No wonder they became shadowless and traceless so quickly."

Tang Fei could not help mocking the Shadowless Wufeng Combination's name, having long forgotten that he himself had named the group.

Tang Fei looked at Phoenix and the Old Man. "They found this place by questioning witnesses, and their companions can use the same method. Our little courtyard is too small for us to set up and maneuver properly. Once they come, we'll be surrounded like dumpling filling. In the end, we'll only be wiped out in one go."

"You mean luring them out?" The Old Man looked at Tang Fei, already understanding his plan.

"Yes." Tang Fei nodded. "Rather than hide in this little courtyard and wait for them to find and surround us, we might as well take the initiative and flee into Hate Mountain. What is Hate Mountain? It's our backyard, Little Fatty's and my playground."

"No one knows better than us where the foul water is, where the beast packs roam, and where traps can be set. On the other hand, these assassins all come from New Star. They look down on Old Earth and have no brains to speak of. We lure them into Hate Mountain and deal with them one by one, just like walking dogs. What do you think?"

"I'll listen to Big Brother." Little Fatty was the first to state his position.

"Don't you have any thoughts of your own? This is a consultation, a discussion. Not a one-man show." The Old Man cursed, disappointed in him.

"No. Big Brother is smarter than me. Big Brother can't be wrong." Little Fatty said with a smile.

"I agree as well." Phoenix nodded.

Though she felt that leaving the courtyard carried the danger of exposing themselves, as Tang Fei had said, taking the initiative was still better than being surrounded.

If those people found their exact location, one precisely targeted Little Bee bomb could blow them into minced meat.

Then everyone turned their eyes to the Old Man, waiting for him to state his opinion.

"I agree." The Old Man declared decisively, already issuing orders. "Everyone, pack up. Take the important things, and hide whatever you can't bring. Get ready to head out and get to work."

So this old fellow did not have any ideas either. Then what the hell had they been discussing for?

"I'll go hide the meat," Little Fatty said worriedly.

He had nothing valuable. To him, the meat was the most valuable thing he owned.

Today, Tang Fei and Phoenix had brought back quite a lot of prey. He had only taken out half a rabbit and one mountain chicken; he had hidden most of the rest away.

He was afraid that while they were gone, the bad people looking for them would steal the meat.

"Don't worry." Tang Fei comforted him. "These assassins from New Star won't eat our meat. They're afraid of leftover radiation."

"They're really picky eaters." Little Fatty looked reproachful.

Then he could not help grinning. Picky eaters were good too—no one would steal his meat.

Mr. Shanhe examined the small courtyard and the makeshift barbecue grill that had not yet been put away. He reached out and touched the ashes in the grill. "They left less than two hours ago. Still haven't found them?"

"Found them." The Clown walked out of the inner room, carrying a corpse in each hand. With a grin, he said, "No wonder they were called Shadowless and Wufeng. Turns out they liked playing hide-and-seek. Hahaha! Too bad. I still found them."

"I won. Victory."

"Clown, they were our teammates," Mr. Shanhe reminded him.

Shadowless and Wufeng were already dead, yet the Clown was still humiliating their corpses.

They were assassins, not scum.

Oh, assassins seemed worse than scum.

Assassins could do things even scum could not.

"Teammates? I don't have dead teammates." The Clown dismissed Mr. Shanhe's words. "Dead people can't provide any help to our operation, nor can they offer any emotional value."

The Clown threw Shadowless and Wufeng's bodies onto the ground and pointed at the masks on their faces. "See? What did I say before? If you kill someone, they can't see your face. But if someone kills you, they can look at you however they want, and you can't stop them. What's the point of wearing these masks?"

The Clown crouched down and rudely tore the masks from Shadowless and Wufeng's faces, revealing two plain, ordinary square faces. One was deathly pale, the other waxy yellow—faces that would be easily overlooked in a crowd.

"Pah!"

"Pah!"

The Clown spat on each of their faces and mocked, "That's all? These looks aren't even as good as mine."

"Exactly. Not memorable at all. Such vulgar men." Snake Woman played with the emerald-green little snake in her hand and chimed in with a giggle.

"Enough!" Mr. Shanhe shouted. "Though we come from different organizations, we are a team carrying out the same mission. If you keep openly and secretly fighting each other while hiding your own agendas, then we may very well end up just like them. Don't forget what kind of consequences we'll have to bear."

"Who's hiding an agenda?" The Clown pointed at Shadowless and Wufeng on the ground. "They were the first to find the target, so what did they do? They didn't say a word, didn't send the target's location, and ran over here intending to act alone."

"Fine, act alone if you want. But they failed and got taken out instead. Hehehe, that's hilarious. What agenda were they hiding? Do we really not understand? They wanted the biggest slice of the cake."

"So let this be a warning. I don't want to see this happen again," Mr. Shanhe said.

He walked over and examined the Shadowless Wufeng Combination's corpses. "Wufeng was wounded by a sharp weapon, and his heart was pierced through in a single strike..."

"The wound is smooth, and there are burn marks on the flesh. It seems the other side used New Star's most advanced energy weapon."

"Ordinary people cannot equip such weapons. It looks like the target was responsible."

He then examined the hole in Shadowless's neck, as well as the torn flesh left behind when the arrowhead had been pulled out. A thoughtful expression appeared on his face. "He was wounded by an arrow. That's strange. He was wearing a full set of nano armor, impervious to blades and bullets. How could an ordinary arrow pierce his defenses?"

"Maybe he was careless and gave them an opening?" a bald man suggested.

Mr. Shanhe shook his head. "He may have been careless, but his armor would not be. As long as you wear it, it protects you every moment. They must have used some special weapon, one far more lethal than ordinary blades or arrows."

Mr. Shanhe stood up. "Everyone, here's the question. Wufeng and Shadowless found this place together, so naturally they should have fought side by side to eliminate the enemy. Yet why were they both killed? And why were they killed by two completely different kinds of weapons?"

"Does that bitch have a Master protecting her?" the bald man offered another one of his "unique" insights.

"Impossible." Mr. Shanhe shook his head again. "The employer made it very clear. She fled alone in an Escape Pod. And that model of Escape Pod can only hold one person."

"Could Old Earth have Masters protecting them?"

"That isn't realistic." Mr. Shanhe's tone became somewhat uncertain. "Masters on Old Earth are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. How could she happen to encounter one?"

"This doesn't make sense, that doesn't make sense—what exactly happened?"

Mr. Shanhe glanced at the quiet young man behind him. "Little Knife, go ask around and find out who lives in this courtyard."

"Yes." The young man answered and turned to leave.

Mr. Shanhe looked at Snake Woman again. "They only left recently. They should have gone into the mountains. Your pet can finally be useful."

"No problem." Snake Woman placed the emerald-green little snake in her palm. After stroking its body for a while, she extended a finger and gently pressed the small raised button on its head.

Click, click.

The emerald-green little snake began to transform. Two small wings extended from either side of its body, and then it rose into the air, flying toward the distant mountains.

It was actually a Mechanical Snake.