The moment Qingmu realized the danger, he immediately counterattacked. However, when he tried to hypnotize the other person, he actually sensed a trace of resistance from their consciousness. Although this resistance was insignificant in the face of his full Mental Power, it still startled Qingmu.
Just like when facing Mu Ka in Mianyue, if that refined drug dealer hadn't been so arrogant and conceited as to ramble on about his knowledge and ideals, but instead had fired his gun immediately, Qingmu really wouldn't dare say he could have taken him down unscathed.
That was under the circumstances of open warfare, with both sides on guard. But now, this guy hiding behind the tree is launching a sneak attack. Even if his last shred of conscious resistance is weak, he has enough time to fire. Besides, he can fire before Qingmu even realizes the danger.
Qingmu stopped and said to Bi Shenghua, "I suddenly remembered something. You take the Beauty back first."
Bi Shenghua knew Qingmu well. When she saw that his lazy demeanor had suddenly disappeared, she knew that something really important had happened. The tacit understanding and trust that had been cultivated over the years were evident at this moment. Without asking any questions, she simply said "okay" and took the Beauty's hand and left.
Qingmu watched as Bi Shenghua and Yu Meiren disappeared from sight before slowly walking, his steps clattering, to the back of the tree.
Hou Biao wore a sun hat, his hand holding the gun stretched straight out. The muscles on his tattooed arms bulged, and the veins seemed to rise from his skin. His finger was tightly gripping the trigger, ready to fire at any moment.
However, only he knew that his muscles were completely out of his control at that moment. Apart from his eyes being able to move, he couldn't move his entire body, just like when he was being suppressed by a nightmare.
He watched the man in slippers approach, his footsteps echoing in the river breeze that blew against his faded gray overcoat and disheveled hair.
A burly man holding a gun and a young man with his hands in his pockets stared at each other for a long time in the woods by the river. If it weren't for the fact that there was no one else in the park on such a hot day, passersby would have thought they were filming some melodramatic TV series.
After an unknown amount of time, Hou Biao suddenly felt a relaxation in his body, as if waking from a nightmare. Because he had been tensely trying to regain control of his muscles, his finger almost pulled the trigger.
"You really do know mind control." Hou Biao recalled that night in the bar when he confronted Qingmu and felt a sense of disorientation, and today's events confirmed his suspicions.
"You studied it too?" Qingmu asked.
"When I was a mercenary, I learned a few tricks from a hunter in the jungle; he could control wild animals. I never expected to find someone like that in the city." Hou Biao slowly lowered his gun, looking at Qingmu. "Why did you let me go?"
"And why didn't you shoot?" Qingmu retorted. "You clearly had the chance to shoot before I severed the connection between your consciousness and motor nerve centers. Besides, you've been lurking here for a long time, haven't you? You had a much better chance of shooting and killing me before I discovered you."
Hou Biao's facial muscles twitched. "I don't want to kill you by sneak attack, especially since you have a woman and a child with you. I want to kill you honorably, to make you die in front of me. But now I know I can't kill you."
"But why did you kill me?"
"You killed Master Jiang's brother, and I will avenge him."
" Master Jiang?" Qingmu thought for a while before remembering Jiang Deqian. "That guy deserved to die."
Hou Biao said, "I know, but Master Jiang was kind to me; Master Jiang gave me my life."
Qingmu said, "Then you should repay him with your life, instead of killing someone for him."
Hou Biao said, "All I know how to do is kill."
Qingmu said, "But you can't kill me. Logically speaking, if you can't kill me, I should kill you. But if I don't kill you, it means you owe me a life from now on. You owe that Chiang Kai-shek a life, but you've already done a lot for him and killed a lot of people, haven't you? And you owe me a life, but you haven't done anything yet, so you have to listen to me."
Hou Biao was taken aback. He felt that what Qingmu said made some sense, but also seemed completely illogical. After thinking for a long time, he said, "Are you trying to bribe me, which is why you're not killing me?"
"No, no, no, I won't kill you because you didn't shoot," Qingmu said with a grin. "If you regret it, I can give you another chance. Find somewhere to hide, and I'll walk home along this road. Before I get home, you can try to shoot me. I have no woman or child with me right now. If you kill me, you'll have your wish fulfilled. If you shoot but fail to kill me, then I'll have a reason to kill you."
Hou Biao listened quietly, seemingly considering whether to do as Qingmu suggested. The shadow of his sun hat covered his face, but it couldn't hide his sharp eyes. He said, "I want to fight you head-on. I won't use a gun, and you shouldn't use mind control."
Qingmu hadn't expected Hou Biao to make such a request, and said with a grin, "Oh, what if neither of us can beat the other?"
Hou Biao said, "No matter the outcome, we're even, and neither of us will cause any trouble for the other in the future."
"Okay, I agree, let's begin." Qingmu also found the suggestion interesting.
In the past, his understanding of himself was vague. He couldn't dream, yet he possessed powerful Mental Power, allowing him to enter other people's dreams at will. He didn't have amnesia, but whenever he thought about the past, he would get a headache at crucial moments. This headache wasn't a real headache like a stroke, but rather the kind of headache that made him restless and irritable when he was feeling lazy. There were many things he didn't remember learning, yet he vaguely found himself understanding them. This potential became even more apparent after his trip to Southern Yunnan. For example, even though he had never learned Japanese, he could converse with Japan in a cave; even though he had never been a soldier, he could handle a gun; even though he had never learned kung fu, he seemed quite good at fighting.
He once asked Professor Mei if there really were such things as self-taught or divinely inspired talent. After analyzing his situation, Mei Yiqiu said that he might have learned too much in his dreams in the past, so God shut down his ability to dream.
Qingmu thought about it and realized it was possible. A person who has lucid dreams can remember the things in their dreams in an organized way, and a person with strong Mental Power can control their dreams, so they can naturally learn in their dreams. And time in dreams is infinite; you can lie in bed and take a nap, and you can finish a university undergraduate degree in your dream.
Professor Mei said that many great inventions are accomplished in dreams, provided that you have a strong enough Mental Power to withstand the vastness of the dream space and the mental processing power required for brain overclocking, like a computer.
Qingmu was eager to prove his fighting skills. He knew Hou Biao was very powerful, and it was rare to find someone willing to go toe-to-toe with him in a life-or-death struggle. At the same time, he also admired Hou Biao's upright and honorable character.
In addition, he came up with a new idea on the spur of the moment.
When he first saw the dark muzzle of the gun pointed at him, a momentary fear rose from the depths of his heart. This fear did not stem from worry about his own life, but from worry about the situation he would face in the future. Even though they had prepared for the worst—most of the upper class had already been invaded, and the only reliable people were the scientists with Lester Signature and a small group like Qingmu —they still underestimated the danger of the invading consciousness.
If the consciousness invaders discover that Mei Yiqiu and his group of scientists are doing everything they can to deal with them, and if they have already controlled enough powerful and influential figures, how can they guarantee Professor Mei's safety? Mei Yiqiu's laboratory is not as heavily guarded as a national defense research center.