"Bang!"
Another burst of gunfire rang out.
Li Xingkong was already used to it. This was the fourth group of attackers he had encountered in the past few days.
As things had developed over those days, even more attackers had come looking for him.
Ignoring the bullets whizzing past him, Li Xingkong raised an arm in front of his chest, leaned forward, and charged at the approaching convoy.
A seemingly transparent shield floated in front of his arm. The bullets could only raise faint ripples when they struck it before bouncing away.
Once he closed the distance, Li Xingkong paid no attention to the stunned expressions on the faces opposite him. He fired off two Shotgun Spells in quick succession, smashing them toward the vehicles ahead.
It was as though a cloud of smoke had bloomed before him, except that this cloud swept toward the people opposite him at tremendous speed.
The smoke struck a car head-on with a tremendous crash.
The whole car seemed to slam into a wall. Glass flew everywhere, and the headlights burst apart. The tires facing the attack also gave several muffled pops and went flat.
The people inside the car had little fight left in them. The two in the front seats were covered in blood from the blast of dirt, while the people in the back seats fell silent for the moment.
Using his momentum, Li Xingkong leaped onto the hood. When he landed, his feet left two deep impressions in it.
He was annoyed.
The attackers over the past few days seemed to have figured out his whereabouts, and they were coming faster and faster.
Li Xingkong grabbed the person in the driver's seat and pulled him out of the car.
The man was still alive, but the pain had nearly knocked him unconscious.
Only after pulling him all the way out did Li Xingkong see his equipment.
An AK-47, full-body armor, and even a ballistic helmet. But perhaps he hadn't expected Li Xingkong to move so quickly; the helmet was hanging from his body, and he hadn't had time to put it on.
This was no ordinary thug's equipment. His gear was enough to pass him off as a professional mercenary.
Li Xingkong frowned. At first, there had only been small fry with a few handguns. The later groups had carried rifles, and now this group had even brought military equipment.
Trouble. Looks like there's no talking things out with this Luke Morgan.
Continuing to run like this was no solution either. Li Xingkong planned to settle the problem once and for all.
The simplest way to solve a problem was to get rid of the person causing it.
He wasn't going to run anymore. He was going to fight his way straight back.
"Bzzzt~ Number twelve, what's the situation? Have you found him?"
A sound came from the driver's body. Li Xingkong felt around and found a walkie-talkie.
Li Xingkong picked it up, wanting to see what else the person on the other end had to say.
"According to the information, this kid has a big secret, and his threat level is high. From the reports sent back the last few times, he might not be an ordinary person. He could be some country's secret weapon, just like the damn Terminator. You hear me? If you can't beat him, retreat right away."
"Hey, hey, hey? Say something!"
Li Xingkong brought the walkie-talkie to his mouth and said coldly, "He can't answer you anymore."
"Damn it, who are you?! Don't do anything rash. We can talk!"
Hearing that, the voice on the other end grew anxious.
"What do you want to talk about?"
Li Xingkong was also curious where the people on the other end had learned his location.
"First tell me, are they still alive?"
The person on the other end said nothing else, instead asking about the people on Li Xingkong's side first.
"Where did you learn my location?"
Li Xingkong didn't answer either. He went straight to the question he wanted answered.
"If they're still alive, I'll tell you!" The person on the other end still wanted to bargain.
Li Xingkong lowered the walkie-talkie and kicked the driver, who immediately let out a scream.
"All right, all right, I'll tell you. It was the Bloody Hand Gang. They provided the information."
The Bloody Hand Gang?
Li Xingkong had never heard that name before.
"They're Luke Morgan's agents. They're in charge of this whole thing! We're just their lackeys."
The voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie came through in fits and starts.
"Then what do you know about me right now?"
Li Xingkong intended to sound them out and see exactly what they had discovered.
"The Bloody Hand Gang put the word out that you're Eagle Country's secret weapon, maybe some kind of mechanically enhanced human or something. You have lethal weapons and strong defenses. They're very interested in you. The bounty's already been raised to twenty million, and they only need the body brought back."
It sounded a little far-fetched to Li Xingkong. Are they talking about me? Have they been watching too many movies?
But when he recalled the scenes from the past few fights, Li Xingkong had to admit their speculation made sense.
"That's all? Where are the people from the Bloody Hand Gang?"
Li Xingkong frowned. The situation was looking rather bad for him.
The more he fought back, the more interested this guy became in him.
Things blowing up was not good news for Li Xingkong as he was now. It was manageable if it was only these people from Prisoner Continent, but if other countries began to take an interest in him, that would be trouble.
But there was nothing he could do. He hadn't wanted things to develop to this point either.
"They're in Freedom City. Their core members won't come out to do anything this dangerous. They don't leave the city."
"You're in luck. Get here quickly and they can still be saved."
"Well? Now you know what I meant by a way out, don't you?"
The communication ended. Li Xingkong was sorting through his thoughts when the system popped up.
"I really didn't expect things to turn out like this."
Li Xingkong shook his head.
"I didn't expect this guy to be so crazy. He actually mobilized so many people just to find me. One thing led to another, and now things have gotten out of hand."
The system wasn't as troubled as Li Xingkong. Or rather, it had actually foreseen him reaching this point.
"This is another lesson I wanted to teach you: why cultivators sever their ties to the mortal world."
"Because you're strong, whenever you're faced with a choice, you'll choose to follow your heart rather than worry about so many things as you did before."
"And the consequence is that you'll clash head-on with other people. Once there's friction, the situation will escalate."
"Of course, that doesn't mean it's wrong to act this way. They aren't necessarily all that strong either. They were just used to using their hard side to bully ordinary people, and now that they've suddenly run into another rock, it's only natural they have to find out which one comes out on top."
Li Xingkong really didn't know much about these rules. He had been an ordinary person before; when would he ever have encountered this side of society?
"And in a cultivator civilization, a small conflict like this could ultimately spark a free-for-all between two sects, eventually obstructing one's own path of cultivation. That's why most cultivators uphold one principle."
"Stir up as little trouble as possible. If you have no choice but to get involved in trouble, then make sure you handle it a little more cleanly."
When the system said that, Li Xingkong clearly understood what handling it more cleanly meant.
"Things have already gotten to this point. How can I handle them cleanly..."
Having been through so much, especially with many of the people who had attacked him already having met their end along the way, Li Xingkong was clearly not as resistant to such things now.
"Hehe, I said I'd cover for you, and I'll naturally keep my word."
The system chuckled. Without any apparent sign of it doing anything unusual, Li Xingkong suddenly felt an invisible force spread out in every direction from around his body.
"Whoa, what did you do?"
Li Xingkong was awed by the force.
"All right. From now on, information related to your cultivation will only be passed on one generation. In other words, the people who know this information now won't forget it, but they can only pass it on to one person who doesn't know, and only through face-to-face communication. Aside from that, no related information can be transmitted in any form. For example, your paper records now look like a jumble of garbled characters to other people."
"Of course, there are no restrictions on communication between people who already know."
With a little trick, the system easily solved the problem that had been troubling Li Xingkong.
As for why it had left those people's memories intact, that was naturally because the second half of this lesson had yet to be taught.
"You actually have a method like that!"
Li Xingkong couldn't imagine how it had been done.
"Don't waste time. My spell will only last half a month. If you move too slowly, you'll have to wipe your own ass."
After giving him that warning, the system paid Li Xingkong no further attention.
Li Xingkong tossed the walkie-talkie beside the driver, then searched the car he had smashed up.
For no other reason than to see whether there was any spare body armor. Since he was going to handle things more cleanly, wearing one would make him feel safer.
His efforts weren't wasted. Li Xingkong found a bulletproof vest in the trunk, and it fit him quite well. He also took a reasonably clean-looking ballistic helmet from some unlucky fellow and put it on.
Now he felt even safer.
It was a sense of security rooted deep in the body's ancient bloodline. From warfare in ancient times to the present, the security offered by wearing armor had almost become part of human inheritance.
There were also plenty of guns and bullets among the spoils, but to Li Xingkong, they would only be the flowers on the brocade. He still had to make a swift journey back, and taking them would only add to his load. It wasn't worth it.
Once he was finished, Li Xingkong didn't hesitate any longer and immediately started back.
On his way there, Li Xingkong had tried to avoid riding in cars so he could evade pursuit, but now he no longer needed to worry about that.
He set off running toward Freedom City, maintaining a high speed the whole time. At the very least, it was hard to find anything faster than him on this highway.
He even overtook quite a few cars along the way, and the drivers he passed began to wonder whether they were dreaming.
How could anyone run at a hundred miles an hour?
About halfway there, Li Xingkong changed his means of travel.
There was no other reason than that he had encountered another attack on the way. This time, he had been more careful and left the car intact.
So, for the second half of the journey, Li Xingkong switched to driving.
Running was fast, but it consumed his stamina. If he ran out of strength and encountered another attack, that would be even more troublesome.
Driving had its advantages. At least his body could remain in peak condition.