Joe Lingzhi’s teeth chattered, his breathing unstable.
Although Kamiyasu Kouichi refused to admit it, Joe Lingzhi was very self-aware; he knew that Yan Luo’s every comment about them was accurate.
Brandon was reckless, cowardly, and Kamiyasu Kouichi was even more stubborn, believing himself to be intelligent.
Yan Luo had a sharp perception, effortlessly designing this hunting mission based on their character traits.
He even went as far as using himself as bait, allowing Kamiyasu Kouichi to shoot him once, then crippling the fool’s legs.
Joe Lingzhi took a deep breath and shouted, "Brandon, act, this guy is ultimately just a mortal!"
While shouting, Joe Lingzhi took out a fiery red leaf, guiding it to transform into a small fireball, and pushed it forward with his hand.
Certain Abyssal plants could be grown on Blue Star, and their products could serve as affordable spell-casting materials, although the power of spells cast using these as mediums was not as strong as those using materials from Abyssal Creatures, but they were cheap enough.
The fireball shot out from behind the tree under Joe Lingzhi’s control, and the energy sensing module added to the helmet allowed him to sense the fireball’s position. With sonar in cooperation, the fireball raced towards Yan Luo.
Joe Lingzhi’s voice awakened Brandon, who instinctively lifted his shotgun and stepped forward from the trees.
Before Brandon could shoot, Yan Luo had already slipped behind another tree, and the tracking fireball struck the trunk, leaving a small scorched mark on the bark.
The sound signals emitted by sonar were collected by the receiver, converted into electrical signals, and then injected via brain-machine interface into an intelligent chip connected to Joe Lingzhi’s brain nerves, decoded and rendered into images on Joe Lingzhi’s retina.
The scenery from all directions was captured by Joe Lingzhi; he ’saw’ Yan Luo hiding behind a giant tree.
"Brandon, stop Kamiyasu’s bleeding, I’ll defend against Yan Luo!"
Kamiyasu Kouichi couldn’t die; if he did, the location of the Occult Lithia ore vein and Purple Fox Squad’s illicit sales of the ore would be discovered by the Hunter’s Guild. Even if Joe Lingzhi and Brandon survived, they could not escape the guild and United Government’s sanctions.
Joe Lingzhi, though timid by nature, was not stupid.
Thinking about ’law,’ he realized Yan Luo’s earlier words were actually deceiving them.
"Yan Luo couldn’t have prepared an email in advance to inform the guild about the Occult Lithia ore vein here, because he wants to kill us. The guild and United Government strictly prohibit hunters from killing each other. If he really prepared such an email, then in the guild’s view, he would be implicated in our deaths! Brandon, save Kamiyasu, then let’s kill Yan Luo together!"
Listening to Joe Lingzhi’s shout, Yan Luo’s mouth slightly curved down.
Joe Lingzhi guessed correctly; Yan Luo indeed didn’t prepare a report email.
Earlier, he said those words to provoke Joe Lingzhi and the others, drawing them into the battle location he chose.
If Yan Luo wanted to kill them personally, he couldn’t let the guild know about their connection. Just the ’having a grudge against the Purple Fox Squad’ couldn’t prove Yan Luo was the murderer of the three squad members.
But if Yan Luo had prepared that report email, it could explain his motive for killing.
The Purple Fox Squad’s three members were too focused on the Occult Lithia to realize this point.
The only concern was exposed by Joe Lingzhi, and Brandon suddenly reacted, rushing over to Kamiyasu Kouichi, dragging him behind a tree, and from his emergency kit took out a hemostatic agent to inject Kamiyasu Kouichi.
The needle-free syringe pushed the drug into Kamiyasu Kouichi’s body through the preset injection port of the exoskeleton. The drug, mixed with anesthetic effects, once inside Kamiyasu Kouichi’s body, eased his pain, calming his screams.
At this moment, Joe Lingzhi cursed.
Yan Luo’s figure vanished from his sensing module; probably due to using something like an ’invisibility cloak.’
Luckily, while Yan Luo used invisibility devices, he couldn’t use sonar, millimeter-wave radar, or other sensing systems himself; they could only observe each other with the naked eye.
Joe Lingzhi’s left forefinger touched his temple, activating the bypass drone in his backpack.
The upper layer of the backpack automatically unzipped, drones flew out, quickly dispersed, and gathered information for Joe Lingzhi.
The information collected by the drones was consolidated by the exoskeleton control system, forming a map in Joe Lingzhi’s mind.
Just as the map in Joe Lingzhi’s mind began to expand, an electromagnetic pulse suddenly appeared in the woodland.
In just an instant, all drones sparked with arcs, smoked, and fell from the sky, completely destroyed.
The Purple Fox Squad’s three external skeletons had anti-electromagnetic pulse coatings, unharmed, but they could now only rely on their eyes to observe their surroundings.
"Damn!" Joe Lingzhi’s face changed drastically.
The magnetic field was still unstable after the electromagnetic pulse, so Joe Lingzhi couldn’t use internal communications to talk with Brandon and Kamiyasu, resorting to shouting: "Brandon, Kamiyasu, quickly release your drones!"
Each of them carried some drones, and their backpacks were equipped with anti-electromagnetic pulse coatings. Brandon and Kamiyasu’s drones should be fine under the protection of their backpacks.
Yan Luo, like a ghost, suddenly leapt out from behind a giant tree near Joe Lingzhi, cloaked behind him flapping, startling Joe Lingzhi to quickly turn his head.
Only to see a dark gun muzzle pointed at his face.
Joe Lingzhi couldn’t even finish his curse before sparks flew from the shotgun muzzle.
The slug punched through Joe Lingzhi’s visor, drilled into his head, accompanied by a muffled thud against the inner helmet, and Joe Lingzhi’s eyes quickly turned hollow, his body lost support, sliding to the ground.
As the gunshot rang out, Brandon’s heart jolted, he suddenly looked up toward the sound’s direction.
Rapid shadows concealed Yan Luo and Joe Lingzhi’s figures.
Brandon’s calls echoed among the trees, without eliciting even a single echo.
Waiting for a moment, with no response, Brandon’s eyes rapidly reddened, he punched the tree beside him forcefully.
"Damn you, Yan Luo!!!"
Don’t get it wrong; there’s no deep camaraderie between Brandon and Joe Lingzhi; his anger arose solely because Joe Lingzhi’s death would lead to the disclosure of Purple Fox Squad’s illicit sales of Occult Lithia.
No matter if he could kill Yan Luo or not, he would ultimately die or live worse than death.
Kamiyasu Kouichi finally regained cognitive clarity from intense pain, dripping with sweat, his face pale, his lips trembling due to rapid breathing.
At the moment of regaining sense, as his vision was still blurry, he saw a round grenade bounce off a tree next to him.
Kamiyasu Kouichi’s pupils shrank; he used all his strength to roll over, triggering the backpack’s protective device, a film exploded around him, wrapping Kamiyasu Kouichi.
Brandon sprang from the ground, quickly backing off.
The bomb hit the top of Kamiyasu’s backpack, exploding violently, flame and fragments flying.
After earning so much money, of course, he’d arm himself to avoid dying prematurely.
Kamiyasu Kouichi survived this explosion, protected by the spider silk of a City-breaking level spider demon. But to avoid suffocation, he must break the protective membrane.
When Kamiyasu Kouichi used a special knife to sever the spider silk and crawled out from the protective membrane, the constantly-on sensing module captured Yan Luo’s figure again.
Yan Luo himself deactivated the invisibility device, likely to activate the sensing module.
Kamiyasu Kouichi’s face changed, as Yan Luo was charging at him.
"Brandon, quick, come protect me!"
Brandon pulled out a shock grenade, threw it directly towards Kamiyasu’s direction.
Though Kamiyasu would be affected, Yan Luo would experience stronger effects.
After all, Yan Luo’s exoskeleton’s level is much lower than theirs!
After the buzz, the entire woodland fell silent.