When I came back out, the woman lay motionless on the ground without any signs of twitching.
My discovery shocked me to the core. Perhaps my attack had been too severe and unexpectedly killed her. But with my understanding of the human body, it was very unlikely for such a thing to happen. After all, I held back during the attack.
As I approached her body, I noticed foam on the woman's lips, prompting me to the peculiarity of the situation. This was clearly a sign of poisoning which was confirmed by the needle as thin as a mosquito's proboscis stuck to her neck.
I looked up, only to see a man crouching in the treetop, exposing a thin pipe from within the leaves. This man was the same one who attacked me with the anesthesia. It seemed like he was deliberately waiting for me to check the body and step into his trap.
He was obviously unaware that I could see clearly in the dark, even better than during the day!
At present, Song Shichao was dead while Song Xingchen remained missing. I only had myself to rely on. If I was struck by another one of his needles, I would be at the mercy of others.
Quietly picking up two stones, I stuffed one into my pocket and held onto the other one.
I approached slowly, staring unblinkingly at the thin pipe exposed among the leaves. As I drew close, I deliberately stamped my feet, pretending I was still moving forwards. In the night so dark you couldn’t see your own fingers, the leaves trembled almost imperceptibly–the man seemed to be adjusting his posture.
Bare feet resting on the branch, the outline of his body and the position of his head was faintly discernible.
Stretching my arm at a snail’s pace, I aimed at his head and hurled with all my strength. Startled, the man shot a fine silver needle through the pipe. But this time, I was prepared and narrowly avoided the needle. At the same time, the stone I threw hit the man’s body.
Thin as a monkey, the man fell from the tree. Armed with thermal night-vision goggles, his entire body was painted in jungle camouflage. His limbs were so flexible that he managed to hook himself onto a branch as soon as he lost balance. In midair, he played with his tongue and out shot another flying needle aimed at me!
Fortunately, he was a considerable distance away so I had enough time to react. Dodging to the side, I found the needle stuck in my clothes, coated in the same drug.
Well aware that he had been exposed, the man no longer relied on ambush. He spit out the thin pipe, rolled his tongue, and added another pipe between his teeth. I couldn’t help but think to myself, Did this thing have fucking automatic reload?
His weapon seemed to be a small bamboo pipe with flying needles hidden inside. The two ends were probably sealed with bamboo paper, hidden in the cheek or hollowed teeth, so he could shoot again immediately after an attack, with almost no pause in between.
I started to run, keeping my escape route zigzagged, narrowly dodging two flying needles that flew dangerously on both sides.
I had originally assumed he wouldn’t keep up once I made it out of the woods. To my surprise, I turned back, only to be greeted by a man covered in green, crawling on all fours like a huge toad at a terrifying speed.
The man crawled noiselessly through the tranquil wilderness–a strange sight indeed!
Although he was very thin, his hands and feet were coarse and thick. Like an ape, he seemed excellent at climbing.
Right then, I recalled an extraordinary killer in the Jianghu known as the Mythical Man who could quietly sneak into any place and kill his targets with flying needles.
Because of their strange whereabouts and unpredictable behavior, the Mythical Men was even thought to be monsters by the ancients. The idiom “shooting sand at shadows” originated from these Mythical Men. In fact, lurking in the water while waiting for their targets to step into their trap was also a specialty of these Mythical Men. They were rather similar to the Japanese ninjas, but the history of Mythical Men could be traced back to the Eastern Han Dynasty. According to unofficial historical records, Empress Lu once paid the Mythical Men to assassinate Han Xin.
Sure enough, with great rewards came brave warriors. This killer who had been long lost to the Jianghu actually came out of hiding for the bounty on me!
The Mythical Man was hot on my heels, though in no hurry to attack. When I ran, he ran; when I slowed down, so did he. The man refused to give up. Finally, when I could no longer run, he suddenly rolled his tongue, squatted on the ground like a large toad, and shot a flying needle in my direction.
I dodged to the side and almost stumbled due to the force of my movements.
Staring into his eyes, I prepared myself for yet another showdown using the Eyes of Yama. But I quickly realized he had escaped by jumping into the grass between me and the highway. His camouflage was the perfect disguise as he was instantly invisible.
Without delay, I backed up, my eyes scanning back and forth through the grass, ears trying to catch every sound and movement. Right then, a whoosh came from somewhere in front of me. Not noticing any flying needles, I panicked and instinctively dodged.
I felt a small vibration on my foot as if I had been struck by a grain of sand. Looking down, I discovered a needle stuck in my shoe! Fortunately, I was moving when the needle struck so it pierced the surface of my shoe but not my flesh.
This entire time, I constantly reminded myself to stay calm. The Mythical Man had no other tricks up his sleeve except for the flying needles. I was safe as long as I managed to avoid them.
We remained in such a deadlock for about half an hour. Perhaps running low on needles, the man stopped attacking. Right then, a vehicle stopped by the side of the highway, and two people alighted. Their conversation was extremely clear amidst the deathly silence–
"Is that guy here?"
"This is his last known position. I’m sure of that. Geez, I didn’t think it would be this easy to make twenty million! Man that feels good!"
"I wonder which psycho spent twenty million just to buy a bone."
"Maybe there’s enmity between them. Oh, who cares about that? We will never understand how the wealthy think!"
From their conversation, I obtained bits of information–the bounty on me had increased yet again and perhaps my location was pinpointed by cell phone positioning!
No wonder criminals from all walks of life kept coming to my door. It turned out they had a system for locating cell phones. Once again, I had underestimated my foes.
The two men were obviously small fry, having exposed their goal before even getting started.
One of them whispered, "What the hell! Why are there mosquitoes here?"
"That’s strange, why am I so dizzy?"
Thud, thud! It turned out that the Mythical Man wasn’t going to share his bounty with two others so they were knocked unconscious with his needles. In fact, I thought staying here was safer than being out there. At least I had my own “bodyguard."
"Thank you!" I shouted towards the grass but got no reply.
The more important task at hand was to destroy my SIM card. Cautiously taking a few steps backwards, I pulled out my cell phone, ready to remove the SIM card when I received a phone call from an unfamiliar number.
Briefly hesitating, I ended up hitting the answer button though I kept my eyes on the grass, afraid to look away for even a moment.
"Hello, Great Detective Song!" came the husky, magnetic voice of a middle-aged man.
"Who are you?" I coldly asked.
"It's been ten hours since I arranged this surprise for you. You've held on for so long. I have to say you did a good job!" From the other end of the line came the sound of applause. "I am the Infernal Bone Trader!"
"Another one of the Jiangbei Daggers’ dogs?” I sneered. “Looks like you’re a dog who likes bones."
"Yes, you are very keen. I am a colleague and friend of the Dog Trainer whom I heard that you killed. So, the higher-ups sent me to meet you." He burst into malicious laughter, "Pleased to meet you. I hope we can get to know each other better!"
The idiom 含沙射影 originated from a mythical monster that lurked in shallow waters, waiting for unsuspecting people to approach before shooting sand at their shadows and making them sick. What the idiom actually means is to make insinuations or to attack someone with innuendo.
Han Xin (-196 BC): a famous general of first Han emperor Liu Bang.