Chapter 957: Sniping

Lu Xun took down the receiver. After pressing a series of numbers, a melodious tune slowly began to play.

Yang Xiao no longer tried to stop him, nor did he leave. Instead, he quietly squeezed into the phone booth with Lu Xun, his consciousness already following the communication signal to locate Bureau Chief Sun.

The phone rang for more than ten seconds. Just as the two thought the call wouldn't connect, a voice answered from the other end:

"...Hello?"

Two figures descended towards a moving freight train under the cover of night.

Before Chen Ling could even steady himself on the train, the hurricane beneath his feet suddenly dissipated. Fortunately, his sense of balance was exceptionally strong, and his feet landed firmly on the plastic tarpaulin covering the goods.

Chen Ling looked up and saw the masked figure on the freight car ahead of him stumble, almost falling.

"What's wrong?" Chen Ling asked, walking forward against the wind.

"...Nothing, just a bit tired."

The masked figure's voice sounded somewhat weary.

A hint of doubt flickered in Chen Ling's eyes. Logically, although it had been quite a while since the masked figure entered the battlefield, his frequency of action wasn't high. Most of the time, he was talking or controlling the wind to fly... Could it be that flying consumed so much spiritual energy?

"Then you should rest for a bit."

"No time," the masked figure said, turning to look in a certain direction. "They're catching up again..."

Under the vast night sky, several helicopters roared as they approached. At the same time, figures could be seen leaping directly from the aircraft cabins, diving straight towards their location!

"Why are they so persistent?" Chen Ling couldn't help but ask.

"As far as I know, the two Diviners of the Divine Path at Bureau 749 need a certain interval for each remote positioning. But their current tracking speed is too fast, which means they aren't divining your location. Instead, you've been afflicted with some kind of tracking spell."

"Tracking spell..." Chen Ling lowered his gaze to his body but found nothing amiss.

"Their tracking methods aren't easily detectable," the masked figure shook his head. "If we can't remove the tracking, we'll have to escape by distance... Those people aren't of very high rank, and their skill range only extends to Hushi. If we can get out of the Hushi area, they probably won't be able to pursue us anymore."

"Then why don't we just use the wind to leave directly?"

The masked figure gave a wry smile, raised a hand to grasp the edge of his mask, and slowly took it off.

In the dim moonlight, the grotesque demonic face detached from him, revealing a somewhat pale young man's face to the air, his eyes filled with helplessness.

Almost simultaneously, Chen Ling distinctly felt all the masked figure's spiritual power vanish the moment the mask came off... It was as if his Divine Path had instantly disconnected from him, leaving him completely an ordinary person.

"You..."

Chen Ling had never seen anyone whose rank and spiritual power could suddenly disappear, and he was utterly astonished.

"My power comes from the 'mask' and 'prayer'... but this process cannot last too long. The strength granted by the ritual gradually weakens over time," the masked figure said, lowering his gaze to the mask in his hand.

"Once the mask is off, I'm just a mortal... Right now, I can't control the wind to fly, much less take you away."

Chen Ling had never heard of such a method of acquiring power. He had previously thought the mask was an extremely special ritual artifact and that the masked figure's power came from it... But now it seemed this was the unique nature of his Divine Path.

"...That's certainly complicated," Chen Ling couldn't help but ask. "So, you can't fight at all now?"

The masked figure hesitated for a long time before managing to squeeze out a reply:

"Wait for me to recover a bit, there's still a chance."

"That might be too late..."

Before Chen Ling finished speaking, he suddenly seemed to transform, kicking the masked figure squarely in the chest without hesitation, sending him flying several meters across the freight car to tumble clumsily on the ground.

Just as he had said, after taking off the mask, he was completely an ordinary person, powerless against Chen Ling's kick. If Chen Ling hadn't held back his strength, he would have been kicked to death.

Almost simultaneously, a sniper bullet whistled past Chen Ling!

If Chen Ling hadn't delivered that kick, the masked figure would have been shot in the head, leaving no trace. This wasn't merely a guess; it was something that had actually happened in the previous "script."

Scarlet blood flowed from Chen Ling's seven orifices, making him look utterly grotesque.

"...Huh?"

Several kilometers away from the freight train, a woman holding a sniper rifle looked bewildered. "Impossible... How did he sense that from such a distance...?"

Chen Ling didn't possess such strong senses, nor could he foresee the future. He had personally witnessed the masked figure's head explode a second earlier, then instantly activated his "card."

He had modified the last line of the script, rewriting the masked figure's fate of being killed. The cost was that his entire body felt incredibly exhausted, as if completely drained.

"Last time, you crippled my arm; this time, you almost shot me in the head... Do you really think I can't do anything to you just because you're hiding so far away!?"

Chen Ling's eyes were bloodshot. With a low growl, he launched himself into the air from the freight train using his Cloud Steps, surging towards the sniper with overwhelming killing intent!

The female sniper was startled but didn't panic. Instead, she immediately looked through her scope, her dark muzzle beginning to track the rapidly moving Chen Ling.

Chen Ling, using Cloud Steps, moved extremely fast. In just a few seconds, he had covered two-thirds of the distance between them, his large red opera robe rapidly growing larger in the sniper scope!

This was a contest of speed and accuracy, and the female sniper was extremely confident in her shooting.

"You're asking for death," the sniper gritted her teeth and said.

Bang—!!

The brilliance of the Soldier Divine Path flashed behind the sniper. The next moment, a bullet imbued with several skills whistled through the sky!

But to her utter disbelief, Chen Ling showed no intention of dodging. He allowed the bullet to shatter his right ribs and lung, scarlet blood blossoming like fireworks!

The sniper scope magnified every detail on Chen Ling's face. With blood flowing from his seven orifices, he now resembled an enraged beast, his gaze like a gleaming, cold blade that made the sniper's heart tremble.

When the large red opera robe disappeared from her scope, she instinctively looked up. Under the dim moonlight, a red-clad phantom had already flashed before her!

"You..."

Before the sniper could even speak, a boning knife instantly sliced in an arc, and a startled head was thrown high into the darkness.

Covered in blood, Chen Ling stood steady beside the fallen sniper's corpse, scarlet blood dripping from the boning knife's blade onto the ground. Almost simultaneously, several stark, powerful helicopter searchlights converged to lock onto his figure.

He stood as if illuminated by countless spotlights, utterly exposed.