Hunt Seeking
It had been nearly four months since Chen Ling advanced to the Third Tier and left the Aurora Domain.
For these four months, Chen Ling had never come here. This showed that his Spiritual Power was still growing slowly, but hadn't reached the standard to trigger the next "Performance." But at this moment... his challenge had arrived.
Chen Ling looked down. Right now, he was standing on the third step of this sky-piercing divine path. In the haze, the outline of the fourth step could be seen, it was just that there was still a very long distance. The position he was at was roughly halfway through the Third Tier.
"Just like when advancing from the Second-Tier to the Third Tier, do I need to complete two performances..."
Only by completing the performance before him could he continue to advance on the divine path. Otherwise, he would forever stop here... This was the price of stepping onto a Twisted Divine Path.
Chen Ling took a deep breath, his gaze falling on the line of small characters beneath his feet:
— [Under the witness of at least 2000 people, complete a soul-stirring killing performance]
Chen Ling's eyes narrowed slightly.
The keys to this performance were only three: 2000 people, soul-stirring, and killing.
In the Ancient Vault of the Drama Path, Chen Ling definitely couldn't complete this performance, so in all likelihood, he could only think of a way in the Timeline Save File... But two thousand people wasn't a small number. Getting them to witness him killing someone with their own eyes was even harder, and it would probably cause extremely adverse social impacts, leading to his subsequent actions in the Timeline Save File being hindered.
But compared to these two specific conditions, "soul-stirring" might be the true puzzle... What kind of killing could be called soul-stirring?
Pairs of scarlet pupils stared at Chen Ling in the darkness, teasing and expectant. Chen Ling pondered for a long time on the twisted divine path before completely shifting his consciousness, and everything around him slowly faded away...
When he recovered his senses, Yao Qing's face was pressed right in front of his eyes, looking at him in confusion.
"It's broad daylight, what are you spacing out for?"
Expressionlessly, Chen Ling pushed him away and continued walking toward the main entrance of the museum.
"...Hey, where are you going?"
"Back to the city."
Hearing this, Yao Qing seemed to have recalled some bad memories and asked in a low voice, "Why are you going back? Aren't you afraid they'll chase after you again?"
"If it's just me alone, they can't catch me."
Yao Qing looked at him with a strange expression, a look that seemed to say, "You're really showing off."
What Chen Ling said was naturally the truth. If it was just him alone, he could change his face and blend into the crowd. Previously, it was because Su Zhiwei and the others were driving, making the target too big, so he could only forcefully pull out all the informants.
Now that Xiao Chunping was guarding the museum, protecting Su Zhiwei and Yang Xiao, it undoubtedly gave Chen Ling more room to maneuver. Going out to move around in the short term shouldn't be much of a problem.
"Then you go ahead." Yao Qing crossed his arms over his chest and said with his head held high, "Leave this place to me."
"Leave it to you?"
Chen Ling raised an eyebrow. "Are you a good fighter?"
"..." Yao Qing bit the bullet and said, "Although I can't beat you, I did practice Sanda at school! Sister Zhiwei is a girl, Grandma is old and in poor health, and Dr. Yang Xiao looks weak and frail. Of course, only I can step up!"
Chen Ling looked at him with a half-smile for a moment, then nodded slightly.
"Alright, then I'll leave it to you."
After saying that, Chen Ling turned around and left, walking straight in the direction of the city.
Yao Qing was suddenly startled. "Aren't you going to drive?"
"Your license plate has already been exposed. I need to change cars."
Chen Ling walked to the side of the road and casually flagged down an empty truck passing by. After transferring two million in "rent" to the driver on the spot, he whizzed away amidst Yao Qing's dumbfounded gaze.
On the second floor of the museum.
Xiao Chunping stood in front of the window, leaning on her walking stick with both hands, also looking at Chen Ling's departing back, lost in thought.
...
Meanwhile.
Loujiang Highway.
On the empty and spacious road, a black sedan slowly decelerated and pulled over. A figure wearing a pitch-black cloak stepped out of the car, his deep gaze under the hood slowly sweeping across the surroundings.
"This is it." In the driver's seat, Vulture calmly lit a cigarette for himself.
"This is the location where the two cars inexplicably collided. There are still brake marks left on the ground. The place where the people in the other two cars were taken out should be further ahead."
With a light sweep of his gaze, Nie Yu took out a few small stones from his pocket and flicked his fingers.
Bang, bang, bang—!
The stones, which were no slower than bullets, tore through the air and produced sonic booms. In the next moment, the nearest road surveillance cameras were shattered. Only then did he slowly take off the black hood, revealing his true appearance.
"So vigilant?" Vulture raised an eyebrow.
"I'm still a wanted criminal right now. It'll be very troublesome if I'm discovered." Nie Yu paused for a moment. "Moreover, that man in the brown coat can manipulate electronic equipment. These things are all his 'eyes'."
"I see... However, there are only a few brake marks left here. How are you going to track them?"
"Any object in the world, as long as it moves, will leave traces."
Nie Yu closed the car door and walked to the center of the road alone. His gaze swept across the faint tire burn marks under his feet and the edge of the newly repaired highway nearby.
"These traces cannot be captured by the naked eye, but I can... Hunting humans in a city of steel is no different from hunting wild beasts in deep mountains and old forests."
He half-squatted down, lightly tapping his right fingertips on the ground. A pair of double-pupiled hunter's eyes, unique to the "Sky Wolf," gradually replaced his original eyes.
"[Hunt Seeking]."
When the double pupils completely covered his eyes, the world in Nie Yu's eyes suddenly changed. The bright sky was gradually covered by a deep blue, as if looking at the world through a deep blue glass. The color tone became visibly colder... At the same time, a large number of details that couldn't be captured by the naked eye began to surface before his eyes.
Overlapping and messy tire tracks were outlined from the ground. Those were the traces left by all the vehicles that had passed through this road in the past few days. Amidst these dense tire tracks, there were also scattered footprints.
These details left on the ground slowly rose up under the gaze of Nie Yu's double pupils. Based on their weight and degree of wear, they were arranged in chronological order, flashing beside him like a movie.
The electric car and the fuel truck seemed to collide right before his eyes. A figure descended from the sky and smashed another car to pieces with a single punch. Finally, a car slowly pulled over to the edge, and that figure slowly walked out from the back seat, then vanished without a trace.
He frowned and pondered for a long time. His gaze swept over all the rut marks left by cars driving past during different time periods one by one, eventually locking onto one of them...
His gaze extended into the distance along the mark of this rut, as he muttered to himself:
"I've found you..."