“Um… I…”
Tang Hao was drenched in sweat, utterly speechless for a moment.
Just moments ago, he had still held onto Butterfly as a glimmer of hope, but now…
Especially after witnessing Ling Mo end the battle in such a short time-through a method that seemed crude and simple to Tang Hao yet executed with startling and overwhelming violence-it left Tang Hao utterly shaken.
“Gulu…” Tang Hao subconsciously swallowed, his gaze toward Ling Mo now completely different. The resentment and complexity that had previously lingered in his eyes had now all transformed into fear.
“The whole thing… must’ve lasted about two minutes, right…” Tang Hao glanced at the corpse on the ground, and for a brief moment, the muscles on his face couldn’t help but twitch. In fact, there weren’t many gunshot wounds on Butterfly; most were merely grazes. To be able to miss this much and still pull the trigger so nonchalantly-while unnerving in its own way-wasn’t what shocked Tang Hao the most. What left the deepest impression was Ling Mo’s display of raw strength during that short span of time.
Just as Ling Mo had said, shooting was only meant to interfere with Butterfly’s sensing of air currents. The moment Ling Mo sensed him leaping into the air, he already understood what it was that Butterfly had been detecting.
Butterfly… his name and his superpower already hinted at it. However, to realize this mid-battle required not only keen combat instincts but also quick reflexes.
“It’s not merely about judgment; the key is his neural response speed… If he hadn’t continuously synchronized his rhythm with the shots to relentlessly attack Butterfly, how could he have left him with no chance to counterattack? On top of that, his physical reaction speed isn’t bad either! Otherwise, his superpower and his trigger-pulling rhythm could never have been so perfectly synchronized… He must have known, too. If he’d shown even the slightest flaw just now, Butterfly would have seized the opportunity-not necessarily to turn the tables, but at least to escape… Butterfly’s unwillingness to accept defeat stems precisely from this, doesn’t it…”
Tang Hao stared at Ling Mo with a pale face but, in his state of internal shock, failed to notice how drained and pallid Ling Mo himself looked.
“MeGu…” Xiao Bai, however, was much more perceptive. Standing obediently in place, the panda waited for Ling Mo to approach before eagerly stretching out its head to gently nuzzle against Ling Mo’s shoulder.
Ling Mo scratched under its chin before turning to Tang Hao. “What’s your plan? And what missions were assigned to the others?”
“I…” Tang Hao couldn’t help but shudder as soon as Ling Mo started questioning him. Yet, despite his overwhelming fear, he gritted his teeth and said, “I know if I don’t tell you now, you’ll definitely kill me… but if the plan fails, I’ll end up wishing I were dead anyway…”
“Oh…” Ling Mo glanced at him and suddenly sighed helplessly. “Then I guess I’ll just have to exert a little extra effort.”
“I’m already in this state… even if you do something more to me…” Tang Hao tried to put on a brave front, but in the next second, panic struck him as he saw Ling Mo suddenly raise a hand and press it toward his head.
He had no idea what this gesture meant, but the focused, icy look in Ling Mo’s eyes left a deep and terrifying impression on him!
“Ah! Wait, wait! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” Tang Hao immediately shouted.
By the time Ling Mo slowly lowered his hand, Tang Hao’s back was already drenched in cold sweat.
In that split second, he had seen a clear message in Ling Mo’s eyes: I can make you wish you were dead, right here and now.
It was too terrifying! Who knew what this man was capable of? Tang Hao, whose courage was already limited, nearly lost his last shred of composure right then and there…
What he didn’t know, however, was that Ling Mo had spared him precisely because of that cowardice. Who else would spill all their secrets when they lost control?
Butterfly, on the other hand, was far too dangerous. Ling Mo had originally considered searching his memories but gave up the idea after noticing the venomous hatred in Butterfly’s eyes. Interestingly, Butterfly had looked visibly disappointed when Ling Mo decided not to touch his body…
Unfortunately for Butterfly, there wasn’t much else he could do by that point. His final words before dying, however, carried a faint air of mystery…
“You don’t seem like one of those team members…” Tang Hao suddenly said cautiously.
“Really?” Ling Mo, now holstering his pistol, stood up. “When did I ever say I was?”
“……”
He really hadn’t said so!
“But if you’re not from a team, how would you have firearms like that? Teams with this kind of equipment-well, they must be pretty powerful and large-scale…” Tang Hao hesitated, unsure of what he was trying to achieve. He threw out his questions one by one while nervously gauging Ling Mo’s reactions. Ȓá𝐍∅ʙΕŞ
“You’ve seen… a Team?” Ling Mo thought for a moment before responding with a question of his own. As for revealing anything about himself, that was absolutely off the table.
Tang Hao shook his head. “Not really seen… I’ve just heard Butterfly mention it.”
“He told you?”
“Didn’t I tell you before that I was brought here from another district by him? Back then, it wasn’t just me; there were around fifty others too. But now… most of them are dead. Later, Butterfly would often go out to bring more people back, sometimes venturing quite far… Sure, we can transform, but none of us can stay transformed as long as Butterfly can. It’s impossible for us to cross so many streets. For those kinds of trips, he could only handle it himself…”
At this point, Tang Hao suddenly changed the subject and said, “But there was one time-he might’ve gone to another major district-where he encountered some survivors… They were much more disciplined than us and called themselves some kind of Squad… From what I heard Butterfly say, that area was mostly residential neighborhoods, so there seemed to be quite a lot of survivors. Unfortunately, that group was tough to deal with, and after Butterfly came back that time, he never went there again.”
“Which district was it?” Ling Mo’s interest was piqued immediately. Aside from Falcon and the F Team, he had yet to come across any other Camps in X City.
Moreover, Tang Hao’s description vaguely aligned with the location of his next target…
“The Bright District,” Tang Hao answered.
“Sounds so uplifting at first glance…” Ling Mo remarked, clearly considering the information.
Meanwhile, Tang Hao, feeling a bit sullen, thought to himself, There’s no such thing as a place that’s really uplifting anymore! But if he’s interested in this stuff, I might as well tell him more. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to get out of this…
“The plan?” Ling Mo suddenly asked, snapping out of his thoughts and turning his gaze toward Tang Hao.
Damn it! Couldn’t I at least stall for a bit?! Tang Hao immediately felt like banging his head against the wall…