'This herbal tea... it must be tainted, too.'
As he pondered the Mysterious Organization's background and resources, an idea struck Su Zhou. He turned and rummaged through his backpack.
He opened his water bottle. He couldn't smell anything strange, but he had no doubt it was compromised.
'Their Soul Calming Spell isn't foolproof. Besides me, people with stronger willpower could probably resist it. At the very least, they wouldn't sleep so soundly and would've woken up from the bumpy ride.'
'But if the tea from earlier also contained a sedative, then it's a near-guarantee that any normal person would fall for it. It's almost foolproof.' Su Zhou felt a surge of relief that he hadn't been thirsty at the time. He hadn't touched the herbal tea in his bottle. If he had, he'd be dead meat by now, completely at their mercy.
'Damn it, no cell signal. Tsk. To have all this prepared... they must have accomplices among the local officials. Calling the police would be useless. My only option is the embassy.'
'Wait.'
But just as Su Zhou was about to carry his friend—who had drunk a whole bottle of the drugged tea and was dead to the world—and leave, his ears twitched. He frowned, seeming to have heard something.
Then, Su Zhou looked down, his gaze shifting between himself and Shao Qiming with a complicated expression. He sighed in resignation. 'You've got to be kidding me... They're here already?'
After giving his best friend—who was frowning deeply, seemingly trapped in a nightmare—a long look, Su Zhou immediately opened the bus window and slipped out as silently as a cat. Without hesitation, he broke into a frantic sprint, becoming a dark shadow that vanished into the forest.
Just like in a martial arts movie, Su Zhou, who possessed some counter-tracking skills, left no trace. He only stepped on the gravel of the path, not touching a single blade of grass or leaf. After running a certain distance, he pushed off with his feet, leaping like a cat to hide in a tree with an extremely dense canopy.
After this series of maneuvers, Su Zhou was confident that no one short of an expert tracker could possibly figure out where he had gone.
He watched the movements in the distance from the corner of his eye, while his ears perked up, listening for any information in the silent forest.
Soon, the droning of engines echoed from nearby.
Several modified, military-green vehicles, better suited for mountain terrain, drove from the direction of Kachin Mountain and arrived at the clearing.
CRUNCH. The cars stopped. Eight able-bodied men in teal combat uniforms got out. Su Zhou could see they were all of Asian descent, and their leader was a middle-aged man from Zhu Country. Flanked by two burly bodyguards, he walked toward the bus, his expression unclear.
"The bus is parked in the wrong spot."
Even from a great distance, Su Zhou could catch fragments of their conversation. The man from Zhu Country was speaking English with a remarkably pure accent, unlike most people from his homeland.
Not only that, but his aura was heavy and terrifying—an inexplicable presence like that of a Ghost. Even just observing him from the corner of his eye sent a shiver down Su Zhou's spine.
"Ge'ang didn't come out to meet us, either. That's very strange."
In the distance, the man from Zhu Country stopped and looked up at the bus before him. "There's a deathly aura."
"Someone is dead."
The forest was silent, so the sound carried clearly. The leader from Zhu Country tilted his head slightly. One of the other seven men, a large fellow, stepped forward, smashed a window, and vaulted inside.
Soon, the bus door opened, and the man who had gone inside reappeared, his face grim. He said to the man from Zhu Country, "Master Sukra, the situation is not good."
"Ge'ang's neck was snapped. He used a Secret Technique before he died, but it seems it was useless. Moba is dead, too—his neck was stomped and broken... Vicious."
"...Looks like we ran into someone unexpected. I told you, it wouldn't just be tourists coming for the 'Double-headed Serpent.' There would be trouble."
'Double-headed Serpent?'
Hearing this, Su Zhou, holding his breath in his hiding spot, felt his heart stir. That was the very thing he and Shao Qiming had come for. But now it seemed this 'target' was something the organization had intentionally released as a lure to attract tourists.
'Are they trying to create more opportunities?'
Su Zhou didn't have time to dwell on it. A moment later, the man from Zhu Country called Sukra waved his hand and gave an order. He pointed at one man and said, "You, drive the bus in the other direction, then come back with the observation team."
"The five of you, get the offerings off the bus and take them to the cave. The Void Trading Orbit urgently requires fresh, intelligent life. The Leader has pushed for it three times. The correct stellar alignment is approaching; we can't delay."
"Yes, sir."
All of them shouted their assent and immediately got to work.
He watched as the unconscious people were carried out one by one and loaded into the cargo bays of the modified vehicles, stacked like merchandise.
Shao Qiming was among them, deep in a drugged sleep. Luckily, one of the brutes noticed his frail condition and placed him on top of the pile.
"Master, shouldn't we pursue the loose end?"
One of the two muscular bodyguards Sukra had kept by his side, who hadn't been tasked with moving the bodies, asked this. He turned his head, scanning the surroundings.
Hearing this, Su Zhou's heart tightened. He was hidden extremely well, but if the enemy truly possessed a special Secret Technique for tracking, he might not stay concealed. He could handle one or two, but there was no way he could win a head-on fight against eight strong men.
"Go. But if you don't find any clear tracks within five minutes, stop. Let the observation team handle the encirclement. With the 'Secret Serpent,' he won't escape."
Hearing Sukra's command, the burly man nodded slightly. He narrowed his eyes, then ran off in the direction Su Zhou had taken.
Su Zhou could see that although the man looked bulky, his steps were light and his movements were swift. He quickly disappeared into the mountain forest.
He was off by just a little. He didn't find Su Zhou's exact escape route, veering off toward the one o'clock position.
Before long, everyone from the bus had been moved. The bus itself was driven back toward the main road, heading in the opposite direction to create a diversion. The man from Zhu Country and his other bodyguard waited for a while, until the tracker returned from the woods.
Without a word, the bodyguard silently shook his head. Seeing this, Sukra seemed unconcerned. The three of them got in their vehicle and drove off, heading deep into the mountain forest.
Up in his tree, Su Zhou, lucky to have gone undiscovered, narrowed his eyes.
That man from Zhu Country, Sukra, was exceptionally cautious. He was never alone, giving Su Zhou no opportunity for a surprise attack to forcibly interrogate him... Besides, judging by his height—at least six-foot-three—and his powerful build, even though Su Zhou's own strength was far greater than an average person's, he probably couldn't subdue him quickly. He would definitely be surrounded and captured by other members of the Mysterious Organization who would come running.
'This is bad. Qiming's been taken... Offerings, trading, and some kind of Orbit... Damn it!'
Gritting his teeth, Su Zhou felt a surge of anxiety. To watch his best friend be abducted right before his eyes... the feeling was indescribable.
He took a few more deep breaths to calm himself, then focused his gaze in the direction the modified vehicles had gone.
An ordinary person would never have been able to see any movement through the dense foliage. But Su Zhou, who could faintly discern even Ghosts, could see everything clearly. Not too far from this patch of woods, near a small hill, he could make out an inconspicuous little cave, camouflaged much like the area he was in.
There, people were carrying the unconscious victims into the cave.
'There are members of this organization in the tourist town, and I can't be sure if the local Patrol is compromised... Their "observation team" and "Secret Serpent" could almost certainly find me. Maybe that's what that black, ghost-like serpent shadow I saw in the village was.'
'Otherwise, they wouldn't have given up the best chance to track me so easily.'
Su Zhou's eyes flickered as he frowned and muttered to himself, 'My chances of getting out of this forest alone are slim. Even if I get an opportunity, it'll be fraught with peril, with almost no chance of survival... They have mysterious powers. There's no way an ordinary high school junior like me can...'
'Fuck it! Who needs a reason!'
I just want to save my friend!
Tossing all his concerns aside, the seventeen-year-old high school student—who supposedly 'studied so hard' he only slept five hours a night—clenched his fists. Forced into a corner by the 'Extraordinary' and the 'Unknown,' he finally made up his mind with the characteristic volatility of youth. 'How dare they come after me... after my friend?!'
A smile, twisted and ferocious, a mix of excitement and rage, spread across Su Zhou's face.
—You're all dead! Mysterious Organization or not, you're all dead!
The next instant, a RUSTLING sound was heard, like wind through the branches. A figure dropped to the ground, then flickered between the trees.
The shadow was silent, like an illusion, yet faster than a gale. And just like that, it followed the tracks of the vehicles that had carried the people away.