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墨書 Inktalez
That night.
It was a dark and windy night, perfect for murder. The thick clouds completely obscured the moon, blocking out any trace of moonlight. As night fell, the insects in the forest and the dampness arrived together; even wrapping myself tightly in my tactical jacket couldn't completely shield me from the cold. However, at least tightening my clothes provided some comfort.
In the wild, one cannot easily start a fire, especially during a mission. Flames could bring unexpected trouble, and the enemy could gather too much information from the traces left by a fire.
Fortunately, I had enough self-awareness to wear thick clothing when I set out.
Time rewinds to earlier.
I had just returned from the Underworld and was preparing to report to Uncle Xing about Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva when I encountered an acquaintance.
It was Lin Zhao, a military officer from the Execution Office who had previously served as an instructor in our class.
The Execution Office is a very special entity; on one hand, it was established by the court, while on the other hand, no one in the Execution Office holds any position that comes from the court. Besides carrying out missions, the Execution Office also possesses its own power, which is represented by the entire unit that Lin Zhao belongs to.
Lin Zhao's unit nominally serves the country, but in reality, they only take orders from Wenquxing and are not part of Wenquxing—they have the right to refuse orders!
However, this time Lin Zhao sought me out for assistance. The Execution Office sometimes explores natural phenomena, and they had discovered a suppressed Ritual Platform in a mountainous area. Lin Zhao's team did not dare to act recklessly and immediately requested assistance from the Heavenly Bureau of Human Affairs.
Thus, this arduous task fell to me. After reporting to Uncle Xing about the Drowned Ghost incident, I was swiftly taken by Lin Zhao to their discovered Ritual Platform in the mountains. They did not tell me where this area was; I could only feel that the air here was very humid and that there were many mountains with hardly any flat ground.
Now we were resting about a kilometer away from the Ritual Platform since it was dark, and everyone was taking a break.
This was a temporary team led by Lin Zhao, consisting of about ten people. Aside from Lin Zhao, there were nine others affiliated with the Execution Office, all well-equipped with submachine guns, grenades, and entrenching tools, their faces painted with camouflage. There were also five 'Strongmen' who were registered 'superhumans' with the Execution Office and two guides. The superhumans were temporarily under my leadership and management; in addition to that, Uncle Xing had assigned me another troublemaker.
I was currently leaning against a large tree. Although I was very tired, I couldn't fall asleep at all because on the other side of the tree lay someone deep in slumber. The snoring was so loud it could rival thunder; because of this, I found it impossible to sleep through the long night.
The one snoring was Zhang Lei—Zhang Fan! Although his behavior did not resemble that of a Maoshan Cultivator at all, he was indeed the last legitimate descendant of Maoshan. Therefore, Uncle Xing entrusted him to me: firstly to gain more experience and secondly as part of Uncle Xing's training for me.
"Are you trying to train me? I think he's just torturing me." I stared blankly at the empty space with bloodshot eyes.
I couldn't see the stars above, as they were obscured by dense branches and leaves. Even without these trees, I probably wouldn't see much; the thick clouds today were overwhelming.
"Rustle." The sound of military boots scraping against dry leaves came from not far away. I turned around to see Lin Zhao.
In the jungle, an experienced team would definitely arrange for people to take turns keeping watch overnight, and it was Lin Zhao who was on duty.
"What's wrong? Can't sleep? Is this your first time resting in a place like this?" Lin Zhao smiled as he walked over to me.
"Not really." I stood up and pointed at Zhang Fan. "Because of him, a high-powered noise machine. Who can sleep next to him?"
I pinched my temples, forcing myself to wake up.
"Since you can't sleep, why don't you come over and chat?" Lin Zhao invited.
Lin Zhao and I were only acquaintances; we had met a few times but weren't close enough to have deep conversations at night. However, right now, I'd rather talk to him than stay near Zhang Fan.
"Sure, shall we move a bit to the side?"
Yawning, I followed Lin Zhao to a spot where we could observe our surroundings while being slightly farther away from the resting people.
"Brother Yin, how old are you?" Lin Zhao handed me a military water bottle filled with water.
I waved my hand to refuse and pulled out a packet of tea leaves from my Seed Bag. "I'll drink this."
I needed some tea to refresh myself.
Lin Zhao's eyes lit up but then he said regretfully, "You can't drink that; we can't start a fire here."
"Don't worry, Mountain Man has his own tricks." I took out a Fire Talisman. This Fire Talisman was an unfinished piece that I had stumbled upon while resting from Talisman Magic. An incomplete Fire Talisman can only release heat without igniting into open flames.
I pulled out a large aluminum teapot, added tea leaves inside, placed the half-finished Fire Talisman at the bottom of the kettle, and then infused it with my mana. Before long, the water began to boil.
I handed a teacup to Lin Zhao, who shook her head, signaling that she didn't want it, so I held the teacup myself and sipped the hot tea.
"I experienced some side effects from drug training during my time in the special forces. For you, tea can be refreshing, but for me, it's no different from a sleeping pill," Lin Zhao said after taking a sip of water.
"Well, you can save money on sleepless nights then." I lightly blew away the steam from the teacup and enjoyed a warm sip of tea, exhaling warmth as my body instantly warmed up.
"Is this difficult to learn?" Lin Zhao asked as she poked at the unfinished Fire Talisman with a stick. Although it had lost its effectiveness due to the absence of open flames, it remained intact.
"It depends on the person. Some learn quickly, but it's not that simple." I recalled how much effort I had put into opening up my Dantian; it was no easier than giving birth.
"Can ordinary people learn it?" Lin Zhao suddenly asked.
"Do you want to learn?" I looked up at Lin Zhao. "If you want to learn, I can teach you."
"I'll pass. In a few years, I'll be retiring and just want to live a peaceful life," Lin Zhao waved her hand.
"Having skills is useful for emergencies; if nothing else, it can help prolong your life," I tempted her.
"I feel like you're just like someone trying to sell multi-level marketing," Lin Zhao laughed.
"Multi-level marketing is just a copy of religion; without faith, living is exhausting," I said as I peeled a stick and put it in my mouth, leaning casually against a nearby tree trunk. My thoughts suddenly became heavy, and before I knew it, I fell asleep.
Just as I was planning to go to Zhou Gong's house to propose to the Daughter of Duke Zhou, I was roughly awakened by someone. When I opened my eyes, it was already bright outside, and I still had a stick in my mouth.
"You can really sleep like this? Next time don't bite a stick; try biting an incense stick instead. If it hurts, you'll wake up," Zhang Fan said in his unique way, delivering a long string of words without pausing for several seconds.
"I told you, you're not cut out for secret work. No one needs to torture you; as long as there's someone willing to listen to you, you'll spill all the secrets," I said, standing up and glaring fiercely at Zhang Fan.
"Who isn't like that? If I don't talk for a while, I start feeling anxious."
"Enough, enough. You can shut up now. From this moment on, you can only say five sentences. You have three left, so manage them wisely."
"Deal. You have to listen to my five sentences."
"Only two left. I suggest you save them for when you need to shout for help," I said seriously, looking at Zhang Fan.
""
When we rested yesterday, we were not far from the camp set up by Lin Zhao and the others. Besides Zhang Fan's slightly slower pace, everyone else was moving quite quickly. We finished the journey in half the time and could already see the camp established by Lin Zhao.
The so-called camp was merely a very simple square tent made of a few wooden poles, with a spot for making a fire.
However, it seemed that someone had already been living there. A blackened pot, charred from fire, sat atop a makeshift earthen stove, emitting wisps of blue smoke.
"Are those your people?" I asked Lin Zhao. "They haven't been here since last time, have they? Their survival instincts are too strong."
"No," Lin Zhao frowned and replied. "Our people have already left, and there are no scouts around. They shouldn't be from the military."
"Could they be wild people? That would be too exciting; I've heard wild people don't wear clothes."
"You still have one sentence left," I pointed a finger at Zhang Fan.
""
As we approached the camp, only about ten meters away, a person finally appeared from within the camp and noticed us.
The man was dressed in the kind of "pocket" outfit that an archaeologist would wear, with large pockets layered over each other, topped with an oversized hat. He appeared to be nearsighted, around twenty-three or twenty-four years old, tall and quite thin.
"Who are you?" The man noticed us and pointed at Lin Zhao, who had once been part of a special forces unit. He immediately raised his gun in response.
"What do you want?" The man panicked and shouted towards the camp, "Help! Something's wrong!"
"Shut up! If you shout again, we will shoot," another soldier beside Lin Zhao raised his weapon.
The man indeed dared not call out again, especially since we had guns.
At that moment, a rustling sound came from the tent, and soon another person emerged, dressed similarly to the first man but older—Old Xu.
"What’s going on? Who are you? Put down your guns!" The old man's voice was very deep and commanding.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Lin Zhao did not lower his gun.
"We are from the Archaeological Institute," the young man said angrily. "This is our teacher, the renowned Master Wu."
Wu Zhixiang? A good name!
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