Chapter 19

Hao Qi marked the position of the shadow and did not rush to attack the person. Instead, he continued to maintain his accelerated thinking state and carefully observed the surroundings. Indeed, he soon discovered another very subtle black shadow, followed by a third one...

Although it seemed like a long time, in the accelerated thinking state, the actual time that passed was only about a second. Then, the people lying in wait saw Hao Qi retreat a few steps from the building, then suddenly sprint and jump. This jump was over twenty meters high, allowing him to leap across the street and land on another building. The speed of his movement was astonishing, and in just a few seconds, he had approached one of the ambush points.

"Damn!"

All the people at the ambush points immediately whispered in alarm. The person facing Hao Qi immediately jumped up and ran to the back of the building, intending to jump down from there.

"Run!?"

"Roar!"

Hao Qi was still in mid-air, at least fifty meters away from the ambush point. He let out a loud roar, and as he roared, his inner strength surged out of his body and condensed into a trumpet-like shape in front of him. This shape was intangible but substantial, and his roar was a full-force burst of his inner strength. The massive sound wave, concentrated through the trumpet-like shape, directly hit the person on the distant rooftop.

The person was still running, but the roar seemed to ring directly in his ear. He felt dizzy and disoriented, and without any reaction, he stumbled and fell to the ground. As he tried to get up, he heard footsteps on the roof, indicating that Hao Qi had already landed there.

"No, no, this can't be..."

The person struggled to get up, but his entire body was weak, and he could only crawl on the ground. Hao Qi walked up to him expressionlessly and whispered, "Don't blame me, this is the outcome you chose. You sought it, and you got it..."

As he spoke, Hao Qi punched the person's back, breaking his spine and killing him instantly. He then looked up at the other building and jumped out again.

The people on the other building were almost scared to wet themselves. From the moment Hao Qi was sniped to when he killed the second person and approached the third ambush point, the entire process took only a few dozen seconds. It was important to note that he wasn't killing just anyone; these were seasoned veterans who had been through real battles, and they were well-prepared snipers. Such combat power... such combat power... was beyond what a mercenary group could imagine. They had even dared to think they could kill someone at the Inner Strength Realm... truly asking for death!

The person at the third ambush point had lost his mind and started shooting wildly at Hao Qi as he jumped. However, after just a few shots, a black shadow struck him, hitting him right between the eyebrows. There was a sharp crack, and the shadow penetrated his skull, leaving a small hole that spurted blood and brain matter.

At that moment, Hao Qi threw a small stone from his hand, hitting the person right between the eyebrows. As he raised his hand to throw, an old man with white hair and loose skin, but standing straight, had been holding a long bow for several minutes, his arms and fingers completely still, waiting for this opportunity.

The bow was made entirely of black bone, with the bowstring made from the sinew of an unknown animal. The bow was at least two and a half meters long, and the old man, who was nearly two meters tall, had to strain to draw it. The bowstring made a bone-chilling taut sound as he pulled it, and his face, which had been pale for over a minute, was now flushed, showing the immense effort and inner strength he was using.

When Hao Qi threw the small stone, the old man was overjoyed and released the arrow. Strangely, the arrow was also made of black bone, and it was unclear what kind of animal bone could withstand such force.

"This is it! Hit!"

The black bone arrow, hidden in the night, moved like lightning, crossing a distance of over a kilometer. Hao Qi had just thrown the stone and was recovering his arm, but he was already exhausted and in mid-air with no place to brace himself. This was the moment when he was most vulnerable and unable to dodge or block. The black bone arrow struck him at this moment, and Hao Qi instinctively felt the extreme danger. He managed to enter his accelerated thinking state, but the black bone arrow was only a few meters away, and even in this state, its speed was terrifying. Hao Qi only had time to use one hand to shield his chest and twist his body to move his heart away... Clearly, the arrow was aimed at his heart...

"Whoosh!"

Hao Qi felt intense pain in his right chest. His last effort barely moved the impact from his left chest to his right, but he couldn't avoid it any further. The massive force penetrated his chest, piercing his lung, and a numbing sensation spread from the wound.

The force carried Hao Qi through a distance of about seven or eight meters before he fell from a height of several dozen meters, landing diagonally on the ground. He crashed into an old-fashioned car, similar to those from the 1920s and 1930s on Earth, destroying it and sending it flying. He then hit a street tree, breaking it, and finally landed against the wall of a house after several more collisions.

(Arrow... What a powerful shot. How ironic, I was just thinking that technology and inner strength were not unfair, but now even I feel this is unfair. Just a bow and arrow, and it's more powerful than a sniper rifle, with greater range and speed... Truly unfair...)

For some reason, Hao Qi felt a bit self-deprecating at this moment, but the numbing sensation in his right lung intensified, and he was left with only bitterness. He knew that he might really die this time.

The ambush with snipers on this street, and the two he had killed, made him mistakenly believe that the high-tech weapons were the main threat. But the real danger appeared, and it was definitely an arrow used by an Inner Strength Realm expert. Although he had sensed the killing intent, he had mistaken it for the snipers' intent. The sudden burst of power left him unable to dodge. What a terrifying Inner Strength Realm expert, what deep scheming...

Just a few dozen seconds after Hao Qi landed, as he struggled to stand, footsteps approached from the street. The ordinary people had already run away, so the person coming could only be an enemy.

Hao Qi struggled to lift his head and saw an extremely old man approaching with a bow. The old man walked slowly but was actually very fast, moving much quicker than a normal person. In a moment, he was about fifty meters away from Hao Qi and said, "I am Wang Diao, the leader of the Wu Team 'Soaring Nine Heavens.' I have accepted your baptism challenge. I know you have already passed three baptisms, and I am the last one..."

"Please, teach me!"