Chapter 78

A girl suddenly emerged from the bushes, with an ordinary face but a graceful and slender figure, her two braids hanging in front of her chest. The moment she looked up and saw Qianye, she was so frightened that she jumped. When she saw Qianye's face clearly, her expression became complicated, and she softly called out, "Qianye!"

"Mi Mi!" The name immediately came to Qianye's mind.

At that moment, Qianye was holding a dagger, crude and sharp, with a blood groove as its only decoration—the only weapon he could use. He was still a teenager, participating in a life-and-death exam with simple yet brutal rules: all candidates had to kill another student for the exam to end.

Mi Mi hesitated for a moment, then walked towards Qianye. Mist was everywhere, swirling and dispersing with her steps, undulating in the cold, frosty moonlight like flowing water.

She said softly, "I'm so scared! Will you kill me?"

"No!" Qianye was very firm.

Hearing Qianye's answer, Mi Mi visibly relaxed, quickly walking to Qianye's side and whispering, "Let's deal with the others together; our chances of passing the exam will be greater."

Qianye was still hesitating when he suddenly felt a chill at his waist! His combat instincts, honed by years of rigorous training, immediately made him lunge forward, then roll several times to create distance from the attacker. When he turned back, he saw the girl's hands and dagger covered in blood!

Qianye was both shocked and angry, pressing his waist wound and demanding, "Why?!"

The girl's face was expressionless, her voice mechanical and flat: "Because I want to pass the exam, because I want the reward!"

Faced with the girl's relentless advance, Qianye could only keep retreating, blood gushing from between his fingers, unable to stop it.

Mi Mi pounced, mercilessly swinging her dagger in a flurry of strikes, each aimed at Qianye's vital points. Qianye's expression turned cold, gripping the dagger tightly, and suddenly ignored her swinging blade, thrusting with all his might at Mi Mi's heart!

This thrust missed, and the thick fog suddenly surged and dissipated like a receding tide. Qianye found himself on a high cliff suspended in mid-air, looking down from a thousand feet to see rows of black lines slithering in the valley. He could clearly recognize Long Hai, Zhang Jing, Shadow, Shentu, and other instructors from the ant-like formations.

There was another person on the high cliff, dressed in deep robes and wide sleeves, the retro attire of the empire's upper nobility. He stood at the very edge, one step away from the void, his sleeves fluttering upwards as if he were about to ride the wind away.

Song Zining turned around, his smile still as warm as jade, "Qianye, look, that is my path."

At that moment, all the images twisted, and cracks appeared throughout the world, instantly shattering into countless pieces. Qianye woke up, the dream still vivid and incredibly real.

There was a faint sound outside the cave, almost indistinguishable in the howling night wind of the wilderness. This sound woke Qianye; one of the resonators he had set up had been triggered by a living creature, but the sound was distant, indicating the person was still some way off.

Qianye silently walked out of the cave, climbed to the top of a wrecked airship on the hill, and carefully surveyed the surroundings. The night in the wilderness was both quiet and restless. A small, inconspicuous point in his field of vision caught Qianye's attention. It was a slowly moving object, resembling a strange little beast, using the terrain to approach.

Qianye immediately recognized it as a hunter, and a very skilled one at that. He was almost indistinguishable from the surroundings. If there was a flaw, it was that the hunter was a bit too impatient, perhaps because it was the darkest part of the night before dawn, when most creatures would be unusually tired, so he moved a bit faster. In Qianye's night vision, it was almost as if he was strolling.

Encountering any stranger in the wilderness was extremely dangerous. Not only might their identity as a hunter be a ruse, but even among hunters, there was little unity. Most hunters preferred to act alone, not just for freedom but also to avoid being stabbed in the back. If a large mission required a team, they rarely allowed strangers of unknown background to join. A captain like Yu Yingnan was a rare breed.

So, recognizing this as a hunter, Qianye became even more alert. Observing the hunter's path, Qianye's face suddenly took on a murderous look.

Connecting the points of the hunter's movements with a pen would reveal a familiar route. This was the trail Qianye had deliberately left last night, originally intended for the birds. Now it was clear that this lone hunter was also tracking Qianye.

Qianye slowly climbed down from the airship wreckage and moved towards the predetermined position.

A short while later, the lone hunter had reached the entrance to the cave where Qianye was hiding, demonstrating exceptional tracking skills. The hunter moved even more cautiously, inching towards the cave entrance without making a sound.

At that moment, a stone under the hunter's foot suddenly made a sharp cracking sound. The hunter immediately froze.

This was a small warning trap, expertly concealed by Qianye's master-level camouflage skills, which had deceived this experienced hunter. However, he didn't deserve to lose; if the hunter could see through all the setups, he would find that a semi-circular network of traps protected the cave entrance, with only three to four meters between each trap.

A voice came from inside the cave: "Who's there?"

The hunter's body trembled slightly, then he decisively stood up, speaking in a normal tone: "It's me, Li Lunzhe. We've been on a mission together before. You are, Qianye?"

The voice from inside the cave relaxed a bit: "It's you. What are you doing here?"

"I'm on a mission and happened to pass by. I noticed some of your tracks and came to check. By the way, Qianye, I might need your help with this mission. The reward can be negotiated..." Li Lunzhe spoke while lowering the muzzle of the elemental gun he was holding and walking casually towards the cave.

At that moment, Li Lunzhe's left hand, hanging at his side, suddenly swung up, and three grenades flew into the cave!

A bright flash suddenly illuminated the cave, the light even spilling out several meters from the entrance, followed by a deafening explosion. The ground shook, and a thick cloud of smoke rose.

The flashbang, concussion grenade, and tear gas grenade, in a series of unexpected and continuous attacks, would temporarily incapacitate anyone hiding in the cave.

Li Lunzhe pounced towards the cave like a leopard, the patterns on his elemental gun fully illuminated, fully charged. Without looking, he fired a shot into the cave, then produced three more grenades in his hand!

This shot was not aimed for precision but for suppression. If Qianye could somehow survive the previous attacks and counterattack, he would be met with this shot. Li Lunzhe's attacks were relentless and ruthless, aiming to crush his opponent in one wave, displaying a bit of the style of the Netherworld Training Camp.

Three more grenades were thrown into the cave, but Li Lunzhe suddenly felt a heavy blow to his right side, sending him flying. He saw his right arm, severed from his body, flying through the air.

What was happening? Li Lunzhe was both shocked and angry, then his consciousness went dark.

Qianye stood up from the side of the cave, the muzzle of the Butcher still hot, and dragged the unconscious Li Lunzhe into the cave. As a Tier 3 firearm, the Butcher's power was four times that of a regular Tier 1 firearm, and with the heavy ammunition, it inflicted a severe injury on Li Lunzhe, a Tier 4 warrior, at close range.

After a moment, Qianye returned to the cave, having cleaned up the signs of the fight outside. He took out a small copper flask, took a sip, and then sprayed the alcohol on Li Lunzhe's severed arm wound. Li Lunzhe let out a惨叫, instantly waking up.

Li Lunzhe struggled, causing another惨叫. His wrists and ankles were pierced and nailed to the cave wall. The struggle immediately brought waves of excruciating pain.

"It seems the mission you took is related to me," Qianye said casually.

"You... how could you..." Li Lunzhe's words were cut off when he saw Qianye's right thumb, raised and pointing to the left cave wall. A bent copper pipe protruded from the wall, the end processed into several thin, jagged edges, the other end buried deep in the wall, leading to some unknown place.

Li Lunzhe suddenly understood; Qianye had used this copper pipe to transmit his voice, making him think Qianye was still in the cave.

Li Lunzhe's face turned pale, and he said, "I've lost my arm, and even if it's reattached, my combat ability will be greatly reduced. I can't afford such an expensive procedure. I know you won't let me go, so don't expect me to reveal anything. Just kill me quickly!"

"I won't let you go, but I'm not in a hurry to kill you. I believe you'll tell me everything you know soon."

In front of Li Lunzhe, Qianye took out a small leather bag from his backpack, opened it, and revealed a row of precision tools. They were small, bent needles, hooks, and oddly shaped knives, made of various metals, not standardized industrial products but handmade.

But Li Lunzhe's face turned deathly white; he immediately recognized what they were.

These were torture instruments! A complete set of torture instruments!

The more intricate and numerous the instruments, the more powerful they were. Qianye's set contained dozens of pieces, all handmade, indicating he was an expert in torture!

Qianye looked at Li Lunzhe with a slight regret and said, "I originally prepared these for the Sky Snake Gang, but I didn't expect to use them on you first."

In an instant, Li Lunzhe's shrill screams echoed through the cave.

Li Lunzhe had underestimated Qianye; Qianye's expertise in torture had surpassed the expert level and entered the realm of a master!

The Netherworld Training Camp had a specialized interrogation course. On one hand, it trained students to endure and respond to torture, and on the other, it taught them various torture and interrogation techniques. Most of the time, the instructors used various cruel methods on the students. Only by experiencing them repeatedly could they understand the strengths and weaknesses of each method. Of course, this also helped strengthen their will and tolerance to pain.

When the course first started, the classroom was in chaos, with many students fainting and being revived, only to be tortured into unconsciousness again. After a year, the classroom became quiet, with only occasional muffled groans. No one fainted, and some even chatted and laughed while enduring the torture. Thus, every graduate of the Netherworld Training Camp was an expert in torture.

After joining the Red Scorpion, Qianye began to learn elite-level interrogation techniques, further enhancing his skills.

Li Lunzhe only lasted three minutes before he revealed everything, both what he should and shouldn't have said.

Qianye changed the angle of his questions, going over them several times until he was sure Li Lunzhe was telling the truth. Then he sighed and said, "Nvjie was actually quite good to you. But you're not suitable for her."

"If it weren't for you, she would have been mine! If I can't have her, no one else will!" Li Lunzhe suddenly went into a hysterical fit, screaming wildly.

Qianye shook his head, aimed the Butcher at Li Lunzhe's forehead, and said, "In recognition of you being a warrior, I'll let you die by an elemental gun."

A loud explosion echoed through the cave.

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**End of Chapter**