Chapter 100: The Vanished Target

Tanya listened to their account and cast Chu Ning a meaningful glance. She remembered all too well how often Chu Ning had taken care of the unnecessary. When Chu Ning shot her a warning look, she quickly schooled her expression.

“That is indeed rather strange. Didn’t you find anything suspicious?” Chu Ning asked, frowning. He was certain this was not his doing. So far, he had only been killing rivals; he had not yet gone so far as to erase the bodies afterward.

Could there be someone else hidden behind the scenes, quietly disposing of the competition? That was not impossible. Chu Ning had no confidence he could quickly root out the hand behind it all.

“Suspicious signs? Only some white debris on the ground, something like the husks shed by insects, and a few scattered stains of blood. That was what led us to suspect the bodies had simply vanished. We exchanged information with one another.”

Zhao Qing was silently weighing Chu Ning and the others. He had not missed the fleeting little gesture just now. It was enough to show that they had indeed disposed of quite a few useless wretches, and from Tanya’s astonished expression, they truly had not known the bodies would disappear.

That sent Zhao Qing into deeper thought. “When we compared notes, we found that everyone who had been taken out had disappeared completely. There was no need to deal with the corpses beforehand. The Horror Expedition Company handles the cleanup afterward, meaning they’ll blow this place to smithereens once the mission is over.”

“Blow it up? You mean there are bombs buried under our feet?” Tanya asked in alarm, her face turning pale as she looked around in panic, trying to spot where the device might be hidden. The idea of entrusting her life to someone else left her struggling to accept it.

High risk, high reward. Sure enough, earning money was never easy.

“That’s right. Or do you want to go around handling the bodies one by one? If they aren’t dealt with in time, the police can follow the trail of clues left on the corpses and extract all sorts of information. After all, a corpse is the most honest thing in the world.”

“What everyone here definitely doesn’t want is to end up in that situation. We’re not like you, some bodiless existence, Miss Ghost. And there’s no need for you to show your real face either. Your disguise is pretty enough as it is. I’ve no desire to suffer through the same ordeal as one of those online romance meetups, thank you very much!”

Zhao Qing said it without a second thought. He did not find Tanya’s identity particularly strange. Ghosts were hardly a rare species. He had encountered plenty of such things among his past spoils of war. Fear came from the unknown, and with his abilities, there was nothing to be afraid of.

Tanya staggered back a step. Having her identity exposed had indeed left her at a loss, but when she saw that Chu Ning still stood there unmoved, she barely managed to steady herself. She chided herself for being far too young after all; in everything, one had to remain calm.

“Are you not afraid?”

The people across from her burst into laughter. The moment Tanya asked the question, she regretted it. She should have observed the situation more carefully. Her identity had already been exposed, yet no one had moved against her. That alone proved they did not fear her.

And the greedy look in the Taoist’s eyes sent a chill through her, as though she were facing the threat of a beast. For someone as weak as Tanya, humans with special powers were even more dangerous.

Chu Ning gave the Taoist with his tongue out a cold glance. The man was nothing but a monster dressed in Taoist robes. If not for the foul aura radiating from him, Chu Ning would have had difficulty even confirming his identity.

The reason he called the man a creature without question was the constant hissing of a serpent’s tongue from outside. Chu Ning had no idea why the man had mutilated himself so grotesquely, even replacing his tongue with a snake’s. It was truly insane.

Because the man’s whole body was hidden beneath a loose robe, Chu Ning could not tell how far the bodily modifications had gone, but that did not stop him from marking the man as dangerous. As an ordinary flesh-and-blood human being, Chu Ning knew he had to tread carefully.

How could a human possibly fight a monster one on one? This was not some fantasy tale of flying through the sky and burrowing through the earth. Seeing that the man still retained a semblance of reason, Chu Ning was willing to count him, for the moment, among human beings. Still, Chu Ning had the unsettling feeling that the man was not far from becoming a monster. Negative emotions were laid bare before everyone.

The Taoist suddenly shuddered, and the feverish look on his face cooled somewhat. Chu Ning’s gaze was simply too intimidating. He himself might not have noticed, but once a person reached a certain level, every word and gesture began to reveal their strength.

“Hmph.”

The Taoist gave a cold snort, clearly displeased.

After a brief exchange, Chu Ning and the others successfully blended into the group. For the moment, they had reached a common goal: find the target of this trip first, and everything else could be discussed later.

In truth, Chu Ning had little choice. If he refused to join them, he would have to take on all of them alone. Even a fool whose brain had been eaten by zombies would know how to choose.

The power of a group was not easy to ignore. Since everyone was wary of one another and had chosen different routes to begin with, the noisy argument eventually produced a result that surprised them all.

That result was this: the entire chemical plant had already been thoroughly searched, and yet no one had seen the target at all. That was where the real oddity lay.

“Could it be that you missed something? Some neglected nook or cranny where the target is hiding? After all, one’s attention is always being pulled elsewhere. Oversights are only natural.”

Chu Ning asked thoughtfully. He was very confident in the direction of his own search. He believed he would not have missed such an obvious human being. Even the most remote places had not been spared; it had been a truly exhaustive sweep.

Everyone hastily denied that it was their own oversight, each one insisting with great confidence that nothing had been missed. No one wanted to admit to a lack of ability, whether they truly possessed such ability or not.

In this world of the strong devouring the weak, exposing one’s shortcomings was nothing less than a stupid way to court death.

Zhao Qing rubbed his forehead in exasperation. These mediocre mortals were always so unwilling to see themselves clearly. He was grateful that he had already filtered out a batch of trash; otherwise, the situation now would be even more chaotic. Seeing everyone trapped in a vicious circle of mutual blame, he shouted at the top of his voice.

“Shut up, all of you. Stop arguing for now!”

The shout was deafening. Unless someone had impaired hearing, they could not possibly have failed to hear Zhao Qing. The scene fell silent in an instant, as though someone had pressed pause. The effect was remarkable.

The people on site all remained quiet, but the silence lasted only for a moment before the atmosphere became lively again, as noisy as a market on a bustling day.

That made Zhao Qing glare fiercely at Tanya. After Tanya accidentally kicked a pebble and produced a faint sound, the calm had been shattered once more.