Free Web NovelChapter 664: Chapter 613: The Most Dangerous Existence
In the end, he wasn’t the Detective; he couldn’t rely on deduction to restore the truth.
"Forget it, as long as I catch the Mask, all mysteries will naturally unravel!"
The special agent took a deep breath, suppressing the various guesses in his heart, and stood up.
He looked up at the grim crack above him, then turned his gaze to the opposite side, which was likewise affected by the explosion, the pipeline severely deformed and collapsed, but still barely had a narrow opening that a person could squeeze through.
Inside was a profound darkness!
Did the Mask escape outwards, or did he flee deeper in?
"Let’s split up and search!"
The special agent barked orders without looking back at those behind him,
"You go to the well shaft over there, I’ll head to the upper workshop, notify me immediately if you find the Mask."
The orders were given, yet no one in the air responded.
He suddenly turned around, glancing behind, but where was Feng Ju’s shadow?
The special agent was initially stunned, then immediately burned with fury: "Where has this useless guy run off to now?"
However, just as this thought of rage rose up, a sudden chill climbed from his soles, standing his hairs on end.
His pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints, his body acted before his mind, pushing off fiercely to retreat.
A cold glint tore through the air where he once stood, the chilling whistle of it catching up a beat later.
Whoosh—
"Who?!"
The special agent shouted sternly, his back drenched with cold sweat, soaking the lining of his clothes.
He steadied himself, his eyes deadlocked on the direction the attack had come from.
Ominous, dry, like two pieces of rough sandpaper rubbing together, laughter seeped out from the darkness.
Soon after, two figures seemed to emerge directly from the shadows, revealing two waxen old faces.
The taller of the two elders on the left slowly tugged the corners of his mouth upward, his face forming a sinister grin:
"Young Master Kuangyan, are you searching for your not-so-loyal retainer?
He wasn’t loyal enough to you, sneaking away just now, and I, in all my life, most detest traitors to the family. I’ve taken the liberty to deal with him for you."
He had originally thought the ambusher was related to the Mask, but as it turned out...
The words "Young Master Kuangyan" pierced his eardrums like four cold steel needles, casting him into an icy pit.
It wasn’t the Mask, it was someone from the family!
The first lesson learned growing up in a great family student is that family members can be more dangerous than outsiders.
Their danger is directly proportional to their closeness on the family tree, and the closer they are, the more dangerous, especially when "family" comes unannounced.
Facing the Mask, the special agent felt courageous, believing he had the upper hand.
But facing these two family members before him, every cell in his body was on high alert, the first thought in his mind being to escape.
As for the news from the elder about Feng Ju’s "disloyalty leading to death," it was directly ignored by him, he had no time to worry about Feng Ju’s issues now.
His foot involuntarily retreated half a step, his face ashen, voice tinged with a tremor:
"Did my brother, Song Kuangyi, send you?
How did you find me, were you tracking me? No, you are...."
The special agent, not recognizing these two faces like withered bark, knew that there were far too many people in the family to remember each one.
Yet, the first face that naturally sprung to mind was his older brother Song Kuangyi’s gentle, jade-like smile.
Being on amicable terms as siblings was, after all, a traditional skill in large families.
The tall elder’s strange smile deepened, like marks carved by a chisel into wax, neither denying nor affirming, yet for Song Kuangyan, that expression was tantamount to an admission.
The special agent’s face darkened, seemingly realizing the crux of the issue, his eyes roiling with bitterness:
"Have you been eavesdropping on me all along? Even after I was exiled to the Lower City, my brother remains distrustful, needing to monitor me continuously?
So, he sent you to snatch my Sheepskin Scroll, didn’t he?"
The special agent didn’t wait for the elder to answer, but resentfully continued:
"It’s always been like this from childhood; everything I fancy, he must take away.
After taking it, he would then pretentiously offer me some scraps, ending up being praised as the good brother by everyone.
Why? Just because he was born two hours before me?"
The tall old man continued to wear that creepy grin, not bothering to correct Song Kuangyan’s "misunderstanding."
They weren’t actually sent by Song Kuangyi, but by the Young Family Head.
However, in terms of etiquette, it’s not wrong for the special agent to call the Young Family Head his big brother since he is indeed Young Master Kuangyan’s elder brother.
The hunchbacked old man, who had been silent all along, took a step forward with a half-bent posture, his murky eyes fixed on the special agent, and said in a sinister tone:
"Since Young Master Kuangyan knows why we are here, stop wasting time.
Just obediently hand over the Sheepskin Scroll, oh, and by the way..."
His thin lips parted, revealing sparse, yellowed teeth,
"And that [Mask], where did he go? We’ve been following you all the way, you can’t let us make a trip in vain."
Song Kuangyan almost laughed in anger, his voice resolute:
"[Mask]? Hiding right here in the well passage, if you have the ability, find him yourself. As for the Sheepskin Scroll....
You’re dreaming. Song Kuangyi wants it? Fine, let him roll down to the Lower City and take it from my corpse!"
The special agent hadn’t finished his sentence when he suddenly pushed off with his toes, trying to leap out of the well shaft to escape.
"Young Master Kuangyan, you should understand the order of respect, since it’s something your brother wants, as a younger brother, you should hand it over obediently, otherwise..."
The cold voice, like a poisonous maggot, clung to Song Kuangyan’s soaring figure,
"Our methods, your precious body can’t withstand them."
The tall old man’s figure flickered like a ghost, without making any sound, and instantly appeared at the edge of the well passage crack, lightly stomping straight towards the special agent’s skull.
The agent’s waist and abdomen abruptly contracted, forcibly twisting his body in mid-air.
His entire being spun like a top, shooting off in an arc, slanting towards the ground.
Yet another hunchbacked figure silently approached from behind, imprinting a withered palm gently on his back.
"Pa!"
The black handprint quickly spread on his clothing, with the soft armor underneath bursting out in ripples, neutralizing most of the vicious palm force.
Even so, the remaining force still felt like a thousand-pound hammer, fiercely pounding into his organs.
A muffled groan escaped from the agent’s throat, his back burning like a branding iron, as if his internal organs had shifted.
But using the momentum, he rolled over, borrowing the palm force as propulsion, tapping his toes on the tube wall, his speed escalating, transforming into a blur racing in the direction he came.
He was very anxious, very angry, but not yet despairing.
Because he was certain these two old things wouldn’t dare kill him... right?
And as long as he could keep the Sheepskin Scroll safe, he still had hope of returning home, at which point, this account could be slowly settled.
He seemed to have already seen the image of his elder brother kneeling on the green bricks of the ancestral hall.
The tall old man landed gracefully, standing beside the hunchbacked old man.
The two watched the special agent’s fleeing figure, a mocking light flashing in their murky eyes.
They followed unhurriedly, their sinister low laughter echoing faintly in the conduit.
The tall old man:
"Since we couldn’t find [Mask], we stick to the original plan, eliminate Young Master Kuangyan, and this blood debt will naturally fall on [Mask]."
The hunchbacked old man let out a cackling laugh:
"Indeed, indeed!
Even if we didn’t fully accomplish our task, taking this opportunity to remove a hidden threat for the Young Master and retrieve the Sheepskin Scroll neatly is still a great merit."
The two exchanged a glance, a chilling laugh squeezing simultaneously from their throats.
They deliberately lowered their voices, but were "loudly conspiring," ensuring every word floated clearly to the ears of the fleeing special agent ahead.
And also drifted towards a possible hiding... third party lurking in the shadows.
"Eliminate him... peg it on [Mask]...."
"Killing Young Master Kuangyan... the Young Master will be pleased...."
Ahead, the special agent’s face suddenly turned pale.
They wouldn’t really dare to kill him and then frame [Mask], would they?
He gritted his teeth, his speed increasing by another notch, while anxiously pulling out his phone.
In the darkness, two pairs of eyes peered eerily through narrow slits....
