Chapter 748: Chapter 569: Old Friend
Yang Xiao crouched motionless until the icy muzzle moved away from the back of his head.
"Sorry, I had no other choice. This ends here today," the Raincoat Man slowly stepped back, his gun still aimed at Yang Xiao.
He was ready to leave. He had already lingered here too long, and his spiritual power was nearly depleted. But, just as he turned to flee, his body suddenly began to tremble uncontrollably, weakness overcoming him, his limbs soft and sore. Only a few breaths later, he could no longer stand and dropped to one knee in the rain.
Even then, he kept a death grip on the wooden mallet in his hand. He knew well this was the ability of the mallet, but why... why had it backfired onto himself?
At the same time, the dark clouds and curtain of rain above slowly dissipated, the Raincoat Man’s spiritual power stripped away, crushing the last shred of hope he had.
Watching Yang Xiao approach, the Raincoat Man clenched his teeth and stubbornly stood up again, "How... How did you do it?"
"Just the fact that you didn’t pull the trigger just now, I won’t kill you," Yang Xiao dodged the question. "Do you want to keep fighting?"
"Knowing it was an illusion, why did you still come after me?"
"You’re powerful, I couldn’t see through everything, but... if that child was real, I feared I would regret it." The moment he reached the girl, Yang Xiao immediately realized that the "father" next to her was the Raincoat Man and triggered the ability of his Daoist robe that he had been charging for a long time. Even though he was subsequently held at gunpoint, he was confident that he could end everything before the man could shoot.
In other words, from the moment Yang Xiao closed in, the outcome was decided.
After hearing Yang Xiao’s words, the Raincoat Man fell silent for a while, then let out a soft sigh, "It’s rare to find such resolution among the younger generation of the Patrol Defense Office..."
With that, he threw aside his gun and mallet, calmly took off the raincoat, and then pulled a Mitsubishi Military Dagger from his waist. The blade of the dagger flickered with a cold, ghostly light.
It was only then that Yang Xiao realized this man had three magic artifacts on him, and this dagger, which the man kept close and had yet to use, its abilities were still unknown to Yang Xiao.
"I’ll go back with you. The magic artifacts are all here." The man slowly reached into his shirt and pulled out a gemstone pendant he wore close to his chest, showing it to Yang Xiao, "Young brother, this isn’t a magic artifact, it’s something my daughter left me. Can you not take it?"
"Okay," Yang Xiao approached the Raincoat Man, speaking seriously: "You’ve traveled a long distance and you’re injured. I just had the upper hand. Honestly, if both of us were at our peak, I would not be your match."
"The winner is king; the loser, the bandit. There’s nothing more to say." After saying this, the Raincoat Man began to cough violently. The pursuit over this period had left him utterly exhausted, and blood seeped from beneath his mask.
Yang Xiao was about to send a message to Director Nalan to have them come and take the man back, but in the next second, the Raincoat Man took off the silver mask covering his face. Staring at the rugged, weather-beaten face, Yang Xiao was struck as if by lightning.
"Sui?!"
Hearing Yang Xiao’s exclamation, the Raincoat Man also froze. He looked up blankly at Yang Xiao until the latter pulled off his mask.
In an instant, the Raincoat Man’s confused eyes focused, and he blurted out, "Chu, it’s you?!"
Yang Xiao could never have imagined that this man, wanted across several provinces and specifically named by Yiling Academy, was Sui Chengguo. Not long ago, he had discussed with Yang Cha about finding a way to locate Sui, and to think, they had met so soon, under such circumstances.
"Chu..."
With brisk steps, Yang Xiao picked up the discarded clothes and magic artifacts, glanced around cautiously to see there was no one nearby, and then took Sui Chengguo toward a dim alleyway, "This is not a place to talk; let’s go!"
Before long, the two arrived at a lit bungalow. Yang Xiao, using the ability of the Soul-Capturing Mirror, sneaked in and found a vagrant living there. A decrepit furnace burnt brightly with charcoal in the middle of the room, casting a warm, dark red glow all around.
A few roasted sweet potatoes lay atop the furnace while the homeless man huddled near it, peeling a sweet potato and hummed a tune.
Suddenly appearing behind the homeless man, Yang Xiao tapped him lightly with the Human Bone Staff, and the man collapsed. Yang Xiao caught him in time, preventing him from falling face-first into the furnace.
After dragging the vagrant into a corner, Yang Xiao opened his backpack, casually pulled out a few hundred-dollar bills, and stuffed them into the man’s pocket. He then opened the door, letting Sui in from the dark outside, closed the door, and the two gathered around the furnace to warm themselves and enjoy the fragrant sweet potatoes.
Yang Xiao took out medical supplies from his backpack to treat Sui’s wounds. The hardships of the recent past had caused many of Sui Chengguo’s wounds to become inflamed. One particularly severe wound on his abdomen hadn’t been treated in time and was merely pressed down with a shirt, wrapped around multiple times with thick duct tape crudely, akin to packaging a parcel.
In the joy of reunion, there was no time for pleasantries. Through Sui Chengguo’s story, Yang Xiao finally understood the entire series of events, and as he had suspected, the tales of coveting magic artifacts and betraying teammates were all false. Sui and his team were Bounty Hunters, with Sui as the leader, belonging to no particular faction but purely doing jobs for money.
Half a year ago, they had taken an assignment from the Ling Academy to escort a top-grade magic artifact to another location for a transaction, but unexpectedly, they were ambushed along the way. The ambushers were all too familiar with the configuration and abilities of their team; it was evident someone had betrayed them. In the fierce battle that ensued, his brothers desperately covered him, helping him to break through and escape. But after this battle, Sui’s entire team was decimated, leaving him the sole survivor.
