As the saying goes, when enemies meet on a narrow road, the brave prevail. At a time like this, whoever speaks first avoids the burden of the awkward silence.
“Little Yu, what are you hiding from?”
“Sister, what are you hiding from?”
Clearly, both siblings were well-versed in this tactic, speaking at the exact same moment.
The situation shifted instantly; now, it was a race to see who could come up with a plausible excuse first to make their escape.
Ultimately, Lin Yu, with his extensive experience as a playboy, held the upper hand.
“I — I slipped,” he said with a straight face and a natural tone. “I just ended up flat on the ground. What about you, Sister?”
Lin Mowei’s eyes twitched. ‘What a “slip” — you really are “slippery.”‘
But she immediately seized on another point: why was Little Yu hiding from that girl down there?
‘Could they have already…?’
‘No.’
‘If they’d gone that far, Little Yu would have even less reason to hide.’
‘Unless… that girl has started making moves, and Little Yu doesn’t want to respond, or is even trying to avoid her.’
‘Yes, that must be it!’
Lin Mowei’s heart felt instantly certain, as if she had seen through to the truth.
If Lin Yu could read her mind, he would probably sigh: ‘Yes, exactly. Sister, you’re “so smart.”‘
She hesitated for a moment before replying without a hint of guilt, “Sister saw you suddenly drop, of course. I was worried something was wrong, so I followed you down to protect you. Is that so hard to believe?”
Lin Yu blinked, deciding that it wasn’t wise to dig deeper into this topic. The more they said, the more likely they were to make a mistake. He quickly shifted the conversation.
“Ahem,” he cleared his throat and looked down the slope. “Sister, who are they?”
As he spoke, he cautiously shifted his body, moving closer to the edge of the slope to observe.
Lin Mowei crawled up beside him. Her gaze lingered on the girl named Mu Liuli for a moment before settling on the short-haired woman in the lead.
“It’s a Hunter Squad. They specialize in handling difficult strongholds.”
She lowered her voice and signaled with her chin. “See the one with short hair? That’s Xin Yao. She was my senior and mentored me for a while. She’s the one I was hiding from. If she finds out I’m here, I won’t hear the end of her nagging.”
The moment she saw Xin Yao, her mind had quickly spun this explanation. Though from the look of things, it seemed it might no longer be necessary.
“Oh, I see,” Lin Yu replied casually. Seeing that his sister didn’t seem inclined to introduce the others, he was tactful enough not to ask.
In reality, Lin Mowei was currently grappling with a massive doubt.
Why was a Hunter Squad here?
In her memories, the team that performed the clearing mission for Star-Ring Town in her previous life wasn’t them.
If this elite squad had been deployed, a mere pack of Rift Beasts couldn’t possibly pose a threat to them; rather, the beasts should have been the ones being annihilated.
Had the butterfly effect reached this place too?
Suddenly, a thought that made her spine go cold surfaced in her mind.
‘If the deployed team has changed, then is the objective of this mission really still just the Rift Beast pack from the intelligence?’
—
Below, by the lake.
“Captain, I’ll go check the area on the opposite side of the lake.”
Mu Liuli spoke of her own accord, her voice flat and devoid of emotion.
The lake before them wasn’t particularly vast, but its diameter was still dozens of meters. It would take some time to circle around.
Xin Yao gave her a gentle smile, as if understanding her intent. “Alright, I’ll leave it to you then.”
Mu Liuli took the detection equipment, turned, and began to make her way along the lakeshore.
Watching that slender back, a trace of complex emotion flickered through Xin Yao’s heart.
She had seen Mu Liuli’s file; she was a survivor of the Hive Sector 3 incident 12 years ago.
The internal infighting and persecution within her family had forced the then-young child to grow up too fast, turning her into the calm — almost cold — person she was today, far beyond her peers.
After reading the files, Xin Yao had even had a dark thought: ‘If this child hadn’t survived back then, perhaps it would have been a form of relief?’
But in another sense, a different perspective might be more accurate.
That innocent, romantic little girl had died on that day 12 years ago.
The one living now was an empty shell named Mu Liuli, one who seemed to exist only for the sake of “living” itself, possessing no burning desires, no distinct joys, and no sorrows.
“Still looking?” a slightly teasing male voice interrupted Xin Yao’s thoughts.
She turned her gaze to a handsome young man with a sunny disposition. His eyes were following Mu Liuli’s receding figure.
Another young man continued to tease him. “If you want to follow her, then go. What, are you scared just because you were rejected once? That doesn’t sound like you.”
The young man being teased was named Wei Fan, 21 years old, and currently a student at Thundercliff Academy.
He came from a wealthy family and was upright and cheerful. More importantly, he had awakened “Stellar Resonance,” making him one of the few male ability users.
By any standard, he was an ideal partner and was very popular within the Hunter Squad.
From what Xin Yao knew, shortly after Wei Fan joined the team, he had clearly expressed his feelings for Mu Liuli. The result, however, was a blunt rejection for unknown reasons.
The squad didn’t forbid relationships between members; her own husband was someone she had met and fallen in love with while on the team. Unfortunately, during a later mission…
Therefore, when she learned Wei Fan had been rejected, Xin Yao felt a sense of pity, but also an inexplicable sense of relief.
She felt pity that the girl’s life remained bleak and monotonous.
She felt relief that the girl might not have to experience a heart-wrenching loss.
The roster for this mission had been personally finalized by Director General Lan Lan. Perhaps… she also had some matchmaking intentions in mind?
Xin Yao’s gaze returned to the calm surface of the lake.
Although Rift Beasts didn’t have the ability to fly, they were skilled at lurking and swimming underwater. Therefore, this body of water was indeed one of the priority areas for inspection.
Given that a Rift Beast intrusion had recently occurred within Hive Sector 3, it made logical sense to send this elite squad to assist in the defense and investigation.
However, the waters around Star-Ring Town had always been calm and had never seen any trouble. This made Section Chief Mu Qingqing’s cautious deployment — having only recently taken office — seem a bit like an overreaction.
It was normal for the team members to grumble a bit in private, but mission discipline had to be maintained.
As these idle thoughts passed through her mind, Xin Yao refocused and began to methodically assign inspection points to the remaining team members.
The group spread out along the lakeside, roughly forming an irregular circle, and lowered their acoustic probes into the water.
On the connected handheld screens, the outlines and movements of underwater objects began to be sketched out.
The life frequency of a Rift Beast was unique; if any were truly lurking there, the instruments would show it.
Time passed minute by minute.
A few minutes later, no abnormal signals appeared on the screens. Everyone’s tense nerves relaxed slightly as they prepared to pack up their equipment and head to the next designated area.
But at that moment, Mu Liuli, who was at the furthest point on the opposite side of the lake, suddenly stopped.
She raised one hand and made a simple gesture.
When the other team members by the shore saw that gesture, their pupils constricted.
The relaxed expressions on everyone’s faces vanished instantly. Their bodies immediately entered a combat-ready state, and their fingers silently moved to the grips of their weapons.
The meaning of that gesture was simple yet vital: Extreme Danger!