Chapter 88: Chapter 74: Stranger
Before he knew it.
Twilight settled, and the city’s lights began to shine.
Lin Yi left the last stationery and gift shop, which was a little out of the way. In his hands, he held several new sets of bright red couplets printed with auspicious, gold-foiled sayings.
He walked through the shadows cast by the dim yellow streetlights and entered the familiar gate of his apartment complex.
"Xiaoyi, you got the couplets? Don’t forget to put them up early tomorrow!" the doorman shouted with a smile.
"You got it, Uncle Li! I’ll put them up first thing tomorrow morning!" Lin Yi replied cheerfully, his voice loud and clear.
He climbed the stairs and returned to his home on the eighth floor.
He closed the heavy iron door, shutting out all the sounds from outside.
CLICK.
The moment the lock clicked into place.
The warm, pleasant smile on Lin Yi’s face vanished without a trace, like melting snow.
In its place.
...was a frosty, grim, and murderous expression.
It was as if the neighborly young man from moments ago had never existed.
Without a moment’s hesitation.
He immediately immersed his consciousness in his Mosquito Avatar.
His vision switched in an instant!
The Mosquito Avatar’s "energy signature map," covering an eight-kilometer radius, unfolded in his mind as clearly as the most precise tactical map.
Countless points of light, some bright, some dim, represented the three hundred thousand-plus residents of Yang City. Among them, the points representing Martial Artists were especially prominent.
’This person...’
Lin Yi’s gaze locked onto an unusually active and glaring scarlet dot on the map, located about three kilometers from his current position.
It was the signature of a Second-Grade Martial Artist!
This point of light was highly unusual.
The dot hadn’t been on the map during his first few trips out this afternoon.
However.
After he left the house for the sixth time, this dot had entered the Mosquito Avatar’s sixteen-kilometer detection range.
And ever since, it had been lingering near him like a persistent shadow, always close but never too close.
At its closest, it was only two kilometers away.
At its farthest, it was never more than five.
On the surface, it seemed like a series of random encounters in the city.
But there was no way it was that coincidental!
This was no accident!
Whether he went to the small supermarket to the east, the chain store to the west, the fresh produce market to the south, or the gift shop to the north...
...this dot moved in sync with him, as if pulled by an invisible string, always staying within a three-to-five-kilometer radius!
Their trajectories were too closely matched!
This couldn’t be explained away by the normal ebb and flow of city life!
This time, upon his return, he had only informed his teacher, Zhang Quan. He had remained completely silent to the school and the Public Security Bureau.
Therefore, the chance of this dot representing official backup was next to none!
’Yan Hao... Finally lost his patience, huh?’
Lin Yi’s heart began to beat a little faster, killing intent roiling in his chest.
The most likely suspect was Yan Hao!
’Is it him or not? There’s only one way to find out.’
His thoughts moved like lightning.
Lin Yi commanded his completely invisible Mosquito Avatar. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, it tore through the cold air, silently streaking toward the precise location of the suspicious dot!
For the Mosquito Avatar, with its astonishing speed, a distance of three kilometers was covered in the blink of an eye.
However.
When the Mosquito Avatar arrived above the target’s location...
...and transmitted the scene below clearly into Lin Yi’s mind...
...he was completely stunned.
It was a tastefully decorated, warmly lit café on the street.
A woman sat at the best table, right by the window.
She had eye-catching, long, wavy hair the color of red wine and her makeup was flawless.
Even in the dead of winter, she wore a tight-fitting, low-cut cashmere sweater that perfectly accentuated her figure.
She had a languid posture. Her long, slender fingers elegantly held the handle of a white porcelain coffee cup as her gaze drifted aimlessly out the window to the vibrant, light-streaked street.
’A...’
’...woman?’
’A red-haired...’
’...sexy woman?’
Lin Yi’s brow furrowed instantly.
This was a far cry from the sinister and ruthless image he had of Yan Hao!
’Could it be a disguise?!’
The thought flashed through his mind.
’Yan Hao is wanted all over the city. To evade capture, he might change his appearance, even stooping to dressing as a woman...’
’Knowing his unscrupulous nature, he’s definitely capable of it!’
’I can’t dismiss any possibility!’
Lin Yi’s eyes hardened. He commanded the Mosquito Avatar to go on high alert.
Pushing its invisibility to the absolute limit and suppressing any potential aura fluctuations, it flew silently into the café at a speed so slow it barely disturbed the air.
It closed in on the red-haired woman by the window, inch by painstaking inch...
Face to face!
So close he could almost count her eyelashes!
The Mosquito Avatar’s cold, crystalline compound eyes, like a high-powered microscope, focused with scrutiny on the collar of the woman’s sweater.
’Hmm...’
’Very big!’
’Not very fair!’
’Can’t tell if they’re real or not!’
’Would that bastard Yan Hao really degrade himself like this just for a disguise?’
’No, wait. The guy’s wanted by the Public Security Bureau. To escape capture, there’s nothing he wouldn’t do!’
Lin Yi’s mind reeled with uncertainty.
The next moment.
The Mosquito Avatar shot forward and bumped into the woman.
It bounced off.
Then, the Mosquito Avatar shot back like a bolt of lightning.
Without a moment’s pause, it streaked back toward his apartment building!
The entire process was over in a flash.
From impact to disappearance took less than half a second!
Back in the café.
The red-haired woman, who had been about to raise her coffee cup to her lips, froze.
Her perfectly penciled eyebrows knitted together as she glanced down in confusion.
Just now...
’Did something just lightly bump into me?’
’It felt cool to the touch, and strangely hard?’
But when she looked down at her collar, there wasn’t a mark to be seen, and the air around her was perfectly still.
"My imagination? Or... the air conditioning?"
She muttered to herself, shaking her red hair as if to toss the strange feeling aside. Her attention returned to the aromatic coffee, and she resumed sipping it slowly.
...
Back in the apartment building.
"It’s real!"
"It... It really is a woman!"
Lin Yi’s heart was still hammering against his ribs from that risky test, threatening to burst from his chest.
The feedback from that split-second contact...
...that incredibly real, soft feeling...
...had utterly shattered his theory about Yan Hao being in disguise.
But immediately after,
a doubt even more intense and chilling than when he’d first spotted the target surfaced in his mind.
’If it isn’t Yan Hao...’
’...then who the hell is this mysterious red-haired woman?!’
’There’s no way she’s from the Public Security Bureau!’
’If the Public Security Bureau wanted to work with him to set a trap for Yan Hao, they would have communicated with him beforehand to create a detailed plan.’
’They wouldn’t just send some strange woman to tail him so furtively without making contact!’
’And yet, this woman’s movements since this afternoon have precisely mirrored his own activity range!’
’This is no coincidence!’
’This is clearly deliberate, targeted surveillance!’
’Her purpose is as clear as day—’
’—she’s after me, Lin Yi!’
’Going to such lengths to get close, to spy on me...’
’She’s definitely an enemy, not a friend!’
Lin Yi stood in the center of his clean, yet still empty and cold, living room. His brows were knitted tightly, a cold glint in his eyes, and an invisible pressure began to fill the air around him.
’Besides Yan Hao... who else have I provoked recently?’
His mind raced, trying to recall.
’I’ve been busy with my cultivation this whole time; I haven’t made any other enemies!’
’The only person I have a life-or-death grudge with is that bastard Yan Hao!’
’This mysterious red-haired woman...’
’Where the hell did she come from?’
’And what... is her objective?’
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