Superhunt

Chapter 17: "You think there's a mole in our team?"

Fox shifted into combat mode, his demeanor turning icy, like a blade unsheathed. Under his mask, his pale pink eyes cautiously scanned the darkness. The mask itself was also a piece of equipment equipped with night vision capabilities. Activating the night vision mode, he continuously searched for any suspicious figures.

"At three o'clock, in the abandoned residential building, sixty meters away." Fox located the sniper's position based on the bullet's trajectory.

He refrained from pursuing, knowing that Jonathan was not Awakened— a single bullet could end his life. There was no telling if any other assassins were nearby, so he had to protect him.

Though Jonathan had a skull made of alloy, the rest of him was still flesh and blood, susceptible to injury and bleeding.

"Use your super ability; don't let my blood touch the ground."

Jonathan's biological information matched the information in the Investigation Department's records. They could verify his identity if they obtained anything containing his biological information.

Fox spread his fingers wide. The shards of the broken mask and the blood-stained on it disintegrated under his control, merging into the water. The blood seeping between Jonathan's fingers and trickling down his chin was also suspended in mid-air under his control, not a single drop reaching the ground.

"As long as I'm here, they won't get your blood."

"Go after them." Jonathan regained his strength, and his vision no longer blurred. "We'll go together. Be careful."

The abandoned residential building didn't even have glass in the windows. The bullet had come from that building. Many street lamps were broken in the poverty-stricken and chaotic Harbor District, and without illumination, no one could see clearly in the dark without technology.

Fox's body transformed into a transparent liquid while Jonathan started running.

The 100-meter sprint champion in the First World could finish the race in less than ten seconds, with an average speed of ten meters per second. Jonathan's speed wasn't far behind that of a sprint champion.

He had never run so fast before!

The wind was left behind him.

With a swift step, Jonathan propelled himself off the ground, landing on the windowsill of the first floor of an abandoned residential building. Using it for leverage, he swung his arm up to grab hold of the second-floor ledge, just like a gymnast performing on the high bar.

Jonathan heard footsteps. Someone was running down the stairs in a panic, their footfalls echoing repeatedly in the empty building.

The person was close to Jonathan, and he saw a figure flash past the corner of the staircase.

Jonathan swiftly jumped down from the window sill, snapped off a rusty pipe from the decayed security window, took a couple of strides, and hurled it like a javelin thrower.

"Clang "— the steel pipe found its Target!

"Ahhh..." The shadowy figure fell to the ground with a scream, his shoulder pierced through, and a rifle dropped from his embrace.

A whirlpool of water appeared out of nowhere, enveloping the enemy whose shoulder had been pierced by the steel pipe.

Fox landed next to Jonathan, a rope of water pulling at the enemy's body, dragging him to Jonathan's feet.

The man, bearded and unkempt, fell awkwardly to the ground. Blood flowed from the penetrating wound in his shoulder, mixing with the water of Fox's whirlpool. The man was curled up in pain, his semi-long hair covering his face.

Jonathan confirmed that it was someone he didn't recognize. Activating the photo function on his bracelet, Fox deftly parted the man's hair with a stream of water, clearing the way for Jonathan to snap a picture.

The man used a limited-range rifle, so he didn't snipe from hundreds of meters away but from a closer range. The Harbor District was poor, and most buildings were low and riddled with obstacles, making it hard to find a suitable sniping spot. His sniper spot wasn't on the second floor; it should be on the fourth or higher floors. After firing and realizing he didn't kill the target, he fled down the stairs. However, he wasn't as fast as Jonathan and was caught red-handed.

"Have you ever done an interrogation?" Jonathan asked Fox.

"Leave it to me."Fox pulled out the steel pipe from the man's shoulder, and blood didn't spurt under his control, preventing the man from bleeding to death.

"Who are you? Who sent you?" Fox asked.

The man was panting with a contorted expression, but he didn't answer. Fox spread his fingers, and a blob of water enveloped the man's head, bubbles escaping from his mouth. His lungs contracted violently from the water, his limbs flailing in the struggle.

A minute later, the man's struggle weakened. Fox dispersed the water ball and asked again, "Who sent you?"

The man coughed up the water in his lungs, pleading in terror, "I don't know, please, I don't know!"

Fox ruthlessly kicked the man's jaw, two teeth flying out of his mouth.

"Who sent you?"

"I truly don't know!" the man said in utter panic.

No sooner had he said than his head was again wrapped in a ball of water. This time, Fox let him struggle longer before dispelling the water ball to allow him to breathe.

"Still claiming you don't know?" Fox ground his heel into the man's shoulder wound, ensuring he remained lucid through the pain.

"I'm a second-rate assassin, and I was just drinking at a bar; I wanted to buy some drugs and followed a dealer into the bathroom. I don't remember what happened after that, please! I'm not lying!" The man's face was ashen, "I..."

Suddenly, the man fell dumb. His eyeballs bulged, then popped with a snap; two thin, dark red tentacles emerged from his eye sockets. A creature resembling a spider but with long, slender mouthparts and a pair of pedipalps burrowed out from his skull, and its tentacles stretched out with satisfaction.

This unknown creature had eaten half the brain protected by his skull! Yet he was still alive, his limbs spasmodically twitching, blackened blood slowly seeping from his nose, mouth, and ears.

Even Fox took a step back, shocked by this grotesque sight.

Jonathan swiftly raised his bracelets and captured a photograph of the unidentified creature. His quick response proved timely, for the convulsing man and the grotesque creature melted into a puddle of bloody liquid in the next second.

The man's skin began to bead with blood, then withered. Skin clung tightly to the bone like a mummy until the bones and skin finally melted away, leaving only his clothing soaked in blood.

The process was rapid and silent.

"I've never seen it before," Fox stated gravely.

There are many types of Xenobiotics creatures. Parasitic hydra is one type, and the blood-red spider-like monster they'd just witnessed was another.

Fox had seen a lot, but this was his first encounter with this particular species of Xenobiotics creature.

Jonathan smelled the nauseating stench of blood. Suppressing his discomfort, he used the steel pipe to poke through the blood-soaked clothing. Ultimately, he found a still online communicator shining brightly in the clothes.

He exchanged a glance with Fox, both thinking the same question — Who was on the other end of the communicator?

Jonathan crouched and spoke to the communicator, "Your man is dead."

The next second, the light on the communicator went out; the person on the other end had disconnected the communication.

From the moment Jonathan caught the assassin to Fox's interrogation, the communicator had remained active.

That is to say, the person on the other end of the communicator had heard Jonathan's and Fox's conversation and the interrogation.

If he and Fox had relaxed their guard and talked about things they shouldn't have after capturing the assassin, revealing identity information that should not have been leaked, the other side would have known through the communicator, and his identity would have been exposed.

For the first time, Jonathan felt like he was being set up.

The adversary's plan was meticulous, controlling the assassin to shoot at him, never revealing themselves from beginning to end. This unexpected communicator made Jonathan more than a little afraid.

Fortunately, after finding the murderer, he and Fox did not chat needlessly but were directly interrogated, not revealing any information. Furthermore, Jonathan's voice changer was properly attached to his throat and hadn't been removed, so the other side hadn't heard his real voice.

Fox raised his hand and tapped on his mask. The invisible light beam scanned the area. After reading the environmental data feedback from the mask, he said, "There are no extra listening devices."

Jonathan said, "Fox, wash the communicator and keep it; it's evidence. The assassin didn't say which bar he met the dealer in, and I need to find out his detailed information and the bars he frequently visits... that dealer might be the key."

"What's going on, how come we were attacked?" Fox couldn't understand, "We clearly changed our route and chose the safe one."

"No," Jonathan bit his lip. "The attack wasn't aimed at 'us'; it was aimed at 'me.'"

Fox looked at him with a jolt of surprise.

"The assassin had a clear target; he came specifically for me. The first bullet was aimed at my head, not yours," Jonathan said. "I am the prey he was hunting, not you."

Fox said, "Maybe it's a coincidence..."

"In this kind of thing, there's no coincidence; even if it's a coincidence, we can't treat it as one." Jonathan raised his bracelet again and took several photos of the puddle of blood on the ground. He zoomed in on the photos and adjusted the brightness and contrast, looking for details not observable in the dark.

"Didn't you notice? The assassin immediately fired a few more shots after the first failed to kill me, but you blocked them." His brain turned, analyzing little by little, "If I were in his shoes, if I had multiple targets to kill, I wouldn't observe the results after the first shot; I would quickly aim at the next target. Because when I fire at the first target, the other targets would be alerted. To ensure the overall hit rate, it's wise not to look back after the first shot, and it's more prudent to hurry up and shoot the other targets. If the first escapes, hitting the second one is still a gain."

"But his second shot wasn't aimed at me; every shot he fired was aimed at you, only you." Fox realized something was wrong, "You were the main target!"

Jonathan quickly wrote a brief report of a few dozen words, attached the photos, and sent it to the headquarters of Mechanical Dawn.

Jonathan hesitated for a moment before contacting Red.

"Hello?" The background noise was loud music.

"I've been attacked; there's a new form of Xenobiotics creature. I've sent the news back to the headquarters," Jonathan said, "Could you come over and bring a healing potion for me? I've been a bit injured."

"Damn!" Red said, "Wait for me; I'm coming over now; send me your location."

Jonathan sent his location, then dialed Rose's communicator.

"Anything wrong, deputy commander?" It was very quiet on Rose's side.

"Where are you?" Jonathan asked.

"At the beauty salon at 56 Forest Road." Rose said, "What happened?"

Jonathan: "And where's snake Python?"

Compliantly, Rose replied, "He's eating a late-night snack next to the Ruby Bar. I don't know if he's finished yet."

Jonathan said, "Send me your current location without wasting a word."

Rose hung up the call, and the next second, she sent her location over, which confirmed she was indeed at 56 Forest Road.

Jonathan immediately dialed Snake Python's communicator, "Send me your location."

"Oh, okay, deputy commander." The sound of snake Python slurping noodles on the other end stopped, and after a little while, he also sent his location.

The location showed he was near the Ruby Bar, matching what Rose said.

In the next minute, Jonathan dialed the communicators of all team members one by one, asking them to send their location information.

He looked over all the locations and found none were close to him. He switched to the map and searched for bars; all the nearby bars were marked with red dots.

Jonathan compared the locations sent by his team members with the locations of the bars.

"Why did you ask everyone to send their locations?" Fox asked, puzzled.

"Use your brain a bit, Fox," Jonathan temporarily put away his bracelet, picked up the rifle the assassin had dropped on the ground, and began to climb the staircase to the second floor.

Fox pondered hard and suddenly realized, "You think there's a mole in our team?"