Su Qingqiu

The man codenamed Enkidu wore sunglasses and distinctive tropical-style floral shorts, as though he had just returned from a trip as well.

He had not driven after that bloodhound. Song Xian was a Reincarnator whose identity had been made public, so information about him was easy to obtain.

Song Xian, an official East Xia Reincarnator. Estimated to possess strength between Strong-Upper Tier and Fierce-level. Suspected Logia-type Devil Fruit Ability User, Haki user, proficient in martial arts, a strength-specialized Reincarnator. His primary attribute was estimated to be around 40 points.

Enkidu closed his eyes. He was a Reincarnator enhanced with mutant bloodline, a psychic-control mutant with a strength rating of Level 3.

His ability was quite unusual: Supernatural Sense. It was a purely sensory ability with no offensive power, making it difficult for others to detect.

With his current mental attribute, he could sense targets within roughly two hundred kilometers. If the distance was reduced to within one hundred kilometers, he could even precisely lock onto the target.

The closer the distance, the more he could perceive.

Saint Being, where Enkidu belonged, had accepted an extraordinarily high offer of one B-rank Anomaly Point plus 20,000 Dimensional Points to carry out the task of locating Mercenary Tao.

Saint Being was merely a mid-to-upper-tier squad in the Second Tier. The reason they dared accept this task was Enkidu’s ability.

Enkidu was unsure how far Song Xian’s Observation Haki could reach, but he guessed the man absolutely could not foresee the future.

Thus, sitting on a bus, he remotely locked onto Song Xian’s group some forty or fifty kilometers ahead of him.

He continuously sent updated coordinates to the legendary Kill Bai Alliance through his phone.

In truth, Enkidu had never met any members of the Kill Bai Alliance. He only knew that every one of them was basically Title-level or above.

Most of them bore grudges against Mercenary Tao.

Enkidu kept tapping the armrest, feeling somewhat restless.

As they moved farther from the border and drew closer to East Xia’s major cities, his unease grew stronger.

Given the madness in Mercenary Tao’s nature, and the madness of those who dared hunt him down, if a battle erupted in a densely populated city—

It could very likely cause an unprecedented disaster.

If a Reincarnator of Mercenary Tao’s level chose to make a final desperate counterattack, how many human casualties could he inflict before being erased…

Just thinking about it sent chills down Enkidu’s spine.

"You’re a good person."

A soft laugh sounded from beside him. Enkidu, still wearing his sunglasses, froze and abruptly turned his head. Sure enough, the middle-aged woman seated beside him had, at some point, become a young man with a ponytail.

The man wore a denim jacket, exposing a bronzed chest beneath it. Long sideburns hung down on either side of his face, and his eyes and brows were full of an appreciative smile.

Enkidu’s breathing grew heavy.

A Reincarnator!

He had not noticed when this person had appeared, nor how he had silently replaced the middle-aged woman and taken the seat beside him.

Had he been too focused on sensing Mercenary Tao’s location?

The man reached out as if to lightly pat Enkidu’s shoulder. Enkidu instinctively prepared to spring up. A Reincarnator who had suddenly appeared beside him gave him an immense sense of insecurity.

But white light lit up in the man’s right hand. The next instant, Enkidu felt his entire body go limp and relaxed, while the fear and exhaustion brought on by constantly tracking Mercenary Tao were swept away.

The man lightly patted Enkidu and reassured him with a smile.

"Don’t worry. You’re a good person, so I won’t touch you."

"My target is only Mercenary Tao."

With that, the ponytailed man lay back down.

The air was suddenly torn apart by a violent sonic boom as a missile roared past not far from the bus.

Terrifying sound waves and a shockwave burst through an open passenger window and crashed into the cabin.

Frightened screams erupted everywhere. The bus driver went pale as well and instinctively turned the steering wheel, causing the bus to immediately sway violently across the road.

Enkidu rose slightly from his seat, ready to jump from the bus at any moment. His nerves were taut. Clearly, those people’s assassination plan… had begun.

Boom!

A violent explosion rang out from far away. After swerving several times, the bus came to a stop by the roadside.

When Enkidu looked for the ponytailed man again, he found that he had already vanished. He had probably… gone to join the siege against Mercenary Tao.

"Who exactly was that guy…?"

The man’s eerie manner made Enkidu clearly realize that he was a High-tier Reincarnator. With someone like that participating, this encirclement probably did have some chance of succeeding.

Boom!

The shockwave from the missile explosion swept over them along with flames and intense heat.

Having changed direction in advance, the black sedan plunged diagonally into the woods beside the road. It was roughly four or five hundred meters from the missile’s point of explosion, yet the impact and heat still made Luoshui, who had never encountered such an incident at close range, turn pale.

Song Xian frowned tightly, his entire body tense. He looked around and immediately sensed people rapidly approaching.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Luoshui, take Student Bai and hide in the car. Call headquarters for reinforcements. Close the doors and windows, and don’t look at anything outside. Understood?!"

Luoshui had received training and knew that this meant her master was preparing to act.

She immediately pulled Bai Cangshu back into the rear compartment and locked the doors. The privacy curtains rose at once, completely blocking their view of the outside.

"Bai Cangshu" vaguely saw thick white fog rise from the woods, swallowing Song Xian in an instant.

He displayed a remarkable degree of obedience, hiding in the back seat with Luoshui while maintaining a perfectly normal expression.

"Heh… heh, Student Bai Cangshu, don’t worry. Master is very powerful…"

After thinking it over, she worried that Bai Cangshu might become resistant to his future work, so she added, "Master handles all that dangerous work. You’ve heard of Ability Users, right…?"

"We ordinary people just need to handle the logistics!"

Bai Cangshu’s expression remained unchanged. Watching the well-off woman reveal such innocent thoughts, he saw the undisguised fondness in her eyes when she looked at him.

He smiled. This kind of fondness was something that could easily benefit him, and he did not mind increasing it.

"Oh? Ability Users? I really don’t know much about them. Could you tell me about them, Miss Luoshui?"

Without drawing attention to it, he changed how he addressed her from Officer Luo to Miss Luoshui.

The woman did not notice at all. She merely took out a satellite phone and quickly dialed a number, while gesturing for Bai Cangshu to remain quiet and calm for the moment.

But Bai Cangshu suddenly patted Luoshui’s shoulder. He pointed at the front windshield, which was not covered by the privacy curtains. There, a ponytailed man was silently crouching on the car hood.

"Ah!"

Luoshui cried out in fright at the sight, while Bai Cangshu merely watched the man with great interest.

Su Qingqiu frowned and extended his hand again.

Detect Evil!

After activating the ability, no evil aura appeared on either of the two people inside the car.

Instead, the necklace around the woman’s neck emitted a faint golden spiritual glow.

Su Qingqiu felt that something was wrong. It was an established fact that Mercenary Tao possessed an ability like Satsui no Hado, and it was equally true that he had massacred people to increase it.

But how could he evade detection by Detect Evil…

There were only two explanations.

First, Mercenary Tao possessed a special ability that granted immunity to his detection;

Second, the person before him… was not Mercenary Tao at all.

"Looks like we’ve been played…"

Bang!

A gunshot rang out. The black sedan’s window jolted violently as a spinning bullet left a clear mark on the bulletproof glass.

A man in a black trench coat emerged from the woods.

"Su Qingqiu, move already!"

"Those people won’t be able to hold Song Xian off for long. This is East Xia—we don’t have much time!"

Su Qingqiu could not be bothered with him. He simply took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hello. The operation here has failed. You were right—Mercenary Tao never came back."