Chapter 241 - 139: Shadows of the Past

Chapter 241: Chapter 139: Shadows of the Past

Leaving the clamorous trading market with its medley of scents, Xu Mo walked at an unhurried pace back toward the Inner City, a screwdriver set in his hand.

He had barely gone more than ten meters when the feeling of being watched crept over him. Xu Mo frowned. Someone was watching him from a distance. The gaze wasn’t particularly sharp or malicious, but it held a clear, inquisitive quality.

Xu Mo’s mind raced. ’I wasn’t in the trading market long, and other than haggling, I barely interacted with anyone.’

’Who could it be? A vendor? Unlikely. Those shrewd types are more focused on their goods and Contribution Points. A passerby? Even less likely. The only possibility is that Ice Ability User I "ran into" earlier, Weiwei.’

’Does she still think I’m stalking her?’ Xu Mo found it rather amusing. It seemed his nonchalant act earlier hadn’t completely dispelled her suspicions, or perhaps she was just a naturally mistrustful person. ’Maybe she happened to see me in the market again and decided to follow me on a whim?’

A playful smirk touched Xu Mo’s lips. Since she was so curious, there was no harm in playing along.

Pretending that nothing was wrong, Xu Mo walked a few more steps forward. Then, without warning, he stopped dead in his tracks and spun around, his gaze shooting toward the direction of the stare like a bolt of lightning.

At the exact moment he turned, about ten meters away beside a junk stall, Weiwei was seemingly holding an inconspicuous little trinket. Facing sideways to Xu Mo, she was saying something to the stall owner at a calm pace, as if she were genuinely haggling.

But her posture was obviously stiff, and her peripheral vision darted quickly in his direction, meeting his sudden gaze head-on.

She clearly hadn’t expected Xu Mo to turn around so abruptly. A flash of panic—the kind that comes from being caught in the act—flickered in her eyes, but she quickly forced it down. She tried to maintain the facade of a normal shopper with her hands and expression, but the deliberate way she angled her face away and the slight tension in her shoulders betrayed her unease.

Seeing this, Xu Mo was even more amused. ’This Superpower User clearly has no experience with "counter-surveillance" or "tailing." Her acting is so clumsy it’s almost cute. She probably relies on her strength and her team, acting directly most of the time, so she rarely needs to do this kind of covert observation.’

Since her acting was so poor, Xu Mo didn’t mind playing along. He decided to add a little fuel to the fire and completely extinguish her pointless suspicions.

His expression changed rapidly. His initial sharp scrutiny quickly morphed into a mixture of confusion and dawning realization, which then turned into an undisguised frown of disgust, and even a hint of revulsion, as if he’d just encountered a creep.

The sequence of expressions was seamless and emotionally charged, perfectly capturing the image of an unlucky man being stalked and harassed by a female predator.

Sure enough, Weiwei, who had been "observing" Xu Mo out of the corner of her eye, saw his entire performance with perfect clarity.

For a moment, Weiwei was stunned. Then her face became a canvas of shifting colors, flushing red one moment and turning pale the next. Humiliation, embarrassment, absurdity, and even a trace of indignation at being wrongly accused—a whirlwind of emotions swirled within her, making her fight the urge to crush the trinket in her hand.

But Xu Mo’s incredibly genuine expression of disgust was like a bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing the last embers of her suspicion. Someone who was truly stalking her with malicious intent wouldn’t react like that after being discovered.

Realizing this, Weiwei felt her cheeks burn, and she wished a hole would open in the ground and swallow her. She was a powerful Ice Ability User, an important member of her team, yet someone had mistaken her for... that kind of person! If word of this got out, how could she ever show her face again?

She no longer had any interest in observing Xu Mo. She even forgot about the trinket she had intended to buy. Shoving it back at the stall owner and muttering a quick "never mind," she turned and fled, walking quickly in the opposite direction from Xu Mo. Right now, all she wanted was to get away from this embarrassing place as fast as possible. In her mind, she cursed that detestable guy a thousand times over and secretly swore she would never do something so stupid again.

Of course, Xu Mo had no way of knowing about the rich and dramatic inner monologue of the Superpower User behind him. After his performance, he continued on his way with a light step, the faint smile of a successful prankster still lingering on his lips.

However, just as Xu Mo had walked a few dozen more meters, two figures appeared a short distance ahead, causing the smile on his face to vanish instantly. His eyes narrowed slightly.

One of them was wearing a faded gray denim jacket with frayed cuffs. His body was slightly hunched as he leaned his head to the side, murmuring something to a young, dust-covered survivor next to him who was carrying a bulging old backpack. The man’s face was plastered with a smile that seemed friendly but was laced with an oily, calculating quality.

As he spoke, he pointed down a deep alley, seemingly leading the way.

The man in the gray jacket.

Xu Mo recognized the guy almost immediately. Wasn’t this the same broker who had tried to have him robbed on the street when he first arrived in Jiang City? The one who had lured him to that courtyard hideout to "teach him a lesson," only to get beaten by him instead? To think that after all this time, he would run into him again here, and with another unwary-looking survivor, clearly a newcomer, by his side.

Looking at the direction they were headed, he saw they were on the very path that led to that courtyard from his memory.