Chapter 76: First Tier of the Heavenly Eye: Chasing Eye

Tie Ningxiang recalled, "The graveyard keeper was in his forties, with a large mouth and a tumor on the corner of his eye. I never saw him smile; his face was perpetually tense."

The graveyard keeper had highly distinctive features, and I was sure I'd never met him before. "Could he be Lu Xing's accomplice?"

"Right, that guy wore a black robe and had a snake tattoo on his neck," Tie Ningxiang added. "He dressed very strangely, but we just assumed it was some grave-keeping custom at the time and didn't pay it much mind."

"A black robe?" The taxi driver who brought me here mentioned that right after the first group of police left, someone else had taken a cab to Pine Forest Cemetery, and that person was also wearing a black robe.

I originally thought it was Mr. Gu, but looking at it now, that man had to be Lu Xing's subordinate too. "Meticulous planning, layered schemes... he's clearly going up against the police."

The heavy fog refused to disperse. It was almost noon, but the gully remained cloaked in thick mist.

"Gao Jian, how about you take Gorilla and Zhao Bin and leave first? I'll stay behind and cover the rear. Lu Xing's target is only me, anyway." Tie Ningxiang drew her service pistol, stroking the gleaming barrel. "As long as he dares to show his face, I have at least a fifty percent chance of shooting him dead."

Before Tie Ningxiang even graduated from the police academy, she was the school's shooting champion. She was also the only woman in her class who could hit a bullseye at fifty meters firing one-handed.

"Captain Tie! We're staying with you."

"Yeah, how could a bunch of grown men like us leave you here alone while we run for our lives?"

Several policemen spoke up to persuade her. I felt a degree of admiration for this steel rose myself. To be honest, if I were in the same situation, the first thing I would consider would definitely be my own life.

"Let's wait until noon when the Yang Qi is at its peak, and charge out together." I stood at the door and looked outside. The heavy fog definitely had something to do with Lu Xing. If we didn't use the peak Yang Qi at noon to escape, it would be even more dangerous by evening or night.

"Zhao Bin and Big Nose, you two support Gorilla. I'll take the lead and clear the way; Tie Ningxiang will cover the rear."

"Captain Tie hasn't given any orders, so who are you to start barking commands? You really think you're a cop?" The hooked-nose policeman guarding Tie Ningxiang's side seemed highly dissatisfied with being called 'Big Nose.' He curled his lip in utter disdain.

"Chen Feng, just listen to Gao Jian. It's thanks to him that I made it here alive."

Zhao Bin speaking up for me immediately rubbed Chen Feng the wrong way. "Whose side are you on, kid? We're police. To put it bluntly, he's just an expelled student with a stained record. If anything, he should be calling me 'Senior.'"

Chen Feng's words seemed intentionally directed at me. I frowned, looking between him and Tie Ningxiang. The two of them were from the same class at the police academy; Chen Feng had probably been harboring a secret crush on her this whole time.

"Stop arguing. Gao Jian is right. The sunlight is strongest at noon; it's our best chance to escape." Tie Ningxiang waved a hand dismissively. "Just do as he says!"

Staring at the clock on my phone, we waited until it was almost one in the afternoon before setting out from the wooden cabin.

The heavy fog showed no signs of dispersing. We had barely walked a dozen meters when faint, intermittent wolf howls reached our ears.

"Gao Jian, how certain are you that we can make it out of here?" Tie Ningxiang slowly walked over to my side.

"Do you want the truth?" I gripped the stone in my hand. "Less than fifty percent. The enemy is in the dark while we're out in the open, and our group is far too big a target. Lu Xing has also been planning this for a long time. I'm afraid things look grim."

"From your tone, it sounds like you know Lu Xing well. Have the two of you met?" Tie Ningxiang asked, somewhat curious.

"No, but some recent events are tied to him, or rather, to the faith he represents." I lowered my voice. "You remember the Double-Faced Buddha Statue at the Anxin Hotel, right? Lu Xing is just a pawn in the hands of the Two-Faced Buddha."

Tie Ningxiang looked thoughtful. Just as she was about to speak, a gray shadow flashed past our eyes!

"The wolves are here!" Several police officers drew their pistols, and our marching speed immediately slowed.

"Awooo!" A long, drawn-out wolf howl echoed with exceptional clarity. It had to be the alpha wolf issuing the command to attack.

Visibility in the heavy fog was practically zero. More and more gray shadows darted between the jagged rocks.

"Captain Tie, I'm afraid this is more than just a single wolf pack..." Zhao Bin leaned his back against a rock, practically speechless. I hadn't expected things to escalate to this point, either. The ceaseless howling was enough to instill panic in anyone, and the figures flickering in and out of sight numbered at least a dozen.

"Under normal circumstances, a massive wolf pack of this scale would never appear just a few kilometers into the mountains. With the lack of prey, they couldn't survive out here." I could only think of a single answer. "Lu Xing is using some unknown evil art to drive the pack."

I reached for my chest. Tucked safely in my pocket were two pieces of Talisman Paper: the Infant Night-Crying Talisman and the Maoshan Seven Dipper Talisman.

'If I use the Talisman Paper against the wolf pack, can I break the evil art?' The thought had barely surfaced before I chased it out of my mind. Wild beasts were inherently bloodthirsty; even if I broke the spell, they certainly wouldn't give up on the prey already in front of them. This was exactly what made Lu Xing's scheme so vicious.

"Bang!"

Someone at the back of the formation had opened fire!

The gunshot plunged Langtou Gully into a momentary silence, immediately followed by a rising chorus of far more terrifying wolf howls.

The shooter was Chen Feng. His face was pale. "The fog's too thick. It's impossible to hit anything."

"Watch out!" Tie Ningxiang delivered a textbook side kick, knocking Chen Feng to the ground. He stared upward in a daze, locking eyes with the massive wolf lunging right over him.

Within its cold, emotionless eyes lay nothing but ravenous hunger and slaughter!

Sitting on the ground, Chen Feng shivered violently. He had completely forgotten to fire his gun, merely watching as the giant wolf landed elegantly, then rebounded like a bullet to vanish back into the mist.

He rubbed his chest where Tie Ningxiang had kicked him, forcing a strained smile onto his face. "Thanks, Captain Tie."

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." Chen Feng picked himself up. "These beasts hiding in the mist to ambush us are far too insidious."

Seeing that Chen Feng was largely unharmed, Tie Ningxiang moved back to the front of the formation to stand beside me.

"What is it? Worried about me?"

"They all have their service weapons. You're the only one covered in injuries, trying to hold out with just a rock. I'm worried something will happen to you."

Tie Ningxiang's words filled me with a faint sense of warmth, leaving me momentarily unsure of how to respond.

As our group neared the exit of Langtou Gully, the wolves' attacks grew more frequent. They came in wave after wave like a torrential storm, leaving us no time to catch our breath.

For the final few dozen meters, the gunfire was relentless but yielded little result. Aided by the jagged rocks and the dense fog, only Tie Ningxiang managed to hit two wolves; the rest of the men were merely wasting their bullets.

"We're almost at the exit! Let's push through in one go!" Now was not the time to conserve ammunition. Our group maintained a tight formation as we tried to break out.

The final dozen meters became the deciding stretch between us and the wolf pack. Roused into a feral frenzy by the blood of their kin, the red-eyed beasts charged like devils come to claim our lives.

"Ah!" Zhao Bin slipped up for just a second, and a wild wolf hiding in a crevice clamped its jaws onto his thigh. It tore off a large chunk of flesh—a sight so gruesome that even I winced.

With another injured member, our pace had no choice but to slow.

"Captain Tie, just leave me behind! You guys go on without me; I'll cover the rear!" Zhao Bin yelled through gritted teeth, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. "I can buy you some time! Hurry up and go!"

"And how exactly are you going to buy time? By feeding your own flesh to the wolves?" Tie Ningxiang's tone was incredibly stern. "I won't abandon a single one of you. I brought you into these mountains, and it's my duty to bring you back out alive!"

"But, Captain Tie..."

I patted Zhao Bin on the shoulder. "Save your breath. Once she sets her stubborn mind on something, even ten bulls couldn't drag her back."

The wolves continued their frenzied assault. Even if we made it out of Langtou Gully, we were still two kilometers away from the edge of the mountains. Our ammunition was nearly depleted; soon enough, we would be plunged into a true dead end.

"Zhao Bin, give me your gun." I reached over and grabbed his service pistol.

"Are you insane?! How can you casually hand a police weapon over to a civilian!" Chen Feng, still rattled from his earlier scare, shouted at the top of his lungs.

Tie Ningxiang also looked at me, torn. "Gao Jian, you can't just take a police weapon."

I offered an indifferent shrug. "To rout an army, you must first take the general. As long as we shoot the alpha wolf, the pack's threat will instantly be cut in half."

"You've got to be kidding. In this dense fog, we can barely make out the wolves' silhouettes! What gives an amateur like you the right to talk so big?!"

I ignored Chen Feng entirely. I deftly popped out the magazine—there was only a single bullet left inside.

"I only have one shot at this. I can't miss."

Standing at the very front of the formation, I stared straight ahead and purged all distracting thoughts from my mind, just like when I entered meditation last night.

I focused my mind into the state of Sitting in Forgetfulness right between my brows. In my ears, there was nothing but the rising and falling chorus of wolf howls coming from all directions.

Listening closely, there was one voice slightly different from the rest. Its howl was more drawn out, carrying a deeper sense of desolation.

"Up on the cliff!" I abruptly snapped my head up, focusing my gaze.

My eyes flushed with traces of blood-red. Right between my brows, it felt as though something had just broken out of its shell. An instant later, my field of vision abruptly extended, piercing straight through the thick, dense fog!

"Found you!"