Chapter 226: Chapter 123: The Hand That Plucks the Blossom and Breaks the Branch

Behind the location known as Three Pots, there is a shallow gully extending toward the foot of the mountain, formed by centuries of rainwater erosion, winding and about over a meter deep, also serving as a waterway during the rainy season.

He originally hid at the end of this gully, with a large tree above his head providing cover.

When the drone flew into the valley, he was surprised as well. He came out from the gully to the mountain top to watch the commotion, but didn’t restrain his Divine Qi through casting at all times, so He Kao discovered his presence.

The drone was seen slowly flying into the pavilion, attempting to grab the envelope on the table with the descending claw. This claw was somewhat like the structure of a claw crane machine, grabbing and lifting objects by tightening its grip once contact was made.

However, envelopes are extremely difficult to grab, and operating a drone to do so is even more challenging. The drone tried several times but failed, nearly crashing into the table.

The claw was very difficult to grab an envelope; if it were hanging a line covered in glue, grabbing something like an envelope should be easy…The surrounding masters stared in surprise; in the middle of the night, someone came here to play with a remote control claw crane machine?

After struggling for quite some time, possibly by chance, the claw managed to grip the edge of the envelope, seeming able to lift it. Suddenly, Shi Haowu shook the banner in his hand, activating the Spirit Lock Array.

According to the original plan, the Spirit Lock Array would be activated only after Hidden Moth appeared, so he could not escape, his identity confirmed, and then he’d be shown that letter, demonstrating the Shi Family’s methods and “goodwill.”

But now, they hadn’t seen any trace of Hidden Moth, and this envelope absolutely couldn’t be taken by a drone of unknown origin. If that happened, Hidden Moth wouldn’t be exposed, but they would be!

Shi Haowu’s worries were unnecessary; the envelope merely seemed to be about to be grabbed but wasn’t actually taken away. The claw temporarily equipped on the drone wasn’t a Magical Artifact, and He Kao couldn’t possibly complete such precise operations.

Moreover, a high-tier sorcerer dealing with a drone doesn’t need to utilize an array at all?

Actually, Shi Haowu had other considerations; he suspected the person controlling the drone was nearby, hiding in a certain location in the valley using the terrain and vegetation for cover, yet undetected.

But once the Spirit Lock Array was deployed, that person would be exposed.

This Spirit Lock Array had three array cores, represented by red, blue, and yellow banners, controlled by Two Mace, Kucha Zi, and Three Pots, while the array core was a black banner held by Shi Haowu.

Therefore, Shi Haowu could operate the entire array, investigating and trapping anyone within the range of the array…As for using this against a drone, it wasn’t impossible.

The banner in Shi Haowu’s hand spun, and the drone hovering in the pavilion lost control, yet it didn’t fall. Instead, it was silently trapped in the air by a force.

When activating the array, if He Kao were in the array, they would also be exposed…But He Kao was not there and had already lost contact with the drone.

On He Kao’s side, the drone’s signal suddenly cut off, and his figure immediately disappeared from the living room, reappearing at the edge of the forest park, right at the foot of the hill where Three Pots was hiding.

He Kao didn’t notice Kucha Zi and Two Mace, but using the drone’s high-altitude view, he discovered three vantage points around the pavilion, forming nearly an equilateral triangle on the tops of three hills.

If a sniper is ambushed at each of these vantage points, the entire valley can be controlled. In this situation, anyone trying to cross the valley to approach the pavilion would be immediately discovered and have no chance of escape.

He Kao hadn’t yet thought of the Spirit Lock Array, and his judgment mostly came from experience with gun battle movies.

He had already found someone lurking at one vantage point, so the other two vantage points likely had ambushes as well, while a fourth person was likely lurking near the pavilion in the valley.

The drone could fly in the sky, but when He Kao arrived at the hidden residential area, he used the Stealth Skill to approach, once taking a route close to Three Pots’ hiding place.

Thus, he directly appeared there and swiftly infiltrated the forest, approaching Three Pots’ location along the winding gully.

He Kao wasn’t aware that the Spirit Lock Array had been activated, but he cautiously approached from the perimeter to Three Pots’ back, avoiding the area between the three hills.

The drone needed an infrared lens, but He Kao himself did not. Like a moth stealthily moving in the dark, unnoticed by Three Pots.

At this moment, the Spirit Lock Array was already activated, with the banner controlled by Three Pots being one of the array cores, his Divine Sense focused on casting, while the area behind him wasn’t within the array’s coverage.

He cautiously glanced behind him but didn’t notice He Kao.

A master’s Divine Sense is also affected by the environment and terrain, and when He Kao saw him from behind, he immediately slumped to the gully floor, disappearing…

At this time, Shi Haowu, with the assistance of the other three masters, was operating the array to search the valley but hadn’t discovered anyone, feeling somewhat frustrated—had they merely captured a single drone?

He sent a signal asking, “Did you notice anything? Did you see anyone hiding anywhere?”

The response was two thunderous sounds, one array core was lost, and the array’s operation ceased.

When He Kao reappeared from the bottom of the gully, he held a shotgun in his hand. He had played with this thing during the day in Sawa Country and had seen Xiaopang use it before. Its recoil was substantial, and its sound and power were considerable, with the drawback being a relatively short range of about fifty meters.

Fifty meters was enough; he was less than twenty meters behind Three Pots. Without hesitation, he fired a shot because he had just recognized Three Pots.

He Kao certainly didn’t know his name was Hu Shulue, code-named Three Pots, but tonight two people accompanied Yan Congfei into Chen Yuhua’s house, and judging by stature and attire, this person was one of them.

After they left, Yan Congfei was already dead on the sofa in the living room, and those two were evidently the killers who silenced him.

As soon as He Kao appeared, Three Pots was alerted, but he didn’t dodge because he was still operating the array eye and was caught off guard. The shotgun, colloquially known as a spray gun, used by He Kao fired a volley of small high-speed steel balls.

Three Pots let out a muffled groan, likely injured, but it seemed an invisible force protected his body, causing some of the steel balls to change trajectory and hit other surrounding areas.

But this groan went almost unheard, immediately drowned by the second gunshot.

He Kao was shocked; this shot could bring down a bull, yet the person ahead could still stand. He quickly charged forward and fired a second shot, seamlessly connecting the attack.

Three Pots barely resisted the first shot, though not lethal, he was already wounded. No matter what, he couldn’t withstand the second shot; he fell to the ground with a small banner slipping from his hand.

He Kao deftly picked up the banner, quickly rolled into the ditch, scooping up two deformed shotgun shells in the process, and then disappeared.

The opponent must have had experts; he couldn’t activate the Invisibility Ability in time earlier and should have been noticed at the mountaintop. But they were still far away, rolling into the ditch allowed his escape. So thrilling!

Shi Haowu and others quickly arrived at the scene; Three Pots, severely injured, hadn’t died completely but was on his last breath. The surroundings were still filled with gunpowder scent, yet the attacker’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

Kucha Zi cast a spell to remove all bullets from Three Pots’ wounds and urgently stopped the bleeding, healing him, his face grim.

Shi Haosheng dashed down the hill along the shallow ditch, his movements swift like a ghost, searching several times around but finding nothing.

Upon careful inspection, there were indeed traces in the shallow ditch, evidently showing someone approached Three Pots from this direction and suddenly launched an attack, yet how that person left was unknown… This should be the doing of the Hidden Moth!

Not mentioning how shocked, flustered, frightened, and saddened Shi Haowu and others were… He Kao, in any case, ran away without looking back. He collected the items from the household and turned around, reaching the secret base deep in Gu Mountain.

He Kao lost two self-modified and customized drones tonight. One crashed into the river due to insufficient endurance; the other remained in the forest park’s pavilion, which he didn’t dare to retrieve.

But he obtained a peculiar banner, about two feet long with a one-foot yellow triangular flag. Its purpose was unknown, but He Kao instinctively felt it was unusual and took it.

He didn’t stay in the deep mountain belly to study the flagpole, instead disguised himself and returned to Nanhua City, appearing near the hotel Little Pingtou had just entered…

This was a five-star resort hotel located at the edge of the main city with a great riverside view. Besides the main building where the lobby was located, there were several courtyard-style auxiliary buildings.

This hotel was a property of the Huiming Shi Family; Shi Haowu and others stayed here while doing business in Nanhua, occupying a small courtyard. They didn’t need to register for check-in; just a word at the front desk to get the room card easily.

Close to midnight, Little Pingtou Li Weiping and several companions returned to the hotel, finally able to relax and rest. The following matters only involved experts; they didn’t even have the qualifications to inquire.

But just over ten minutes later, Li Weiping received an urgent notice while still on the toilet, instructing them to gather at a designated location.

From Young Master Wu’s tone, he seemed spooked or infuriated, definitely something happened! Yet he didn’t mention what exactly, and so the group, just returned to the hotel, had to drive out again.

Then He Kao came in…

He Kao searched the rooms in this courtyard using a master room card that wasn’t particularly upscale. Friends who’ve stayed in hotels know that the cleaning staff’s card can open all the doors in their responsible area, and He Kao used one of these.

The matters Shi Haowu and others were dealing with couldn’t be exposed, and some items, like documents, weren’t carried with them, which explains why Li Weiping couldn’t produce his ID at the airport.

Leaving these items in the room was certainly safer; they hadn’t expected He Kao to sneak in.

He Kao took a total of eight ID cards; only Kucha Zi and Gu Jiang weren’t staying here and their documents weren’t present, yet he acquired everyone else’s identity tonight, photographing each for record.

He found that five out of the eight were surnamed Shi, and their names seemed to suggest they were relatives from the same family, feeling surprised and concluding it must be a familial syndicate.

He Kao had never heard of the Huiming Shi Family; in this regard, he was practically a novice.

Old Man Jiang had given him complete inheritances of the major Magic Sects, but the descriptions almost entirely covered techniques, barely mentioning detailed information about Sect members.

He Kao didn’t linger after collecting the items; he left as he had other matters to attend to tonight.

**

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep