Era of Magic and Martial Arts

Chapter 600 - 581: Tonight, Those Who Saw Us...! (Double-Length)

He really wanted one, no matter the cost!

Feng Mu habitually adjusted his glasses, his voice came through the lenses, carrying a sense of closeness and heartfelt sincerity:

"Senior Brother Wu, you want one?"

Gong Qi nodded eagerly.

Feng Mu slightly furrowed his brows, showing a hint of difficulty. Under Gong Qi’s nervous gaze, he finally nodded gently:

"Alright, I’ll find a way to get one for Senior Brother Wu, but this item is extremely rare, and you must keep it a secret for me.

If the other senior brothers and sisters find out and come asking me for one, I’d..."

"Understood!"

Gong Qi’s eyes shifted as he revealed a knowing smirk:

"Junior Brother, rest assured, I won’t tell anyone, not even Master. I won’t let you be in a difficult position!"

After speaking, he seemed to feel a bit guilty for keeping everything to himself, so he smoothly changed the subject:

"Are we heading back to the martial arts hall, or staying here to wait for someone?"

Gong Qi had just heard Feng Mu making a phone call, and it seemed like they had made an appointment to meet here later.

Feng Mu squinted, a system message flashing on his retina:

[Second Prison (partially missing/unfolded)]

[You resisted an attack, current control completeness 86%→87%!]

Feng Mu hardly thought about it before speaking in a deep voice:

"Let’s go back to the martial arts hall. No matter how big the world is, nothing beats going back to visit Master."

Feng Mu is a cautious person by nature.

The first surprise attack ended in a disastrous failure, clearly a severe misjudgment of his abilities.

The second time they come, they will surely be better prepared.

So, he also needed to make more thorough preparations.

This isn’t about confidence in his own strength, it’s basic respect for the enemy, a kind of politeness in conduct.

And at this stage, the best preparation he could make was to return to the martial arts hall to visit his Master.

Gong Qi’s eyes shifted, instantly understanding his junior brother’s intention, and he grinned with a sinister smile:

"Little Junior Brother, you even take gifts to visit. No wonder Master and all the other senior brothers and sisters like you, hahaha—"

.....

Elsewhere.

The baby-faced man hung up the phone, and the small nail clipper between his fingers gleamed with a cold light.

The night breeze blew across the wild grass, passing over his downward-pointing eyes.

"Captain, Lin Yi is in trouble too!" a team member’s voice was tight, "If we go to save him now..."

The baby-faced man shook his head, his gaze aimlessly drifting into the endless darkness within the overgrown grass, his voice flat:

"No, Lin Yi is already chasing to find Triangle Eyes."

Instantly, the air was deathly silent.

The two team members looked down at the mushy flesh on the ground, a hint of sorrow appearing on their faces.

Who would have thought? A seemingly routine snack would cost them two team members!

However, their grief was short-lived, lasting about three breaths.

In the Hidden Sect, death was more common than life, not to mention it wasn’t them who died.

The wind seemed to pick up, sweeping up the grass clippings and dust from the ground, blowing a few strands of soft black hair across the baby-faced man’s forehead.

He still showed no expression, his thin lips parted slightly, uttering two words devoid of warmth:

"Bury them."

The two team members swiftly dug a shallow pit, pushing the mass of blurred flesh on the ground into it, and quickly covered it up.

As teammates, their method of handling wasn’t even as considerate as Wang Cong, who at least put Triangle Eyes’ remains in a makeshift coffin.

After filling the pit, a team member hesitantly asked:

"Captain, are we really not going over?"

The baby-faced man raised his head, the nail clipper spun around his fingertips:

"He calls us over, and we just go? What if it’s a trap?"

Another team member immediately chimed in:

"Right, the officer’s intelligence was seriously incorrect, costing us two people; we can’t afford to be careless any longer."

The baby-faced man’s smile suddenly widened, the nail clipper snapped open with a click, meaningful as he said:

"Since the menu’s upgraded, we too need to upgrade our knives and forks if we want a meal!"

The two team members’ expressions changed simultaneously:

"We can use our equipment, but wasn’t the officer’s order..."

"It doesn’t matter, since the officer’s information was wrong from the start, we had no choice but to temporarily adjust our plans."

The baby-faced man explained with a smile.

The two team members exchanged a glance and nodded in agreement.

One of them cautiously asked, "Do we need to report our current situation to the officer?"

"Report?"

The baby-faced man slightly tilted his head, the nail clipper instantly pressed against the team member’s eyelid, sneering,

"You want me to report to the officer, and tell him we failed the mission?"

The speaking team member’s expression froze, his eyes unblinking with terror:

"Sorry, Captain, I misspoke."

The other team member also stood frozen in fear, not daring to move.

The baby-faced man furrowed his brows, retracting the nail clipper, and said blandly:

"Remember, in the officer’s eyes, we are just tools. No matter the excuse, a failed tool is worth less than a dead tool."

"So, we only ever report two situations to the officer..."

The baby-faced man licked his lips and added:

"Either the mission is a success, or....."

He cracked a child-like, pristine smile:

"We’re all dead!"

An hour later, in a concealed safe house.

The lighting was stark white, shining on the three of them.

Without any extra communication, they quickly got to work.

They stripped off their dirt and blood-stained outer garments, replacing them with their tailored equipment.

First, they put on the base inner lining covering their entire bodies, like a second skin, with intricate sensory circuits woven throughout.

Next, they donned the lightweight exoskeleton armor, much thinner and more flexible than the Investigation Corps soldiers’ exoskeletons.

The cold alloy components shimmered with a matte sheen, emitting faint mechanical grinding sounds as hydraulic rods contracted and expanded, bearings turning, locking the metal skeleton piece by piece to their torsos and limbs, even filling joint areas with custom artificial tendons.

The heavy leg support systems clicked into place, the built-in muffler and shock absorber modules in the soles activated, and their knuckles were covered with metal joint sleeves enhancing strength and protection.

A layer of scales was adhered to their chest and back plates, derived from a bizarre fish within the Hidden Sect, a composite of metal and biological materials capable of defending against and dispersing 60% of impact forces.

The armor even had designated weapon mounts and power interfaces on the chest.

The baby-faced man meticulously checked each joint’s flexibility and locking status, his actions meticulous. Finally, he fixed the nail clipper into the reserved slot in his knuckle joint.

The other two quickly attached modular weapons:

An arm-mounted high-energy shock knife, a compact folding submachine gun, tactical knives, ring chains, flashbang grenades, and some strange gadgets were skillfully secured to various parts of their bodies.

In the Hidden Sect’s mobile unit, each member’s armor was custom-made, generally similar but with differing details, representing diverse roles in combat.

Ideally, five members would form a tightly-knit combat team.

Currently, two empty suits of armor hung on the wall, having permanently lost their owners.

A tool without its owner dies along with its owner!

Fifteen minutes later, the three stood in a triangular formation, exchanging glances before simultaneously pressing the activation buttons on the inner side of their left arms.

"Exoskeleton check complete."

"Neural connection normal."

"Optical camouflage engaged."

Buzz——

A subdued, nearly inaudible hum of energy began to resonate.

The special coating on the armor’s surface started generating faint, imperceptible vibrations.

Then, from their feet upward, the light appeared to be twisted by invisible hands.

The trio’s figures gradually warped and blurred, eventually dissipating like pencil marks erased in mid-air.

Almost invisible to the naked eye, the only evidence of their presence were the voices in the air, testifying the existence of three heavily armed killing machines.

"Should we wear masks?"

"Sure!"

After a few soft clicks, a voice echoed through the room with the final judgment:

"Tonight, anyone who sees us must die!"