As we all know, night-vision devices come in several types.
There are light-amplification night-vision goggles, infrared night-vision goggles, and thermal-imaging night-vision goggles.
Although Jiang Nian had no idea which model B-411 and his team were using, there was one thing he did understand—
No matter which type it was, every night-vision device had its limits in terms of observation range. As long as you hid well enough, you wouldn’t be detected.
So Jiang Nian went with the simplest and most direct method—piling fallen leaves all over himself, essentially mimicking a ghillie suit, to stay concealed.
And he used his phone—which was practically as sturdy as a brick by now—as bait to lure someone in.
And as it turned out, his strategy worked perfectly.
“Not goo—”
Almost instantly, Jiang Nian kicked out.
Before B-411 could even finish saying “Not good,” the foot had already landed squarely on his chest.
Thump!
With a dull, heavy impact, B-411’s entire body was sent flying, slamming hard into a tree.
Jiang Nian flipped over and sprang up from the pile of leaves in one swift motion, closing the distance in an instant. He pressed his index and middle fingers together, aiming straight for B-411’s throat.
“Pierce!”
Squelch!
With a muffled sound, Jiang Nian’s fingers punched a bloody hole straight through B-411’s windpipe.
The searing pain made B-411’s eyes fly wide open, and he was about to scream—
But Jiang Nian wasn’t about to give him that chance. If B-411 cried out, it would alert the others. So he hooked his fingers and yanked.
Rip!
A torrent of blood sprayed out.
Like tearing apart a duck neck, Jiang Nian ripped out B-411’s windpipe and tossed it aside.
At the sight, a look of sheer despair flashed in B-411’s eyes.
All that came out of his mouth were a few unintelligible gurgling sounds before his life force faded away, dead beyond dead.
Strictly speaking, this was the first time in Jiang Nian’s real life that he had witnessed someone go from being full of life to completely lifeless before his very eyes.
And he was the one who had caused it.
But whether it was because he had lived two lives, or because he had killed so many times in the memories of “Du Gao” and “Yu Huatian,” Jiang Nian didn’t feel the slightest bit of discomfort in his heart. If anything, he felt a faint, inexplicable thrill.
He wiped the blood splattered across his face and was about to strip B-411 of his gear.
But just then—
Whoosh!
A sharp, piercing sound cut through the air.
Jiang Nian’s internal alarm bells immediately blared. Without a moment’s hesitation, he twisted his body to the side and dodged. A crossbow bolt whizzed past his ear, so close it grazed his skin, and slammed straight into the tree behind him, punching right through it!
“!!!”
“There’s another one?!”
His heart jolted. Jiang Nian fixed his gaze in the direction the bolt had come from and saw, about ten meters away, in the pale moonlight, a figure standing there, crossbow raised!
Seeing that his shot had missed, and that Jiang Nian had now spotted him, the man flinched.
Then he raised his hand, about to press his earpiece and call for backup.
But Jiang Nian wasn’t about to give him that chance.
He snapped off a twig.
“Go!”
With a low growl, Jiang Nian hurled the twig.
But because he hadn’t had time to aim properly, the shot didn’t hit the man’s head—it pierced straight through his ear instead!
And it shattered the earpiece on that side!
“Ahhh!”
The man let out a agonized howl.
He clutched at the side of his head where his ear had been, his whole body trembling in pain.
But he knew this was no time to tremble—because after that throw, Jiang Nian was already charging straight at him!
“Not good!”
A jolt of alarm shot through the man’s heart. He quickly reached to his waist, pulled out another bolt, and loaded it onto the crossbow.
Load, aim, pull the trigger—
“Die!”
Jiang Nian had already closed in, his arm raised, carrying the force of a thunderbolt as he prepared to strike.
But just as he was about to throw his punch—
At the very last second, the man finished reloading the crossbow.
In that razor-thin moment between life and death, he tapped into an astonishing burst of latent potential.
He raised the crossbow, aimed, and fired.
The whole sequence was one fluid motion.
By the time Jiang Nian registered it, he saw—right in his field of vision—a massive crossbow bolt hurtling toward him at breakneck speed.
From this distance, barely a few meters away, it was practically instantaneous!
“!!!”
Jiang Nian’s pupils contracted sharply.
There was no time to think. His body moved entirely on instinct, channeling his inner energy.
Eight-Step Cicada Chaser!
Thump!
With a muffled boom, Jiang Nian’s mid-air trajectory—already seemingly frozen—underwent a second sudden shift, all thanks to the terrifying power of his inner energy!
But that alone still wasn’t enough to evade the bolt entirely.
So, at the very final instant—
Jiang Nian stared at the incoming bolt and, almost as if possessed, reached out his hand and grabbed it right at the shaft!
Shrrrk—
The bolt scraped violently through his palm, the insane force of it burning against his skin.
But Jiang Nian gritted his teeth and held on for dear life.
At the same time, he tightened his core, channeled every ounce of his inner energy, and let the veins in his arm bulge as he forcibly brought that bolt—carrying enough force to shatter stone—to a complete halt in mid-air!
“What the—!”
The man’s face was frozen in utter shock.
He stared at Jiang Nian in disbelief, completely unable to process what he was seeing.
How was this any different from the Fire Cloud Evil God catching bullets with his bare hands?!
But Jiang Nian didn’t care about any of that.
After catching that bolt, his arm muscles bulging with raw power, he locked eyes with the man.
“Die!”
With a low, guttural roar, Jiang Nian hurled the bolt straight back at the man!
Boom!
With an explosive thud, the bolt tore clean through the man’s chest, pinning him to the ground like a dead dog.
And Jiang Nian, after doing all that, dropped down from the air.
He stared at the man now pinned to the earth, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and panted heavily. He was shaken, but at the same time, bewildered.
I had absolutely no idea what I was truly capable of.
So I’m actually this strong?!
——-
Sitting there for a long while to catch his breath, Jiang Nian stared at the man pinned to the ground, spat, and cussed under his breath.
“Son of a bitch, trying to kill me—thank God I was the better man!”
Then he looked down at his scraped and bloodied palm, replaying that mid-air feat in his mind, feeling nothing short of astonished.
Because he had never really fought anyone before, Jiang Nian had never had a concrete understanding of his own strength.
The sparring with Yu Huatian during his moment of epiphany—that was just an illusion. It didn’t count.
And Yu Huatian had only used swords and blades, not modern weapons.
That was why, earlier—being weighed down by a burden and needing to lure these criminals away—he hadn’t confronted them head-on.
If he hadn’t been cornered just now, he probably still wouldn’t have discovered just how terrifyingly strong he actually was.
“So what the hell was all that running I did for?”
“To prove I’ve got good cardio?”
Jiang Nian couldn’t help but mock himself.
Still, the upside was that even though he had never fought for real before, this trial by fire had given him a rough grasp of his various martial skills.
He could now use and combine them with increasing proficiency and fluidity.
A First-Class Martial Artist—truly terrifying.
