Earthling in Uncharted Dimensions

Chapter 189: Hunting Down The Mercenaries (2)

"We need to catch up."

Mia uttered, but her companions heard her. The realisation of being left behind crept up their hearts and they dashed forward. Leaping over streets and taking their sweet time traversing through the roofs of the building, the trio approached Lee.

Lee had his left fist clenched and behind his back. His eyes were focused on someone about a kilometre from them. The crowd on the streets was not small, but Lee did not struggle to see someone among the herd.

A breeze caressed his face, and notified him of his companions' arrival. Taking one last observation of his target, Lee turned to the trio.

"One of the mercenaries was a beastfolk, and is now walking among the crowd, about one kilometre away from us. If you were tasked to kill that person, how would you kill?"

An and Mia did not expect a sudden question. While they took a moment to brainstorm, Tera gave her opinion.

"Using a ranged weapon. A bow or a spear might do the job."

All eyes focused on her quick reply. An and Mia were wonderstruck as to how she answered so precisely. But Lee had found a fault in her answer.

"The target is one kilometre away. The person can move away from the locked position after you fire, or the crowd can cause the target to take steps in unpredicted directions."

Lee turned to Mia and shuttled his eyes from her face to An. Mia took it as a cue to speak out her solution, and hoped it was not wrong.

"Take him to an alleyway, and cut the throat swiftly."

From the shortness of the answer, Lee deduced that the solution was something that randomly popped up in her head. He did not want to discourage her attempt, but also wanted to correct her mistake.

"Good try, but you forgot the fact that the target is a mercenary. The person is seasoned in evaluating people from their micro-expressions. He may follow you to the alleyway, but he would have delivered a fatal strike before you know it."

An was helpless as she struggled to find an answer to his question. She expected him to find flaws in Mia's answer, and he did. The very moment, her heart began to drum louder.

After correcting Mia, Lee turned to his wife. There was a faint smile on his face when he glanced at her. It did not calm her, but made her smile wryly in response.

"Since the last time the target saw you was in the hands of Chu Hua, exposing your face to him might instill fear in him, because he would think that you are back for revenge. When he makes a run for it, he would use the shortest paths. You can kill him when he uses a short cut to cut across streets in an attempt to reach the hideout as soon as possible."

Both Mia and Tera found her answer more logical than theirs. Their eyes repeatedly glanced at the husband and wife, and was expecting him to give a review.

"Exposing your face can also cause him to chase you to a corner and kill you. Your solution only covered one part of the answer. Since he is a mercenary, it is possible for him to have some kind of distress beacon object which can attract his companions. Then the trouble will be multiplied."

Lee turned towards the target and stood with his hands behind his back. The trio was curious as to what might be the answer. Tera disclosed her curiosity after a dozen seconds of silence.

"Then how would you kill the target?"

Lee raised his eyes and stared into the horizon, and answered.

"To kill is the task. But the task does not say that he must die there, on the streets."

A short pause of a couple of seconds, and the trio had their anxiety skyrocketing.

"As a seasoned mercenary, he would have keen senses and could easily detect ill-intent. Thus stealth is important. The only way is to follow him until he reaches the hideout. To confuse any potential stalkers, he would surely use complex routes and paths before finally entering the hideout. Rather than killing him alone, I would send them to after-life as a group."

Mia nodded involuntarily as he heard his answer. An and Tera found the answer satisfying, and could not find any flaw in the plan. Thus they assumed that that would be his plan.

"So we will follow him. We will follow him to the planet's end. And when their burrow is found, I will enter and give my respects. While I am inside, you three must guard the entrance from any external factors."

The point was made, and the trio nodded. Lee placed a beacon on the beastfolk and he saw the target moving around in brownian motion.

---

=====

4 P.M.

32655 Essence harvested.

=====

Lee was sitting on the roof of the building when the hourly notification came up. Dismissing the screen, he looked around, and the interface spotted the beastfolk east to him. The target was 4 kilometres away from him, and the interface also showed that he is at a depth of 3 metres. That specific info gave Lee a hint that he is already in his hideout.

"Let's go. We found the hideout."

The roof of the brothel was large and wide, and the ladies were silently practicing their melee training. When Lee spoke, they turned to him and approached him. Without waiting a second, he dashed towards the beacon's resting place. He had determined to mark the spot as the whole mercenary gang's resting place.

Lee had adjusted his speed to that of the women. His dexterity value of 3300 was like a sun standing in front of an ant. The least agile among the three was Tera, with a value of 43. She did not have any affinity, but her physical training helped her to almost match the basic speed of An and Mia.

As he was leading the trio further forward, trouble surrounded them in the shape of cultivators.