Chapter 151: Skill-Type Assassin

After lunch, Old Cat chuckled as he led his girlfriend out of the restaurant and got into his very ordinary SUV.

The two plainclothes officers staking out outside finally breathed a sigh of relief when Old Cat came back into their line of sight. Their biggest fear had been losing him. Fortunately, Old Cat didn’t seem to have noticed them.

Not long after Old Cat left, four people in the restaurant departed in two separate groups. The robed man left together with the capable-looking woman. In fact, they were indeed working together.

A moment later, Hu Er drove off with Tuberculosis Ghost. Whether it was Hu Er or Tuberculosis Ghost, they were both in league with Old Cat, all belonging to the Nightwalker Guild.

Meanwhile, Old Cat didn’t head home. Instead, after driving around the county town for a bit, he took his girlfriend shopping, specifically targeting high-end boutique stores along the street. The two officers had an easy time tailing him, as Old Cat showed no signs of fleeing or detecting their presence.

By this time, the robed man and the woman, along with Hu Er and Tuberculosis Ghost, had split into two groups and were heading toward Sanli Town from two different directions. The modern rural road network was excellent and extended in all directions. Only the vehicle carrying the robed man drove straight through the main streets of Sanli Town. Meanwhile, Hu Er’s car took the backroads, driving all the way into the village closest to Yanzi Tomb.

However, as their vehicle passed through the village, Hu Er got out. Tuberculosis Ghost continued driving until he parked near a mound less than a hundred meters away from Yanzi Tomb. At this point, he was already within Lin Jian and Shen Ke’s line of sight!

"An unfamiliar vehicle!" Shen Ke immediately went on high alert.

Lin Jian also quickly dropped low to the ground, though one of his arms draped around her neck, continuing to take advantage of the physical closeness. Shen Ke let him be; honestly, she found it quite comfortable anyway.

It was a very old off-road Mitsubishi. Once the car stopped, a sloppily dressed man stepped out, immediately slashed a knife against his own tire, and let all the air out!

Seeing this, both Lin Jian and Shen Ke were stunned. Why would this man puncture his own tire? If he did that, how was he supposed to leave later? Shen Ke was now completely certain that this man was highly likely to be one of Old Cat’s accomplices.

Tuberculosis Ghost was in no rush to approach the tomb. Instead, he lay down in the shade of the car, smoking a cigarette and humming a little tune! Lin Jian couldn’t fathom what the man was doing, and Shen Ke furrowed her brows in deep thought.

Gradually, night fell, and Tuberculosis Ghost remained entirely motionless.

Back in the county town, after an entire afternoon of shopping, Old Cat finally took his girlfriend into a noodle shop. The two officers were no longer as tense; after walking around all afternoon, they were starving too. However, strictly adhering to protocol, they didn’t go inside to eat.

Yet, when the sky turned pitch-black and the streetlights flickered on, Old Cat and his girlfriend still hadn’t emerged from the shop. Their car and all the clothes they had bought were still parked outside.

"I feel like something’s wrong. I’ll go in and check; you keep watch out here!" Sensing that something was off, one of the officers hurriedly rushed into the noodle shop!

After asking around briefly, the officer learned that the noodle shop had a back door leading to the rear street! Old Cat and his girlfriend hadn’t eaten noodles at all—they had slipped straight out the back!

The officer’s head spun. He immediately pulled out his phone to notify Shen Ke.

Shen Ke’s phone was on vibrate. After answering the call, her first reaction was that Old Cat and his crew were making their move tonight!

"Call Wang Suo immediately and tell him to be ready to provide backup at a moment’s notice. When the time comes, head over here with him. I’ve got a situation on my end too, but don’t come over right now—it’ll spook them!"

"Understood, Captain Shen. Stay safe!"

After they hung up, Tuberculosis Ghost, who had been sleeping under the off-road vehicle in the distance, finally woke up. He pulled a canvas bag filled with tools out of the trunk and hoisted it over his shoulder, marching straight toward the tomb.

A moment later, Lin Jian and Shen Ke watched as Tuberculosis Ghost began digging a hole near the mound, muttering something under his breath the whole time. Because the distance was too great, Lin Jian’s Thought couldn’t reach him, so he had no idea what Tuberculosis Ghost was saying.

"PHEW." Shen Ke let out a deep breath. "Something still isn’t right!" As a seasoned investigator, she knew this guy’s actions were absolutely abnormal.

"Of course it isn’t. Who robs a tomb this blatantly?" Lin Jian nodded.

"Exactly, it’s way too blatant. That means this man is just here to draw our attention—their accomplices are somewhere else!" Shen Ke instantly figured out the tomb raiders’ division of labor.

Right then, Lin Jian pulled his hand from her embrace and gently covered her mouth. "Don’t speak. Someone’s coming!"

Startled, Shen Ke quickly drew her gun and whispered, "Which direction? Stay close to me, I have a gun."

"Shen Ke, just lie here and don’t move. Leave it to me," Lin Jian said, gently patting her back.

Shen Ke chose to trust him without any hesitation. After all, the incident at the crematorium hadn’t happened long ago, and she had a profound understanding of his capabilities.

"Remember, as long as you stay here, no one can sneak up on you. You’ve picked an excellent position. If an enemy approaches, they’ll be walking right into your line of fire. Just don’t move!" After giving this final piece of advice, Lin Jian’s body quietly shrank back, quickly disappearing from Shen Ke’s sight.

It was far too dark. The rural woods were bordered on both sides by crop fields, and once night fell, visibility dropped to less than twenty meters. Meanwhile, the robed man from the restaurant was crouching at the edge of the nearby cornfield, less than sixty meters away from Lin Jian and Shen Ke’s position. He had traversed through the cornfield, treading as carefully as a cat the entire way.

However, what he didn’t know was that let alone a cat, even a mouse or a tiny ant crawling in the night couldn’t escape Lin Jian’s Thought.

The robed man clearly knew where Lin Jian and Shen Ke were hiding. After resting briefly in a crouched position, he prepared to continue advancing. Yet, just as he took a single step forward, he abruptly stopped and slowly retracted his outstretched foot. However, the exact moment he pulled his foot back, his hand suddenly flicked toward the front right, and his entire body rolled across the ground!

SWISH.

He had actually thrown a dart.

This was an Innate Eighth Grade expert who knew how to use hidden weapons. That was right; he was slightly stronger than Xu Yunzong, but still fell short of the Grandmaster Realm. Therefore, he was only at the Innate Eighth Grade.

Lin Jian shuddered at the thought of what could have happened. If he hadn’t come, would Shen Ke have survived this? Old Cat had actually hired an Innate Eighth Grade expert to ambush her. It seemed that Old Cat had absolute control over Shen Ke and her team’s every move, and he had already formulated a counter-kill plan!

As the dart flew out and Lin Jian dodged it, the robed man lunged forward with the agility of an ape, instantly closing the distance. He feinted a claw strike at Lin Jian’s face with his left hand, while his right hand launched a genuine, lethal attack, thrusting forward a razor-sharp Bone-Carving Knife.

One feint, one real strike, executed with immense Speed in the pitch-black darkness. Faced with this continuous barrage of attacks, even Lin Jian was forced to retreat and dodge!