Chapter 65: Undoubtedly You

"Don't worry, with me by the master's side there will be no danger at all," Hua Zheng said with an understanding smile toward Lin Manzhi. "I'm the deputy leader of the Iron Claw Gang, so the master doesn't need to act at all."

Lin Manzhi: "Really?"

Hua Zheng continued: "According to the gang's rules, if I alone challenge the Iron Claw Gang's leader and win in combat, the Iron Claw Gang will submit to me, and the master can even stay out of sight."

Lin Manzhi glanced at Mo Lie beside her, "Then you be careful; I'll stay at home and won't go anywhere, waiting for you to return."

Mo Lie replied softly, "Mm."

He withdrew his gaze from Lin Manzhi, picked up the cloak for going out and slipped it on at a leisurely pace, gave Hua Zheng a brief glance, and said, "Let's go."

Hua Zheng followed silently behind Mo Lie.

After he opened the door and stepped out, he quickly slammed it shut, cutting off Lin Manzhi's silhouette behind the door, then stepped onto the street in front of the house, his voice cold as ice and flat: "Did you confirm the Iron Claw Gang's movements for tonight?"

Hua Zheng hurriedly replied, "I returned to the gang this afternoon; they told me we'll meet tonight about two hundred kilometers west of Kuangsha City, and a small merchant caravan will pass through from that direction tonight."

Mo Lie lowered his head slightly, his face hidden beneath the Black Cloak, and cast a sideways glance at Hua Zheng beside him.

"Lead the way."

Hua Zheng quickened his pace, moving past Mo Lie by one position; this dwelling in Kuangsha City was far from a prime location, with houses packed together, narrow streets between them, and alleys so numerous they resembled a maze.

Hua Zheng had been in Kuangsha City for several months and had already mastered the entire city's layout, guiding Mo Lie through the maze‑like houses without a single pause in his steps.

In the city, Hua Zheng used his Human Form, but moved swiftly; Mo Lie easily kept up with Hua Zheng's afterimage, while the surrounding buildings blurred and seemed to fly backward.

The two sped through the complex district, when suddenly Mo Lie's steps halted and he turned his head back.

As he stopped, Hua Zheng, who had been ahead, instinctively in the next second stepped back to Mo Lie's side.

He also looked back, seeing a crossroads where a few Beastfolk were carrying items across, with nothing unusual.

Hua Zheng whispered, "Master, what's wrong?"

Mo Lie's blue eyes darkened; he raised a hand in a gesture to follow, and with a swift turn his steps carried him to the crossroads in an instant.

In the shadowed corner of the left side of the intersection, a slender gray mouse about a meter long lay against the wall; its two ears twitched, trying to hear whether the two figures passing the crossroads would turn, so it could follow.

He pressed against the alley wall, hearing no footsteps, and slowly peered toward the intersection.

"Are you looking for me?" a cold, forest‑like voice echoed in his mind.

The gray mouse jerked its head up, stared toward the voice, snapped its mouth open to reveal sharp teeth and hissed menacingly, "I am of the Wind Erosion Gang…"

"Wind Erosion Gang?"

Mo Lie, crouched on the roof, leapt down gracefully; the wind lifted his cloak, revealing a pair of long, straight legs clad in black trousers.

Precisely, he stomped his feet onto the gray mouse's head with a bang, smashing its skull into a stone brick; the bricks splintered outward, also silencing the mouse's frantic squeaks.

He stood on the mouse's head, the Black Cloak fluttering in the wind as his whole body merged back into the darkness.

A few passing Beastfolk nearby saw the scene and fled, leaving the crossroads empty in an instant.

Hua Zheng, who had also been crouched on the roof, followed with a leap, landing silently on a nearby stone slab; he tapped the gray mouse's fur and snarled, "Confess honestly why you followed us, or I'll kill you now."

Merely being stepped on in Human Form made the gray mouse feel a suffocating terror; realizing the dire situation, it burst into tears, sobbing and begging, saying:

"Don't kill me, don't kill me, I—I was only ordered by the boss to stalk a purchase of fifteen hundred jin of fat beasts, just to sell the information."

He wept intensely: "You see I'm just a tiny mouse, can't even bite your arm, and in the gang I only deliver messages; please spare me."

Mo Lie stepped down from the gray mouse's head; the mouse, once freed, urinated toward the gray‑clad beast and then scurried away quickly.

"Ugh, so disgusting!" Hua Zheng leapt three feet away in disgust.

The gray mouse, which had just begged for mercy, seized the chance to dart into a side alley; just as it was about to slip out of their sight, a splat sounded as something sliced into its neck flesh, and it staggered, falling face‑down.

Hua Zheng reacted and hurried after it.

As he was just assuming a starting stance, a flash of cold light shot from Mo Lie's hand, and the little gray mouse died.

He couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement inside.

The small gray mouse, though diminutive in Beast Form, was actually very fast; its one‑meter‑tall body lacked much attack power, but their species reproduces rapidly, and its elongated, concealed tiny Beast Form can be rather troublesome.

This Wind Erosion Gang gray mouse managed to withstand the majesty of leopards and escape; he was momentarily off‑guard, letting the mouse get far away.

Especially here, the terrain is far more familiar to the gray mouse; if it called for companions, it wouldn't be easy to deal with them all at once.

Fortunately Mo Lie is here… able, in Human Form, to kill a thick‑furred Beast Form with an ordinary dagger; it seems the master's Human Form is not hindered by the inability to use Beast Form.

Does the Spirit Core injury affect only the Beast Form?

Previously, when a Beastfolk's Spirit Core was ruined, they could only lie in bed awaiting death; even their slightest movement caused excruciating pain that made them want to kill themselves, and the Spirit Core Repair Elixir could not fully relieve the pain, only allow them to maintain daily life.

But now, from the first day they met, Mo Lie's condition has shattered Hua Zheng's long‑standing understanding, showing no sign that his Spirit Core is shattered.

The master truly lives up to being a master!

Hua Zheng sighed appreciatively, retrieved the dagger from the corpse, cleaned it, and handed it to Mo Lie with both hands, eyes full of reverence: "Master, your Human Form is also formidable; I didn't even see you act just now."

"Such ordinary, weak species can't harm you," Hua Zheng exhaled. "If you order me to go out on errands in the future, I'll be more at ease."

That was the first time Hua Zheng had seen Mo Lie act since the last time he saw him unconscious and collapsed in Ansen City.

That loyal, following master scenario turned out better than he expected, and Hua Zheng couldn't help but ask, "Can you use your Beast Form?"

Mo Lie replied coolly, "Obviously."

Hua Zheng: "..."

The curiosity felt a bit abrupt.

He gave an awkward laugh and said, "Shall we first deal with the owner of the Meat Jerky Shop?"