Li Yao first found a hidden bush and put away most of the tools, food, detectaphones, trackers, and so on that he had prepared. He only kept the basic number for one battle.

Then, he went to the grocery store next to the neighborhood and bought a cold soda. With a straw in his mouth, he shook it three times with each step, pretending to be a spectator.

His eyes, as sharp as the edge of a blade, swept over the faces of every man, woman, and child in the neighborhood, even including the seemingly white-haired, hunched old men.

The first fire truck had already stopped below Zhang Daniu’s building. A few firefighters drew a cordon in the periphery to stop the crowd from approaching. There were also some who were looking for nearby fire hydrants. However, as Zhang Daniu strictly followed Li Yao’s instructions, he only ignited the clothes and cotton placed inside the pressure cooker. After burning for over ten minutes, the smoke gradually dimmed and did not lead to a real fire. Therefore, the well-trained firefighters were not in too much of a hurry. They still controlled the scene, evacuated the crowd, and made sure that there were no injured people in the room.

Li Yao observed the trees, branches, and the roofs of the residential buildings, planning the routes to fly up and retreat at ease.

Of course, he did not forget to search for suspicious people and soon found more than one target.

About fifteen meters southwest of him, a middle-aged man was leaning against a bicycle shed. Judging from his appearance and temperament, he should be an office worker who was engaged in a desk job, the kind who lacked exercise and had a big belly.

However, contrary to the bulging beer belly, the muscle lines on his hands and feet were quite clear, as if they were made of rebars. They were full of the strength of springs and explosives, and his breath was quite long, too. He only breathed once every twenty seconds or so, which was a sign that his heart and lungs were extremely powerful.

How could a man with strong muscles and a strong heart and lungs have a round beer belly?

Also, below the boulevard about twenty meters to Li Yao’s right, there was a young woman who was wearing pajamas and pushing a stroller. She seemed to be taking a walk after dinner, but when the breeze blew away her hair, Li Yao discovered a very inconspicuous earpiece in her ear. It had a spring coil at the back and looked very professional and stable.

Although it was just a glance, Li Yao was certain that it was not a Bluetooth earpiece for listening to music.

Besides, it was not very reasonable to listen to music while watching a show with a child, was it?

The young woman and the beer-bellied middle-aged man exchanged meaningful glances from time to time, touching their earlobes and nodding their heads. Li Yao guessed that it was their secret code to ensure the safety of their surroundings.

He looked at the stroller that the young woman was pushing. As he expected, it was completely covered. Not even an inch of the baby’s skin could be seen.

It was already summer, and the weather was hot and humid. Although the fire upstairs was not really on fire, the crowds nearby were enough to raise the temperature of the neighborhood by three to five degrees. Should he still cover the baby under such circumstances? Something was obviously wrong!

Just like that, Li Yao discovered six unusual suspects.

Five of them were taking care of each other. They were all within the range of Li Yao’s vision. It was difficult to take them down at the same time.

The sixth one was in other people’s sight, too. But the firefighters had decided to evacuate everyone in the neighboring unit at the last minute. The sudden surge of people interfered with his movement, and he had to change his position according to the instructions of the firefighters.

This gave Li Yao an opportunity.

At this time, the sky gradually turned dark. The loudly complaining crowd did their best to distract the attention of several suspicious figures. When the sixth suspicious figure tried to go around to the back of a large tree, Li Yao silently jumped up from behind. His arm was like a strange python as he ruthlessly bit the man’s throat, completely silencing the man’s cries of alarm. Then, he firmly pressed the man’s carotid artery and used three seconds to put him into a coma.

Thankfully, everyone’s attention was focused on the smoking residential building. No one cared about the dark corners of the small garden.

Li Yao dragged the suspect into the bushes and searched his body quickly. Except for a mobile phone, a multipurpose tactical pen, and the communicator in his ear, he found no leads whatsoever.

Hardly had he put the communicator into his ear when he heard a voice from inside. “We’ve found the target on the rooftop. Stay alert. We’re going to bring him down!”

Li Yao’s heart tightened. The first thought that came to his mind was to rush to the rooftop to rescue his companion. But on second thought, if the enemy had the intention to kill, he could’ve killed Zhang Daniu as soon as possible. There would’ve been no need to waste his time informing his companions. After all, he could’ve drowned him in the water tank. There wouldn’t have been any trouble.

Since they wanted their companions to be ‘alert’ and ‘remove’ their target, it was obvious that they were going to remove a living person, not a cold corpse.

Zhang Daniu’s residential building had a total of three units. He lived in the unit on the far right. Since it was the scene of a fire, the residents had long been evacuated. The entrance had been cordoned off and only firefighters could enter.

The second unit in the middle was being evacuated because of the spreading fire. Many residents were running out of the corridors one after another.

The three units on the left were the furthest away from each other. They were not forcibly evacuated, but many residents still came downstairs to watch the show.

And from the rooftop, one could freely go down to the corridor of the three units.

Li Yao estimated that the enemy must’ve pretended to be a resident and evacuated through the stairs of the second unit.

As he expected, while he was lurking in the bushes, he noticed that the other five suspects were all gazing at the entrance of the corridor of the second unit.

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao crouched and dashed toward the five suspects.

“They don’t seem to be superpowered people. At least, they are not superpowered people like ‘Zhao Kai’, who have awakened the memories of their previous life and turned into monsters and assassins. They are just well-trained warriors.”

Li Yao thought to himself, So, does the enemy have an even more awesome mission? Hiding in the darkness? Forget it. I have to rescue him!

With a sliding step, Li Yao moved to the back of the middle-aged man who had a beer belly and strong muscles. He called out softly, “Hello?”

The middle-aged man was already in a highly tense state. When he turned his head instinctively, Li Yao’s hand happened to cut his Adam’s apple. He held his Adam’s apple until it was crooked. His eyes were wide open, but he could not utter a single word.

Almost at the same time, the three nails in Li Yao’s palm suddenly shot out. The target was not a suspicious person but the tires of the fire engine.

Normal iron nails would not make too much noise when they pierced through the tires, but Li Yao had poured all his strength into the iron nails and pierced through two tires. As he expected, one of the tires made a “Bang” sound, giving everyone a scare. It also caused everyone, including the suspicious person, to temporarily shift their attention to the fire truck.

Taking the opportunity, Li Yao zigzagged in the crowd and finished off the other two suspects neatly.

Right now, there were only two suspicious persons left.

They had also discovered Li Yao’s existence.

Not good!

Their exclamations came over from the communicator. “Don’t—”

Maybe they wanted to warn their companions in the corridor not to come down, but their warning was interrupted by Li Yao’s iron nails. Seeing that his tracks had been exposed, Li Yao simply stopped hiding and stomped on the floor tiles, shooting into the corridor of the second unit like an arrow released from a bow.

Orange lights were blinking inside the narrow corridor. Most of the residents had been evacuated. Li Yao raised his head and saw a brawny man helping Zhang Daniu down the stairs. He didn’t have time to think. He opened fire with his iron nails and broke the lights of the corridor, plunging the surroundings into darkness. At the same time, one of the nails slanted upwards and pierced into the guy’s jaw, while the other, which was even more insidious, pierced into the guy’s foot.

Since the guy had just reached the first floor, his feet were at the same level as Li Yao’s head, and it was difficult for him to notice Li Yao. Besides, the lights were off, and his pupils were enlarged. It was already the best he could do to avoid the nail aimed at his jaw. How could he avoid the nail aimed at his foot?

The nail pierced through the man’s military boots easily and nailed his feet, boots, and stairs together.

“Ah!”

The muscular man screamed and tried to pull the nail out. Li Yao took the opportunity to run up and pull Zhang Daniu.

Weird things happened.

The muscular man and Zhang Daniu both took out a black, shining dagger and stabbed it at Li Yao’s chest.

“What the hell?”

Li Yao was not scared of the sudden attack, but he didn’t understand why Zhang Daniu was attacking him. He glanced at Zhang Daniu’s face from the corner of his eyes, only to discover that the guy’s face was blank, his eyes were blank, and his pupils were unfocused. He looked like a puppet that was being manipulated and had no idea what he was doing.

Li Yao looked at the muscular man again. He was holding a saber in his right hand, but his left hand was stuck to Zhang Daniu’s back. His five fingers were shivering in a weird frequency, as if he was controlling Zhang Daniu’s nerves and muscle network through his spine.

“So that’s how it is. Some kind of very advanced hypnotism?”

Now that he had figured out the mechanism, there was nothing to be scared of. Li Yao sneered and watched the two daggers passing by his eyes again. They were aimed at the left leg of the muscular man and stomped on it.

The left leg of the muscular man was already in a lot of pain. Now that it had been stomped on by Li Yao, his attack and control skills had been seriously affected. His left hand was in a mess, and Zhang Daniu was cramping violently. No longer under his control, Li Yao took the opportunity to gather his fingers and peck the muscular man’s underarm.

The peck broke at least five ribs of the muscular man. His dagger left his hand, and he fell backward.

Li Yao was not willing to let it go. He chased after the muscular man and smashed his elbow into the muscular man’s chest. The muscular man was immediately knocked out and foamed at the mouth.

Zhang Daniu was still in a daze.

Li Yao had never learned any hypnotism techniques before. Therefore, he could only slap Zhang Daniu dozens of times in the simplest and crudest way. Zhang Daniu’s eyes were finally focused again when Li Yao noticed that his cheeks were bulging and glittering.

“Wuwu…”

Holding his cheek, he mumbled, “What happened? Why is it so painful?”

“Master Niu, don’t be scared. I’m here!”

Li Yao dragged Zhang Daniu and ran up the stairs. “Just now, some evil superpowered people tried to hurt you, but I eliminated them all!”