When Thien Thanh heard the two scouts call her a monster, a surge of primal fury washed over her. She was acutely sensitive to that word, likely because her master, Thien Anh, usually reserved it to describe his most depraved enemies.
In her rage, Moc transformed into a grey lightning bolt, delivering a lethal strike to each of their necks. Lacking emotional restraint, she injected a dosage of neurotoxins far exceeding the requirement. Originally, she had intended only to paralyze them, but the result spiraled out of control.
The two scouts instantly stiffened, frothing at the mouth. Within mere seconds, their skin shifted to a ghastly, bruised violet. Patches of flesh began to rot and slough off onto the snow like pulverized jelly. In less than thirty seconds, the entire frames of the two men had dissolved into a viscous, dark crimson fluid reeking of terminal decay, leaving only two bleached-white skeletons resting in the winter wasteland.Shutterstock
Witnessing the aftermath, Moc felt a twinge of guilt. She thought anxiously to herself: "Oh no, Master said to bring them back alive, and now I've left them as nothing but bones. I'll just have to tell the truth; Master surely won't be angry—after all, there are still two others."
With a heavy heart, Thien Thanh swiftly slithered toward the remaining two targets. This time, she applied a bitter lesson from the previous tragedy, approaching the scout concealed in the high branches with extreme caution.
To avoid another "slip of the fang," Moc meticulously calculated her strike.
Squelch!
She delivered a light nip to the scout's thigh. The toxin spread rapidly, inducing paralysis and causing the man to tumble from his perch. But through a stroke of sheer ill-fortune, his head struck a massive boulder hidden beneath the snow.
CRACK!
The dry, splintering sound of a fracturing skull echoed through the cold. Brain matter and fresh gore sprayed outward, only to be instantly flash-frozen by the sub-zero temperatures.
Watching yet another life vanish, Moc felt utterly helpless. Indeed, killing was a thousand times easier than capture. She composed herself one last time before approaching the fourth objective. This time, everything proceeded smoothly; the final scout was completely immobilized but remained alive.
Moc clamped onto his collar, dragging him across the snow toward the bunker. When her small silhouette appeared, Thien Anh let out a sigh of relief.
"You're back? I was worried you'd encountered some trouble out there."
Moc felt a wave of warmth at their concern. She dropped her prey and explained sheepishly:
"They were very weak; it wasn't a challenge. There were four in total, but I accidentally killed three. The first two got a bit too much venom and dissolved, and the third one fell out of a tree and hit a rock. I could only bring back this one."
Hearing Moc's confession, Thien Anh and Alisa's lips both twitched in unison. However, no one had the heart to scold her. To them, Moc was a phenomenal spirit beast with logical reasoning and uncanny linguistic skills; she couldn't be judged by human standards.
Thien Anh patted her head gently, smiling.
"You did great, Bé! I'll have a special reward for you tonight."
Moc squinted her eyes in pure delight before quickly slithering onto Thien Lang's (Ki) back. Alisa stood nearby, looking at the immobile prisoner. She asked Thien Anh:
"We have the prey. What is the next stage of our plan?"
Thien Anh grew pensive for a moment, his gaze sharpening with the cold lethality of a predator.
"The plan is this: Lam, you'll head out with Moc and Ki to lure the mutated beasts to a single location. I'll specify the coordinates later. I'll stay here to extract intel from this one and coordinate the armed insurgents to walk straight into our ambush."
Alisa's manual dexterity combined with Ki's velocity and Moc's reconnaissance was a perfect synergy for a luring mission. Alisa placed total trust in Thien Anh's vision and nodded decisively.
"Understood. We're moving out immediately."
She turned to the two beasts. "Let's go, little ones!"
The three of them swiftly ascended to the surface. Thien Anh immediately set to work. He retrieved a communication device from the prisoner's person, then utilized the organization's hidden nodes to bypass telecommunications protocols and extract past call logs.
The truth gradually surfaced. This armed syndicate was targeting his bunker but intended to seize it intact. The four scouts Moc had encountered were actually an elite team of assassins sent to neutralize Thien Anh the moment he surfaced. If he chose to entrench himself, they were prepared to use absolute firepower to grind the bunker down.
More tellingly, Thien Anh discovered a shocking detail: all four scouts were The Awakened, individuals possessing supernatural abilities. That was how they had bypassed the bunker's surveillance grid.
"I didn't expect superpower users to emerge this early in the era," Thien Anh narrowed his eyes, his mind calculating. "They are quite fortunate. It would be nice if I possessed a rare ability as well."
Pushing envy aside, Thien Anh utilized a voice modulator, perfectly mimicking the scout's tone to initiate contact with the insurgents. With his seasoned assassin experience, he effortlessly deceived the enemy leader.
"Good work! Continue tight surveillance on that location. If we succeed this time, you'll be handsomely rewarded," a confident voice transmitted from the other end.
Thien Anh replied in a fawning tone, "Yes, thank you, Great Boss!"
After disconnecting, Thien Anh immediately linked with Alisa via the comms:
"Set the trap at the Thanh Do Junction. The armed group will be moving down from the southwest via that route. Estimated arrival in eleven minutes. Lam, you know what to do?"
Alisa's response came quickly: "Loud and clear. If there's any shift in enemy movement, report it to me instantly."
"Naturally. But remember, the situation can turn on a dime. If it feels wrong, evacuate immediately. Do you copy?"
"Mhm. I know. Don't worry."
The game of cat and mouse had officially commenced.