Chapter 17: The spy and the variables

My experience proved that my hesitation for a few seconds was correct. Just as I was about to get up and leave that night as planned, I heard a distant barking and the sound of footsteps approaching.

I have to thank the quiet night in this remote house and village for making the footsteps so loud. Although I don’t know who is coming, I can tell from the dangerous feeling in my heart that the person is not coming with good intentions.

The room was dark and there was no light, which gave me a little bit of security. I was in the bedroom on the second floor, and I could see outside through the bedroom window. I didn’t want to be too passive.

With this in mind, I held my breath, walked lightly to the window, and quietly poked my head out to observe the situation outside.

The night in the mountain village is very dark because there are no street lights, and it is still a rainy night. At first glance, it is just a dark and gloomy darkness. After my eyes have adjusted for a second or two, I can barely see anything outside.

At the entrance to the village, on the road leading into the village, I could vaguely see several figures walking!

When I saw them, it was probably because it was too dark and the road was difficult to walk on. One of them took out a small flashlight and lit it up, which made it easier for me to see that there were four men.

Judging from their clothing, they were definitely not from this village, and it was impossible for four young men to be in this village at the same time. They had almost all gone out to work.

A layer of fine beads of sweat appeared on my forehead, and my brain began to work at high speed. What should I do in this situation? But just at this moment, I felt a sense of extreme danger, and instinctively I hid myself by the window.

Before I could catch my breath, a beam of dazzling flashlight hit the window and hovered back and forth for a long time before disappearing!

Then, in the quiet night of this mountain village, a few words, though deliberately lowered, but clear, entered my ears.

“What are you doing? You’ll scare the snake away!” was the voice of a man scolding.

“No, I just feel like someone is spying on us.” The voice of another man explained, but when I heard this sentence, the fine beads of sweat that had appeared became more and more urgent, merging into a large drop of sweat that rolled down my forehead.

This sentence actually contains a lot of information. The person who felt being spied on should be someone with a strong spiritual awareness, otherwise I would not have been able to find out by peeking through the window.

If such a person appears, things will change a lot, because I am also a person with a strong spiritual awareness. I understand this. People who rely on their senses to judge things will generally bring great changes to things.

For example, when I asked the master to help me at the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts, it was obvious that it was not a technique of the Zhongmao Sect. A normal cultivator would have stopped the technique, but I relied on my senses and forcibly completed the technique…

While I was thinking quickly, the following conversation continued, and it was the man who spoke first who was speaking in a low voice.

“Your spiritual awareness is very accurate and is highly valued by the organization, but this matter must not be a mistake, so…” The man didn’t say any more.

I was hiding on the second floor, but my mood was getting heavier and heavier. This matter is very important to the organization? That means they are sure I am not dead? If I lose this cover, how can I fight against a large organization?

But then, another man’s interruption made me feel a little more relieved: “Team leader, this is just an uncertain piece of information. The organization is also skeptical, and it is based on the idea of killing by mistake. Is it necessary to say it so seriously?”

I let out a long sigh. It turns out that the organization is not sure that I am still alive, and it is even slightly skeptical, holding the attitude of killing by mistake.

“But have you thought about the two possible outcomes if the news is accurate: catching the person or the person escaping from our hands?” The man spoke again.

When he said this, the man who had not taken the matter too seriously was silent. At this point, the man with the accurate intuition spoke again: “Although the upper echelons of the organization have calculated that the person is already dead, I feel that this news is true. I am looking forward to meeting this person to see if his intuition is stronger or mine is stronger.”

Damn, I couldn’t help but curse in my heart. Who would be interested in competing with him in spiritual perception? It’s just that the person with the strongest spiritual perception is too damn annoying. Why judge that the news is true? However, I neglected the fact that I was also a person with strong spiritual perception. After cursing like that, I had quite simply cursed myself in!

“Really?” The leader’s voice was a little excited. I of course understood him. This was a person who wanted to make a name for himself.

It’s just that this group of guys are obviously too inexperienced. Compared to the ‘old pros’ in the department led by Jiang Yi, the mistakes they made were quite elementary. They thought that whispering was very secretive, but they didn’t realize that this was a mountain village, the nights were quiet, and it was open. There was a small hill behind my house, and the sound spread very clearly.

The ‘old pros’ in the department basically communicated by gestures.

I was a little relieved to think that these were a few spoiled rookies, but after the team leader said “really,” the courtyard below was already silent. I frowned and carefully peeked out to see that they had already reached the bottom of the courtyard, presumably to tamper with the gate.

At this point, I already had a plan in mind, even though it was a bit risky.

I waited quietly, trying to hide my figure in the shadows and carefully observing.

Time passed by minute by minute. After about two minutes, the gate opened silently under deliberate control, and four somewhat sneaky figures entered the courtyard.

They started shining their flashlights around the yard, looking around and observing…

At this point, they acted a little more professionally, knowing to be quiet and careful, and to control the flashlight as much as possible so as not to disturb the house.

However, the yard is empty, and the house only has a small yard in front of it. Behind the house is a wall, and behind the wall is the hill. The area next to the house is a steep slope with a 60-degree incline. There is no value in exploring outside the house.

I kept observing these people, and sure enough, they didn’t find anything in the yard. In less than five minutes, they gathered at the door of the house. One of them was hunched over, probably trying to open the door again.

At this time, my palms were slightly sweaty, and my heart was beating a little fast. I couldn’t fight these people openly, because if I didn’t kill them all, it would be the same as telling the organization that I was still alive… I could only hide passively, and under these circumstances, I couldn’t help but be nervous.

But I still adjusted my breathing, breathing softly so that my voice wouldn’t be too loud. The moment they entered the house, I reached out and unlocked the window.

I had to be careful not to make too much noise, because even the slightest sound could be fatal. The cultivators’ five senses were extremely sensitive, and I couldn’t compare their hearing to that of ordinary people. Otherwise, even if they were talking in the quiet village at night, I wouldn’t be able to hear every word so clearly.

The window lock was opened silently, and at the same time, I was calculating in my heart. There were three rooms downstairs, with a kitchen, but because the family was not very wealthy, the rooms were very empty. Even if I carefully explored, the speed of four people would not exceed five minutes, and then they would quickly go upstairs. The room I was in was the first room on the upstairs corridor.

In other words, the most time I had was five minutes. My mind was calculating all this, but my actions were swift. As soon as I opened the window lock, I stood up and began pushing the window open. The window was an old-fashioned casement window, and because it had been closed for so long, the hinges were probably a bit rusty. I was careful not to make a sound, but it took me a lot longer than I had expected.

I didn’t open the window completely. After opening it to a certain extent, I leaned out carefully and gently lowered the bag down.

My room is also a bedroom, and in those old-fashioned village houses, there is usually a cement board on the window that is supposed to block the rain. Now it has become my only chance to escape this round of investigation.

I lowered the bag gently, but the sense of crisis in my heart was getting heavier and heavier. In theory, there was still plenty of time, but after all, one of the four people had excellent spiritual perception, which was a variable. So without thinking, I climbed over the window, grabbed the narrow window sill with both hands, and stood on the concrete ledge.

Outside the window, the drizzle and cold wind instantly enveloped my body. Because I moved too quickly, I lost my balance a little and almost fell.

The height was not high enough to cause me injury, but the noise I made would surely have exposed me. Fortunately, at that moment, I leaned back in time, reached out and grabbed the window sill, and barely managed to stabilize my body.

But at this moment, there was still one thing I had to do…