Twin Dimension Yin-Yang Mirror: Attaining immortality through the martial path-Chapter 53 - 52 Ambush and Transformation

53: Chapter 52 Ambush and Transformation

53 -52 Ambush and Transformation

“Tentative.”

“This is an undisguised probe, or rather, an attempt to provoke me.”

Zhou Ping’an walked against the stream of people out of the hospital, looking at the traffic and bustling crowd ahead…

The weather in May had gradually warmed up, and the sunlight on his face and body had a faint scorching feel.

Yet his heart was filled with a chill.

“If I show no reaction, simply going about my business as usual.

Then naturally, they would keep pushing and probing, until I’m cornered with nowhere to go.”

“If I show an extraordinary reaction and take action, that would play right into the opponent’s hands…

What would follow would undoubtedly be a strike as sudden and violent as a thunderstorm.”

So you see, some situations, once you’re involved in them.

Are hard to press forward with, and just as hard to retreat from.

The only way out.

There actually is one.

…

Zhou Ping’an looked up at the brilliant sun in the sky, a thin red thread in his mind turning into green smoke and dissipating, as the Karma Fire Red Lotus slowly revolved, the flames roaring fiercely.

A tender and adorable voice, bringing a flicker of warmth to one’s heart, echoed quietly within him: “Brother Ping’an’s back is so comfortable, just like mother’s embrace, I’m not afraid of anything anymore.”

Xiao Jiu’s inner voice, like an illusion.

It came quickly and left just as swiftly.

Zhou Ping’an’s mind felt as if it had been washed over with ice water, clear yet intoxicating.

The numerous clamors around his ears became incredibly distinct, as if dissected, and the gazes from all directions, whether near or far, seemed to carry various temperatures.

Cold indifference, curiosity, admiration, playfulness…

Seizing this moment of strange, divine clarity-like insight, Zhou Ping’an suddenly turned his head to look.

Across a zebra crossing, beyond a bus, three small cars, and the passing crowd, stood a tall and thin figure in a crisp black uniform, looking back from afar.

His face bore a strange smile.

His eyes were cold and emotionless.

That faint chill, even the morning sun’s warmth couldn’t conceal it.

“Found you.”

Zhou Ping’an didn’t run but instead moved through the crowd at an unhurried pace toward that person.

With his keen mental alertness, even if the few seconds of overclocking state in his mind completely faded, the other party couldn’t possibly escape his lock.

As expected.

Seeing Zhou Ping’an coming straight toward him.

The man did not panic at all, but instead turned his head with a laugh, and then walked away.

Turning two corners, he entered a small alley.

The street was bustling with noise and excitement.

But the alley was quiet amidst the chaos, devoid of human voices and onlookers.

Walls on both sides and the steel anti-theft nets enclosed vibrantly colored clothes drying in the sun.

Zhou Ping’an had just walked in.

He saw the person on the opposite side turn around…

A gaunt figure with hollow cheeks.

Between the left eyebrow, there was a black mole, emitting a gloomy aura, and giving off an unpleasant feeling.

“As you wished, I have come.”

Seeing Zhou Ping’an, the person didn’t hide or leave.

“Last night, you…”

The gaunt middle-aged man spoke emotionlessly, his voice slightly hoarse and deep.

At the same time, he lifted his left hand and pointed at Zhou Ping’an.

He only spoke halfway, when between his fingers, suddenly shone a bright light, rivaling the sun in the sky.

“Shhh…”

A sharp wind shot towards Zhou Ping’an’s neck.

He even had a smile on his face.

The smile froze halfway when he realized that the figure under the dazzling light had turned into an afterimage and vanished.

At the same time, his extended left hand shook slightly, and a cacophony of “crackling” sounds came from his chest and abdomen.

His body uncontrollably flew backward.

Slamming hard against the brick wall at the end of the alley, creating a dented human-shaped hole.

“This steel needle of yours is far inferior to the Yanwang Needle.”

Zhou Ping’an held the opponent’s left arm, which didn’t feel like flesh and blood, tore off the ragged fabric to take a look, and found out that it was made of steel.

He had sensed danger just moments before, dodged to the side…

Using the “Lying Blade Form” of Gentle Water Eight Stances, he closed the distance in one step, grabbing the opponent’s wrist, and with his elbow as a spear.

With one elbow thrust, he sent the gaunt middle-aged man flying over ten meters, slamming into the back alley wall.

Meanwhile, the opponent’s prosthetic steel hand must not have been well-attached, because with one pull, it came off at the elbow.

On closer inspection, the arm was finely made; the hand and wrist were wrapped in a special flesh-colored material.

All five fingertips had tiny round holes, clearly designed to launch some sort of weapon.

The steel needle that had just been fired was one of them.

It shot out over twenty meters away, burying itself into the corner of the wall, leaving only the tail of the needle trembling.

The power of the mechanism was actually quite significant.

In some respects, this thing was even more dangerous than holding a pistol.

Because it was much more concealed.

“Tell me, who sent you?”

Zhou Ping’an hoisted the lanky middle-aged man by his neck.

He had not held back too much in his earlier move.

A single elbow strike and the man’s chest bones broke to pieces.

If not dead, he’d surely be crippled.

And yet this was still the best outcome he could manage while suppressing his rage.

“As expected, it’s with you.

Your troubles are mounting,” said the middle-aged man, wearing an ugly smile, as if his body didn’t belong to him, while coughing up blood.

After just a single sentence, his face turned purple, and the blood trickling from his mouth turned black.

“Suicide?”

Zhou Ping’an was greatly shocked.

He realized that although he was very wary of the mysterious force pursuing Master Dong and speculated that they might not be simple, with perhaps a significant background,

he had not imagined that a disposable agent sent by them for a tentative probe would be a Death Warrior.

Moreover, the man’s left arm, a metal limb strictly prohibited in civil transformation, was not of the ordinary.

Transformation of limbs and prosthetics for the disabled were not the same thing.

The former was a deliberate installation of an attack system, connected to neural control.

The latter were assistive living devices with no offensive capabilities.

The two could not be more different.

The man’s left arm in front of him was more dangerous than a firearm.

Underestimating the power capable of such a transformation was not an option.

Upon forcing open the tall and thin man’s mouth, he saw one of his left molars had shattered…

The scenes he had seen in films of special agents biting down on cyanide capsules and dying of poisoning unfolded before his eyes.

While Zhou Ping’an felt mildly inconvenienced, his sense of crisis grew even stronger.

“There are two directions to go from here: one is to find a police official with extremely high clearance and use their authority to dig into the secret files of the Wenshan case.

I wonder if my Shijie has access to them?

Though, I’m guessing the chances are slim.”

If Tang Tang’s clearance allowed access to the details of that mysterious force, she would have mentioned it last time.

Yao Zhenbang, being in charge of this case and the head of a group, should be able to have access.

But given his intense paranoia, it’s unlikely he would allow himself to be investigated.

“The other direction is to go to the Dragon Tiger Martial Arts Hall…

Given Master Dong’s habit of always having a contingency plan, he certainly must’ve left something behind, perhaps information.”

It seemed the noise and light coming from the alley drew the attention of the residents.

Soon, Zhou Ping’an heard noises indicating their approach.

He casually discarded the broken mechanical arm in his hand, powered through his feet, and sped out of the alleyway.

Sticking close to the walls, he left the alley and returned to the bustling street, blending into the crowd.

If he had never visited that other world, causing severe injury to a man and driving him to suicide would have likely upset him deeply.

Now, however, he felt not the slightest discomfort.

He had lived through transparent dangers and life-or-death struggles.

He had personally ended the lives of many Jianghu masters.

To say he was numb would be an exaggeration, but to say he didn’t care was precise.

Just like those medical students say, at first sight of the “cadaver teacher” can be nauseating, inducing fear and disgust of all sorts.

After a few classes, when seeing the “cadaver teacher” again, they could personally wield the scalpel, slice as if cutting pork, without stirring any emotion.

Before, if someone died, regardless of how it happened or his involvement,

Zhou Ping’an would’ve reported it immediately and actively cooperated with his colleagues’ “interrogations.”

But now, he didn’t entertain the thought at all.

He acted as if nothing had happened.

His only feeling was a slight annoyance over losing a clue.

A careless mistake.

He could not sever the source of the enemy’s prying eyes.

Even an explanation would find no audience willing to listen.

The events surrounding the Wenshan case and Master Dong’s fate had taught Zhou Ping’an one thing:

Unless one party died cleanly, the situation remained unsolvable.

“I wonder how much that power knows, whether they’re speculating that Master Dong took some valuable object, or if they know its specific use?”

With that thought, Zhou Ping’an stopped dwelling on the matter.

He turned a corner, flagged down a taxi, and headed for the Dragon Tiger Martial Arts Hall.