Chapter 1559 — Didn't Come Back

"All right..." Wei Zhao managed a wry smile, then circulated his mental technique and released his aura.

"Late Profound Stage? Didn't you already become an Earth Stage expert long ago? Why are you only at the late Profound Stage?" The strange man furrowed his brow suddenly and spoke.

Wei Zhao jumped. As expected, the flaw had been spotted! He forced himself to say, "Ah... yes..."

"That's right — you must have been injured back then, and without the aid of heavenly treasures over all these years, your strength never recovered. Am I not correct?" Without even waiting for Wei Zhao to explain, the strange man had already fashioned a perfectly good excuse on his behalf.

"Uh... yes." Wei Zhao blinked in surprise, then nodded along.

"No matter — we can start over!" the strange man declared. "Over the years, your master has stolen the enemy's mental technique. Once I hand it to you, we will know them as they know us, and win every battle. Once you have mastered it, your master will take you back to claim your revenge!"

"All right..." Wei Zhao had no idea what the strange man was talking about.

"Rest now — your master is sleepy!" The strange man said his piece, flopped down on the ground inside the cave, and went straight to sleep without a second thought about Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao gazed at the map in his hand and allowed himself a bitter smile, resolving to find an opportunity to return it to the strange man.

"Boss, we..." Zhao Qitan had not dared draw a breath for fear the strange man would go berserk again. Now that the man had finally fallen asleep, he carefully extended a finger and pointed at the stranger, then whispered to Wei Zhao: "Should we run now? Is he asleep?"

But Wei Zhao shook his head. Although the strange man appeared to be sleeping, the perception of a Heaven Stage expert was beyond question — who knew when he might suddenly wake? If he woke up and mistakenly believed Wei Zhao had been posing as his disciple in order to steal the treasure map and flee, there would be no way to talk their way out of it. The man might even kill Wei Zhao and Zhao Qitan on the spot.

"We'll decide tomorrow." Wei Zhao was truly at a loss. He needed to devise some excuse to part ways with this strange man, for with the man's strength, catching up would be effortless.

Zhao Qitan nodded and lay down to sleep in a somewhat gloomy mood, while Wei Zhao sat cross-legged inside the cave and began to cultivate...

In the middle of the night, the strange man was deep in sleep when he suddenly sprang upright and cried out in alarm: "Run! Li'er, run! They're here — they're chasing you!"

Wei Zhao's eyes snapped open in astonishment. He had just opened his mouth to speak when the strange man burst out of the cave and vanished into the boundless darkness in a matter of moments. By the time Wei Zhao rose and hurried outside to give chase, the man's trail had long since disappeared!

"Ah..." Wei Zhao sighed and glanced back at the oil-paper package on the ground, unable to keep from shaking his head in helpless resignation. The strange man was clearly not in his right mind — who knew what bizarre dream he had just had in his sleep? Perhaps he had dreamed of his enemies at the door and bolted in a panic.

As for giving chase — Wei Zhao knew full well he was no match for a Heaven Stage expert and would never catch up. He could only return to the cave and wait for the strange man to come back on his own.

"Boss, what happened... that old madman..." Zhao Qitan had been roused by the sudden commotion as well. He opened his eyes and stared at Wei Zhao in a daze.

"He ran off... He might come back on his own in a while. Go back to sleep." Wei Zhao offered a wry smile.

"Oh..." Zhao Qitan nodded. If Wei Zhao said everything was fine, then everything was fine, and he promptly lay back down and closed his eyes.

By the time Zhao Qitan woke, daylight had flooded the world outside. Wei Zhao had been waiting for the strange man to return the entire time, yet now that Zhao Qitan was awake, the strange man still had not come back — three or four hours had passed since he fled.

"You're awake?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Mm... Boss, where's that old madman?" The moment Zhao Qitan opened his eyes, the strange man was nowhere to be seen. Apart from Wei Zhao, the only other occupant of the cave was the Heavenly Thunder Pig dozing in the corner.

"He hasn't come back." Wei Zhao shook his head. "And who knows whether he ever will?"

"Good riddance — he scared me half to death..." Zhao Qitan patted his chest. "A Heaven Stage expert really is terrifying!"

"Hah..." Wei Zhao was somewhat at a loss. Although he had no intention of appropriating the strange man's map, the man had left and shown no sign of ever returning. Leaving the thing lying about in the cave, Wei Zhao feared it might be lost, so he had no choice but to keep it on his person for the time being. "Let's eat something. If that strange man doesn't come back, we'll hit the road."

Zhao Qitan nodded and rummaged through the pack, pulling out some rationed food. He handed some to Wei Zhao, then took a piece of compressed biscuit and a sausage for himself and began to eat.

The two finished their meal and rested a while longer until roughly midday. The wind and snow outside the cave had eased considerably — though not yet stopped, the road had become visible again. Having waited long enough for the strange man, Wei Zhao could only take Zhao Qitan and get into the car first, leaving the cave behind.

Meanwhile, in Songshan City, a major incident had unfolded!

The suspect behind a string of robberies, while assaulting several middle school students that day, was spotted by a brave young man nearby. The youth lunged forward and ripped the mask clean off the suspect's face — and this scene was captured on video by a nearby university student citizen journalist, who uploaded it to the internet...

The suspect's true face was finally exposed to the public. Although in his furious shame the suspect had beaten the brave young man badly, his identity was now in the hands of the police for the very first time...

Qiu Lingshan stared at the footage before her in gloom. She could not bring herself to believe her own eyes — but the person on screen, she knew him without question. It was undoubtedly Wei Zhao!

But how could this be? Was it truly Wei Zhao? Looking at the savage, inhuman figure on screen, Qiu Lingshan felt as though a knife had been plunged into her heart... No — it could not be. The Wei Zhao she knew would absolutely never do such a thing!

"Captain Qiu... You can know a man's face but never his heart... Don't be so hard on yourself..." Liu Wangli tried to counsel her with a bitter smile. At this point, if anyone still claimed the suspect was not Wei Zhao, no one would believe it.

"It's not him... It definitely isn't him!" Qiu Lingshan shook her head. "Liu Wangli, look at the suspect's eyes — they're dull and lifeless. Those are not the eyes of a normal person..."

"Perhaps it's just the numbness of a career criminal..." Liu Wangli was already convinced. The suspect was Wei Zhao.

All the evidence, this video included, was now more than enough to prove the point beyond doubt.

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