Tailing II

A few hours passed quickly. Bai Jingshen continued to listen to his targets, hoping for any information he could get. His patience was rewarded as he heard a few things of importance. He knew that only a small team would be able to hunt him. The two Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators would be the strongest amongst them, as a Golden Core Realm cultivator was coordinating the overall operation. From the way they talked the young man was certain no method was to dirty for them. He had to be prepared for poison, guns, traps, and everything else he could think of.

Just as the group began to drink, drifting into meaningless conversations, the pink-haired waitress approached Bai Jingshen, now wearing a wide jacket. He suddenly realized that he forgot about his promise. He didn't know what to do in this strange situation, so he let himself be led away by the young woman. Multiple plans raced through Bai Jingshen's head as he was led down the street. Most of those would easily blow his cover however, if the woman talked to the real Felm again. No one would be able to track anything back to him most likely, but it was still better to be safe than sorry.

Suddenly Bai Jingshen saw his lifesaver. The young man mumbled something about needing a toilet before staggering of into a side street. Fortunately, Bai Jingshen had better observational abilities than the waitress, so he was the only one noticing a bare foot sticking out of some trash next to a staircase. The pink-haired woman complained about his need to empty his bladder in public. Not wanting to observe Felm as he showed such shameful behavior, she slowly walked further ahead, deciding to wait for her man to finish.

Felm had an awful day. He just came back from a small task. The mercenary union gave it an easy rating, but who would have thought that they would be attacked by a group of beasts. He had just gotten used to his teammates, whom had been working with him for over a year now. However, during this one mission five out of eight had died, with the other two heavily injured. Only Felm made it out uninjured. Once again. For some reason he always had this dogsh*t luck, but he didn't know if this was a blessing or a course.

Once again, he returned to the city to drown his sorrows in alcohol. This time he went a bit overboard and was kicked out of a small bar. Since he had already drunk enough, he found a dark corner, laying down to sleep. Who would have thought that a few hours later he would wake up and find himself completely naked. He coursed those shameless thieves for trying to take everything from him. Luckily, he was prepared. Since he had always been really lucky, he naturally was able to find some expensive spirit herbs from time to time. Not wanting to be too conspicuous, he had always secretly hid them in the home of the only person he was close to. Not even the pink-haired waitress herself knew that she was literally sleeping on a fortune.

Seeing how everything had been robbed from him, Felm made his way over towards the young woman's home. Unfortunately, she was still working at that time. As Felm's mind had cleared up slightly on the way, he only now became consciousness about his naked body. Therefore, he turned around, walking through a few side streets. Not knowing what else to do, the drunkard began to search for something to drink in some trash. After a few attempts he was lucky to find a bottle which was still half filled. Felm didn't think much as he quickly emptied it, soon falling asleep in someone else's trash.

A while later the drunkard once again opened his eyes. He was shocked for the tiniest moment before stupidly giggling. He could have sworn he saw his own face just now. Not wanting to think about anything, Felm shook his head and closed his eyes again. However, this time he couldn't sleep as he suddenly felt himself being picked up and shoved on the street. In his drunken stupor he even noticed that he was wearing clothes again. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice not far from him:

"Felm! What took you so long? Let's go!"

"Milla? Is that you? What are you doing here? W-What am I doing here?"

"What are you talking? Why are you babbling so much? Did you drink something just now?!"

"Hmm? Of course I did?"

"Haa… You… Whatever. Just come now. Don't say you forgot your promise because of intoxication, or we will have a problem!"

Felm didn't understand anything, but he noticed Milla was serious this time. He simply let himself be grabbed and lead down the street. As if remembering something he shakily turned his head around towards the side street, but he didn't see anything there. The lucky drunkard shrugged his shoulders as he followed after Milla.

Bai Jingshen was standing around a corner, smirking, as he watched Milla leave with Felm. He wished both of them a happy ending as he walked away in the opposite direction. Since he was done tailing the Vulcan family group, he put on some random disguise, not caring too much about details.

Soon he found himself back on the main street. Bai Jingshen took in a deep breath before heading back to his room. He informed his friends about his wellbeing but didn't tell them about the information he received. Sam and Torren answered him quickly, explaining how they found Thomas a short while later. The young man didn't say one word as he left together with Kayleen.

Combining Sam's story with what he already knew, he quickly realized that Thomas had probably sold him out. However, he couldn't even get angry at the young man, as Bai Jingshen could imagine what he went through. As the former emperor followed the main street, his face turned slightly gloomy. Many passersby evaded him, frightened by the killing intent he unconsciously emitted. Only a while later Bai Jingshen managed to calm his mind again.

He felt a complicated mix of emotions right know, but he was glad about it. He knew that experiencing all kinds of situations was important for his cultivation. This was one of the reasons why he didn't want to report what he just heard to Thobar Bionics.

However, Bai Jingshen had thought too little of his brother. After everything that happened today, Sam could naturally tell that something was amiss. Although Bai Jingshen didn't want to say anything, but this only made the young man even more uneasy. Therefore, he silently apologized to Bai Jingshen in case he disrupted his friend's plan, but still made a call in the end. Having decided to walk side by side with the people important to him, how could he let them face danger alone now.

At the top floor of Thobar Bionics' HQ Elena could be seen talking to her protector.

"Grand-Uncle, I just received a call."

The old man was slightly surprised as he noticed Elena's nervousness. He curiously asked:

"What is it?"

"Someone seems ready to act against on of our elites. A lower-level cultivator probably sold him out."

"This is indeed rather serious. Do you want to protect them?"

"Of course, I do. However, the elite in question hasn't mentioned anything despite knowing about it. He probably want's to resolve it himself."

"So, we are talking about one of you two recent allies, right?"

"Haa… yes, it's Bai Jingshen."

"Do we know who is targeting him?"

"The Vulcan family is the most obvious candidate. But it could also be Naarus or Dragon's Tail. We also know that many young geniuses in the whole New World fall victim to mysterious assassinations from time to time, but those have never been this sloppy. The rare few times that those assassins have been caught, they turned out to be fake."

"Vulcan, Naarus and Dragon's Tail are pretty much in the same camp anyways. You have to make a decision on how to deal with this situation."

After asking the old man for his opinion, Elena found it easier to sort out her thoughts. She had always been strong willed, but she also noticed herself that she was a bit too cautious if it concerned her recent opportunities. The young woman focused her mind, as she thought about a solution. She soon understood that she had neglected to use her strongest asset. The Sacred Fate Body had never misguided her. Therefore, Elena suddenly sat in a meditative position, fully concentrating on the signals her body sent her.

Elena's mind worked on high speeds as she quickly went through all kinds of plans in her mind. She communicated with her special constitution, dismissing countless plans in a few seconds. Her body only responded positively to a few of her plans, so she decided to test them in detail. Suddenly however the young woman was confused. A situation she never experienced before threw her off, as her body didn't react to one of her plans at all. She couldn't figure out what this meant. However, exploring one's constitution was highly beneficial to Gene Activation Realm cultivators, so Elena tried to dissect this one plan as best as she could.

A while later a beautiful smile blossomed on Elena's face as she suddenly broke through under the old man's surprised gaze.