Chapter 46: Ambush

Ying Li’s mental power was very composed, not violent and savage like Ding Hua’s.

But that didn’t mean his mental power lacked lethality.

Most importantly, a high-ranking Sentinel could suppress a lower-ranking one.

Yu Juntao was a B-Rank Sentinel, but his mental strength was very low, far inferior to an average B-Rank Sentinel.

And Ying Li was A-Rank.

Mental power erupted violently from this Sentinel dressed in an utterly ordinary combat suit, face hidden behind a visor and helmet, only his eyes visible. It pressed down on the people around him overwhelmingly, with a special focus on Yu Juntao.

In an instant, the air itself seemed to solidify into lead. The B-Rank Sentinels present all felt their breathing grow labored, unable to muster even the slightest thought of resistance.

Even Captain Zhang, an A-Rank Sentinel himself, felt as if his head had been dealt a heavy blow.

The one who reacted most severely was, of course, Yu Juntao.

Yu Juntao instantly collapsed to the ground, a rattling, wheezing sound escaping his throat. His vision filled with double images. He felt as if his head was about to burst; death was right in front of him.

Earlier, when facing the A-Rank Mutant Beast, Yu Juntao had been afraid, but he hadn’t truly believed he would die. But at this moment, he was staring death right in the face.

Yu Juntao was in agony, and the members of the hunting team could clearly see his abnormal state.

Seeing his eyes bulge from their sockets as if about to explode, Captain Zhang hurriedly used his own mental power to resist Ying Li’s.

He loathed Yu Juntao and wished he would drop dead. But Yu Juntao couldn’t die right in front of him.

The Yu Family could tolerate them being incompetent, but they absolutely could not tolerate them standing by and watching a Yu Family member die!

As Captain Zhang moved to block, the other two A-Rank Sentinels in the team also acted simultaneously to resist.

They all knew they weren’t a match for this mysterious Sentinel. But there were three of them, and this Sentinel was alone!

Surely they could at least protect Yu Juntao.

The three attacked together. Yet, just then, the mental power of the Sentinel before them abruptly retracted, causing their combined mental assault to hit empty air.

Of course, Ying Li wouldn’t clash with them head-on. He hadn’t planned on killing Yu Juntao here anyway.

If Yu Juntao died, the hunting team’s Sentinels would all be implicated.

If he wanted to kill this man, he would find an opportunity to do it secretly later.

But teaching him a lesson was absolutely necessary!

Ying Li glanced at Yu Juntao, who was collapsed on the ground and had already wet his pants. He chuckled lightly. “Just this much skill, and you want to steal my crystal core?”

Finishing his words, he looked at Captain Zhang and stated directly: “If he dies, it might drag you all down. I won’t kill him.”

Ying Li’s sudden attack on Yu Juntao had inevitably sparked a surge of anger in Captain Zhang. But hearing these words, that anger transformed into gratitude.

The Sentinel before him was immensely powerful, yet, out of consideration for them, was willing to spare Yu Juntao. This man was definitely a good person!

Lying in his own urine, Yu Juntao tried to speak. But his fright was too great; every muscle in his body was rigidly locked. He couldn’t utter a single word.

Ying Li glanced at him once, then walked over to the A-Rank Mutant Beast’s corpse. He tied two ropes to it.

One rope he tied to his motorcycle. He grabbed the other himself. Then he revved the motorcycle and simultaneously used his mental power to lift the Mutant Beast’s carcass.

The beast’s body lifted into the air like a giant kite, dragged along behind Ying Li as he departed.

He had attacked Yu Juntao. There was no way he could stay here and leisurely dismember the carcass.

But leaving the carcass for the Yu Family Hunting Team was also something he was unwilling to do.

The corpse of an A-Rank Mutant Beast was extremely valuable. If Yu Juntao brought it back, it would become Yu Juntao’s accomplishment. Absolutely not!

Watching Ying Li leave, a sudden sense of familiarity stirred within Captain Zhang.

Last time they were out hunting, they had encountered a powerful Sentinel in the wilderness riding a motorcycle with an A-Rank Mutant Beast body trailing behind.

He had sent someone to tail that person and found out they went to Freedom City, guessing it was Ding Hua.

The Sentinel today who helped them kill the A-Rank Mutant Beast seemed to be the exact same Sentinel they had seen last time… Was this Ding Hua?

Even though the person spoke with a male voice, changing one’s voice wasn’t difficult…

“Captain Zhang! That man injured Young Master Yu! How could you just let him go?” A B-Rank Sentinel helped Yu Juntao up from the ground, glaring angrily at Captain Zhang.

This B-Rank Sentinel had been continuously sucking up to Yu Juntao and was now doing his utmost to show his concern for him.

Annoyance filled Captain Zhang’s heart. “I couldn’t beat him!”

“You have three A-Rank Sentinels! How could you not beat one man?” The Sentinel supporting Yu Juntao was full of accusation.

Captain Zhang said: “That person was probably Ding Hua.”

Yu Juntao, who had just regained his composure and was about to throw a tantrum, froze upon hearing this. So did the person next to him.

Back then, Ding Hua had killed several A-Rank Sentinels and defected from Starlight City!

She was widely acknowledged as the strongest person below S-Rank.

After she left Starlight City, many thought that the S-Rank Sentinel from the great family she had offended would take action and kill her. Yet, he never did.

Those unaware of the inside story believed the great families were letting Ding Hua off.

But someone like Yu Juntao, who knew the details, understood the truth: that S-Rank Sentinel was afraid he might suffer an accident and die at Ding Hua’s hands.

Even if he won a fight against her, he was certain to be injured. If an S-Rank Sentinel from another family made a move against him while he was injured, he would surely die, and his family would be carved up and divided by the others.

Yu Juntao’s voice was still trembling: “But he was a man. How could he be Ding Hua?”

Captain Zhang replied: “That person was wrapped up tightly. How could you tell male from female? Besides, his voice was obviously faked.”

Yu Juntao’s eyes were filled with venomous resentment. He wanted to say something more, but Captain Zhang said: “Young Master Yu, don’t you want to go back to the RV and tidy up?”

Hearing Captain Zhang’s reminder and noticing his own soaked pants, Yu Juntao’s face darkened. He pushed away the Sentinel supporting him, entered the RV to shower and clean himself up.

An utter humiliation! What just happened was an utter, absolute humiliation!

He had actually made a fool of himself in public and wet his pants!

Yu Juntao wished he could kill every single Sentinel in the hunting team who had witnessed his disgrace. But he knew he couldn’t.

The only ones he could kill were people like Ying Li.

His misfortune this time was all because of Ying Li anyway. If Ying Li hadn’t shaken off the tracker he’d sent, he wouldn’t even be here right now…

Yu Juntao needed a target to vent his anger on. At this moment, he wished he could tear Ying Li limb from limb.

Then a thought struck him—wanting to kill Ying Li wasn’t impossible.

He didn’t know the exact hunting location of Ying Li’s team, but he knew the general direction they were heading. He could take men and search for them. Or, he could lie in wait along the route Ying Li would take back to the city.

When they saw Ying Li, they’d simply kill him on the spot.

Yu Juntao’s RV held ample clean water. He showered, then emerged to see Captain Zhang having the Sentinels in the team take turns resting and eating.

These people still had the mood to eat!

Yu Juntao wanted to climb down from the RV and berate them like before, but remembering the massive humiliation he’d just suffered, he didn’t want to go down at all.

He didn’t even want to stay in this team any longer.

After some thought, Yu Juntao decided to return to the city early. He would wait near the Safe Zone for Ying Li and ambush him.

Having already been disgraced, he absolutely had to complete the task Yu Mingwei assigned him!

With this decision made, Yu Juntao informed Captain Zhang of his plan.

“You want to separate from the team? Young Master Yu, the wilderness is very dangerous. If you leave the team, your safety cannot be guaranteed,” Captain Zhang remonstrated earnestly.

Yu Juntao sneered: “My safety wasn’t guaranteed while staying with the team either!”

Yu Juntao was determined to leave. Captain Zhang couldn’t stop him. All he could do was ensure Yu Juntao left video evidence proving it was his own decision to depart from the team.

Combined with the footage recorded by the recording devices they carried, Captain Zhang could at least guarantee that if the Yu Family wanted to vent their anger, it wouldn’t be directed at him.

And the Yu Family might not even care.

If they failed to protect Yu Juntao, the Yu Family would deem them untrustworthy and teach them a lesson.

But if Yu Juntao got into trouble on his own out there, the Yu Family wouldn’t blame them.

Yu Juntao was just a branch family member. The Yu Family didn’t actually value him that much.

Yu Juntao took one A-Rank Sentinel and ten B-Rank Sentinels from the Yu Family hunting team and left to search for Ying Li.

The matter of killing someone couldn’t be known by the ordinary members of the hunting team. Therefore, all the men he took were Yu Mingwei’s trusted confidants.

With this many people, killing Ying Li, a single B-Rank Sentinel, should be trivially easy. He’d heard Ying Li had a Guide with him; maybe they could even capture the Guide and sell him for money…

As Yu Juntao’s RV split off from the main force, Ying Li had already finished carving up the A-Rank Mutant Beast.

He stored the beast’s hide and bones at the location where Boss Lin kept supplies, planning to sell them to Ding Hua. Then, taking the selected meat and the crystal core, he headed back to his own camp.

This time, shortly after leaving the Safe Zone on this hunting trip, Ying Li had sensed someone following his hunting team.

He didn’t know who those people were, but for safety’s sake, after shaking them off, he chose a hunting spot only he knew about.

That place was rarely visited by others. Xiang Ye and the others should be safe staying there.

Ying Li changed his clothes and sped towards his camp. At the same time, he felt a bit of regret—regret that he hadn’t been able to kill Yu Juntao.

Yu Juntao had been badly frightened this time. After this, he might never dare leave the city again. If that happened, killing Yu Juntao wouldn’t be so easy.

Ying Li sighed inwardly.

But he had done something. Earlier, he had used his mental power to attack Yu Juntao’s mental sea. From now on, Yu Juntao’s mental power would be a little less obedient.

He just wondered when Yu Juntao would notice.

Wait… Yu Juntao barely hunted and hardly ever used his mental power. Would he actually never notice?

Ying Li sighed again.

He thought it would be a long time before he got another chance to kill Yu Juntao, completely unaware that at this very moment, Yu Juntao was out looking for him.