However, just as Long Wu was about to close his eyes and await death, he suddenly felt a blur before his eyes, and a small figure descended from the sky, landing steadily in front of him, completely covering his half-collapsed body with its thin frame...
"No—Master, get out of the way!" At this moment, Long Wu finally realized from the back that the person who had suddenly appeared in front of him to shield him from the bullet was actually the little boy who had easily defeated him in hand-to-hand combat... the prodigy whom he had recently come to regard as his master.
In an instant, Long Wu's chest felt a burning heat. He had never imagined that one day he would be protected by someone, especially a child. It was always Long Wu who had taken bullets for others. In his past missions protecting dignitaries and officials, Long Wu had taken bullets for others more than once.
But that was his mission. He wasn't doing it willingly when he was blocking bullets, but now... if he could have another chance to choose, he would rather be the one standing in front of the child than the one who was blocking the bullets.
No matter how unwilling he was, it was already too late. The whistling bullets would not stop for a moment because of his wishes. Just as Long Wu shouted those words, more than a dozen bullets fell on the small figure in front of him like hail.
"Ding ding ding ding..." A series of crisp and melodious sounds rang out... Then Long Wu was horrified to see that the small figure was not just standing there passively blocking the bullets for him, but suddenly his hands flew up and down at the moment the bullets were about to hit him. The series of sounds were actually the sounds of the bullets hitting his hands.
It wasn't until those little hands suddenly stopped moving that Long Wu could see clearly that they were wearing a pair of gleaming silver metal gloves.
The gunfire from the other side stopped completely a second later. In the instant the gunfire ceased, a scream rang out. Half of the black instructor's face was covered in blood and gore, and one of his ears was missing.
As expected, the pebble that Long Wu threw with all his might did not miss its target. After being infused with enormous power, it was so fast that it was almost indistinguishable from a bullet leaving the barrel.
The black instructor had just fired a shot when he felt a gust of wind rush towards him, and the shadow of death instantly loomed over his mind.
This guy was also a veteran who had experienced life and death more than once, so he was quite sensitive to this kind of crisis. Therefore, although the stone that Long Wu threw was so fast that it was impossible to see with the naked eye, he still suddenly turned his head to dodge at the last moment when he was on the verge of death.
The shot, originally aimed at his brow, missed and grazed his cheek, tearing off half of the black instructor's face and an ear with tremendous force.
However, everyone was stunned by the sudden appearance of that small figure and no one paid any attention to the injured black instructor anymore.
No one could see where that small figure came from. To them, it was as if the person had suddenly appeared from another dimension. There was no warning beforehand; in just a flash, a person appeared, and then the bullet struck that person…
Although they saw the child's arms flailing about, seemingly trying to catch and block the bullets flying towards him, no one believed he could actually stop them... These weren't some random hidden weapons; they were bullets with speeds exceeding the speed of sound, bullets invisible to the naked eye. How could anyone possibly stop them with their bare hands? Did he think he was Superman?
But when their round of shooting ended, everyone was stunned, because there was not a trace of blood on the child's body, and the expected scene of him covered in blood did not appear.
How could this be? Could it be... that the child's hand gestures just now weren't a death throes, nor were they just a show of bravado? Could those bullets really... really be caught by hand?
The child's hands, which had been moving rapidly, stopped, but then, as if making a loose clenching motion, slowly extended forward and slowly opened...
Everyone held their breath at that moment. Long Wu, who had just fallen to the ground, couldn't see what the two small hands looked like from the angle. He had already exhausted his strength and was almost at his limit, but driven by intense curiosity, he somehow mustered up the strength to struggle to his feet. He tilted his head, stretched his neck, and looked laboriously into the two small hands...
Bullets... In those small hands, not even half the size of an adult's, there were actually more than a dozen shiny, crystalline bullets lying there quietly.
Eighteen bullets... There were exactly eighteen people on the other side. Just now, the instant Long Wu peeked out, every gunman pulled the trigger at the same time. If no one fired two shots in that short moment, then that means... every single bullet fired by those eighteen people was caught in those small hands, without missing a single one.
Everyone gasped in shock, staring in horror at the eighteen bullets in the child's hand, their expressions and minds momentarily in a state of near-shutdown.
Just as everyone's expressions froze, the small hand wearing a pair of silver-white gloves suddenly raised into the air, and eighteen bullets flew out of the hand in an instant. In just a flash, they were embedded in the foreheads of the eighteen gunmen not far away, including the black instructor whose face had just been torn open by Long Wu's pebble.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 515: The Shadow Eye
Each person had a bullet lodged between their eyebrows, and the location of each bullet seemed to have been meticulously measured with a ruler—precisely above the bridge of their nose, right in the middle of their eyebrows, without the slightest deviation.
The black instructor had managed to dodge slightly when Long Wu's stones came at him, barely escaping with his life, but this time... although his years of experience in life and death made him feel the danger of death as well, and although he also made the same instinctive dodge move.
However... the bullet came too fast, far exceeding the black instructor's reaction speed. Just as the thought of dodging crossed his mind, the bullet had already pierced his skull, leaving a round, bloody hole between his eyebrows...
"Are you two alright?" After dealing with the gunmen who were attacking him, Zhou Ziwei immediately turned around and helped Long Wu, who had collapsed, to his feet.
Sensing that Long Wu's life force seemed somewhat depleted, he frowned slightly, knowing that this was because when Long Wu threw the last pebble, he had used some secret method to burn his own life force and convert it into pure power.
This method is really domineering. The method of converting life force into power has existed since ancient times. In Chinese martial arts, it is considered a very unorthodox martial art, and it can also be regarded as a secret technique of the evil sect.
Once this method is used, it can often unleash all of a person's potential in an instant, releasing it all at once without leaving a trace.
After releasing all their life force and potential, this person is basically completely ruined; even if they don't die, they will be severely crippled.
Long Wu smiled with relief, then gently shook his head and said, "I... I might not be able to, but I still want to thank you, Master. If possible... I really want to learn the technique of the hidden weapon you just used... It was so... so cool! You could throw eighteen hidden weapons at once, and the accuracy and power of each one were so precise. It was amazing... Master."
Zhou Ziwei frowned and said, "The method you used to stimulate potential just now was really ineffective. Don't use it again. Sit down properly, and I'll help you adjust..."
Upon hearing this, Long Wu waved his hand with a bitter smile and said, "No need... Master, I... I know I don't have long to live. In my current condition, even if... even if I survive by chance, I'll probably become a cripple. Right now... I can't feel anything in my lower body. I... I admit I don't have the willpower of a bullet... Just thinking about how I might spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair... Sigh... Master, please let go and let me go!"
Zhou Ziwei couldn't help but roll his eyes and said, "Who said you were going to be crippled? Hmph... Or maybe you could have become crippled, but you're lucky... Now that I'm here, even if you wanted to be crippled, you couldn't."
After Zhou Ziwei finished speaking, he immediately placed his palm on the gunshot wound on Long Wu's arm. With a thought, he created a small whirlwind in his palm.
Although the whirlwind was small, its power was quite strong. With just a slight swirl, it immediately generated a strong suction force. With a "pop," it actually sucked out the bullet that was deeply embedded in the bone.
"Ah—" Long Wu only felt a slight pain in his arm, and then he saw Zhou Ziwei lift up his hand that was pressed against his wound. There was a bullet with traces of blood still stuck to it.
When Long Wu, who possessed "internal strength," saw this scene, he naturally thought of the legends about internal strength in ancient Chinese martial arts.
Aside from internal energy, Long Wu really couldn't figure out how Zhou Ziwei could have simply touched his wound with his palm and sucked the bullet out from deep inside his flesh.
Thinking of the legendary wonders of internal energy, Long Wu's eyes instantly turned a deep blue, and he looked at Zhou Ziwei with the same lustful gaze a lecherous wolf would have on a naked beauty. The undisguised, crazy obsession and desire made Zhou Ziwei shiver involuntarily.
Just as Long Wu was about to decide that he absolutely had to learn internal energy from Zhou Ziwei, he immediately realized that Zhou Ziwei had already completely unleashed his potential and was now essentially a cripple. For a cripple like him, even the most advanced martial arts techniques would be meaningless.
Instantly, Long Wu's once burning gaze wilted like a frostbitten eggplant.
Zhou Ziwei smiled slightly, probably guessing what Long Wu was thinking, but he didn't say anything. He simply placed his palm on the wound on Long Wu's arm again, and with a slight thought, a wisp of soul power was sent to Long Wu's injured arm, and the wound began to heal in just a moment.
After Zhou Ziwei had treated Long Wu's wounds to a near-complete degree, he took out two more soul beads from his body. One of these soul beads was a high-quality soul bead that had condensed many souls, while the other was a low-quality soul bead that only had one complete soul.
Zhou Ziwei knew that Long Wu had unleashed his potential, which had left him with an extremely depleted life force. At this moment, directly replenishing his soul power should be able to properly replenish his life force, and the lost potential would gradually recover.
However, Long Wu and Jiang Chunshui are different. Jiang Chunshui is skilled in divination and often uses her life force to perform divination. The frequent use of life force will continuously expand a person's sea of souls. Therefore, when Zhou Ziwei gave Jiang Chunshui the Soul Pearl, he did not need to do anything. Giving Jiang Chunshui the Soul Pearl of an ordinary person would not even be enough to fill her sea of souls.
However, Long Wu had not learned how to use life force, which is also the power of the soul. Although his method of burning his own potential can be considered one, this was probably the first time he had ever used it in his life. Therefore, Long Wu's sea of souls should be about the same capacity as an ordinary person. Zhou Ziwei dared not rashly replenish all of his soul power to him. Otherwise, if he accidentally burst Long Wu's sea of souls, wouldn't he be accused of murdering his comrade?
After Zhou Ziwei used the high-concentration soul bead to absorb some of the soul power from the soul bead that consisted of only one soul, he then directly shoved the soul bead into Long Wu's mouth.
"Ah... what is this? I think I saw you feeding the witch this..." Long Wu was slightly taken aback when he saw Zhou Ziwei fiddling with the two black, pearl-like things in his hands for a few moments before stuffing one of them into his mouth. However, he never thought that Zhou Ziwei would harm him. After all, if Zhou Ziwei hadn't suddenly appeared and stood in front of him, the bullets embedded in the heads of those eighteen corpses would now be decorations on his body.
Therefore, he had complete trust in Zhou Ziwei. However, when Zhou Ziwei gave him some kind of miraculous medicine, he felt that he was already a dead man and there was no need to waste Zhou Ziwei's good stuff.
However, Zhou Ziwei completely ignored him, simply shoving the dark object into his mouth. Without him even needing to swallow, the round thing rolled down his throat. A strange sensation then surged up, rushing into his brain. Instantly, his previously hazy consciousness, weakened by the loss of vital energy, cleared. As his consciousness returned, his previously limp body slowly began to recover…
Long Wu looked at Zhou Ziwei with surprise, but didn't rush to say anything about gratitude. He knew that Zhou Ziwei had given him his life again, and he had made up his mind that from now on, he would no longer live for himself, or even for the country. Zhou Ziwei was not only his master, but also his superior. No matter what Zhou Ziwei asked him to do, even if it was something outrageous, he would never flinch.
Long Wu was straightforward by nature, a man of action rather than words. He also felt that everyone understood these things implicitly, and no matter how eloquently he spoke, it wouldn't matter. The key was his actions. He would repay Zhou Ziwei's life-saving grace with his actions. Of course... he couldn't help but think about how to persuade Zhou Ziwei later to see if he could trick him into giving him the method of internal energy cultivation...
Long Wu felt his strength slowly returning, so he struggled to sit up, cross-legged, and guided his breath using a unique breathing technique to help his muscles recover their strength bit by bit.
Long Wu's method of meditation and breathing guidance is quite miraculous, but his method of cultivation can only be considered a type of Qigong at most, and it is completely different from the legendary internal energy cultivation.
When Zhou Ziwei saw Long Wu's appearance, he knew what he was doing, so he didn't disturb him. He turned his head and saw faint, transparent shadows rising from the corpses of the people he had just killed. He then realized that he didn't have enough Soul Pearls recently, so this was a good opportunity to replenish them.
With enough Soul Pearls, Jiang Chunshui could perform divination at any time to predict the fortunes of the trip, which would be much safer.
Zhou Ziwei naturally wouldn't be polite to these ghosts of the M country devils. With a gentle wave of his hand, he gathered all twenty or so newly born ghosts together. Then, he used his soul power to form invisible hands, grasping each of the twenty-odd souls. At the cost of burning his own soul power, he began to condense these souls.
Zhou Ziwei's method of condensing a soul body into a soul bead is actually a disguised form of exchange. An ordinary soul bead contains about ten to twenty units of soul power, and Zhou Ziwei would have to consume about the same amount of soul power to condense a soul body into a soul bead. Therefore, for Zhou Ziwei, if he were to refine a soul body into a soul bead and then consume it himself, it would essentially be a waste of effort.
However, besides replenishing one's own soul power, this kind of soul bead can also replenish the soul power of others. In addition, it can also be used as a terrifying explosive method, releasing strong decomposition rays that instantly decompose all matter into powder. Therefore, this method of condensing soul beads is still very valuable.
A soft, slow footstep sound came from the side. The blind child, holding onto the huge rock, slowly emerged from behind it.
Although she didn't see it with her own eyes, her ears, which could almost replace her eyes in perceiving everything in the world, clearly heard what had just happened. In fact, what she heard was definitely more than what Long Wu heard.
At least she could tell... Zhou Ziwei had just flown down from the sky. Even if he had just flown down like a bird to save Long Wu's life, she could still tell that when Zhou Ziwei threw those eighteen bullets with both hands, he wasn't actually using any legendary hidden weapon technique. Instead, he used wisps of wind to carry the eighteen bullets, sending them flying into the heads of those eighteen unfortunate men from different angles.
That's right... The blind child could clearly hear all of this. It was the power of the wind. And if it hadn't been infused with the power of the wind, those bullets probably wouldn't have been able to reach such a terrifying speed, giving the gunmen no chance to react at all before they were shot and killed.
Even the blind child could tell that the four people who had initially been lying in ambush behind the rock had died from a strange metal weapon. Although there were only three of those weapons, they veered several corners in an instant, killing the four people almost instantly.
The blind child felt a chill run down her spine, because she could tell that the three hidden weapons seemed to be alive... In her perception, the three hidden weapons seemed to be living beings.
Because she was shocked by all this, the blind child took a long time to come out. Just as she emerged from behind the rock, she happened to catch Zhou Ziwei using his soul power to condense those soul bodies.
The blind child's previously light steps suddenly became heavy. He abruptly raised his head, his empty eyes looking at the soul being refined in mid-air by Zhou Ziwei's invisible soul power, and a look of extreme terror appeared in his eyes.
Zhou Ziwei noticed the blind child's unusual behavior and was slightly startled. He glanced thoughtfully at the child's gray eyes and frowned slightly, but his hands continued condensing the soul beads without stopping. After a few seconds, when all twenty-two soul entities had turned into small, round, black beads like black pearls, Zhou Ziwei reached out, caught the soul beads in his hand, and held them up in front of the blind child's eyes, waving them slightly before asking, "Can you see these things?"
The look of terror on the blind child's face had quietly faded. Hearing this, he shook his head slightly and said, "I can't see them now... They've changed their form... They've become semi-solid matter, so... my eyes can't see them anymore..."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei's eyebrows twitched slightly as if he were having a spasm, and he asked in surprise, "But you could see them just now, right?"
The blind child was silent for a moment, then raised her head and looked at Zhou Ziwei with her empty, gray, lifeless eyes. After a long while, she nodded slightly, a bitter smile appearing on her lips. She said, "I know... this must be one of your biggest secrets, right? You would never allow such a secret to be leaked, right? Sigh... I know that when I saw this scene just now, I... I shouldn't have reacted at all, but... it was the first time I'd ever seen someone subdue those things like that, so... I really couldn't control myself... It doesn't matter if I die because of this, but it's a pity... Brother Long Wu was also implicated by me... Sigh... I think you just saved him, and now you're going to... this... must be very painful for you! I'm sorry... it's all my fault, it's all my fault..."
The little girl looked somewhat helpless and apologetic, but there was no trace of sorrow. Instead, Zhou Ziwei could sense a sense of relief and impending liberation from the bitter smile that appeared on her lips.
The blind child's meaning was very clear: although her eyes could not see things in the real world, they could see things in another world... So, strictly speaking, the blind child's eyes were not completely blind, and her eyes were not the legendary Yin-Yang eyes, because she could only see things in the Yin world and not things in the Yang world. Therefore... her eyes should be called—Yin eyes.
She had long known that she could see the souls of the dead, but this was too incredible, so the blind child kept it a secret and never told anyone.
But just now... just now she saw that the more than twenty souls that had just floated up from the corpses were being squeezed and shrunk by a strange energy emitted by Zhou Ziwei, and she could no longer maintain her composure.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 516: Three Seeds
The blind child realized he had inadvertently witnessed something he shouldn't have seen: Zhou Ziwei could actually condense his soul into a semi-substantial substance—this was an absolutely earth-shattering event… Research on the soul has been explored and studied in various countries, but there has never been any significant breakthrough.
If outsiders were to learn of Zhou Ziwei's special ability to subdue and transform souls, it would inevitably lead to a terrible disaster.
Or, if ordinary people knew that Zhou Ziwei could subdue ghosts and refine a person's soul, most people would probably regard Zhou Ziwei as a terrifying devil.
So no matter what, if the blind child had pretended not to see this scene after accidentally witnessing it, it would have been fine. But she was too young, and the scene she suddenly saw was too shocking, so her expression and reaction completely revealed the secret in her heart.
Anyone who isn't a fool would notice her unusual behavior.
The blind girl knew she couldn't fool him, so she didn't deny it when Zhou Ziwei asked, even though she knew that admitting it would only lead to her being silenced.
However... what made her somewhat uneasy was that she might implicate Long Wu, who had just escaped death.
Judging from her perspective, since she knew Zhou Ziwei's secret, it was inevitable that Zhou Ziwei would silence her. Since Long Wu was also present, Zhou Ziwei would definitely not allow Long Wu to leak the matter after killing her. Therefore, whether Zhou Ziwei wanted to or not, he had no choice but to silence Long Wu as well.
And this is the thing that blind children least want to see, but unfortunately, it's not something they can control.
Zhou Ziwei rubbed the twenty-odd soul beads in his hand like a handful of pearls, then tilted his head to listen to the blind boy's answer. When he heard the blind boy's final words of remorse for his willingness to die but for causing trouble for others, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Zhou Ziwei did not want others to know that he possessed supernatural abilities, but... it wasn't to the point of killing someone to silence them over such a small matter.
In fact, quite a few people already know that Zhou Ziwei possesses superpowers. If he were to kill all those who know, then... he would probably have to kill far too many people.
Moreover, this kind of thing is too mysterious. Even if the blind child tells others about it afterward, they may not believe it. Even if someone does believe it, they may not dare to do anything to Zhou Ziwei. Even if someone wants to do something to Zhou Ziwei, he may not be afraid of them.
Zhou Ziwei's biggest enemy now is the black market assassin network. Once he defeats this nemesis, Zhou Ziwei will have virtually nothing to fear.
In the face of a powerful figure like him, even the state apparatus might not pose much of a threat.
Besides... Zhou Ziwei is just a five or six-year-old child in front of the blind boy. If the blind boy spreads the word about Zhou Ziwei, he will only say that there is a child who can refine a soul body... But after a while, when Zhou Ziwei finds a way to restore his original form, even if the blind boy sees Zhou Ziwei again, he will definitely not recognize who he is. Where will others go to find him?
Therefore, Zhou Ziwei never intended to kill anyone to silence them. He found the blind boy's story interesting and couldn't help but smile. He then stuffed all twenty-odd soul beads into his pocket, waved his hand lightly, and said, "Since you're mentally prepared, then... let's all set off together!"