Chapter 102: The Killer Returns

“What if you lose weight and still aren’t handsome?”

“Don’t worry, you definitely will be. My eye for handsome guys has never been wrong.”

Lin Mu smiled slightly and gave a reassuring look.

“Alright, I’ll trust Brother Lin this once!”

Xing Weilong said tragically, wearing an all-or-nothing expression, then his momentum deflated and he slumped down again.

“But that’s several hundred pounds! You can’t just lose it overnight. If you want to get as slim as your wives, it’ll take forever!”

“Don’t be pessimistic. I’m here for you, relax! After I recover, I’ll figure out a way to help you. We can’t be careless about your lifelong happiness!”

Lin Mu said with a slight smile.

“Really? Brother Lin, you’ve stood me up several times already. Don’t mess with me this time—I really can’t take it anymore!”

Tears welled up in Xing Weilong’s eyes again.

Watching the two of them banter back and forth, Song Yuru shook her head with a small smile, took some fruit from the basket, peeled two apples, gave one to Lin Mu and offered the other to Fatty.

But just as Fatty was about to take it, Lin Mu stopped him.

“Hey, don’t give Fatty that—he’s trying to lose weight! Zixi, you take it and eat it.”

Xing Weilong’s outstretched hand immediately retracted, and he could only stare longingly as Ye Zixi noisily munched on the apple, grinning at him while she ate.

“Well, Brother Lin, you rest well. I won’t disturb you anymore. I’ll come visit you another day.”

Swallowing his saliva, Xing Weilong stood up to say goodbye, then left the hospital room with his lackeys.

As soon as they reached the doorway, they saw four fully armed soldiers approaching from the end of the corridor. The four arrived at the room’s entrance, two standing on each side, then stood motionless guarding the door.

Xing Weilong glanced back curiously. Soldiers were actually guarding outside Lin Mu’s room—what was going on?

But Lin Mu had many secrets, and Xing Weilong didn’t plan to dig deeper. He shook his head and left with his lackeys.

“Captain, who exactly is in that room? The Chief actually ordered us personally to protect him?”

A young soldier whispered.

“I don’t know either. Don’t ask about things you shouldn’t. We just need to do our jobs properly. Don’t ask about anything else—following orders is our duty.”

“Besides, the Chief personally assigned us here. We should be proud!”

The man who appeared to be the captain said without looking sideways.

These four soldiers were sent by Ling Xuanrong, who had asked her adoptive grandfather to arrange it. They were the most exceptional special forces soldiers from the Donghai Military Department, their individual combat abilities among the best in the entire military.

Ling Xuanrong was truly worried this time; she had pestered her adoptive grandfather for a while before he agreed to send these four.

That evening, the two women stayed very late before leaving. Originally, Ye Zixi had insisted on staying—she was afraid that if other assassins learned Lin Mu wasn’t dead, they might come attack again at night.

But Lin Mu insisted she go home. Besides, Ling Xuanrong had sent four highly capable soldiers. Unable to persuade Lin Mu, Ye Zixi had no choice but to go home and rest.

Wu Tianming wanted to leave some people behind, but Lin Mu said it wasn’t necessary. He also returned that Elixir to Wu Tianming. For his body, that Elixir couldn’t possibly have such a significant effect.

It could heal Wu Tianming’s body because Wu Tianming’s physique wasn’t very strong, which was why the Elixir had such a miraculous effect. But for Lin Mu, it wouldn’t have such obvious results.

After all, his body had long been enhanced. If not for that, that powerful Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle hitting a person wouldn’t just leave a hole—it would blow half the body apart.

After everyone left one after another, Lin Mu immediately began silently circulating his energy. Just as he was straining to mobilize Zhenqi to repair the wound in his chest, a black mist appeared around his right hand, and then the Ring slowly materialized.

Lin Mu was slightly startled—he hadn’t intended to summon the Ring, so why did it appear on its own?

While he was still puzzled, his eyebrows suddenly twitched. A strange fluctuation emerged from the Ring. Although this fluctuation didn’t affect him, the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy gradually began to gather.

Because Earth’s Spiritual Energy was inherently very thin, even though the Ring worked hard to collect it, the effect still wasn’t very noticeable. Lin Mu had to sense carefully to detect it.

But compared to him cultivating alone, with the Ring’s help, his recovery speed naturally increased somewhat. Given the current situation, it was better than nothing.

After this crisis, Lin Mu felt a greater urgency to improve his cultivation. Currently, he could only circulate Zhenqi within his body; he hadn’t reached the level of freely releasing Zhenqi externally.

If he could cultivate to the point where he could release Zhenqi freely from his entire body, and faced another sneak attack with such high-powered firearms, he could handle it much better—today’s situation wouldn’t happen again.

But cultivating alone, under Earth’s conditions, was truly too slow. Thinking about speeding up his cultivation, an idea flashed in Lin Mu’s mind—he suddenly thought of Ji Qinglan.

Only by cultivating together with Ji Qinglan could both their speeds increase simultaneously. It seemed he needed to go find her. Lin Mu’s mind settled, and he slowly formed a plan.

Just as Lin Mu sat cross-legged on the hospital bed with closed eyes, slowly meditating and practicing, a faint, elusive killing intent wrapped around him. Sensing it immediately, Lin Mu didn’t open his eyes.

At that moment, near the hospital room window, a shadow quietly lurked. With a light swipe of a tool, a hole appeared in the window glass. Then the shadow opened the window and slipped silently into the room.

Lin Mu opened his eyes at that moment, just in time to see the shadow standing not far from the bed.

“Finally, I waited for this opportunity. This time, I don’t think you can escape!”

The shadow, masked, spoke in a muffled voice while looking at Lin Mu.

“It’s you? Who wants me dead so badly?”

Lin Mu recognized this person’s figure—it was the Throwing Knives expert who had attacked him the first time.

“After you die, I’ll write it on paper and burn it for you.”

The masked man’s eyes suddenly changed, a sharp glint flashing through. A white light flickered in his hand, and three Throwing Knives simultaneously shot toward Lin Mu’s chest. At less than three meters, the lightning-fast knives reached Lin Mu in an instant.

Lin Mu was inwardly shocked. This person’s technique was no different from before, but his current strength had clearly increased greatly—the speed and sound of the Throwing Knives were incomparable to last time.

Instantly channeling Zhenqi through his arm, Lin Mu raised his hand seemingly slowly but actually with lightning speed. In an instant, he caught all three Throwing Knives in his hand.

“You’re strong. Even with such severe injuries, you’re still incredibly powerful.”

The masked man’s eyes flashed, speaking with some surprise.

“You’re not bad either. Each time you attack me, your strength improves a lot. How have you been cultivating?”

Lin Mu smiled slightly and nodded.

“Besides hard training, how else? At such close range, you’re the first to catch my Throwing Knives barehanded.”

The masked man chuckled hoarsely as well.

“If I weren’t injured this time, you wouldn’t have been able to get this close.”

“You’re right. But no matter what, striking when the enemy is vulnerable is our assassin’s way. As long as the mission is completed, any method is acceptable. Tonight, you must die.”

The masked man coldly finished speaking. White light flashed repeatedly in his hands, and in the blink of an eye, nine Throwing Knives shot toward Lin Mu, simultaneously targeting all vital points on his body.

From this move alone, it was clear his cultivation had indeed improved significantly compared to the previous two times; otherwise, he couldn’t have used so many Throwing Knives at once.

Unfortunately, he still underestimated Lin Mu. Lin Mu suddenly shook the bedsheet, instantly infusing it with Zhenqi. With a single-handed swing, he covered the area in front of him, and in an instant, all the Throwing Knives were swept away by the sheet.

But using Zhenqi so vigorously immediately caused the wound on Lin Mu’s chest to split open. Blood quickly soaked through the gauze on his chest. Knowing he couldn’t delay, Lin Mu didn’t push himself and immediately shouted.

“Assassin!”

The soldiers guarding outside heard and immediately rushed into the room. Seeing the black-clad man, they drew their guns and fired without a word.

But the black-clad man’s skills were not lacking. He flipped over and dove behind another hospital bed, pulling it over with a tug and crouching behind it.

By then, three of the four soldiers had entered the room, with one remaining outside guarding, preventing the assassin from having accomplices coordinating.

The three soldiers formed a triangle formation, slowly approaching the overturned bed, their guns aimed steadily at the bed’s direction without the slightest tremor, showing excellent control.

At that moment, a black shadow suddenly flashed out from beside the bed. The three soldiers immediately fired at the shadow, but as soon as they shot, they all felt a sinking feeling—they knew something was wrong.

The shadow that had leapt out was merely a black garment.

While the three soldiers were shooting at the shadow, three Throwing Knives simultaneously shot out from behind the bed, accurately knocking the guns from their hands. Immediately after, another shadow burst out, scattering a cloud of white powder.

The three soldiers breathed it in and immediately collapsed unconscious together.

Three special forces soldiers, skilled in tough combat, were all taken down in one encounter against the assassin’s unconventional attacks.

After subduing the three soldiers, the masked man pounced fiercely toward Lin Mu. He knew Lin Mu was at his limit—blocking those nine Throwing Knives must have worsened his injuries; otherwise, Lin Mu wouldn’t have called for help from the soldiers outside.

Lin Mu’s situation was indeed dire. His originally depleted Zhenqi hadn’t recovered much, and blocking two Throwing Knife attacks had further drained his already minimal reserves.

Watching the black-clad man leaping toward him, murderous intent in his eyes, Lin Mu suddenly tilted sideways, rolling directly off the hospital bed. This unexpected move clearly took the black-clad man by surprise.

In that moment of hesitation, Lin Mu condensed a wisp of Zhenqi into a needle-like form and pointed his finger at the black-clad man’s chest.