The man had been keeping an eye on the movement downstairs, but no one seemed to be pursuing him—just as he was about to leave.
"Looking for me?"
The man turned his head in panic; Xinuo had already appeared right behind him.
"How is that possible?!"
The man cried out in alarm, attempting to launch an attack against Xinuo, but his right hand utterly refused to obey him.
"Why did I know you were here? Whether it's the sound of a heartbeat or breathing, it's just too noisy!"
What is going on?!
A sharp pain washed over him, and the man realized his arm was bleeding profusely. Xinuo had already severed the tendons in his right arm.
"You?! No!!!"
The man's offensive ability relied on the direction of his palm. Since his right hand was out of commission, he tried to activate his power with his left.
Yet the left hand he had just raised immediately dropped back down. Another wave of intense pain hit him. The man hadn't even managed to see Xinuo's movements.
"Ah!!!"
The man screamed in agony, desperate to escape from Xinuo, to escape from this demon.
He ran further inside, but losing sensation in both arms made it impossible for him to maintain his balance properly. Combined with his extreme tension, his legs refused to cooperate. Soon enough, the man collapsed heavily to the ground.
He stared in terror as Xinuo slowly walked toward him, pleading, "Don't kill me! We're both mutants, we're of the same kind! I'm begging you, don't kill me!"
Xinuo sneered.
"Isn't it a bit too late to start playing the emotional card now?"
"Forgive me! I don't want to be exiled! I don't want to die out there! You can understand how I feel!"
Aside from special cases like Xinuo, mutants who harmed humans were universally sentenced to exile.
If they failed to encounter a tribe willing to take them in out in the wild, death was all that awaited them.
Xinuo walked over and slammed his foot down ruthlessly onto the man's shoulder.
The man felt the bones in his shoulder shatter, and he let out a painful, agonizing howl.
"Don't worry, how could I let you die out there? Even though it's kill-or-be-killed, the method of dying is still up to me to decide, isn't it?"
Sometime later, Jiang Tuo received a call from Xinuo notifying him that the incident had been resolved, and he hurried over.
Arriving at the scene, Jiang Tuo frowned at the man's mutilated corpse.
"Uncle Jiang, is your injury alright? Should we go to the hospital?"
Seeing that Jiang Tuo's wound had only received simple treatment, Xinuo asked with a hint of concern.
"Did you do this?"
Xinuo glanced at the man's body.
"No, he fell off the upper floor by himself."
Jiang Tuo sighed.
"That's what he told you?"
Xinuo nodded.
"It's fine, Uncle Jiang. As long as he didn't hurt anyone else. Besides, he was within the view of the surveillance cameras right up until he was notified, so he didn't violate any regulations."
Jiang Tuo shook his head with helpless resignation.
"Wait here for a moment, the follow-up team will be arriving shortly, and they'll need to take your statement."
"Mhm, I'll cooperate. Uncle Jiang, you should hurry to the hospital."
For incidents involving mutants, statements were generally taken by mutants with lie-detection abilities to prevent any cover-ups.
[He didn't cross the line; he's far too obedient.]
[He's just obeying Jiang Tuo, isn't he? We can just make our move next time when Jiang Tuo isn't around. But he's too strong—perhaps we should try a different approach.]
After the incident concluded, Jiang Tuo received the investigation report at the hospital. It stated that the conflict arose because that particular family was considered quite wealthy locally, habitually bullying ordinary people and accustomed to throwing their weight around. This time, after encountering that mutant, for reasons unknown, the victim got into a dispute with him.
As for the mutant himself, he usually relied on his abilities to work as hired muscle and was someone who refused to take a loss.
However, regarding the specific circumstances, the man claimed he couldn't remember clearly, as if a rush of blood to his head had made him start swearing at the other party. The woman and child had been some distance away at the time and had no idea what was happening.
Jiang Tuo frowned as he read the report.
What is going on? This has happened several times now...
He reflected further: ever since arriving here, Xinuo's appearances had indeed become somewhat more frequent.
Jiang Tuo sighed.
Was this ultimately a good thing, or a bad one...
Because Jiang Tuo was receiving treatment for his arm at the hospital, Xinuo had been staying at home these past few days.
"Big brother, do you not have to work today either?"
Xiluo was quite happy that her older brother had been staying home for the past few days.
"Mhm, that's right. I'm on leave for a few days, so I don't need to work today."
"Then—then let's go play at the amusement park!"
Today was the weekend, so Xiluo didn't have school. And because the incident last time happened right before they set off, the school's planned trip to the amusement park had naturally been canceled.
Xinuo thought about it.
There's nothing much going on anyway, so it should be fine, right?
With that, he called Jiang Tuo, and after receiving permission, he took Xiluo to the amusement park.
Once Xinuo and his younger sister arrived at the amusement park, Xiluo was extremely excited, looking at this and touching that.
However, because there were quite a lot of people around, Xinuo was afraid of getting separated from his sister, so he made her come back and hold his hand.
"Big brother, I want to ride the Ferris wheel! It looks so, so high—it feels like it would be a lot of fun!"
"Alright, sure."
Xinuo checked the amusement park map; the Ferris wheel was located quite far inside.
After they waited in line and finished the Ferris wheel ride, Xiluo spotted the haunted house nearby and insisted on going inside to take a look.
Xinuo was somewhat puzzled.
"Aren't you quite scared of ghosts? You'll probably get scared and cry, won't you?"
Xiluo pouted.
"I'm not that timid! I've only ever heard about ghosts anyway! I've never actually seen what a ghost looks like. Besides, big brother is here with me; if a ghost bullies us, big brother can just beat it up."
"..."
A child's curiosity really is a strange thing.
Despite this, Xinuo still led his sister inside.
Before long, the five people who had entered together with them were running away while being chased by ghosts. Screaming in fright, Xiluo grabbed Xinuo and ran along with them.
After running for a bit, Xinuo noticed a wall ahead and hurriedly shielded his sister as he turned toward the side.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Several people collided with the wall in the pitch darkness. Of course, the walls had been specially treated, so they weren't all that hard.
Amidst shouts and laughter, everyone turned the corner through a doorway and hastily worked together to slam the door shut.
After exiting the haunted house, Xiluo was still experiencing a lingering sense of shock.
"So this is what ghosts look like? Fortunately, they're rather clumsy, though!"
Xinuo didn't know how to respond. He checked the time; it was already noon, and the food street happened to be located not far away.
Taking Xiluo to the food street, Xinuo asked his sister, "Xiluo, what do you want to eat?"
Xiluo looked around at the surrounding shops.
"I want to eat fried chicken and french fries!"
Xinuo found an empty table.
"Then big brother will go buy them. Be a good girl and wait here in your seat, and don't run around, understand?"
Xiluo nodded.
Xinuo went off to stand in line to buy the food, but when he returned, he discovered that there was another person sitting next to Xiluo.
Why is he...
Xinuo's body stiffened for a fraction of a second before he walked toward Xiluo.