F-class thief? Sorry, I can steal anything.

Chapter 135 Bloody Bait: This Hooded Man is Suspicious

The rest period was short, even rushed.

Those who survived treated their wounds, and Lone Wolf gave the order to set off again.

No one dared to object.

The headless corpse, still charred and blackened from being hacked apart, and the burly man who had just spoken out his questions.

Their fate serves as the most effective warning.

The team resumed their journey, and the atmosphere was even more oppressive and eerie than before.

About thirty people walked silently across the Gobi Desert.

Everyone was like a hedgehog with its sharp quills raised, wary of everyone around them.

In the wind, besides the earthy smell of yellow sand, there was also an intense, almost overwhelming, stench of blood and burnt flesh.

Luo Tian limped along in the middle of the group, his face still bearing the sorrow of a heartbroken man.

She would occasionally sob.

His acting skills are so superb that he could win an Oscar.

However, his seemingly lifeless eyes were subtly observing everything around him.

"My condolences, sir."

A fragrant breeze wafted by, and the rattlesnake appeared beside him without him noticing, its voice carrying just the right amount of sympathy.

"Your boss... though young, was incredibly bold. What a pity."

Luo Tian suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes fixed on her like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"What do you mean? Are you cursing my boss to die?"

"I'm just telling the truth."

The rattlesnake's alluring eyes narrowed slightly.

"In the eye of such a thunderstorm, even a level 60 shield warrior might not survive. Your boss... is probably already dead."

"You're talking nonsense!" Luo Tian roared excitedly, "My boss is invincible! He just... he just had to leave early! He'll definitely come back for me!"

These "loyal" remarks drew several undisguised sneers from those around him.

Rattlesnake's smile deepened. She leaned closer to Luo Tian, ​​lowered her voice, and breathed softly:

"Hey buddy, don't be silly. The boss you're working for is already a wronged soul in the Gobi Desert. Why don't you... come with me?"

Her fingers gently traced Luo Tian's arm, carrying a cool and smooth sensation.

"I see you're quite clever. If you just nod, I guarantee you'll not only get out of this hellhole alive, but I'll also give you a substantial share. How about it?"

A blatant recruitment.

Luo Tian's facial muscles twitched violently.

He knew exactly what this woman was up to.

After the thunderstorm, all forces suffered heavy losses and urgently needed to replenish their cannon fodder.

Having multiple teammates means having an extra tool to shield you from harm in crucial moments.

A perfectly timed struggle flashed in Luo Tian's eyes, which was then covered by an even stronger sense of grief and indignation.

He flung the rattlesnake's hand away and roared fiercely:

"Don't even think about it! I, Luo, was born to be the boss's man, and I'll be his ghost even in death!"

Even if he is really gone,

I also want to fulfill his last wish, get that S-rank job change card, and burn it for him!

"Neuropathy."

One of Rattlesnake's henchmen muttered a curse under his breath.

Rattlesnake, however, was not annoyed. She straightened up and gave Luo Tian a deep look. The playfulness and probing in her eyes sent chills down Luo Tian's spine.

This woman is not easily fooled.

"what ever."

The rattlesnake left behind an ambiguous remark and swayed away.

Luo Tian snorted coldly.

You want to use me as cannon fodder?

Do you really think I'm neither good-looking nor useful?

Meanwhile, in the shadow beneath the lone wolf's feet.

Chen Yifan is experiencing a wonderful experience unlike any he has ever had before.

In the state of "All Thoughts Return to Shadow".

He is not simply invisible.

Moreover, they were in a pitch-black space.

It was weightless, as if it had completely merged with the surrounding darkness.

He can see everything outside the shadow.

However, due to his perspective, or rather, because he hasn't fully mastered this talent, he's currently like a frog in a well, looking at the sky from the bottom of a well.

Occasionally, the changing position of the other person's shadow would allow him to see the situation within the team.

but.

Fortunately, he activated his "Mind's Eye".

Otherwise, he would truly become completely blind.

Now, what confuses him even more is the lone wolf's purpose.

Using S-rank items to clear the field, just to intimidate people?

The cost was too high.

Treating survivors, just to make them cannon fodder?

But the treatment drugs they brought out...

The cost would be too high.

There must be a crucial point he hasn't grasped.

Chen Yifan activated the perception of [Mind's Eye] to its maximum, creating an invisible spider web that covered the entire team.

He began to analyze the variables of the battlefield environment before and after the thunderstorm.

It's not about the number of people.

It's not the terrain.

It's...the smell.

The strong, pungent smell of blood.

A thought flashed through Chen Yifan's mind like lightning.

Bait!

This massacre was nothing short of a meticulously planned sacrifice!

Those who died, their flesh and blood, their corpses, were the bait thrown out by the Lone Wolf.

What the lone wolf wanted was not the Black Armor Strangling Worm.

It was something else that was drawn by the smell of blood.

Only in this way can we ensure that the chances of encountering strange beasts are reduced in the time to come.

Reduce risk.

As for treating the other survivors.

The answer is obvious.

This lone wolf was far more ruthless than he had imagined.

Just then, the lone wolf at the front of the group suddenly stopped.

He raised his head, his single eye gazing into the distance where the yellow sand filled the sky, a cruel smile spreading across his lips.

"They're here."

He had barely finished speaking.

"Shh...shh..."

A faint, almost inaudible friction sound came from all directions.

It was as if countless tiny brushes were gently sweeping across the sand.

Everyone's expression changed instantly.

They saw patches of moving shadows appearing on the distant sand dunes.

The shadows moved extremely fast, and wherever they passed, the sand collapsed, forming strange trails of quicksand.

"It's... a carrion-eating sand demon!"

A seasoned bounty hunter let out a desperate scream.

"How is this possible! Aren't these things only found in the 'Sea of ​​Bones'?!"

Scavenging Sand Ghost.

A level 60 beast, a natural scavenger, with an extremely keen sense of the scent of blood and death.

They have no fixed form; their bodies are made of sand and resentment, allowing them to move freely through the sand. Physical attacks have little effect on them.

What's most terrifying is that they move in groups, thousands upon thousands, covering the sky and earth.

Once entangled, they will seep into your armor and flesh like quicksand, devouring you completely from the inside out.

As the black "tide" approached at an alarming speed, all the survivors' faces drained of color.

It’s over.

Emerging from the wolf's den, only to fall into the tiger's mouth.

They might still have a sliver of strength to resist the black-armored strangling worms.

But faced with this near-elemental monster, they didn't even have the right to resist.

However, just as everyone was falling into despair, a bizarre scene unfolded.

The surging tide of sand demons suddenly split off a hundred meters away from them, as if it had encountered an invisible dam.

Their target is not these living people at all.

Rather... it was the scorched battlefield they came from!

Thousands upon thousands of carrion-eating sand demons, like sharks attracted by the smell of blood, swarmed madly toward the slaughterhouse littered with severed limbs, frantically burrowing into the sand and devouring the corpses of those killed by the thunderstorm.

"Hehe..."

The chilling sounds of chewing and bones cracking blended into a symphony of death.

The survivors stared blankly at the scene, their minds completely blank.

They...were ignored?

"Now, do you understand?"

The lone wolf's cold voice rang out, tinged with mockery.

"Even trash has its uses. Their deaths cleared a safe path for us."

Everyone was struck dumb.

They finally understood the Lone Wolf's entire plan.

The first step is the appearance of the Black Armored Strangler Worms, which filters out the weak and disobedient members of the team.

The second step is to use the [Thunderstorm Core] to create large-scale death and bloodshed, thus creating a huge "bait field".

The third step is to use this bait field to attract the most terrifying scavenger in the area—the carrion sand demon.

The scheme is intricately linked and extremely ruthless.

More than seventy lives were sacrificed to secure a brief passage to safety.

"Walk."

Lone Wolf gave them no time to be shocked, turning and striding in the opposite direction from Sand Demon.

Luo Tian mingled in the crowd, head down, concealing the horror in his eyes.

But Chen Yifan, hidden in the shadow of the lone wolf, was experiencing even greater turmoil.

Everything makes sense now.

But a new problem arose.

What exactly is it that would make Lone Wolf go to such great lengths, even risking to expose an S-level trump card, just to create an absolutely safe window of opportunity?

Is that "black box" of the Qilin Group really that important?

Or rather, what are their goals besides the "black box"?

What is it?

Chen Yifan's gaze was fixed on the hooded man behind Lone Wolf who had remained silent throughout.

In the perception of the "mind's eye".

He discovered two anomalies.

The lone wolf seemed to treat the hooded man with a subtle, almost imperceptible, respect.

Another one is when everyone was shocked by the appearance of the carrion-eating sand demons.

This man, however, exuded an emotion that was... indifferent.

Extreme ordinariness.

It seems he not only knew of the existence of these things all along, but also knew that they wouldn't attack him.

There's something wrong with this person.

Taking advantage of the fleeting moment when the lone wolf's shadow overlapped with that of the hooded man.

With a slight thought, Chen Yifan silently "drilled" into the shadow of the hooded man.

[Secret Investigation]!