690 Stalking prey

While he slept, his palm had been planted firmly against the ground. Giving the appearance of an ordinary sleeping posture, present between his palm and the ground was a small device. As vibrations were transmitted from the distant vehicle, the little device started to vibrate in tandem, allowing Ma Dong to sense the vehicle leaving its parked location.

This was something Qian Duoduo had shoved silently into his hands during the beating he had unleashed on the day he was released. Furthermore, it was accompanied with a note saying "You're being watched".

Being a member of Assassin, Ma Dong understood instantly. Truthfully speaking, he didn't expect the fatty to be such a loyal friend.

In his impression, Qian Duoduo was a businessman who was only focused on profits. Therefore, it was understandable if he prioritised staying out of trouble, and staying out of the mess that Assassin was in right now.

Having gained an understanding of the situation, Ma Dong began to act as if he had gone insane. He had already guessed the reason for his release from prison; someone was using him, following him in order to uncover the stragglers of the Assassin Family, and to find the alleged Assassin bases. With Emily's disappearance, these people had set their sights on him. However, Ma Dong had surmised that those who were actively watching him wouldn't be high up the ladder, and were probably just latching on for some additional rewards.

Those "secret bases" definitely existed; any sly individual out there would always have backups. Being a family of expert assassins who lived in the darkness, how would it be possible for them not to have contingency plans?

The reason why Tumo Assassin had decided not to put up any resistance, was to leave Assassin a sliver of hope for the future. With the 10 Great Families and the Federation putting in such a huge effort to squash the Assassin Family, trying to resist would only result in greater misery. Therefore, he had activated all his backup plans, prioritising the safe retreat and concealment of the remaining survivors of his family. At the same time, he had used his status as a lure, attracting attention towards himself and using his life in exchange for the survival of others, also causing their enemies' vigilance to drop.

In the end, he had managed to achieve his objectives. Tumo's outward displays of weaknesses gave a false presumption that the Assassin Family had already lost their combat power after leaving the dark era, resulting in no big shots getting involved in the cleanup. As for Emily, a girl who only had an average performance in the CHF, the bigshots evidently believed that it was more than enough for their underlings to handle anything she was capable of whipping up.

Finally, the vehicle had left the detectable radius.

Lying quietly on the ground, Ma Dong's palm never left the ground for a single instant. Only when the vibrations coming from the vehicle had completely faded did he flip around and climb up.

In an instant, the hollowed gaze in his eyes disappeared, replaced with a brilliance glow!

Despite having previously encountered failure, he was no longer the 2nd generation wastrel that would drown himself in alcohol after receiving a blow.

Wang Zhong had taught him how to rise from adversity, and fight in impossible situations, while the old Tumo had taught him how to be more crafty, to deal with cunning opponents he encountered.

Hua!

Tossing away the pockmarked blanket, Ma Dong kept the little device in his hand. Activating all of his power, he brought his injury-laden body as he rapidly disappeared into the darkness. It was extremely difficult to navigate in the dark wilderness, yet Ma Dong moved as swiftly as the wind, traveling forwards with a clear purpose.

The Assassin Family had some rather unique methods that allowed its members to possess amazing navigational skills in complete darkness. Over the past few days, Ma Dong had been feeling slightly regretfully for not training as hard as he could. Nevertheless, it was still somewhat fortunate that he didn't; he wouldn't have been placed under such easily escapable observation if he was more powerful.

Quickly, he came to a halt before a small hill.

This small hill was an all-too-common sight within the wilderness. Looking very ordinary, it blended into the background, not attracting anyone's attention at all. Kneeling down, he rubbed around the jet-black ground for a while, before finally making contact with a hard rock-like object.

Unleashing all of his strength, he pressed down heavily on the stone, causing it to sink slowly into the ground.

Bang, rumble...

A mechanical rumble rang out, as countless bits of earth rolled down the small hill. Slowly, a large, dark passage revealed itself in the ground.

Walking in, Ma Dong pressed the button present on the wall.

Pa pa pa pa pa...

A series of lights lit up, lighting up the jet black passageway.

Present before him was a large underground room that was filled with various kinds of items, weapons, and supplies; in fact, there were even a few military bikes. A table was present in the middle, with many Skylink devices laid on it, alongside identification certificates with matching face masks.

Walking forward in an unhurried pace, Ma Dong glanced around, before choosing a fake identification that that was similar to his age and physique. Cuffing the Skylink to his hand, he walked in front of a mirror and started to apply the mask. After a short while, a waxy-yellow, considerably ordinary-looking youthful face appeared in the mirror.

Of course, Assassin possessed secret bases like this across the Federation. Tumo had always been rigorous in such matters. The moment he had decided on Assassin's development plan in Tianjing, he had also started to make preparations to construct escape routes for his family in case of future problems.

There were 7 to 8 similar secret bases present within the vicinity of Tianjing city, accessible only by the inner circle members of the Assassin Family.

Nevertheless, Ma Dong's face didn't reveal any signs of happiness, as the items in this base had been untouched. No one had come here? Perhaps his family members didn't need to resupply any of their stores? Clearly, that wasn't the case. No one had come here, and that could only mean that his family members' situations were too dangerous and critical for them to have the chance to resupply.

With precious time ticking away, Ma Dong took a faint glance at his new look. Without any further hesitation, he tied 3-4 boxes of rations onto a combat bike and strapped a few high-powered runic handguns around his waist.

Starting his bike, he was just about to leave the underground passageway when a few figures appeared before him.

"Young master Ma."

A fellow with an eyepatch over his left eye spoke in a rather unwilling and helpless tone. "What a good performance. You almost fooled me with your mad act."

Ma Dong's face immediately changed. Without the slightest hesitation, he twisted his wrist.

Vroom vroom vroom vroom~~

Violent mechanical rumbles rang out from the military bike as it shot forward in a sudden burst. The powerful torque from its back wheel sent the bike into a wheelie, as Ma Dong attempted to force his way through the blockade.

Yet, he was immediately met with a spiked club.

Bang!

Earth-shattering power accompanied by terrifying rumbling exploded out, as the giant metal spiked club sparkling with light smashed fiercely against the bike wheel.

The bike was flipped over by the terrifying force, spiraling in the air before landing onto the ground with a huge impact.

All of the rations were sent scattering across the floor. Laying on its back with Ma Dong under it, the bike's 4 wheels spun in the air, while Ma Dong was being suffocated by the weight of the bike pressing down on his chest.

Bang!

In the next second, the massive spiked club had smashed down onto Ma Dong's body. Countless rock chips and dust clouds were kicked up, as Ma Dong was sent flying, blood dripping from his body.

Frankly speaking, the one-eyed man wasn't feeling happy at all. His mission was to secretly observe Ma Dong, in order to discover the hidden bases that Assassin had set up.

Ma Dong's hopes of being able to successfully flee were simply a pipe dream. The one-eyed man had been suspicious of his actions, and had moved his vehicle as part of his observation process. He suspected that Ma Dong had already discovered the existence of his vehicle. Therefore, he had disembarked from the vehicle, while making one of his underlings drive the vehicle away and stop it at a distant location.

Indeed, falling for the ploy, Ma Dong didn't realise that he was being tracked. Nevertheless, not knowing how Ma Dong was able to keep track of their vehicle's location, he had set off and followed Ma Dong on foot.