God-Level Special Forces Soldier

Chapter 1040: Chapter 1036: Contrasting Attitudes

The middle-aged man once again showed a bitter smile. He knew Kojima Minako’s temper all too well—if he didn’t do exactly as she said right now, anything could happen—so he had no choice but to obediently slow down.

After stopping, Kojima Minako glanced at the unconscious Xiao Tian and said, somewhat annoyed, ”From now on don’t associate me with this man. Otherwise don’t blame me for being rude!”

Judging from the difference in strength between the two sides, this kind of threat from Kojima Minako was undoubtedly laughable, but the middle-aged man took it very seriously. Then, with some confusion, he asked, ”But didn’t you just say...”

”I didn’t!”

Kojima Minako jumped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on and snapped, ”I didn’t say anything at all. To tell you the truth, if it weren’t for Ozawa Miwa’s sake, I’d want to kill this bastard right this instant!”

With things said to this point, the middle-aged man couldn’t help feeling even more puzzled. Even if someone’s attitude changed, it couldn’t turn around this fast, could it?

He sighed inwardly. Although he knew there had to be some hidden reason behind this, the middle-aged man understood that unless Kojima Minako took the initiative to explain, no matter how he kept asking, he wouldn’t get any answers.

Moreover, doing so might only cause the just slightly warmed-up relationship to freeze over again. It was clearly not worth the loss, so he could only suppress his doubts and change the subject: ”Let’s leave here first.”

Kojima Minako didn’t respond. She merely silently circulated her Body Technique into her feet, clearly tacitly agreeing with the middle-aged man’s suggestion.

However, in the next instant, Kojima Minako suddenly widened her eyes. Her beautiful pupils were filled with disbelief, and faintly, with a hint of fear...

Because just as she circulated True Qi down to her feet and was about to use the force to spring her body forward, she suddenly sensed a bone-piercing chill, as if in the middle of the harshest winter her feet were soaking in a frozen river, like tens of thousands of needles stabbing her all at once.

Not only that, the moment that chill appeared, it spread upward rapidly like the roots and stalks of a plant buried in the earth. In less than the time of a few breaths, it had already risen past her ankles, and it showed no sign of stopping.

At this moment Kojima Minako was truly somewhat frightened. She could even clearly perceive the feeling of death slowly closing in on her. If she let this trend continue, she feared she wouldn’t last even one minute.

The problem was, Kojima Minako tried every method she could think of, even at the cost of overdrawing the tolerance of her Dantian, mobilizing every last strand and trace of power she could call upon in her entire body to resist it, yet she couldn’t hinder the spread of that chill in the slightest. It even seemed as if... she was instead fueling its advance.

In this emergency, Kojima Minako began to trace back the source of this abnormality, and immediately locked onto one event... Just now, she had taken an Ice Soul Needle in Xiao Tian’s place.

Thinking of this, her vision suddenly went black, and a surge of despair rose uncontrollably within her... That was the legendary Ice Soul Needle. Once struck, not only the meridians and heart meridians, but even the blood itself would instantly freeze. The victim was practically left with nothing but waiting to die!

Fortunately, the inventor of the Ice Soul Needle was perhaps not completely devoid of conscience. The victim didn’t have to endure the pain for too long before their life was taken. Compared to the Heart-Breaking Fruit, that was already relatively merciful.

Yet in the midst of her despair, Kojima Minako suddenly recalled that weak but unnervingly clear fragment of speech from Xiao Tian...

”Seal... the heart meridians... release all the True Qi in your meridians...”

Recalling Xiao Tian’s broken, intermittent words, Kojima Minako felt as if a thunderclap exploded beside her ears. Without the slightest hesitation, she sealed her heart meridians, then exhausted all her strength to erupt every shred of True Qi in her body. At the same time her throat went sweet, and a mouthful of fresh blood burst uncontrollably from her lips.

The middle-aged man was startled and, before he could defend himself, was blown back by the shockwave of Kojima Minako’s outburst. He tumbled away for more than ten meters before he came to his senses, hastily circulated his power to resist, and without daring to delay for even a moment, rushed back.

”What happened?” The middle-aged man looked at Kojima Minako with concern and asked anxiously, ”Are you hurt?”

After erupting all her True Qi, Kojima Minako felt that both her legs, from the knees down, had completely lost sensation, as if her calves no longer belonged to her. No matter how she tried to move them, there was no response at all. Her body went limp and she fell straight forward.

”Nako?!”

The middle-aged man cried out, hurriedly stepped up, and caught Kojima Minako’s falling body. Her eyes were empty and lifeless, as if her soul had been stolen, devoid of any spark.

This sight made the middle-aged man’s eyes suddenly turn bloodshot. He then grit his teeth hard, and unleashed all his Perception Power in a frenzy. It spread out like an invisible giant net woven through the void, covering the stretch of forest they had just left.

Not long after, a ferocious light flashed in the middle-aged man’s eyes, and from between his clenched teeth he spat out a few words: ”Mizuno Pengyu, you’re forcing my hand!”

At this moment, the middle-aged man also recalled the scene of Kojima Minako being struck by the poisoned needle. Though he didn’t know exactly what kind of poison it was, he was certain it was Mizuno Pengyu’s doing.

Thinking of this made the killing intent in his eyes intensify. He slowly set Kojima Minako down, and his figure vanished from where he stood, shooting back toward their previous location...

...

The experts who were conducting a carpet search in the dense forest all stopped in unison. One by one they exchanged glances and saw the same panic in each other’s eyes.

Just moments ago, every one of them felt their breathing hitch, as if someone’s hand had clenched around their heart. Even though the sensation was extremely brief, it had been undeniably real!

For a moment, everyone gathered together, their wary gazes sweeping over every tree and blade of grass around them. The atmosphere grew unbearably heavy; every rustle of wind and grass felt like an omen of attack.

Mizuno Pengyu also furrowed his brows tightly, subconsciously tightening his grip on the purple little box in his hands, as if only this could suppress the unease in his heart.

”Could it be that guy has come back?” one of the experts said, worry written on his face.

The others clearly shared the same concern. Once they heard this question, traces of fear appeared on every face, more or less.

When Kojima Minako had made her move, she hadn’t concealed her own level of strength, allowing everyone to clearly understand that even if they all joined forces, they might not be able to win against her.

At this moment, following Mizuno Pengyu on this venture—aside from the fact that they could receive a generous reward—there was in truth a large element of going with the crowd.

Now that someone had already started thinking of backing out, naturally their hearts began to spin with thoughts. After all, no matter how much money there was, no matter how good the spoils, if they lost their lives, it would all be for nothing!

These experts who had managed to survive so far weren’t relying solely on luck; they had brains too. No one wanted to bet on not being the first one to die.

Given this, a clear sign of shaken morale was emerging. If they couldn’t find a reason to set their minds at ease, someone might withdraw on the spot...