The bicycle wheels squeaked and creaked as they rolled down the road.

The spokes spun increasingly fast, eventually blurring into shadowy silhouettes, like the destiny ahead, intricate and tangled, with countless threads intersecting and converging towards the center, entwined with each other in confusion.

Like a web, everyone thought they would eventually stand in the center to collect the net.

Little did they know, they were all just threads.

No one can see the full pattern of the web because a mere tug on a thread may weave the web into something else entirely.

No one can glimpse the future, including Feng Mu.

When the vibration from the tugged thread rolls towards you, all you can do is adapt and hold onto your thread tightly to avoid falling off.

Because in the game of interweaving nets for hunting, falling off the line means only death.

"Someone's tracking me again?"

Feng Mu's heart skipped a beat. Unlike the last time he was followed, this time it was exceedingly covert.

He moved his neck subtly, sweeping his gaze around with the corner of his eye, seeing that the street was filled with many commuters, unable to tell who seemed suspicious.

Yet, the chill in his spine seemed to puncture through, as if stimulated, triggering a defensive response that clearly made Feng Mu sense the malice lurking in the shadows.

No one found, but it's not an entirely fruitless outcome. At least, Feng Mu discovered another hidden benefit of ossification—danger awareness.

"People from the Cyan Wolf Gang?"

"No, Ma Bin just finished a call with me, he wouldn't be so irrational."

"Moreover, the sense of danger they give me is on a completely different level."

Feng Mu stopped his search and continued pedaling as if nothing had happened, thoughts racing madly in his mind.

The answer was imminent: "If it's not the Cyan Wolf Gang, it could only be those black market merchants."

Feng Mu's heart sank immediately; both he and Ma Bin misjudged—the black market merchants tracked him down ahead of Ma Bin.

How did they find him?

Should I notify Ma Bin for rescue now?

Feng Mu's intracranial CPU was almost overheating, yet outwardly he maintained composure. The control by the bones on his expressions was really a major help.

Ultimately, Feng Mu chose not to seek Ma Bin's help.

Aside from whether Ma Bin would come, time was also running short because he saw a middle-aged man with a face like a crumpled chrysanthemum walking towards him at the crematorium entrance.

Feng Mu breathed evenly, using [Iron Eater] to control facial expressions, and [Frenzy Blood] to control the bleeding speed, slowing down the heartbeat as he casually passed by the man on his bicycle.

Zhang Hao listened to Feng Mu's calm heartbeat, waiting until half the bicycle was past before suddenly turning around and politely asking, "Hold on, young man, you're the new cremator at the facility, right?"

Feng Mu stopped his bicycle. After the first words from the other party, he instantly captured the intent from the sentence.

It wasn't aimed at "me".

They hadn't bypassed Ma Bin to find the real "me".

It was aimed at Feng Mu!

The aforementioned "me" refers to the Lame Monster, who indirectly manipulated Ma Bin and Qian Hao in the black market and may covet the secrets of the Black Core.

"I mean, following the clues to me, you also have to follow the clues. How could you just jump and find the watermelon, skipping the steps?" Feng Mu's internal alarm was partially relieved.

The reason it only fell halfway is because of the mystery Feng Mu harbors within himself.

"The problem should be that I took Wang Jian's Black Core, which left them without Wang Jian as a source, so they came to me."

"Crap, I was careless, but I initially found it hard to predict that a few Black Cores a week from Wang Jian would warrant black market merchants knocking on my door?"

"Were you really that desperate?"

"No, what they care about isn't a few missing Black Cores each week; they care about whether Wang Jian's Black Cores have been taken by someone else."

Feng Mu straightened out his thoughts, looked suspiciously and cautiously at Zhang Hao, and asked, "What do you want, who are you?"

His tone wasn't very polite, which aligned with a normal person's behavior. The scrutiny in Zhang Hao's eyes diminished by three degrees, his voice became more mellow.

He said, "Don't be nervous, young man. We just want to ask if you have any Black Cores, we want to purchase them."

Feng Mu didn't respond immediately, but turned his head to find two dark faces appearing behind him. One was showing a simple, honest smile, while the other was playing with ants on a twig, looking a bit dull-witted.

Twigs?

Ants?

Feng Mu's heart sank, shifting his gaze back.

He frowned slightly at Zhang Hao, saying, "I don't have any on me now, they're all at home."

Initially, Feng Mu wanted to lie and say he had already sold them, but somehow ended up speaking the truth. He surreptitiously noticed the dull-witted dark face stopped playing with ants, sticking his hand in his pocket during Feng Mu's answer.

A seemingly simple-minded person, putting down a toy without reason must be for a reason.

What's hidden in his pocket?

Something to detect if I'm lying?

Likely not, so it must be some detection device, capable of detecting Black Cores on me or if I've recently had contact with one?

The second dark face looked down, a creepy glint flashing in his left eye, seeing the values on the detector through the fabric.

The value reads 74.

This value indicates Feng Mu isn't carrying any Black Cores, but within the last 8 hours, he's been in close contact with them, more than just one or two.

The second dark face looked up and continued playing with ants on the twig.

Zhang Hao deciphered his companion's cues. Confirming Feng Mu wasn't lying, his suspicion decreased sharply, he thus asked, "Why keep them at home and not sell? The crematorium workers should've told you we specialize in acquiring these things."

Feng Mu sighed in relief, replying indifferently, "I know, but I've agreed to sell them to someone else."

Zhang Hao's smile widened, revealing a row of yellow teeth: "Ah? Someone else is also collecting these, that's peculiar, young man, care to tell me who it is?"

Seeing Feng Mu's silence.

Zhang Hao thought for a moment, adding, "Don't misunderstand, young man, we're just doing our job, and failing to acquire Black Cores means we need an explanation for the boss upon return, no other intention."

While speaking, he held out four fingers, promising, "How about this, we won't ask about that person anymore, just whether young man would sell the Black Cores to us at double the past price, 400 bucks each."

Feng Mu's cheek muscles twitched, clearly tempted by the high price.

He irritably scratched his head, gritted his teeth, and refused: "Alright, I'll tell you, the buyer is a lame person. A few days ago, I got into trouble with some thugs, he helped me, so I promised to collect Black Cores at the facility for him. I can't go back on my word."

Didn't see that coming~

I can pin the blame on myself!

Most importantly, this could be verified by the black market merchants as the security guard holding a thermos at the facility entrance is a live witness.

Zhang Hao captured the key information, so he didn't press Feng Mu further.

Giving Feng Mu a thumbs up, he complimented, "Young man's a man of his word, how about this, could you give us that person's contact? After the sale, we will buy back from him at a high price so you won't be in a bind, and we can report back to the boss, would that be okay?"

Feng Mu pondered for a moment, seeing Zhang Hao stuff a few hundred yuan into his hand, he could only sigh helplessly and pull out his phone, pulling up his contacts.

He gave Zhang Hao the number saved as [Lame Monster].

Of course, the number was Red Hair's phone, which he changed afterward upon burying the latter's body.

Don't ask why it was changed, think of it as foresight for lying seamlessly and flawlessly...

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