Chapter 263: Chapter 253: Meeting an Acquaintance

Tang Mo recognized him at a glance. After they parted ways in Sand Town, she hadn’t heard any news of Lin Yu. Seeing him again, she noted his demeanor was much calmer and more composed than when they had first met. He had changed from a boy into a true man.

’Perhaps because his sister is still alive in this life, Lin Yu hasn’t become the cold-blooded, ruthless person he was in my past life,’ she thought. ’The expression on his face still has some warmth.’

’It seems he and Xianxian have been living pretty well.’

’But what is Lin Yu doing here?’

Tang Mo pulled Duoyang along and quietly followed them back to the base. She memorized the location of Lin Yu’s tent and, at dusk, lifted the door flap and went inside.

Inside the tent, Lin Yu was feeding his sister, Xianxian, the local specialty: roasted mutton.

"Sister Tang Mo!"

Xianxian, who was facing the entrance, was the first to see Tang Mo walk in.

"You’re here."

Lin Yu turned around unhurriedly. As they were both Spiritual Ability Users, he had noticed Tang Mo following him on the grasslands earlier that day.

Tang Mo had shown him kindness before, and after everything they had been through, they weren’t enemies.

"What are you doing here?"

Making herself at home, Tang Mo found a small stool to sit on. She pulled a handful of candy from her pocket and gave it to Xianxian.

"Be a good girl, Xianxian. Go eat your candy inside. Your brother and I have something to talk about."

"Okay!"

Xianxian obediently took the candy from Tang Mo and went to her part of the tent.

The tent was clearly rented entirely by Lin Yu; no one else was there besides him and his sister.

"What are you doing here?" Tang Mo asked again.

’Hulan Base is hardly a good place to settle down and live peacefully, especially with a child in tow.’ ’And Lin Yu must have gone to great lengths to bring Xianxian in here.’

"Then what are you doing here?" Lin Yu didn’t answer, retorting with a question of his own.

Tang Mo didn’t speak, just stared straight into Lin Yu’s eyes.

’She and Lin Yu weren’t enemies; she didn’t want to lie to him.’

"I’m here for the same reason you are."

After a long moment, it was Lin Yu who spoke first.

Back then, they had all competed for the Spirit Power Pearl, but it had ended with everyone failing.

Although no one had seen Tang Mo take the pearl at the time, Lin Yu had always felt that something was off.

Later, the sudden surge in Tang Mo’s attributes only confirmed his suspicions. The Spirit Power Pearl had definitely been taken by Tang Mo.

A single pearl could increase a person’s power to such a terrifying extent, allowing them to leap to the top of the rankings. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t tempted.

They were both hot-blooded youths. Who didn’t have a little ambition?

It was for this purpose that Lin Yu had brought his sister to Hulan Base, where he happened to run into Tang Mo again.

The moment he saw Tang Mo, Lin Yu knew they were there for the same reason.

"Fair competition?" Tang Mo didn’t beat around the bush.

"Fair competition, of course," Lin Yu nodded.

Tang Mo nodded back. The two even made some small talk, mostly about what Lin Yu and Xianxian had been up to since leaving Sand Town.

Afterward, Tang Mo left Lin Yu’s tent.

Knowing she now had a rival, Tang Mo started to feel a little tense.

’Right now, I only know that there’s a totem here, but I haven’t obtained it yet, let alone know where the corresponding pearl is. If Lin Yu gets the totem first, I really won’t have a chance.’

Spurred by a sense of urgency, Tang Mo could no longer afford to wander around aimlessly with Duoyang every day. Instead, she began purposefully observing every corner of the base on her own.

When she couldn’t finish her observations during the day, she would use her spiritual power at night to meticulously scan the entire base, not missing a single corner.

But after several days of this, Tang Mo still had nothing to show for it. She was almost certain: the totem and the pearl were not in Hulan Base itself.

’The grasslands are wide open. If it isn’t in the base, it must be in the forest.’

And that was the Bear Clan’s territory. Tang Mo began to understand why Lin Yu went out on missions with the people from Hulan Base every day to hunt bears. He was probably trying to find more useful information.

Tang Mo was used to feeding the bear cubs with Duoyang and was unwilling to join the people from Hulan Base in hunting the bears.

She could only wander around the edge of the forest by herself, hoping to find some useful information.

The closer she got to the forest, the more aggressive the bears she encountered became. They seemed fiercely resistant to humans approaching their territory.

Tang Mo had heard from Duoyang that many of the bear cubs in the base had been stolen from the forest by the base’s residents.

’Why would they do something so depraved and seemingly without any benefit to themselves?’ Tang Mo couldn’t understand it.

However, when she scanned the area with her spiritual power, she found that the number of bears in the forest was staggering—practically countless.

It was no wonder the bears often took the risk of sneaking into the base to steal sheep. The food in the forest and the few mutant beasts on the grassland were clearly not enough to fill all their stomachs.

Knowing the bears were hostile to anyone approaching the forest, Tang Mo didn’t dare to enter rashly. She could only linger nearby, waiting for a suitable opportunity.

An opportunity presented itself just a few days later.

One day, after returning to the base from the forest, Tang Mo was in a tent chatting with Duoyang’s grandmother.

The tent flap was suddenly thrown open, and Xianxian ran in, her face streaked with tears.

"Sister Tang Mo, they said my brother is dead."

The little girl was crying so hard she could barely breathe, almost sobbing herself into a stupor.

"Don’t panic. Tell me slowly."

Tang Mo reached out and took hold of Xianxian, letting her slowly explain what had happened.

It turned out that Lin Yu had gone out hunting today as usual, leaving Xianxian alone in the tent.

But by the afternoon, Lin Yu still hadn’t returned.

Then, a man who had gone hunting with Lin Yu that day came to Xianxian’s tent. He told her that Lin Yu was dead and that she had to move out of the tent by tomorrow at the latest.

Xianxian had gotten into Hulan Base with Lin Yu. With him dead, she naturally wouldn’t be allowed to stay any longer.

Hearing that her brother was dead, the little girl had burst into tears.

Feeling lost and alone, with no one to rely on, she panicked. The only person she could think of was Sister Tang Mo, who had come to see her brother a few days ago. So, she started asking for directions and came to find her.

"There, there, Xianxian. Stop crying for now. I’ll go find your brother."

Tang Mo knew Lin Yu’s strength. His Spirit Attribute was already very high, and he had definitely amassed a wealth of combat experience recently.

There was no reason his teammates would have all made it back while he had lost his life out there.

’After all, what Spirit Attribute Superpower Users are best at is escaping and saving their own skin. There has to be something else going on here.’

The news of Lin Yu’s death was unusual. Whether for the sake of an acquaintance or to investigate the secret behind it all, Tang Mo knew she had to make this trip.

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