Deviation

“This time, the loss is too great.”

His entire body felt as if it were being scorched by flames, a searing agony that made every nerve scream. His two arms were charred black, emitting a scent like roasted meat.

These unprecedented, heavy injuries made the Eye Hunter’s vision go dark; several times he nearly collapsed, but he didn’t dare let his movements slow down even a fraction. He knew very well that his second Familiar could not possibly hold back those Bureau lapdogs. If he dared to stop, it wouldn’t be long before he was captured again!

Thus, the Eye Hunter did not dare linger. His instinct for survival forced him to squeeze every drop of strength from his body, exploding with a potential he had never reached before.

“Just hold on a bit longer, almost there, almost…”

His vision was blurred. He felt that if he stopped for even a second, he would immediately collapse from exhaustion, yet his mind remained clear. He was taking the back alleys, but he had surveyed the surrounding environment basicially beforehand, so he quickly discerned that he wasn’t far from his stronghold in Yujing.

Therefore, just a little longer. Just a little longer would be enough!

Treading along the dark corners, the Eye Hunter calculated his orientation and distance. He estimated that in ten minutes at most, he could return to his base.

“Once I’m back, I’ll pack up and leave this godforsaken place as fast as possible!”

To this Demon Tamer, Yujing was simply cursed to the extreme. He had lived comfortably in Linhai for so long without anything happening to him. Yet, within a few days of arriving here, he had first accidentally been discovered by Bureau personnel while trying to hypnotize a little girl; he had escaped by luck, but sustained significant injuries.

And now, this.

Simply because of a moment’s curiosity when brushing past someone, he had nearly sent himself to the grave! But who could have guessed? A fellow who looked only slightly unique on the outside, once you peeled back that skin, hid a genuine monster inside. This kind of luck was comparable to winning the lottery jackpot; the Eye Hunter didn’t even know if this counted as good luck or bad luck anymore.

Regardless, he couldn’t stay in Yujing any longer. The man decided that after returning, he would pack his bags and leave this hellhole the moment he had the chance. In fact, if not for the fact that his injuries were too severe and his various magic potions, materials, and his other Relic were still at the stronghold, he wouldn’t even want to go back—he would have left directly!

“Sigh.”

The Eye Hunter felt he might be having a run of bad luck lately. After leaving this place and settling down somewhere else, he should probably lie low for a while and see. Speaking of which, the Bureau personnel in Yujing had been very strange lately; he felt like he ran into them everywhere. Combined with what his employer had asked him to do…

“Nowhere is peaceful.”

Lost in uncontrollable stray thoughts, the Demon Tamer fixed his direction and prepared to speed up, but in the next second, he suddenly froze.

Something felt wrong. He suddenly realized that everything that had just happened seemed a bit… off. More accurately…

“It was too smooth.”

Yes, this escape process was far too smooth. It might seem strange to put it that way, considering he was so injured he could barely walk; if not for the special power forcing him to stay conscious and squeezing his potential, he would probably faint the next second.

But in Linhai City, the Eye Hunter had many encounters with the local Bureau. He knew the disposition of these people very well. These Bureau lapdogs were not soft-hearted; many times, they were extreme enough to make even a Demon Tamer feel afraid. Especially when facing outlaws like the Eye Hunter, they would use any means necessary. If they caught an opening, they would never let the target escape.

For example, just now—even though the Eye Hunter believed his speed of waking up was fast enough—before that, the opponent still had plenty of time to deal with him. They could have broken his limbs or even cut them all off at the very start. Or, the moment he woke up, they could have struck him with full force to cripple him.

With the strength that young man had displayed, the Eye Hunter believed he absolutely had the ability to do such a thing. Furthermore, these people were clearly here to catch him, so they must have researched him beforehand. In that case… how could they be completely defenseless against his mental shock?

The subsequent pursuit felt perfunctory as well. The young man who had heavily injured him didn’t look like a novice, but thinking back, there were simply too many unnecessary movements.

All sorts of wrong feelings swirled in his heart, allowing the Eye Hunter—who just moments ago was focused only on fleeing and filled with the fluke-like joy of a narrow escape—to quickly calm down. It was as if a basin of cold water had been poured over him; he immediately sensed trouble.

The opponent’s behavior was too strange. It was almost as if they were intentionally leaving him a path to survive. But… why?

“The stronghold! Dammit, they want me to lead them to the stronghold!”

The Eye Hunter was not stupid; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to escape Bureau dragnets multiple times. Thus, he immediately realized the opponent’s objective.

Illegal Demon Tamers like him couldn’t possibly carry everything on their person during daily activities. Safety was one issue, but ease of exposure was a bigger one. Whether it was magic potions or Relics, most possessed unique powers or scents. Aside from items like the [Stone of the Lost] which had “concealment” or “hallucination” effects to mask one’s power, most of the rest were difficult to hide.

Ordinary people might not notice, but to someone who also possessed special powers, it was like a firefly in the night; once they got close, it was easy to perceive the anomaly. This was why the Eye Hunter only carried one Relic and a few potions when he went out. Everything else was currently in his Yujing stronghold.

To him, that was a vital safehouse. To the Bureau, however, it was undoubtedly a time bomb!

Therefore, the Eye Hunter was certain that those Bureau lapdogs had intentionally left him a way to live just to follow the trail and find his Yujing base to wipe it all out in one go.

“No! I can’t lead them there!”

Thinking of this, the man immediately wanted to stop. There were too many useful things in the stronghold; if that place were discovered, he would truly be finished. Without potions to recover from his injuries and without Relics for self-defense, even if he managed to shake off these lapdogs, he wouldn’t be able to escape Yujing at all. He had to shake the tail off while outside!

But… how?

The Eye Hunter inconspicuously scanned his surroundings. He couldn’t find anything unusual, but he didn’t think he was being paranoid. The premonition that had saved him many times was screaming a frantic warning. Something was definitely hidden nearby. More likely, he had never escaped their sight from beginning to end.

What to do?

He had just felt like he had escaped death, only to realize an instant later that this was very likely a trap. The Demon Tamer racked his brains, but no matter how he thought, he felt he only had a dead end ahead of him. First, in his current state, it was impossible to shake off the tail that almost certainly existed. Second, his injuries were too heavy to allow him to keep stalling.

The result: he couldn’t run, he couldn’t shake them off, and he couldn’t return directly to the safehouse to recover.

All paths were blocked. A thick sense of despair nearly suffocated the Eye Hunter. Then, just as he was at a loss, the corner of his eye caught a skyscraper brightly lit in the darkness.

“That’s…”

The man recognized the building. His eyes lit up as a plan suddenly came to mind. Although this decision was a bit of a gamble—and if he gambled correctly, it would be highly offensive to certain people—in a situation where there was no other way, he couldn’t care about that much anymore.

Without hesitation, he pretended to continue forward, but in the process, he slowly deviated and rapidly approached that building.

“The position has shifted.”

In the darkness, looking at the Eye Hunter’s back, Jiang Xun narrowed his eyes slightly.

Just as the opponent suspected, they had indeed intentionally left him a thread of hope. The purpose was indeed to use the Eye Hunter himself to find his nest in Yujing.

For the Bureau, a Demon Tamer’s laboratory was sometimes far more dangerous than the Demon Tamer himself. Such places were bound to store large amounts of illegal materials, pollutants, and even extremely dangerous Relics. These things went out of control very easily, and once they spread, their destructive power was terrifying.

Therefore, when targeting Demon Tamers, catching them wasn’t the end; uprooting them was the key. Otherwise, it was equivalent to leaving a time bomb in the city that could explode at any moment.

As for why not just catch and interrogate him?

Naturally, it was because there was a high probability that nothing useful would be gained. Existences like the Eye Hunter, who merged with demonic power and viewed human life like grass, were generally either madmen or perverts. Furthermore, they knew very well that once they fell into the hands of the Bureau, their fate would be worse than death. Thus, they were usually unwilling to cooperate and, in moments of despair, would do extremely radical things. For example, in their final moments, they might sacrifice everything to their contracted demon, or simply self-destruct.

And even if they truly talked, whether they could be believed was a major question. In the Bureau’s early days, there was a classic case where they believed a Demon Tamer’s words, resulting in the total annihilation of the Bureau team sent to handle the matter. There were many similar cases. In short, these fellows’ brain circuits weren’t normal; getting them to cooperate was incredibly difficult.

In response, the Bureau generally had two methods. One was borrowing the abilities of Talented individuals to forcibly search memories through powers like Memory Search or Mental Manipulation. The second was utilizing special Relics; many Relics possessed the power to make a person tell the truth.

In Jiang Xun’s team, Old He excelled at using mental power. But the problem was that the demonic power used by the Eye Hunter was precisely related to things like spirit and desire; he himself possessed extremely high mental resistance. This could be seen from how quickly he had broken free from the Succubus’s influence earlier. Therefore, Old He’s methods would likely be ineffective.

The Succubus’s charm was effective, but unfortunately, she had already departed. Her residual power was limited; even if he asked key questions, it would only stimulate the Eye Hunter and make him wake up faster. As for Relics, it went without saying—just borrowing the [Kinship Finder] was a massive hassle, and the Yujing branch of the Bureau had been in such a mess lately that who knew what they were doing.

So, for various reasons, Jiang Xun and his two teammates’ original plan was to first heavily injure the Eye Hunter and then intentionally leave him a “way out,” following the trail to see if they could find his nest and take it out in one go.

And although some accidents occurred due to the encounter with the Succubus, overall, things were still within Jiang Xun and the others’ control.

Until this moment…

“Why did he suddenly change directions?”

The Eye Hunter was being very careful, but Jiang Xun was no fool and quickly discovered the anomaly. Seeing the other party’s direction deviate, he couldn’t help but frown slightly.

The young man was very confident in the damage he had dealt. Through observation, he could judge that the current Eye Hunter was at the end of his tether; being able to keep moving at all was entirely due to willpower. In this situation, even if he did nothing, he would soon run out of steam. Therefore, his only “way to live” was to return to his nest and concoct magic potions to treat himself.

That being the case, why was he suddenly running in another direction? Did he take a wrong turn? Or was this the real direction? Or…

“Did he discover me?”

Jiang Xun was puzzled. After thinking, he didn’t take action immediately but continued to follow behind, wanting to see what this fellow was actually up to.

Not long after, he discovered the Eye Hunter’s direction seemed to be heading straight for a building. That was once a landmark building of Yujing.

“Yuansheng Plaza?”