Suppressing the desire for Lv9-level powers, Yu Ziyu's gaze sharpened as he drew closer to the two women who had just gradually regained consciousness not far away.
"What a pity."
As he spoke, an inexplicable force enveloped them.
Immediately, their entire bodies trembled, as if struggling in vain against it.
"It's useless."
Smiling slightly, Yu Ziyu gestured with his tendrils, and a falcon landed beside him.
"Don't disappoint me, Ada."
The supple tendrils gently stroked the falcon's head. Thanks to the mist's power to influence minds, Yu Ziyu issued a command to the largest falcon for the first time.
Ada — a pretty good name.
As for the others, well, there was Ada Two, Ada Three...
Simple and easy to remember.
Thinking of this, Yu Ziyu couldn't help but laugh at himself.
He wondered if these falcons, once they gained true intelligence, would resent him.
After all, those dull names were hardly flattering.
...
Not long after, at one of the exits of the canyon.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
Accompanied by light footsteps, two ragged girls slowly emerged from the dense mist.
"Sister, what happened?"
Her head pounding and fragments of memories flashing in her mind, younger sister He Ling'er pressed her hand to her head and asked blankly.
"It seems we fell off a cliff but luckily didn't die."
He Qing'er shook her head, recalling the scattered information flashing in her mind.
Yet faintly, He Qing'er felt something was off.
In her hazy thoughts, she seemed to have glimpsed something incredible.
But now was clearly not the time to dwell on that.
Grasping her sister's hand, He Qing'er gently said,
"Let's go back first. This feeling like missing pieces is really unpleasant."
"Okay."
Tightening the clothes that no longer fully concealed her figure, He Ling'er nodded and followed her sister down towards the village at the mountain's foot.
Unnoticed by them, far above in the cloudy sky, a falcon spread its wings.
"Yin..."
A sharp, piercing cry, the falcon's fierce and piercing eyes fixed intently on the two girls weaving through the forest below.
...
Time passed swiftly.
Night had already fallen.
Not far from Yu Ziyu's location, in a remote village at the foot of the mountain, an aged elder gazed anxiously into the deep mountain.
"Sigh."
The village chief put down his tobacco pipe, sighing helplessly,
"I've told those two girls so many times — don't go into the deep mountain, don't go in there — but they just wouldn't listen."
Hearing this, Old Li, sitting nearby, slapped his thigh, frustrated and anxious.
"I don't even know what to say. The recent situation in the mountains is no secret to those two little rascals. A few days ago, I saw a snake as big as a grinding stone, and it scared me badly. I still dare not go into the deep mountain. Yet they insisted on going deeper and deeper."
"They still haven't come back... those two girls are probably..."
An anxious old man chimed in, then looked around,
"Should we... call the police?"
"Call the police?"
Hearing the discussion, the village chief took a drag of his pipe, his expression heavy and worried.
In the end, as if resigned, he sighed,
"Well..."
Before he could finish, a sudden excited voice came from afar:
"Village chief! The two girls are back, they're back!"
"They're back!"
Jumping up from his chair, the chief was visibly excited and hurriedly pushed through the crowd toward the village entrance.
Not long after, at the village entrance,
The muddy path was overgrown with weeds.
Two figures, supporting each other, slowly emerged from the night.
Before they reached, excited voices could already be heard:
"Grandpa, we're back!"
"Back is good, back is good."
Setting down his tobacco pipe, the chief waved toward the silhouettes in the distance.
Yet at that moment,
"Yin..."
From the depths of the night sky, a barely perceptible sharp cry sounded.
Then a shadow streaked across the horizon.
Looking carefully, it was a falcon with a wingspan of at least one or two meters.
Yes, a falcon.
A fierce raptor.
On its talons was a blackish snake.
A mutated green snake — one of Yu Ziyu's hunted prey.
Compared to other mutated creatures, this snake's deadliest feature was its venom.
Its potent toxin made even Yu Ziyu slightly cautious.
At this moment, such a terrifying mutated green snake was clutched in the falcon's talons.
"Yin..."
The falcon gave a light cry and slowly loosened its grip.
The mutated snake fell like a kite with a cut string, drifting down into the darkness.
Shortly after,
"Ah..."
"No..."
Two screams rang out in quick succession.
Under the horrified gazes of a dozen villagers, the two familiar figures collapsed slowly on the muddy path.
"Girls! Girls..."
Dropping his pipe, the village chief and the villagers rushed toward the two collapsed bodies on the muddy road.
...
"This should be a foolproof plan."
Looking at the night, Yu Ziyu sighed helplessly.
To eliminate these two potential threats without arousing suspicion, he had thought carefully.
Using his illusion ability to temporarily alter their memories so that for at least a few days, they wouldn't remember anything related to "him."
That way, even if they met villagers, they wouldn't mention "him."
Then, he had Ada catch a mutated green snake and hover it above the two girls.
Once near people, he would release the snake.
Let the mutated snake become the true killer.
Whether the enraged villagers killed the snake or it escaped was irrelevant.
After all, everyone would have seen a green snake biting the two girls to death.
And he, this willow tree, could slip away.
The most credible witnesses would be the villagers themselves.
If all went well, this would be yet another typical case of a "mutated beast attacking people."
Notably, to make sure the mutated snake targeted the two girls first, Yu Ziyu had sacrificed some life essence, applying it to their bodies.
With this bait, the mutated snake nearby naturally regarded them as prey.
There was one small detail: the life essence would fade over time, completely disappearing by morning, leaving no final trace.
"Tsk tsk."
Smiling inwardly, Yu Ziyu admired his own caution.
This could well be called "murder"—a textbook-level murder.
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