Surface Identity

The three were tightly bound to the boat, and Lin Mo glanced at his phone before making a call.

The phone was almost instantly answered, and a wary voice came through.

“Hello, who’s this?”

“Is this the guy with the fisherman's hat from last time?” Lin Mo’s voice was no longer his own.

There was a sudden silence on the other end, followed by a voice filled with shock and joy.

“Is... is this Beixuan Zhenren?!” Liu Zheng’s breathing grew heavier.

“I happened to rescue two kids, seems like they’re from your Yanhuang Awakening faction...”

Lin Mo briefly gave the address and hung up, then returned to his original appearance and voice.

He carefully placed Xia Zhi and the unconscious little girl side by side on a stone bench by the sidewalk, then stepped back and leaned casually against the riverside railing, quietly waiting.

This was his plan—a perfect opportunity to personally connect with and understand the other side of this world.

The night breeze was cool, and the river lapped against the shore.

Before long, the sharp screech of brakes shattered the silence as a black business van pulled up nearby.

The sliding door opened, and Liu Zheng, Old Bai, and Shouzhen quickly stepped out.

Their eyes immediately landed on the two unconscious figures on the bench and the youth leaning against the railing, who looked out of place.

Seeing them arrive, Lin Mo straightened up, his gaze calm as it swept over the three men before settling on Liu Zheng, the leader.

“You’re Liu Zheng, the one who wears the fisherman’s hat,” he stated plainly, not asking.

Liu Zheng’s heart skipped a beat. He sensed no energy fluctuations from this youth—he looked like an ordinary high schooler—but the calmness was genuine, not a facade.

He certainly didn’t believe this boy was Beixuan Zhenren. Instead, he asked, “Where is Beixuan Zhenren?”

“Sir has already left,” Lin Mo replied evenly, as if stating the most ordinary fact.

Old Bai crouched down behind Liu Zheng and quickly checked on Xia Zhi and the others.

Liu Zheng studied Lin Mo carefully. He knew someone as formidable as Beixuan Zhenren wouldn’t contact him through his own channels.

So who was this boy? A mere messenger?

But since the boy called Beixuan Zhenren “Sir,” there must be some connection—perhaps even a master-disciple relationship.

Ignoring Liu Zheng’s scrutiny, Lin Mo raised his hand and pointed at the two on the bench.

“The woman is probably one of your Yanhuang Awakening members. She’s physically and mentally exhausted, but with rest, she’ll recover.”

“The other little girl is extraordinary. She harbors immense energy inside her. The reason she remains unconscious is that her spirit isn’t strong enough to control it.”

“Sir said that once her internal power is gradually absorbed, she’ll wake up on her own.”

Shouzhen also crouched down to examine the girl.

After a moment, he looked up and gave Liu Zheng a serious nod.

Before Liu Zheng could speak, Lin Mo pointed downward.

“The people tied up below are mercenaries from An Nan. There were originally two more speedboats, but Sir sank them straight to the riverbed. If you send people to retrieve them, you should be able to salvage them.”

After explaining everything, Lin Mo brushed off the nonexistent dust from his clothes, looking as if he was ready to call it a day and go home.

"That's the situation. Any questions? Let’s keep it quick—I want to finish up and get some sleep."

He yawned, a hint of youthful impatience flickering in his eyes. "Oh, and before the gentleman left, he specifically told me you wouldn’t give me any trouble, right?"

All this left Liu Zheng feeling a bit overwhelmed.

He reviewed what Lin Mo had just said and realized there really wasn’t much more to ask.

So he looked at Lin Mo.

“What should I call you?”

“Lin Mo, a student from Guangba School. If you want to check, it should be pretty easy.”

Seeing Lin Mo openly share his name without hesitation, Liu Zheng immediately sensed that he would likely be dealing with this guy a lot in the future.

Maybe this Lin Mo was the contact specially arranged by Beixuan Zhenren.

That thought wasn’t without reason.

“Lin... student, we’ll handle the next steps. If there’s anything you need to ask…”

“Just call my phone. But just so you know, today, the gentleman and I just happened to pass by and ran into this incident.”

As he said this, a sudden explosion erupted from the shore.

A figure leapt sharply from a speedboat moored at the edge.

The ropes binding him snapped instantly.

He landed on the shore and immediately scanned the group of people there—and the little girl placed on the stone bench.

Without hesitation, he drew a gleaming dagger from his waist, his body shifting in a flash as he lunged straight at Lin Mo, attempting to seize him as a hostage.

The strike was fast and fierce, filled with an unyielding ferocity.

But he grasped nothing but air.

Lin Mo seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. The moment the attacker moved, Lin Mo had already reacted.

He casually stepped back, his shoulder dipping backward and then slammed forward.

“Bang!”

A muffled thud echoed, like a heavy sandbag crashing into a wall. The attacker felt a powerful force slam into his chest, his internal organs shifting painfully. Instantly, his blood surged wildly as he staggered backward, struggling to regain his balance.

Before he could steady himself, a shadow closed in.

With a blank expression, Lin Mo turned and clamped down on the man’s wrist.

The attacker’s pupils shrank abruptly. He tried to pull away but found his wrist gripped like it was welded shut by an iron clamp—completely immobile.

Lin Mo applied pressure with his fingertips. A sharp crunch of breaking bones rang out, piercing the eerie silence of the shore.

The man’s wrist hung limp at an unnatural angle, his fierce expression instantly replaced by agony and disbelief.

Before he could scream, Lin Mo’s foot was already there.

A swift, decisive knee strike landed precisely on the man’s supporting knee.

“Crack!”

Another sickening crack of bone, deeper and louder than before.

The man’s knee bent outward unnaturally, completely stripping him of any last shred of resistance.

“Ahhhhh!”

He finally let out a desperate scream from deep in his throat. The ferocity in his eyes faded, replaced by pure, unadulterated terror.

Lin Mo released his grip as if tossing away a worthless piece of trash.

The man collapsed softly to the ground, curling up like a snake whose muscles had been drained, twitching silently on the shore.

The entire process—from him coming ashore to falling down—took no more than three seconds.

A deathly silence hung over the riverbank. Everyone was dumbfounded, as if what they had just witnessed wasn’t a fight, but an illusion.

Lin Mo turned to Liu Zheng and the others. “I didn’t go all out, and since I’m cooperating with the government, that shouldn’t count as a crime, right?”

Liu Zheng shook his head dazedly. “No, of course not.”

What they didn’t know was that this man was deliberately left behind by Lin Mo as an “actor.”

This way, Lin Mo could better attract the attention of the Yanhuang Awakening.