Cheetah: Someone's Cheating

"I only have one requirement." Chen Guan's voice was not loud, but it instantly drew the attention of the other two.

"During the operation, abandon your own judgment and follow my commands completely."

"No problem," Hong Yuan answered briskly.

Except for when they first met and she thought Chen Guan was just a freeloader looking to be carried, they had always been like this.

As for now... Hong Yuan had realized that she was the actual freeloader.

Yin Chen also nodded along. With a big shot carrying them, anyone who refused an easy win was an idiot.

This was the advantage of teaming up with these two; they would completely hand over the command to Chen Guan.

"Very well." Black Crow turned and walked back the way they came.

"I will follow behind, but I hope I won't have the chance to intervene."

By this point, he stopped acting tough and directly admitted that he would take action if necessary.

His figure quickly disappeared on the other side of the hill, completely leaving this perilous wasteland to the three students.

Chen Guan did not set off immediately. He stood exactly where he was, carefully studying the topographical map on his datapad.

It was a complex rocky forest with jagged stone pillars, filled with natural cover and blind spots.

For Lightning Cheetahs, this was an excellent hunting ground.

His finger swiped across the screen, marking a red route—the patrol team's path.

Chen Guan turned off the datapad and looked at the two.

"Hong Yuan, conceal your aura and follow ten meters behind me."

"Yin Chen, you bring up the rear. Use your spiritual energy to scan a fifty-meter radius behind us to prevent being flanked."

This formation was a bit strange. Hong Yuan was a warrior and should theoretically be in the front, while he, the theoretical reaper, was walking at the very front.

But neither of them raised any questions, simply adjusting their positions according to his instructions.

The distance wasn't far. The three formed a straight line and soon reached the bleak rocky forest.

The wind blew through the gaps in the stone pillars, letting out a wail like a crying ghost.

On the ground, the traces left by the patrol team were already very faint; only occasionally could they see the tracks left by armored vehicle wheels.

Chen Guan's footsteps were very light, making almost no sound.

His eyes did not scan around; instead, they were half-closed. He was using all his senses to feel this hunting ground.

When facing spatial ability users, eyes could be deceiving.

After walking for about ten minutes, Chen Guan's footsteps stopped. In the earpiece, Yin Chen was speaking.

"On the edge of the rubble, there is a layer of black powder. It's the material of military-grade weapons. A battle happened here."

Chen Guan bent down. Sure enough, just as Yin Chen said, black powder was scattered on the ground. It was just that his eyesight was lacking, and he couldn't tell what state this powder was in before it was destroyed.

Indeed, every profession has its specialty.

Hong Yuan immediately went on high alert.

Chen Guan stood up and continued forward, his pace slower and more cautious than before.

Suddenly, a faint spatial fluctuation came from the front left.

"On guard!" Yin Chen's voice rang out in the earpiece, and the ice cone beside him instantly grew several times larger.

Hong Yuan's muscles tensed, holding her giant axe across her chest.

However, nothing happened.

The fluctuation vanished in a flash, as if it were just an illusion.

"It's a probe." Chen Guan was very clear about the habits of wild beasts.

"They are observing us."

After saying that, he continued walking forward, looking as if he hadn't taken the warning to heart at all.

Hong Yuan and Yin Chen exchanged a glance and could only follow.

After advancing another hundred meters, the feeling of being watched grew stronger, as if invisible eyes were scrutinizing their every move from the shadows.

Right at this moment, a sudden change occurred.

A dark purple flash of lightning appeared behind Yin Chen. Space was torn open into a tiny rift, and an agile, pitch-black cheetah appeared out of thin air.

Its speed was pushed to the absolute limit. Its sharp claws, carrying the shrill howl of tearing air, aimed straight for the center of Yin Chen's back.

A Tier-4 Lightning Cheetah.

Yin Chen's reaction was nothing short of fast. His combat intuition, honed over years, allowed him to summon a thick ice wall rising from the ground behind him even before he had time to turn around.

Screech!

A sharp frictional sound rang out. Five bone-deep claw marks were gouged into the ice wall, and cracks spread like a spider web.

Missing its strike, the cheetah showed no desire to linger in battle. Its figure blurred, and it vanished from the spot once again.

"On the right!" Hong Yuan roared, launching herself forward like a cannonball. Her giant axe, carrying the sound of wind and thunder, slashed toward a stone pillar on the right.

Boom!

The stone pillar was cleanly severed, sending rubble flying, but there was nothing there.

The cheetah's figure appeared on a massive boulder fifty meters away.

It elegantly licked its claws, its dark purple eyes full of mockery as it looked at the three intruders.

It was toying with them.

"Don't be impulsive!" Yin Chen shouted in a low voice, grabbing Hong Yuan, who still wanted to pursue.

He felt a lingering fear. If that strike just now had been a second slower, he would have been dead or severely injured.

Spatial abilities truly could not be underestimated; they were innate talents that allowed one to fight above their tier.

From beginning to end, Chen Guan had not moved.

He watched the cheetah appear, attack, and disappear again.

His gaze fell on the spot where the cheetah had just vanished.

The cheetah on the boulder had lost its patience.

It moved again.

This time, its target was still Yin Chen.

In its judgment, this mage who could manipulate elements posed the greatest threat.

With a flash of purple light, its figure disappeared from the boulder.

Yin Chen's pupils contracted. A majestic surge of spiritual energy erupted instantly, and dozens of ice mirrors materialized around his body without any blind spots, protecting him layer by layer.

Hong Yuan also roared, her muscles bulging, ready to meet an impact from any direction.

But this time, Chen Guan moved.

He didn't go to protect Yin Chen. Instead, Chen Guan took a step toward the empty space to his front right.

At the same time, the handle of the scythe in his hand thrust fiercely upward at an extremely tricky angle, stabbing right into the empty air.

This strike looked baffling and completely devoid of logic.

However, at the exact moment the end of the scythe handle was about to reach its intended position, that patch of air suddenly twisted.

A dark purple rift split open out of thin air.

The dark purple spatial rift opened on cue, and the figure of a Lightning Cheetah lunged out from within.

Its pouncing posture still maintained the ferocity of the hunt, and its eyes clearly reflected the scythe handle that was now mere inches away.

It couldn't understand why there was an iron rod waiting for it here.

Someone was using a cheat code!

Time and space lost all meaning in this moment.

The Lightning Cheetah's forward momentum and Chen Guan's scythe handle perfectly intersected at a single point.

Thud.

A muffled sound echoed.

Like hitting a golf ball, the arrogant Tier-4 demonic beast didn't even have time to let out a wail. Its body went limp in mid-air, its eyes rolled back, and it plummeted straight toward the ground. After twitching twice, it completely stopped moving, returning to a baby-like slumber.

Behind Chen Guan, the dozens of ice mirrors Yin Chen had just erected had not yet dissipated.

He looked at the unconscious cheetah on the ground, and then at Chen Guan, who retracted his scythe without even changing his posture, and his Adam's apple bobbed uncontrollably.