1888: Memoirs of an Unconfirmed Creature Hunter-Chapter 63: Ambush and Reverse Tracking

William's hand gripping the Winchester showed bulging veins. This veteran soldier was enraged by these people's sacrilegious acts of defiling life and toying with souls. He said, "We can't wait any longer. That 'Nightingale' has already left, and the 'hyenas' could come to harvest at any moment. We can capture them right here on the spot!"
Lin Jie immediately rejected this direct approach. "No, that's too passive. We don't know how many 'Reapers' will come, nor what weapons they're equipped with."
"Engaging in close-quarters combat in this cramped space puts us at a severe disadvantage. The variables are too great. Moreover," his gaze swept over the corpse, "our target has never been these few hyenas. We need to find their nest!"
An active "reverse tracking" plan rapidly formed in his mind.
"We're going to actively 'return' this harvesting ritual to them."
Both Julian and William looked at him with puzzled expressions.
Lin Jie pointed at the evil rune-covered "Memory Stripping Array" and explained, "It's simple. Mr. Julian, with your knowledge, could you make some small 'modifications' to its triggering mechanism without damaging the main structure of this array?"
Julian immediately grasped Lin Jie's intention, his eyes revealing a spark of mischievous excitement. The Curator let out a delighted exclamation, "Oh, my dear Lin! I absolutely adore your wonderfully imaginative and wicked little mind! Of course I can!"
"This kind of low-level alchemical array based on 'spiritual resonance' is full of flaws in my eyes, just like a child's building blocks!"
While Julian, the "Master," got down on the ground and began technical modifications to the evil array.
William utilized his rich battlefield experience to find a location within the small shrine chamber that could serve as a temporary trap.
It was a massive bone pile near the entrance passage, haphazardly stacked with loose leg bones and skulls.
Its structure was highly unstable—any external force would cause it to collapse and bury everything beneath.
Meanwhile, Lin Jie returned to the passage entrance they had come from.
He extinguished his focused carbide lamp, his entire being entering a state of patient concealment, disappearing into the light-devouring darkness.
He was waiting for prey to fall into the net.
Time slowed to a crawl during the wait. Deep within the catacombs, aside from the occasional sound of water dripping from stalactites, there were no other noises.
After an unknown period, two faint but cautious footsteps finally came from the dark corridor in the distance.
Lin Jie immediately made a prearranged tactical hand signal indicating "two targets" to William and Julian waiting in the darkness on the other sides.
The two shadowy figures moved with extreme caution.
They carried no light sources, appearing quite familiar with the terrain here.
Their movement wasn't normal walking but rather a ground-hugging sliding motion with snake-like, eerie steps.
When they reached the shrine chamber entrance and saw the intact "sacrifice" lying in the center of the array, both breathed sighs of relief.
One of them took out a crystal ball-like object from his chest pocket. The object emitted a faint green glow and vibrated slightly in his hand.
The man spoke in a low voice with a hissing tone, "Safe. The monster's presence has dissipated. We can begin harvesting."
The other nodded, and the two walked into the hunting ground meticulously prepared for them, completely unsuspecting.
They went straight to the homeless man's corpse.
One of them took out a metallic octopus-shaped device from his backpack and skillfully clamped it onto the corpse's head.
The other walked to the edge of the array, reaching out his hand, preparing to activate this evil device that would assist their harvesting as usual.
However, when his finger pressed the rune node that should have triggered immediately, the entire array showed no response.
He made a confused sound, "What's going on? The array isn't working?"
His companion operating the extraction device impatiently urged, "Don't worry about that! Proceed with forced extraction directly! We're running out of time—the next batch of 'sacrifices' will be lured here soon!"
Just as both focused their attention on how to restart the malfunctioning equipment, they failed to notice that in the darkness behind them, three pairs of murderous eyes had already locked onto them.
The action signal came from Lin Jie.
He flicked a small stone that hit a bone wall several meters away from the two men.
The crisp "snap" sound startled the two cultists who were intently studying the equipment. They instinctively raised their weapons and turned toward the source of the sound!
Their backs were now completely exposed to Sergeant William's already prepared gun barrel!
He stood firmly, pulling the trigger of his Winchester rifle with steady, powerful hands!
"Bang! Bang!" Two gunshots fired in extremely rapid succession.
The two cult members staggered as their bodies absorbed the massive impact force.
The powerful kinetic energy of the purification bullets tore two large holes right through their UMA leather uniforms that could normally withstand blade strikes!
One was hit directly in the back of the heart, dying instantly, while the other, though only shot in the shoulder, let out a pained scream and crashed heavily to the ground.
Before the surviving cultist could react from the excruciating pain to attempt any counterattack or self-destruction, a heavy shadow had already loomed over his head.
William had charged forward the moment he fired!
With agility belying his sturdy build, he covered over ten meters in just seconds.
Then, the heavy Winchester rifle that had just fired bullets was wielded as the most direct and effective blunt weapon, smashing into the back of the surviving cultist's head with enough force to crack stone!
After a dull "thud," the cultist fell unconscious without even making a sound.
From Lin Jie's signal to William's gunfire, to the final finishing blow—the entire process took less than ten seconds.
It was a perfect ambush with overwhelming superiority.
Seeing the two men fall, Lin Jie immediately shouted in a low voice, "Quick! We're out of time!" and rushed out first.
His plan from the beginning wasn't interrogation—that would take too long.
Instead, he would directly use his perception ability to conduct "reverse tracking" along the path they came from!
William immediately dragged the unconscious cultist beneath the massive bone pile he had previously selected.
After delivering a finishing shot to the chest, he quickly confiscated some personal items from the body.
Then, after tossing these personal items to Lin Jie to serve as reverberation mediums, he mercilessly kicked the key support point of the bone pile!
A "rumble" sounded.
The massive accumulation of bones piled up over centuries collapsed, burying both cult members and the evil alchemical array together in the darkness.
Julian followed closely behind. As he passed the bone pile, he didn't forget to smash a bottle of alchemical smoke hard onto the bones!
A thick, colorless, odorless smoke rapidly spread. This ensured that even if the cultist miraculously survived such extreme conditions, he would perish again under this smoke—the ultimate in caution.
Reverse tracking officially began!
Lin Jie ran at the front, channeling his increasingly proficient [Reverberation Touch] into the personal items in his hand!
He would use the fresh reverberation fragments within to track the "action trail" that the cultist had just left behind and which hadn't yet dissipated!