Xu Lingxun not only felt disappointed, he instead relieved upon noticing the children scattered away.
This way, he could fight with ease without protecting them. He also had heard about the savageness mutant. But it did not scare him, a mutant who showed their savageness outward was less scary than a human who hid their evil intention deep down.
Xu Lingxun put the mutant child below a big tree. From the mutant child's eyes, he could see that she was scared of him.
He however smiled gently and rubbed the mutant child's sticky hair.
"Wait here, okay? I will beat the bad guys first!"
Xu Lingxun did not get the response he wanted as the mutant child curled up, whimpering in pain. The mutant child was just like an abandoned puppy.
Looking at the mutant child, Xu Lingxun's eyes turned cold and turned toward the two mutant adults.
The mutant on the left had his face changed completely. His left eye was bigger than the right eye. His ear was humongous in size, his nose was crooked upward, and craggy-haphazard teeth.
His hand also no longer a human's hand, but a talon-like hand. There were also dark scales covered up to his neck.
The mutant on the right still had his human face, but he had no hair and had an ugly, big horn on the top of his head.
If the other mutant has a monstrous face, the other one had a monstrous body. He had five hands, three additional hands on the back. The hand was covered in an ugly exoskeleton.
Lastly, the mutant on the right had three legs and all three legs were covered by black dirty fur.
"Human! Give the girl to us and I will pretend I never see you! We will part our way after that, how does it sound?" The mutant on the left spoke.
His voice was unpleasant to hear but also clear.
"Why are you negotiating with a kid? Just kill him, I will take his heart and you can take the rest!" The mutant on the right protested. His voice was normal, but his words were the one unpleasant to hear.
The mutant on the left licked his lips with his long tongue. He was drooling over Xu Lingxun.
Xu Lingxun soundlessly pulled his sword, a katana given to him by Musashi Hirata. His answer was clear, a battle.
"See! A great mind thinks alike~" The mutant with a monstrous body delighted when he saw Xu Lingxun pull his sword out.
"Unfortunately, you chose a wrong opponent, kid! I will dismember your heart slowly, hahaha!" The mutant let out manic laughter.
'I don't know how strong an adult mutant is… I can't attack them carelessly. But I have an advantage, they also don't know about me. I can use my footstep technique as an element of surprise and cut their head in one slash!'
Xu Lingxun planned everything in his head while subconsciously gripped his sword tighter.
This was not his first battle, but this was his first life and death battle. He was somehow a bit nervous.
Fwoosh!
The mutant with a monstrous body charged straight to Lu An. The three legs did not hinder his movement, instead, he was moving at a frightening speed.
In a flash, the mutant arrived before Lu An. He tried to grab Lu An's neck. He wanted to twist the kid's neck while seeing the kid die from near.
However, his hand grabbed empty hair. All of sudden, Lu An's figure vanished. The mutant blinked his eyes a few times, but then, his head rolled down from his neck.
A clean-cut to the neck. Even until the last of his breath, the mutant did not know how he died.
Vanishing Step, a footstep technique that deceived your opponent's eyes. In fact, Xu Lingxun did not vanish, but his opponent thought of him vanishing.
Of course, there was a big weakness for this Vanishing Technique. If he used the technique too often, the technique would reveal itself. So he could not use it too often in the battle.
The mutant with a monstrous face made a frown, making his face turned even scarier.
He also saw the boy's figure vanish in an instant and appear again on his companion's back.
Usually, he would run away if he met such a strange boy. But not today, he had to get the girl into his hand. If he did not bring the girl back with him, he would lose his life for sure.
"Boy! I don't want to fight and end this peacefully. I will overlook the fact you killed my friend! Now, begone, or you will taste my wrath!"
Soon, Xu Lingxun was shrouded by a thick killing intent. This was proof that the mutant had killed countless people.
Such a thick killing intent, Xu Lingxun was getting overwhelmed and flinched at the sight of the mutant. He took three steps back and his face showed a hesitation.
The mutant noticed the boy's reaction over his overwhelming killing intent. He smiled, no matter what expression he made, the face would turn uglier.
"Also, why do you want to protect a mutant from a mutant? Why would you risk your life for an unknown mutant? Don't humans hunt the mutants instead of protecting them?"
"F*ck off before…" Having not finished his words, the mutant saw Xu Lingxun's figure vanished.
'Huh… What a freak!'
The mutant was relieved, but then he put his guard up once again. He recalled how his friend died before his eyes. He would never repeat the same mistake as his friend.
The mutant rooted on the spot and scanned the surroundings cautiously.
He did not move from his spot for a full five minutes. Waiting, he kept waiting. Only after ten minutes passed, the mutant was truly relieved.
Slowly and cautiously, he approached the mutant child who shivered while leaning back to a tree. Fear was apparent on her face, but she did not cry.
"What a strong little girl! Unfortunately, you have to my offering, " The ugly mutant smiled at the shivering mutant child.
Standing right before the mutant child, he did not immediately grab the mutant child. He looked at his surroundings, making sure there was no ambush around.
After making sure everything was safe, the mutant with a monstrous face tried to reach the mutant child.
The mutant child's body trembled fiercely as the ugly hand was about to reach her. But suddenly, the hand stopped midair.
Not long after that, the mutant's head fell before the body followed.
Burgh!
The mutant child was shocked by the sudden turn event. She had her amber pupils enlarged. As the mutant's body fell, the mutant child saw Xu Lingxun's figure, smiling toward her.
"It's okay, I have killed the bad guys. You are safe now~, " Xu Lingxun picked up the mutant child and she did not struggle, laying down her head on his shoulder quietly.
"It's okay~ it's okay, everything is fine~, " Xu Lingxun tried to calm the mutant child.
Deep inside, Xu Lingxun was relieved that his plan was working well.
He used the Vanishing Step to hide from the mutant. He hid at the place where he could not see him and waited patiently.
After the mutant with the monstrous face lowered his guard. He approached him from behind with the Soundless Step. Before he successfully killed the adult mutant.
It was a battle of patience and he won. As for why he could think this way, it was because he remembered what Musashi Hirata told him
—There's no dishonorable way to kill in the life and death battle, there are only one winner and one loser. The winner survived with his life while the loser lost his life and died.
—If you are not confident to win against your opponent in a frontal battle, then ambush and kill him, use whatever means you have. The living one will be remembered while the dead will be forgotten.
Yes, Xu Lingxun was not confident to win against the mutant with a monstrous face. That man had killed countless people. The mutant had rich experiences while he was just a greenhorn.
A single mistake, he might lose his life.
'But I won! No, don't get complacent, Xu Lingxun! This time you are lucky your opponent underestimated you! You will not always meet an opponent like this in every life and death battle!'
Xu Lingxun reminded himself as he walked back to the city. He shook his head, but then, he heard a snore from behind.
He looked on his shoulder and saw the mutant child was sleeping soundly.
"She must be exhausted…" Xu Lingxun muttered as he looked at the mutant child's peaceful face.
As for the reason why he saved the mutant child, his mother was the reason.
Back then, when people or parents depictured a mutant to their children. They would use derogatory terms or as worst as possible. However, his mother was different in this regard.
She told him not to blindly kill the mutant. Not all mutants were bad. Sometimes, we humans were even scarier than a mutant.
—It's not like they want to be born as a mutant, right? Mutants are also a human who suffered an unfortunate event, mutation. We should embrace them, not killing them blindly. We should help them to find the cure, not condemning them. No one to be born as a mutant! Do you understand, Xiao Xun~?
His mother's gentle and loving voice rang in his mind as he looked at the mutant child. Getting reminded of his deceased mother, Xu Lingxun was even more determined to bring the mutant child back with him.
"I will bring your ideal with me, Mother!"