On this day, the forest ranger Gotz was still walking on the familiar forest path carrying an ax.

His job is to clean up the trees in the woods regularly every day, cutting down the dry, leaning, and diseased trees so that they can grow in an orderly manner.

Finally, he carried the wood back, collected it, and sold it to people in the town as materials for their house repairs and furniture construction.

Since that worst day in his life, Gotz still lived like this for twenty years.

In the quiet forest, only weak light can be projected through the dense canopy of trees, and the knotted tree roots often become an obstacle to Gotz's walking.

But his steps were still very firm, and the eyes on his bearded face were already very clear, like an eternal burning flame that swept away all the distracting thoughts in his heart.

As he walked through a familiar mountain col, a subtle sound attracted his attention.

The sound probably came from a hundred meters ahead, and it should have been almost inaudible.

But that extremely sharp air-piercing sound cut through the air for hundreds of meters, transmitting the sound as it was, which was horrifying.

Goetz stopped and slowly distinguished the sound.

I could only hear this sound resounding once every second or so, turning into a continuous sound, like a strong wind sweeping through a fine grate, making every cavity scream.

But this sound often only lasts for half a minute, and then the jungle returns to extreme silence, leaving only Gotz's strong and powerful heartbeat, beating steadily and resolutely.

In order to hear this sound clearly, Goetz held his breath and concentrated, and his breathing slowed down to inaudible. He wished that his heartbeat would stop, just to hear clearly where the sound in front of him came from.

After waiting for a long time, Goetz decided to step forward to find out.

When he walked more than ten meters away, other traces caught his attention.

On the trunks of several big trees, between their wrinkled barks, Gotz could distinguish traces of holes!

Those traces penetrated into three parts of the wood and were concentrated in a certain fixed position, showing an annular distribution and forming a dense circle.

Technically speaking, such marks can be cut with any tool with a blade.

But I wonder how anyone can evenly distribute each wound at a distance of one centimeter from each other, without any wound overlapping, connecting, being in the pot, or being too light!

Could it be that there is a person who is very skilled in using a knife, making these marks here out of boredom?

When Goetz was in a trance, the air-piercing sound rang in his ears again, and the continuous sound had a number as he counted silently.

Twenty-two sounds!

And he hurriedly counted the number of wounds on the tree trunk...

Twenty-two!

In other words, in half a minute, this person used twenty-two sounds to create twenty-two wounds, scattered in the center, as if they were made in nature.

Goetz suppressed his doubts and judged that the distance between the two of them was still more than eighty meters, so he should not be discovered as he was in the dark.

So he decided to keep getting closer.

Traveling in the dark jungle actually requires a lot of skills.

Every dead leaf, every branch, and every accumulation of water may create unnecessary noise.

And no one knows what weird things are hidden under those dead branches and leaves.

But Gotz has long been integrated with this forest. His eyes can see through the cover in the woods, and his footsteps can choose the strongest ground to step on. The whole man is like an ancient tree that has grown for hundreds of years, existing in the woods.

Be integrated.

When he came to a place only fifty meters away from the sound, he found that the dense marks on the tree trunk were gone.

Could it be that he discovered me? Gotz thought.

But when he carefully groped the tree trunk, his rough fingers touched something familiar.

There are still wounds there.

But there is only one left.

A trace that penetrates deep into the wood is firmly left there, alone.

Gotz was thoughtful and went to check another tree next to him. Sure enough, there was also a trace.

After counting, he found that there were fifteen trees nearby, each with the same wound.

He believed that as long as he continued to check, he could still find these marks on the trunks of every tree nearby.

As he got closer, Gotz's heart became more and more anxious. The feeling that the mystery was about to be revealed made his mouth dry, and the short walk in the past made him breathe slightly.

Going forward another dozen meters, Goetz could almost feel the sounds of breaking through the air flying past his ears.

But if this is really the case, his body may not be as safe and sound as a big tree.

Because he saw some new traces.

At that time, he just touched the traces of tree trunks as usual as a guide. With the dual assistance of touch and hearing, the weakening of vision by the dense forest was already negligible.

But this time, what he touched on the tree trunk was a distinctive mark.

A huge, deep, violent wound.

It was larger, deeper, and more destructive than any previous wound.

He could imagine that the person who created this wound must have exerted tremendous force to do so.

However, the surrounding area of ​​the wound was suppressed and smoothed, and the texture was clear. Someone must have carried out the attack with an extremely calm mood.

Even with a little respect?

No, it cannot be respectful.

It's more likely that he just doesn't care.

Goetz quickened his pace and walked forward.

This time, he gave up all cover-up, stepped openly among the tangled grass and dead branches, and walked forward resolutely.

He felt like a pedestrian walking through thick fog, and every abnormal disturbance would irritate his nerves.

But fortunately, his nerves were already as tough as a rock.

…………

Today, this forest has brought him enough surprises.

But the scene before him still aroused his unreserved feeling of shock!

In the dense forest in front of him, there was a figure flashing rapidly among the trees, like a movie that was played incorrectly, carrying out the prescribed movement in vain, but unable to escape from control.

Every time you raise your hands, keep them at shoulder level.

Every time the bow is raised, it is half full and half loose.

Every time you pick up the arrow, stop it in the middle of the bowstring.

Every time I aim, I focus on the center of the dense forest.

The movement was rigid and stiff, with a creepy sense of certainty, like a machine that had been programmed for a long time. Although it could shoot arrows, it was far from being understood.

This kind of behavior is as instinctive as eating and drinking, but you can never tell which muscles are used to eat and drink, or how many breaths of air are taken.

But this person's stance, nocking the arrow, raising the bow, drawing the bow, aiming, releasing, and retracting the bow, have entered a state of smooth flow, and will not be affected by breathing, heartbeat, or messy emotions.

Every arrow like this is the pinnacle.

But it can also be said that there is never a peak.

It was just a kind of indifference, as if the life and death of everything in the world had nothing to do with me.

I am only responsible for shooting arrows that penetrate everything without any purpose.

Are you standing in the way of my goal?

Sorry, you will be penetrated too.

But something even stranger appeared.

After the man shot three arrows, the mechanical movement stopped. Suddenly he turned around and raised the bow in another direction!

Goetz thought he had become the target of this man's attack, so he quickly dodged and hid behind a big tree.

But when he had enough time to observe again, he found that the man turned around again without stopping, facing another direction, bow and arrow ready.

Twelve consecutive directions.

Shoot arrows twelve times in a row.

The sound of breaking through the air resounded one after another, echoing continuously in the dense forest.

Goetz didn't know what the sound was. He also heard twelve huge collisions.

Just from the sound, you can tell that the location where the tree was hit by the arrow has been shattered into pieces just like when he dropped the ax countless times!

The stiff and mechanical shooting posture also returned to calm after flashing twelve times in a row at that moment.

"Multiple attack command: shoot trees*12."
Chapter completed!