The island of Tubuai is covered with thick vegetation, like a green leaf on the vast sea. Scattered villages are scattered across this leafy leaf, like white eggs left by butterflies.

The local population has lived in this small land for generations, and the extreme scarcity of resources makes them especially cherish everything here. Because they know that the ground under their feet is so big, and there are so many things on the ground, that when they run out, there will be no more. They take care of every handful of soil, every tree, and every drop of fresh water, and they hardly cut down anything other than what is necessary for life, and even the houses they build are simple.

As a result, the vegetation here is dense and uniform, with very few exposed rocks except by the sea. However, the hillside where Aoki is located is an exception.

It's like an insect-eaten scar on a green leaf, or a withered scar from the last harsh winter, no matter how much this leaf goes through the cycle of spring warmth, it can't revive its long-lost vitality. There was not a single tree, not a single bush of thorns, not a single grass, only a yellow-brown scorched earth and rocks as far as the eye could see.

The slopes of the hill are not very undulating, and the first half is scattered with some weathered rocks. It was not until the top of the slope that the number of rocks increased, and in a place near the top of the slope, there were piles of rocks, seemingly disordered and seemingly arranged in a pattern.

Aoki was still some distance from there, though, but he now felt a wall in front of him, blocking his path.

In fact, he knows very well that this wall is invisible, a kind of spiritual barrier.

If it were an ordinary person, he might not feel anything different, as long as he stretched his foot forward, he could pass without hindrance. But if the person's spirit itself is sensitive, or if the person has the ability to dream shallowly, then the mental consciousness will probably be affected by this thick spiritual wall, so that their brain will really think that there is a wall in front of them, so they can only take a detour.

Of course, Aoki doesn't hallucinate because of this, but it's also difficult for him to break through easily. If he ran hard at this moment, he would have to pierce the mental barrier in front of him with all his strength, but it would be difficult for him to use his mental power to interfere with the fast-firing bullets. He can't even put away his mental power and walk up like an ordinary person, then he will really become a live target.

He could only walk forward slowly, step by step.

The spiritual wall was extremely thick, and the further you went inside, the thicker and solidified it became, like sinking into a swamp, surrounded by viscous liquid.

He had to walk through the swamp with difficulty, and at the same time he had to be careful to guard against bullets that might fly in his hands.

Aoki could almost conclude that this spiritual power was not released by one person. Because he clearly felt that this force did not have a conscious body, it was a bit like the spiritual power attached to the bullet that had just been fired. Moreover, it is difficult for a single consciousness to release such a huge amount of spiritual power, and even if it can be done, it is an act that does not outweigh the losses.

Just like Aoki himself, he will use his mental power to hypnotize other people's consciousness, enter other people's dreams, or use mental power to interfere with other people's consciousness, control part of the nervous system, and thus affect people's behavior, and will never be stupid enough to release his power like a flood, unless he wants to influence the thinking of tens of thousands of people in the gymnasium, but what is the point? That kind of consumption is not something that ordinary people can afford, and it is also very troublesome to recover.

If it is not released by people, then where does this spiritual power come from?

Aoki glanced up at the pile of rocks on the top of the slope that Kikika called tab.

Crows hover in the sky. Judging by its posture, it probably encountered the same situation. So the thick wall of this spirit is not just a horizontal wall, but a raised hemisphere centered on the tab.

Therefore, the trajectory left in the sky by the bullet that was fired at the crow before was not the spiritual trajectory of the bullet itself, but the trajectory left by it when it tore through this solemn spiritual barrier.

As his footsteps approached and his mental power drifted away, Aoki confirmed his thoughts, but the only thing that surprised him was that the center of the tabb was empty. There was no spiritual power at all, like the eye of a typhoon, with thick clouds and twelve-level wind and waves condensed on the periphery, but the center was quiet and peaceful, as if isolated from the world.

Aoki was certain that the gun-wielding sniper was hiding in the center of this vacuum-like nerve storm in the strange rocky piles, but he couldn't find the consciousness.

He knew that this was a contrasting effect, because the concentration of spiritual power on the periphery was too high and the interference was too serious, and the people hiding inside would be able to hide themselves as long as they were careful and did not deliberately release their spiritual power.

Aoki narrowed his eyes and took a few steps forward, the invisible wall breaking open like the ice of the Arctic Ocean where an icebreaker had been encountered.

A bullet flew towards Aoki.

At this distance, the bullets came too fast, and Aoki had to deal with them carefully. At the moment when he was locked by the bullet, he suddenly stopped and used his mental power to interfere with the trajectory of the bullet.

With a "poof", the bullet entered a crack in the rock next to it.

But the second bullet came right away.

Probably sensing a huge threat, this time the gunman did not intend to let him go, nor did he intend to test his marksmanship, but frantically fired several bullets in succession.

This is exactly what Aoki couldn't ask for.

He didn't care how many bullets there were, as long as the bullets still had spiritual power attached to them, and the speed of the bullets didn't get faster, no matter how many they came, he could control them.

From the faint and brief trajectory left by the bullet as it tore through the mental barrier, Aoki could tell the specific location of the sniper. The reason why several trajectories in a row are needed is because the center of this tabb spiritual barrier is empty, there is no spiritual power there, and there is no trajectory for bullets. The trajectory there needs to be made up by Aoki's own brain, just one bullet is not enough, at least not accurate enough, and the approximate location, even if you don't use mental power, you can already judge from the direction of the bullet.

All the bullets passed by Aoki without exception.

Aoki finally pinpointed the man's location, just behind one of the piles of rocks, where the shape and crevices of the rocks were like a naturally designed battlefield barrier, allowing the gunners to lie in ambush behind him while those below the hillside could not see him.

The moment the location was determined, Aoki concentrated his mental power and captured the person's consciousness at once.

……

Petru was hiding behind hard rocks with his gun in hand, and he began to seriously doubt his marksmanship.

He has always been confident, whether it is in his time as a mercenary or in his life as a pirate, his marksmanship has never been lost to anyone. However, today, he has missed ten shots in a row, and he can't even hit a bird in the sky, and this is still with the mental power bonus brought by this tab.

He felt that the spirit locking function of the bullet was no longer enough, and he had to use the scope.

However, when he tried to mount the scope to the gun, he suddenly found that he could not move. He was sure that his blood circulation was normal, that he was not numb or injured, but that he was unable to control his muscles and bones, as if the body no longer belonged to him, but was controlled by another consciousness.

Until the man approached, he looked at him in horror, and then asked in a hoarse voice with the only laryngeal muscle he could still control:

“h are yu?”