Yama Reborn

Chapter 636 633: Tearing Off the Mask

"Because right now I've left the big tree. I was cut down by time from the tree that belonged to me, now I'm just a branch.

And a branch, can't replace a big tree—at this point in time, I'm not just a branch.

Remember, a branch only becomes a separate 'branch' once it's been cut down.

Before being cut down, the so-called branch, strictly speaking, isn't a branch.

It's... a part of the big tree! It is the big tree!"

The Mother Clone sighed: "To put it in words you can understand...

A part of your body is actually you. It's like when someone wants to talk to you and pats your shoulder.

You can't say, he's patting my shoulder, not me, so I can ignore him... right?

As long as your shoulder is still part of your body, it is a part of you, it is you.

The same logic applies, if I were in the original timeline, I would be a clone of the Mother of that era, whether as a branch or a shoulder, before being cut down, I am the Mother.

But coming to this era... I'm not. In this era, I'm no longer the Mother, just a branch, or a shoulder..."

Chen Nuo's eyes moved, and his tone got a bit peculiar: "So... a detached shoulder or branch... a separated part or organ, won't it necrotize over time?"

The Mother Clone glanced at Chen Nuo, with a cold voice: "Rest assured, if I'm about to die, before I die I will make sure to find a way to perish together with you."

Saying this, the Mother Clone looked coldly at Chen Nuo: "You better recover some of your powers quickly and use the power of time to take me back, otherwise... I can only choose to kill you."

Chen Nuo stared at the Mother Clone for a while.

Of course, he wouldn't easily believe what the Mother Clone said...

There's no reason this guy would casually reveal its true situation and cards to him.

·

The two rested for a while, as the temperature dropped during the night, it was rather freezing even wrapped in blankets.

Luckily, it wasn't winter now; otherwise, the two might have frozen to death.

When Chen Nuo couldn't stand the cold anymore, he just stood up to move his limbs.

The Mother Clone watched Chen Nuo's actions with cold eyes and then simply got up too, moving along.

Both were actually enduring, competing to see who would reach their physical limit first.

"Actually, you don't need to guard against me so much." The Mother Clone panted as it told Chen Nuo: "As long as you agree to take me back to the original era, I won't kill you. After all, you're my only hope to return."

Chen Nuo looked at the Mother Clone: "What do you mean?"

The Mother Clone sighed: "No matter how we hold on, we are all ordinary humans now, we get tired and sleepy.

No matter how much we endure, we still have to sleep eventually.

Why don't we agree on terms first and pause the conflict temporarily? You promise to take me back to the original era, and I promise not to harbor the desire to kill you anymore."

Chen Nuo's eyes rolled: "So, you're convincing me to agree to a deal, I promise to regain my strength and take you back to the original era.

Then, we don't have to endure like this, I can sleep without worrying you'll kill me in my sleep?"

The Mother Clone nodded: "Exactly, I need you to take me back, so I won't ambush you."

Chen Nuo smiled, looking at the Mother Clone: "Alright, I promise you, then we don't need to be so guarded against each other anymore, let's just each sleep on our own now."

Saying so, Chen Nuo just sat there, smiling at the Mother Clone.

The Mother Clone seemed to have a strange look in its eyes as it stared at Chen Nuo for a moment.

Finally, it sighed: "You're much smarter than that fool Pengpeng. No wonder the Octopus Monster's memories value you greatly."

"It's not that I'm smart, it's that you've spent too long in that small African country, dealing with those ignorant natives, so you think all humans in the world are that kind of fool."

Chen Nuo shook his head, disdainfully: "First, give me an illusion, make me think you need me to take you back, make me think you need me, so you won't kill me... and then let me relax my guard against you?"

"Is there a problem with this logic?", the Mother Clone frowned.

"There's no problem, but it's just incomplete.", Chen Nuo squinted and smiled: "You're considering my perspective, thank you very much. But the problem is, even if you need me to take you back, so you won't kill me...

I can sleep.

But what about you?

How dare you sleep? Aren't you afraid that once you fall asleep, I'll kill you?

So, your logic is only half there."

The Mother Clone frowned.

Chen Nuo stopped talking and just sat there, looking up at the sky.

·

In the middle of the night, Chen Nuo was actually exhausted, and the Mother Clone beside him was obviously gritting its teeth to hold on.

The pack of cigarettes they had found had mostly been smoked, Chen Nuo stood up several times to move his body, and the Mother Clone followed suit.

But suddenly, Chen Nuo abruptly threw his cigarette butt on the ground and quickly stomped it out!

The Mother Clone quickly ducked down too.

In the air, with the wind blowing through the night, the sound of helicopter rotors came closer!

·

Chen Nuo and the Mother Clone exchanged a look, then scrambled to a recess on the hillside, quickly lying there, Chen Nuo took a military binoculars they found today and looked into the distance.

·

To the northwest, a navigation light was flashing in the sky, and the loud sound of helicopter rotors was clearly a military helicopter.

And on the ground, a pickup truck was frantically racing, crashing along the way from the direction of the broken road.

The helicopter apparently discovered the pickup in its search and immediately lowered its altitude.

Chen Nuo used the binoculars to watch the situation in the distance and saw the helicopter's hatch already had a machine gun pointing at the ground, shooting at the ruined road!

After a burst of sparks flew and dust billowed, the pickup obviously got hit, although its speed didn't decrease, it swerved crazily like a drunken man, wobbling and veering erratically.

The helicopter strafed all the way, and on the pickup, the windows rolled down, two gun barrels stuck out and furiously fired back at the sky.

Ground fire from the pickup indeed couldn't cause much harm to the helicopter, but at least this kind of shooting gave the helicopter a bit of concern, it slightly gained altitude and veered off course.

But ground fire facing helicopter strafing is at an absolute disadvantage!

This is a basic fact!

Ignore all those movies where people on the ground shoot at the sky with automatic rifles, bringing down helicopters... that's all nonsense!

In real combat, that's purely suicidal behavior.

Chen Nuo already identified that the helicopter in the sky clearly bore M military colors.

And on the ground...

After swerving another few hundred meters, the pickup finally crashed head-on into a cliffside rock.

The car's front hood was bent and deformed.

Obviously, the driver must have been hit, which caused the car to lose control.

Out in the open, shouts could be heard, then two men in headscarves with big beards jumped out of the pickup, AKs hanging from their chests, and after jumping out, they started to run wildly in different directions.

But in such a situation, there's hardly a chance of survival.

Sure enough, the helicopter quickly turned around and came back, and under the strafing of its onboard machine gun, one headscarfed figure was soon riddled with bullets like a sieve.

The other managed to run another hundred meters or so before the helicopter caught up, and after a round of strafing, his body was torn apart and collapsed to the ground in a twisted posture.

The helicopter turned on its searchlights, sweeping back and forth over the ground, especially making sure there were no more survivors in the pickup.

Finally, after two minutes, this helicopter left.

Chen Nuo looked at the direction the helicopter flew back and relaxed a little: "Alright, this helicopter clearly came for reprisals because of that ambush action during the day.

I recognized one of the two dead people in the car as someone from the ambush convoy during the day."

The Mother Clone eyed the scene and suddenly said: "Now there should be no danger."

Chen Nuo thought for a moment: "The revenge action is over; even if they send ground troops to search later, they wouldn't do so at night. After all, in this weather, and with low visibility at night, sending ground troops out would significantly increase casualty rates. So if they do deploy ground troops to search, it should be tomorrow during the day."

The Mother Clone looked at the distant pickup: "Should we... go over and gather some supplies?"

Chen Nuo shook his head: "No need, the supplies we have now are sufficient for a time. Even if we gather more supplies, we wouldn't be able to carry them. If the supplies exceed our carrying capacity, it becomes a negative burden."

Actually, Chen Nuo had thought about picking up a couple of guns... but the Mother Clone was watching him closely, and this guy wasn't going to allow him to get a gun.

The Mother Clone thought for a moment and then said, "Then, for safety, we'd better leave here. If the troops send people to conduct a ground search after dawn, being this close, we might be discovered."

Chen Nuo didn't agree with this idea, but he didn't oppose it either.

Although traveling at night isn't very safe, after resting for half the night, they could actually leave here.

After all... they couldn't sleep, and there wasn't much point in staying here.

Chen Nuo nodded, and the two got up to prepare to leave.

But just as Chen Nuo turned around, he suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his heart!

He felt that the Mother Clone, as if deliberately or inadvertently, bumped into his shoulder when turning around.

Originally, since the two of them had their legs tied together, it was normal for their bodies to brush against each other when turning around.

But in an instant, Chen Nuo realized that the force was not right!

This was clearly not an accidental bump but a deliberate collision with full force!

Chen Nuo immediately lost control and fell backward!

And behind him... was the dip of this hillside, leading to a drop of several tens of meters below!

As Chen Nuo fell backward, he instantly lost his balance, his head toppling downward.

Although he hurriedly made a protective gesture to cover his head, this head-over-heels posture made everything spin around him.

And in his haste, the scene he saw made his heart sink even further!

Almost at the same time he fell, the Mother Clone was already sitting on the ground and quickly assumed a lower center of gravity position!

This guy did it on purpose!

Just as this awareness flashed through Chen Nuo's mind, he was left hanging precariously down the hillside!

He was hanging upside down on the slope, with his head facing downward and feet upward. Only his ankle was still tied with a cloth strip, attached to the ankle of the Mother Clone.

And the Mother Clone swiftly took out a small knife, with a cold expression, and fiercely cut down on the cloth strip!

Chen Nuo got up as quickly as he could.

But he only managed to get halfway up when he felt his ankle suddenly lighten!

The cloth strip snapped!

Immediately, Chen Nuo curled his leg and forcibly searched for a foothold to try and stabilize his center of gravity.

But in the next moment, Chen Nuo cursed out loud!

Because he saw that the Mother Clone was already lying at the edge of the hillside, staring down at him, and quickly tossing something over!

A grenade!

Fuck!!!

·

Chen Nuo stopped trying to get up. He immediately reacted as fast as possible! He covered his head and simply rolled down the hillside!

The slope wasn't very steep, perhaps around forty-five degrees.

While rolling down, Chen Nuo tried to curl his body into a ball—to minimize his body's contact area and reduce the injured regions.

Meanwhile, he could only pray in his heart: hopefully, he and the grenade would fall far apart from each other.

Finally, a few seconds later, Chen Nuo heard an explosion.

The sound of the explosion came from the right side.

He was very lucky, as when the grenade was thrown, its landing wasn't very precise. During its fall, it hit a protruding rock and flew in the opposite direction of where Chen Nuo was rolling.

The explosion sound caused all the hair on Chen Nuo's body to stand on end.

He was just an ordinary mortal; he didn't have an Undying Body!

He let himself continue rolling, hoping the momentum would carry him further away from the grenade's blast range.

Finally, with a sudden jolt beneath him, Chen Nuo felt sharp pain in his back and left foot simultaneously.

The hillslope was scattered with protruding rocks, and Chen Nuo knew he must have crashed into something.

His rolling came to an abrupt halt, then quickly curled up again, hiding his body behind the rock.

His heart was already furiously cursing!

The Mother Clone had deceived him after all!

He wants to kill me!!

·

The idea that he needed me to take him back to the original era...

It was all a lie!

But what Chen Nuo didn't expect was that this guy was hell-bent on killing him. Moreover, the decision was made so swiftly, using such ruthless methods!

Hiding behind the rock, Chen Nuo adjusted his position slightly and immediately realized things were dire!

His left foot already had no feeling, only numbness—Chen Nuo immediately realized he was severely injured.

His back was also numb, without any sense of pain.

Quickly, he reached to feel his left foot, discovering it could move but that there was no sensation.

This allowed Chen Nuo to breathe a slight sigh of relief—serious, but not too serious. It probably wasn't broken.

But in the next instant, a realization hit him!

His mind raced, and he took a deep breath, shouting out at the top of his lungs!

"Mother Clone! You damn well had malicious intent to ambush me!!

Just wait, I'm coming up there to strangle you to death!!! Fuck!!"

Saying this, Chen Nuo took a deep breath, enduring the numbness in his body and left foot, and forcefully climbed from behind the rock, standing up!

He pointed toward the direction of the hillside, cursing loudly with full force, and even picked up a rock, "Just wait! I'm coming up to smash your head in!!"

Saying this, Chen Nuo acted as if he were struggling to climb the hill.

At the hillside dip, the Mother Clone, holding a small dagger, had been ready to slide down the slope to finish him off!

But hearing Chen Nuo's robust cursing and seeing him get up, pointing and cursing while energetically heading up the slope...

The Mother Clone frowned, calculating the pros and cons swiftly, before squinting and casting a glance down at Chen Nuo.

Then, he quickly retreated from the hillside dip and ran back to a sheltered hiding spot behind him.

·

Crawling midway up the hill, Chen Nuo appeared to be climbing with hands and feet but actually wasn't moving at all. He was deliberately rubbing the stone in his hand back and forth along the ground to make noise with the hillside rocks.

A few minutes later, listening closely, Chen Nuo found there was no sound from the dip on the hillside.

He finally breathed a slight sigh of relief, while still cursing loudly, "Mother Clone! You bastard, don't run!! I'm definitely going to kill you!!"

Saying this, Chen Nuo turned around, sitting on the ground. Then, using the slope's gradient, he slowly slid downward...

·

A few minutes later, when Chen Nuo finally slid down the hill, he felt slightly more at ease...

At this moment, Chen Nuo confirmed that his left foot was severely injured.

Though at first, the numbness masked the pain, it was likely due to adrenaline. After a while, the pain surged.

He didn't know if the bone was injured, but it wasn't far off. Chen Nuo just reached out and could tell his left ankle was swollen.

Twisting it slightly brought such pain that his vision went dark.

In his current condition, Chen Nuo couldn't even stand!

The bravado earlier was just to prevent the Mother Clone from coming to finish him off! In his injured state, he feared he wouldn't stand a chance against that guy.

Now it seemed that his pretending to be robust and getting up to shout had worked, fooling the opponent and preventing them from daring to come down.

He still cursed indiscriminately, deliberately shouting loudly while rising and hobbling away from the hillside, enduring the pain in his left foot.

Chen Nuo had a specific target in mind... the position of the guy who ran the farthest from where they had jumped down from the pickup truck. The one who was shot dead!

Over there, beside the corpse, there was an AK!