Chapter 18: Chapter 17: [How Much Did Yunnan Baiyao Pay You?]
The entire battle could be summed up in two words: utter devastation!
The monsters, known as the Butchers, couldn’t withstand He Xiaotian’s fists at all.
In truth, he could tell that the ten creatures weren’t weak.
Otherwise, Zhao Lei wouldn’t look so... depleted, his face frighteningly pale.
At first glance, you might have thought the man had just crawled out of a funeral home.
He Xiaotian was getting addicted to this feeling. The rush of landing a punch.
So satisfying!
’Who needs martial arts techniques?’
’Brute force is all it takes!’
’If you can’t win, it just means you’re not strong enough, and your body isn’t tough enough.’
’Just keep practicing hardening techniques. If one manual isn’t enough, get two.’
’Iron Cloth Shirt, Golden Bell Shield, Thirteen Grand Protectors’ Cross Training—give me a whole stack!’
’Stack the thickest armor, take the hardest hits, and enjoy the most brutal fighting style.’
"What is this ’source’ you guys were talking about?"
He Xiaotian quickly came back to his senses. His dad was the top priority.
’We can talk about this other stuff later.’
"It’s a form of Resentment, originating from the Neth..." Zhao Lei stopped mid-sentence. He seemed to remember something and clammed up.
"Neth-what?" He Xiaotian figured the government must know some secrets, like how the ’Resentment’ he mentioned was formed.
"That’s classified information; it can’t be disclosed," Zhou Yun cut in. Only those who joined their school were told just how dangerous the world was.
Otherwise, leaking it without reason would only cause panic among the general public.
She vaguely remembered the school’s director saying, ’Let us be the ones to carry these heavy burdens.’
"Is this really the time for secrets?" He Xiaotian wanted to curse them out. ’I’m one of the only three fighters we have left, and you expect me to go fight some unknown creature completely in the dark? Are you kidding me?’
"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Zhao Lei thought for a moment, then muttered to himself, as if trying to find a justification. "Resentment is created through corrosion by a type of qi that leaks from the Netherworld. You can call this qi whatever you want—yin energy, Spiritual Qi, free-roaming energy. Whatever you feel like, really."
"From the looks of it, the ’Sui’ that’s been hiding in Z County and abducting people must have escaped from the fissure right here at the slaughterhouse. And because of the fissure, the qi from the Netherworld has been leaking out, catalyzing the massive amount of baleful energy here into Resentment.
"Those ten humans we just fought, their strength and speed far surpassed that of normal people. The main body of the Resentment infected them, transforming them into secondary bodies. Of course, you could also call them minions or puppets.
"This thing is probably about to evolve into a Fiend! The abilities of Fiends are terrifying. Even the lowest-level Fiend is classified as a Wolf-level disaster by our internal agency. The last time we were sent to quell a Wolf-level disaster in City C, our squad was almost completely wiped out.
"I managed to survive by a stroke of luck, thanks to my ability to harden my body."
At this, Zhao Lei gave a bitter smile.
’Luck? It was more like I was nothing but a puny ant in the eyes of that thing classified as a Wolf-level disaster.’
’Right after the fight began, it hit me with just a casual strike and critically wounded my heart.’
’The next thing I knew, everything went black. I don’t remember anything after that.’
’When I woke up, I was already in a hospital bed.’
’If I hadn’t managed to harden the area around my heart, I’d be long dead by now!’
’Even so, it took me a full six months to recover.’
So once a Resentment evolves into a Fiend, it’s not something a single person can possibly fight.
’Why would a terrifying disaster like this appear in a small place like Z County?’
’This mission isn’t training; it’s a straight-up suicide run.’
"So, can you get to the point? Or should we just retreat for now?"
To be honest, He Xiaotian was getting a little scared.
How could he not be?
Before all this, he was just an ordinary, completely unremarkable college student!
And right off the bat, a final boss shows up.
’You’ve got to be kidding me!’
Besides, he had Experience Points now. He wanted to go back, stock up on supplements, and safely upgrade his Fire-refined Golden Body.
If his Inner Strength was a level higher, he refused to believe he couldn’t eradicate that trace of energy in his father’s body.
’Why risk his life fighting when he could just lie low and grind levels?’
"We have two choices right now. First, we retreat immediately. Zhou Yun and I will report to our superiors and have them send someone more capable to handle this. The only problem is time—it would take at least a day!
"But I have no idea when this Resentment will evolve. It might happen the moment we leave. Once it becomes a Fiend, anyone in Z County who has eaten meat from the Zhongcheng Slaughterhouse will immediately go into a frenzy and develop a craving for flesh.
"Have you ever seen a zombie apocalypse movie? I imagine the scene wouldn’t be any less intense than what you see on screen. And the victims who’ve already turned will become puppets like those Butchers—devoid of all reason, to be used by the Fiend."
"There’s no choice. We’re going with option two."
He Xiaotian said in a cold voice. His father was lying in bed at home!
’What if they retreated, and the very next second, that Resentment finished its evolution and his dad turned into one of those Butchers?’
’Would he have to kill him for Experience Points?’
’What a sick joke!’
He couldn’t take that gamble. He didn’t dare.
"Let’s go for broke!" Zhao Lei said, a grim, pale smile on his face.
"Zhou Yun, report this immediately. If the three of us don’t make it, the higher-ups will send someone stronger to take care of it. And, you know, to collect our bodies."
If it weren’t for his injuries, He Xiaotian swore he would beat the man until he coughed up blood.
"Lead the way."
As soon as he spoke, Zhou Yun took out the device she had at the entrance to the kill floor.
The thing looked like a tablet and was displaying all sorts of data.
He Xiaotian snuck a peek and found that while he recognized the words and symbols, he couldn’t make any sense of them.
"We go through the kill floor. There’s a freezer section behind it. The source is hiding in there."
Zhou Yun fiddled with the device for a moment before confirming the location one last time.
"By the way, do you guys have any medicine for replenishing blood?"
He Xiaotian asked suddenly. He had a ton of Experience Points but didn’t dare use them.
After all, he would have to bear the entire physical cost of the upgrade himself.
’Since he had to face the final boss anyway, boosting his strength was a necessity.’
"Replenish blood? I have Yunnan Baiyao for stopping bleeding and all kinds of first-aid supplies."
Zhao Lei didn’t understand why this mysterious man was suddenly asking such a question.
’Could he actually be a woman?’
’Is it that time of the month?’
’The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.’
’Otherwise, why on earth would a perfectly healthy person need medicine to replenish blood?’
But the thought of a woman swinging her fists and crushing the skulls of ten Butchers one by one made Zhao Lei cringe.
’If a man married a woman like that, he’d have to build an altar and worship her at home.’
’Upset her in the slightest, and your head would probably be forfeit.’
’One punch and your head is pulp, believe it or not?’
He Xiaotian was rather disappointed by the answer.
’One of you can turn his body to steel, and the other can control liquids, but you don’t even have any of those healing elixirs you see in novels?’
’By the way, how much is Yunnan Baiyao paying you for this sponsorship?’
’I’ll get Tong Ren Tang to pay you double!!’
Comments