Chapter 46: Cruelty and Mercy

Just as the two attackers ahead approached within three meters of him, Chen Chong moved.

Chen Chong’s feet darted forward, and his entire body shot out, arriving first at the side of the robber on the left. With a squelch, the blade in his hand plunged into the first person’s throat without any resistance!

Compared to these emaciated robbers, weakened to their last breath, Chen Chong’s speed and strength were an unstoppable crushing force. Their dulled nerves, wracked by prolonged suffering, simply could not react in time. The survivor whose throat was pierced did not even feel any pain in that instant.

Bang! In less than half a second, Chen Chong’s arm, gripping the blade, swung with great force, sending the body of the first throat-pierced person crashing heavily to the side, violently knocking the scrawny robber who had lunged a step behind to the ground.

Then Chen Chong abruptly withdrew his blade, ignoring the blood spraying into the air and the robber knocked to the ground. He suddenly turned back, his blade flashing repeatedly. First, he sliced through a sharp wooden spike thrust at him from behind, then he ducked low, narrowly avoiding another wooden spike aimed at his temple. At the same time, he pushed off the ground with his foot, his body charging like a bull, and slammed the survivor who had missed his strike hard against the wall. His tactical knife plunged fiercely into the other’s heart, then twisted viciously!

At such close range, the hysterical look in the eyes of the survivor, who had a terrifying visage and seemed to be over fifty, instantly went out.

“Ah—!”

Behind Chen Chong, the survivor whose wooden spike had been severed let out a terrified scream. His teeth were almost all gone, and it was visible that only half of his tongue remained, as if it had been cut off long ago.

Squelch!

With no time to flee, his hoarse wail lasted only a moment. Chen Chong pulled his tactical knife from the chest of the previous survivor with a backhand motion and stabbed it into the tongueless survivor’s temple, stopping all his panicked reactions instantly.

Shlick.

Chen Chong pulled out his knife, and the survivor, with a similarly horrifying face, collapsed limply to the ground. In a mere two seconds, aside from the scrawny robber knocked down earlier, the other three had died almost instantly under Chen Chong’s blade.

A glaring pool of blood quickly covered the filthy alley, its pungent metallic smell lingering nauseatingly. Chen Chong stepped forward, tactical knife in hand, walking towards the scrawny survivor who had been knocked down earlier and still had not gotten up.

“P-please, please…”

A weak, miserable, and terrified female pleading voice arose. The remaining scrawny survivor, hugging the corpse that had fallen on top of her, had her hood slip off, revealing an ugly and terrifying female face covered in festering sores. Her eyes were filled with extreme terror.

From this face, one could vaguely see that she had once been a young and pretty girl, but the horrifying sores had destroyed all that, making her look repulsive. Any normal person would be terrified by the sight.

“P-please spare me, I don’t want to die…”

Watching Chen Chong approach in silent coldness, the ugly-faced girl completely broke down, curling up on the ground and weeping pitifully, like the mournful cry of a cuckoo:

“Our family hasn’t eaten a single thing for five or six days now. We’re so hungry, so very hungry.”

“You killed my dad, you killed my brother, and you killed my grandpa too…”

“P-please, just let me go, okay…”

“I only have a few days left to live anyway…”

The girl’s weak, pleading cries echoed in the alley, tugging at one’s heartstrings. Yet Chen Chong still walked closer step by step, his face shrouded in shadow, its expression unreadable.

Under the fear of death, the girl’s emaciated body curled up, trembling violently all over. “Please, please, please…”

Squelch!

In the next instant, Chen Chong suddenly leaned down, his blade plunging into the girl’s heart like lightning, then twisting the knife, freezing all her sorrowful pleas within her eyes!

“Continuing to live would have been true cruelty to you.”

Gazing closely at the girl’s ugly face, Chen Chong’s eyes held a trace of gentleness, a trace of coldness, and also a trace of pity. He said softly:

“Living like this must have been so tiring.”

“Leave now, leave this place.”

“In another world, there will be no more sickness or hunger.”

With Chen Chong’s whispered words, the sorrow in the girl’s eyes seemed to grow peaceful, and then the light completely faded away.

…

The laborers were all out working, and what happened in the alley ended too quickly. From start to finish, it attracted no one’s attention.

These four disease-ridden survivors were just one of the myriad faces of this crumbling world. Without work, there was no food, and one could only wait for death. Many survivors like this, barely clinging to life and waiting hopelessly to die, existed within the Blood General’s Territory.

Chen Chong knew he was incapable of saving them. The only thing he could do was help them find a complete release.

Surrounded by the scent of blood, Chen Chong walked expressionlessly out of the dilapidated laborer residential area. He did not return directly to his dwelling. Instead, he went to the storage building to find Gu Jun. Using his once-a-month privilege, he entered the building’s bathroom and thoroughly washed himself from head to toe.

This was a privilege given to squad-leader level figures in the Blood General’s Territory. Although it was only once a month, and each time only a few liters of water were allotted, being able to wash away the filth accumulated for who knows how long was already a rare luxury.

After completely changing out of his dirty prison uniform, simply trimming his messy hair with his tactical knife, and putting on the leather clothing issued by the territory, Chen Chong carried his bundle and walked out of the storage building, feeling refreshed and clear-headed.

Occasionally on the road, he spotted a few territory underlings in small groups. Likely due to news spreading quickly, almost all of them recognized Chen Chong. At most, they pointed and gestured jealously; none were foolish enough to come looking for trouble.

Returning to his dwelling safe and sound, Chen Chong thought for a moment, then took out a fist-sized fruit from his bundle and bit into it.

Crunch. The allotted Spiritual Fruit was crisp on the bite, but aside from a faint grassy fragrance, it had no other taste and was quite bland.

He quickly chewed up and swallowed the Spiritual Fruit. Chen Chong immediately assumed the meditative posture for the Ultimate Infinite Qigong, ready to cultivate.

The face of the girl he had killed surfaced in his mind from time to time. Chen Chong held his breath and calmed his mind, gradually pushing aside distracting thoughts, and slowly entered a meditative state. As the warm Ultimate True Qi circulated unceasingly around his heart within his body, Chen Chong’s gloomy mood also completely relaxed.

Inhale…

Exhale…

Then, within his meditation, Chen Chong discovered that strands of faint, almost imperceptible pure energy were gradually rising from his stomach. Each time his True Qi circulated, this pure energy was absorbed by the condensed Ultimate True Qi, like droplets of water merging into the vast sea. Not only did the flowing True Qi grow stronger at a clearly perceptible rate, but its circulation speed also increased somewhat!

“It really is very effective!”

Chen Chong suddenly opened his eyes, which shone brightly.