Chapter 50: Cruel Hands, Black Heart

“The bones of Mouse and Crippled Biao are broken!”

“Daring to attack someone from the Hunting Squad!”

“Arrogant brats who don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth!”

Amidst the sudden outburst of shouts and curses, seven or eight underlings immediately stepped out from the crowd, their expressions fierce. They seemed to be Li Bao’s subordinates. Holding homemade guns, they slowly approached Chen Chong with a shared, vicious look of hatred.

Hearing the commotion from this end of the shed, a large number of underlings on the other side surged over excitedly. Surrounded by the crowd, Chen Chong slowly stood up, pulled out the tactical knife resting on the table, looked around, and used the tiger’s skin as a pretext:

“You dare to try and steal the food the General assigned to me? You’re the ones with big guts!”

Upon hearing the word “General,” every single underling trembled without exception, especially the six fierce-looking ones approaching with guns. The Blood General’s power and brutality were deeply ingrained in everyone’s minds. Seeing Chen Chong’s fearless demeanor, and recalling the Blood General’s preferential treatment toward him, their faces changed slightly, and their hearts began to pound nervously.

They turned their gaze to Li Bao, who was striding over with a violent aura, seemingly awaiting his command. Li Bao stared intently at Chen Chong, a hint of deep-seated fear flashing in his eyes. He seemed to feel trapped in a difficult position, yet he spoke fiercely:

“You scum! You attacked my Hunting Squad members without reason, and now you dare to use the General to scare me? You’re simply courting death!”

He had never imagined that a simple test would provoke such an intense reaction from Chen Chong, escalating the situation to this point, completely against his original intention. And now, with his three members beaten like dogs in front of everyone, Li Bao, as the captain, was stuck between a rock and a hard place, forced to step forward!

“So those three idiots just now were sent by you?”

Chen Chong’s gaze was like a knife, suddenly pinning Li Bao’s face. A savage grin appeared on his face:

“You dog-like thing, you only know how to play these disgraceful little tricks? Didn’t you have a problem with me? I’ll give you a chance now. You and I are both Awakeners. Let’s go one-on-one, right here, a death match, with our lives as the stakes! Use guns or go bare-handed, only one of us will live to see tomorrow’s sun. Whoever gets beaten to death, no hard feelings. I’m asking you, do you dare? Do you dare!”

Everyone’s breath caught in their throats. They felt an intense, bloodthirsty aura emanating from Chen Chong as he spoke, his ferocious presence utterly overwhelming!

However, upon hearing Chen Chong’s demand for a death match, Li Bao’s face turned ashen, and he was momentarily speechless.

The reason was simple: he didn’t dare!

This reluctance wasn’t because he thought he was no match for Chen Chong. An Awakener like him, who spent years hunting in the dangerous Wilderness, possessed formidable combat strength, enough to wipe out a small hunting team single-handedly. In his eyes, Chen Chong was just a slightly skilled but wildly arrogant Initial Awakener, and he was very confident he could kill him.

However, Li Bao had also heard that this newcomer Awakener, Chen Chong, seemed to be of great use to the Blood General. The Blood General’s ferocious might was so overwhelming that even he was terrified. How would he dare agree to a death match and kill someone the Blood General needed?

The scene instantly became deadlocked.

After Chen Chong issued the death match challenge, apart from Li Bao’s Hunting Squad members, the dozens of other onlooking underlings immediately stirred. Various voices arose from the crowd, eager to see the world in chaos:

“Damn, this kid is so arrogant?”

“Captain Li, accept it! Finish this kid, show him your power!”

“Reckless fool, teach him a lesson, then chop off all his limbs!”

“Hahaha, kid, you’re dead!”

As the clamor erupted, behind Li Bao, Gu Jun and Zhang Long frowned deeply. Yin Hu, however, had a calm expression. He glanced at Li Bao unobtrusively, sneering inwardly, as if he had already anticipated such a turn of events.

From Skinny Ghost’s death, he had already seen that this Chen Chong, who appeared harmless, was actually quite crazy and especially cruel and merciless. Coupled with his unknown connection to the Blood General, he was like a rock in a latrine—both smelly and hard. A fool like Li Bao, who only knew how to fight and kill, was asking for trouble.

The clamor grew louder. Under Chen Chong’s scornful gaze, Li Bao’s expression became increasingly ugly. An indescribable violent rage was about to erupt from his chest.

“Fine!”

A fierce light flashed in Li Bao’s eyes. He also made a decisive judgment, knowing that if he didn’t accept, he would never be able to hold his head high in the Territory again. He decided that even if he couldn’t kill Chen Chong, he would teach him an unforgettable lesson. He roared:

“Since you’re asking for death, then…”

“What are you all gathered here for?”

Just at that moment, a hoarse voice drifted in lightly, interrupting Li Bao’s words.

Everyone present was startled and turned their heads to see, outside the crowd, the Blood General, dressed in a scarlet military coat and followed by Tie Shan and a group of his subordinates, walking over with an amused interest.

“General!”

“Lord General!”

As the Blood General slowly approached, the underlings who had been blocking the path scattered like a landslide. Whether they were ordinary underlings or unruly Awakeners like Li Bao and Yin Hu, everyone’s expression immediately turned solemn, and they respectfully bowed their heads in unison.

The authority of the Blood General was clearly evident!

The tense atmosphere instantly vanished. Like a king inspecting his territory, the Blood General sauntered into the center of the crowd. He glanced at the underling lying unconscious on the stone table in front of Chen Chong and couldn’t help but smile:

“It looks quite lively here. Would anyone care to tell me what happened?”

Chen Chong immediately bowed, appearing very respectful on the surface, and without changing his expression, directly slapped a huge accusation onto Li Bao:

“General, the matter is simple. Someone was dissatisfied with the preferential treatment you’ve shown me, so they sent people to snatch the food you assigned to me.”

You motherfcker!

The moment Chen Chong spoke, Li Bao’s face twitched. He felt that in just a few words, this kid had completely shed his previous fierce and resolute aura, becoming extremely sinister and vicious instead. His first words were a deadly accusation meant to put Li Bai in a death trap!

Deeply regretting his earlier reckless arrangement that gave his opponent a handle to use, Li Bao quickly stepped forward to explain:

“General, this kid is treacherous, he’s spouting nonsense! My three team members just found him unfamiliar, having never seen him in the Territory before, so they went over to chat a bit. It wasn’t…”

“Alright, let’s put an end to this farce.”

Upon hearing it was such trivial, nonsensical matters, the Blood General immediately lost interest. He waved his hand dismissively, cutting off Li Bao’s impromptu performance:

“Chen Chong stays. The rest of you, disperse!”

At the Blood General’s command, Li Bao felt a huge sense of relief. Before leaving, he glared hatefully at Chen Chong, then grudgingly carried away his unconscious team member. Other Awakeners, including Yin Hu, all took their leave. The underlings in the shed also instantly dispersed, and within a minute, not a single one remained.

During this time, Chen Chong continued to wait, still feigning respect.

“Chen Chong, you’re not bad. You didn’t lie to me.”

In the suddenly quieted shed, Tie Shan diligently wiped a stone stool clean. The Blood General slowly sat down, looking at Chen Chong with a half-smile:

“Just half an hour ago, I received a message back from Qiao Jun. The people you mentioned—some of them indeed survived and arrived at the Dawn Gathering Place last night.”

Just as expected!

Chen Chong understood clearly in his heart and showed no look of surprise.