I became a god through frontier slaughter, and I crushed the academy's prodigies!

Old town area.

This is the scar of Jiangcheng.

The unfinished buildings are like rotten ribs, standing straight up under the gray sky.

The surroundings were eerily quiet; even stray cats and dogs wouldn't bother with this dreadful place.

Shen Tian stood beside a dry well overgrown with weeds.

The wellhead was dark and gaping, like a blind eye, emitting a musty, damp smell.

"Well hidden well."

Shen Tian muttered something to himself and then leaped into the air.

call--

The trench coat fluttered in the wind.

There was no falling sound as I had imagined.

The black dragon armor instantly formed a cushioning air cushion under his feet, and Shen Tian landed silently on the silt at the bottom of the well, like a black feather.

This is an underground drainage network that has been abandoned for at least several decades.

The air was filled with a nauseating, rotten smell—a stench of dead rats, fermenting garbage, and years of stagnant sewage.

In the past, Shen Tian might have frowned.

But right now, he didn't even flinch.

hum.

A vast amount of spiritual power spread out from him instantly, like radar waves.

One hundred meters.

Two hundred meters.

Every rustling sound within a 500-meter radius, even the crawling of a cockroach, is vividly imprinted in his mind.

found it.

At a fork in the road 300 meters ahead, there is a repair shop that has been blocked off.

There was a faint sign of life inside.

It's a mess.

Like a candle flickering in the wind, it could be extinguished at any moment.

Shen Tian touched the ground with his toes, his figure transforming into a black streak of light, rapidly traversing the intricate network of pipes.

……

Inside the maintenance room.

Only a single emergency light, almost out of power, emitted a pale glow.

Brother Xiong was huddled in the corner on a tattered mattress.

His once flabby body, which used to stretch his clothes to the point of bursting, is now noticeably flatter.

His face was covered in stubble, his eyes were sunken, and his clothes were stained with dried, blackened blood and mud.

His left arm hung limply at his side, clearly broken.

He gripped a sharp boning knife tightly in his right hand.

Even when he was sleeping, the knife was always pointed towards the door.

"Cough cough..."

Brother Xiong suppressed his coughs, and with each cough, a look of pain appeared on his greasy face.

This place is so damp.

The wound has begun to become inflamed and suppurate.

But he dared not go to the hospital, or even to the pharmacy to buy medicine.

As soon as it shows its face, the monster will definitely come looking for it.

Sudden.

thump.

A very soft sound came from outside the door.

It sounded like the sound of soft-soled boots stepping on puddles.

Brother Xiong's entire body of fat trembled violently.

In that instant, he sprang up from the mattress like a startled mouse, his back pressed tightly against the wall.

"Who?!"

His voice was trembling, and so was the boning knife in his hand.

"Don't come in! I have a gun! I have explosives!"

He's bluffing.

He had no guns or explosives, only the meat-cutting knife in his hand.

There was no response from outside the door.

A deathly silence.

This silence was more despairing than the monster's roar.

Could it really be that monster that has come looking for us?

Brother Xiong closed his eyes in despair, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the knife.

creak-

The rusty iron gate was gently pushed open from the outside.

A tall, slender figure stood at the doorway.

Backlit.

I can't see the face clearly.

All that could be seen was that jet-black trench coat and that sharp aura that couldn't be concealed even in the dark sewers.

"Who are you……"

Brother Xiong's throat was dry, and he desperately tried to shrink into the corner.

"Brother Xiong, it's me."

The visitor spoke.

The voice was cool and clear, yet it carried a familiar quality.

Brother Xiong was taken aback.

That sound?

He suddenly opened his eyes and stared intently at the figure.

The other person took a step forward and stepped into the dim light of the emergency lights.

A handsome and resolute face was revealed.

Although his demeanor has changed, becoming more aloof and unfathomable.

But those eyebrows, those features.

"Shen...Shen Tian?!"

The boning knife in Brother Xiong's hand fell to the ground with a "clatter".

He stared in disbelief, his lips trembling.

"Brother Shen? Is it really you?"

Shen Tian nodded, his gaze falling on Xiong Ge's severed left arm, his eyes instantly turning cold.

"It's me, I'm late."

"Holy crap! You scared the hell out of me!"

Brother Xiong collapsed onto the ground, the exhaustion from surviving the ordeal leaving him drenched in cold sweat.

Followed by.

As if remembering something, he suddenly got up, rushed to Shen Tian, ​​grabbed Shen Tian's arm, and looked him up and down.

"I'm so glad you're alright, I'm so glad you're alright..."

Brother Xiong's hands were dirty, leaving several black handprints on Shen Tian's expensive black dragon armor.

But he didn't care at all.

He sensed it.

The aura emanating from Shen Tian was frighteningly solid.

This kid really did it!

"Martial artist! You've truly broken through to the Martial artist level!"

A genuine smile appeared on Brother Xiong's weathered old face.

I was even happier than if I had found money.

"I knew you were a dragon among men! I knew you could make a name for yourself out there!"

"Okay! Okay!"

He patted Shen Tian's shoulder hard, his eyes even a little red.

In that cannibalistic slaughterhouse, only Shen Tian treated him like a human being, and he regarded Shen Tian as his only gamble.

In hindsight, he made the right bet.

But this joy lasted less than three seconds.

Brother Xiong's expression suddenly changed.

It turned deathly pale.

"Wait...you...how did you find this place?"

"You've gone back to Jiangcheng?"

Shen Tian was about to speak when Xiong Ge rudely interrupted him.

"How foolish!"

Brother Xiong was so anxious that he stomped his feet, and the fat on his face trembled.

"How could you come back? How dare you come back?"

"Hurry! Get out of here before anyone notices!"

As he spoke, he tried to push Shen Tian toward the door.

Shen Tian remained completely still.

With his current strength, even a Tyrannosaurus Rex couldn't be moved, let alone the severely injured and weakened Bear Brother.

"Brother Xiong, what exactly happened?"

Shen Tian reached out and supported Xiong Ge, his voice steady and powerful.

"Was it Li Zihao who did it?"

Upon hearing those three words...

Brother Xiong's body suddenly stiffened.

A deep fear welled up in his eyes, the kind of look one gets after witnessing hell.

"That's a monster..."

Brother Xiong trembled as he pulled a flattened cigarette from his pocket, but he couldn't light it no matter how many times he tried.

Shen Tian stretched out his finger, and the black dragon emitted a tiny flame, helping him light his cigarette.

Brother Xiong took a deep breath and coughed violently from the smoke.

"That night, I was all ready to call it a day."

Suddenly a dark figure rushed in.

"I thought it was some kind of monster that escaped from a farm, and I was just about to call someone to catch it."

"result……"

Brother Xiong's teeth started chattering.

"That's Li Zihao."

"But he doesn't seem like a human being."

"His body was covered in scales, one of his hands had turned into something like a claw, and his eyes were still green."

"As soon as he came in, he grabbed the worker by the neck and asked, 'Where are you?'"

"Old Zhang and his group didn't know, and he..."

Brother Xiong swallowed hard, his voice trembling with tears.

"He tore it apart alive."

"It really was torn apart, just like tearing apart a roast chicken."

"Then he started eating..."

"That was a human being! He actually ate it raw like that!"

At this point, Brother Xiong could no longer hold back and covered his face, bursting into tears.

That scene was too tragic.

The entire workshop had turned into a battlefield.

Shen Tian listened quietly.

With each sentence he heard, the air around him grew colder.

Until the very end, the temperature in the entire repair room seemed to drop below zero.

"He asked me where I was, and you didn't tell me?"

Shen Tian looked at Brother Xiong.

If Xiong Ge had said so, given Li Zihao's frenzied state at the time, he might have gone directly to Shen Tian and let the rest of the people go.

Brother Xiong wiped away the tears and snot from his face.

"I'm talking nonsense!"

"Even though I'm just a pig butcher, I still know what loyalty means!"

"Besides, I really don't know where you are. Old Ghost didn't tell me whether you're dead or alive."

"I took advantage of the fact that he was... eating to detonate the electrical box and escaped in the chaos."

"This arm was torn off by that bastard's claw."

Brother Xiong looked down at his severed arm, his eyes filled with resentment.

Shen Tian took a deep breath.

Loyalty.

In this messed-up world, these two words are rarer than diamonds.

He remembered this kindness.

Where is he?

Shen Tian asked calmly.

But beneath this calm lies a volcano about to erupt.

Brother Xiong suddenly raised his head and grabbed Shen Tian's collar.

"What do you want to do?"

"Are you going to find him?"

"Brother Shen, have you gone mad?!"

Brother Xiong got anxious, he really got anxious.

In his eyes, Li Zihao was no longer human; he was a demon that only appeared in nightmares.

That kind of power, that kind of brutality, is simply beyond human resistance.

"I know you're powerful now, you've become a martial artist."

"But that's not enough!"

"Do you know how terrifying that monster was?"

"The power he displayed that day was definitely beyond the reach of ordinary martial artists. Even that martial artist who frequently comes to collect protection money probably wouldn't be a match for him!"

Brother Xiong had no idea what a demon was.

In his limited understanding, Li Zihao's current state is invincible.

And what about Shen Tian?

All told, it's only been half a month since I left.

Even with the best talent, at best he'd only be a first-tier martial artist, right?

If someone with that kind of strength goes after Li Zihao, isn't that just suicide?

That's food delivery!

"Take my advice."

Brother Xiong held onto Shen Tian tightly, afraid that he might impulsively run away.

"Where there's life, there's hope."

"You're still young, and you have talent."

"Give you time, ten or twenty years, and you will definitely achieve great things."

"It's not too late to come back and take revenge later!"

"Going now would be suicide!"

"You should leave quickly and hide in another city, preferably a big city where there are powerful experts to protect you, so that monster won't dare to cause trouble."

Looking at Xiong Ge's earnest advice, Shen Tian felt a slight warmth in his heart.

This fat guy may look snobbish, but he's incredibly loyal to himself.

but.

run?

Ten years is too long.

He seizes every minute.

and.

Brother Xiong's understanding of "powerful" seems to be somewhat flawed.

Third order?

What kind of garbage is that?

Shen Tian gently patted Xiong Ge's hand that was gripping his collar.

"Brother Xiong, thank you."

"But I'm not back this time to hide."

"I did it to clean up the trash."