The House
The headless, mangled body crashed into the mud.
The blood that had sprayed from the Iron Wolf's neck cavity had not yet cooled completely, and the hundred-meter-long street was already deathly silent.
More than a hundred gangsters, armed with automatic rifles, stood frozen in place, their combat vests soaked with cold sweat.
No one dared to pull the trigger, no one even dared to breathe loudly.
They, who usually relied on their status as Peak Second Tier guild leaders of the Heavenly God, along with their four ruthless chieftains, couldn't even last half a quarter of an hour against this seemingly frail, plain-clothed youth.
Clang.
Someone's gun butt slipped from their hand and slammed heavily onto the gravel ground.
The sharp crack spread like a plague, and in the blink of an eye, the sound of countless guns being discarded echoed down the long street.
Hundreds of unruly thugs buckled at the knees and knelt on the ground in unison, their foreheads pressed tightly against the filthy puddles.
"Sir... please spare my life!"
Cries for mercy rose and fell, filled with a chilling tremor.
Chen Fan didn't even lift his eyelids. To him, killing Iron Wolf was no different from crushing roadside weeds.
He flicked the blood from the Broken Saber and shoved the tattered scabbard back into his waistband. When he turned around, the murderous intent that had once been enough to freeze Dimensions in his eyes had vanished without a trace, leaving only a sense of peace.
He walked back to the breakfast stall, pulled out a faded coarse cloth handkerchief from the gap between the overturned wooden table, and gently wiped away the tear stains and splattered engine oil from Chen Xi's cheeks.
"Were you frightened?" Chen Fan asked softly.
Chen Xi shook her head vigorously, her eyes red and swollen, her small hands clutching Chen Fan's clothes tightly, her voice thick with a nasal tone. "Brother... your back..."
"It's nothing, just a minor scrape."
Chen Fan gently rubbed the top of her head. After his physical body reached the Second Tier, his powerful muscle fibers had already locked the wounds, and the skin and flesh wounds left by the three broken blades were scabbing and healing themselves at an astonishing speed.
After comforting his sister, Chen Fan's gaze fell on the corpse in the mud.
He made a grabbing motion in the Void.
An invisible force field swept over him like an invisible hand. The steel storage pouches and high-level supplies in the hidden bags on the Iron Wolf Corpse, along with the tactical leather bags on the waists of the four leaders, all flew into the air and landed neatly at his feet.
Chen Fan unfastened the leather pouch with one hand and gave it a cursory scan.
Inside were three neatly stacked stacks of Federation high-purity Alloy gold certificates, exuding the fresh scent of ink, totaling no less than 100,000.
Two pale blue syringes, sealed in a low-temperature lead box, were clearly marked with "Third-Tier Strength Enhancement Serum - Internal Test Type"; at the bottom was a heavy set of Alloy and a black iron Land Deed sealed with sealing wax.
The Land Deed clearly states: A-1 Building, Central District Black Street.
"Grown ups!"
An elderly scavenger with a goatee and a Black Street crawled cautiously out of the ruins, clasping his hands in a respectful gesture. "I am Zhang the Lame, a scavenger who has been in the Black Street for thirty years... That was the Iron Wolf Gang's lair, the highest detached fortress in the Black Street. The Iron Wolf Gang's amassed fortune of ten years is all inside!"
The old man's eyes were sharp; he had clearly seen that the situation in the Black Street had completely changed.
"Lead the way."
Chen Fan said calmly, and casually took Chen Xi's small hand in his.
"Yes, sir! Please follow me!"
Overjoyed, Zhang the Lame walked ahead, leaning on his crutch, his back ramrod straight, exuding an air of swagger and arrogance.
The gunmen kneeling on both sides of the long street hurriedly crawled aside, making way for the young man in plain clothes, creating a passage three zhang wide. No one dared to look up and stare directly at the soles of his boots.
Fifteen minutes later.
Deep within the Black Street, a three-story building made entirely of five-centimeter-thick bulletproof Alloy plates riveted together came into view.
Heavy machine gun emplacements were mounted on the roof, surrounded by a high-voltage electric fence.
There were still a few die-hard Iron Wolf Gang stubbornly resisting in the ground floor hall, but when they saw Chen Fan casually flick the Alloy Gate with a finger and shatter the 200-pound riot shield into scrap metal, the few remaining members were terrified and scrambled to escape through the back door.
Chen Fan ignored the deserters and led Chen Xi straight into the hall.
The building was covered with thick carpets Anomalous Beast. The air was not filled with the rotten stench of the Black Street, but rather with the expensive scent of sandalwood.
Zhang the Lame eagerly led the way, expertly guiding Chen Fan to the underground vault.
Chen Fan shattered the internal lock of the heavy Alloy combination door with a single palm strike. The door opened, and the supplies inside made Zhang the Lame behind him gasp in shock.
Dozens of boxes of pure water uncontaminated by radiation, neatly stacked cans of beef and compressed high-energy rations, and even two small air circulation purifiers. In a hidden compartment in the corner, there were 50,000 shiny, high-purity, radiation-resistant coins.
In the perilous Apocalypse -apocalyptic wasteland, this place is practically a miniature paradise.
Chen Fan casually grabbed a handful of high-purity, radiation-resistant coins and tossed them to Zhang the Lame: "Go wait outside. Without my permission, anyone who comes within ten steps of the building is dead."
"Thank you for your reward, sir! I understand! I will guard the gate for you even if it means my death!"
Holding the coins, Zhang the Lame trembled with excitement. He quickly bowed and retreated, carefully closing the blast door behind him.
Chen Fan led Chen Xi up to the second floor, which had the best natural light.
The master bedroom was extremely spacious. Pushing open the Alloy window, the morning light shone through the leaden-gray clouds onto the clean and soft bed. Although the view outside the window was of a dilapidated, Black Street, the elevated position offered an excellent panoramic view.
Chen Fan picked up an unopened fruit hard candy from the table, unwrapped the colorful candy wrapper, and stuffed it into Chen Xi's mouth.
"From now on, we can live here peacefully." Chen Fan looked at the little girl, a gentle smile appearing on his lips. "You don't need to run away anymore, and no one can kick you out."
The sweet orange flavor melts in your mouth.
Chen Xi stared blankly at the bright sunlight outside the window, then looked down at the soft carpet beneath her feet. Her long-held fear and despair were shattered in that moment.
"Elder brother..."
The little girl suddenly threw herself into Chen Fan's arms, burying her face deep in his clothes, her shoulders heaving violently, and tears welled up in her eyes again.
But this time, all that flowed out was peace of mind and joy.
The pure and flawless familial love, like a clear spring, gushed forth from the depths of Chen Xi's heart and poured into Chen Fan's Sea of Consciousness without any hindrance.
Within his Sea of Consciousness, the Red Dust Dao Seed trembled slightly, and the crack on its surface, which had been forcibly broken open, became more and more rounded, with wisps of chaotic mist hanging down, nourishing the "Life-and-Death Guixu to Nothingness" vortex in Chen Fan Qi Sea, making it more and more solid.
The potential of this Mortal Body is being rapidly expanded.
At the same time.
The core of the Third Base City, the Upper City, is located three thousand meters underground.
Prometheus Genes Research Institute
Unlike the dirty, chaotic mud of the Lower City, this place is pure white and orderly.
The air was filled with the smell of highly concentrated disinfectant and expensive nutrient solution. Inside the huge bulletproof reinforced glass tank, countless deformed creatures covered with scales and Bone Spikes were submerged, as well as unconscious clones immersed in the nutrient solution.
In front of the central laboratory table, a middle-aged man wearing a snow-white cleanroom lab coat was staring intently at a microscope.