Embroiderer Cried

"They should all be dead, right?"

Wang Butcher's face was full of excitement, and he couldn't help rubbing his hands together.

At the thought of the four fighting until they all died together, Wang Butcher's old face nearly blossomed with a smile.

This was great. No one would compete with him for the New Year pig business or the butcher shop business anymore.

From now on, his butcher shop would reign supreme in Qingshan Town, and he'd fill his pots and bowls with silver!

"Loot the corpses. Loot the corpses first."

Wang Butcher forced down his excitement.

Fortunately, this place was remote, several miles outside Qingshan Town. With the heavy snow and the late hour, no one was passing through, so Wang Butcher wasn't worried about being seen.

He crouched beside Zheng Hu's corpse and rummaged around. Before long, he had quite a few pieces of silver in his hand.

Next came Meng Song and Li Li.

At the sight of the entrails strewn across the ground, even Wang Butcher, who had slaughtered pigs for years and was used to bloodshed, felt his stomach churn like an overturned sea. He nearly threw up.

"Fuck, that brat was vicious. He butchered them like pigs."

A chill ran down Wang Butcher's back.

Wasn't that belly-splitting slash exactly how one slaughtered a pig?

At that thought, Wang Butcher felt even more convinced of his own brilliance. If he hadn't hidden in the shadows, he would probably be a cold corpse by now.

Wang Butcher's gaze then fell on Qin Ming.

"That brat should be dead, right?"

He didn't approach rashly.

He had waited nearly three hours without daring to come closer because he wasn't sure whether Qin Ming was dead or alive. Only when he could no longer bear the cold had he lowered his guard and approached.

"After lying in the snow for three hours, he'd have frozen to death even if he wasn't dead already."

Wang Butcher pried a fist-sized clod of frozen earth from the ground and hurled it at Qin Ming's head.

One, two, three...

After throwing six or seven clods and seeing no reaction from the "corpse," Wang Butcher gradually relaxed.

"He should be dead, but he might have passed out. To be safe, I'd better finish him off with a stab."

Wang Butcher picked up the boning knife Li Li had left on the ground, approached cautiously, and thrust it straight at Qin Ming's neck.

Clang!

The pig-slaughtering knife in Qin Ming's hand suddenly turned, blocking the fatal thrust.

"Fuck!!"

Wang Butcher was so frightened that every hair on his body stood on end. His legs went weak, and he nearly pissed himself.

Without hesitation, he let go of the boning knife and ran.

Wang Butcher's guts were practically green with regret.

Why did I come over to loot the corpses?

Now look what happened!

I've been set up!

"You old bastard, you're dead!"

Qin Ming rolled over and got to his feet. His padded jacket was soaked through, and when the cold wind blew, his whole body shivered.

To lure out this old bastard, he had lain in the snow for more than two hours and nearly frozen to death. Even so, the old bastard still hadn't believed it and had thrown rock-hard clods of frozen earth at him. Several blows in a row had made him bare his teeth in pain and left his head bleeding.

If I don't fucking butcher this dog today, I'll take his surname, Wang!

Wang Butcher ran for his life ahead, not daring to look back, while Qin Ming chased wildly after him, pig-slaughtering knife raised and his face covered in blood.

"You fucking stop right there! I'm going to chop you to death!"

"Stop chasing me! I'm begging you, stop chasing me! I was wrong, Master Qin! I won't dare do it again! Please spare me!"

Wang Butcher ran with every ounce of strength he had, wishing his parents had given him two more legs.

The night grew deeper, and the snow fell harder, rapidly reducing visibility. Wang Butcher was confident that if he could open up a gap of just a few paces, he could escape.

But that was destined to remain a vain hope.

The reason Qin Ming had lured him close was to deny him any chance to escape.

"Ah!"

Qin Ming caught up to Wang Butcher and slashed his back, cutting a wound deep enough to expose bone. Blood gushed out at once.

Wang Butcher slipped and fell into the snow, his momentum carrying him forward for some distance.

"D-don't kill me, Qin Ming. I took you in when you had nothing to eat. You can't repay kindness with enmity!"

Wang Butcher hurriedly pleaded for mercy.

"Oh? Then did you ever give me anything to eat?"

Wang Butcher's expression froze.

That was right. Qin Ming had worked in his home from morning till night, yet he hadn't given him so much as a sip of water, let alone a meal.

"But weren't there pig offal? I let you take some home every day."

Wang Butcher sounded uncertain, and his voice grew quieter and quieter.

"So that's why you withheld four months of my wages?"

Qin Ming sneered and raised the pig-slaughtering knife in his hand.

Wang Butcher's pupils contracted sharply, and he cried out in terror:

"Qin Ming, you can't kill me! I have someone backing me! If you dare kill me, he'll definitely..."

Squelch!

The pig-slaughtering knife severed his throat in one stroke.

"Hhh! Hhh!"

Wang Butcher clamped both hands over the wound in his throat and fell heavily into the snow. His face rapidly flushed red, then slowly turned ashen. The strange sounds coming from his mouth gradually weakened, until he finally fell completely silent.

"Whew."

Qin Ming took a deep breath and slowly crouched down.

His right hand, still gripping the pig-slaughtering knife, trembled slightly.

He looked up at the sky. Snowflakes drifted down onto his face, cool against his skin, soothing the trace of heat in his heart.

After this battle, Qin Ming felt he had grown considerably, not just in strength,

but also in his state of mind.

"Whether pig or person, when it's time to kill, I won't hesitate! To me, they're nothing but cold proficiency points on the panel.

"Whoever provokes me, I'll kill!

"In these chaotic times, human lives are as cheap as grass. For Embroiderer and me to survive, I can only keep growing stronger!

"Anyone who stands in my way dies!"

Qin Ming took a deep breath, and his gaze grew completely calm again.

He moved the corpses together, then stripped them of their padded jackets, padded trousers, and padded shoes.

After leaving the naked corpses in the snow, Qin Ming began using the Pig-Slaying Saber Technique.

He was conducting an experiment.

Since killing people could earn proficiency points just like slaughtering pigs, what about dissecting people with the Pig-Slaying Saber Technique?

Before long, all that remained of the corpses were skeletons and chunks of flesh scattered across the ground.

Qin Ming smiled at the four proficiency points added to the panel.

It really worked!

And it was twice as much as a pig.

Earlier, he had dissected two pigs in succession and gained only one proficiency point.

"This is good too. With only the bones left, even if someone finds them, no one will recognize who they were."

Qin Ming tucked the silver he had taken from the four into his clothes.

It totaled five taels of silver.

With what he already had, that made ten taels and eight mace, enough to repay his debt to Scarface tomorrow.

He took off his soaked padded jacket and changed into Wang Butcher's. Then he hoisted the carrying basket onto his back and strode toward the shantytown.

A short while later, Qin Ming brushed the snow off himself. The shantytown was close at hand, and as he hurried home, a familiar sound of crying came faintly through the cold wind.

"That voice...

"Oh no, it's Embroiderer!!"

Qin Ming's expression changed drastically. He immediately picked up speed and raced toward his home.

Before long, Qin Ming arrived. From a distance, he saw a figure lying in a pool of blood outside his door.

It was Brother Wang Shun from next door!

At the same time, the iron gate Qin Ming had taken special care to reinforce had been forcibly pried open. Embroiderer knelt on the ground, her hair disheveled, several red handprints across her cheeks as she sobbed.

"Stop hitting me. Please, stop hitting me. I'll go with you, all right...?"

"Wouldn't it have been easier if you'd done that sooner?"

Scarface roared with laughter. "Men, take her away!"

A trace of despair appeared in Embroiderer's eyes.

Just as Embroiderer was about to be taken away, a furious shout exploded beside everyone's ears like a thunderclap:

"I'd like to see who dares!"