Forced Kill

Three faintly blue moons hung high in the sky, and there was not a single cloud overhead.

The primeval forest was silent and deep at night. The wind stirred the woods, and only the occasional rustle of leaves rubbing together broke the stillness.

—A field of white tulips stretched endlessly in every direction. A beautiful young girl in a white dress stood among the flowers, smiling at Gu Xiechen as he ran toward her unsteadily. "Be a kind person, little Xiechen. Be a kind person!"

—In a gloomy, oppressive basement, a battered man was bound to a cross. A formidable white-haired old man handed Gu Xiechen a dagger with trembling hands. "Child, this is the last lesson Father will teach you. This is a world where the strong prey on the weak, an age of madness and violence. You must survive well in this world. Kill this traitor to the family. Kill him in the most evil way you can think of!"

—Pure white tulip petals emerged from the air, and the gloomy basement crumbled beneath their cover. Blood sprayed from the battered man's neck, and the white tulips suddenly turned the dark crimson-black of congealed blood. A dazzling blade flashed, and every tulip petal shattered at once.

—A violent gale swept through, and the tulips, the basement, the girl, the old man, and the battered man all scattered into the wind.

—Gu Juechen, imposing and savage like a demon god, suddenly appeared before him. Purple flames rose in his eyes, thick bolts of lightning flashed behind him, and deafening thunder abruptly erupted.

"Ah!"

Curled into a ball, Gu Xiechen suddenly jolted awake from his dream. Cold sweat seeped continuously from his pores and soon drenched his underwear. The Stalker III combat suit promptly absorbed and evaporated the sweat, leaving his clothes dry again. The three faintly blue moons were covered by dark clouds, while violent thunder brewed within them. Deafening rumbles of thunder occasionally rolled overhead. A gale swept through the dense forest, making the tree hollow where Gu Xiechen hid sway in the wind as a heavy scent of rain spread through the air.

"It's going to pour."

Gu Xiechen narrowed his eyes and smiled.

"A moonless, windy night—the perfect time for murder." He gave a few soft, mocking chuckles, then shot out of the tree hollow like a wisp of smoke and vanished into the pitch-black forest.

A flickering figure leaped through the black woods without making the slightest sound. It passed tree hollows and bird nests alike, yet none of the small beasts in the hollows or birds in the nests were disturbed. The figure seemed not to exist as it swept over the treetops and lightly flew forward.

Gu Xiechen raced across the treetops as though riding the wind, occasionally halting and clinging to a branch to cautiously inspect his surroundings. There was no sound or light in the surrounding forest. Only a few swaying shadows occasionally darted past—nocturnal predators coming out to hunt. A giant python over ten meters long slowly slithered past Gu Xiechen, flicking its tongue. Its cold, slick body brushed against him, and his eyes took on the same reptilian cruelty.

Forward. Forward. A crude camp appeared ahead.

More than two hundred mercenaries hugged their guns and slept soundly in patches of grass, motionless as stone statues.

Gu Xiechen lay atop a tree branch nearly a meter thick and surveyed the area. Besides the camp two hundred meters ahead, there were more than thirty hidden sentry posts around him, each containing three guards. Their camouflage skills were superb, and they had nearly blended into the forest. Yet in Gu Xiechen's eyes, they still revealed plenty of flaws.

"There's one more!" Gu Xiechen pursed his lips in a smile. "At least one Fighter is hiding nearby. But where?"

He slowly crawled from the branch onto the trunk, silently slid down to the ground, and crept forward on all fours like a leopard preparing to pounce. The gale swept through the woods, and sparse tall grass swayed with a soft rustling sound. Gu Xiechen had already approached within twenty meters of the camp.

A violent bolt of lightning swept across the sky, illuminating the pitch-black forest. The tremendous thunder made everyone's eardrums buzz. The wind carried thumb-sized raindrops down in a roaring torrent, and the forest was instantly engulfed by a downpour. The heavy drops stung when they struck the body, waking the mercenaries huddled in the grass.

At the instant lightning flashed, Gu Xiechen exploded like a bomb. Innate Qi burst from his legs, and he charged into the camp with a piercing shriek through the air. The Snow Soul Divine Claw gleamed beneath the lightning with a soul-stealing, sinister chill. Threads of cold air seeped from his body, freezing every raindrop near his claws into hard pellets of ice. His claws swung viciously, sending nearly a hundred ice pellets screaming in all directions. At least thirty mercenaries were struck in the face. The ice pellets, a third faster than bullets, pierced their skulls, and a pungent stench of blood suddenly rose in the forest.

More than a dozen mercenaries sprang up and instinctively pulled their triggers at Gu Xiechen.

The bullets had barely left the barrels when Gu Xiechen had already rushed more than ten meters forward. His face appeared before a mercenary who was firing, and he bared his teeth in a grin. Before the dozen mercenaries could turn their guns, the Snow Soul Divine Claw had already swept through their bodies. Heavy body armor capable of stopping close-range large-caliber rounds was torn apart by the claws, while bone and flesh were shattered. The terrifying crunches even drowned out the muffled thunder above.

All the open and hidden sentries screamed at once, roaring into their communicators, but their voices mingled into a chaotic din.

Like the sentries, the awakened mercenaries opened fire wildly. They could not catch sight of Gu Xiechen. Like a demonic beast from hell, he appeared here one moment and there the next, flickering in and out of the darkness. Wherever his flashing claws passed, everything was reduced to fragments.

The gunfire and screams abruptly ceased in less than ninety seconds. Nearly three hundred mercenaries had been slaughtered by Gu Xiechen. Even the torrential rain could not wash away the bloodstains. Thick blood mingled with rainwater and spread across the ground, gradually forming a small pool of blood in the center of the camp.

The wind howled as bolt after bolt of lightning tore through the night sky, repeatedly lighting up the forest.

A black shadow suddenly leaped from a towering tree more than twenty meters outside the camp. A heavy blast of qi split downward at Gu Xiechen's head.

Gu Xiechen swung both claws upward with all his strength, and ten streams of claw force erupted from his body to strike the blast head-on.

The terrifying force contained within the qi blast erupted with a boom, shattering the qi gathered around Gu Xiechen's claws. This man's cultivation was stronger than Gu Xiechen's—at least twice as strong. His Zakra Index was definitely around seventeen hundred! But his Innate Qi was clearly less refined than Gu Xiechen's. Gu Xiechen's extremely compressed claw force hacked into the meridians of the man's right palm like steel blades, while the bone-chilling Snow Soul Divine Gang froze the meridians in his right arm and shattered the incoming qi.

Both men groaned. The skin on Gu Xiechen's claws split open, blood continuously seeping out. With a cold laugh, he shot back into the forest. The enemy's cultivation was too strong; Gu Xiechen had no intention of confronting him head-on.

The Fighter who had exchanged a blow with Gu Xiechen staggered and fell into the pool of bloody water. His entire right arm was covered in thick ice, and cold qi continued invading his organs.

"How? How could this happen? His cultivation is clearly weaker than mine! How could this happen?!"

"Ah... Gu Xiechen! Get back here! You bastard!"

Having already fled several kilometers away, Gu Xiechen faintly heard the shrill roar from behind him.

"Heh, do you take me for an idiot?"

Gu Xiechen smiled with pursed lips.

"Hehehe, you brought this upon yourselves. Everything has only just begun!"

Oh yeah, this chapter also marked the beginning of a major climax. The wind and clouds this Evil Dragon Gu Xiechen needed were about to gather on Paradise Planet...

Starting next week, plenty of exciting content awaited everyone...

Recommendations, clicks, and book reviews—everyone, throw them at me! Throw them down like raindrops! (To be continued)