Opening Hawk's Killing Valve

A remote town fifty kilometers north of Quantico.

Hawk had looked at the terrain around Quantico on the satellite map, so he roughly knew how to drive from the airport to Quantico.

Therefore, when the young Black guy drove the vehicle off the route he had anticipated just now, Hawk became suspicious.

His memory was already good, and after awakening his Cosmo, his memory had also made a qualitative leap.

Hawk, who got out of the car, looked around.

Remote.

Muddy.

Hmm.

It was a good place to rob, kill, and bury the body. No wonder the Black guy drove the car here.

Hawk thought to himself.

Behind him.

The Black guy in the car was bruised and swollen, but alive, and still screaming.

Hawk hadn't killed him.

At least not yet.

After a while.

Hawk turned around, opened the car door, and with a tug of his right hand, he single-handedly pulled the wailing Black guy out of the car and then threw him onto the muddy dirt road, which was muddy from the rain.

"Thump!"

After being thrown to the ground, the Black guy felt dizzy and disoriented, but driven by his survival instinct, he nimbly got up from the ground and knelt before Hawk, his voice trembling: "Please, don't kill me, please, don't kill me, I know I was wrong."

Hawk looked at the Black guy in front of him, who was now as pathetic as he had been arrogant just moments ago.

His voice was clear and cold.

"You don't know you were wrong, you just know you're going to die."

"..."

The Black guy's body stiffened, and his plea became even more trembling.

Hawk narrowed his eyes: "Give me a reason not to kill you."

The Black guy was slightly stunned.

The next second.

He raised his bruised and swollen head to look at Hawk, his voice urgent, searching for a glimmer of hope for survival.

"My car is yours, my money, oh, I have money, my money can be yours too."

"Not enough. If I kill you, your car and money will still be mine."

Hawk shook his head expressionlessly.

"Think again!"

"...You can't kill me. If you kill me, you'll be wanted too. As long as you don't kill me, don't worry, I promise I won't say anything about this. Please, don't kill me."

The Black guy said urgently, his eyes revealing an infinite desire to live.

Hawk heard this, glanced at the Black guy, and lowered his gaze, contemplating.

He seemed to be considering how credible the Black guy's words were.

The Black guy kneeling before him, seeing Hawk's gaze shift away from him, felt a surge of joy within.

While continuing to plead, the Black guy's right hand cautiously moved towards his lower back.

The next second.

"Yelp!"

The Black guy pulled a folding knife from his waist, then let out a strange cry, and suddenly lunged forward, his expression ferocious, gripping the folding knife and charging at Hawk: "Die!"

The moment Hawk looked up, his gaze was icy, and he slapped out with his palm.

Thump, thump, thump!

The Black guy's head spun rapidly, as if wound up.

Faster and faster.

Tighter and tighter.

Until...

Squelch!

His neck, twisted into a spiral and no longer able to maintain its form, was ripped apart at the neck with a snap.

"Squelch, squelch!"

"Gurgle, gurgle!"

Hawk lowered his gaze again, looking at the little black man who had rolled to his feet, his face still frozen in a ferocious expression. A mocking smile touched Hawk's lips.

"I really intended to let you go."

"Too bad."

"The inherent flaws of your skin color are too strong."

"You fear power, not virtue!"

"The only chance I might have to be soft-hearted in this life, and you thought I was scared."

"Heh!"

Hawk thought, his gaze then falling on the headless corpse, which was continuously spurting blood from where its head had been removed.

He wasn't lying; he had genuinely been considering letting the little black man go.

Not just because he had important business here and didn't want killing the little black man to cause complications and affect his future plans.

The most important reason was another one.

His bottom line.

Just as Hawk had said before, once that bottom line was crossed, he couldn't imagine what he would become in the future.

Killing was like a valve.

Once this valve was opened, life would no longer be revered.

This was especially true for transmigrators, who already possessed flexible moral boundaries.

The Chitauri soldiers before were different.

After all, Hawk had seen the true faces of the Chitauri soldiers. Those Chitauri soldiers, though they resembled humans, were essentially insects.

Humans didn't feel guilty about killing insects, and Hawk wouldn't extend his principles and bottom line to a group of evolved insects.

But the little black man in front of him was different.

In fact, it was just as Hawk had thought.

Although this was truly Hawk's first time killing someone, looking at the headless corpse bleeding out before him, he felt no discomfort whatsoever. In fact, he didn't even have a single psychological reaction.

No, that wasn't right.

There was a reaction.

It seemed no different from killing a Chitauri.

Hawk thought, and subconsciously closed his eyes.

He hadn't intended to close the valve again.

There were only zero times and countless times for anything.

Now that the valve for killing had been opened, whether he wanted it or not, at least, starting today, killing would no longer be something he rejected.

With that thought.

Hawk turned away, no longer looking at the head that had fallen into the dirt, nor the headless corpse spurting blood beside it. After opening the car door and getting in, his gaze shifted upward to the clear blue sky before he ducked into the car and stepped on the accelerator, driving away from the small road.

He had no interest in digging a hole for the little black man or anything like that.

The valve for killing had been opened, and there was no possibility of closing it. Since that was the case, whether the little black man's body was found or not was no longer a problem for him.

Killing one was killing.

Then, killing another, or killing however many more, was merely a matter of quantity.

But...

"It's okay to kill."

"But not to be bloodthirsty."

"True strength always retains a humble heart."

Hawk thought silently, and as he drove the taxi out of the secluded small road, he only glanced around before finding the correct path. He then headed towards Quantico town, which was still some distance away.

He just didn't have a driver's license in this life; that didn't mean he didn't know how to drive.

As Hawk's vehicle drove out of the small road, which rarely saw any traffic, the road gradually returned to its usual quiet and secluded state.

About half an hour later.

Footsteps once again broke the silence of the secluded road.

Then a second pair, a third pair.

Soon.

Three men wearing sunglasses arrived at the small road, their gazes falling upon the head in the mud and the headless corpse that was no longer bleeding.