"Cousin?"
Su Heng frowned, recalling what he knew about this cousin of his.
After transmigrating to this other world, ever since he fell ill, if there was anyone who had truly cared about him, his cousin was one of them.
When his condition had not yet become too serious, his cousin had visited him several times, bringing fruit and nutritional supplements.
After that, she had transferred money to him several times as well.
It was precisely because of his cousin's help that Su Heng had been able to afford those expensive targeted drugs, delaying the cancer's spread and destruction of his body.
However, she was still only a student.
With her heavy coursework and limited funds, they had not kept in touch as often over the past few months.
He had not expected her to call him now.
Su Heng remained grateful to those who had helped him before. He answered the call, and a crisp voice came through the communicator.
"Cousin, are you doing okay now?"
"Mm-hmm."
Su Heng nodded and said, "I don't know why, but I feel much better lately."
The voice on the other end clearly froze for a moment.
After all, a person's mouth could lie, but compared with the sickly, feeble voice Su Heng had had during their previous calls, he now sounded so full of vigor that it was like he had become a completely different person.
"Really?!"
Su Yue's voice was clearly a little excited. "Summer break is coming up soon on my end. I was planning to visit you in Qing City, so I wanted to call first."
The young girl explained.
The two of them had grown up in the same compound and shared an unusually close relationship.
During the time Su Heng had been diagnosed with Blood Cancer, Su Yue had called him often.
However, as Su Heng's voice on the phone grew weaker and weaker, they had contacted each other much less often so as not to disturb his rest.
He had not expected this casual phone call to bring such a pleasant surprise.
"Mm, okay."
Although he had lived shut away in an old, cramped room for a long time, Su Heng was not antisocial.
"You're welcome anytime." He laughed cheerfully.
After chatting about family matters for a while longer, Su Heng waited for his cousin to hang up before putting down the communicator.
"A new life has begun..."
He opened the window. Night was slowly falling. Although the Red Moon had not appeared, there were not many pedestrians on the streets.
After getting dressed, Su Heng planned to go out for a walk and find somewhere deserted to familiarize himself with the power brought by the fused template.
At the same time, he needed to prepare for his future development.
On one hand, he needed to actively collect more True Relics. On the other, Su Heng had to find a way to improve his own strength.
He was fortunate enough to live in a relatively safe city.
But as the forbidden zones continued to expand, even the city might not be able to guarantee absolute safety.
If he were merely an ordinary person, he could only leave his fate to heaven. But now, by chance, Su Heng had obtained the extraordinary power the template had given him.
He needed to maintain this sense of crisis and keep growing stronger.
With that in mind, Su Heng left his room and arrived at the small river he often visited.
Following the river forward led to an abandoned factory district. It was vast, and because there had once been rumors of Red Moon contamination there, almost no one willingly went to that place.
After thinking it over, Su Heng felt that if he insisted on finding somewhere in this densely populated city where he would not be easily disturbed, that abandoned factory district was definitely one of the best options.
He jogged along the foamy riverbank. The buildings on both sides grew fewer and fewer, while the trees and shrubs became increasingly dense.
The surroundings were silent, save for the occasional chirp of cicadas.
Beneath the cover of darkness, this stretch of woods along the river even seemed somewhat eerie.
After running four or five kilometers in one breath, the abandoned factory district appeared before Su Heng.
Having been deserted for so long, it looked extremely rundown. All kinds of ferns crawled over the surrounding walls, casting everything in a dark, gloomy shade.
Su Heng was delighted.
After the system activated, his physical condition had become incredibly good. Running five kilometers in one go only made his breathing slightly heavier.
He was about to cross the stone bridge and head for the industrial district on the opposite bank.
But at that moment, splash! A dull sound came from the riverbank.
The sound was loud. If he had to compare it to something, Su Heng felt that whatever had fallen into the water was at least the size of an adult.
Wait.
The size of an adult!
Su Heng's expression changed slightly. "Could someone have fallen into the water?"
After hesitating briefly, Su Heng still changed direction and ran toward where the sound had come from along the riverbank.
At the same time, he took the communicator from his pocket, ready to call the police at any moment.
After passing through a thick patch of bushes and reaching the riverbank, the scene before him made Su Heng's pupils contract slightly.
Two men were walking toward him from the riverbank.
Both looked to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight. They wore black short-sleeved shirts, their arms covered in colorful tattoos. They had vicious auras and were obviously delinquent thugs.
One of them was large and muscular with a buzz cut, while the other had dyed yellow hair.
The buzz-cut man was carrying a sack. Drops of something thick and sticky seemed to be continuously dripping from it.
The night was dark, and Su Heng could not make out the color of the liquid dripping from the sack. But when the river breeze blew over, he could clearly smell a strong scent of rust.
That was the smell of blood!
Damn it!
Su Heng cursed inwardly. He had not expected to stumble upon something like murder and dumping a body.
The two thugs by the river were also stunned when they saw Su Heng.
But it lasted only a moment before both their expressions darkened. The buzz-cut youth gave his companion a look.
The yellow-haired man nodded and slowly walked toward Su Heng step by step, slipping a hand into his pocket.
Su Heng's expression became somewhat grim.
He did not dare make any rash moves, afraid that the two might have guns. He could only slowly back away.
When the distance between them was no more than three meters, the yellow-haired man sneered and pulled a folding knife from his pocket. Its sharp blade snapped open, reflecting a cold glint beneath the starlight.
"I don't want trouble."
After seeing the folding knife, Su Heng relaxed instead. He spoke coldly.
"But you've already gotten yourself into trouble."
The yellow-haired man grinned viciously, lunged forward, and drove the folding knife straight toward Su Heng's chest.
In his eyes, a sickly guy like Su Heng posed no threat at all. He could take him out in two moves.
The only thing he needed to worry about was the other man suddenly running away.
But now, there were only three meters between them. Even if Su Heng had incredible abilities, there was no way he could escape from him.
A folding knife seven or eight centimeters long would cripple anyone on the spot as long as it hit.
The yellow-haired man even narrowed his eyes with practiced experience, preventing the blood that was about to spray out from getting into them.
However...
Clang!
With a crisp sound, the sharp folding knife snapped in two.
An enormous rebounding force traveled up through his wrist.
Disbelief appeared on the yellow-haired man's face. It felt as though his stab had struck a steel wall.
The next instant.
Bang!
A dull impact rang out, mixed with the distinct sound of bones shattering. Blood and teeth sprayed through the air.
A fist struck the yellow-haired man squarely in the cheek from the side. The bridge of his nose instantly collapsed, and the fist even sank two or three centimeters into his face.
The yellow-haired man weighed at least seventy kilograms, yet that punch sent him flying seven or eight meters before he landed stiffly at the buzz-cut man's feet.
He lay there without moving, dead or alive unknown.
The entire process took place in an instant. The buzz-cut man had not even reacted before he saw his companion collapse at his feet.
"You little bastard..."
The buzz-cut man instinctively lowered his head. When he saw his companion's miserable state, his expression changed drastically.
The yellow-haired man's freckled face had nearly been smashed to pieces, becoming a rotten mass of blood and bone fragments. A red-and-white eyeball had fallen from its socket and stared blankly at him.
Hiss...
A chill crept up the buzz-cut man's heart. Even those unlucky bastards they had run down with dump trucks back then had not died this horribly.
Was this guy a monster?
"Misunderstanding... It's all a misunderstanding, brother!"
The buzz-cut man waved his hands in panic and said humbly, "We don't want trouble."
"But you've already gotten yourself into trouble..."
At some point, Su Heng had already appeared in front of the buzz-cut man. In his Template Fusion State, his body stood over 1.9 meters tall and radiated immense pressure.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." The buzz-cut man hurriedly said, sounding somewhat incoherent.
"And you can't kill me. My relationship with our boss..."
"Go to hell!"
Seeing that Su Heng seemed distracted, the buzz-cut man suddenly sprang into action. He pulled out a steel knife and viciously stabbed toward Su Heng's kidney.
He had practiced this sequence hundreds and thousands of times and knew it by heart. But from Su Heng's perspective after fusing with the template, it was as slow as a movie in slow motion.
He slowly reached forward. His hand rapidly expanded, a layer of pale golden scales covering his skin. He gripped the buzz-cut man's head in his palm and squeezed hard.
Crack!
In the shadows by the woods, a towering figure nearly two meters tall slowly released its enormous hand.
At his feet lay a headless corpse, limp and motionless.
This chapter was three thousand words. Asking for a recommendation vote isn't too much, right?
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