The joy of breaking through soon faded, replaced by an intense emptiness inside him.
The breakthrough had sent his body soaring to new heights, but it had also drained the energy he had just replenished in an instant.
"The stronger you get, the more you eat."
Lu Chen rubbed his protesting belly and gave a helpless, wry smile.
There was no food left at home. That pound of pork belly had only been enough to get him through the breakthrough.
"I'll have to find a way to earn some extra money tomorrow."
At the docks, he earned only sixty or seventy copper coins a day hauling cargo. No matter how hard he worked, he couldn't fill this ever-growing bottomless pit.
If he wanted to keep getting stronger, he needed more money—or some tonic supplements.
Lu Chen returned to bed. Though he was hungry, his mind was buzzing with excitement. Listening to the wind outside, he weighed his plans for the future.
Perhaps he could try his luck on the outskirts of Great Swamp Mountain. It was dangerous, but now that he had the Iron Skin trait, ordinary beasts shouldn't be able to hurt him.
Or perhaps he could take on some private jobs?
As he was thinking, faint footsteps sounded outside the courtyard wall.
Since breaking through, his senses had sharpened, and his hearing had become especially keen.
The footsteps didn't sound like someone passing by. They were deliberately muffled, drawing closer.
A thought stirred in Lu Chen's mind. His closed eyes narrowed to a slit.
A thin knife gently lifted the courtyard gate's latch from outside.
A soft click.
The gate opened.
Two shadows slipped inside under cover of night and headed straight for Lu Chen's room.
Lu Chen's bed was near the entrance. The two of them had clearly scoped the place out beforehand.
"Is this the place?"
"Sure is. I saw the kid buy a whole pound of pork belly today, and he's been working harder than anyone these past few days. He's bound to have plenty of money on him."
The two whispered to each other, their voices thick with greed and malice.
Lu Chen sneered inwardly.
So he'd been targeted.
That was the way of the slums: begrudge those who had something, and laugh at those who had nothing.
When you were poor, nobody gave you a second glance. The moment you started doing a little better—even if you just ate one extra bite of meat—you drew hungry wolves to your door.
The two shadows crept up to Lu Chen's bed. One of them pulled out a rusty dagger, its blade glinting in the dim light.
"Make it quick. Knock him out first, then search him."
The man raised the hilt, ready to bring it down on the back of Lu Chen's head.
In that very instant,
Lu Chen moved.
He didn't get up. Instead, he drew his legs in sharply on the narrow wooden bed, then kicked out with all his might!
The kick was fast and heavy.
It landed squarely in the chest of the shadow holding the dagger.
Crack!
The sound of breaking ribs exploded through the silent room.
The shadow didn't even have time to scream before he went flying, slammed into the opposite wall, then slid down like a lump of mud, blood spraying from his mouth.
"Who's there?!"
The other shadow was so terrified that his soul nearly fled his body. He couldn't make sense of what had happened.
Was this really the same honest-looking laborer from the daytime, who did nothing but put his back into his work?
Before he could figure it out, a large hand shot out of the darkness and clamped around his throat.
Lu Chen sprang from the bed and lifted the man off the ground with one hand. In the darkness, his gaze was that of a predator.
"Urk... urk..."
The man kicked wildly and desperately tried to pry Lu Chen's fingers loose, but that hand was hard as iron and didn't budge.
The intense pressure on his throat made his eyes roll back. Terror of death swallowed him whole.
"Who sent you?"
Lu Chen's voice was low and utterly devoid of emotion.
He eased his grip just enough for the man to draw a breath.
"Cough, cough... It... it was Baldy... He said you had money..."
Tears and snot streaming down his face, the man begged frantically, "Spare me, sir! Please, spare me! We were just blinded by greed for a moment..."
Baldy?
A lecherous figure rose in Lu Chen's mind. He was a scoundrel who lived in the next courtyard, usually idle and forever up to petty thievery.
It seemed his recent habit of buying meat had attracted the wrong sort of attention.
A fierce glint flashed through Lu Chen's eyes.
In this world, kind people got bullied, and gentle horses got ridden.
If he hadn't broken through tonight, if he hadn't been alert, he might be the one lying on the ground now, robbed of every coin—or worse, crippled.
Lu Chen never showed mercy to those who wanted to harm him.
"Next time, keep your eyes open."
Lu Chen tightened his five fingers.
Crack!
With a sharp snap, the man's neck lolled to one side. He was dead.
He tossed the body aside, then walked over to the shadow he had kicked away.
The man wasn't quite dead yet. He writhed in agony on the ground, blood bubbling from his mouth as he stared at Lu Chen in terror. He wanted to beg for mercy, but no sound came out.
"You came all this way. You're not leaving."
Expressionless, Lu Chen raised his foot and crushed the man's throat with one stomp.
In an instant, the room fell as silent as the grave.
The workers around him slept like the dead. The brief scuffle hadn't woken them. Perhaps someone had woken up, but there was no way they'd dare make a sound.
In a place where human lives were cheap as grass, minding your own business was the first rule of survival.
Lu Chen looked at the two corpses on the ground. He felt no disgust or panic at having killed for the first time. Instead, he felt calm.
Perhaps cold blood ran in his veins.
Or perhaps this cruel world had forced him to become cold-blooded.
He crouched down and began searching their bodies.
Since these two had come to rob him, their belongings were his compensation.
It didn't take long for Lu Chen to find two threadbare money pouches and the rusty dagger.
He tipped out the contents and counted them.
There were a total of one hundred and twenty copper coins, along with a few pieces of silver—about one tael altogether.
"Broke as dirt."
Lu Chen curled his lip. He was unimpressed, but he pocketed the money without hesitation.
It was an unexpected windfall, enough to buy quite a bit of meat.
Getting rid of the bodies was a problem.
But this was the slums, not far from the river.
Lu Chen found two burlap sacks, stuffed the bodies inside, added a few heavy rocks, and tied the sacks shut.
Then he hoisted the two heavy sacks and left the courtyard with ease.
Under cover of night, he made his way to a secluded stretch of the riverbank.
The river surged and rushed on without end.
Lu Chen heaved the sacks away. They traced arcs through the air and plunged into the heart of the river, splashing up two insignificant sprays of water before disappearing.
"Dust to dust, earth to earth."
Lu Chen dusted off his hands and turned away.
The bottom of Angry River was full of nameless corpses. Two more made little difference; two fewer, the same.
Even if people noticed the next day that they were missing, nobody would care where two petty thugs had gone.
Back at the courtyard, Lu Chen cleaned the blood off the ground and lay back down.
After all that, he wasn't hungry anymore.
Sometimes, killing was a kind of release.
"Baldy..."
Lu Chen stared at the pitch-black ceiling and silently committed the name to memory.
If you didn't pull out the weeds by the roots, they'd spring up again with the spring breeze.
Since he'd already killed the two men who had carried out the attack, he couldn't leave their instigator alive to celebrate another New Year.
But he couldn't rush it.
If he killed Baldy now, he'd risk leaving evidence behind. He needed the right opportunity to make sure nobody knew how it had happened.
The next morning.
Lu Chen got up as usual, practiced his punches, drank some water, then headed to the docks.
It was as if nothing had happened the night before.
Still, when he walked onto the docks, a number of sharp-eyed people sensed that something about the usually quiet young man was different.
He seemed steadier—and more dangerous.
"Hey, Lu, you're looking pretty good today."
Uncle Wang greeted Lu Chen with a teasing smile.
"I had a good meal."
Lu Chen smiled faintly, showing a row of white teeth.
When he went to collect his job token from the foreman, he unexpectedly spotted a familiar figure.
Baldy.
The man was usually so lazy he practically had mushrooms growing on him. What was he doing at the docks today?
Baldy was craning his neck and peering around the crowd. When he saw Lu Chen walk over, safe and sound, his face turned deathly pale.
He'd sent those two ruthless men after him... so why was Lu Chen still fine?
Had those two taken the money and run?
Lu Chen had spotted Baldy too. Their gazes met.
Lu Chen's expression was calm, even carrying the faintest smile.
But a chill shot from Baldy's soles straight to his crown.
He shuddered, turned, and tried to slip away through the crowd.
"Since you're here, don't rush off."
Lu Chen sneered inwardly.
With a road to heaven open before you, you refused to take it; with no door to hell, you barged straight in.
It might be easier to take care of him here than in the slums.
After all, accidents happened at the docks every day. For example... someone might fall into the river.
Lu Chen collected his token and deliberately chose a job near the river: hauling heavy logs.
It was the hardest, most dangerous work. One careless step and a rolling log could crush your leg—or send you tumbling into the river.
But it paid the most, too.
He shouldered a log weighing several hundred pounds and headed toward the way Baldy had gone, making it look casual.
If you wanted to harm him, you could pay with your life.
Before you continue