My Rules

When they arrived at the assembly point, everyone was there. The night descended like ink, and the four teams stood in silence. The torchlight flickered, casting shifting shadows on everyone's faces. Wang Quan led his people into the formation, the only sounds the soft tread of footsteps and suppressed breaths.

The patrol route was the same as always, west along the city wall. Before long, a few stiff figures emerged from the overgrown weeds. Their skin was dark blue, their movements sluggish – the lowest grade of half-finished zombies. Wang Quan didn't move, signaling Shi Zhu and the others to handle them. After a few muffled thuds and brief growls, several headless corpses lay on the ground. A rotting stench filled the air.

Killed low-grade Walking Corpse, gained 1 Skill Point.

Killed low-grade Walking Corpse, gained 1 Skill Point.

Killed low-grade Walking Corpse, gained 2 Skill Points.

Notifications sounded in his mind one after another. Wang Quan frowned. Zombies were appearing too frequently in this area, as if drawn by something. Could there be a concentration of malevolent energy nearby? Was this the prelude to a great misfortune? He made a mental note.

Just as the team finished clearing the zombies and prepared to move on, a grating slithering sound suddenly came from the shadows ahead. Three thick, long shadows emerged from behind the rubble, their scales glinting coldly in the moonlight. It was the same three Snake Demons they had encountered before.

The leading Snake Demon's vertical pupils swept coldly over the team, finally fixing on Wang Quan. It hissed, its tongue flicking, with undisguised irritation. "You, blood food, get over here."

Wang Quan didn't move, merely looking up at it.

Seeing him motionless, the Snake Demon's anger intensified. Its voice suddenly rose, accompanied by a piercing hiss, "Did you tell us everything last time? The more I think about it, the more something feels wrong! Even if that Pig Demon was greedy, it wouldn't have taken this long!"

At this moment, a team member behind Wang Quan couldn't help himself. Mustering his courage, he spoke with a trembling voice, "Great Snake Lord, everything we told you last time was the truth. We wouldn't dare deceive you..."

Before he could finish, the Snake Demon's thick tail whipped out with a fierce wind, lashing out like a whip at the team member. With a dull thud, the man was flung away like a sack before he could even scream, crashing heavily into a pile of rocks several yards away, accompanied by the sound of cracking bones.

"Do you have a right to speak here?" The Snake Demon retracted its tail and spat contemptuously, "Was I talking to you?"

In the distance, the team member curled up amidst the broken stones, his body trembling violently. He bit down hard on his lower lip, blood oozing from the corners of his mouth, forcing the pained groans back down his throat. Only a suppressed gurgle came from his throat, his eyes filled with humiliation and a hatred he dared not show.

Wang Quan watched this scene without any change in his expression. He took a step forward, walking slowly and deliberately to the leading Snake Demon. The Snake Demon looked down at him condescendingly, about to speak again, when Wang Quan suddenly struck!

Fast! So fast it left only an afterimage! A hand covered in fine keratin, with bulging veins, like a pair of iron pincers, precisely and unerringly gripped the Snake Demon's thick neck!

The Snake Demon's massive body stiffened abruptly. Its vertical pupils instantly contracted into thin slits, filled with shock and disbelief. It tried to struggle, but the strength emanating from that hand was terrifyingly immense, making its neck bones creak and threatening to suffocate it. Its tail thrashed wildly in the air but couldn't budge that arm in the slightest.

"You...!" The other two Snake Demons finally reacted, roaring in a mixture of shock and anger, "A mere blood food, trying to rebel? Let go of our elder brother! Who gave you the courage to do this? Don't you understand the rules?!"

Wang Quan didn't even look at them, his gaze fixed on the Snake Demon's eyes, which were turning red from lack of oxygen. With his other hand, he slowly drew the Blood Drinking Saber from his waist. The blade was dull but emitted a faint, bloodthirsty glow.

Without any warning, the tip of the saber plunged into the Snake Demon's chest! With a thwack, warm demon blood splashed out, a few drops landing on Wang Quan's face. He didn't even blink.

Silence fell instantly, broken only by the crackling of the torches and the heavy gasps of the injured team member in the distance. Everyone held their breath, able to hear their own hearts pounding.

"Rules?" Wang Quan spoke, his voice unusually calm, a stark contrast to the ruthless actions of his hands. "My rules are the rules." He twisted his wrist, churning the blade within the Snake Demon's body, producing a sickening muffled sound. "Alright, now you can all go meet the Pig Demon together."

His voice was not loud, but it fell like shards of ice into the ears of every living creature. Each calm word was accompanied by an unsparing stab of the blade. The muscular snake body, under his hands, was soon mangled and bloody.

The Snake Demon initially struggled fiercely, its thick tail gouging deep marks into the ground, but the hand gripping its neck remained unmoving. Gradually, its struggles weakened, and the light in its vertical pupils rapidly faded.

The other two Snake Demons were frozen in place by the sudden turn of events. It wasn't until Wang Quan yanked the Blood Drinking Saber from the snake corpse and casually flung it! The long saber transformed into a black lightning bolt, and with a thwack, it pinned one of the Snake Demons' heads directly to the ground!

Almost the instant the saber left his hand, Wang Quan's figure flickered, appearing like a phantom before the last Snake Demon. As the Snake Demon raised its claw, Wang Quan's hand was already on its skull. He closed his fingers, crack! The sound of shattering bone was clear and distinct, red and white matter oozing from between his fingers. The Snake Demon didn't even grunt before collapsing softly to the ground.

Wang Quan released his hand, watching the dead Snake Demon fall to the ground with a dull thud. He turned to the team members who stood there stiffly, his tone as casual as if he were giving an everyday instruction. "Dispose of the bodies."

The team members were as stiff as wood, their minds blank, completely unable to comprehend what had just happened. It wasn't until Wang Quan's cold gaze swept over them that they jolted as if waking from a dream and hastily set to work, fumbling to deal with the three massive Snake Demon corpses, forcing themselves to stomach the task of extracting the demon cores.

Wang Quan walked over to the Snake Demon pinned to the ground, pulled out the Blood Drinking Saber, and flicked the bloodstains off the blade. "Now you won't have to look for it anymore. You can reunite directly." He glanced at the busy team members. "Hurry up. We still have to patrol."

The team members lowered their heads, not daring to look at him. The face was still familiar, but at this moment, it felt utterly strange. Finally, Shi Zhu couldn't help but look up, his face flushed, his lips trembling for a long time before he managed to squeeze out a shaky question, "Why... why?"

Wang Quan looked at him, puzzled. "Why what?"

Several team members' faces turned redder, their eyes wide, their chests heaving. Why did he suddenly attack? Why was he confronting them one second, and the next, slaughtering all three Snake Demons like cattle? Why could he be so calm when he attacked, when he wasn't like this just a few days ago!

This was completely beyond their comprehension. Shi Zhu suppressed the turmoil in his heart, swallowed, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Why did you kill them? Aren't you afraid of the Demon Race besieging the city? Or... do you already have a way to deal with the trouble ahead, sir?"

"What solution?" Wang Quan frowned, seemingly finding the question strange. He said calmly, "I didn't want to lie, and I didn't want it to keep asking, so I found a compromise that would satisfy everyone."

"This... this is a reason?" Shi Zhu gasped.

Seeing that Wang Quan had no intention of explaining further, he wisely shut his mouth and buried his head in processing the corpses. However, the shock and confusion in his heart remained. How could he not understand this lord at all after such a short time?