Sonic Boom

Under the hazy moonlight, in the dead of night.

The slowly walking corpse gave off an intense air of gloom and horror.

That ghost from last night had been frightening too, but he had not seen it with his own eyes. It was as though a layer separated them, unable to leave a deeper impression on him.

Yet this eerie corpse stood right before him, real and tangible.

Strange and chilling!

At first sight, even Chen Shouyi felt goosebumps rise all over his body.

Perhaps it had already been dead for a day. Old Man Wang's corpse had begun to rot, and Chen Shouyi could vaguely smell the faint stench of decay.

Far down the alley, several bold figures were secretly watching, not daring to come any closer.

Chen Shouyi guessed they were probably Old Man Wang's relatives and family.

Having encountered something like a corpse rising in the middle of the night, the whole family was likely scared out of their wits by now.

According to local custom, when a family member died, a mourning hall would be set up the following night and funeral rites held, with the body not sent to the crematorium until the early hours of the third day.

But given the current situation, with the streets clogged and the power out, no one knew how long they would have to wait before it could be taken to the crematorium.

Old Man Wang's shriveled corpse slowly approached, soon reaching the window below him. The stench of decay grew stronger and stronger, enough to make one retch.

The corpse did not stop. It soon walked away into the distance.

Chen Shouyi watched for a while, then returned to bed. He had only lain down for a short time when loud shouts came from outside.

"Who goes there?"

"Stop!"

"Or I'll shoot!"

Since last night, military police had been patrolling Dongning City's main streets day and night. Perhaps they had noticed something strange about Old Man Wang. Several dull gunshots soon rang out, turning the silent midnight noisy.

Chen Shouyi did not go over to join the commotion. He opened his eyes and quietly stared at the ceiling.

He suddenly missed Zhang Xiaoyue and wondered how she was doing.

Unfortunately, ever since the internet had gone down, they had been out of contact for a long time.

The next day, the power still had not returned.

The streets had grown even more desolate. Other than workers repairing power lines everywhere, pedestrians were few and far between, and everyone was uneasy.

That morning, Chen Shouyi went to school, only to discover in disappointment that classes had been suspended. The gates were tightly shut, and there was not a soul inside.

He then went to the residential complex where Zhang Xiaoyue lived. He lingered there for a long time, looked at his phone with no signal, and could only leave helplessly in the end.

Chen Shouyi did not know which building Zhang Xiaoyue's family lived in, much less which apartment.

Even if he did know, it would not be appropriate for him to show up at her door unannounced.

Before he knew it, he had wandered near the Unfinished Building again and discovered that traffic police were posting notices everywhere.

Chen Shouyi went over and took a look.

The notice concerned the traffic jam.

It required all owners who had left their cars on the roads to be sitting in them by noon the next day, ready at any time to cooperate with clearing the roads. If they failed to show up or their vehicles could not be started, the cars would be treated as scrap vehicles.

Most of the cars here could actually still be driven. Only a small number were truly immobile, but it was precisely those broken-down vehicles that had brought the entire stream of traffic to a standstill.

The higher-ups were getting serious this time.

Thinking about it, though, it made sense. If the cars were allowed to remain in the streets, the roads would likely stay blocked indefinitely. Not only would it impede travel, it would also make restoring order in the city far more difficult.

At the summit of Mingshan Park.

There stood a massive ginkgo tree.

October was nearly halfway over, and the ginkgo leaves had begun to turn yellow. As a strong gust swept through, the leaves rustled, fluttering down one after another like dancing butterflies.

Suddenly, something like an afterimage flashed past.

It came with the shriek of tearing air.

Before those leaves could even fall to the ground, a small Sonic Boom shredded them to pieces.

A handsome youth with red lips and white teeth stood beneath the ginkgo tree, a branch in hand and a sharp gaze in his eyes.

A sword had to be accurate, but it had to be fast as well.

Compared to bouncing balls, leaves were lighter, their trajectories more unpredictable, and they were more easily affected by the airflow stirred up when he thrust. Yet his high-speed judgment and lightning-fast sword strikes reduced those disruptive factors to a minimum.

He glanced at the branch in his hand and found that its tip had been blasted by the Sonic Booms from his previous full-force thrusts into a tuft of loose fibers.

This was the summit of Mingshan Park, the largest park in Dongning City.

Since military police still had not been reduced on the streets, Chen Shouyi could not return to the Space Channel in the Unfinished Building and had no choice but to practice here. Fortunately, the place was quite deserted at times like this, and few people came here.

After his latest enhancement, with all his attributes complementing one another, the speed of his sword strikes had increased by nearly fifty percent.

During today's practice, he discovered that he had finally broken the sound barrier.

"However, these Sonic Boom thrusts put quite a burden on the body. Toward the end, I could clearly feel a terrifying resistance, as if I were thrusting into an iron plate. After only several dozen consecutive strikes, the recoil had already left my body somewhat numb." Chen Shouyi frowned slightly.

"Fortunately, martial arts exertion involves mobilizing as many muscles as possible to contribute force, and the corresponding recoil is evenly distributed among those muscles."

Really, it was only because his physique was so robust. If it had been another martial artist with comparable strength and agility, they would probably have managed at most one or two thrusts before coughing up blood. And if he were in the Otherworld, with his innate ability of Natural Healing, the effects would be even weaker—negligible.

Just then, laughter and chatter drifted over from afar.

Before long, a young couple came walking over, arm in arm.

"It's so quiet here. There isn't a single person around. I'm scared."

If there were people around, I wouldn't have come, the young man thought.

"With me here, what are you afraid of? There's an old ginkgo tree on the hilltop. I heard it's several hundred years old. I wonder if it's shed its leaves yet."

Thinking of her boyfriend's strength, the girl's worries eased considerably, though she still did not want to come to such deserted places too often. "Let's just take a look, then head back early. I heard public security hasn't been very good lately."

"Huh, looks like someone's here," the young man said, sounding somewhat disappointed.

When the girl saw him, his features were delicate and refined, with a hint of youthful innocence. He was probably still a student; at a glance, he did not look like a bad person. She let out a breath of relief. "Really? What's he doing?"

"What a nuisance!" Chen Shouyi frowned slightly as he watched the couple, left with no choice but to stop.

He walked over to a nearby pavilion and sat down, taking the opportunity to rest for a while. He planned to wait until they left before continuing his sword practice.

The couple embraced affectionately beneath the ginkgo tree for a while.

Soon, the young man seemed to whisper something in the girl's ear.

The girl immediately smacked him, her face flushing crimson.

Then the young man walked toward Chen Shouyi.

"Buddy, do me a favor and make room for us."

Chen Shouyi gave the pavilion a strange look. "It's this big, and there's still not enough room for you two to sit?"

The young man frowned, displeasure written all over his face. "What I mean is, leave this place and go somewhere else to hang out. Do me a favor."

Chen Shouyi understood now, and he was displeased as well.

"Who are you? Why should I do you a favor?"

He had finally found a place to practice, and this guy had come over to interrupt him. Fine, he could let that slide—but now the bastard was trying to push his luck.

The young man froze, apparently not expecting Chen Shouyi, who looked like nothing more than a high school student, to refuse.

Have high school students gotten this arrogant these days?

"Fuck, can't you understand human speech? Don't mistake my courtesy for weakness. You looking for a beating?"

Anger surged in Chen Shouyi's chest. The oppressive atmosphere of the past two days had already left him irritated; now, he was a spark away from exploding.

"I'll beat your mother!"

He suddenly kicked at the man's thigh. The young man clearly practiced martial arts too, and his reaction was extremely quick. His leg instinctively pulled back at once, but it was still too late. Chen Shouyi's toe struck his thigh hard. An indescribable numb soreness shot through him, and his right leg immediately buckled, dropping him to one knee.

"So that's why you're so cocky at such a young age—you've actually got some skills." After frowning and recovering for several seconds, the young man stood back up, his face full of rage. "That kick had some power, but compared to a real Martial Apprentice, you're still far behind."