Kill!

The instant the shadow broke into the inner room, Chen Yue sat upright, afraid his parents would be harmed.

"Big brother, we only just paid the Pearl Tax a few days ago. There really isn't any extra money left at home."

The shadow's footsteps abruptly halted, and he whipped around!

Above the black cloth, those beastlike eyes suddenly locked onto Chen Yue, narrowing into slits.

"Kid, lie down and sleep! I said lie down, did you hear me?! Make another sound and I'll chop you down with one stroke!"

Almost at the same time, Mother Chen's trembling voice came from the inner room, fear tightly suppressed. "Yue... it's... it's dark! Go to sleep! Don't... don't talk!" Her voice was filled with pleading.

Immediately afterward came Father Chen's hurried, weak voice, utterly humble. "This... this hero, please calm your anger. The child doesn't know better! Lately... lately, the waves at sea have been fierce, and our luck has been terrible. All we found were worthless broken pearls... this, this is all there is. Please, have mercy..."

Chen Shan struggled to prop himself halfway up. His gaunt hand trembled as he fumbled beneath his clothes, then pulled out a slightly larger broken pearl and shakily held it out toward the shadow at the door.

The air seemed to freeze, leaving only the torrential rain and thunder outside, and the stifled breathing within the house.

The man in black looked at the broken pearl Chen Shan offered, then swept his gaze over Mother Chen's terror-stricken, humbly pleading face. There was not a trace of pity in him. Instead, a warped delight began to grow in his heart.

Beneath the black cloth, his lips curled into a sickly smile.

"Tsk. Normally, this would barely be enough."

His tone abruptly shifted, turning cold and greedy. "But lately, my luck's been rotten, and I've got a bellyful of fire. No helping it—I'll have to trouble you people to support me a little more, won't I?"

He deliberately stressed the words "support me," his gaze slithering over Father Chen and Mother Chen like a venomous snake as he savored the sight of them trembling in fear.

Within the Sea Shark Gang, he was nothing more than a minor nobody. Only when facing Pearl Households like these—ants he could trample at will—could he find that feeling of holding the power of life and death, of standing high above all others.

"B-but, sir, we truly have no—" Father Chen pleaded, his voice dry and trembling.

"Shut up!"

The man in black cut him off brutally, savagery blazing in his eyes. "What I need is money! Pearls! Not your bullshit excuses!" His patience seemed to have run out. His gaze swept over Father Chen's injured leg, exposed outside the blanket, the swollen bruising especially glaring in the dim light.

A surge of inexplicable violence rose in his heart. Without any warning, he lifted his leg and viciously kicked at Father Chen's injured calf! The toe of his boot aimed directly at the most swollen spot.

Seeing the dark figure rushing at him, Father Chen's pupils contracted sharply. Instinct made him want to curl up and dodge.

But decades of swallowing humiliation, and the fear of knowing resistance would only bring an even crueler reprisal, instantly crushed that instinct.

At the side, Mother Chen witnessed the scene, and tears instantly filled her eyes. Almost without thinking, she tried to throw herself forward and shield her husband with her own body.

But just as she moved, Father Chen seized her hand tightly.

Don't move! Don't block it! Endure it!

Bang!

A dull impact exploded through the cramped inner room!

The man in black felt a sharp pain and tremendous sideways force strike his shin, making his entire body stagger.

Alarmed and enraged, the man in black spun around, only to see a shadow appear like a ghost!

It was the kid who had spoken in the outer room just now!

Chen Yue moved faster than the man in black could react. The instant he knocked the kick aside, his footwork slipped like a swimming fish, and in the blink of an eye he had slid to the man's side and rear.

His left hand shot out like lightning, five fingers pressed together like iron pincers. Before the man in black's horrified gaze could even focus, Chen Yue had clamped a hand over his mouth and nose, smothering the cry of alarm and curses about to burst out.

At the same time, Chen Yue's right hand flashed out and seized the man in black's thick neck.

Without the slightest hesitation, a cold gleam erupted in Chen Yue's eyes. The tremendous force granted by the Mountain-Climbing Art burst forth in that instant. The muscles in both arms bulged as his five fingers suddenly tightened!

Crack!

A crisp snap, like a dead branch breaking, came from the man in black's neck.

The eyes exposed above the black cloth widened to their limit in that instant, filled with incredulous horror, searing pain, and blank confusion at death's sudden descent.

His entire body convulsed violently several times. A hoarse, leaking sound came from his throat, then all strength drained from him. His body went limp, about to collapse to the floor.

Chen Yue reacted swiftly. The instant the man went limp, his left hand released the man's mouth and cut downward in one motion, catching the hilt of the short blade slipping from his hand before it could hit the ground and make a sound.

At the same time, Chen Yue exerted force with his right arm, steadily supporting the man in black's collapsing body. Then he slowly laid the corpse, together with the short blade, flat upon the cold, muddy ground.

Boom!

Outside, at that very moment, a blinding bolt of lightning that seemed to tear apart the heavens split the night sky, bathing the room in ghastly white. A rolling clap of deafening thunder followed.

By that fleeting, deathly white flash, Father Chen and Mother Chen saw everything on the ground.

The man in black, who had been so ferocious moments ago, now lay silently on the floor like a heap of rotten mud, his neck twisted at an utterly unnatural angle, his eyes wide open.

Mother Chen's pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints. Boundless terror seized her. Almost instinctively, she covered her mouth tightly with both hands, choking back the scream that had already risen to her throat.

Chen Yue stood where he was, looking down at the ground as his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

It was a sensation mixed with the physical shudder of killing for the first time, and an almost hollow, icy fear.

That whole series of actions just now—the kick, closing in, covering his mouth, locking his throat—had all come from the combat instincts contained within the Mountain-Climbing Art.

The moment he saw his father's injured leg about to be kicked, and his mother terrified beyond measure, cold killing intent had already boiled up within Chen Yue. Everything afterward had merely been a natural reaction driven by that killing intent.

Now that the killing intent had ebbed away, the crushing weight of reality and the smell of blood truly surged into his heart.

The deathly silence was broken by Mother Chen's extremely suppressed whisper, trembling as she spoke. "Yue... he... is he... dead?"

Chen Yue took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his body's trembling and the discomfort in his stomach, then nodded. "Dead!"

Father Chen seemed to be jolted awake by that word, "dead," snapping back from his immense shock and fear.

He looked at the corpse of the man in black on the ground, his face deathly pale. Yet years of struggling to survive made him instantly realize what was most urgent.

Chen Shan struggled to get up from the bed, his voice rushed and hoarse. "Yue! Quick! Quick! We... we have to get rid of him at once! While the rain is heavy, throw him into the sea! No one can be allowed to find out! Quick, Dad will help you..."