Hellish Start - Descent into Slaughter City

Douluo Continent, Slaughter City.

A place without rules, where only slaughter exists.

Scarlet waves of energy erupted incessantly from the scorching magma, immersing this capital in the ecstasy of carnage.

In a dim corner of an alleyway in the inner city, a six-year-old child was hiding. It was hard to imagine a child existing in a place so saturated with bloody slaughter.

His name was Ling Chen, a transmigrator who had descended here from another world.

At that time, he had been searching for the legendary Green Steel Sword in Fuxian Lake; if he had truly managed to get his hands on that, he would have become wealthy overnight.

Ling Chen shoveled the lakebed bit by bit, churning the mud and sand until the water turned murky.

He was lucky enough to actually touch a sword, so without a second thought, he grabbed it and swam in one direction.

However, he was also unlucky; unable to see the path clearly, he accidentally swam into a whirlpool.

He and the Green Steel Sword were both swept into the vortex and vanished.

He only felt his body falling, and the Green Steel Sword in his hand disappeared into thin air.

During this process, the twenty-something Ling Chen continuously regressed in age until he hung from a stubborn, withered tree, his age fixed at six.

At first, Ling Chen thought he had fallen into some hidden cavern beneath a lake, but after landing, he realized he had fallen into a living hell.

During three months of exploration, Ling Chen constantly heard the people of Slaughter City discussing the Hell Slaughter Arena and Yellow Spring Dew, and he realized he had arrived at the most nightmarish place in the Douluo Continent.

Although everyone here was equal and could summon their Martial Soul to fight, they could not use the soul skills attached to their Soul Rings.

But this was extremely disadvantageous for Ling Chen.

He was just a college student turned into a child; a six-year-old without an awakened Martial Soul was nothing more than an ant in Slaughter City.

Ling Chen could only hide in dark corners, scraping by on scraps.

If he wanted to leave this place, he had to kill!

And to kill in this place, one needed either superb martial arts, an invincible weapon, or an incredibly powerful Martial Soul.

For Ling Chen, each of these three things was difficult to achieve.

Yet he had no choice. With no money, no Martial Soul, and no martial arts, surviving until now with such a hellish start was truly no small feat.

However, Ling Chen did not lose heart. While insisting on exercising his body every day, he also observed the methods and techniques others used to kill.

Of course, all of this had to be done stealthily; if he were discovered, he would become a captive sacrifice for someone else's clearance.

Some powerhouses would bind a few weak individuals and bring them to the Hell Slaughter Arena, killing them to ensure their own win rate so they could leave this place sooner.

They usually wouldn't bind many—just one or two. It was labor-intensive, required food, and carried the risk of injury.

Furthermore, the success rate wasn't very high; everyone here was a desperate criminal, and fighting to the death was perfectly normal.

But a child like Ling Chen was different. Snatching up a small child was easy, the risk was low, and they were easy to keep captive; it was almost impossible for them not to harbor sinister intentions toward him.

Currently, Ling Chen's situation was dire. Secrets couldn't be kept forever; just last night, he had been discovered.

At this moment, in the dim alleyway, the sound of messy footsteps grew, inching closer to Ling Chen's position.

"Thump-thump... thump-thump!"

Ling Chen could vaguely hear his own heartbeat accelerating, and a bead of cold sweat slowly slid down his forehead.

For every inch that cold sweat slid down, the footsteps drew an inch closer.

He had nowhere to run; this alley was a dead end, and people rarely came here.

He might be able to resist, but in front of an adult, his resistance would be nothing more than a clown's performance.

Should he beg for mercy? In this place without rules, where only slaughter existed, begging would only make his death uglier.

The footsteps continued to close in. Ling Chen couldn't help but swallow hard. Could he really not escape the fate of death?

Powerlessness, despair, fear... these emotions flooded into every corner of his body along with his blood, and he couldn't stop himself from trembling all over.

Ten steps! He was about ten steps away! Even though the alley was dim, at such a close distance, Ling Chen could clearly see the silhouette of an adult.

Ling Chen held his breath, his trembling body gradually tensing up.

But the footsteps did not continue to approach him. The black shadow, only ten steps away, began to retreat, and the sound of footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

"Did he leave?"

Ling Chen slowly let out a breath, but he did not lower his guard. His tense body slowly relaxed; he could no longer stay in this place.

Ling Chen had to consider finding another place to hide. After the black shadow had been gone for some time, Ling Chen slowly stood up and walked toward the exit of the alley.

But just as he reached the fork in the alley, Ling Chen immediately sensed something was wrong and hurriedly rolled forward.

Looking back, he saw an adult reaching out to grab him, but unfortunately, the man grabbed at empty air.

Ling Chen stood up and bolted, not expecting the man to be so persistent, actually waiting here like a hunter waiting for a rabbit.

The adult was neither angry nor anxious; the thrill of such a hunt was rare in Slaughter City.

It wasn't that there were no weak people here, but someone this weak was a rarity.

The man carried an axe, following Ling Chen leisurely, even deliberately slowing his pace to maintain a certain distance without letting him escape.

Ling Chen ran quickly; three months of persistent training had made him much faster than the average six-year-old child. Yet, in the eyes of an adult Spirit Master, he was nothing more than a "little girl"!

Running wildly, Ling Chen inadvertently ducked into a dead end. Just as he turned to change his route, the cold glint of an axe flashed across the intersection of the alley.

He saw that man strolling slowly toward Ling Chen, toying with his axe in his hand.

"Keep running! Little brat! Weren't you quite good at running?"

The cold light on the axe reflected the man's face. A wide, large scar ran across his forehead, and paired with his fierce, menacing gaze, he looked exceptionally hideous.

Ling Chen retreated continuously, his rapid breathing leaving him at a loss. When the chill emanating from behind stimulated the nerves in his back, he realized he had backed up against the wall of the dead end.

A sense of despair surged into his heart once more. Ling Chen looked left and right, attempting to find a handy weapon on the ground to make a final, desperate struggle.

However, there was nothing on the ground but broken stones and bricks. Yet, Ling Chen noticed a dog hole under the wall to the left. Could it be that there were even spirit beasts in this Slaughter City?

Ling Chen didn't have time to think too much; at least there was still a way to survive! With his six-year-old physique, crawling through the dog hole was easy.

Thus, Ling Chen picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at Scarface.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The stones were blocked one by one by Scarface with his axe. Ling Chen seized the opportunity, lunged toward the dog hole, and scrambled inside with all his might.

Even though the narrow dog hole was filled with gravel, Ling Chen ignored it and pushed his way through.

Scarface had just been smiling while blocking the attacks of this little brat, thinking he had Ling Chen in the palm of his hand, but when he saw Ling Chen crawling through the dog hole, he realized something was wrong!

He raised his axe and rushed toward Ling Chen at high speed. A loud "crack!" echoed as a floor tile in front of the dog hole was cleaved in two.

A cloud of dust rose from the ground and dissipated quickly, but Ling Chen's figure was already gone from the dog hole.

On the other side of the dog hole, a blood-covered Ling Chen held half a brick, staring fixedly at the hole he had just crawled through.

If Scarface dared to follow, Ling Chen would dare to smash his head open.

Silence, a long silence...

Ling Chen's rapid breathing gradually calmed down as time passed.

Humiliation, what a great humiliation! He, a dignified transmigrator, had actually been forced to crawl through a dog hole to survive!

But there was no other way. A six-year-old child in this slaughterhouse was nothing but meat on a chopping block, waiting to be butchered!

Scarface was likely changing directions to circle around the wall, but when Ling Chen looked back, he discovered this was a sealed room with neither doors nor windows.

The only entrance was that dog hole.

There was a pile of bones on the ground, and it wasn't hard to tell they belonged to the former master of this dog hole.

Ling Chen intended to clean the place up to serve as his secret base for the future.

But when he touched the skeleton, a white Spirit Ring flew into Ling Chen's consciousness space, and Ling Chen's consciousness followed the Spirit Ring inside.