Cleansing the Filth

Looking at the sulfuric acid before him, Bai Ye took a deep breath and viciously pressed both palms into it.

The moment his hands entered the liquid, he could clearly feel the skin on them showing signs of dehydration and carbonization under the acid's corrosion. However, with Bai Ye's current skin toughness, it would probably take dozens of minutes before any obvious wounds appeared.

To finish the process as quickly as possible, he needed to resort to some physical methods.

Feeling his hands gradually heat up, Bai Ye began rubbing the epidermis on them, ensuring that the sulfuric acid seeped into his skin faster.

Bai Ye discovered that as his Spirit attribute increased, his tolerance for pain had also grown day by day. Pain that would once have made him pass out could now be endured without changing expression.

Two minutes later, Bai Ye slowly lifted his hands from the sulfuric acid. The fingerprints and callused layers on his palms had been completely corroded away, blood continuously streaming down from them.

More than ten seconds after his palms left the sulfuric acid, the hands he had pulled out were already beginning to stop bleeding under his powerful healing ability. The charred palms that had been dripping blood soon no longer sent any pain through him, replaced instead by the intense numb itch of flesh regenerating.

Next was his head. Bai Ye tightly closed his eyes and, facing the sulfuric acid that had already become somewhat cloudy below, buried his entire face into it without hesitation.

Half an hour later, Bai Ye's description panel displayed:

You used sulfuric acid to damage the epidermis of your head and hands once. Total time required for complete recovery: 156 minutes...

Repeated 132 times, Constitution increased by 0.1

Repeated 65 times, Spirit increased by 0.1

Looking at the information on the description panel, Bai Ye could not help frowning with his terrifying face.

Yesterday, the time needed for complete healing had still been three hours. This morning alone, it had been reduced by thirty minutes. Moreover, as his Constitution improved, sulfuric acid took longer to damage his skin, making his situation even more urgent.

He had actually considered dislocating an arm or tearing off his facial skin to better conceal his identity. But considering how difficult it would be to dispose of the excess body tissue, and that he would have to deal with those severed limbs after every operation, he could only abandon the idea.

After casually putting away the sulfuric acid, Bai Ye changed clothes, draped himself in a black cloak, and left through the back door. Following secluded paths without surveillance cameras, he ran toward Manhattan in New York City.

At that moment, in Chinatown in Lower Manhattan, at the southern end of Manhattan, New York, a Chinese man in his forties with two thin mustaches reclined in a lounge chair.

The man wore an old-fashioned long gown and constantly rolled walnuts in his hand. Beside him stood a young man, bowing and scraping.

"Xiao Wang, I heard two gangs on that slum property got taken out?" The man looked at the young man beside him.

"Yes, Li Shu. According to the cops, it was done by a disfigured man. They suspect it was mutant revenge," Xiao Wang said respectfully.

"New York hasn't been peaceful lately." Li Shu shook his head and sighed. "No wonder that kid A Bai used to commit crimes in those small cities. New York is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Who knows what big fish you might provoke?"

"Li Shu, do you think Bai Ye will agree to give us thirty million?" Xiao Wang asked from the side.

"He's a smart man. With his current fame, he'll earn thirty million back soon enough. He won't fight us to the death over such a small sum."

Li Shu said with certainty, then smiled viciously. "I'm going to feed off this secret for the rest of his life!"

As he spoke, Chinatown outside the estate had already grown lively.

In broad daylight, a bald man whose head was covered in burn scars walked steadily down the street, right under everyone's noses, toward the center of the street.

"What are you doing?" Bai Ye's cityscape-ruining appearance caused a New York police officer nearby to block his path and prepare to question him.

But Bai Ye could not be bothered with nonsense. He swung a slap and knocked the officer unconscious, then stepped over the New York police officer's body and continued forward beneath the fearful, wary gazes of those around him.

With everyone watching, Bai Ye suddenly stopped before a large redwood gate.

Looking at the residence he had often come and gone from a year ago, Bai Ye raised his foot and stomped forward fiercely.

"Boom!"

As terrifying strength erupted, the thick door bolt snapped instantly. The heavy redwood gate was kicked flying by Bai Ye, breaking in half at its waist in midair before crashing down.

If knocking out a police officer could still be explained as natural brute strength, then this was unquestionably beyond the realm of ordinary humans. The onlookers outside retreated several more steps.

The two gang members originally guarding the estate stared at the gate that had suddenly flown sideways and the terrifying man standing before it. Terror filled their hearts as they instinctively asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Without wasting a moment, Bai Ye was already standing before them. His hands clamped around their necks like vises, and he twisted hard.

"Crack! Crack!"

With two crisp snaps of breaking bone, the two gang members could only clutch their severely twisted, deformed necks in agony as they collapsed.

Before losing consciousness, they heard a hoarse voice come from the man's mouth, answering their question:

"Here to cleanse the filth from this world!"

At that moment, the other gang guards within the estate also came to their senses. But before they could draw their guns, Bai Ye's vicious gaze, overflowing with killing intent, had already locked onto them.

A distance of merely six or seven meters took Bai Ye less than a second to cross.

He stomped down hard, and the immense recoil launched him straight into their midst.

In their vision, Bai Ye's scar-covered palm suddenly enlarged before their eyes before landing solidly on the crowns of their heads.

"Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Though the contact lasted only an instant, when Bai Ye released his palms again, clear palm prints had appeared on their foreheads.

Under the tremendous downward impact, their necks were forcibly pressed into their chests by Bai Ye. Their cervical vertebrae shattered into several sections, and their legs weakly dropped to their knees as all breath left their bodies.

At that moment, the room door was violently shoved open, and Xiao Wang, the young man who had been bowing and scraping beside Li Shu moments ago, came out and shouted, "Do you idiots have no sense of propriety? Li Shu is resting inside, why are you making so much noi—"

But before he could clearly see the scene before him, Bai Ye's fist rapidly expanded in front of him, filling his entire field of vision.

Like a watermelon exploding, the sight repeated itself atop Xiao Wang's shoulders. Bright red liquid and pale jelly-like matter instantly splattered out, coating half the room behind Xiao Wang.

Li Shu lay in his chair, blankly staring at the pile of minced flesh covering him. A rusty stench rushed into his nose, making him nearly vomit.

Seeing Li Shu's utterly bewildered expression, Bai Ye curled his lips into a grin, revealing his stark white teeth.

If this old bastard had not called him out of nowhere, he would not have had to suffer so much.

Under Li Shu's bewildered gaze, Bai Ye turned around and slowly closed the door.

As the door shut tightly, agonized screams rang out from the room, only gradually fading after a full minute.