A Farce of Dogs Biting Dogs

The bald man whipped his head around, his bloodshot eyes locked onto the scarred man beside him.

His features, usually rendered sleazy by greed, were now completely twisted out of shape.

The directive forced upon him by the system's mission objective was like a red-hot branding iron, searing itself into his dim-witted brain.

In his vision, the brother he usually called kin had transformed into a walking money bag, nothing more than the shimmering "100 points" on his system panel.

The scarred man was currently raising his broad-bladed machete, his face ferocious as he prepared to strike at Su Yu.

He had absolutely no defenses against his accomplice behind him.

The moment the scarred man took half a step forward, a beast-like low growl erupted from the bald man's throat.

He gripped the hilt of his rusty machete with both hands, hoisted it high, and without a shred of hesitation, brought it down hard onto the scarred man's right shoulder!

"Splat!"

The dull sound of a blade cleaving through flesh and muscle exploded across the wilderness.

Blood sprayed wildly.

Dark red blood gushed from the scarred man's shoulder like a fountain, splashing all over the bald man's head and face.

The scalding blood trickled down the bald man's gleaming, hairless scalp and into his eyes, turning his entire field of vision a bloody red.

The blow was vicious; the blade embedded itself deep into the scarred man's collarbone, and the crisp sound of bone snapping was audible.

"Aaaah--!"

The scarred man let out a scream of extreme agony.

The sudden, excruciating pain caused him to stumble forward, nearly collapsing into the mud.

He had no idea what had just happened.

A second ago, they were still plotting how to split the loot from the two children, and the next, his sworn brother had dealt him a lethal blow from behind.

"Are you insane?!"

The scarred man turned his head, his face contorted by the unbearable pain.

He looked at the blood-soaked, crazed-eyed bald man, and a surge of fury and confusion rushed to his head.

The bald man ignored the scarred man's questioning entirely.

His mind held only one thought: complete the system's robbery mission and get those 100 points to exchange for Gold Soul Coin.

"Points! My points! Hand over the money!"

The bald man roared incoherently, straining his hands to pull the machete from the bone so he could strike again.

But the scarred man was, after all, a hardened thug who had spent years licking blood in the wilderness.

After the initial shock, his predatory nature as a bandit was instantly ignited.

Enduring the heart-wrenching pain in his shoulder, he grabbed the bald man's wrist with his left hand to stop him from pulling the blade, while his right hand flipped his own machete, plunging it mercilessly into the bald man's stomach amidst a stench of gore.

"Pfft!"

Another dull thud echoed.

The scarred man's machete pierced straight through the bald man's abdomen, the tip protruding from his back, dragging out a string of bloody visceral fragments.

The bald man stiffened, his eyes bulging wide, his eyeballs protruding unnaturally.

Yet, he did not fall.

The system's forced mission directive had completely stripped him of his fear of pain.

He released his grip on his own blade and, like a maddened wild boar, opened his yellow-toothed mouth and bit down hard onto the scarred man's neck.

For the sake of the system's 100-point reward, the two men hacked and bit at each other in the mud like wild beasts.

Blood splattered, and chunks of flesh flew.

The waist-high weeds around them were trampled flat, and the parched earth was quickly soaked through with warm blood, turning into a nauseating, dark-red quagmire.

The scarred man hammered his fist into the bald man's head again and again, trying to tear his crazed accomplice off his body.

But the bald man held on like a snapping turtle, refusing to let go, his hands clawing frantically at the scarred man's wounds.

The scene was both bloody and absurd.

Tang Wu, hiding behind Su Yu, opened her eyes only to witness this hellish sight.

She was, after all, only a six-year-old girl; she had never seen two grown men slaughtering each other with such disregard for their own lives.

The gushing blood, the spilling entrails, and the beastly roars from their throats instantly shattered her psychological defenses.

"Aaaah--!"

Tang Wu shrieked in terror, her small face instantly drained of all color, turning as pale as paper.

Her body trembled violently, her legs giving way, nearly causing her to collapse to the ground.

Su Yu turned around immediately, his movements swift and gentle as he reached out.

He covered Tang Wu's eyes with his left hand and her ears with his right, pulling her thin, trembling body tightly into his embrace.

"Don't look, don't listen."

Su Yu's voice was low and steady, carrying a power that calmed the heart.

Tang Wu clung tightly to Su Yu's waist, burying her face in his chest, her body still trembling uncontrollably.

Yet, with Su Yu shielding her, the terror of facing the carnage head-on finally eased a little.

After soothing Tang Wu, Su Yu turned his head, watching the farce of dogs biting dogs not far away with a calm expression.

There was not a shred of pity in his eyes, nor any fear, only a detached, high-and-mighty indifference.

Through the Eye of Truth, he could clearly see the two green system panels hovering above their heads.

On the panel above the bald man's head, the mission progress bar flickered incessantly as he attacked the scarred man.

As for the panel above the scarred man's head, it frantically flashed red warnings: [Encountered betrayal by companion, defensive mechanism triggered].

Two puppets controlled by low-level systems, draining their final slivers of vitality for the sake of some insignificant reward.

Su Yu sneered inwardly.

So this is what a cheater with a system looks like?

Without the support of absolute strength, this so-called system is nothing more than a death warrant.

Even if it were a higher-tier system, if the host is an idiot, their ultimate fate would be no better than these two bandits.

The fight in the mud did not last long.

The two were merely ordinary men; without soul power to protect their bodies, they were only hanging on by a single breath after sustaining such fatal wounds.

In less than half an incense stick of time, their movements began to slow.

A large chunk of flesh had been bitten from the scarred man's neck, his windpipe severed, leaving him able to emit only a "hissing" sound of leaking air.

His hands dropped limply into the muddy water, his eyes rolled back, and he went completely still.

The bald man fared no better.

The massive puncture wound in his stomach had drained him of nearly all his blood.

He slowly released his grip on the scarred man's neck, swayed twice, and collapsed heavily into the pool of blood.

In the second before he breathed his last, the bald man was still staring unwillingly at the panel in the void.

Su Yu clearly saw the final prompt pop up on the panel above the bald man's head: [Target deceased, assets not acquired, mission failed. Deducting 50 points. Current points negative, system unbinding...]

A flicker of confusion and despair flashed through the bald man's murky eyes before they lost their luster forever.

The two lay side by side in the pool of blood, turned into two cold corpses.

The surrounding air was thick with the stench of blood.

Just then, a breeze blew by.

The tattered pockets of the bald man and the scarred man flipped open due to their fall.

"Clink."

Several crisp metallic sounds rang out across the quiet wilderness.

A few blood-stained Gold Soul Coin rolled out from their tattered pockets, shimmering with an alluring luster under the sunlight.