Death!

"Damn, is this just a student?"

The bald, burly man lowered the heavy machine gun he had been carrying, pointing the muzzle toward the ground.

His previously taut nerves relaxed instantly, replaced by a surge of rage and frustration at having been played for a fool.

"Kid, where are the Shadow Cats that were here just now? Did you kill them?"

He strode forward, his boots crunching loudly against the gravel, and loomed over Lin Fan, staring him down.

Lin Fan shrank his neck, looking as if he had been scared witless by the man's murderous aura; he shook his head repeatedly, his cheeks trembling.

"I... I just got here."

His voice wavered, carrying the distinct, cracking pitch of a boy going through puberty.

"I... I didn't see any cats. I just heard a noise and got scared, so I hid."

"Bullshit!"

The scrawny team member holding the detector stepped forward, pointing the combat knife still stained with dark red blood at Lin Fan's nose.

The tip of the blade was less than five centimeters from Lin Fan's eyeball.

"With a stench of blood this thick, you dare say you didn't see anything?"

The scrawny member looked suspicious, his gaze cold, and he even reached out to shove Lin Fan's shoulder.

"Did another martial artist squad just leave? What did they look like? Which way did they go? Start talking, or I'll cut your tongue out!"

In their fixed mindset, this student—wearing work boots, carrying a tattered bag, and looking soft and pampered—couldn't possibly be the killer who took down the Shadow Cats.

Are you kidding?

Shadow Cats were speed-type monsters; even an average martial artist squad would have to struggle for a long time to fight them.

This kid didn't even have a decent blade on him, so how could he have killed them?

By biting them to death?

At most, he was just an unlucky passerby who had the misfortune of running into their line of fire.

"I... I really don't know, sirs. I just came here to scavenge some scrap metal to make a living..."

Lin Fan took a step back, appearing terrified, his eyes filled with a look of pure, naive helplessness.

"Boss, stop wasting time with him."

The scrawny member glanced back at the bald captain, his face full of impatience.

"This kid looks pathetic. Everything he's wearing probably isn't even worth as much as my socks."

"He's likely just a student who hasn't graduated yet and snuck out here hoping to strike it rich."

As he spoke, his gaze fell greedily on the canvas bag on Lin Fan's back.

Although it looked flat and didn't seem to contain anything valuable, what if it held some scraps left behind by the experts from earlier?

Even a few pieces of high-energy compressed biscuits were worth money.

"Even a mosquito's leg is meat."

The bald, burly man spat a glob of saliva onto the ground, looking thoroughly annoyed.

He had been counting on those Shadow Cats to earn a few tens of thousands, but coming up empty-handed left him with a pent-up rage he had nowhere to vent.

"Kid, leave your bag, empty out all your pockets, and then get lost."

The bald man grinned, revealing teeth yellowed from years of smoking cheap cigarettes.

"Consider yourself unlucky to have run into me on a day when I'm in a bad mood."

This was the law of the Wilderness Zone.

Naked, survival of the fittest.

When there was no harvest, even a stray dog passing by would get a kick, let alone a lone scavenger who looked like he had no ability to resist.

Lin Fan stood there with his eyes lowered.

He seemed hesitant, or perhaps afraid.

But in reality, his gaze, which appeared dull and sluggish, was actually scanning the four men in front of him with lightning speed.

Bald captain, armed with a modified heavy machine gun; team members, armed with standard combat knives...

Having already seen blood, Lin Fan felt nothing but indifference toward these vicious scavengers, beyond a feigned fear.

It was the disregard for life that came when all rules were stripped away.

Lin Fan took a deep breath and raised his head.

The expression of terror and cowardice vanished in an instant, like a receding tide.

In its place was a calm that was impossible to decipher.

Perhaps, there was even a hint of anticipation?

"Um, I'd like to ask something."

Lin Fan spoke.

His voice was no longer trembling; it was steady, almost eerily so, carrying clearly through the wind to everyone's ears.

"This is the Wilderness Zone, right?"

"If... and I mean if, someone were to die here, does no one care? Does no one investigate?"

This nonsensical question left the four men stunned.

A moment later, a roar of laughter erupted.

"Hahahahaha!"

The four of them acted as if they had heard the greatest joke in the world, laughing until they were doubled over.

The scrawny member even clutched his stomach exaggeratedly, nearly dropping the combat knife in his hand.

"Care? Investigate?"

The bald man laughed until tears almost came to his eyes. He looked at Lin Fan as if he were an idiot, pointing his finger at the desolate, silent ruins around them.

"Kid, did you study yourself stupid? Or did a donkey kick you in the head?"

"Open your dog eyes and look around. Where do you think you are?"

"This is the Wilderness Zone! This is a lawless land!"

The bald man's expression turned ferocious. He leaned in close to Lin Fan and growled:

"Here, my gun is the law! My blade is the truth!"

"Even if I killed you right now and chopped you into pieces to bury under that red soil, who would know we did it? Who would come to investigate a piece of dead trash?"

"I understand."

Lin Fan nodded.

"So that means there's no need to take responsibility."

"That's great."

Lin Fan whispered to himself.

"What?"

The scrawny member standing at the front paused.

He vaguely felt that the boy's eyes had changed, changing into something that made his skin crawl.

It was as if... he were looking at prey.

But his brain hadn't yet processed this dangerous signal.

The next second.

Lin Fan's fingers moved slightly, and Calamity appeared instantly.

However, the position of its appearance was very deliberate.

Lin Fan's plan was simple: at a distance of less than a meter, a heavy, long weapon couldn't be swung effectively, so he had no intention of sweeping it.

Instead, he chose the simplest and most brutal method.

The three-thousand-kilogram Calamity appeared without warning directly above the head of the scrawny member closest to him.

No swinging required.

No technique required.

Only the purest, most irresistible—

Gravitational acceleration!

"Go to hell!"

Lin Fan spat out the words coldly. As he leaped backward, his telekinetic power wrapped around Calamity and slammed it down!

Splat!

A sickening, muffled thud echoed.

It sounded like a plastic bag filled with tomato sauce being instantly crushed by a hydraulic press.

The scrawny member didn't even have time to scream.

The entire man was crushed from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet by the sudden three-ton weight!

Without any buffer, he was instantly transformed into a meat patty plastered against the ground!

Blood mixed with shattered bone sprayed outward in a radial pattern, splashing directly onto the face of the bald man standing nearby.

It was hot.

It was pungent.

The entire scene fell into a deathly silence.