What Is Tyranny?

The intelligence chief accepted the order and was about to withdraw.

As if suddenly remembering something, he pulled another secret report sealed with black wax from his robes and presented it with both hands.

"Oh, right, Grand Elder..."

His expression turned somewhat strange, carrying a trace of uncertainty.

"Our people discovered something odd while monitoring Shrek's movements."

"Oh?" The Grand Elder raised a brow.

"After those Shrek people carried several crippled men back from the Great Soul Arena, the academy's higher-ups were furious. But strangely enough, they didn't immediately send anyone to trouble the young master. Instead... instead, they secretly dispatched a team as well, escorting an important person north."

The intelligence chief paused, seemingly choosing his words, before lowering his voice.

"According to the information we obtained with great difficulty, that person seems to be... the Ma family's eldest young lady, whose evil fire is nearly impossible to suppress."

This border town was called Blackstone City. Its name was crude as dirt, and its walls were built from dark black rocks. Its only advantage was that they were thick enough to withstand the demonic winds that blew endlessly across the wasteland outside the city.

The city itself was rather lively.

The streets were lined with stalls selling furs and roasted meat. Rough-voiced mercenaries and weather-beaten merchants crowded together, while the air was thick with the scorched aroma of roasted mutton fat, the sour smell of cheap ale, and the stench of livestock.

Wang Dong'er subconsciously tugged at her moon-white dress. The wind pressed the hem against her calves, outlining her slender curves.

She had changed back into women's clothes.

Ever since that day at the Great Soul Arena, she had never wanted to touch Shrek's ridiculous green school uniform again.

Her pink-blue hair was tied behind her head with a simple ribbon, revealing a face of breathtaking beauty. Without the dashing air of male clothing, a young girl's softness and delicacy showed without restraint. She was like a snow lotus blooming in the desert, utterly out of place amid the rough surroundings.

From the moment she entered through the city gates, she had felt at least dozens of undisguised gazes sticking to her—some amazed, some greedy, some filled with naked desire.

It made her deeply uncomfortable, and her brows drew together.

"Not used to it?"

Yu Chen, walking ahead of her, did not turn around, but his voice drifted back on the wind.

"A little," Wang Dong'er replied sullenly.

"Then get used to it." Yu Chen's tone was as calm as if he were commenting on the pleasant weather. "Pretty things always attract flies."

The moment he finished speaking—

A few young men loitering beside a roasted meat stall ahead stepped forward and blocked the road. They were dressed quite respectably; judging by the fabric of their clothes alone, they were clearly on a different level from the rough men around them.

The leader was tall and skinny, his hair slicked down until it gleamed. His triangular eyes brazenly roamed over Wang Dong'er from head to toe. Finally, he grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth hollowed out by drink and debauchery.

"Well, well, little miss. All alone?"

The short, fat man beside him joined in, deliberately puffing out his beer belly. "Come have a drink with your big brothers. What's so fun about wandering around this dump? I guarantee it'll be much more interesting than following that pretty boy. Your big brother has money!"

As he spoke, he pulled out a pouch of jingling gold soul coins and tossed it in his hand.

The crowd watching nearby immediately backed away several steps, clearing out a large open space. Their gazes carried both fear and malicious delight.

Wang Dong'er's face instantly turned cold.

A ripple of soul power belonging to the Light Goddess Butterfly quietly surged within her. Unconcealed disgust and killing intent flashed through her pink-blue eyes.

When had she ever suffered such humiliation in public at Shrek?

Just as she was about to raise her hand—

A warm palm pressed lightly against her wrist.

Wang Dong'er froze and turned to look.

Yu Chen had somehow turned around and was standing beside her. He did not even lift his eyelids, nor did he look at the dandies opposite them who were spraying spittle everywhere. He merely looked down at her, his tone calm.

"Don't move."

"Why?" Wang Dong'er suppressed her anger, though there was a trace of grievance in her voice that she herself had not noticed. "They..."

"Let me ask you: if you saw a few flies buzzing around a pile of shit by the roadside, would you go up and reason with them, telling them they shouldn't be doing that?" Yu Chen interrupted her.

Wang Dong'er was taken aback.

What kind of strange comparison was that?

She instinctively shook her head.

"Then why bother with them?" Yu Chen's tone remained even. "Flies are flies because they can't understand human speech. The more attention you give them, the more they'll think this pile of... cough, this flower smells sweeter, and the louder they'll buzz."

"Then... then what should we do?" Wang Dong'er simply could not make sense of it.

Yu Chen finally lifted his eyes and glanced at the few men opposite them who were still spewing filth. His gaze was like one cast upon a few dead cockroaches lying at the edge of a table.

"When dealing with flies..."

As he spoke, he raised his right hand.

"This is how it should be done."

Yu Chen curled his index finger and casually flicked it forward at the air.

There was no soul power fluctuation, no flash of light, not even the faintest sound of wind.

Opposite them—

The lewd grin on the tall, skinny man's face had not yet faded. He was just reaching out to grab Wang Dong'er's sleeve.

Crack!

An incredibly crisp yet utterly terrifying sound of bones breaking rang out without warning.

Then came a second, a third, a fourth...

Crack! Crack! Crack!

It was like someone smashing walnuts with an iron hammer, the sounds melding into one.

"Ah—!!!"

A miserable scream, so shrill it barely sounded human, exploded into the air.

The tall, skinny man and the dandies behind him seemed to have had the tendons and bones in both legs severed by invisible blades. Their knees bent backward at grotesque angles, and they all dropped to their knees at once.

The men clutched legs that had twisted into knots and rolled madly through the dusty ground. Their faces turned bluish purple from the pain, while tears and snot smeared across their faces.

The street, so noisy moments before, fell into deathly silence.

Everyone was like ducks with their throats seized. Their eyes bulged wide as they stared fixedly at the white-clad youth who still held his flicking pose, every hair on their bodies standing on end.

Yu Chen slowly withdrew his hand, as though he had merely brushed a speck of dust from his sleeve.

He took the still-dazed Wang Dong'er by the hand and walked unhurriedly between the dandies who were rolling around on the ground and screaming in agony.

His leather boots stepped across the stone street without picking up even a trace of blood.

"See? Isn't it much quieter now?"

Yu Chen's voice drifted back from ahead, still carrying that same listless calm.

"Swat it dead in one blow. Don't give it the chance to buzz in your ear, and don't dirty your own hands."

Wang Dong'er let him lead her forward, walking mechanically. Her palms were sweating, and her heart pounded wildly in her chest.

She turned her head and looked at Yu Chen's impossibly handsome profile.

Sunlight fell across his long lashes, casting a faint shadow. His expression had not changed from beginning to end, as if he had merely crushed a few ants instead of crippling several living people.

That indifference toward life, as though it were worth less than grass...