He Had to Eat People!

"Unlimited beef?" Zhou Tian was a little surprised.

"That's right! Eat as much as you want! Just no taking any away!"

"What does beef taste like?"

Zhou Yu was terribly curious. Beef counted as white meat, and it was outrageously expensive. Their family had never bought any.

"Big Brother will take you to try it someday. Dad, Mom, hurry up and eat. I'm going out for a walk."

"It'll be dark soon. Don't stay out too long."

"Okay!"

Zhou Chen waved with a beaming smile. The instant he turned around and shut the door, the smile vanished from his face, replaced by a chill.

Having a home felt wonderful!

So whoever dared touch his family had to die!

Zhou Chen glanced at the sky outside, took out the cloth he had prepared long ago and tucked it into his clothes, then left home.

He had not been idle these past few days. He had already found out the exact addresses of Zhang Mingfei and several of his underlings.

Crossing a stagnant pool and a muddy pit, Zhou Chen slipped past a vendor's cart and arrived at the entrance of a dilapidated alley. Several stray dogs were fighting over a bloody chunk of meat there, though it was impossible to tell what it was.

He walked over, his surging blood and vitality bearing down on them. The dogs whimpered and fled with their tails tucked between their legs.

Zhang Mingfei lived in a ramshackle shed, one even worse than Zhou Chen's home.

Feeling the heavy stone in his clothes, Zhou Chen looked around. Once he was certain no one was nearby, he went to the shed window and peered inside.

After waiting a while, footsteps sounded outside. Zhang Mingfei, reeking faintly of alcohol and red-faced from drink, walked home while humming a tune. He seemed to be in a fine mood, likely because he was thinking about another deal he could close tomorrow.

Yet the moment he reached his door, he spotted someone in the corner with their head wrapped in cloth and froze.

"Brother Fei?"

That person walked toward him, smiling as they greeted him.

"Who are you?"

Zhang Mingfei blinked in confusion.

"You forgot? We even drank together last time."

He saw that person seemed to be greeting him, but when they raised a hand, a clump of ash came flying straight at him. It struck him square in the face, burst apart, and gray powder smeared across his eyes, drawing a miserable scream from him!

"Ah!"

Zhang Mingfei instantly sobered up by more than half.

Watching Zhang Mingfei flail his arms wildly, Zhou Chen snorted coldly. He pulled out the stone from his clothes, gathered every ounce of strength in his body, and smashed it viciously down on Zhang Mingfei's head!

Bang!!!

Zhou Chen saw countless splashes of red and white burst before his eyes, like a watermelon shattering apart!

Zhang Mingfei's skull instantly caved in. He staggered, then crashed to the ground with a thud. His body twitched as blood continuously gushed from his mostly collapsed head.

But Zhou Chen still refused to stop. He raised the stone and smashed Zhang Mingfei's head again and again. This world was far too strange—who knew whether Zhang Mingfei's corpse might come into contact with the Black Mist at night, mutate, and return for revenge? Zhou Chen had read plenty of similar plots in books in his previous life.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Blow after blow, until Zhang Mingfei's head had completely turned to pulp, did Zhou Chen finally gasp for breath and toss aside the blood-dripping stone.

So this was killing someone?

Zhou Chen's hands trembled, and his heart hammered wildly. In truth, Zhang Mingfei had already been dead beyond dead after the first strike. Yet Zhou Chen had continued smashing him many times, until the stone hit the ground with a bang and the shock ran up into his trembling hands, wrenching him out of that blank state of mind.

He had thought he would be afraid, but instead, a trembling thrill surged within him. It felt as though ants were crawling through the cracks in his bones, itching unbearably.

Not enough!

It wasn't over yet!!!

He had to vent that knotted resentment in his chest!!!

Zhou Chen grabbed some dry grass and wiped the blood from his hands and body, then lowered his head and walked out.

When he left, he deliberately turned to scan the surroundings. Zhang Mingfei's home was remote. No one had noticed this place, and no one knew what had happened here.

Next were Zhang Mingfei's lackeys!

One, two! Three!

Zhou Chen struck ruthlessly, killing Zhang Mingfei's underlings one by one. His hands had trembled when he killed Zhang Mingfei, but when he killed the remaining hooligans, his heart was as calm as ice.

When he went to the fourth house.

This home was even more remote than Zhang Mingfei's, wedged between a row of abandoned sheds. One corner of its thatched roof had collapsed, held down with several broken planks.

Zhou Chen walked to the base of the wall and glanced inside through the broken window.

A family of three was gathered around a low table, eating dinner.

The bowls and plates on the table were all chipped, but they had been arranged neatly.

A man was lowering his head as he placed food into the bowl of a little girl of seven or eight.

That man was Zhang Mingfei's fourth lackey. Zhou Chen had seen him several times before—a face so ordinary it would disappear into a crowd. At that moment, he was crouched beside the table, picking out a piece of belly meat from the fish with his chopsticks and placing it in the little girl's bowl. Grinning, he said, "Eat more. Tomorrow, Dad will bring you some snacks again."

The little girl wore two crooked little braids. She raised her face, her eyes curving into crescents as she smiled, her voice crisp and bright. "Dad keeps his word!"

"I keep my word, I keep my word." The man reached out and rubbed his daughter's head.

Seeing this, Zhou Chen suddenly realized that if he killed this man—

With no man left in the household, in this man-eating world, he did not even need to think to know what awaited that mother and daughter. Either thugs would set their sights on them, or they would be sold into some dark brothel and swallowed until not even their bones remained.

A home without a man was like a piece of meat tossed by the roadside.

Zhou Chen sighed, then turned and left.

Not long afterward, the man inside came out in slippers and walked to the base of the wall to untie his pants.

He yawned and hummed an off-key little tune. He was probably still thinking about what snacks to buy his daughter tomorrow.

Just as he was halfway through relieving himself, the corner of his eye suddenly caught sight of an extra shadow in the darkness.

Before he could open his mouth, a thick hemp rope coiled around his neck like a venomous snake.

"Ghk!"

His eyes bulged as he made a rasping sound. Both hands clawed frantically at the rope around his neck, his feet kicking wildly, but it was already too late.

The one who had struck was Zhou Chen, who had doubled back.

In the shadow by the wall, a terrifyingly mad light shot from Zhou Chen's eyes. His arms shook violently from the sustained exertion, and the knuckles gripping the rope had turned white. Gritting his teeth, he used every last ounce of strength to tighten the hemp rope in his hands.

Crack! Crack!

As the hemp rope constricted like a python, the sound of bones breaking rang out. The man seemed to have suddenly had all the bones pulled from his body—his wildly kicking feet fell limp, and the hands clutching at the rope also drooped weakly.

Only then did Zhou Chen gasp for breath and release his grip, laying the man's corpse on the ground. Still uneasy, he crushed the man's throat, then searched through the corpse's pockets before quietly leaving.

There was no helping it. In this era where human lives were cheaper than grass, if he was not ruthless, then tomorrow the one who would be abducted, sent into the Feng Household, and played to death would be his little sister, the one who had stood on tiptoe to touch his new clothes.

Don't blame me. You forced me! You all forced me!!!

Zhou Chen repeated it over and over in his heart. Tossing away the stone, he turned and left.

He had not gone far when he heard the wailing cries of a woman and girl behind him, but there was no ripple left in his heart.

Suffering would not make him someone above others. He had to eat people!!!