Acid Rain!

The battle was completely one-sided.

Although the Blood Hand Society was full of desperadoes, most of the lives they had taken belonged to other people.

After several rounds of gunfire from the Flame Army's marksmen, followed by the troops charging into the crowd and hacking away, the Blood Hand Society members had already collapsed into a rout.

No matter how skilled you were in martial arts, you still feared a cleaver.

And no matter how sharp the cleaver, it still feared firearms.

Believe in science!

The Blood Hand Society believed in science very much. They knew the Flame Army was unstoppable and that their two hundred lives could not stand against it. After dozens of their brothers had died, the rest voluntarily squatted in corners with their hands clasped over their heads or sprawled flat on the ground.

With such decisive actions, they conveyed one important message: Stop fighting, we surrender!

Blood Hand had begun as an assassin, famed throughout the martial world for his nimble movement techniques and unpredictable strikes. But against a brute like Chen Hu, he had no room to display his abilities. Chen Hu practiced a set of military combat punches focused entirely on practicality.

It did not look especially sophisticated, but combined with his immense brute force, every slash of his blade was broad and powerful, leaving Blood Hand completely unable to fight back.

After several dozen exchanges, Chen Hu brought his saber down at Blood Hand's chest.

Blood Hand did not dare take it head-on. He desperately retreated, trying to evade the fatal blow.

He knew that if Chen Hu's blade struck him solidly, his body would be split in two.

Bang.

Having stumbled back too hastily, Blood Hand fell onto the ground on his backside.

He lowered his head to look at his chest and found a bloody mark there.

The saber clearly had not struck him, yet he had somehow suffered such a serious wound.

Blood Hand was horrified. He knew it had been caused by saber qi. This hulking man had actually cultivated saber qi through sheer brute strength?

The Flame Shrine had plenty of thugs and hooligans, but it also had no shortage of capable people.

Chen Hu approached with his saber in hand and placed it against Blood Hand's throat. "I'll give you one last chance. Will you hand him over or not? If you don't hand him over, you'll be the one left here for good."

"I know that even if I hand him over, I'll still be left here for good." Blood Hand's face was deathly pale as he laughed miserably. "I, Blood Hand, have killed plenty of people and done evil all my life. But I never expected to lose my miserable life over something I never did, over someone I never killed. I'm truly wronged."

"You're about to die, yet you're still being stubborn?"

"I'm about to die. What would I still be afraid to admit?" Blood Hand looked up at the Old Man in White Robes and said, "I know what kind of person Bian Zhenxin was. With a barbecue vendor father like you behind him, how would I dare oppose him? I never failed to treat him to good food, good drinks, and good entertainment. Who would have thought you'd pin his death on me?"

"My life is cheap. If I die, then I die. But you'd better watch yourselves. The real murderer of Bian Zhenxin still hasn't appeared."

Bian Feng raised his brows slightly. "Hang him up and roast him."

After a pause, he added resolutely, "As for the real murderer, I'll find them."

Just then, a group of people hurried over from the distance.

The gray-robed guards outside intercepted them. One of their leaders ran over to report to Bian Feng. "Divine Envoy, another group from the Blood Hand Society has arrived. They say they found Scarface's body and were returning to report."

"Scarface? Who's that?" Chen Hu asked.

"Scarface was the owner of that lighter. So he was killed too." Blood Hand knew his chance to survive had arrived, so he hurriedly climbed to his feet and explained, "After Scarface went missing, I sent several groups of brothers to look for him. Now they've finally found their bodies."

"Maybe you sent people to kill them to silence them." Chen Hu's wrist trembled slightly, and a bright red cut appeared on Blood Hand's neck.

"Bring the bodies over," the Old Man in White Robes said.

Before long, a group of gray-robed guards carried several corpses over.

The bodies appeared to have been dead for quite some time. Their limbs were stiff, their skin deathly pale, and a thick stench wafted from them. One corpse had been chewed beyond recognition by some unknown animal, its flesh and organs gone, leaving only a relatively intact skeleton.

The Old Man in White Robes pointed at a middle-aged man with a scar on his face. "He's Scarface?"

"Yes. Because of the scar on his face, we all called him Scarface. Hardly anyone cared what his real name was. He was the owner of that skull lighter."

"So my son was killed by him?"

"I... don't know that," Blood Hand said.

"Then who killed him?" Bian Feng asked grimly.

The coroner stepped forward and searched the body, but found no obvious fatal wound. Only when his fingers reached the back of the man's neck did he cry out, "Qi Control Technique! He was killed by a master of the Qi Control Realm!"

"..."

Everyone was shocked!

Chen Hu said, "How is that possible? How could there be a Cultivator in Hate Mountain District? Even if there were one, he couldn't be an expert in the Qi Control Realm. Coroner, did you get it wrong?"

The coroner had been brought by Bian Feng from the Lingyang District, so he had little respect for an Adjutant from a settlement like Chen Hu. Hearing his professional judgment questioned, he said unhappily, "Adjutant Chen, I may not be as good as you at killing people or protecting people, but you're no match for me when it comes to examining injuries and inspecting corpses. I've touched more corpses than women you've touched. Every profession has its specialty. Do you understand?"

He gestured to the two gray-robed guards beside him. "Turn him over."

The two gray-robed guards obeyed and rolled Scarface's massive body over. The coroner pointed at the fatal wound on the back of his neck and said, "Look at how clean this cut is. Look at how perfectly judged its depth is. The sharpness of the blade and the control over its force were both flawless."

"When he died, he might not even have felt pain. It was like being bitten by an ant, and then his life was gone."

The coroner stood and walked over to Bian Feng. "A year ago, during that battle between Cultivators in Lingyang District, two Body Tempering Realm fighters died at the hands of a Qi Control expert. Their wounds were nearly identical to this one."

"And the corpses at Crocodile Pool three years ago were also injured by someone in the Qi Control Realm. The cuts were just as smooth and clean, filled with a strange beauty."

Bian Feng walked around Scarface's corpse, then crouched and gently touched the wound. He nodded. "This was indeed done by a Cultivator. Without the enhancement of Yin Yang Qi, an ordinary weapon could never achieve this."

He stood and said to Blood Hand, who was sitting on the ground with a saber still at his neck, "Let him go. He didn't do it."

He did not believe Blood Hand's words, nor did he believe Blood Hand's character or oaths.

He only believed Blood Hand's strength. Thugs and hoodlums like them could not have done such a thing.

"... " Blood Hand felt like crying.

I didn't do it. I really didn't do it.

How many times had I said I was innocent? Yet you killed more than half my brothers and beat me half to death. If Scarface had returned even a few seconds later, you would have cut off my head too.

You have to compensate me!

Scarface, my good brother, you came back at just the right time. It feels so good to have you here!

Only then did Chen Hu withdraw his saber. Looking at Bian Feng, he asked, "Divine Envoy, an expert in the Qi Control Technique has appeared in Hate Mountain District?"

"Though it's absurd, that is indeed the case," Bian Feng said.

Everything was already clear. A Cultivator in the Qi Control Realm had killed Bian Zhenxin. To avoid retaliation from the Flame Shrine, he had also killed Scarface and the other Predators, then deliberately left Scarface's lighter at the scene of Bian Zhenxin's death so they would believe the Predators had done it.

Thinking of this, he felt a trace of sympathy for the dead members of the Blood Hand Society.

But wasn't that the fate of ants?

"How can we find him?"

Bian Feng looked at Blood Hand. "I don't care whether he's a Cultivator hiding among the crowd or some distinguished guest who came down from New Star. You must find him for me. Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, drag him out."

"Yes," Chen Hu replied through gritted teeth.

Cultivators were incredibly powerful, beyond the reach of ordinary people.

But the dead man in black robes had been his direct superior and the son of his big boss. He had to avenge this.

Bian Feng saw the expression on Chen Hu's face and understood what he was thinking. "I know how formidable a Qi Control Realm expert is, and I won't send my brothers to their deaths for nothing. The Flame Army I brought will be under your command, along with the Blood Hand Society."

Bian Feng looked at Chen Hu. "The Predators have robbed homes and committed all sorts of crimes right under the Flame Shrine's nose. Do you know why we never wiped you out?"

"Because we're in the same gang!"

Blood Hand thought to himself.

Naturally, he did not dare say that answer aloud.

He prostrated himself on the ground and shouted, "The Blood Hand Society awaits the Divine Envoy's orders."

"Good." Bian Feng was quite satisfied with Blood Hand's answer. "Contact every raider organization in Hate Mountain District, no matter how large or small. Every person must contribute. I want you to assist the Flame Shrine in finding that Cultivator."

"If you can't find him..." Bian Feng's eyes turned vicious as he said darkly, "Hate Mountain District will cease to exist."

"Yes, Divine Envoy."

"We will certainly do everything in our power."

Chen Hu and Blood Hand jointly made a Pledge of Death.

Tang Fei walked ahead carrying two buckets of water, while Phoenix followed closely behind him with two buckets of her own.

Phoenix had now removed that expensive, eye-catching interstellar travel suit. She wore faded jeans and a dull black hoodie, with the hood pulled over her head to hide most of her face and her long black hair.

Tang Fei had even smeared a handful of stove soot across her exposed fair skin, giving her a grimy, unkempt appearance at first glance.

The only regret was her eyes. Those lively, brilliant eyes, like stars in the sky, were truly difficult to conceal. Tang Fei had stolen a pair of aviator sunglasses the Old Man had hidden away and made her wear them, only to find that they drew even more attention.

The sky above the ruins was not bright enough, and the roads were difficult to walk. Wearing sunglasses like that, wasn't she afraid of falling to her death?

Only the Old Man wore sunglasses every few days as he strolled from one end of the village to the other. Whenever he encountered married women or young widows, he would deliberately slow down to strike up a conversation, acting outrageously flirtatious.

Phoenix had now blended into this land, looking just like a tomboy.

So long as she did not open her mouth and reveal that perfectly standard New Star accent.

"Walk faster." Tang Fei glanced back at Phoenix and urged her, "If we get there too late, we won't get a number."

"We need numbers just to collect water?" Phoenix quickened her pace and walked beside Tang Fei.

"There's only one water collection point in all of Hate Mountain District," Tang Fei said. "Only the water from that spring can be drunk. If we arrive late, there'll be more people ahead of us."

"Oh." Phoenix nodded in understanding.

She thought of how New Star had abundant water resources. Turn on a tap, and water would flow endlessly. So long as you had money to pay the bill, you could use as much as you wanted. Life on Old Earth was far too hard.

By the time Tang Fei and Phoenix arrived, more than a hundred people were already waiting ahead of them. Like them, everyone carried large buckets and small jars. Some had even brought huge pots, planning to fill them with water for their entire families.

At the front of the line, clear spring water slowly flowed from a tiny spring. Some people filled their containers and immediately gulped down a huge mouthful. Others pressed their mouths directly to the spring and drank their fill, only to be hurried along and cursed at by those behind them, as if they feared he would drink all the water in one breath.

"It's this long?" Phoenix exclaimed in surprise.

"Are you complimenting me?"

Phoenix's face darkened. She looked at Tang Fei and asked, "Where did you learn such filthy jokes?"

"From books."

"What book?"

Dragon Tiger: Reverse Scale.

"What kind of book is that?"

"In an era when everyone wanted to slay dragons, the male lead, as a giant dragon, felt immense pressure." Tang Fei had seen the book at Scholar Zhao's home. It was not the kind of book hidden under the Old Man's pillow.

"It sounds interesting. Can you lend it to me?" Phoenix asked. Since she could not leave anytime soon, she might as well find something to do.

"No." Tang Fei quickly shook his head.

"Why?"

"That book is too dirty."

"Dirty?"

"Yes, too dirty." Tang Fei finally found an excuse and said with a solemn expression, "You don't know this, but lots of people have read it. Little Fatty read while eating, so it's covered in grease. And the Old Man actually fell asleep while reading it. His drool ran into the pages. Now, whenever I open it, I can smell the Old Man's saliva."

Sure enough, Phoenix looked disgusted. "Forget it. I won't read it."

She could not bring herself to turn pages covered in the Old Man's saliva and Little Fatty's grease. That would bring her no spiritual enjoyment at all, only tremendous suffering.

"Exactly. Don't read it. It's disgusting," Tang Fei agreed.

"Then tell me the story of Reverse Scale. I'm quite interested in it," Phoenix said.

"No." Tang Fei refused again.

"Why?"

"It's too long."

"..."

Phoenix felt that Tang Fei was making another dirty joke.

More than two hours passed before it was finally their turn to collect water.

Tang Fei filled the two buckets he carried and screwed on their lids, then helped fill the two buckets Phoenix was carrying.

Once they were done, each of them carried two buckets of spring water home.

They had only reached the middle of the road when a sudden boom sounded in the sky, followed by flashes of lightning and rolling thunder.

Tang Fei sniffed the air and shouted, "Acid rain! Find somewhere to take shelter!"

People living on Old Earth possessed a special ability: they could determine whether rain was acid rain or ordinary rainwater simply by smelling the air.

(P.S.: Thank you to Miss Drifting Melbourne for the second Silver Alliance. A thousand words cannot express my gratitude; I can only offer myself in return.

Thank you to little Wind Dance Dream Without End for becoming our Alliance Leader. May there be wind beneath your feet and dreams in your heart as you forge ahead bravely.

Also, the new book is climbing the rankings. Please send recommendation votes, monthly votes, and all your support!)