Without waiting for Zhang Ping's signal, several burly men ran over from the supply truck and pinned the buzz-cut man to the ground.
The convoy had rules. Such blatant violence was not allowed.
"You bitch! You set me up! I'll kill you!" The buzz-cut man struggled violently, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the woman.
A mocking look appeared on the woman's face.
This world ran on rules. The ghosts had their rules, and the convoy had its own. No matter how hard an ordinary person struggled, he could never make any waves.
She had factored his retaliation into her calculations, too.
Zhang Ping ran over to the third SUV.
"Chen Le, is Sister Wen awake yet?"
The tall woman wearing glasses shook her head. "Sister Wen's still asleep."
Zhang Ping immediately felt a headache coming on. They normally left one Sequence Transcendent behind to guard the convoy. This time, there had been a slight mishap. They had left one behind, but she was no help.
Then Zhang Ping remembered: didn't they have another awakened person?
Zhang Ping ran toward the Raptor.
"Brother Su, sorry for the trouble, but I need a favor." Zhang Ping took out a small banner. "Use this to check whether that man's been contaminated by a ghost. Only a Sequence Transcendent can use it."
[Paper Effigy Filth-Illuminating Banner] [Type: wondrous item] [Details: a consumable wondrous item that can distinguish levels of contamination. With no corruption, the paper banner remains clean and white. With slight contamination, faint gray lines appear on it. If the target has already been marked by a ghost's killing rule, black lines appear on the paper banner.]
Su Nian got out of the vehicle and walked over.
The woman in the tight tank top looked at Su Nian, delight appearing on her face. He really was a Sequence Transcendent.
The convoy's new Sequence Transcendent.
The Paper Effigy Filth-Illuminating Banner brushed across the buzz-cut man's forehead, and black lines instantly appeared on the paper.
"A killing rule!" Zhang Ping exclaimed.
The burly men holding the buzz-cut man down tensed. They were scared, too, but they couldn't afford to show it. If they let go, they would lose their jobs.
"It's all that bitch's fault." The buzz-cut man began trembling violently.
Drowning... He felt as though a rock was pinning him underwater. No matter how he struggled, he couldn't surface... He couldn't breathe.
Su Nian brushed the paper banner across the woman's forehead as well. It remained clean and white, proving there was nothing wrong with her.
"Brother Su, how should we deal with him?" Zhang Ping looked at Su Nian.
With a superior right here, he obviously had to ask for his opinion.
Su Nian thought of the Sin-Cleaving Butcher's Knife's evil-dispelling property and stepped forward.
"No... don't kill me... please..." The buzz-cut man's voice was weak, as though he might stop breathing at any moment.
A warm puddle spread across the ground, and the stench of urine filled the air.
The Sin-Cleaving Butcher's Knife lightly traced the strange bruise on the buzz-cut man's neck. The bruise receded like a tide, leaving only a thin red cut that seeped blood.
[Sin-cleaving power: 1 point]
Blood-red light flickered in the Blood Eye.
The Sin-Cleaving Butcher's Knife lightly sliced across the back of his collar. "Tear his shirt open."
The two burly men tore open the buzz-cut man's collar, one from each side.
Three hideous scars on his back emitted black vapor.
The Sin-Cleaving Butcher's Knife sliced across one of the hideous scars.
The black vapor dispersed.
[Sin-cleaving power: 2 points]
Su Nian made two more cuts.
[Sin-cleaving power: 4 points] [Ding! Scapegoat Ghost's Killing Rule broken. Gained 600 survival points.]
The buzz-cut man let out a groan of relief. Color returned to his face, replacing his deathly pallor.
The Paper Effigy Filth-Illuminating Banner brushed across the buzz-cut man's forehead. The paper remained clean and white.
"Thank you! Thank you!" The buzz-cut man's voice trembled with sobs. Tears streamed down his face as he banged his head against the ground, thud, thud, thud. Soon, blood began to seep out.
"Let him go!"
Su Nian felt torn over those hundred survival points, even with the unexpected windfall of six hundred.
But he still suppressed the restless impulse in his heart.
If he did it today, he might resort to any means necessary for survival points in the future.
He had always lived by the principle of leaving others alone as long as they left him alone.
If this man could survive, that was his fate. He was very lucky.
Both the Blood Eye and the Sin-Cleaving Butcher's Knife had been indispensable.
"Brother Su, that was incredible!" Zhang Ping gave him a thumbs-up.
If Captain Hao Ren had been here, he would definitely have waved a dismissive hand. There was no need to waste resources on someone without value.
Su Nian had actually broken a killing rule. Every Sequence Transcendent really did have a field in which they were formidable.
Although he wasn't the one who had awakened, Zhang Ping was still happy that the convoy had another Sequence Transcendent.
Su Nian returned the Paper Effigy Filth-Illuminating Banner to Zhang Ping, then turned and left.
The woman in the tight camisole frowned. He had broken the killing rule just like that? Why hadn't he simply killed the man?
"Li Sheng, Liu Yan..." Zhang Ping's gaze shifted between their faces. "Don't cause trouble for the convoy."
After giving them that warning, Zhang Ping left.
Li Sheng gave Liu Yan a resentful look, then lowered his head and clenched his fists.
"Brother, that newly awakened Sequence Transcendent seems pretty decent. His name's Su Nian, right?" Tang Zhou looked away.
"Before, anyone marked by a killing rule would've been thrown into the gray fog to feed the ghosts."
"Aren't killing rules impossible to break?"
Tang Chen tossed the potatoes he had dug up into the fire, then frowned and shook his head. At the end of the day, he was just an ordinary person. He had no way to verify whether the things he heard were true or false... But being caught by a ghost's killing rule really did mean certain death.
That had been proven time and again.
The sun sank toward the west. Su Nian had prepared two boxes of self-heating rice... Steam hissed steadily from their vents.
Su Nian instinctively touched the spot over his kidney. If he had upgraded the butcher's knife sooner, would he have been spared that "scraping massage with a branding iron"?
It had hurt like fucking hell. Even now, it still burned.
"Meow."
A shrill cat's cry carried all the way to the convoy's camp.
Holding his self-heating braised beef rice, Su Nian looked toward the Happiness County road sign, stepped on the brake, and started the vehicle.
The engine roared to life.
At the junction, Hao Ren and Gong Qing led the way in tattered burial shrouds, with quite a few survivors following behind them.
With survivors bringing up the rear, the two were in little danger.
The Cat Ghost pounced on an old man and bit through his neck with its sharp teeth.
"Dad!" A young man's eyes bulged with anguish.
A blood-red rope dropped down, looped around the young man's neck, and instantly snapped it. Then it turned toward someone else, and a child's vibrant life was snuffed out in an instant.
The young man fell stiffly to the ground, his gaze still fixed on his father.
The dead were all elderly people, women, and children.
In the apocalypse, these people were the truly vulnerable. Everyone was racing against time to escape, and those with less stamina could only become food when they encountered ghosts.
Basket-Carrying Granny, that old woman ghost, was among them as well. She seemed to have eaten quite a few people, and her injuries had healed considerably.
As though sensing Su Nian's gaze, Basket-Carrying Granny looked toward him, clutching a beating heart.
Su Nian raised his right hand and stuck up his middle finger. Come at me.
He was on the road, basking in the sunlight. What the hell did he have to fear? Surely a hand gesture didn't count as a conversation?
That exchange of looks saved several survivors. What an immeasurable good deed.
Then, as though remembering something, Su Nian set down the self-heating braised beef rice in his hand.
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