The convoy facing them was a sizable procession, with no shortage of people.
There were six Awakened among them, led by a young man riding Big Black Bull with a languid expression.
On his left stood a hunched old man in ragged clothes, holding a pipe.
There was also a short, flat-chested girl carrying a spear twice her height.
On his right stood a burly man with a butcher's knife tucked at his waist. He wore flip-flops and had a sleazy, greasy face.
A middle-aged man wore an immaculate suit but had bare feet.
A voluptuous woman wore gold-rimmed glasses and a purple, hip-hugging skirt, her slender frame bearing an ample pair of "fruits."
Su Nian used the system to appraise them one by one.
"The young man riding the bull can tame mutated animals. He's the strongest of the lot. The hunched old man's ability is smoke. It's nontoxic, and he can shape it into different forms. The voluptuous woman's ability is charm. All three are Sequence 8."
"The other three are Sequence 9. The woman holding the spear is a Spear Attendant. Her abilities revolve around spears. The burly man is a chef who can make some bizarre meals. The man in the suit is a Day Specter. His ability doesn't work on humans, only on supernatural entities."
"Holy shit, that's sneaky! You can see other people's Sequences!" Hao Ren looked incredulous.
"What kind of freaky eye is that? Don't tell me you can see through clothes too!" Hao Ren crossed his arms over himself.
Su Yue's expression changed. "..."
Wen Kele turned her head and narrowed her eyes. "If you've seen mine, I get to see yours too."
That was the only evil way to do it.
"Bullshit! I can't!" Su Nian swore. They were slandering an innocent man out of nowhere.
If he really could see through clothes, he wouldn't have been so worked up.
"I told you so you wouldn't fall for their tricks."
Some things could be kept hidden, but this was a matter of life and death. Withholding information would mean screwing over his teammates.
Besides, Blood Eye could even see supernatural rules. Surely it was reasonable for it to see an Awakened's Sequence too. It hardly counted as exposing anything.
"Wang Yun, Shui Qin, keep an eye on that shifty three-eyed guy hiding at the back. Something about him rubs me the wrong way. He's probably a sneaky bastard." The young man swayed on Big Black Bull's back, his voice level.
The hunched old man exhaled a cloud of smoke and bared a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Sure!"
The voluptuous woman in the purple skirt laughed, her body shaking. "Little boys like him are my favorite."
Just thinking about it was enough to get her wet.
"Leave him to me. One thrust, and I'll put a hole through him," the flat-chested spear girl said coolly.
"Don't get careless. Once the bull charges, we all attack together."
The young man spoke calmly.
Surprising an unprepared enemy was the key to victory.
"Hello. I'm Jiang Tian, captain of the Black King Convoy," the young man riding the bull said.
Wen Kele stepped forward with an arrogant expression.
"Wen Kele, captain of the Evil Convoy."
"The usual rules. We agree on a price, trade our supplies, and leave immediately to avoid attracting anything supernatural. We have some spare Curios, all single-use grade. One Red Candle for two hundred yuan's worth of supplies."
For convenience, Awakened still priced goods using the methods from before the apocalypse when trading supplies. Curios had corresponding prices, and most Curios shared the same price. Supplies were exchanged according to that value.
For example, one Red Candle = Evil-Breaking Sea Salt (50 g) = two hundred yuan's worth of supplies.
Items of the same grade were equal in value.
"We can trade you a thousand yuan's worth of supplies." Wen Kele immediately halved the figure Hao Ren had given her.
If they traded away that much, what would she eat?
They were always so stingy about letting her eat anyway.
"Sure! Take a look at the goods first." The young man pulled the bag from his waist and tossed it over.
Wen Kele raised a hand to catch it... The young man slapped the bull's back and flipped backward into the air.
Big Black Bull let out a "Moo!" and charged straight at them.
Even the ground trembled, as though a fully loaded heavy truck were barreling past.
"Holy shit, I-"
Gong Qing grabbed Wen Kele by the collar and flung her aside.
With how headstrong Wen Kele was, if he didn't pull her away, she would actually try to kick the bull.
At the same time, all six enemy Awakened rushed toward them. The hunched old man's lower body turned to smoke, and he hurtled toward Su Nian like a ghostly blur skimming the ground.
At that same moment, the voluptuous woman in gold-rimmed glasses also headed straight for Su Nian. She removed her glasses, and an eerie pink light flared in her eyes. Before she even reached him, a surge of mental power shot toward him.
Su Nian lunged at the voluptuous woman like a swift leopard, completely unhindered. He reached her in an instant, and Blood Eye lit up on his forehead. Shui Qin's expression froze.
"Shui Qin! What are you doing? Why aren't you using your ability?" The hunched old man's roar came from the side. His smoky form had already reached Su Nian, and his pipe came smashing down with a rush of force.
In the darkness, the Sin-Cleaving Butcher's Knife left a golden ripple through the air.
"You've only got eighteen points of mental power. What makes you think you can take me on?"
Shui Qin's head slid off her shoulders, her eyes still filled with lingering terror.
[Ding! Gained 500 Survival Points.]
Su Nian's beheading strike flowed seamlessly. Before his blade had finished its arc, he had already shifted sideways, evading the old man's pipe.
At the same time, he drove his left foot hard into the ground and spun backward, launching himself into a counterclockwise turn. His leg lashed down like a steel whip onto the old man's shoulder.
There was no dull thud of flesh striking flesh. It felt as though he had kicked a loose clump of cotton.
The old man's shoulder dissolved into smoke.
The old man retreated in terror. Su Nian abandoned him and went straight for the burly man holding a cleaver.
"Fatty, watch your back!"
The old man shouted and gave chase in his smoky form, but he was already a beat too late. He couldn't understand why Su Nian had so decisively abandoned him to pursue someone else.
Just then, Gong Qing spared a glance their way... Blue light flashed in his eyes, and an old Ward Door appeared out of thin air, slamming down behind the burly man.
As the door opened, an invisible, icy suction that struck directly at the mind suddenly emerged... The clarity vanished from the burly man's eyes, leaving him staring blankly.
Meanwhile, Gong Qing took a punch head-on from the bull-riding young man and went flying like a broken puppet.
In that brief instant of control, the Sin-Cleaving Butcher's Knife pierced the thick muscles of the man's back without resistance and emerged through his chest at the heart. Blood dripped from its tip, glaringly red beneath the moonlight.
[Ding! Gained 300 Survival Points.]
Su Nian swiftly pulled his knife free, drawing out a scalding fountain of blood. He spun and slashed at a smoky white wolf lunging at him from the side. The blade passed through its head without any sensation of contact, as though slicing through an illusion, and the white wolf dissolved into smoke.
"Shui Qin!" Only then did the spear girl see Shui Qin's head on the ground, staring at her. Her eyes nearly split with rage.
"Keh heh heh. Hey, washboard, don't get distracted during a fight." The sinister laughter sounded almost against her ear as Cola closed in and struck the girl's chest with her palm.
Lacking one layer of defense compared to a normal woman, the girl felt blood rise in her throat and spat out a mouthful.
Cola's palm strike also carried a hefty dose of toxins. As they entered the girl's mouth and nose, she curled up and collapsed. Her skin turned bluish-black at a visible rate, and her limbs convulsed as she let out rasping, dying breaths.
"Keh heh heh. Evil." Cola licked her lips and turned her gaze toward the barefoot man in the suit.
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