Ruthless

When Chen Ye escaped from Jiang City, he had heard people say it.

Anomalies could not be killed. Only sequence transcendents could stand against them.

Sequence transcendents were humanity's last hope against the anomalies.

People in the convoy had said the same thing along the way.

He simply hadn't expected there to actually be a sequence transcendent among them.

The giant, over two meters tall, had already looked strange among ordinary people.

But now!

That giant had turned into a muscular demon of a man over three meters tall.

If this wasn't a sequence transcendent, Chen Ye couldn't think of any other explanation.

The two giants began fighting in the supermarket's food section.

The entire food section instantly became a battlefield.

Only then did Chen Ye understand why this sequence transcendent had been so terrified of the woman in white.

Devil Muscle Man roared and swung his fist at White-Clad Scissor Woman.

Yet White-Clad Scissor Woman caught it effortlessly with one hand.

Chen Ye had no doubt that a punch like that could turn a person into a cloud of bloody mist.

But White-Clad Scissor Woman, as scrawny as a dried-out corpse, possessed incomprehensible strength.

White-Clad Scissor Woman squeezed Devil Muscle Man's fist as though kneading dough.

It was a complete curb-stomp!

Chen Ye stared, dumbfounded!

This... wasn't going to work either!

Devil Muscle Man's face contorted with pain, and his body bent slightly as she laughed viciously.

Chen Ye didn't know what had possessed him. He simply raised his hand crossbow, aimed at White-Clad Scissor Woman, and fired.

The bolt shot straight toward the face of White-Clad Scissor Woman, hidden beneath her long hair.

It lodged firmly behind White-Clad Scissor Woman's hair, but had no effect whatsoever.

The woman in white turned her head slightly toward Chen Ye.

Under the White-Clad Scissor Woman's gaze, Chen Ye felt a shudder run through his entire body.

"Fuck you!"

Devil Muscle Man moved, slamming his other fist into White-Clad Scissor Woman's face and driving the bolt straight into it.

A notification flashed before Chen Ye's eyes.

[You attacked the anomaly, White-Clad Scissor Woman. You gained +200 slaughter points.]

He had no time to check the system notification.

Under Chen Ye's horrified gaze,

Devil Muscle Man's punch also failed to inflict any damage on White-Clad Scissor Woman.

White-Clad Scissor Woman's body didn't even sway.

With a slight flick of her slender arm, she effortlessly flung his three-meter-tall body away, sending countless shelves flying.

This was an anomaly!

A sequence transcendent, hailed as a miracle of humanity, was nothing more than a rag doll before White-Clad Scissor Woman.

In just a few months, humanity had been driven out of the cities and reduced to wandering refugees, surviving by constantly fleeing.

These things were the instigators of the catastrophe!

"You fucking bitch! I'll tear you apart!"

With a roar, an enormous figure leaped out of the collapsed shelves and charged at White-Clad Scissor Woman.

A faint bloody aura wreathed his massive body.

His vitality, too, exceeded Chen Ye's expectations.

The scales in Chen Ye's mind tipped toward the big oaf again.

After all that, the guy wasn't hurt at all.

A sequence transcendent really was a sequence transcendent!

Still, if he wasn't running even now, there had to be something wrong with his head.

Fine. If you won't run, I will!

Chen Ye had never considered running away shameful.

Even someone as powerful as Old Demon Han ran like hell when he encountered a formidable enemy!

He would use the big oaf's battle with White-Clad Scissor Woman to get as far away as possible.

As long as he reached the sunlight, the anomalies wouldn't dare follow.

Chen Ye shouldered his backpack and sprinted for his life.

"Lady Moon shines on the coffin bed, little brother cries for sweets till his heart is dead~~~"

The familiar, eerie child's voice rang in Chen Ye's ears.

Chen Ye felt something grab his ankle.

Looking down, he saw a pale child staring up at him with an eerie smile.

"I want candy! I want candy!"

The child smiled eerily.

Chen Ye's steps grew slower and slower.

I'm done for!

That was the only thought in Chen Ye's mind.

Then he spotted candy scattered all over the floor among the toppled shelves.

Chen Ye hurriedly grabbed a few pieces and offered them over. "Candy! Here, have some candy!"

The Paper-Crying Child froze, seemingly not expecting Chen Ye to actually produce candy.

It seemed unwilling to accept it, but some rule apparently compelled it to take the candy from Chen Ye.

Its small, pale hand released Chen Ye's calf and reached for the candy.

While the Paper-Crying Child took the candy, Chen Ye raced toward the supermarket entrance.

Survivors were screaming and wailing all around him.

Chen Ye glanced back. The Paper-Crying Child was unwrapping the candy.

In the distance, Devil Muscle Man was knocked flying again, but quickly stood up and charged at Scissor Woman once more.

He was like an unkillable cartoon cockroach.

It seemed sequence transcendents weren't entirely useless after all.

They were still very strong.

Or rather, White-Clad Scissor Woman was simply that powerful!

His sense of danger eased slightly. At least he was safe for now.

Chen Ye scanned his surroundings, hauled two large bags out of the toppled shelves, then turned and hurried away.

Eerie sneers drifted from behind him from time to time.

They mingled with Devil Muscle Man's furious roars.

He ran all the way to the supermarket entrance without stopping.

Only when Chen Ye stood in the sunlight again did he feel as though he had returned to the world of the living.

Screams and frightened cries still came from inside the supermarket.

"Help me! I don't want to die!"

"No! Stay away!"

"Boohoo..."

Eerie figures lurked everywhere.

Many survivors were dragged back into the darkness by those figures as they ran.

The crowd had attracted every anomaly in Apricot Blossom Town.

A strip of sunlight prevented those anomalies from coming out.

The anomalies that had pursued him bared their teeth and claws at Chen Ye from the darkness, but the light was too dim for him to make out their appearances.

Chen Ye gasped for breath.

His lungs felt ready to burst.

Sweat soaked his hair, plastering it against his face.

Chen Ye plopped down in the cargo bed and tossed in the two bags he had brought out.

His old bicycle probably couldn't have held even this much.

"Chen Ye! Why are you sitting on our vehicle? Get off!"

Just then, Chen Ye suddenly heard a distinctly hostile female voice.

Chen Ye turned and saw Jiajia, the woman in yoga pants, and Qiangzi, the fitness trainer, standing nearby with two bundles slung over their shoulders.

Seeing the side entrance nearby, Chen Ye understood. These two weren't entirely stupid. They had probably found that entrance and used it to get into the supermarket.

Now they had made it out safely, too.

Lucky them.

But from now on, those two big bundles are mine.

"Chen Ye, what do you think you're doing? Trying to steal our vehicle?"

"I'm warning you, Chen Ye. Don't think we're afraid of you! Get off my vehicle right now, and I'll pretend this never happened."

Without saying a word, Chen Ye cocked his hand crossbow.

"Chen Ye, buddy, let's talk this out! Let's talk!"

Qiangzi, the fitness trainer beside her, started to panic.

"Qiangzi, why are you such a coward? I refuse to believe he can do anything to us!"

Whoosh!

Just as Jiajia spoke, a crossbow bolt flashed past her eyes and pierced Qiangzi's throat.

Qiangzi's eyes widened abruptly. His bundle fell to the ground, and he clutched his neck with both hands, staring at Chen Ye in disbelief.

Blood splashed across the yoga-pants woman's face.

She was stunned, too, as though frozen by a spell. She trembled like a leaf, not daring to move.

A few wet spots appeared on the ground.

"You... you..."

Perhaps the apocalypse had come too quickly. Only a few months had passed.

As a result, many people still hadn't fully adapted to its rules of survival.

The woman in yoga pants before him was one of them.

The reason Chen Ye had killed the fitness trainer first

was simply that the muscular trainer posed a greater threat to him than the woman in yoga pants.

His personality might have been a little cowardly.

But if they truly fought to the death, there was no telling who would win.

A notification flashed before Chen Ye's eyes.

[You shot and killed your enemy. You gained +1,000 Slaughter Value.]

Chen Ye paused briefly, then began cocking his hand crossbow again, with no time to think further.

"Chen Ye... you... don't..."

Just as he was about to raise the crossbow,

"Aah!~~~"

the woman in yoga pants screamed, turned, and tried to run back inside.

Compared with the anomalies, she found the Chen Ye before her even more terrifying.

He hadn't hesitated at all before firing that bolt.

Whoosh!

The bolt struck the wall, then fell to the ground.

The woman in yoga pants had already fled screaming through the supermarket's side entrance.

"Aah~~"

Before Chen Ye could react, the woman screamed again.

"Chen Ye! Save me! Save me!"

The woman stumbled back out.

Tears and snot streamed down her face. All her earlier arrogance had vanished, leaving only terror, and her reasonably pretty face was deathly pale.

Behind her stood a figure in tattered clothes.

Just as the woman was about to reach the sunlight,

the ragged figure grabbed her hair and dragged her toward the darkness.

"Chen Ye, I was wrong! Please, save me! Save me!"

"Chen Ye, I was wrong! I don't want to die yet!"

"Please! I can still be useful!"

"I can still be useful! I want to live! I don't want to die!"

"Chen Ye~~~ I... I have a child at home! I can't die~~~"

"Chen Ye~~~ You're so heartless!"

No matter how the woman pleaded and struggled, the figure behind her slowly, relentlessly dragged her back into the darkness.

Chen Ye simply watched, backing away step by step into the sunlight.

The woman's pleading had no effect on him whatsoever.

The woman finally vanished completely into the darkness, leaving only a trail of marks on the ground from her struggle!

Only then did Chen Ye realize he was drenched in cold sweat.

He tossed the two bags into the cargo bed.

By then, quite a few survivors who had just escaped were nearby.

But not one of them was willing to stop and speak up for what was right.

They all hurriedly loaded their supplies onto their vehicles, then turned and fled.

All around them, people were fleeing in panic. No one paid them any attention.

Chen Ye stood up on the pedals and sped away on his tricycle.

Before leaving, he hadn't forgotten to pick up the two bundles and toss them into the cargo bed, either.