Two cuts to the neck, one to the head-even the King of Hell would call you dead (part one)

"There's always someone too blind to know better."

That was Fan Shang's assessment of the four men.

"Move! Get out of Brother Li's way! Are you all blind? Or do you not want your eyes anymore? Donate them if you don't!"

With the sleazy young man shouting at everyone, the tattoo-sleeved man pushed through the crowd and reached the Wuling Hongguang.

The surrounding survivors watched with hostile expressions, along with a touch of regret.

"Fuck, Li and his three cronies beat us to it."

"Hey, Li, we've let it slide when you snatched supplies in the convoy, but isn't keeping this juicy mark all to yourselves going a bit too far?"

"Exactly. Li Qiang, don't push it. We all saw this mark. What do you think you're doing?"

"Heh."

Li Qiang couldn't have cared less. Listening to their clamoring, he merely chuckled before continuing.

"What am I doing? I'm saying this mark is mine."

"Are you kidding me? Who do you think you are, Li Qiang? A sequence transcendent? You think you can just claim him? Who the fuck are you?"

One survivor snapped in anger.

Li Qiang's tone remained just as brazen.

"What? You want a share? Sure. Come on up, and let's have a little bout."

With that, Brother Li even flexed his tattooed arms.

The survivor who had been shouting immediately fell silent and shrank back, afraid of drawing attention.

The others did the same.

"Pah! Fucking cowards!"

Once that was settled, the sleazy young man spat.

Then the four men swaggered toward Fan Shang.

Fan Shang had taken in every bit of it.

He wouldn't call himself familiar with the four approaching men, but they weren't strangers, either.

After all, they were well known in the convoy.

They were old hands in this eerie world, supposedly having arrived several months ago.

When the school group escaped Orange City and met the trio who now led the convoy, these men had already been part of it. They were convoy veterans through and through.

But that wasn't why Fan Shang knew them.

Where there were people, there was bullshit; where there were people, there were groups. Even the apocalypse was no exception.

So even in this apocalyptic world, the convoy still had its cliques.

Their whole purpose was to bully easy targets among the newcomers and swindle them out of supplies.

Many people in the convoy had been harassed, Fan Shang included.

Before becoming a Sequence User, he had crossed paths with them too. They had tried to cheat him out of his supplies and make him their sacrificial pawn.

But the sight of his blade had brought them back to their senses.

That was how Fan Shang knew them.

Li Qiang's group of four was among the stronger ones. Compared with their previous scrawny, listless state, they looked much more energetic now.

Presumably, since the convoy took in the people from Orange City, they had cheated quite a few supplies out of his classmates.

No, probably more than that.

Fan Shang mulled it over.

Just then, the sleazy young man reached the car.

He peered inside Fan Shang's car, as though searching for something.

"Tsk, so it really is just this guy. Boring. I've seen this car before. There was a college girl in it then, with a pretty perky ass. I thought we'd get to have some fun this time. Tsk..."

After saying that, the sleazy young man glanced at Fan Shang.

Scrawny, white-haired, and shirtless. The disgust in his eyes deepened, but when he spotted a bag of supplies on the back seat, his eyes lit up.

Without hesitation, he waved to the men behind him.

"Brother Li, Brother Wang, hurry over! This scrawny little punk has loads of supplies!"

Then the sleazy young man knocked on Fan Shang's window and gave him an odd smile.

"Hey, little brother. Come on, step out first. Brother Li wants a word with you."

That was what the sleazy young man said.

Having dealt with the potential threat posed by Little Black, Fan Shang found himself a little interested. He replied with amusement.

"I'll pass on getting out. Why not just say whatever you have to say?"

Before his awakening, Fan Shang might have been wary. There were four of them, after all. Even with his constitution of 11, a stab would still injure him and leave a hole.

But he had awakened now. If he was still afraid after awakening, what had been the point?

"You..."

The sleazy young man's expression stiffened.

But with Li Qiang and the other two approaching, he regained some confidence.

"Brother, I think we'd be better off talking outside the car. What do you say?"

There was a hint of menace in his tone.

Fan Shang gave the young man a long look.

"Sure."

With that, Fan Shang got out as requested.

But the young man he had just looked at couldn't help shivering.

That quickly passed, though.

I... I'm scared of this bag of bones? Are you fucking kidding me?!

Meanwhile, as Fan Shang came face-to-face with Li Qiang's group of four.

Someone in the watching crowd left the convoy and ran toward its front.

"So? What did you want to say?"

Fan Shang stepped out and shut the door.

Shirtless, he spoke with the bloodstained axe dragging at his side.

Although having been drained dry once had left Fan Shang looking somewhat thin, the six-pack and solid muscles in both arms from his enhanced constitution were still visible.

The sleazy young man couldn't help swallowing.

Wait, this punk actually worked out? Damn it, I couldn't tell when he was in the car.

But seeing how the other man was practically skin and bones, the young man immediately suppressed his wariness and grew more confident.

Heh, looking like that, who knows how long he's been starving? So what if he worked out? He's too hungry to even stand steady. We can do whatever we want with him.

With that thought, the young man turned to Brother Li, who had reached him, and spoke quietly.

"Brother Li, I checked. This punk just got damn lucky. He probably picked up someone else's car on the road and escaped back here. There's a big bag of supplies on the back seat, too."

Li Qiang nodded in satisfaction, then cast Xiao Zi a questioning look.

Xiao Zi knew exactly what Brother Li was asking and immediately shook his head.

"Brother Li, that bitch is probably dead. I didn't see her in the car."

Li Qiang clicked his tongue.

But with a juicy mark still standing before him, he soon recovered his good mood.

I thought I'd get to hear that bitch begging this time. Who knew she'd be dead? Whatever. At least we've got a juicy mark out of it.

"Kid, if you know what's good for you, hand over the car and all the supplies inside. Then I might let you live."

"Otherwise..."

With that, Brother Li folded his tattooed arms across his chest.

The other two men behind him also closed in around Fan Shang with ill intent.

For a moment, the air crackled with tension.

An ordinary person surrounded by four men with such ill intentions would probably have panicked by now.

But Fan Shang was different. Facing the four men surrounding him.

There wasn't a trace of panic on his face.

He merely raised the blood-covered fire axe slightly, then looked at Li Qiang with a smile.

"Hmm? Otherwise? What, Brother Li, are you really that sure you've got me in the bag?"

At those words, Li Qiang's eyes narrowed.

Looking at the white-haired man before him, Li Qiang was certain he hadn't been among the convoy's white-haired members before. And judging by how utterly unruffled he was while facing four men.

An uneasy feeling suddenly rose in Li Qiang.

Before the tattoo-sleeved man could speak, the sleazy young man answered first.

"Hey, punk, why all the bullshit? Didn't you hear Brother Li telling you to hand over the car and that big bag of supplies? Don't you understand? Oh, right, that axe in your hand, too. Your Brother Xiao wants it. Got that?"

"Do that, and Brother Li will let you live. Understand?"