Elsewhere, as Mr. Ackerman lay dying, he looked at Chen Si, his eyes filled with hope and a final plea. Then the last glimmer of light faded from them.
Chen Si's pupils trembled. In that split second, he summoned every last ounce of strength. An almost imperceptible arc of electricity flashed through his eyes again, and he lunged forward, driving his fist hard into the chin of the other tall, burly trafficker who had been watching from the doorway.
Chen Si pushed aside the incoming arm with his left hand and slammed his right fist into the burly man's chin. The man toppled backward onto the floor, his fate unknown.
Having exhausted all his strength, Chen Si collapsed as the backlash from overusing his electricity began to hit him.
Damn it, there's still one left. Chen Si's eyes were bloodshot. He bit through his lip to force himself to stay conscious and struggled to get up.
The burly man holding the axe recoiled in shock, then reached out to grab Chen Si.
Terrified and helpless, Mikasa looked at her mother and the fallen Chen Si, her eyes brimming with tears. Seeing the axe-wielding man reach for Chen Si, Mrs. Ackerman struggled desperately and bit down on his hand.
His hand was instantly torn and bloody. The trafficker cried out in pain, then raised his axe with bloodshot eyes, ready to bring it down on Mrs. Ackerman.
"Ah! You motherfucker!" Chen Si's mind had almost shut down. Desperately forcing himself to stay alert, he wrung nearly every last bit of strength and electricity from his body and threw himself at the axe-wielding man, smashing his head into the man's forehead.
The axe-wielding man crashed to the floor. After another heavy blow to the head, he passed out.
You goddamn animals! Sooner or later, I'll wipe out every last one of you maggots! Chen Si screamed inwardly with hatred before his consciousness faded.
With all his strength spent, he finally lost consciousness completely.
"Darling..." Mrs. Ackerman ran to Mr. Ackerman and checked his breathing, tears streaming down her face. She kept trying to plug the wound gushing blood, but it was futile. She pressed her ear to his chest and found that his heart had stopped, despair filling her eyes.
She hurried to Chen Si, picked him up, then went over to Mikasa and took her hand. "Mikasa, we have to go," she said softly.
Mikasa looked at her mother and the Chen Si in her arms. A little life returned to her eyes, but they remained full of tears, and her body would not stop trembling.
The fat man nearby regained consciousness, blood trickling from his mouth, looking utterly battered. He pulled a crude firearm from inside his clothes. He had paid a fortune for it to the nobles who controlled the Underground in the royal capital, intending to use it for protection. He had never expected it to come in handy now.
He suddenly lunged forward, tackling Mikasa out of Mrs. Ackerman's grasp. He immediately aimed the gun at Mikasa's temple and shouted, "Don't move, or I'll kill your daughter!"
Mrs. Ackerman had been about to fight back, but she immediately froze, her eyes filled with despair. Mikasa struggled desperately.
The fat man knocked Mikasa unconscious with a single blow, then seized the unconscious Chen Si by the throat and picked up the dagger from the floor. Elation surged through him. Three Orientals, covering different ages and both sexes-he was sure to make a fortune.
"Madam, you wouldn't want anything to happen to your two children, would you?" the fat man called to the terrified Mrs. Ackerman.
"Please don't hurt them. I'll do whatever you say," Mrs. Ackerman said in anguish. She immediately raised both hands and allowed herself to be tied up.
The fat man roused the axe-wielding man.
"Damn it! Some little brat caught me off guard!" the axe-wielding man shouted bitterly when he woke.
"There's something wrong with that kid. Does he have a weapon?"
The fat man looked warily at Chen Si.
"Like hell he does. He's just a little strong. You let your guard down. Kids from deep in the mountains are wild." The axe-wielding man had not seen the scorch mark on the back of the fat man's neck. If he had, he would not have brushed it off so lightly.
"Is that guy dead?" The axe-wielding man looked at their companion, who had been lying on the floor and would not wake no matter how they called him. The fat man checked his breathing.
"He's still alive, but he's badly hurt. He'll probably have trouble even opening his mouth to eat from now on." Looking at the distorted face on the floor, the fat man cast a hopeful glance at the unconscious Chen Si.
"But it was all worth it. We got three Orientals this time!" the axe-wielding man said excitedly.
"Exactly. This money will be enough to buy us the right to live in the royal capital," the fat man said, full of anticipation.
The two traffickers took Mikasa, Chen Si, and Mrs. Ackerman to another unknown cabin, dragging their half-dead companion along with them.
Not long after they left, the Yeager father and son arrived at Mikasa's front door. Grisha Yeager knocked and told Eren:
"Mikasa is the girl who lives here. There aren't many children around, so you need to get along with her."
"Mikasa? That depends on her attitude," Eren answered stubbornly.
"Eren, this is why you only have one friend." Grisha looked exasperated.
"Is anyone home? Mr. Ackerman, it's Doctor Yeager."
The smell of blood? Grisha Yeager's nose twitched. He hurriedly opened the door and was met with a scene of human tragedy that left him horrified.
"Dad, what's wrong?" Eren asked, confused by his father's stunned expression.
Grisha checked Mr. Ackerman's breathing and confirmed that he was dead.
"There's nothing I can do. Eren, did you see a little girl named Mikasa nearby? Or her mother?" the shaken Grisha asked.
"N-no." Eren stood rooted to the spot.
"Stay put. Don't wander off. I'm going to ask the Military Police Brigade to help search. Wait for me at the foot of the mountain. Do you understand, Eren?"
Eren's pupils trembled. The shock of witnessing the world's darkness for the first time filled his heart.
"Hey, can we really sell these three? We went out of our way to kill the man of the house and bring them here," the axe-wielding man asked.
"Take a good look at their faces," the fat man replied.
The axe-wielding man planted a foot against Mikasa's waist and kicked her over.
"She's not bad, but she's just a kid. Not my type," the axe-wielding man said dismissively.
"I don't care whether you like her. They're Orientals. In the past, humanity was divided into several races. This one is descended from the Oriental people who fled into the Walls from a place once called the Orient.
"Take them to the Underground in the royal capital and auction them off to those perverted rich bastards. Almost all the other Orientals are extinct. They're bound to fetch a good price," the fat man replied calmly.
"Their dad didn't look Oriental. She's not a purebred," the axe-wielding man said obnoxiously.
Hearing that, the fat man smiled faintly and said:
"Yeah, but it doesn't matter. Their mother is a pure-blooded Oriental. Make absolutely sure you don't mutilate her or damage her skin, or we'll lose a lot of money!"
"Tch, I was hoping to get a taste of her!" the axe-wielding man said defiantly.
The boy lying on his side nearby suddenly opened his eyes. Chen Si had woken up. After some sleep, he once again felt brimming with strength, his mental state restored to its peak.
Chen Si had now confirmed that the backlash from using his ability was really just exhaustion. A nap was all he needed to recover fully, with no lingering effects.
His gaze grew sharper as he looked at the traffickers. The values instilled in him by an education in peacetime began to crumble and reshape themselves. Killing intent spread through him. This was a hopelessly wicked age, and its root lay in the current royal government's inaction.
Chen Si looked at Mrs. Ackerman, who had yet to wake, and felt a little relieved. Then he glanced at Mikasa lying nearby. She had been awake the whole time, her eyes filled with pain and numbness. His brow furrowed, his heart aching. He knew all too well the emotional ordeal she was facing.
"Is anyone here?" As the door creaked open, a familiar voice reached Chen Si's ears.
Eren? Chen Si's eyes widened and lit up. Smoke rose from the rope held in his hands, and before long, it fell away.
Both traffickers immediately tensed, and the axe-wielding man shoved the door open.
"You little brat! What are you doing here?!" the axe-wielding man roared.
"Uh, well, I got lost in the forest, and then I ended up here," Eren said, tears still welling in his eyes.
At the fat man's signal, the axe-wielding man began trying to coax and deceive the child.
"Don't be scared. There are big bad wolves in the forest, you know. As long as you come with us..." Before he could finish, a dagger plunged into his heart. The axe-wielding man stared at Eren in disbelief.
"Die, you scum," Eren said through gritted teeth.
At the same instant, Chen Si pushed off hard and lunged at the seated fat man. The wooden floorboards exploded beneath his feet again.
He swung the edge of his hand viciously into the man's neck. Under Chen Si's full-strength strike, that most vulnerable part of the body was shredded on the spot. Chunks of bloody flesh flew out and landed on the floor.
The fat man clutched his spurting neck, his eyes wide and his face contorted in agony. He had no idea what had happened. He made incoherent noises, then quickly collapsed, writhing on the floor as he painfully suffocated to death.
Seeing this, Eren rushed over with his dagger and stabbed the already dying fat man twice more.
"You goddamn scum! You animal! Die! Die!" Eren kept swinging the dagger, his expression savage and vicious. He brought it down hard, again and again, blood continually splashing onto him.
By then, Eren had hacked the corpse beneath him into a bloody mess.
Was this Eren's first time killing someone?
Chen Si frowned deeply as he watched Eren's frenzied mutilation of the corpse, feeling intensely sick.
Looking at the blood on his hand with utter disgust, Chen Si scrubbed it hard against the wall and floorboards, leaving a long streak of blood on the wall. Then he hurried over to untie Mikasa and Mrs. Ackerman.
"It's all right now." Chen Si hugged Mikasa tightly, cradling her head and gently stroking it to comfort her.
Life gradually returned to Mikasa's eyes, but her pupils trembled when she saw the blood spraying up as Eren savagely hacked at the corpse.
Chen Si noticed and immediately turned to Eren.
The sudden attack and the traffickers' senseless slaughter filled him with an instinctive anger and aversion toward this killing and bloodshed. "Please stop. You're scaring my little sister," Chen Si called to Eren in displeasure.
Hearing him, Eren stood up numbly and stared in a daze at the mangled corpse beneath him. He dropped the blood-soaked dagger, took a deep breath, and walked toward Chen Si and Mikasa. "I'm Doctor Yeager's son. You're Mikasa, right? You should have met my dad."
"You were really good just now! Did you teach yourself?" Eren turned to Chen Si, sounding rather excited.
Was fighting and killing all he had in his head?
"Uh... let's not talk about that right now..." Chen Si frowned, rather speechless, and gestured with his eyes toward Mikasa beside him.
"Oh, right! Who are you?" Eren looked at Chen Si in confusion. He did not remember his father mentioning anyone like him.
Thinking about Mikasa's present circumstances, Chen Si decided to remain by her side as family. "I'm Mikasa's older brother."
Eren nodded at that. "Eren Yeager."
"Chen... uh, Chen Si Ackerman." Chen Si held out a hand.
Eren reached out to shake it, but noticed Chen Si's hesitation. Only then did he realize that his right hand was covered in blood. He hurriedly switched to his left, only to find that it was bloody too. He hastily wiped his hands on his clothes, but his clothes were also soaked in blood.
Seeing this, Chen Si simply patted Eren on the shoulder to acknowledge their introduction.
Soon, Chen Si sank into thought. Should I awaken Mikasa's Ackerman bloodline? This world is too dangerous. Whatever happens, she'll be safer once it awakens. But with the traffickers gone, how can I trigger it now?
Mikasa slowly came back to her senses and glanced at Mrs. Ackerman, who was still unconscious nearby.
"Brother, there's still one more!" Mikasa's eyes suddenly widened, and she hurriedly shouted a warning.
Just then, a tall, burly man emerged from the next room and grabbed Eren beside him.
"You little brat! Did you do all this?!" He viciously clamped his hand around Eren's throat.
"Mikasa, this is a cruel world. When we face evil, there's no retreat. We can only choose to fight, because fighting is the only way we can survive in this world." With his back to Mikasa, Chen Si tried to awaken her Ackerman fighting instincts through his words.
Eren was being strangled, but Chen Si's words still shook him deeply. Then he mustered all his strength and shouted:
"Fight!!"
Those words stirred Mikasa profoundly. They're the ones who killed Dad. I want to live with my brother. I want to protect him. I want to protect Mom... but...
Tears glimmered in Mikasa's eyes. She picked up the dagger, her arm shaking. Killing someone was still too difficult for her.
"I'm sorry... I don't think I can do it..."
Chen Si placed his hand over Mikasa's and slowly lowered the hand gripping the dagger. Killing was not necessarily the path she had to choose. He would bear this road of thorns and blood alone.