Take a Good Look-Is This Against the Law?

The vending machine's cold white light shone on the tip of Lin Yang's dagger, making the blade he had brought all the way from the Faceling school gleam.

Black blood from Wang Jianjun's throat still stained the blade. The tip slowly swept from left to right across the seven or eight restless faces before him.

One word, and the hallway fell silent.

Li Xuan looked at the neatly arranged food in the vending machine, then at the knife in Lin Yang's hand. His eyes darted rapidly in their sockets.

He gritted his teeth. "Everyone who sees it gets a share! We've followed you all this way, and we were part of the search for food too!"

The fat man laughed.

"That's hilarious! Fuck, who was it that said they wanted to watch us make fools of ourselves? Who just said, 'You can wait here and die'?"

He tilted his head at Li Xuan, his expression showing nothing but contempt.

"Now everyone who sees it gets a share? Did you see the food, or did you do anything to help?"

"I..."

Li Xuan was struck speechless. His face flushed red, and his lips moved a couple of times, but he couldn't squeeze out a word.

The fat middle-aged woman stepped forward and straightened the collar of her floral blouse, which had been pulled crooked. Her voice carried the practiced familiarity of someone who thought she could control the situation. It was sharp and loud!

"Young man, this isn't right. Are you planning to hog everything for yourself? I say we split these things fifty-fifty. That's fair and square! You should have a conscience, shouldn't you?"

Lin Yang looked at her and showed no mercy. "Get lost!"

"You!..."

The fat man spoke.

"You say? We found this food. It doesn't have a damn thing to do with you. Get lost, now."

The fat woman's smile froze on her face. She probably hadn't expected her guilt trip to fail.

"You have no conscience! Aren't you afraid of retribution?"

Furious, she raised her voice and pointed a finger at Lin Yang's face. The red polish on her nail was half chipped off.

Before Lin Yang could act, the fat man stepped forward. He seized the fat woman by the collar and lifted her half an inch off the ground.

Her toes scraped against the floor twice, and the anger on her face instantly turned to terror.

"You! What are you doing?! I'm telling you, hitting people is against the law!"

"Against the law? Take a good look and see whether I give a damn about the law!"

He punched the fat woman in the face, sending a spray of blood from her nose onto the beige carpet.

The fat woman let out a shriek like a pig being slaughtered and fell onto her back, the back of her head striking the wall! The boy screamed beside her, the piercing sound bouncing back and forth down the hallway.

"We asked you to join the group earlier, but you had to be clever and follow that pimple-faced asshole. Now he's dead and the food's gone, so you want to fight us for ours? Too late!"

"Grandma!! You hit my grandma!"

The fat man turned to look at the boy.

The boy's mouth hung open, the curse stuck in his throat, too afraid to come out. He took two steps back, tripped over the fat woman's legs, and landed on his butt.

Li Xuan gritted his teeth.

"Fuck! You made me do this!"

He shot a look at a muscular man in a tank top beside him.

The two rolled up their nonexistent sleeves and moved at the same time!

Li Xuan pulled a set of brass knuckles from inside his clothes, slipped them on, and took the lead.

The man in the tank top followed behind him. He had probably spent a couple of years working out at a gym; his chest muscles stretched his tank top tight, and he charged with the brute force characteristic of a young man!

If they couldn't win the argument, they would just have to take the food by force!

Li Xuan charged up to Lin Yang and swung the brass knuckles at his face.

Lin Yang dodged quickly!

Then the dagger in his right hand swept upward from below with a wet pfft!

It plunged straight into Li Xuan's neck!

The tip stabbed in at an angle beneath the left side of his jaw, piercing skin and platysma before striking the artery.

Li Xuan's body went rigid!

The brass knuckles slipped from his hand, while his gaze remained fixed on the food inside.

His mouth opened as if he wanted to say something, but only a faint hiss came from his throat.

Blood welled from the wound, ran down the blade onto Lin Yang's fingers, and dripped through them onto the beige carpet.

Lin Yang pulled the knife out, and Li Xuan's body hit the floor like a dropped sack of cement.

Blood spread across the beige carpet. His lips moved as though he were calling someone's name, but he would never be able to say it.

The hallway fell silent for three full seconds. Then it erupted!

A scream tore from the fat woman's throat. The elegantly dressed woman covered her mouth with her hand, her fingers trembling violently.

"Ah! Murder! Murder!"

The muscular student backed up several steps and struck the wall, his eyes filled with terror.

Lin Yang shook the blood off his knife and looked at the newcomers, who were stunned with fright. His voice was soft and measured.

"I said it before. Whoever courts death again, I'll kill them first!"

The muscular student slumped to the floor, his lips trembling.

"D-dead?"

He had seen many kinds of violence: contests of strength at the gym, shoving in street fights, perhaps even the pushing and shoving of school bullying.

But he had never seen anyone solve a problem by stabbing through another person's neck. This was nothing like the violence he knew!

The woman also froze where she was. The guilt trip on the tip of her tongue was thoroughly choked back as she stared at Li Xuan's corpse, her gaze trembling. She didn't dare move a muscle.

The broadcast sounded then, a low voice breaking the silence.

"Current survivors: 16. Facelings: 4."

The system had confirmed Li Xuan's death.

There were nine people on Lin Yang's side, and only seven left on the other.

The muscular man in the tank top, the fat woman and the boy, the blond, two young men, and the elegantly dressed woman.

The woman was the first to recover.

She hurried forward, her high heels making no sound on the carpet, but her gait was no longer graceful at all. She was practically stumbling.

She stood before Lin Yang with her hands clasped in front of her chest, as though offering an utterly humble prayer.

"Brother, I know I was wrong. I really know I was wrong! I'll listen to you from now on. Can you let me join you? I'll do anything, anything at all!"

As she spoke, she loosened her collar partway, revealing a glimpse of fair skin beneath.