Chapter 56: Falling Out
The Dark Elf had ascended to the Silver rank and he had summoned the Violent abomination known as The Harbinger.
Chen Feng was quite satisfied with the rewards of this little excursion. There had been no unexpected incidents—the once invincible bug demon had been utterly suppressed, and even in its final moments, it posed no threat to him.
A Dark Elf, The Harbinger, and The Dretch.
An intense blend of seduction and dread.
This was a very bizarre trio.
The Dark Elf seemed to have some disdain for her two colleagues and moved closer to Chen Feng. Of course, this didn't rule out the possibility that she had intended to do so from the beginning.
Noticing the Dark Elf's movement, the Dretch stirred. It dragged its bloated body, and the arms of the dead hanging from it slowly spread out, as if preparing to ask for a hug.
Chen Feng shot it a glare, and the Dretch halted its unsettling behavior.
Dretches were mindless creatures. In the Abyss, they only knew how to devour and fight. When their accumulation reached a certain threshold, they would evolve, and with that evolution, their intelligence would slightly increase.
However, due to following Chen Feng's orders, this particular Dretch's evolution had gone somewhat awry. The intelligence that should have been enhanced had been tainted by external influences.
Sadness, Resentment, Sorrow, Ecstasy, Anxiety.
The thoughts of those corpses roamed freely within the Dretch's mind, prompting its mutation. Its head, being relatively empty, could accommodate these negative emotions. If it had been any other intelligent being, it would have long gone mad, driven insane by such thoughts.
But one thing was certain—the Dretch was loyal to Chen Feng. It was precisely because of this loyalty that this terrifying aberration, which could only think of phrases like "eat you..." and "kill you..." for other beings, had developed a dependence on Chen Feng, constantly wanting to be close to him.
This was commendable, but best kept in check.
Chen Feng sighed, his expression slightly heavy. A hug? Even though he had created this monster himself, the sight of the Dretch's dozen or so pale, lifeless arms made him uncomfortable.
The Harbinger stood silently to the side. As Chen Feng's new close-combat fighter, its mere presence exuded an oppressive aura.
Its head was entirely wrapped in barbed wire, with only a single blood-red eye exposed, devoid of any white. That eye was filled with nothing but hatred and madness for all life.
If undead creatures were merely followers of slaughter, then The Harbinger was a fanatical zealot.
In life, it had suffered endless torment and torture, filling its being with boundless resentment. Unlike the mindless Dretch, The Harbinger was a master of combat, and its favorite pastime was the brutal torture of its enemies.
It would crush the limbs of its foes, tear apart their faces, and only when they were on the brink of death would it end their lives with a weapon or its fists.
The Harbinger.
Its presence heralded the withering of death.
---
Of course, Chen Feng hadn't forgotten the purpose of this journey. He made his way to the nearby supermarket, looted it thoroughly, and then left the neighborhood.
Click…
Chen Feng slowly exited the area, carrying nothing on his person. The Dretch served as the perfect storage container, adding no burden to him at all.
He cautiously scanned his surroundings before moving forward.
But!
Just as Chen Feng had walked a short distance, he became alert, hearing faint arguing ahead—two men.
Having ascended to the Silver Realm, Chen Feng's hearing had improved.
An argument?
From the sounds, it was clear the two men were trying to keep their voices down, but the urgency in their heated exchange was unmistakable.
Intrigued, Chen Feng slowly crept forward. After walking about three or four hundred meters, the argument became clearer. He turned his head and looked ahead.
Two young men came into view, clearly embroiled in a conflict, their argument tense and escalating.
"Wei Xun, do you even know what you're saying? No matter what, I won't agree to your suggestion!" The speaker was a bespectacled man, scholarly in appearance. Whatever his companion had just proposed had clearly shocked him.
"I don't want it to be like this either, but why should we risk our lives while others sit back and enjoy the benefits? It's too dangerous out here! Look around—last time, I nearly died! Don't you get it?" Wei Xun, with his hooked nose and flushed face, was evidently unwilling to accept his companion's objections.
"And that's your reason to abandon them? I've told you countless times, this is our responsibility. I can't accept your proposal—I won't leave them to fend for themselves on the streets, not a single person!" The bespectacled man's tone was firm, his voice filled with conviction.
"Responsibility? Fucking bullshit! Just because we have these abilities now? This power was a gift from the heavens, meant to keep us alive, not to waste on wastes like those people!" Wei Xun roared, his body suddenly turning red. In an instant, a hard, keratinous armor spread across his skin. His pupils turned a feral brown, and a massive tail sprouted from his back, swaying menacingly.
At this moment, Wei Xun no longer resembled a human—he was more like a giant lizard, exuding an aura of cold indifference.
"A Half-Beastman!" Chen Feng observed from the shadows, noting that Wei Xun was a Professional.
The appearance of mystical energies had bestowed many people with extraordinary abilities, and Half-Beastmen were one such manifestation. Normally, they were indistinguishable from humans, but when they transformed, their power turned them into a hybrid of man and beast.
There were many kinds of Half-Beastmen; some lucky individuals even awakened as Dragonblood Warriors, capable of releasing a trace of draconic might during battle, instilling fear in their opponents.
Wei Xun wasn't quite that powerful, but his claws shimmered with a greenish hue—poison inherited from the giant lizard. A scratch from those claws would be deadly to an ordinary person within minutes.
From their conversation, Chen Feng quickly pieced together the conflict.
He could easily imagine the two young men risking their lives to protect ordinary people, foraging for food in the wild.
If he wasn't mistaken, the bespectacled man was also a Professional.
Indeed, Chen Feng's guess was confirmed when, after Wei Xun transformed, the bespectacled man let out a cold snort. The ground beneath them rippled, and clumps of earth coalesced into dense spheres, hovering around him.
An Elementalist.
The bespectacled man could manipulate earth to attack. These spheres, compressed to a higher density, packed a much greater punch.
His face hardening with anger, the bespectacled man said, "Wei Xun, if you're not willing to protect everyone, then leave. I'll protect them myself. From this point on, don't come back!"
With that, the bespectacled man shot Wei Xun a long, hard look, his eyes full of disappointment and disdain. After all the hardship they'd endured, Wei Xun was now proposing to abandon women and children, claiming they were a waste of resources. The bespectacled man could hardly believe this was the same Wei Xun who had once been the optimistic basketball team captain, admired by countless girls in college.
Today, their four years of friendship had come to an end. Yuan Wen refused to associate with such a cold-hearted person.
"We'll be fine without you. From now on, we're no longer friends!" Yuan Wen's voice was resolute as he turned his back on Wei Xun, giving him no chance to argue.
Hearing Yuan Wen's condemnation, Wei Xun lowered his head, his body trembling, his fists clenched tightly as if struggling with some internal conflict.
"Don't come back?"
Wei Xun sneered, raising his head, the previous anger in his eyes replaced by a cold, vicious gaze, like a shark swimming through the ocean, fixated on its prey—the spectacled man standing opposite him.
Suddenly.
He extended his arm.
Shhhk!
Sharp nails pierced through the back of the spectacled man, emerging from his chest. With that single strike, his internal organs were completely shredded, leaving no chance for survival.
The spectacled man trembled, trying to manipulate the earth, but his strength was utterly drained. His head slumped to the side, and just like that, he was dead.
"It was so hard to find that air-raid shelter, a place where we could defend ourselves against the monsters. And now you tell me not to go back? Without me, how could those useless fools have survived until now!"
"I know you're kind, but I want to survive too. Every day, I have to come out and search for food. One day, we will die out here!"
"Die you bastard! I'll live well in your place. It wasn't me who killed you; it was those worthless fools. I'll avenge you—I'll make them suffer for what they've done!"
Looking at the friend who had died by his own hands, Wei Xun's veins bulged with fury, his expression twisted like a vengeful spirit, completely devoid of reason.
Four years of university—saying there were no feelings would be a lie, but... Yuan Wen was too kind. That kindness was his downfall. There was no reason for Wei Xun to keep risking his life to find food for those useless people!
Regrets? None!
"If I could, I would have killed you sooner!"
Looking at the spectacled man lying at his feet like a dead dog, Wei Xun had tears in his eyes, but his face was full of fierceness, like a madman screaming at his former friend.
"Interesting."
As Wei Xun roared, a lazy voice sounded in his ear.
"Who!"
Wei Xun spun around, and there, before him, was a face with a cold smile...
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