Chapter 56: Squatting Quietly for a While

Li Chenqiu stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over the crowd with unmasked audacity. Everyone who met his eyes lowered their heads to avoid his fierce glare, stepping back timidly one by one.

Horse-face turned his head, wanting to say something to his subordinates, but only desolate air greeted his eyes.

"Huh?" Horse-face turned around in utter bewilderment, only to see that his loyal and righteous subordinates had all retreated to a distance of ten meters, staring at him with innocent expressions.

"Why are you backing away? What is there to be afraid of? Aren't I still here!?" Horse-face shouted in exasperation.

Yet his words had no effect whatsoever; instead, they caused a flicker of doubt to surface on the faces of those awakened ones.

"What do you mean by this? Get back here, all of you!"

Under Horse-face's vehement demand, the underworld crew reluctantly returned to his side, and a few thick-skinned ones were even pulled right in front of him by Horse-face himself.

Shen Yuanguo's side fared a bit better; at least he didn't pull anyone to shield himself.

Only after both men had stabilized their footing did they cast their gazes back toward Li Chenqiu.

"Li Chenqiu, it seems you don't want to leave this place alive!" Horse-face's eyes flashed with ferocity as he drew his saber from his waist.

"I'll give you one last chance. Hand over both keys." Shen Yuanguo narrowed his eyes, the knuckle-dusters on his hands glinting with a bone-chilling light.

For a moment, an air of profound slaughter spread across the clearing.

"How déjà vu!" Li Chenqiu smiled faintly, momentarily feeling as though he had been transported back to that afternoon.

Surrounded by people just like before, treated as fish on a chopping board just like before. Although everything seemed identical, one thing had changed: time had moved on, and the roles of predator and prey had been reversed.

"With so many of you, surely you must have other keys on your hands. I'll give you a chance to survive—hand them out."

While speaking, Li Chenqiu flicked his foot, sending a stone from the ground flying into his hand.

Horse-face gave a mocking smile. "Do you not realize your own..."

"Five seconds." Li Chenqiu extended five fingers, lowering them one by one as time ticked away, accelerating the heartbeat of everyone present.

Especially those awakened ones who were merely first-tier outsiders trying their luck by coming in here; cold sweat poured down their faces, and their legs trembled uncontrollably.

"Arrogant! You think—"

Li Chenqiu flashed a brilliant smile, cutting Horse-face off midsentence. "Time's up. Pray you aren't the one I set my sights on!"

The next second, spiderweb cracks burst forth from beneath Li Chenqiu's feet, and in the blink of an eye, his figure flashed in front of an awakened one.

"Don't—"

Bang!

Before the man could finish speaking, Li Chenqiu used the stone to smash his head open. Crimson blood splattered like splashed ink across the faces of the other awakened ones.

Bang, bang, bang!

Before the remaining awakened ones could recover their senses, Li Chenqiu gripped the stone tightly and, like a blood-crazed butcher, smashed open the heads of several more awakened ones in rapid succession.

"I surrender! Don't kill me, don't kill me!"

"How could we possibly deal with a monster like this?!"

"Run... Run for your lives!!!"

"Get a grip, everyone! He's already exhausted! Let's all rush him together!"

"Get a grip your grandmother's ghost! If he's exhausted, why don't you rush him?"

"Bastard! Whose subordinate are you, talking to me like that?"

"I'm your father!"

Someone cursed amidst the chaos, leaving Horse-face standing in place with a livid expression.

Under Li Chenqiu's wanton slaughter, the fear that had been accumulating within the crowd finally erupted under the instigation of death. They bolted in all directions like madmen, ignoring every attempt by Horse-face and Shen Yuanguo to stop them.

Although what Horse-face and Shen Yuanguo said made perfect sense, and the other awakened ones acknowledged the logic, it didn't mean those awakened ones weren't afraid of dying.

The impact of death far surpassed any rhetoric; facing death head-on, no one could remain completely fearless.

The moment Li Chenqiu killed the first awakened one with a stone, the psychological defense lines of every awakened one had already collapsed.

The scene grew increasingly chaotic. Horse-face and Shen Yuanguo, standing amidst the crowd, exchanged glances before turning and bolting toward the dark, wooded mountains.

"Brat, you'd better cower in here for the rest of your life and never come out—ever!!!"

Horse-face launched into his customary routine of shouting fierce parting threats.

"Did I give you permission to leave?" Li Chenqiu locked his deep gaze onto Horse-face and lunged forward like a phantom.

When Horse-face looked back and caught sight of Li Chenqiu's face, he was nearly frightened paralyzed onto the ground.

To save his own life, Horse-face grabbed two awakened ones running ahead of him and violently hurled them behind him to stall Li Chenqiu's pace.

Taking advantage of this opening, Horse-face made a hair's-breadth escape, diving into the darkness without daring to look back.

Seeing this, Li Chenqiu did not give chase. Instead, he halted his steps and turned around.

The instant Li Chenqiu turned, the fierce edge in his eyes rapidly dissipated, and his eyelids felt as though they were weighed down by stones, ready to drop at any second.

Yet despite his haggard expression, Li Chenqiu's posture showed not the slightest hint of wavering.

With a fairly normal gait, he walked over to He Lu, squatted down directly, and placed his hand over the wound on He Lu's abdomen, putting on a show of examining the injury.

"Ugh~" He Lu let out a reflex-driven groan of pain, raising his head to look at Li Chenqiu.

When he caught sight of Li Chenqiu's violently trembling pupils, his heart skipped a beat, and instinctively he reached out to steady Li Chenqiu.

"Don't touch me, they haven't gone far yet," Li Chenqiu commanded in a low voice.

"Uh... right." He Lu nodded, pulling his hand back, and then asked with concern, "Are you alright? How can I help you?"

Li Chenqiu raised his head weakly, his voice no louder than a mosquito's hum: "Just let me lean on you and squat quietly for a little while. Give me a little while and I'll be fine..."

Li Chenqiu's voice grew fainter and fainter, until by the end, his eyes closed and he became motionless.

Throughout the previous battle, Li Chenqiu had been holding his breath, and only now did he completely release it.

The physical pain flooded into his mind all at once. In anyone else's place, the agony might have been excruciating enough to cause fainting or even death.

Yet Li Chenqiu gritted his teeth and endured it in total silence; compared to the torment of breaking through to the second tier, this sort of injury didn't even scratch the surface.

One minute.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

The surroundings of the Palace of Doubt had regained their quietness, and Li Chenqiu opened his eyes once more, all trace of exhaustion gone from his gaze.

He Lu looked at Li Chenqiu in astonishment: "You—you've recovered already?"

Li Chenqiu shook his arms and nodded. "More or less. Just need a bit more resting time."

He Lu's mouth parted slightly, momentarily at a loss for words.

He himself was injured to the point where simply standing up was a massive problem, yet this kid, after such an intense and brutal battle, had recovered in ten minutes. Was that even reasonable?

Li Chenqiu rubbed his slightly blurred eyes, looked at He Lu, and asked, "Were you sent by the Public Security Administration to purge the Disaster Water—"

Li Chenqiu's ears suddenly twitched, and his voice cut off abruptly.

Splat, splat, splat...

A sound of wet, squelching footsteps approached from afar.