Chapter 73: I Want This Thing

The moment they realized Shen Lie was an Awakened, everyone in the hall rose in terror and hurried to gather around Wang Liguo. The atmosphere in the room tightened at once.

“What do you mean by this?” Shen Lie gripped the black spear and stared coldly at the short-haired man opposite him.

Unwilling to waste energy needlessly, Shen Lie had not immediately retaliated. Wang Liguo, however, mistook this for fear. After all, their side had two Awakened.

Glancing at his Awakened companion, Wang Liguo found his courage returning. His gaze first lingered greedily over Xia Ke’s shapely figure before he looked at Shen Lie with a false smile.

“You may leave, but the woman and the backpack she’s carrying must stay.”

“What if I refuse?” Shen Lie had not intended to fight. His main purpose was to seek information about his cousin, but the other man was pressing him so aggressively that he could no longer avoid it.

“Refuse?” The short-haired man seemed to have heard a joke. Sneering, he advanced toward Shen Lie. “It won’t matter. A dead man has no right to resist!”

With that, he moved his arm and prepared to strike again.

Having already been ambushed once, how could Shen Lie give him a second chance? Before the short-haired man could make his move, golden light flashed across Shen Lie’s body. He shot forward like a prehistoric beast.

Brutal Charge!

To Shen Lie’s surprise, the young man’s reactions were not slow either. The instant he saw Shen Lie unleash such a spectacular ability, the short-haired man retreated sharply while sending several vines twisting through the air. They formed a net of vines before him.

Most of the impact was absorbed by the vines. Though they were smashed to pieces, Shen Lie’s momentum was greatly reduced, and the attack no longer posed much of a threat.

Shen Lie did not let up. When one strike failed, he followed with another. At some point, a delicate little hammer had appeared in his hand. He raised it and made a sweeping motion.

A gigantic golden hammer phantom formed above the short-haired youth’s head, coils of lightning winding around it. Its pressure filled the entire hall. Shen Lie had deliberately suppressed its power; otherwise, the original World-Destroying Hammer could have torn the floor and ceiling apart.

“Ah!”

“Don’t!”

“I surrender!”

A string of cries rang through the hall. Shen Lie saw the terror in his opponent’s eyes, but behind that terror he also detected cruelty and deceit. He had no intention of playing the fool who repaid kindness with kindness. Without the slightest hesitation, he pressed down with his hand.

The golden hammer crashed down, crushing the short-haired youth into a bloody mass amid his despair and unwillingness.

“Ugh!”

“Splash!”

The death wrought by the World-Destroying Hammer was horrifyingly vivid, especially in such a confined space. The sight of blood spraying everywhere made everyone, Xia Ke included, retch violently. Even Shen Lie himself had found it difficult to accept at first, but he had grown accustomed to it by now.

“Can I leave this time?” Shen Lie glanced at the others, his indifferent voice echoing through the hall.

The scene that had just unfolded had frightened the courage out of everyone. Not a single person dared make a sound. They all lowered their heads as far as possible, terrified that if the devil before them took a dislike to someone, he might bring down another hammer.

The remaining Awakened—a large-eared young man wearing glasses—was trembling like a leaf. He no longer possessed even the slightest will to resist.

“M-Mister Awakened, we… we have no ill intentions toward you. What happened just now was… was Wang Liguo’s personal decision.” An older woman raised her head with difficulty. It was impossible to imagine how much courage it had taken her to say those words.

Shen Lie looked at her. She was probably a teacher. Though her body was covered in grime, she still possessed an unmistakable air of learning.

He had never intended to do anything to these people. If the short-haired man’s eyes had not made him feel threatened, he would not have attacked at all. Thus, he merely gave the frightened, rabbitlike people a light glance, then turned and prepared to leave.

Suddenly, just as he turned away, Shen Lie’s expression changed. A look of delighted surprise crossed his face as he touched the spot over his chest. Then he spun around and strode quickly toward the female teacher who had just spoken.

“What… what are you going to do?” Seeing the hunger in Shen Lie’s eyes, the teacher’s face went white. She stammered and took a step backward.

Shen Lie touched his chest again, staring at the woman as though deep in thought. The air instantly grew taut with tension. It seemed that everyone’s heartbeat could be heard.

Xia Ke had remained by the doorway. Her face was equally filled with fear. Though she was on Shen Lie’s side, she had known him only a short while. She had always believed him to be kind, if somewhat weak-willed, which was why she had clung stubbornly to him and insisted on staying at his side.

Today, however, she had seen another side of Shen Lie—a ruthless, merciless man who could perhaps be described as decisively violent. She could not help feeling a lingering fear. If she had gone too far before, she would probably have been thrown into the wilderness by now.

Shen Lie stood before the teacher for a full half-minute, frightening her to the verge of collapse. Yet he did not do anything to her. Instead, he turned and walked to the long-haired female student beside her.

The student’s name was Lina. She had been keeping silent and pretending to be an ostrich, praying inwardly that the great demon would hurry up and leave. Then the light before her suddenly dimmed.

Her heart jolted. She raised her head with tears in her eyes and saw the cold-faced Shen Lie slowly reaching out toward her like a demon extending its claws.

“No! Please, no! Please let me go!” The girl was so terrified that she could barely speak. Countless sordid images flashed through her mind, but she had no courage to resist and could only beg desperately.

Shen Lie remained unmoved by her pleas. His right hand drew closer and closer, finally stopping before her neck. After a brief pause, it slipped beneath the collar of her clothes.

“No… no, not here. Please, not here!”

The girl had already resigned herself to her fate. When Shen Lie’s broad hand touched her chest, the last of her illusions vanished. She could only hope that he would not commit such an animalistic act in front of so many people, leaving her the final shred of dignity.

Those beside her buried their heads even lower. Some even shifted aside to make room for Shen Lie. The teacher seemed to want to say something, but she opened her mouth and produced no sound.

Xia Ke stared at Shen Lie in disbelief. She could not reconcile him with a lecherous brute. When she had first met him, she had been nearly naked, yet Shen Lie had not revealed even the slightest trace of lust. Besides, she considered herself far more beautiful than this girl. So why had this man suddenly become so eager?

Could there be something about this girl that attracted him, causing his hormones to surge?

Xia Ke maliciously speculated about Shen Lie, mentally giving his character a resounding mark of disapproval. For a moment, she even considered whether she should continue following him. But she immediately dismissed the thought. In an age like this, who cared about character or morality? Staying alive was already enough.

Everyone believed the girl was doomed. Among the crowd, a young man who had secretly loved her for a long time clenched his fists tightly, yet lowered his head even further.

Shen Lie’s hand continued to move inward, eventually brushing against the girl’s slightly raised chest. Her body trembled, and then her expression suddenly became extraordinarily strange.

She felt Shen Lie reach between the two rounded mounds of her chest. Then his hand withdrew from beneath her collar, holding a small jade pendant.

It was a trinket she had once bought casually on Antique Street.

Shen Lie’s eyes shone with delight.

“I’ll take this.”

With a gentle tug, he snapped the pendant’s cord. He held the pendant up before the girl and gave it a little shake, unable to conceal the excitement in his voice.