Chapter 11: with translation of chapter title

This was Wang Wu's first kill, and the feeling killing gave Wang Wu—how to put it? —was a bit strange.

When he saw the person he had met a few months earlier, and when that person's head was severed by his own hand, blood spurted from the neck like a jet from a high-pressure water gun.

His first feeling was discomfort and reluctance.

Just as he had seen the two people Zhu San Niang had stabbed in half earlier, seeing someone similar to himself die so miserably before his eyes triggered his innate empathic ability, making him feel uncomfortable.

But at the same time, when he saw the blood spurting from the opponent's neck, an impulse suddenly welled up in his heart for no reason.

He could hardly say what this impulse was, but when it surged up, at that moment his mind was instantly filled with countless identical thoughts.

And that thought was:

Kill.

Drag their heads off, split them in half, hack them to pieces.

At that moment, countless thoughts flashed through his mind, all related to slaughter.

But immediately after that thought, a sense of coolness welled up from deep within his heart. This coolness represented reason, allowing him to gradually suppress his inner bloodlust.

However, his reason also told him that killing would continue, but this was not being controlled by the murderous desire in his mind; it was a conclusion reached after thought.

These miscellaneous thoughts didn't delay Wang Wu much; the whole process actually took less than two seconds.

After Wang Wu said "No need," his thoughts returned to reality, and the five people still surrounding them finally reacted at that moment, realizing what had happened.

At that moment, his companion's headless corpse collapsed with a thud, blood continued to spurt from the neck wound, and the pungent smell of blood spread in all directions.

Monsters have a keen sense of smell, of course, but monsters normally don't appear here, so they didn't need to worry too much that the blood smell would attract any monster.

However, just because it might not attract monsters doesn't mean it won't attract something else.

At that moment, outside the Guan Dao, in the direction of Wang Gu Lin, and also on the plain on the other side, some flickering shadows could already be seen.

They did not approach, merely standing there, as if gazing in that direction.

But if you happen to be inattentive and don't notice them, then when you look over again later, you'll find that they have somehow crept closer to this side.

But for the people currently surrounding Wang Wu, those things were obviously not the most important. The most important thing now was that they had run into a tough opponent.

At this point, the five who had reacted turned; one had already turned and run toward the distance, and the others quickly realized the same, each picking a direction to flee.

In this situation, naturally, every escapee counts.

But they quickly realized something: in such an open environment, they couldn't run very far.

Plop!

Ah!! My leg!!! Ahhhhh!!!!

Accompanied by a muffled thud, immediately followed by a series of piercing wails. The sound came from the young man who had been the first to react and bolted on his legs.

At that moment, a crossbow bolt was embedded in his foot, entering from the back of his knee and exiting the front, instantly robbing him of mobility.

Looking back at the middle-aged man, he saw that the man now had a hand crossbow in his hand—he didn't know when it had appeared—and the bolt that had struck the fleeing runner naturally came from that crossbow.

Not only him, but the girl standing beside him also pulled out a ranged weapon—though not a crossbow, but the longbow she carried on her back.

She drew the bow, nocked an arrow, aimed at one person, then released.

Whoosh—!

The bowstring twanged, sending a barbed arrow flying forward, which struck the fleeing youth squarely in the back.

The arrow passed straight through his body, carrying a chunk of flesh, and shattered against the stone slabs ahead.

Afterward, the girl was about to nock a second arrow when she noticed Wang Wu looking at her; her face flushed and her hand hesitated.

Wang Wu gave her a polite smile, then turned his head, raised his long blade again, picked someone at random, and charged straight at them.

It didn't take long before the six youths wielding weapons were dead on the road—some shot through the head, some cleaved in half, others with half their heads sliced off.

As for the young man who had been the first to flee and get shot, he seemed to know the old man and wanted to negotiate, but the old man simply took his daughter's longbow, walked over, and strangled him to death with the bowstring.

Observing their skill in killing, it was clear that this father‑daughter pair was quite interesting.

After all, in this world, if you have no real ability and don't bring anyone, just two people walking alone on the Guan Dao—even though it's a high‑safety major road—it's basically tantamount to courting death.

"Big bro, do you know them?"

After watching the young man being strangled by the middle‑aged man with the bowstring—his eyes almost popping out of their sockets, his tongue lolling out, a foul odor emanating from his lower body—Wang Wu looked at the middle‑aged man who had loosened his grip and asked curiously.

"They're the youths from that village over there." The middle‑aged man put away his longbow, walked back to his daughter, pointed at the village ahead, and said.

"Now that farming is idle, the village youths have nothing to do. With the days growing shorter, before winter sets in, some might go to the edge of Wang Gu Lin to try their luck hunting, while others..."

The middle‑aged man glanced at the corpses on the ground and said, "Naturally, that's what they do."

"But generally speaking, they're just after money; if you give them some, they won't hassle you. If you don't, they size people up—if they see you're trouble, they won't even bother to approach."

"As for you." The middle‑aged man looked at the package on the ground and said, "You've let too much wealth leak out, inviting greed and getting yourself killed."

"How do you know this is dead men's money?" After receiving the answer, Wang Wu nodded, then asked curiously.

This was the question he had prepared to ask from the start, but those youths had interrupted him.

Upon hearing Wang Wu's words, the middle‑aged man glanced at him and said, "The silver bears the mark of the Wang Clan."

(End of chapter)