Chapter 313: Sacrifice

—Puff!

A sour‑tasting sound of skin and flesh being pierced rang out.

Su Ming's gaze shook violently.

The bone spike, glowing with a faint light, suddenly thrust up from the ground and pierced the cement road.

It pierced straight through his right calf.

Crimson blood gushed down the ghastly white bone spike.

Spraying onto the mud‑caked asphalt.

Su Ming's mind raced.

The Rules of Space Distortion have already formed in his mind.

But this body, just fused with a Divine Gift, cannot keep up with the commands.

Muscles spasm.

Nerve endings transmit a piercing pain.

He loses his balance entirely.

He collapses heavily into the mud.

A spray of turbid water erupts.

"Well done!"

Zhang Wei stands at a distance, laughing arrogantly.

His features are cramped together.

So ugly it makes one gag.

"Chop him up and feed him to the dogs!"

Several Mutated Monsters trample over their comrades' corpses.

They lunge at Su Ming like mad beasts.

The enslaved survivors flare their claws even more.

Using hands and feet, they crawl on the ground.

A beast‑like growl emanates from their throats.

Elsewhere.

Yuyi Tufu is forced to retreat repeatedly by Liang Wen's greatsword.

Yet his eyes hidden beneath the hood...

... fixedly locked onto Su Ming's fallen position.

The chance arrives.

Liang Wen delivers a horizontal slash toward Yuyi Tufu's chest.

It would have been a strike he could have dodged.

Yet Yuyi Tufu does not retreat but advances.

He forcefully meets the sharp blade with his left shoulder.

Crack!

Collarbone shatters.

The ghastly white flesh rolls outward on both sides.

Yuyi Tufu doesn't even raise an eyebrow.

Using the thrust of that slash,

he twists his whole body in an ergonomically impossible posture.

His right hand's Boning Knife carves a ghastly white arc of death in the downpour.

Heading straight for Su Ming's throat.

Too fast.

So fast that even Liang Wen cannot sheath his sword in time to defend.

"Damn!"

Liang Wen curses loudly.

Watching helplessly as that murder‑making weapon closes in on Su Ming's neck.

Su Ming lies in the mud.

Pupils constrict.

The scent of blood on the Boning Knife already pierces his nostrils.

The notch on the blade is clearly visible.

The Space Distortion ability is completely jammed.

His body is so heavy he cannot even lift a hand.

A dead end.

This time it really has to be settled here.

Su Ming clenches his teeth.

Preparing to meet a dismembered ending.

Bang!

A broad figure pounces from the side, fitting snugly.

Carrying an unstoppable resolve.

He forcibly crashed between Su Ming and the boning knife.

It was Lei Yu.

This Special Forces captain didn't even perform a tactical evasion maneuver.

He directly used his own back.

He went up against that murderous weapon that could even slice through rules.

Snick.

The sharp blade entered the flesh.

The boning knife split the tactical vest without any hindrance.

It severed the spine.

It was deeply embedded in Lei Yu's back.

Scorching hot blood spurted out.

It sprayed Su Ming's face.

Fishy.

Hot.

Su Ming froze.

His mind went blank for a moment.

Across his past and present lives combined.

He had seen countless betrayals, scheming, and kicking someone when they're down.

In his past life, that Li Dama.

For half a piece of bread, she could betray him to the thugs.

Those neighbors who once called each other brothers.

They could beat him half to death over supplies.

He had long seen through human nature in this apocalypse.

They're all trash.

They're all beasts that eat people just to survive.

He had never seen anyone rush to block a blade for another.

Or to block a blade for a stranger he'd known less than two hours.

"Cough... cough cough..."

Lei Yu vomited a mouthful of blood mixed with internal organ fragments.

His body heavily pressed onto Su Ming.

Those rough big hands clung tightly to Su Ming's collar.

The force was astonishingly strong.

"Captain... Captain!"

Special Forces member Xiao Wu in the distance had his eyes about to burst.

His eye sockets were bloodshot.

He sprayed bullets onto the raincoat butcher like a madman.

"Fire suppression! Get the captain back!"

Other team members also had red eyes.

The rifle barrels grew red from firing.

A dense hail of bullets struck the raincoat butcher.

It sent up clumps of pallid flesh and blood.

The raincoat butcher tried to pull out the boning knife.

But he found the blade was firmly stuck in Lei Yu's bones.

Lei Yu grinned.

He revealed teeth stained with blood.

He was separated by the tactical vest.

Inside the inner pocket of his chest.

Containing that yellowed-edged family photo.

His wife's gentle smile.

His daughter's playful look with twin ponytails.

Through the fabric came a warm sensation.

I really want to go back.

I really want to hug that little girl who always clung to him to hear stories.

Lei Yu's vision began to blur.

He knew it all too well.

This world is utterly rotten.

The blood moon hung high.

Monsters ran rampant.

If this disaster is left to spread.

The defense line will eventually collapse.

When the time comes.

When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact.

The little home he cares about.

The wife and daughter he risked his life to protect.

All will become fodder in the monsters' mouths.

So.

He must keep Su Ming safe.

The young man who can crush rules with his bare hands and fuse the Divine Gift.

It is the trump card that humanity in this apocalypse can flip the board with.

"Keep living......"

Lei Yu pressed against Su Ming's ear.

His voice hoarse, leaking air.

"Carrying...... our share......"

"Sorry, little girl."

"Dad can't protect you himself anymore."

Lei Yu silently recited the final farewell in his heart.

He reached back to feel the tactical pendant at his waist.

There hung a special tactical aluminum heat agent.

Specifically used to destroy uncontainable weird remnants.

Click.

The pull ring was torn off.

The Raincoat Butcher sensed the deadly threat.

Abandoned the boning knife.

He tried to pull back and retreat.

Too late.

Lei Yu clung tightly to the Raincoat Butcher's right leg.

His ten fingers dug deep into that pallid flesh.

"Let's go to hell together, trash."

Lei Yu grinned widely.

Fresh blood dripped down his chin.

Extreme white.

The blinding white light exploded without reserve.

The tactical aluminum heat agent completely consumed Lei Yu and half the body of the Raincoat Butcher who couldn't retreat in time.

"Ahhh——" the Rain Night Butcher let out a miserable scream.

That ball of flames carried a temperature that would destroy everything.

It rose up in the heavy rain.

The surrounding air was sucked dry.

Forming a temporary vacuum zone.

Su Ming was flung away by the explosion's shockwave.

He rolled over ten meters in the standing water.

Only then did he barely stop.

He sat down hard on the cold, hard ground.

The wound on his right leg continued to bleed.

But he didn't even glance at it.

Su Ming's gaze.

Fixed firmly on that ball of burning flames.

The remaining half of the Raincoat Butcher's body deformed in the high heat.

Emitting a harsh hiss.

And Lei Yu.

Not a single bone remained.

Completely turned to ash.

Su Ming's heart, which had long been silent.

Suddenly came an extremely strong throbbing.

Thud.

Thud thud.

The heartbeat's movement and stillness amplified beside his ear.

It shook him, making him dizzy and vision blurred.

He is an egoist.

He was reborn.

His only creed is to survive.

Other people's life or death is none of his business.

Even if the sky falls.

As long as it doesn't hit his head, it's fine.

But now.

That man named Lei Yu.

He spent a life.

Forcefully on his indestructible selfish shell.

It smashed a bottomless crack.

Su Ming raised his hand.

He brushed the blood on his face.

Lei Yu's blood.

It was still hot.

It was so hot his fingertips trembled.

In the distance.

Zhang Wei was still shouting.

"Damn it! Kill him for me! Take back the Divine Gift!"

The Mutant's roars rose and fell.

Liang Wen lifted the greatsword.

His gaze was colder than ever.

"Lao Lei..."

Liang Wen bit his lip.

His usually chuunibyou, goofy face was now filled with hostility.

Su Ming slowly braced against the ground.

He stood up.

His right leg, pierced by a Bone Spike, swung back and forth.

But he stood very straight.

The mass of power in his chest that belonged to the Divine Gift.

No longer charged recklessly.

Instead, it followed the blood.

Flowing to his limbs and bones.