Chapter Five: Waiting for You to Make Your Move

Deep within the myriad of shanties, in a humble shelter topped with tattered canvas and propped up by moldy bamboo poles, an important guest had arrived today. The owner, Old Li, bowed and scraped, his attitude humble and sycophantic as he greeted the distinguished visitor.

“Master Zhou, what do you think of this girl in my family?”

Old Li’s weathered, dark face was lined with deep wrinkles, which seemed to deepen even further whenever he smiled, as if a plow had carved a network of furrows across his features. He kept his back bent submissively toward the important man while roughly pulling his seventeen-year-old daughter in front of him.

“Just look at her face, sir—though a bit thin, it’s pale and fair, with delicate features. And her figure isn’t bad either—slender waist, long legs...”

“Two red crystal coins, absolutely worth it.”

Old Li held on to his daughter, introducing her to the man as if she were a commodity for sale.

He was not wrong; his daughter was indeed beautiful, her brows and eyes elegant as a painting, skin fair and luminous—a true beauty. With a pretty dress and a touch of adornment, her looks would rival those of any star.

“Hm, not bad,” the man replied.

His name was Zhou Ba, but he was known as Butcher Zhou. As a gene-enhanced individual, even as the lowest-ranked, a first-level gene enhancer, he was still a figure of some repute in the southern city’s sprawling shantytown.

Butcher Zhou’s face was fleshy and brutal, his gaze often flickering with a predatory glint. The scar across his brow and the occasional murderous gleam in his eyes made people shudder in fear.

He extended two fingers, pinching the girl’s chin lightly. The back of his hand slid slowly across her cheek, and the lust in his eyes grew even darker.

At his touch, the girl trembled as though shocked, her face turning pale. She longed to shrink away but dared not move, standing there quivering, praying that the villain’s hand would soon leave her face.

“Old Li, I’m a straightforward man. One red crystal coin, and the girl is mine,” Butcher Zhou declared.

Seeing the girl’s timid demeanor, the greed in his triangular eyes grew fiercer, and a sparkling red crystal coin appeared in his palm.

“One coin? That, that...” Old Li’s face darkened, his hands rubbing together nervously. One coin was too little, yet faced with the notorious Butcher Zhou, he didn’t dare protest, leaving him caught in a dilemma.

“One coin? Butcher Zhou, are you strapped for cash these days? That price hardly shows any sincerity,” came a mocking voice.

Butcher Zhou’s face clouded instantly, his triangular eyes flashing coldly.

The ragged curtain was lifted aside, and Kebe walked in with a smile.

Butcher Zhou’s expression was icy as he looked at Kebe and snorted coldly. “I lack sincerity? And you have it?”

He recognized Kebe as the son of Big Beard, a man he had a grudging respect for. Suppressing his anger, he retorted, “Heh, I do have sincerity. For such a lovely girl, I’d say ten red crystal coins is entirely fair,” Kebe said, patting a nervous little boy reassuringly. Ignoring Butcher Zhou’s darkening face, he walked straight up to Old Li.

“Old Li, ten crystal coins. How about selling Sister Qianqian to me?”

“I offer ten crystal coins!”

At Kebe’s offer, Old Li’s heart leapt with excitement as he stared at him.

“Did you say ten crystal coins?” Old Li’s face flushed, afraid he had misheard. Ten crystal coins—he had never seen such a sum in his life. Even the exquisitely trained beauties at the House of Fragrant Pity in West City weren’t worth that much.

“Yes, you heard right. Ten crystal coins—do you accept?” Kebe paid no mind to Butcher Zhou’s increasingly stormy expression. He drew out ten red crystal coins from the pouch at his waist and looked calmly at Old Li.

“Kebe! Do you really think I, Butcher Zhou, am afraid of Big Beard?” Butcher Zhou barked, his fists cracking.

After risking his life hunting zombies, all his savings amounted to only seven or eight red crystal coins. In three months, the Great Purge—held once every seventy years—would come, and as a member of the shantytown, he could never come up with the thousand crystal coins needed for a contribution. That meant he’d be expelled from Lingfeng City, and leaving the city was as good as a death sentence. So, for these last three months, he intended to indulge himself.

But he hadn’t expected Big Beard’s son, Kebe, to offer ten red crystal coins, deliberately making things difficult for him!

“Butcher Zhou, what’s the meaning of this? In a trade, the highest bidder wins. I believe this young lady is worth ten crystal coins,” Kebe replied with righteous conviction.

“You!” Butcher Zhou’s fleshy face twitched, his eyes bulging, yet Kebe’s words left him speechless.

“Fine, you buy her. If you’re really willing to spend ten crystal coins, I’ll give Big Beard that much respect,” Butcher Zhou said, his cruel exterior belying a shrewd mind. He understood Kebe didn’t truly want to buy the girl—he simply wanted to force Zhou to back down.

In the apocalypse, money was important, but strength was more so. You have money? Once you’ve bought her, I’ll just take her from you. In this world, might makes right—Butcher Zhou had lived by this truth for decades.

“If you really pay ten crystal coins for her, so be it. But if you don’t...hmph, if I teach you a lesson, what of it? You provoked me first. I doubt even Big Beard could object.”

Kebe was a little surprised. He turned to stare at Butcher Zhou for a long time before smiling, then handed over the ten red crystal coins.

He had thought Butcher Zhou would lose his patience and start a fight; he’d just learned the saber techniques left by his father and wanted to test their power. Zhou, for all his cruelty, was still human—a far safer opponent than a wild zombie.

But since Zhou didn’t make the first move, Kebe couldn’t either. He fell silent, pondering where he might find a suitable opponent to practice with.

Old Li glanced nervously at Butcher Zhou, afraid he’d fly into a rage. But when he saw Zhou’s face remain expressionless, the excitement in his heart finally could not be contained.

Hands trembling, he accepted the ten red crystal coins from Kebe, carefully tucking them into his shirt as though afraid they might fall and shatter—more cautiously than if he were cradling a baby.

Ten crystal coins would keep him in luxury for three months. After that, when he’d be forced to leave the city, what did it matter? To enjoy life before death—Old Li thought it was all worth it.

“Go, go now. Follow this young master and serve him well,” Old Li waved his hand as though shooing a fly, eager for his daughter to leave with Kebe before he could change his mind.

His daughter, Li Qianqian, stood before Kebe, her large, watery eyes brimming with tears. Her delicate, rain-kissed beauty would make any normal man want to take her into his arms and cherish her.

Kebe was a normal person, but still more boy than man, and so, rather than moved to embrace her, he frowned.

He had only one room, one bed. For fifteen years, he’d been sharing it with his father, Big Beard. The bed was large, but sharing it with a girl—what kind of situation was that?

Scratching his head, Kebe suddenly felt a headache coming on. How to arrange for Li Qianqian’s stay was a serious problem.

“Old Li, I’ve paid. Let Qianqian stay here for now; I’ll come for her later.”

He couldn’t think of a better solution, so letting Qianqian stay put was the only thing he could do.

“Fine, of course, whenever you wish to take her,” Old Li replied, clutching the red crystal coins to his chest, so long as the money wasn’t returned, he’d agree to anything.

Kebe sighed in relief; with the matter settled, he could now hunt zombies without worry. Just as he was about to turn and leave, a sinister voice suddenly sounded.

“Wait!” Butcher Zhou, who’d been standing aside, now wore a smile. As he’d suspected, Kebe was only here to make trouble; now he finally had a reason to act.

“What is it?” Kebe stopped and looked at Zhou.

“Hmph, of course there’s something! Boy, I don’t think you really mean to buy her,” Zhou said coldly, stepping forward, his triangular eyes glinting with malice.

“Heh, and what does that have to do with you?”

Kebe met Zhou’s cold gaze without flinching, his eyes unwavering, a mocking laugh on his lips.

“It has everything to do with me. If you’re not sincere about buying, then you’re sincerely making trouble for me, Butcher Zhou, aren’t you?”

Step by step, Zhou pressed forward until he was less than a stride away, his voice icy.

“So what if I am?” Kebe shrugged, his tone indifferent as he rolled his eyes, though his gaze suddenly sharpened, a hidden excitement well concealed as he calmly watched Zhou.

He was just waiting for Zhou to make a move! Judging from Zhou’s tone, he seemed ready to attack. Kebe’s little plan was about to succeed, and he couldn’t help but feel excited.

“So what?” Zhou’s fleshy face twitched, a vicious glint in his triangular eyes. He glared fiercely at Qingyu, snorted coldly, then said, “Naturally, I’ll help Big Beard discipline his precious son!” Zhou launched a sudden kick.

Bang!

Just as the fierce kick was about to brush Kebe’s clothes, Kebe, already prepared, instantly drew the saber slung across his back.

He held the back of the blade upward, pointing it obliquely at Zhou.

The back of the saber was thick and appeared dull, but Zhou’s expression changed instantly, and he jerked his leg back. Kebe, casually holding his saber, had completely blocked the path of Zhou’s strike.

Had he persisted with the kick, he would have crashed into the edge of Kebe’s blade.

Zhou grunted in surprise, a flash of consternation on his brutish face, though he didn’t take it too seriously. After all, as a first-level gene-enhanced man, his physical strength was three times that of an ordinary person.

And Kebe was just an ordinary youth—hardly enough to warrant Zhou’s concern.

But as Kebe held the rusty saber, watching Zhou withdraw his leg, a smile appeared on his face.

“I was just waiting for you to make a move!”

A glint of excitement flashed in Kebe’s eyes as he leveled the saber before his chest, narrowing his gaze and fixing it on Butcher Zhou.