Li Chen moved through the crowd as if no one else existed, weaving back and forth with ease.

The so-called “experts” of the Black Tiger Gang were now utterly incapable of resisting him. Li Chen suppressed them completely, to the point that they couldn’t even mount the most basic counterattack.

“Hurry up, magnetic energy guns, magnetic energy guns!”

“Hey, don’t block me!”

“Oh no, that lunatic charged back again!”

‘Lunatic?’

Li Chen, his cloak already soaked with blood and his entire being submerged in the most primal thirst for battle, paused for a moment when he heard that. Then he reached up and stroked his chin with nostalgia.

‘Come to think of it, that was my nickname back when I was in the mercenary group.’

Born in the Lower City, with mediocre strength and no real talent for becoming a martial artist, yet obsessed with fighting, even relishing it in the face of death…

Sometimes, even Li Chen himself didn’t quite understand what kind of person he was.

Facing opponents far stronger than himself only made him more excited.

Did that mean he’d always been yearning for death?

No.

Li Chen shook his head.

Maybe the truth was simply…

‘I really like the thrill that exists right on the line between life and death.’

Li Chen didn’t want to die. If anything, he was afraid of death.

But compared to the numb, suffocating frustration brought on by retreat, he genuinely preferred the stimulation of walking the edge of life and death.

“Don’t panic. He’s only one person. And you all saw it, the boss was right. His power is only at the apprentice level. He’s nowhere near as strong as us. His cultivation method is just a bit strange, that’s all.”

A cadre tried to rally morale, attempting to reorganize the already-crumbling formation.

Boom!

Before her words had even finished, Li Chen once again ignited a surge of crimson flames.

Brilliant fire danced wildly and under the bright moonlight streaming through the windows, it looked like lotus blossoms blooming one after another.

Red Lotus Saber Art.

Under Li Chen’s almost transcendent blade radiance, lotus flowers woven from scorching karmic flames seemed to merge with him completely, becoming indistinguishable from his very being.

“Ultimate state?!”

A cadre who at least had some understanding of martial arts realms showed despair on her face, “Wait, d-don’t kill me…”

Splurt.

Li Chen’s blade severed her fragile neck.

Thud…

As he watched the terrified head tumble away, there wasn’t the slightest hesitation on Li Chen’s face.

“I know you. Just to earn extra money, you targeted the children of your own workshop employees. For years, you made a fortune through human trafficking.”

Scum like that deserved to be ground to dust a million times over.

Crackle, crackle.

As Li Chen’s blade swept through, the headless corpse swayed from inertia before spraying fine misted blood, burning continuously amid the sparks of his crimson blade light.

“Let my karmic fire cleanse your filthy body.”

Li Chen licked his lips, his eyes blazing with bloodthirsty light.

“Monster… monster!”

Faced with Li Chen’s domineering presence that towered over everyone present, the cadres who had been full of confidence only moments ago began to retreat again.

But this time, Li Chen wouldn’t give them any chance to beg for mercy.

“Trying to run? Running still counts as time, you know.”

Whoosh—

Li Chen dashed toward several figures attempting to slip out through a side door.

“Waaah!”

Even more terrifying than Li Chen’s blade was that inferno that could erupt from nowhere, a fire that wouldn’t stop until it reduced its victims to nothing.

“Big Sis, Big Sis!”

A cadre fled in tears to the woman’s side.

“Useless trash.”

The Black Tiger Gang boss no longer had even a trace of composure on her face as she looked at her incompetent subordinates, “What exactly is this guy? Their aura is clearly only first-tier, but their actual combat power…”

Putting herself in his place, she asked herself whether she could slaughter like Li Chen had done. The answer was no.

“Haa… good thing I kept something in reserve. It’s just… do I really have to use it here?”

The noblewoman clenched her teeth, hesitating.

“Aaaah!”

Bang.

Finally, after watching yet another cadre die miserably in the flames, even the boss—a dignified fourth-tier martial artist who should have been invincible in the Lower City—showed a flicker of panic.

“Secretary.”

She turned to the confidant who had loyally served her since she claimed the boss’s throne and more importantly, the woman who had a good younger brother.

She glanced at the delicate young man trembling in the corner, then at the secretary who resembled him somewhat and after a brief silence issued an order.

“Call over everyone who’s taken the drug. Have them follow my commands.”

“What about the others?”

“At a time like this?” The noblewoman shot her an annoyed glare.

“Y-yes!”

Left with no choice, the secretary activated her communicator and followed the boss’s orders, notifying those lucky few who had managed to grab the drugs amid the chaos.

Before anyone realized it, several newly advanced martial artists quietly gathered around the boss, forming a defensive line centered on her.

Swish, swish, swish!

Li Chen, lost in the pleasure of slaughter, didn’t notice their small movements at all. All he wanted was to completely wipe out those scum who deserved to be torn apart a thousand times over.

“Big Sis, do you have a plan?”

“What is that lunatic anyway?”

Everyone talked over one another.

“Shut up.”

The boss glared coldly at them. Suppressed by her power, the gang members immediately lowered their heads, not daring to make a sound.

“You. Come here.”

After looking over the core leaders of the Black Tiger Gang, the boss thought for a moment and decided to call over someone standing on the outer edge.

“Boss?”

The cadre raised her head in confusion.

Ignoring the others’ bewilderment, the noblewoman extended her arm—well-maintained despite faint wrinkles left by time—and pressed her palm against the cadre’s forehead.

“Hah… yes, yes, just like this. That director from Newborn Pharmaceuticals really didn’t lie to me…”

For some reason, the instant the boss’s palm touched her, an icy, bone-chilling sensation shot up from the soles of the cadre’s feet straight to her crown, making her organs feel frozen.

“Uh?”

Suddenly, the woman’s pupils dilated. Her entire body stiffened, her mouth opening as if she wanted to say something, yet no sound came out.

“Aaaah!”

She struggled desperately, trying to break free, but couldn’t move at all, forced to watch helplessly as the qi and blood within her body drained away for no reason.

“Boss?!”

The executives were horrified by the bizarre scene before them.

“So this… this is what that person meant by ‘qi sensing’?”

Thump.

Letting go and allowing the subordinate—now devoid of a heartbeat—to collapse limply to the ground, the Black Tiger Gang boss’s earlier caution vanished completely. In its place, her gaze toward her subordinates was filled with boundless greed.

“N-no!”

Realizing something was terribly wrong, the cadres turned to flee, but it was already too late.

Swish, swish, swish!

In the blink of an eye, of the “lucky ones” who had been chosen earlier, only the secretary was left alive.

“Boss, what… what is this?”

The secretary stared in disbelief at her companions’ corpses. She had never imagined she would survive the mad cloaked man, only to die at the hands of the master she had served for so many years.

“Didn’t I already say it?”

After absorbing her subordinates’ essence and blood, the noblewoman admired her now rosy, supple, elastic skin, all emotion long since discarded. She spoke casually to her secretary, who was like a sister-wife to her male pet.

“Once I made it big, all the Black Tiger Gang’s companions would benefit too?”

“B-boss?”

Fully aware of what had happened, the secretary forced a flattering smile, “I-I’ve followed you for so long and my brother, he…”

“I’ve already decided.”

Thinking of the delicate young man she had held earlier—once alluring enough—the noblewoman felt only boredom when she compared him to the beautiful boys kept by upper-hive elites.

“To completely say goodbye to the past of the Lower City. So, sorry.”

The Black Tiger Gang boss extended her hand.

“Waaah!”

After a shrill scream, the secretary who had dreamed of rising to the Upper Hive with her boss collapsed to the ground, twitching briefly before falling silent.

Boom!

As the boss absorbed massive amounts of essence and blood from her old companions, restoring her youthful, radiant appearance, Li Chen on the other side of the warehouse finished exterminating the remaining gang members.

The enormous warehouse fell into an eerie silence.

Glancing at the shriveled, horribly dead corpses left behind by their boss, Li Chen came to a realization.

‘Injecting that drug lets an ordinary person ascend to martial artist status in one step, but the price is that they can be drained of essence and blood at any time by the controller?’

Evil. Despicable. Shameless.

‘Raising a disciple like this really is heartbreaking.’

Li Chen rubbed his temple, the image of that once-pure, confused girl from years ago resurfacing in his mind.

‘It looks like this master will have to properly correct you, Mengya.’

Looking at the noblewoman, who was ecstatic over her increased power and slowed aging, Li Chen sighed and touched the blade in his hand.

‘True power doesn’t come from plundering… but from protection.’

Glancing at Bai Wei’s radiant smile on the communication screen, Li Chen felt no hesitation at all.

Whoosh—

Before Li Chen could act, a violent gust swept through. Even with his eyesight, he could only catch a fleeting afterimage.

Rip.

The cloak that concealed his appearance shattered, revealing a face under the moonlight so breathtaking it seemed like an elf from a fairy tale.

“Hah…”

The boss, who had been about to attack the mysterious cloaked man, froze the instant she saw Li Chen’s face. All that remained in her mind was a single burning thought.

‘This man… he alone was worthy of being the kept man of my noble Upper Hive citizen status!’

“I never imagined the uninvited guest of the Black Tiger Gang would be such a handsome little man. Compared to the dull trash I usually see, you’re worlds apart.”

The rejuvenated noblewoman ran her fingers through her dark, wavy hair. Between her fiery red lips, her soft pink tongue greedily traced over her pearly teeth.

She could hardly wait to pin him down and toy with him at will.