Chapter 20: Charge Forward

Although Bald Porter had suffered losses from Lü Yang before and was psychologically at a disadvantage, he was still full of brute strength. Driven into a corner now, he fought Lü Yang recklessly. The two rolled on the ground several times. The other two fleeing porters stopped in the distance, watching from afar. They glanced at each other, seeming to hesitate about whether to come help Bald Porter.

Lü Yang knew that if he showed any sign of weakness, those two porters would surely run over and gang up on him. If that happened, he would be one against three. It was obvious they wouldn’t hold back; he could very well die right there. So, he had to end the fight with Bald Porter as quickly as possible.

At this moment, Lü Yang was fighting for his life. Driven by a surge of adrenaline, he once again rolled on top of Bald Porter. Using all his strength, he landed several heavy punches squarely near Bald Porter’s temples, finally knocking him to the ground, completely unable to move.

Although the fight was over, Lü Yang was now in a sorry state. He was severely exhausted, his clothes torn to shreds by Bald Porter. He had several bruises and deep scratch marks on his body, and his groin was burning with pain.

But Lü Yang couldn’t worry about that for now. After getting up, he immediately grabbed the iron shovel nearby and plunged it into Bald Porter’s chest. Then, pressing down on the shovel handle with both hands, he roared at the other two porters like a wild beast, making as if to chase them. Seeing that Lü Yang had violently killed their two companions and now looked like a ferocious demon intent on killing them, the two porters were terrified out of their wits. They screamed and ran wildly deeper into the residential area, soon disappearing into the darkness.

“Successfully hunted the second porter. Obtained one Eerie Point. Current Side Quest completion: two out of four.” The Eerie Computer’s prompt sounded again in Lü Yang’s mind.

“Blue Text Mission: ‘Must prevent a gang rape crime before Zero Hour tonight.’ Completed. Received one Eerie Point. Please continue with other accepted Supernatural Tasks. If your Phantom Points remain negative before Zero Hour tonight, you will be erased from this world.” Another prompt echoed in Lü Yang’s mind.

It seemed that preventing the gang rape crime only counted if it was interrupted during the act. Earlier, when the four porters tried to assault Sister Mei, it was only criminal intent; they hadn’t yet carried it out when Lü Yang stopped them, so that didn’t count. This time, Xia Yan’s clothes were torn off and she was pinned to the ground, meaning the crime was already in progress. Lü Yang showed up just in time to stop it, so the Eerie Computer judged that he had completed the task.

By now, Lü Yang had completed both Supernatural Tasks he had accepted during the day. However, of the two tasks he inherited from Yi Yi, only one was done; the task of breaking a cat’s leg was still unfinished.

After the two porters fled, a cold, eerie wind blew, making Lü Yang much more alert. His legs gave way, and he knelt on the ground, leaning on the iron shovel. His body trembled even more violently. Tonight was the first time he had killed someone in his life, and he had killed two at once. If killing the porter who was assaulting Xia Yan could be considered heroic and self-defense, then killing this Bald Porter was clearly excessive self-defense, a criminal act under the law.

It had to be said that the Eerie Computer’s prompt about the Side Quest completion strongly encouraged and hinted to Lü Yang to kill this second Bald Porter.

After resting for a while, Lü Yang finally regained some strength. He checked his injuries, first feeling his incredibly painful groin through his pants. Feeling that everything was still there, he felt a little relieved. But since Sister Mei and Xia Yan were nearby, he couldn’t exactly take it out for a thorough check.

Lü Yang looked behind him and noticed that it was very dark where he was, impossible to see from a distance. So he carefully reached into his pants to feel around. He discovered that Bald Porter’s knife had barely missed his root, slicing through his pants and leaving a long, deep cut on his upper thigh and hairy area. The cut seemed quite deep.

Just half a centimeter more, a little lower, and Lü Yang would have been castrated. He could only say he was quite lucky; otherwise, he would have been devastated.

After all, even at twenty-one, he was still a complete virgin!

After polishing his spear for twenty-one years and saving up ammunition for over a decade, if it were cut off right before he could charge into battle and become useless, anyone would be crushed.

…

His pants were torn, and his shirt was ruined. Lü Yang had to tear off the ragged shirt and tie it around his waist. Then, bare-chested, he walked back to the apartment building entrance. Sister Mei and Xia Yan, who had been hostile and arguing earlier, were now hugging each other. Xia Yan was crying bitterly, and Sister Mei was comforting her.

Both women were trembling badly, partly from fear of the porters’ attempted gang rape, and partly because the gruesomeness of Lü Yang using the iron shovel to behead a person, with blood spurting everywhere, was more terrifying than a Western horror movie and far beyond what they could handle.

When Lü Yang chased after Bald Porter, he had run out of their sight. Not knowing how the one-against-three fight would end, they feared that if Lü Yang lost, the porters would assault them again, adding to their terror. Only when Lü Yang returned victorious after defeating the three porters did they regain some courage.

“I told you he was a good person, right? Even though you called him a dead migrant worker and a disgusting jerk, which made him very angry, when he heard you screaming for help, he rushed over without a second thought. If it were someone else, they wouldn’t care whether you lived or died! If not for him, you would have been ruined by those men today.” Sister Mei took the chance to educate Xia Yan a bit.

Xia Yan kept her head down, holding her torn clothes and exposed body, too afraid to look at Lü Yang. She nodded while crying to Sister Mei and seemed to mumble a thank you. It appeared she wasn’t completely brainless.

Lü Yang didn’t really care for her gratitude. He walked straight to the iron gate of the apartment building and carefully examined the lock. Then, using his fingernails, he carefully picked out the half-broken key that Sister Mei had left in the lock.

“Sister Mei, ask her if she has a key to this iron gate. Let’s take her home.” Lü Yang turned and spoke to Sister Mei. Once they took her upstairs and locked the security door, they would be safe. Then Lü Yang could focus on searching the residential area for clues to end this Mysterious Domain.

Hearing Lü Yang’s words, Xia Yan sniffled and stopped crying. She pointed to her bag lying on the ground not far away. Lü Yang walked over, picked up the bag, and handed it to her. Xia Yan found a set of keys inside and passed them to Lü Yang.

After Lü Yang unlocked the iron gate, he let Sister Mei and Xia Yan inside. He followed them in, relocked the gate, returned the keys to Xia Yan, and the three walked upstairs together.

The stairway was very dark. Because of the power outage, all the motion-sensor lights were off. The two women held onto each other, very scared, and walked slowly. Lü Yang had to slow his pace, leading them as it took several minutes to reach the sixth floor where Xia Yan lived.

Of course, Sister Mei’s apartment, which was under renovation, was also on the sixth floor.