Chapter 124: Anesthesia

The poison took effect faster than Charlie expected. In just a short moment, he felt his torso and limbs becoming weak and powerless. Even his breathing began to grow difficult.

Charlie thought in shock, ‘What kind of poison is this? Why did it work so quickly? Why didn’t my recovery ability work?’ He looked up and saw that Zuo Zhicheng had already approached to within three meters of him.

“Kid, what poison did you use on me?”

Zuo Zhicheng stood there watching him, making no move to get closer. He said coldly, “Just some tetrachloromethane. It acts directly on your central nervous system. It blocks nerve signal transmission by interfering with electrical signals, making you lose certain sensations. So in theory, no matter how strong your recovery is, it won’t help.”

“What nonsense.” Charlie didn’t understand anything Zuo Zhicheng said.

Zuo Zhicheng never expected Charlie to understand anyway. He explained it just to buy time and let the drug fully take effect.

So he continued, “It’s just an anesthetic. Your body will gradually lose touch, smell, hearing, and sight. You won’t be able to control your body, and eventually you won’t be able to breathe. I wonder if you monsters can survive without breathing…”

Before Zuo Zhicheng finished, Charlie reacted. With a furious roar, he lunged at Zuo Zhicheng. Before he even reached him, a gust of foul wind blew toward Zuo Zhicheng.

Unfortunately, Zuo Zhicheng had already anticipated this. He stood three meters away precisely to guard against Charlie’s attack. After his experience fighting Marie, he had no intention of engaging these monsters head-on.

Now, fully prepared and with a three-meter distance, his own speed and explosive power surpassed Charlie’s, while Charlie’s strength continued to fade. There was no way Charlie could hit Zuo Zhicheng, who was dodging with all his might.

The more Charlie attacked, the faster his blood circulated, and the weaker he felt. Making Charlie attack to speed up the drug’s effect was one of Zuo Zhicheng’s goals.

Although Charlie’s physical abilities far exceeded a normal person’s, after several punches and kicks—which created shockwaves and even smashed several holes in the cabin’s wooden boards—he still failed to touch Zuo Zhicheng. Instead, his movements grew slower and slower.

Finally, after one last punch smashed a head-sized dent into the wall, Charlie collapsed to the ground with a thud. He struggled to open his mouth and said in a hoarse voice, “Damn meat bun, you can’t kill me. When I wake up, I’ll… I’ll…”

“Dead men… shouldn’t talk…”

With a sickening squelch, Zuo Zhicheng stomped on Charlie’s head, splattering red and white matter everywhere. But Zuo Zhicheng still wasn’t at ease, worried the monster might wake up like Marie had. So he crouched down, took out his dagger, and began cutting up the body.

However, the chromic acid solution for dissolving corpses had been used up entirely when dealing with Marie, as it was consumed too quickly. So he had to resort to this crude method.

Still, the information gained from the ambush was crucial. First, the enemy had Night Vision, which eliminated the risk of Zuo Zhicheng being ambushed in the dark. Second, their Super Rapid Regeneration couldn’t counteract nerve-based paralysis.

But he didn’t have much anesthetic left, and tetrachloromethane evaporated easily. What he had coated on the blade earlier was almost gone now.

‘There are two left. I only have enough anesthetic for one more.’ Zuo Zhicheng sliced through Charlie’s right arm while thinking, ‘I’ll save it for the stronger one. As for the other monster…’

Just then, several people approached the cabin—men and women, some holding oil lamps, others pointing knives at Zuo Zhicheng. “You… you… what are you doing!”

“Help! Murder!”

The public order on the New Continent wasn’t good, so most travelers carried weapons like knives, guns, or clubs.

Zuo Zhicheng glanced back and saw that two of them were the man named Lin Hongsheng from the deck earlier and the woman called A Ping who was with him.

Obviously, they still didn’t know what had happened on the ship. They had just come out after hearing the fighting and saw Zuo Zhicheng hunched over a corpse, cutting it up. What they thought was clear to everyone.

Zuo Zhicheng gave them a look and ignored them, continuing calmly to cut up the body on the floor. Under the dim oil lamp, with Charlie’s head already crushed by Zuo Zhicheng’s foot, the others couldn’t see Charlie’s green face and sharp teeth. All they saw was Zuo Zhicheng, like a butcher, cutting the blond man’s body into pieces—a horrifying sight.

“You bastard.” Lin Hongsheng, confident in his Martial Arts training and annoyed that Zuo Zhicheng was ignoring them, raised his long knife and rested it on Zuo Zhicheng’s shoulder.

“Did you kill him? Stop right now!”

Seeing that the ‘murderer’ he was threatening with his knife still calmly dismembered the corpse on the ground, Lin Hongsheng shouted angrily, “Did you hear me? If you don’t stop, I’ll cut you down.”

Zuo Zhicheng frowned. He couldn’t be bothered to explain to these people. With a sweep of his right hand, he grabbed Lin Hongsheng’s shoulder, then gave a slight shake that sent Lin Hongsheng reeling, collapsing to the ground unable to move.

Lin Hongsheng felt as if all the bones in his body had been shaken loose. For a moment, he lay on the ground, unable to get up.

The others, seeing this, thought Lin Hongsheng had also been secretly harmed. They screamed and charged at Zuo Zhicheng. But after a series of clattering sounds and flashes of light, they all lay on the ground.

By then, Zuo Zhicheng had finally separated Charlie’s limbs, torso, and arms from the body. He stood up and looked at the people on the floor. In the flickering firelight, he appeared eerily menacing.

Thinking Zuo Zhicheng was going to kill them, they immediately cried out, “Spare us! We won’t tell anyone!”

“Don’t kill me!”

Lin Hongsheng widened his eyes and finally got a clear look at Zuo Zhicheng’s face. He thought to himself, ‘It’s him!’

Zuo Zhicheng glared coldly at them and said, “There are four monsters on this ship. I’ve taken care of two, but two remain. If you don’t want to die, hide. Remember, spread the word.”

Without waiting to see if Lin Hongsheng and the others believed him, he picked up a few pieces of Charlie’s remains, stepped around the group, and headed toward the stairs on the other side. It was just a casual move—if these people could create some chaos to cover him, that would be good; if not, it didn’t matter.