Suddenly Robbed by Bandits

The bandit chief, Ren Anhua, sat in the back seat, his eyes slightly narrowed.

The main road of Pingding County was desolate.

The woodlands along the road were overgrown with weeds, and scrapped vehicles were scattered everywhere.

However, after two months of repairs and with the help of human ability users, a path had been cleared just enough for basic traffic.

But it was a county road, after all.

It wasn’t particularly wide, especially being in the suburbs.

The addition of scrapped vehicles made it seem even more narrow and congested.

Passing through was usually not too much trouble, but encountering another vehicle head-on could be awkward.

One side would always have to back up a considerable distance.

Fortunately, there were fewer people in the apocalypse, so such situations were rare.

But as luck would have it, one happened right before Ren Anhua’s eyes.

A weather-beaten Iveco RV blocked the convoy’s path.

Coincidentally, a line of scrapped cars was piled up along the roadside, and even more coincidentally, Ren Anhua had brought out a Hummer H3 today.

The not-so-spacious road was completely blocked by the two vehicles, and the four vans following behind him were also stuck.

Neither side would yield.

They remained in a standoff for a full minute.

His group was on their way to pick a fight, full of aggressive momentum, and running into this inexplicably infuriated Ren Anhua.

Bang!

A loud slam came from the van behind him.

“Hey, hey, hey, you bastard in the car up ahead! Do you know who you’re blocking?” one of his boys yelled, grabbing a steel pipe and striding toward the RV.

Ren Anhua couldn’t help but cover his face.

His anger instantly dissipated, replaced by an unspeakable embarrassment.

“Who is this guy? He’s acting like a common street punk. This is so crass.”

“He calls himself Er Gou. Joined yesterday. He’s just a punk,” Meng Fanhai explained. “The name Er Gou is a dime a dozen. We’ve already got three Er Gous in our group. I don’t know why they like that name so much.”

“When we get back, tell him to get lost. We’re a survivor camp, not some damn mafia!”

Meng Fanhai really wanted to retort that his boss’s usual style wasn’t much different from a gang leader’s, but then he recalled that his boss was actually quite polite in his speech.

Even when he was about to kill someone, he wouldn’t resort to such crude name-calling.

So, he let it go.

Meanwhile, Er Gou had no idea he was about to be kicked out.

He was thrilled.

He had just joined the camp yesterday, and today he had a chance to perform in front of the boss.

He felt incredibly lucky, as if a brilliant future lay ahead of him.

Er Gou’s greatest pride was his sharp eyesight.

Despite the distance and the glare on the glass, he could clearly see that there was only one young man smoking in the driver’s seat of the RV.

Even if there were more thugs hidden inside, he’d have time to run if he heard any commotion.

Besides, he had four van-loads of men behind him, and most importantly, the boss was watching.

What danger could he possibly be in? Er Gou was, one could say, fearlessly confident.

Unfortunately, the young man didn’t seem to give a damn.

He watched Er Gou approach without any reaction.

He just slowly rolled down the window, looked down on Er Gou’s face, and flicked a pile of cigarette ash at him.

“Get the person in charge out here. I have no time for small fry.”

Anger, an anger that was hard to describe with words, surged in Er Gou’s heart, leaving him momentarily speechless.

Actions were faster and more direct than words.

He raised the steel pipe in his hand and smashed it down hard on the front of the vehicle.

A deafening clang echoed, making one’s ears ring, yet the vehicle’s front was completely unscathed.

Instead, the recoil sent a numbing shock through Er Gou’s hand.

But in his current state, Er Gou paid no mind to such details.

He raised his hand again, preparing to bring the pipe down on the young man’s face.

“You son of a bi—”

Er Gou’s curse was never completed.

The last thing he saw… he saw nothing at all.

Er Gou’s head, right at eye level, split in two.

‘They don’t come in peace,’ Ren Anhua thought with a frown. ‘Could they be Zhang Yidong’s people?’

Regardless, Ren Anhua could no longer sit back.

Although the underling had just joined yesterday, and he disliked his performance, and he wasn’t good-looking, and his name was Er Gou… in any case, one of his own men had been killed.

If the boss didn’t step up, it would dishearten the others.

Ren Anhua pushed Meng Fanhai back into his seat and got out of the car alone.

“Friend in the car, how about you come out and we talk?”

Ren Anhua disliked fighting, especially pointless fights.

Because whenever a fight broke out, his clothes would be ruined.

Though he had plenty of spares, he’d still have to be naked for a while.

Ren Anhua didn’t consider himself to have any peculiar hobbies; he generally preferred to be clothed.

Fortunately, the person in the RV gave him some face this time and actually came out.

Seeing the young man’s attire, Ren Anhua’s eyelid couldn’t help but twitch.

The other man was tall, sporting a pair of shiny black riding boots, a pair of pure black jeans, and a matching pure black trench coat.

A white belt with a black pattern was slung diagonally at his waist, from which hung a black-sheathed longsword.

At first glance, one might think the man was low-key, but on second thought, his style was just so damn flashy.

And when Lu Shanshui saw Ren Anhua, his eyelid twitched as well.

He didn’t need to think twice to immediately conclude that this beach boy before him was an absolute show-off.

“Friend, this road…”

“Are you this trash’s keeper?” Lu Shanshui cut Ren Anhua off directly. “Originally, if you all had just moved out of the way, it would have been fine. But this piece of trash dared to smash my car. That’s not good. How about this: you eat this steel pipe, and we’ll call it even.”

Ren Anhua did not consider himself a good-tempered person.

Although he disliked pointless conflict due to his ability, when someone stepped all over him like this, it was impossible not to teach them a lesson.

Whether this person belonged to Zhang Yidong or not, he now had more than enough reason to take him down.

“Little brother, you shouldn’t be so arrogant when you’re out on your own.”

Ren Anhua prided himself on his perceptive ability, yet from beginning to end, he couldn’t sense any power fluctuations from Lu Shanshui.

Not even when Er Gou’s head had split apart.

The man felt like an ordinary person through and through.

But only a fool would believe he was an ordinary person.

Ren Anhua would not underestimate his opponent in the slightest.

The heat in his blood was already beginning to rise.

Once the battle began, he could guarantee he would instantly enter his strongest state.

As long as high temperatures coursed through his body, he was invincible.

He took a few steps forward and suddenly heard the sound of something tearing through the air to his left.

He reflexively dodged back, and then suddenly realized he had done something completely unnecessary.

Thwack!

A steel arrow embedded itself into the concrete ground a full seven meters away from Ren Anhua.

It seemed to be aimed less at Ren Anhua and more at Lu Shanshui, as the arrow was actually closer to him.

“Ehehehe~”

A mischievous giggle came from the woods by the roadside.

Lu Shanshui’s face darkened.

“Ashe-wen, what the hell are you doing? Where were you even aiming?” a girl’s angry yell came from inside the vehicle.

“Little brother, it seems you’re not alone. And quite a few women with you. Enjoying life so much in this apocalypse, your big brother here is getting a little envious,” Ren Anhua said in a provocative tone. “How about this: you give me the one in the car, and we’ll call it even.”

Ren Anhua took Lu Shanshui’s words, modified them, and sent them right back.

He secretly made a hand signal behind his back, ordering his men to enter the woods and capture the person.

A woman who used a bow and arrow would likely have little ability to resist if surrounded.

In short, capture a hostage first.

No matter how powerful this young man was, he would have to worry about the life of his woman.

“I’ll warn you once. I don’t like it when people joke about the women in my car.”

Lu Shanshui’s hand was already on the hilt of the longsword at his waist, his sharp aura contained, ready to be unleashed.

“A joke? Little brother, I’m being serious.”

‘[Like hell I’m serious,]’ Ren Anhua sneered inwardly. ‘[The only one I’ll ever love is Lin Aijing.]’

He had long lost interest in women who relied on men to survive.

Moreover, several women living with one man in a single RV… and in the middle of the apocalypse, no less.

Just the thought of it made him scoff.

But Lu Shanshui didn’t know what Ren Anhua was thinking.

He only knew that this beach boy’s smart mouth was reason enough for him to die.

Both of them rushed towards each other simultaneously.

Ren Anhua sidestepped a slash from the sword.

Even without fully activating his ability, Ren Anhua still possessed considerable physical prowess.

‘[He can fight. Simple,]’ Ren Anhua thought.

He could easily dodge a blow without even unleashing his heat.

Perhaps he could take care of this arrogant kid without even having to change his clothes.

“Looks like you can’t protect your women,” Ren Anhua said, preparing to unleash a burst of heat from his right hand.

He would disable the kid’s hand first, then deal with him slowly.

However, a sudden sense of crisis emerged.

Ren Anhua instantly froze his movements as if someone had pressed a pause button.

But even with his quick reaction, a thin line of blood appeared on his face, and several slits were torn in his shirt.

Invisible blades pressed against Ren Anhua’s skin.

“Your reaction time is pretty quick. I was hoping to see how you’d turn into a pile of meat chunks,” came the voice from the car earlier.

Only then did Ren Anhua realize the woman in the vehicle was likely no ordinary person.

“Since you asked for us, we might as well come down ourselves,” said another woman’s voice.

Ren Anhua couldn’t help but feel a bit of contempt for the young man before him, but at the same time, a little envy.

“You’re quite the lucky guy, kid. How many women do you have? Your big brother is getting more and more envious.”

Despite being surrounded by blades, Ren Anhua wasn’t worried at all, because he knew that once his own heat erupted, everything around him would be utterly destroyed.

“But relying on women to fight your battles for you is—mmph!”

Ren Anhua was about to activate his ability when he felt a chill on the back of his neck.

It felt as if a sticky piece of flesh had been slapped onto it, followed by a sharp pain, and then it felt like something was burrowing into his body.

It all happened too fast.

Just as Ren Anhua was about to unleash his power, he felt the blood in his veins descend into chaos.

The unknown thing that had entered his body had disrupted everything.

“What the hell is… ugh! What is this thing!”

The heat ability within him flickered like a faulty lightbulb.

Bursts of searing red light erupted on the surface of his body, charring parts of his clothing before instantly extinguishing, completely unable to activate properly.

“Argh-ahhh!!!”

A strange, excruciating pain shot through his body.

Ren Anhua felt as if his body was gradually melting.

No, it was no longer a feeling; his body was indeed gradually melting.

Ren Anhua held up his hands and watched in horror as his skin and muscles melted like a popsicle in summer.

The intense pain, directly stimulating his nerves, spread throughout his entire body.

Ren Anhua couldn’t even imagine what his body must look like right now.

“You… f*ck… you dogs!”

For some reason, Ren Anhua remembered the sullen youth’s words—You’ll die by your own arrogance one day.

He never thought it would come true so quickly.

If he had gone all-out from the beginning, how could he have been successfully ambushed by such an insidious and vicious ability?

Under the high temperatures that should have surrounded his body, any sneak attack would have been a joke.

Lu Shanshui looked at Ren Anhua, who was turning into something like a slime monster, but he didn’t show any particular satisfaction.

Instead, as he watched the high temperatures flicker and die, his expression grew darker.

The woman who had gotten out of the car had a similar expression.

“Could this person be…”

A tall and mature figure entered Ren Anhua’s final line of sight before it gradually dimmed.

Ren Anhua guessed his eyeballs had probably melted too.

“Hey, can you hear me? Is your name Ren Anhua?”

His hearing seemed to be intact.

Ren Anhua recognized it as the young man’s voice.

“So… gurgle… you fucker… knew who I was.”

His vocal cords wouldn’t last much longer.

Ren Anhua was filled with immense hatred.

How could such a malicious ability exist in the world, to make a person melt away while fully conscious?

Ren Anhua thought of Lin Aijing.

Although she had never shown any affection for him, Ren Anhua now deeply regretted not confessing to her.

So what if he had been rejected?

It would have been better than dying so senselessly like this.

His hearing lasted for a relatively long time, so Ren Anhua could still faintly hear some of their conversation.

“I should have asked first… can he survive?” That was the young man’s voice.

“He can survive. I didn’t intend to kill him. And he seemed pretty tough, so I used Biological Transformation.” That was the tall woman’s voice.

“Uh… so he’ll become one of those monsters that obey you?”

“No. He kept going on about wanting the women in the car, so I made a little adjustment on the fly.”

At this point, the woman’s voice fell into a mysterious silence.

Ren Anhua’s consciousness began to fade, and the voices were becoming too blurry to hear.

“No… I’m not actually sure what he’ll turn into.”

That was the woman’s voice.

She sounded slightly embarrassed.

If Ren Anhua still had his eyeballs, he would surely have seen the cute blush on her face.

Ren Anhua’s vocal cords had completely melted.

Hearing this, he could only curse silently in his heart.

‘F*ck!’