Ikasa sat on the floor, lost for words. He could see the decapitated head of Wu Nan a few feet away from him. He could feel the lifeless eyes staring at him; the horrified face added to the gravitas of the situation.

As he looked at the blood on his hands, he was forced to acknowledge that he would have to kill to survive. And yet that was not the most terrifying part.

He was forced to question his humanity. Something he hadn’t doubted before. It scared him witless that he might someday turn emotionless like today and massacre Xin Ruo and the kids. Or other innocent people.

After all, no human has a USB drive in his chest. Despite knowing the fact, he had rolled along with it, thinking it was one of the oddities of this world or his perk as a transmigrator.

The old man in the hologram had called him specimen 1k3a. And he was compelled to address these strange things about him.

Then there was another side of him who wanted to deny it. Remain ignorant. This side forced him to challenge the very premise of his fears.

‘But was that old man talking about me? It could have been Wu Nan. Or even Feng Yan. Unless I have solid proof, I won’t accept that I am specimen 1k3a.’

Keeping his head buried like an ostrich wouldn’t help him. Nevertheless, at the moment, he had more pressing matters.

He turned his attention to the message the old man had for him.

‘He mentioned a sanctuary. Was it breached? Or was he asking me to breach it? Also, who or what is arriving in eighty years? What did he mean by accelerating the gathering of energy?’

“Maybe what’s inside the discus can answer some of my questions.”

Ikasa picked up the discus and emptied the secret slot.

‘A Pen drive? No, this looks more like a Wifi dongle!’

Ikasa plugged it into his chest, but nothing happened. He got no response at all. He removed it and clenched the fist holding the dongle.

‘Why couldn’t you give me more information, old man? What is happening? What am I supposed to do?’

While Ikasa was contemplating the numerous questions the Old Man had left for him, Feng Yan woke up.

He looked around only to notice Ikasa. He was sitting on his knees right before the pool of blood formed by the beheaded body of Wu Nan.

When he approached Ikasa, he noticed his listless eyes. Feng Yan’s mood grew somber. He walked up to Ikasa and reassuringly held his shoulder.

Ikasa looked up at him, confused, as his chain of thoughts was broken.

“The first kill is always difficult to get over.”

The chaos of thoughts in Ikasa’s mind immediately cleared. The words, for some reason, struck a deeply buried feeling in his heart.

The scene where his body killed Wu Nan flashed through his mind. The repressed emotions were given a vent.

How he missed his life on the Earth! There he was never put in harm’s way to the point he might lose his life. He never had to raise his hand to defend himself. His hands were not tainted with someone’s blood.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he remembered all the good and the bad about his life on the Earth. Normally, he would suppress tears to prevent anyone from seeing him as weak. But today, he let them flow.

Because every teardrop that trickled down reaffirmed his identity as a Human.

Feng Yan stood beside him, supporting him silently with his presence. Once Ikasa’s tears had dried up, Feng Yan patted his shoulders.

They walked to one of the large boxes away from the corpse and sat down, leaning on the box. Both of them sat in silence, not knowing what for.

Ikasa suddenly let out a chortle as he thought of his dreams. He had an intense urge to share them.

“Old Man, do you know I wanted to become the richest man in this world when I started my business?”

Feng Yan looked at Ikasa as his image was cemented as a weirdo in his mind. There was puke to his right and a corpse to his left. This most certainly was not the place to be having this talk. And still, he replied.

“You know only the strong can protect their wealth.”

“I do. One day I will become the strongest Businessman this world has ever seen. I will become stronger so that I never have to face a dangerous situation like today.”

“On your way to the top, you will be forced to face many dangers. Many humans will perish directly or indirectly because of you.”

This was not a warning, nor was it dissuasion. It was a simple statement with an implied question; Will you be able to handle it?

Ikasa sighed as his gaze turned to look at the corpse.

‘Was what happened today really so bad? This guy tried to get rid of Feng Yan and attempted to kill me. Wouldn’t the world be a better place without such people?’

The smile that was on his face while talking about his dreams vanished. His tone matched the strength and seriousness of his resolve.

“I know I will cause many deaths. Some of them may be innocent; some might have families. But I will make sure that the blood on my hands will be far less than the blood that would’ve been spilled otherwise.”

Feng Yan looked surprised. He was not expecting such raw acceptance of reality from Ikasa. Especially, after the grief he had displayed moments earlier for the murder of Wu Nan.

And he appreciated Ikasa more for it.

“Do you know why I chose you for Xin Ruo?”

“Wasn’t it to freeload off me? How did you say it?”

Then he tried to mimic Feng Yan when he had warned himself.

“Kid, You are rich and weak. Xin Ruo will be able to bully you easily.”

If Ikasa expected to see Feng Yan embarrassed, he would have to try much harder. Except for Xin Ruo, no one could make him bashful. The thick face he had was not just for show.

“Haha! That was one of the reasons. The other is because I saw fire in you. The way you schooled kids with sticks and carrots, I knew you would make a damn good leader if you survived.”

Ikasa’s cheeks flushed from the unexpected praise. Then he saw the amused expression on Feng Yan’s face, and he once again gained the look of a proper gentleman.

Feng Yan looked straight ahead, his eyes unfocused. A storm was raging in his mind and heart.

“18 years ago, I was not strong enough to save my wife. But today, I can destroy anyone in Sal City who dares to think about my precious daughter. Despite that, I cannot be seen with my daughter. Do you know why?”

“Because those big families will start targeting you. If they cannot get you, they will go after Xin Ruo.”

Ikasa said with gritted teeth. Feng Yan nodded sadly.

“Then why don’t you change the cities? Why not go to Birch city?”

“Because I am not alone. We were Fourty people when we left the city guards that night. Some of them still have families in the city. Others moved to slums with their families.”

“A number of those passed away. Few who had no filial responsibilities left to start anew in other cities. But none of them has betrayed me. So I do everything I can to put food on their plates; to repay my debt of gratitude.”

Ikasa could sympathize with Feng Yan’s story. It is not easy to give up everything and follow their leader to avenge a vendetta that would have terrible consequences for themselves.

And if they were going to do that for anyone, Feng Yan was the best choice seeing how he was treating them.

They both sat in silence for a few more minutes.

“If you have recovered, should we go now?”

“Do you think I am a weakling like you? I was waiting for you to recover.”

Feng Yan retorted with contempt. They stood on the Teleporter and arrived at the previous room.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep