Inside the narrow pipe, the foul, fishy blood had almost congealed into paste, smearing the entire inner wall.
By the faint moonlight spilling down from the sky,
Lin Ye could see that the places on the pipe wall stained with the black panther’s blood were actually beginning to gradually crystallize into eerie-blue formations.
Every breath Lin Ye took carried a heavy stench of blood.
His chest was in agony. He had no idea how many ribs were broken. His arms had long since gone numb, leaving only mechanical instinct as he thrust the long staff out again and again.
Stab!
Pull back!
Stab again!
The black panther’s struggles grew weaker and weaker. The fierce glint in its lone eye was gradually replaced by the ashen pallor of death.
But Lin Ye did not stop.
His eyes were cold, without the slightest trace of pity or relaxation.
Only when he felt that the long staff in his hands could no longer stab through anything, as though it had become stuck in some hard cranial structure, did he finally stop.
The black panther no longer moved.
It had completely fallen silent.
Lin Ye still did not feel at ease.
Gripping the end of the staff with both hands, he used the last of his strength to pull it back, then found the black panther’s eye socket and thrust it in viciously before twisting and stirring with all his might!
Crack!
It was as if what the staff had pierced through was not flesh and blood, but a layer of glass. Lin Ye felt a chill creep over his scalp.
Something was wrong with this mutated black panther’s brain tissue.
Only after confirming that the black panther would never move again
did Lin Ye finally release his grip as if all strength had left him, letting the long staff remain lodged in the black panther’s skull.
He shifted his body backward and slowly climbed upward bit by bit.
The cold, clear air outside poured into his lungs, dispersing the nauseating stench inside the pipe.
Lin Ye kicked the black panther’s corpse blocking the manhole aside, then collapsed spread-eagled on the icy concrete ground.
He gasped for breath in great mouthfuls, his chest heaving violently. Every breath tugged at his wounds, bringing a tearing pain.
But more than that, there was relief at having survived.
He had won.
In this deathmatch where his life had been on the line, the final victor was him.
The night wind blew past, stirring up dust on the ground and carrying with it the roars of mutated beasts from farther away.
The thick scent of blood was the best guidepost in the night.
Soon, a powerfully built mutated beast resembling a hyena followed the scent and appeared in the shadows at the street corner.
Its green eyes stared greedily at the black panther’s still-warm corpse, as well as the human beside it who looked as though he had already burned through his last reserves.
It crouched low, a threatening growl rumbling in its throat as it approached step by step.
Lin Ye noticed it.
He did not move. He merely turned his head slowly and looked over coldly with those eyes filled with bloodshot veins and exhaustion.
In that gaze, there was no fear, no panic.
Only the madness and menace that had yet to fade after a brutal life-and-death struggle.
The LV6 mutated hyena froze the instant its eyes met Lin Ye’s.
The greed in its gaze rapidly receded, replaced by a terror born from biological instinct!
It was as if what it saw was not a dying human, but a predator even more terrifying and higher-ranking than itself!
“Whimper…”
It tucked its tail between its legs and let out a low, pitiful cry. Then, without the slightest hesitation, it turned and fled into the darkness with its tail between its legs, vanishing from sight.
Lin Ye tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing a chilling smile.
And it was at that very moment that a dense series of system notifications exploded thunderously in his mind!
【You have successfully killed an LV8 elite monster: Mutated Black Panther!】
【Higher-level kill. EXP +100%!】
【You have obtained 1200 EXP!】
【You have completed the first phase of the advancement mission!】
【Mission completion: 1/2.】
【Ding! Congratulations, host, for achieving the hidden achievement: Defeating the Strong as the Weak!】
【Your first independent kill of an elite target higher-level than yourself proves that you are no longer cannon fodder to be slaughtered at will, but a hunter with fangs of your own!】
【Defeating the strong as the weak, meticulous planning, trading life for life… Very good. You are starting to look a little like a BOSS.】
【Achievement reward: EXP +1000. You have obtained a brand-new BOSS mechanism: Overwhelm!】
【Ding! Your level has risen to LV8!】
【You have obtained 1 free attribute point!】
【You have obtained 2 skill points!】
Lin Ye felt his eyelids fighting each other.
The out-of-combat health regeneration mechanism had long since taken effect, and the injuries on his body had completely recovered.
His energy bar and stamina bar were also full again.
But he still felt tired from the depths of his soul.
This was the first time since he had begun his sleepless, tireless perpetual-motion training that he longed so deeply for a heavy sleep.
Forcing himself to stay alert, Lin Ye knew this was absolutely not a place to rest.
He climbed to his feet, concealed his aura once more, and disappeared into the darkness.
When he was almost home, Lin Ye directly threw his outer clothes, which were covered in filthy blood, into a trash bin.
After getting home, he hurriedly took a shower and slept for the first time in more than twenty days.
……
The next day.
At the practical combat training hall after school.
The dull sounds of spear and staff colliding rang out continuously.
The alloy spear in Chen Meng’s hands shot out like a venomous dragon emerging from its cave, the spear tip bringing a sharp whistle as it tore through the air and stabbed straight toward Lin Ye’s heart.
Lin Ye did not dodge or retreat. The long staff in his hands slanted upward at an extremely tricky angle, landing with incomparable precision on the seven-inch point of the spear shaft.
A burst of subtle force erupted.
Chen Meng felt a tremor travel along the spear shaft, causing the unstoppable momentum of his attack to suffer a nearly imperceptible pause.
It was precisely that instant of pause!
Lin Ye’s staff momentum suddenly changed.
It was no longer the pure blocking and defense from before. The long staff moved like a whip, carrying a cold and vicious aura as it slid along the spear shaft and went straight for the wrist of Chen Meng’s spear hand!
This strike was both fast and ruthless!
There was not the slightest superfluous movement. Its target was aimed directly at the opponent’s weakest link.
Chen Meng raised an eyebrow.
With a flick of his wrist, the spear instantly withdrew, its butt sweeping across like a heavy hammer and forcing back Lin Ye’s follow-up attack.
“Stop!”
Chen Meng suddenly shouted, then stood upright with his spear withdrawn.
Lin Ye also stopped moving, steadying his slightly hurried breathing as he looked at Chen Meng with a hint of questioning in his eyes.
Chen Meng did not speak.
He merely looked at Lin Ye with a gaze unlike any before, sharp and scrutinizing.
“Your staff technique seems to have improved again.”
“There’s also a trace of true killing intent in your moves now. You’ve touched upon a bit of the doorway to the third realm.”
“What exactly… have you experienced recently?”
The first two of the four realms of martial technique were resemblance in form and unity of intent.
Lin Ye had already reached the realm of unity of intent long ago.
The third realm was called killing and slaughter.
It referred to the point where a person’s martial technique had reached the stage where every move was meant to draw blood.
It was the beginning of a qualitative transformation in martial technique.
Chen Meng was someone who had walked out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Naturally, he was incomparably sensitive to that trace of aura.
Lin Ye remained silent and did not explain.
Of course he had no way of telling his teacher that he went to the ruined city every night to kill monsters, and that last night he had nearly left his life there.
Looking at Lin Ye’s eyes, still as an ancient well without ripples, even deeper and calmer than before,
Chen Meng did not press further.
This world was never a greenhouse to begin with.
If a young eagle wanted to soar, it would always have to experience wind and rain, and witness bloodshed.
“Time’s about up. That’s all for today.”
Chen Meng waved a hand and turned to walk toward the corner, yet he could not stop the faint smile from curling at the edge of his mouth.
He sparred with Lin Ye every day.
When it came to the speed at which this kid’s strength was increasing, he understood it better than anyone.
In one month, first place in the entire school…
It seemed that might not be impossible after all!