99

Cheng Yang and his subordinate appeared in a dark forest lit by the soft light of an instance dungeon entrance. They'd spent too long searched for and then clearing Sky God Island.

Still, Cheng Yang wanted to return to Phoenix Village tonight. The main reason was to train in his Meditation Hall, but there were other reasons too. It would be easier to clear the Blood-Soaked Cathedral and visit Joyous River Village. That way, he could find the instance dungeon there as well.

Yesterday, he had been careful not to let Liu Hau hear that an instance dungeon was near his village. If he knew, there was a chance he would go out and find it. If he did that, with Liu Hau's personality, he was sure to try and beat it on his own.

After having a quick meal at Silkworm Mountain, Cheng Yang and Liu Wei started their journey back to Phoenix Village.

Since the path they took had been used a few times, the undergrowth was still cleanly cut. As such, it didn't take long to reach Cloud City.

As they crossed the city, Cheng Yang led the duo while Liu Wei walked less than two feet behind him. She'd always been scared of the dark, and the current environment didn't help. The ruins were filled with bones, mutilated bodies, and the occasional monster.

"My Lord, Have you seen if there's… if there are ghosts in this new world?" Liu Wei suddenly asked in a timid voice.

Cheng Yang had been paying attention to movement around them, so he was startled by the question. "Liu Wei, even if there are ghosts in this world, who cares? Maybe they were powerful before the apocalypse, but now we can kill them like any other monster if they dare to show themselves. Especially you, remember that when we went through The Forgotten Grave, our priests could kill the skeletons by healing them? I'm sure you would be able to do the same to a ghost."

Listening to Cheng Yang's deep voice, Liu Wei started to relax. "Thank you, Cheng Yang."

Hearing her use his name, Cheng Yang was flustered. "That was nothing to thank me for. It's normal to be afraid of ghosts, so of course, I comforted you."

Liu Wei nodded with a smile on her face.

Along the way, the due experienced several battles. Now that Cheng Yang was alone with Liu Wei, he didn't hold back. All of his most potent attacks were used in conjunction with potions. He was powerful enough that even if a massive horde appeared, he would be able to destroy it quickly.

However, all the fighting slowed down their journey significantly. An hour later, they were only halfway through the city.

"My Lord, what's that over there?" Liu Wei asked in surprise.

Glancing over to the left, Cheng Yang saw flashing lights somewhere in the ruins. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the familiar flash of a Magic Missile spell cast at night.

"Let's go check it out." Cheng Yang whispered before leading Liu Wei over towards the lights.

They jogged over to a shattered wall. Peering through a hole, they were just in time to witness a small scale war.

The area in front of them was a plaza before the apocalypse, so it was relatively clear of debris. The perfect spot for two groups of people to mercilessly kill each other.

"What are they doing?" Liu Wei asked in shock. She had never expected for ordinary humans to start killing each other so quickly. Especially people from the same city.

Cheng Yang, on the other hand, didn't feel that these eighty individuals were out of place. "They're fighting each other. After the earthquake, most resources became scarce. These people probably don't even want to fight each other. Rather, they have too. Take Phoenix Village, for example. If I hadn't supplied free food to the civilians but instead forced them to find their own, what do you think would happen if two groups of scavengers found the same bag of flour? Would it be divided between them peacefully? Or would they fight until one group gave up on the bag and retreated."

"This…" Liu Wei hesitated. As much as she wanted to say they would split the food, it wasn't possible. Even if it were a more accessible food to split like a bag of fruit, she knew the chances of the group with more people charing was low.

"Don't overthink it. These people aren't bad, just desperate. Let's watch this fight first."

At this point, the entire plaza was in complete chaos. Magic Missiles and arrows flew around haphazardously. Wolves and Warriors chased around the ranged attackers which ran for their lives.

Cheng Yang only had a single word with which to judge their fighting skills: worthless.

Each class had its own set of unique fighting styles. But, if they were thrown into a messy team fight like this, it was impossible to showcase them.

Maybe they were arranged into some kind of formation before the fight started, but right now, no one was working together. If an army were to do something so foolish in a few months, it would mean an instantaneous defeat.

However, since both sides had done so, Cheng Yang couldn't tell which side was stronger.

As they fought, both sides hurled insults and curses at each other. Cheng Yang listened carefully and was able to gather some clues as to why this fight had started. When he did, he was furious.

"Stay here. Don't come out." Cheng Yang whispered to Liu Wei. Without listening for a response, he ran out from behind the wall.

"All of you, kneel before me!" Cheng Yang shouted.

Although the battle was fierce, Cheng Yang's voice was still clearly heard. Everyone was shocked, and in the brief break between the fighting, they separated into their respective groups.

"Who the fuck are you?" A man with a massive scar on his forehead shouted. "How dare you order me to kneel!"

Cheng Yang glanced at him with indifference. "You better have yourself. Otherwise, I don't mind turning you into a corpse."

"You piece of sh-"Before the scarred man could finish his insult, a young man in his twenties held him back.

Realizing that he didn't know how many people were with Cheng Yang, the scarred man forced himself to swallow his anger. All that was left was a glower. However, he vowed to kill Cheng Yang if the opportunity presented itself.

"You came over here acting all high and mighty, so what do you want, child?" The scarred man asked coldly. "I advise you to leave as soon as possible. There are some rivers you can't cross. So beware of drowning."

"You son of a bitch! Having done so many immoral things, aren't you afraid of thunder?" a middle-aged man on the other side shouted, "Young man, that bastard is insane. He's no longer human, so please, don't involve yourself."

In reality, the middle-aged man wanted Cheng Yang to stay. He was able to tell that Cheng Yang was a Professional, and even one extra person was useful in a fight. However, he didn't want to drag an innocent person into this. If Cheng Yang were to die, he would be racked with guilt for the rest of his life.

Cheng Yang smiled slightly. The only reward for being moral in this new world was suffering. Although the survival rate of good people like the middle-aged man was low, Cheng Yang liked them.

"I heard what you were arguing about, but some of the details are unclear to me. I'm interested in hearing the rest. Tell me about it." Cheng Yang said without a hint of nervousness. "I'm not a good person, but I think taking out the trash is quite pleasurable."

The middle-aged man hesitated, and instead, a woman in her thirties took the initiative. "Young man, you're not alone, right? No one could be this late at night. Go fetch your companions, and let's teach that ugly scarred bastard a lesson! They're utterly devoid of conscience. They're kidnapped several women and raised them as sex slaves! They're fucking animals!"

By the time she was done, the woman was gnashing her teeth.

The scarred man leered at the woman, all but outright admitting it. Since what the woman said was true, there was no way Cheng Yang would let those men off.

When the scarred man saw Cheng Yang was unwilling to leave, he smiled. "Hey now, I gave you the chance to go, but since your sticking around, I'll make sure you stay here forever! Everyone, gang up and-"

"Boss, you can't kill that guy." A Ranger interrupted the scarred man" I saw him in the safe zone the other day talking to Commander Jian. They looked pretty close so if Commander Jian finds out-"

"What about Commander Jian? As long as everyone here dies, he'll never find out! So just kill him! That damn commander is the same level as us, so what would he do even if he knew?"

The scarred man had an evil glint in his eye that shut up the impertinent Ranger. There wasn't room for words anymore. Since everyone was the same level, the only things that mattered were numbers and shamelessness.