Chapter 16 - Bloodbath and Revelation

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As an act of desperation, the bandit grabbed a dagger from his side which is blocked from Long Ren's view by his shoulder, readying it quite skillfully, and quickly stabbed the arm grabbing his shoulders.

*Swoosh*

The bandit, whose smile appeared after seeing his attack connecting, quickly changed it into one of despair.

His metal dagger, now broken, managed to do absolutely nothing to Long Ren.

Qi Barrier.

It is the biggest reason why mortals can't and almost never will have a chance against cultivators.

As cultivators enhanced their bodies with qi, their bodies adapted until finally forming a layer of qi surrounding themself, as an act of protection.

Passively, a very thin Qi Barrier surrounds every cultivator's body, rendering normal mortal weapons useless. This barrier takes little to no qi to maintain and qi is only really used when the cultivator willed the qi to strengthen his or her barrier or received an attack above a certain threshold.

Unless mortals surround a cultivator with literally hundreds of equipped men/women and completely deplete the cultivators' qi reserve, they can never stand a chance against cultivators.

Long Ren looked at the broken dagger, and his eyes immediately turned cold, colder than he had ever been before.

His eyes slowly shifted towards the fearful bandit, and looking at his…no…Its pathetic expression and something broke inside Long Ren's mind.

A pride he never knew he had before, pride as a cultivator, and, something else entirely foreign to him, something he had never felt before in his previous life.

How dare it, a lowly human mortal try to injure him!

Long Ren's eyes dimmed and subconsciously used a skill he saw and trained in the [Space Clickbait Manual], [Elemental slash: Space].

His forearm and hand straighten towards his face as spatial elements gathered and surrounds his open palm and stretched out fingers, and finally he, with a speed shocking even himself, slashed at it, forming a beautiful arc of dark blue and then, red.

*Splurt*

Blood quickly sprayed out, as the bandit's head fell over and rolled to the ground, its eyes lifeless, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

…

A few seconds passed and color begins to return to Long Ren's eyes, and he finally realized what he had done. He killed someone. As direct as it can be, and in cold blood no less.

[Achievement Unlocked…

He immediately let go of the decapitated corpse and threw it away from him and the bandit's entrance, hoping that no one noticed him, though, the smell of blood will sooner or later reveal him, but now, he is not worried about that.

'I kill…killed someone, a living human being…I killed him!' Long Ren panicked inside his mind, not noticing the notification his system gave.

He starts breathing roughly, hyperventilating as his throat seemed to be stuck on something.

Long Ren got down on his knees and hands, facing the ground, his face pale, his breath rough, his whole body shaking, incapable of believing his previous deed.

As his consciousness starts blurring, he vomited his breakfast out, all of it. After that, he starts calming down, albeit just a bit, he then saw his vomit, mixing with the blood flowing from the corpse, making him vomit once more….

And then it hit him. A revelation.

The world is cruel. Mortals even dare to kill him, why shouldn't he.

This world does not care about social rights.

This world does not care about gender equality.

This world does not care about its own face and appearance.

It shows the deepest and darkest side of humanity in plain sight.

This is not his previous world, Earth, where everything needs to be just and equal.

This is not where people are protected from their own darkest nightmares.

This is not his safe world.

But nonetheless, it is the world he must now live in and with.

Ignorance is bliss.

That phrase Long Ren took for granted has now come back to haunt him.

On Earth, humanity's darkest side can't exist….no, it is hidden under the veil of harmony and peace. Here? There's no such guise. Everything is out in the open, for everyone to see.

This world is much darker. Much, much darker.

But he won't ignore it anymore, He just can't.

A weak but resolute gaze prodded Long Ren as he got up and approached the cave's entrance.

He walked into the cave moderately fast and after a while, saw some bandits resting in there. He hesitated for a bit but quickly got over it.

He lifted his right arm straight and used [Element Bullet: Space], a basic skill the book said not just anyone can access and use, and by using their affinity, they can enhance the skill's effect, giving them unique properties.

Long Ren's hand formed a gun shape as his index and middle finger stretched out. Space elements gathered at the tip of his fingers, and immediately, his qi transformed into a bullet before disappearing the next second, only to reappear right before a bandit's eyes, piercing its head, killing it immediately.

One down. Plenty more to go.

Long Ren gazed coldly at the corpse before him. He knew what these bandits had done from his investigations. R*pe, extensive "tax", destruction of property, etc.

The only thing between his qi bullet and their pathetic lives is his morality and hesitation.

And luckily for Long Ren, he had suppressed both of them.

For the bandits? Not so much.

The other bandits looked at their fallen comrade and quickly realized the severity of the situation. They wanted to run, but Long Ren had no reason to let them live even a second longer.

He's killed twice now, what's another body. A body count is just a number, a number he is now willing to increase.

Sounds of shots of Space Bullets ran through the dimly lit cave, though, only the receiver could hear those sounds as qi bullets don't make that much noise in the first place. A gentle call of death, if you will.

One by one, Long Ren, in cold blood, killed every single pathetic excuse of intelligent life inside the cave. Little by little, the numbers grew. Five, Ten, Twelve, Eighteen…Thirty-two….

Long Ren quickly reached what he presumed to be the biggest room in the cave. It is blocked by a 2-meter tall and 50cm wide wooden door.

He manipulated the space elements surrounding him and guided them towards the door, enveloping it. Doing, so, he had made the door virtually silent, allowing him to open the door without alarming anyone inside, at least audio-wise.

In there, he saw the reason why this bandit group could thrive.

A rank one cultivator, sitting on a throne of robbery and tyranny, trampling on mortals just to sate his own pathetic ego.

He saw the 30-something cultivator was busy enjoying its time with a woman, who Long Ren assumed was forced to be there.

Luckily for her, Long Ren arrived just on time.

The cultivator was pinning the woman down on the bed, having its back facing the door Long Ren just passed through.

As the cultivator was about to start its feast, completely oblivious of its current situation, Long Ren sent not one, not two, but five bullets for each of the cultivator's limbs. two for its arms, two for its legs, and one for its disgusting tool.

With the perfect accuracy that Long Ren had trained all these times, they hit their target right on the mark without even grazing the woman once. The attack completely surprised the cultivator and it yelped in pain. Its weak rank 1 passive qi barrier was not enough to defend against Long Ren's surprise attack.

As the cultivator screeched in pain, Long Ren approached him slowly. He looked down on it, literally, and with a cold look, trampled on the ant's balls.

*Crush*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!"

Hearing its cry, Long Ren detests it even more. He moved his foot up and stomped on its throat hard, completely crushing his passage of air.

The cultivator, with a surprised and enraged gaze, looked at Long Ren, and slowly, its life withered away and died.

The woman whose clothes were torn, looked fearfully at Long Ren, though, if one looked closer, thankfulness could also be seen in her gaze.

Long Ren felt the woman's gaze, and he saw her torn clothes. He sighed loud and long and gave her a pair of common clothes he had on his ring.

Long Ren felt extremely tired right now. His qi is enough, but, his brain felt mentally exhausted. He killed for the first time today and killed even more than he expected.

Right now, his body count had reached the upper 60s…

He just wanted to end today's day and rest…He needs it.

But, his job isn't done yet, he saw branching paths on the way here and knew there should be some straggles left for him to end…

He looked at the woman, and with a hoarse voice, told her to stay here, to which she nodded quickly.

Long Ren then traced his way back and explored all the branching paths, clearing everything and its filth inside.

Finally, on the last path, he saw a light coming from it.

He walked towards it, and it turns out to be a cliff. A cliff he wished he did not reach.

There, standing on the edge of the cliff, he saw bodies…

Bodies were thrown over the cliff, piling into a small hill.

Dozens, multiple dozens of bodies just lay there, dead.

Some are women who had gone through horrifying experiences, experiences Long Ren could not even begin to imagine.

Some are men who had their corpses mutilated, most likely just for the bandits' enjoyment as he recalled the things and tools he saw inside the cave.

And finally, the nail in the coffin, dozens of corpses of children. Children who had done nothing wrong, laid there, dead, out cold. They probably haven't even decided on what to be when they grew up and yet…

Long Ren quickly moves his body away from the cliffside and vomited, or at least tried to vomit whatever he had left in his body, once more. He can't bear this sight for even a second longer.

Long Ren quickly opened his inventory and took out a [Coprse Disintegrator] he got from his pulls this morning. Something he thought he needed for today, but not in this situation.

He quickly used the gun-like item and shot it on the pile of corpses without looking at them.

The corpse began to disintegrate, leaving nothing but memories. Memories Long Ren was sure to relive for a while. Memories that will haunt him for much longer than he'd like.

Just this group of ordinary bandits. A group led by scum and failure of a cultivator. They could do all these acts brazenly…

If even it could do all this, Long Ren fears the atrocities the monsters in this world could…

No, not could

Had done.

What atrocities had these inhabitants done in this twisted world?

For once in his three years of living here, did he not feel like he truly belong in this world.

The peaceful and serene life he had, was all due to Xing Lao. All because of his strong backing.

He felt at peace every day, enjoying his quiet time, but now.

He is scared. No, not scared of losing his serene lifestyle, or even his life. Death does not scare him.

Humanity does.

When humanity was leashed by the rules they imposed on themself, they become docile, just, and righteous to an extent.

Equality for everyone, or so they say.

But when the rules only apply to the weak, and the strong are free from it.

This happens.

A world where their darkest desires are free to control them.

A world where the strong is always right.

A world that Long Ren felt really foreign with.

…

"Snowflake"

It is a term Long Ren used in his previous life to describe people on the internet who can't take an insult, even a small one.

But now, Long Ren feels like he is the snowflake. He could not even see death and be ok with it like everyone else.

His mind starts twisting and turning. His thoughts are all jumbled up. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't want to recognize what he must do!

He knew deep down what he needs to do. But he is scared. Very scared.

Whether he will stay as a snowflake, cursed to perish on the ground, trampled by others, or rise above the rest. To not be trampled upon!... but possibly, losing a part, or whats left of himself.

Only time will tell.

With these thoughts, Long Ren's mind went blank. His brain forcefully shuts his consciousness off, feeling extremely tired, letting his body fall to the ground, unconscious.

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(A/N: genuinely, I feel like this chapter is kind of cringe and EDGELORD EMO, like, VERY emo. I'm sorry if this makes u feel that way, the world/story won't be THIS dark, I just wanted to write something like this and try it at least once. Do give me a review of this particular chapter/scene here in the para comment, ty! PS: I'm a snowflake, so don't be too harsh please UmU)