Chapter Fifty-Seven

“Oh, I just came to check on you all, and to see Manager Liu Jing as well. As long as you’re doing okay, that’s enough,” Ma Yi said with a smile. Anyone could see how dire Chen Yuanshan’s situation was—there was no “doing okay” at all. Ma Yi was simply venting his former dissatisfaction. He had never asked any of these people for favors, had even treated them with excessive kindness, and that had made them complacent, as if the apocalypse would be a simple affair.

“We’re not doing well at all. We’re barely eating enough, and Liu Jing is tormented by the boss here every day,” Chen Liang interjected, unable to bear his uncle’s stubborn pride.

“Oh? Is that so?” Ma Yi hadn’t intended to meddle. He barely counted these people as acquaintances—he was only here to see Liu Jing. But at the mention of her daily suffering, his expression turned grave. Ma Yi was the type to repay even the smallest kindness many times over, and he most despised the ungrateful. No matter what, Liu Jing had once treated him very well; if he could repay her, he would.

“Ma Yi, don’t be reckless. The boss here is a second-generation evolver, much stronger than us. You’ve only just recovered—don’t do anything rash,” Chen Yuanshan said, glancing reproachfully at his nephew and anxiously at Ma Yi, afraid he would lose to the boss here.

“Haha, don’t worry about me.” Ma Yi gave Chen Yuanshan an amused look. People really do become short-sighted when their experience is lacking. Ma Yi’s senses told him that there wasn’t a single evolver here beyond level three—hardly any real experts.

He, once a figure of renown in P City, now lacked even the ability to read the room. Clearly, one’s environment shapes one’s vision.

Ma Yi glanced toward the buildings, frowning as he walked over. Li Li, who’d followed Ma Yi, hadn’t said a word, standing quietly by his side, uninterested in anything else, her gaze fixed blankly on Ma Yi.

“This isn’t a place for you. I’m telling you, our boss is a level-three evolver,” said one of the evolvers, seeing Ma Yi heading straight toward the boss’s quarters and stepping in to block him. But Ma Yi ignored them, leaving them awkward and reaching for their weapons.

“If you don’t want to die, get out of my way.” With a flick of Ma Yi’s hand, a blade of energy shot past the evolvers’ foreheads, slicing through a reinforced concrete beam fifty meters away. The cut was clearly visible to the naked eye, lifting the slab half a meter and leaving a deep gap beneath, as if sliced by a knife.

Two seconds later, the shattered remains of the building crashed to the ground, shaking the earth.

“What happened?” A group of people rushed out from the ruined building, led by a man whose delicate features were almost effeminate—he looked nothing like a hardened villain. In fact, Ma Yi thought he looked quite gentle.

“Where is Liu Jing?” Ma Yi approached slowly. The evolvers, still shaken, quickly retreated. In terrified voices, they told the pale-faced man how Ma Yi, with just a wave of his hand, had sliced off a section of the building. The man’s face turned ashen, realizing that the bald man before him was no ordinary figure.

“Uh, Liu Jing is inside,” the man stammered, pointing to a room behind him. Ma Yi could see his legs trembling; though he hadn’t wet himself, it seemed only a matter of time.

Ma Yi stared at the man for two seconds, reading panic—intense panic—in his eyes, then turned and walked into the building.

The room was in shambles. Several women, naked, huddled numbly in the corners. Ma Yi’s gaze swept over their faces, his pupils dilating, his expression turning ever colder.

His secretary, Liu Jing, and the others were curled up in the deepest part of the building, barely clothed, their bodies covered in wounds old and new. Ma Yi crouched down, gently brushing aside their hair to reveal faces marred with scars. What made him angriest was that their vacant eyes showed they had long since lost their minds, drooling like imbeciles. Their swollen bodies were still bleeding fresh blood.

Turning around, Ma Yi carefully looked at every woman in the room. Without exception, all were out of their minds, their bodies scarred to varying degrees. All had been tortured into insanity. That seemingly gentle man was a monster—he hadn’t just abused these women, but had tortured them.

“Ma Yi, the boss ran off!” Chen Liang rushed in, shouting anxiously. Seeing the scene inside, he froze—every woman this man had taken in had been abused into idiocy.

“He really deserves to die.” Ma Yi stood up and strode outside. In the distance, more than twenty people were fleeing. There was no way he would let them escape. Gritting his teeth, Ma Yi leaped forward—his speed so great that in the blink of an eye, he appeared before the fleeing evolvers, leaving them staring as if they’d seen a ghost.

“Speak. Who did this to them?” Ma Yi’s eyes locked on the pale-faced man, whose gentle exterior masked vicious cruelty.

“It wasn’t us! We’re just subordinates!” several evolvers wailed, falling to their knees in terror. They had witnessed Ma Yi’s power firsthand and desperately tried to distance themselves.

“We’re just subordinates—we wouldn’t dare touch the boss’s women,” others echoed, kneeling. The pale-faced man glared darkly at Ma Yi, unable to hide his fear.

“So it was all you?” Ma Yi asked, his gaze dark.

“Why did you torture them? If you didn’t like them, you could have just killed them. To destroy their minds like this—your heart and your face are both laughable,” Ma Yi spat through clenched teeth, glaring at the man.

“Hahaha, I like it, I like it! At worst, I’ll just die for it. Yes, I did it. All women deserve to die, especially the pretty ones. I can’t let them die easily—I have to torture them, torment them slowly!” The man’s gentle façade twisted into a monstrous grin, his features contorted like a demon.

“They’re all so proud, aren’t they? Spoiled and arrogant, obsessed with money and power, all sluts, all whores, trash for anyone to use. All beautiful women should die! Hahaha! They all deserve to die!” He cackled, utterly deranged.

“It was all him, really nothing to do with us!” the evolvers pleaded, kneeling, eyes begging for mercy.

Ma Yi ignored their pleas. These people were hardly innocent. If it had been only the pale-faced man, he could never have controlled so many underlings. Those who abet evil are guilty as well.

Ma Yi looked at the man, sighed, then turned and left. Two mutated rats pounced on the man, tearing into him. His screams echoed for hundreds of meters, sending chills through the nearby survivors.

After all, there had once been a bond between them. Ma Yi ordered the rats to kill all the malicious evolvers. If he couldn’t help those he didn’t meet, he would at least act where he could. There were still many human survivors—a major base might have hundreds of thousands, but across the country there were only seven or eight top bases, perhaps with just over ten million people in total. Compared to the former billions, the survival rate was less than one percent.

If every small survivor camp was like this, the population would shrink even further, and humanity’s extinction would not be far off.

Having lost all interest in mocking Chen Yuanshan, Ma Yi looked at the women who had been reduced to shells, instructing Chen Yuanshan to take proper care of them.

“Don’t worry, I’ve thought it through. The previous boss wanted to go south, but I think we should stay here. There are no more zombies nearby, this is open country, and the evolved beasts are just farm animals gone wild—nothing too fierce. We can hunt them. We’ll stay here and live quietly, and I’ll take care of these women as well,” Chen Yuanshan promised.

“I hope your actions measure up to your words. I might come back to check on you one day, and if things aren’t as you say, I won’t hold back. The fate of those evolvers should serve as your example,” Ma Yi warned, glancing at Chen Liang, who had never impressed him much, but after all that had happened, seemed far more reliable than his uncle.

“You, come with me. I have something to tell you.” Ma Yi beckoned to Chen Liang and walked to a deserted spot.

“Brother Ant,” Chen Liang said obediently. In fact, he was a couple of years older than Ma Yi, once a spoiled rich kid, but now much changed.

“I have faith in you. I don’t trust everything your uncle says. You need to keep an eye on him. If you do well, there will be greater rewards in the future. I’m not asking you to betray your uncle, just to stop him if he loses his way, or to make the right choice if anyone tries to stir up trouble,” Ma Yi said, patting Chen Liang’s shoulder. Then he took a small pouch from Li Li’s backpack, filled with crystal fragments.

“These are soul shards—just swallow them. Once your body fully absorbs one, take another. With these, you could reach near level three, maybe higher. Work hard.” Chen Liang’s hands trembled as he took the pouch—soul shards, capable of boosting one’s power! He’d never heard of such a thing—just consuming them could make him a stronger evolver. He nodded solemnly, feeling honored by the trust.

“Don’t worry, Brother Ant. I know what to do. As long as my uncle does as he says, I’ll support him. If he doesn’t, I’ll try to talk sense into him; and if he still won’t listen, I’ll take him down and fulfill my promise to you,” Chen Liang vowed, quickly stowing the pouch.

“Good. Be careful.” Ma Yi patted his shoulder again, seeming more and more like a great man.

“It’s time for me to go. Before I leave, let me show you what true power looks like.” Ma Yi gathered the survivors and said, “There are far greater threats out there. You’d be throwing your lives away if you left. Stay put, and maybe you’ll live longer.”

He raised his foot and brought it down, sending a blade of force outwards, carving a trench two hundred meters long before him. The survivors were stunned—the display of power far beyond human, like something out of myth. They’d seen Ma Yi’s strength before, but hadn’t imagined he could, with a mere stomp, cut a deep ravine hundreds of meters long. It was something only immortals could do in the stories.

Seeing their awe, Ma Yi nodded, satisfied with the effect.

“There are many out there like me, so put away your petty ambitions. It’s hard enough just to survive—don’t bring doom upon yourselves,” he said calmly.

At his words, the survivors were left speechless. They hadn’t been in touch with the outside world for long, and now learned that such power was not rare, but common.

After intimidating the survivors, Ma Yi gave Chen Yuanshan a few more instructions, then led Li Li back to the car, continuing on toward home. For Ma Yi, this was just a minor episode. The world was vast—and there were far too many places he could never reach.