Chapter 1: The Beginning Unfolds

  Dai Wu and Xie Shu, two men; one was a super killer before the end of the world, the other practiced traditional Chinese martial arts, had even fought in underground boxing matches before the apocalypse, but both had received favors from the Tu family, now they were doing things for the Tu family.

  Tou Gongzi clearly knew that even among Awakened, there was a huge gap. Think about it, others have been desperately practicing and honing their killing skills for over a decade, constantly paying with sweat and blood. Their Awakening is not something that ordinary people can compare to after just a year or two of intense combat training. After all, even if everyone's strength is similar, in a life-or-death battle, it's not just about strength, but also determination, experience, reaction, and more. A difference of a fraction of a second could be the difference between life and death.

  To say that the group of people who had received special training before were much stronger than ordinary people, and their strength after awakening was also much stronger than that of ordinary people after awakening. Now, Dai Wu and Xie Shu faced almost crushing victories against the awakened ones under his command, except for some special abilities like Huang Yanze's thick skin and fearless fighting style, which could to a certain extent make up for the lack of combat experience.

  "By the way, has Huang Yanzhe returned from hunting? We're still waiting for his game meat tonight."

  As for Dai Wu's affairs, Gou Gongzi was still very reassured because he knew that although Dai Wu was cold and inhumane, his weakness for women made him believe that he could firmly grasp him. At this moment, thinking of Huang Yanze who seemed to have not returned yet, he couldn't help but ask Xie Shu.

  At this time, Gou Gongzi seemed to have also remembered that it had been a day since he hadn't seen Huang Yanze 'Huang Ge', and he knew that he himself hadn't personally gone to deal with the mother and son of Liu's family in N city, but instead had sent Dai Wu and a team of trained elite underlings. This was because along the way, they had discovered benefits that attracted him and made him go; as a result, even though this mission failed and he would lose many things, his mood hadn't yet reached despairing madness.

  In N City, the Tu family, as a long-standing aristocratic family, has always followed some ancient traditions. For example, every member of the family practices the traditional Chinese martial arts passed down from their ancestors, and each person has a certain level of martial arts skills for self-defense. This time, Young Master Tu benefited from this, as he received news that an auction in S City had unearthed an ancient book and a sword together. The book was the original "Hegemon-King Fist" manual practiced by Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King. The allure of this to martial artists is obvious, given Xiang Yu's legendary reputation. Everyone knows about his fame, but the Hegemon-King Fist is also renowned. According to legend, when Xiang Yu was surrounded at Gaixia, he fought valiantly with a long spear that broke, and a Han general attempted to capture him alive. Unexpectedly, Xiang Yu used the "Hegemon-King Fist" to seize the general's sword and strike his head with a single punch, shattering it. He then killed his way out of the encirclement, creating a bloody path through the army. This demonstrates the power of the Hegemon-King Fist.

  During this period, Tu Gongzi, who had originally obtained the "Hegemony Fist", has been practicing this Hegemony Fist. However, this boxing technique is extremely powerful and demanding on the human body, requiring a high level of physical fitness. If it weren't for the fact that Tu Gongzi himself was also an Awakened One with true energy in his body to nourish and recover, he might not have been able to practice it at all. After all, the Hegemony Fist created by Xiang Yu is not something that ordinary people can practice. Just thinking about Xiang Yu's "forceful and domineering" personality makes one realize how extraordinary he was - single-handedly defeating the Qin army with his bravery. Even so, Tu Gongzi could only practice for a short period each day before stopping to consume large amounts of beast meat to recover from the physical damage and exhaustion caused by practicing the fist. This is why Huang Yanze went out hunting.

  "This is it, Huang Yanzhe still hasn't come back until now, don't know what happened."

  Xie Shu seemed to have forgotten for a moment that the people who went out hunting had not returned, and had been busy searching for the person in the portrait among the crowds of people. It was only now that he remembered that Huang Yanze had gone out to hunt with Tu Gongzi and had not yet returned.

  "It's almost dark now, and Huang Yanzhe still hasn't returned. What if something unexpected happened? Shouldn't we go look for him?"

  Xie Shu saw that the other person's face turned even darker and couldn't help but carefully offer his opinion, diverting the topic first before continuing.

  "Take someone with you to find him, call up a few others to go together, bring a team of people, prepare your weapons, safety first."

  Tu Gongzi furrowed his brow, now this world is extremely dangerous, it's almost dark, it's better to let Xie Shu and other awakened ones act together, otherwise who knows what unexpected dangers will appear.

  "Alright young master, by the way, we found Lv Fengsheng when we were searching for people this afternoon. Do you want to see him?"

  Xie Shu only seemed to remember now, in the crowd he saw Lü Fengsheng, and Tú Gōngzǐ were once wine and meat friends, specifically speaking, Lü Fengsheng constantly spent money to please and flatter Tú Gōngzǐ. Only at this time, the world had greatly changed, the other's money was no longer of any use, it was unknown whether Tú Gōngzǐ still recognized him or not. He himself had already received benefits from the other party, things that needed to be done still had to be done, the specific outcome would depend on Tú Gōngzǐ himself.

  "Oh? He's still alive? Never mind, let him help out on the side, no need to meet in person."

  However, Gu Gongzi now looks down on Lü Fengsheng, and only because they were once considered brothers in drinking and eating, and also brought many benefits to himself, he still acknowledges this relationship; it's just that now he doesn't even ask about the other party's situation, directly recruiting him as a subordinate, without knowing what he thinks.

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  Splash!

  Buzzing——

  Liang Jing wore the 【Fierce Ghost Mask】, with the 【Baroque's Sorrow】 on his back, and as he turned a corner with everyone else, suddenly before him opened up...

  A dense crowd of people lingered on the wasteland, a huge hubbub arose, forming a buzzing sound in the ears, the crowd was endless in all directions, and it was unknown how long it stretched, densely packed with black figures.

  At this time, it was almost dark, and the crowd stopped to prepare for dinner. The survivors were scattered and disorganized, with a few small tents here and there, but most people had none. They gathered in groups of three or five, or even formed large crowds, creating various cliques. Most of them ate carefully, fearing that they might drop food and waste it. However, starting a fire was rarely seen, as it was difficult to find good firewood with so many people around. It was every man for himself, and those who were far away needed courage to venture out, as there were dangers and mutated creatures everywhere, making it unwise to stray too far from the crowd.

  Li Jing and the crowd were shocked by the endless sea of people in front of them, a spectacle that was hard to come by even before the apocalypse. For a moment, they felt shock, excitement, and joy; thinking that they had finally found a collective, it had been so long since the world changed that it was rare to see so many people, their hearts were racing with excitement.

  "Go!"

  Liang Jing waved his hand and walked towards the crowd, but as he got closer to the crowd, Liang Jing's team couldn't help but frown. These survivors were almost as dirty as beggars, wearing tattered and smelly clothes that seemed to have not been washed for a long time. Their faces were also dirty, and they were eating food that was mostly cold and raw. Wanting to start a fire? Firewood was hard to find, and with so many people in such a small space, it was no wonder they didn't dare venture out to look for it.

  Watching the dirty and dusty biscuits being carefully split open, slowly placed on dry lips, slowly savored in the mouth, and slowly melted down; some were served in a bowl with who-knows-when-cooked leftover rice, eating it bit by bit while still savoring the flavor of the food, Liang Jing's keen sense of smell could detect the stale taste within; some even went so far as to find tree bark and grass roots in the wilderness, not even washing them clean before stuffing them into their mouths, as if afraid others would snatch them away, exaggeratedly exercising their facial muscles.

  Liang Jing furrowed her brow, looking at the attire of these people. Before the world changed in S City, they should have all been well-off social elites, but now they had become like this, and were even worse off than the survivors from K City that they had encountered before.

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