Slap!
It was a hard slap.
The slap spun the brat around like a top, and he landed on his backside.
“Waaaaaah!”
He immediately burst into tears.
In the old woman’s eyes, her grandson was the picture of obedience and cuteness. He only wanted to eat. He only tried to snatch the bowl. The young man didn’t give it to him, so that should have been the end of it. It wasn’t a big deal.
Besides, he was a grown man. Surely he would not make a fuss over a little child?
But this young man before her didn’t just argue; he struck out. And he struck hard!
The red, swollen handprint on her grandson’s face pained her.
Quite a few people nearby were watching.
Zhou Xiaoxiao watched Chen Ye as if enjoying a show, while saying to his sister, “Sis, look. Chen Ye has gone too far.”
“Giving him a can of gasoline was a waste. Good thing I took it back!”
In Zhou Xiaoxiao’s mind, Chen Ye had crossed a line. It was just a child, after all. If you don’t want to share, fine, don’t share. But why slap the kid? His evaluation of Chen Ye dropped several more notches.
Zhou Lan nervously scanned their surroundings. Confirming that no one was paying attention to them, she scolded him in a hushed, reproachful tone. “Xiaoxiao, what nonsense are you spouting?”
“It was the child who behaved badly!” Zhou Lan said.
“He’s so little. What do you expect a grown man like Chen Ye to do?” Xiaoxiao replied.
“Whatever you say, Chen Ye is a Sequence Beyonder. We shouldn’t offend him,” Zhou Lan said.
“Hmph,” Zhou Xiaoxiao muttered, unconvinced. “A child is still a human, not a beast.”
As a celebrity before the apocalypse, Zhou Lan had seen more people and situations than her younger brother. In Chen Ye’s position, she might simply have shared her food. After all, there was that familiar refrain: “He’s just a child!”
Yet she had grown more wary of Chen Ye. Had she been wrong not to stop Xiaoxiao from taking back the gasoline? He was a Sequence Beyonder, after all.
Zhou Xiaoxiao rolled his large, pretty eyes at his sister.
“How do you think Chen Ye will handle the rest of this?”
Nearby, Chu Che watched with an amused, curious look.
Iron Lion scratched the back of his head, looking foolish. “I don’t know,” he rumbled in his muffled voice. “But… he is still a child, after all. He doesn’t understand things yet.”
Nana snorted. “So what if he’s a child? Children are people too. Does that mean they can do whatever they like?”
“Even before the apocalypse, some children were no better than demons.”
Iron Lion was at a loss for words. Titan Sequence Beyonders always seemed to have trouble expressing themselves.
Chen Ye looked impassively at the grandmother and grandson.
“Grandma!” The child cried and held out his arms, as if asking her to pick him up.
“My good grandson, my poor, precious grandson!” The old woman’s eyes reddened. She bent down, trying to lift him.
But the chubby boy was too heavy for her to lift, so she could only pull him to his feet.
Still crying, the child hid behind his grandmother. He seemed to feel braver there, and glared fiercely at Chen Ye.
“Young man, how could you? Don’t you know to respect the elderly and care for children? What did your parents teach you? What did they teach you at school?” This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
“You dare hit my precious grandson? I… I’ll make you regret it! You just wait—”
Without a second thought, Chen Ye stood and kicked the child who was peering out and glaring at him.
The child flew backward like a ragged sack.
“Zhuangzhuang!”
The old woman cried out and ran after him, wailing.
The child slid across the dirt for two or three meters before coming to a stop.
“Waaaaah!”
His cries echoed through the camp.
Everyone stared, dumbfounded.
“Zhuangzhuang! How are you? My good grandson!”
“Grandma, it hurts… Waaah…”
Chen Ye had not held back. The kick had bloodied the brat’s face and knocked out several front teeth. When he opened his mouth to cry, his front teeth were gone.
The old woman was heartbroken at the sight of her grandson. The two clung to each other and cried.
The old woman looked up, glaring furiously at Chen Ye.
“Young man! He is just a child!!!”
Chen Ye snorted. “Some children are children, and some children are beasts.”
The old woman had not expected that answer, and her face flushed. Before the apocalypse, whenever her grandson caused trouble, “He’s just a child” had always given her something to argue with. Some people would redden and swallow their anger; others wanted to argue back but could not find the words.
She never expected it to be completely useless now. Or at least, useless against this young man.
She had seen her grandson go to beg. She had seen him try to snatch the bowl. She hadn’t stopped him, fully expecting to exploit the young man’s kindness to get a free meal. She never dreamed it would end in blood and broken teeth.
Several people secretly enjoyed hearing Chen Ye say it. They had escaped Lucheng with the pair and had often been angered by their outrageous behavior. The grandmother and grandson had survived only because others looked after them on the way. Once everyone saw what they were like, that help stopped. Without the convoy, they might not have lasted much longer.
“I… I’ll fight you to the death!”
Apparently feeling that she had gained nothing, the old woman stood up to fight him.
Chen Ye showed no mercy.
Bam!
He kicked out again.
The kick knocked the old woman backward. She staggered three to five meters, then landed on her backside and could not get up for a long time.
“Grandma…”
Sobs followed.
Everyone was dumbfounded by what Chen Ye had done. Some looked at him with disdain.
“Sis, did you see that? Chen Ye is a bastard. He won’t even spare the elderly and children!” Zhou Xiaoxiao tugged at his sister’s clothes and spoke quietly. Find the original chapter at novelping(.)com.
For some reason, Zhou Xiaoxiao, who had previously dismissed Chen Ye as a coward for giving up the gasoline, now felt a chill of fear. When Chen Ye’s gaze swept over their area, Zhou Xiaoxiao quickly averted his eyes, his heart thumping wildly.
But not everyone disapproved.
With a hand on the sword at the back of her waist, Nana said with a laugh, “I didn’t expect that from Chen Ye. I like his style. Now that’s a man!”
Iron Lion scratched his head again, opening his mouth but finding no words.
Nana glanced at him and snorted. “Were you going to say that young people should respect the elderly and care for children?”
“Iron Lion, I think your brain really is all muscle. The rumors about the Titan Sequence lowering intelligence seem to be true!”
Nana seemed to have plenty of grievances of her own. Once she started, she could not stop. “Back when I went to work in the morning, at least half the carriage would be full of old people rushing to get eggs.”
“They’d board like Lin Daiyu, the frail heroine, then get off like Lu Zhishen, the burly warrior-monk!”
“Their monthly pensions were several times my pay! They’d dance in public squares all night! And don’t get me started on those brats…”
Iron Lion opened his mouth, seemingly unsure how to answer her outburst.
Chu Che clapped his hands, interrupting them. “All right, all right. Time to go!”
Back at the confrontation, the child was still looking at Chen Ye, his eyes filled with pure hatred.
Chen Ye walked over slowly.
The frightened child tried to hide behind his grandmother. She shielded him and glared at Chen Ye. “What do you want?”
Chen Ye chuckled. “Are you waiting for your son or someone else to come back so you can settle the score with me?”
From their expressions, Chen Ye judged that he had probably guessed right.
Still chuckling, he went on, “This is the apocalypse. People who aren’t here now might never come back.”
“Do you understand what I’m saying, kid?”
The old woman turned pale.
The child’s mouth crumpled, and he burst into tears.
He sounded utterly miserable.
The convoy soon began to mobilize.
Chen Ye quickly packed up and started his motorized tricycle.
After days of travel, the tricycle was running low on gasoline. If he still could not find any tomorrow, he would probably have to pedal.
With a shudder, the engine caught, and the tricycle began to move.
Behind him, the grandmother and grandson were still crying and throwing a tantrum on the ground.
No one helped them up or spoke in their defense.
Even the woman who had raised the gender issue yesterday kept her head down and said nothing.
Apparently realizing that carrying on would gain them nothing, the two slowly got up.
The old woman occasionally shot venomous glances at Chen Ye’s back. Whenever Chen Ye sensed it and turned his head, she would pretend to look elsewhere with forced nonchalance.
The child, however, shuddered in fright whenever Chen Ye looked his way, and fearfully averted his eyes.