Gu Zhuoye raised a hand and blocked the man’s outstretched arm.
Looking at the tiny flame flickering in Gu Zhuoye’s palm, the man sneered.
“Pretty boy, don’t go looking for a beati…”
Whoosh!
The tiny flame instantly transformed into a long spear. The spearhead shot past the man’s head, extending behind him and scorching away half his hair!
The man’s pupils contracted violently. Frightened out of his wits, he stumbled backward and dropped to the ground with a thud.
Gu Zhuoye let out a disdainful snort.
Over on Ye Huizhou’s side, the man had already been electrocuted black and collapsed with a crash.
Like kicking away a dead dog, Ye Huizhou sent the corpse rolling aside.
“Ha!”
Ye Xihe poked her head out from behind Gu Zhuoye and grinned.
“He got insta-killed? That’s way too weak!”
Holding the iron rod in one hand, Ye Huizhou pointed it toward the remaining three men.
“Who’s next?”
The three stared at the crackling violet lightning dancing along the rod, then at the charred corpse at Ye Huizhou’s feet, swallowing hard.
The one in the middle stepped forward and smiled obsequiously.
“A misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. Handsome brother, you’ve misunderstood…”
Gu Zhuoye couldn’t be bothered listening to their nonsense. With a sweep of his flaming spear, a wave of heat surged toward them.
The three men screamed.
“Worthless.”
Hearing the mockery, they froze for a moment.
“I… I’m not dead?”
Their hands frantically patted themselves all over.
“My clothes!”
That single attack from Gu Zhuoye had burned every stitch of clothing off their bodies.
Before Ye Xihe could get a good look, her eyes were covered by Ye Huizhou’s warm palm.
Ye Huizhou shot Gu Zhuoye a disapproving look.
The three naked men shivered.
The flames had brushed right past them and burned only their clothes away. Such terrifying control over his ability!
If he wanted to kill them, it would be as easy as lifting a hand.
“I have a few questions for you.”
Ye Xihe patted the hand covering her eyes.
Ye Huizhou frowned. She pried his hand away.
The moment she regained her sight, another large hand came from her left and covered her eyes again.
Gu Zhuoye’s palm felt the smooth softness of her skin. Her fan-like eyelashes fluttered against it, sending a faint tingling sensation through his hand.
His gaze darkened slightly.
“Children shouldn’t look at things that hurt their eyes.”
Ye Xihe: …
She gave up struggling and asked directly,
“Have you seen a mother and son?”
Recalling Su Nian’s description, she continued,
“The mother is small and thin, surnamed Zhang. The son is tall and sturdy, surnamed Su, with a scar about two palm lengths long on his arm.”
The men were stunned by the question.
Ye Huizhou casually bounced the iron rod in his hand.
“Sis! Sis!”
The man in the middle trembled and hurriedly cried out,
“There is a mother and son matching that description around here. I don’t know if they’re the people you’re looking for!”
“Where are they?”
“We don’t know…”
“Big Brother.”
Ye Huizhou summoned his blade.
“We really don’t know!!”
The man threw himself flat on the ground and shouted,
“It’s true, Sis! That guy is unbelievably lazy and never looks for supplies. That woman is used… I mean, she doesn’t really have any abilities. None of the teams around here wanted them! We have no idea where they are now!”
“When was the last time you saw them?”
“Right around here! Two days ago, they went into the mall!”
Ye Xihe’s gaze shifted toward the mall entrance. Thinking about the strange noises coming from the fourth floor, her heart sank.
Seeing her remain silent, the man grew even more frightened.
“Sis, that’s really all we know. After that we never…”
Ye Xihe impatiently cut him off.
“Hand over all your supplies.”
The men on the ground stiffened.
They really didn’t want to.
Even if most of those supplies had been stolen, they had still put effort into stealing them.
And in this world, supplies meant life.
Ye Xihe could clearly sense their reluctance.
“Fine then. Killing you and taking the supplies afterward works too.”
“Big Brother.”
Ye Huizhou drew his blade.
The men on the ground: …
!!!
For the second time today, they felt like they had seen a ghost.
“We’ll give them all to you! All of them!”
The voice that rang out carried two parts unwillingness, three parts grief, and five parts heartache.
“They’re all in that small house over there!”
Everyone looked in the direction he indicated. Because of the fog, it was hard to see clearly, but there was indeed a small flat-roofed building to the southwest.
“Zhuoye-ge, could you bring them back?”
Ye Xihe obediently closed her eyes, signaling that he didn’t need to worry.
Gu Zhuoye nodded and reached out to grab one of the men to lead the way.
His hand hovered over three different spots before he ultimately decided he couldn’t bring himself to touch any of them.
Clicking his tongue in disgust, he kicked one of the bare backsides.
“Lead the way.”
The man was furious but didn’t dare show it. He covered his butt, then decided that wasn’t appropriate and covered the front instead. In the end, he settled on covering his face.
Not long afterward, Gu Zhuoye returned carrying three bags of supplies.
“You people are truly pathetic. You’ve been robbing others all this time and this is all you’ve got?”
The man who had accompanied him hurriedly nodded.
“Yes, yes. Big Brother is absolutely right.”
Ye Xihe crouched down and sorted through the supplies, keeping the useful items and tossing the useless ones back to them.
The man lying in the middle stared at her with venomous hatred in his eyes.
Rubbing his fingertips together, Gu Zhuoye spoke in a cool voice.
“Maybe it’s better to kill them all and eliminate future trouble.”
As he spoke, a flaming spear formed in his hand, its tip pointing directly at the hateful-looking man.
The man who had just guided Gu Zhuoye hurriedly laughed ingratiatingly.
“We wouldn’t dare! How could we possibly dare, haha…”
Before he could finish speaking, Gu Zhuoye’s spear pierced straight through the other man’s throat.
“If you can’t control your eyes, then don’t open them again.”
The man beside him stared at Gu Zhuoye in horror. His throat felt squeezed shut and no sound came out.
Meanwhile, Ye Xihe called Tao Zhaochuan and the others over, preparing to head back.
Ye Huizhou naturally took everything from his sister’s hands and carried it himself.
From the moment Ye Huizhou and Gu Zhuoye started fighting, Tao Zhaochuan and the researchers had wisely stayed far away.
If they couldn’t help, the least they could do was avoid becoming a burden.
On the way back, Ye Huizhou and Ye Xihe walked in front while Gu Zhuoye covered the rear.
After dealing with the thugs at the mall entrance, no one else dared come looking for trouble.
Quite a few teams eyed their supplies greedily, but after recalling the half-naked men still sitting outside the mall, they quickly gave up the idea.
Those men had survived this long through robbery, which meant their combat abilities were actually quite strong.
Yet those two men had killed them as easily as slaughtering chickens.
No one knew where these people had come from, but they were terrifying.
…
Back in the supermarket, Ye Xihe and the others distributed the supplies they had brought back.
The students had gone far too long without food. They wolfed everything down, swallowing before they had even finished chewing and stuffing one bite after another into their mouths.
Professor Niu held a loaf of bread in his hand, his eyes growing moist.
Xu Wen was busy showering Ye Huizhou and Gu Zhuoye with exaggerated praise.
“My Captain Ye and my Brother Gu! When the blade isn’t sharp and the horse is skinny, what do you have to fight them with? They’re simply too powerful! You two are basically Nuwa’s final masterpiece, humanity’s ultimate configuration welded directly onto your bodies! I mmph… mmph mmph…”
Ye Huizhou stuffed a chicken drumstick into his endlessly talking mouth.
Xu Wen was deeply moved.
“Captain Ye, you really care about me!”
Ye Huizhou: …
No! You’re just too noisy.
Sitting beside Su Nian, Ye Xihe told her everything they had learned.
“Sister Su Nian, are they very important to you?”
Su Nian lowered her eyes.
“Mm… they’re my mother and my younger brother.”