She had just seen Su Li in danger and, driven by an unknown surge of courage, charged forward. The dagger sank into Wang Kaikang’s body, but when she saw him swing his blade to strike, she felt frozen by fear, unable to move, watching helplessly as the knife grew larger before her eyes.
A message flashed in Su Li’s mind. “Level 3 Source User: Source 10/30”
Fang You, lying on the ground, finally breathed his last and died. A Source flew out from his body and merged into Su Li’s forehead. “So killing a Source User also grants Source.”
With this thought crossing his mind, Su Li saw Xu Xuehui in danger. He let out a sharp roar and, disregarding Ni Jianrong’s bone spike attack, allowed the spike to pierce his own abdomen as he lunged forward. His right hand, gripping an iron rod, swung with full force.
A flicker of surprise crossed Ni Jianrong’s face. As Su Li threw himself onto him, the foot-long bone spike instantly pierced through Su Li’s abdomen. Meanwhile, Su Li’s extended right arm reached past Ni Jianrong’s side, and the iron rod in his hand swept from right to left, striking Wang Kaikang’s head horizontally.
All his strength exploded in that moment. Wang Kaikang’s head burst apart like a watermelon smashed by a hammer. His swinging motion halted abruptly, and his right hand instinctively let go. The cleaver flew off with its previous momentum.
“Girl, dodge!” Ding Longyun, lying on the ground, roared at the same time. Ignoring his severe injuries, he mustered his last bit of strength and lunged forward, tackling Xu Xuehui to the ground, narrowly avoiding the cleaver that had flown from Wang Kaikang’s hand.
Another message appeared in Su Li’s mind. “Level 3 Source User: Source 11/30”
The Source from Wang Kaikang’s death, combined with the one he had obtained from Fang You earlier, merged into his body as two Sources, transforming into a surge of heat that frantically healed his severe wounds.
He had chosen to endure Ni Jianrong’s bone spike piercing his body to save Xu Xuehui. On one hand, he didn’t want her to die; on the other, he had just absorbed Fang You’s Source and was in a state of fusion, meaning even the gravest injuries could heal. So, he risked getting hurt to kill Wang Kaikang and save Xu Xuehui, leaving only Ni Jianrong to deal with—a much easier task.
This chain of events left Ni Jianrong’s face etched with shock and gravity. He had initially thought Ding Longyun, at Level 4, was the strongest of the three, so he had ambushed him first. Once Ding Longyun was dealt with, the other two would be easy prey. But he never expected that the quiet, taciturn Su Li was the most dangerous of them all. He had miscalculated.
After killing Wang Kaikang, Su Li extended the Glutton’s Fang from his left hand. If Ni Jianrong’s bone spike, still lodged in his body, were to slash downward, it could rip open his abdomen. But Su Li’s Glutton’s Fang struck back in an instant, trading injury for injury, also slicing open Ni Jianrong’s abdomen.
This time, Ni Jianrong reacted swiftly. The moment Su Li killed Wang Kaikang, he seemed to realize something. He kicked off the ground with both feet and leaped backward with all his might. Jumping several meters, he created distance from Su Li, then took a stride and dashed into another room across the way.
Though Su Li’s body had been pierced by the bone spike, his wounds were healing at an astonishing rate. He pursued closely. When he charged into the room, he saw Ni Jianrong already jumping onto the windowsill, crawling out, and plunging into the water with a splash.
Su Li reached the window and saw that Ni Jianrong, now in the water, had vanished. “This guy…” Su Li suspected he was a Level 4 Source User. The moment Wang Kaikang was killed, Ni Jianrong immediately thought of escape. His movements and reactions were far from slow; even Su Li couldn’t catch up in time.
Ni Jianrong dove into the water and disappeared, clearly swimming underwater. Su Li’s swimming skills were average, and unsure of the other’s ability, he hesitated briefly about whether to pursue.
Suddenly, Ni Jianrong surfaced, but he was already over ten meters away. “You’ve got some nerve, kid. I’ll remember you. You killed two of ours—I’ll settle this score.” With that, he submerged again and vanished.
Su Li stared intently at the water, catching a faint shadow moving like a fish, speeding away rapidly. “He’s a better swimmer than me.” Su Li frowned. With Ding Longyun severely injured and unable to enter the water, pursuing with his mediocre swimming skills would likely put him at a disadvantage in an underwater fight, possibly even costing him his life.
“He said we killed two of theirs… Does that mean their group has more than just these three? But without a raft, how far can he swim in this dangerous water?”
After a moment’s thought, Su Li gave up, ignoring Ni Jianrong’s escape into the water, and returned to the balcony.
Ding Longyun lay on the ground, gasping for breath. “How… is it…” Blood foam occasionally bubbled from his mouth; his injuries were severe.
Su Li shook his head. “He got away. Ni Jianrong’s a good swimmer. Only you could beat him. I couldn’t catch him. How are you?”
“Not… good at all.” Ding Longyun’s face was bitter. He stared at the two bodies lying quietly on the ground and murmured, “I still can’t figure out why they suddenly attacked us. Isn’t it better to have three more companions?”
Su Li said, “When Ni Jianrong left, he said we killed two of theirs. The way he said it, it sounded like he wants revenge. Besides, when they came, their raft had no supplies, which is different from our situation. Maybe… they have a large group, and these three were just out scavenging. They already have a base, not looking for a new place to settle or moving, so naturally, they wouldn’t bring supplies.”
Hearing Su Li’s analysis, Ding Longyun shuddered. “You mean they already have a group, and these three were just gathering supplies nearby? But even so, why resort to murder? Shouldn’t more people mean more safety?”
“I’m not sure either. Maybe they already have enough people and don’t need us, but they’re short on supplies. So they only want our supplies, not us.”
As he spoke, Su Li searched the pockets of Fang You and Wang Kaikang’s clothes, hoping to find something useful. Soon, he found a folded piece of paper and a pen refill in Fang You’s pants pocket.
He unfolded the paper. It was a page torn from a notebook, with “North” written at the top and “South” at the bottom. In the middle were various circles of different sizes, some marked with crosses. At the center was a circle, with four small characters annotated beside it.