"Hah... haha, turns out I'm just a coward, a spineless wretch, haha..."
He suddenly burst into manic laughter, tears and snot streaming down his face.
Su Li and the others listened in silence.
But Ding Longyun, sitting injured on the ground, grew angrier with every word and suddenly shouted, "You're not a coward, you're afraid of dying! Your woman gets taken, and you just hide? Pfft, if it were me, I'd fight to the death even if it meant dying! A man without guts isn't a man at all!"
Gong Xiao glanced at Ding Longyun and said, "Brother Ding, you can't expect every man to have your kind of grit."
Ding Longyun remained indignant, spitting a mouthful of water onto the ground, his eyes full of contempt as he looked at Xu Haishui.
"Xu Haishui, what are you planning to do now?" Su Li gazed at the tear-streaked man before him, feeling not the disdain Ding Longyun had, but a kind of indescribable pity and oppression.
Having the woman he loved taken and violated—most men couldn't bear it. But Xu Haishui had endured, seized his chance, and killed one of those thugs, making Chen Xiangyu pay for his actions.
How should such a man be judged? Just purely cowardly and weak? Su Li felt that wasn't entirely right.
"I... when I saw you all risking yourselves to save your companions, I realized you're the people I've been looking for. I want to join you." Xu Haishui looked up, his face full of longing.
Ding Longyun chuckled coldly, "We don't take cowards. Someone like you, who killed Chen Xiangyu today, might sell us out tomorrow out of fear, or even turn on us."
Xu Haishui's face changed, turning deathly pale, as if his last lifeline had been cut.
"I understand..." he murmured, lowering his head, his expression growing dazed.
Su Li kept watching him and suddenly asked, "What about Zhang Ying now?"
Xu Haishui's body trembled before he replied, "She's still at Zifeng Tower."
"And what are your plans next?"
Xu Haishui's face twisted with bitterness. "If you won't let me go, then kill me now. If you're willing to let me leave, I'll go back to Zifeng Tower. Even if I can't save Zhang Ying right now, I can at least stay there with her, waiting and looking for another chance like today... One day, I'll save her. I will..."
As he spoke, a glimmer of unyielding light shone in his eyes.
"At least you've got some humanity left." The last sentence struck a chord with Ding Longyun, who nodded and then raised his voice, "But what the hell are you waiting for? If you're a man, go back now and save her. That's what a man does."
Xu Haishui looked at Ding Longyun and gave a bitter smile. "Just me? Isn't that the same as walking to my death? If I die, no one will save her. If I live, there's still a sliver of hope. I can't die before I rescue her."
This left Ding Longyun stunned, suddenly realizing Xu Haishui had a point.
"Interesting. So you're not entirely a coward. On the contrary, you're surprisingly calm. At least your patience paid off—you killed Chen Xiangyu." Gong Xiao studied Xu Haishui as if seeing him for the first time.
Su Li said, "You mentioned Zifeng Tower has five leaders. Besides Chen Xiangyu, who are the other four? How strong are they? Do you know what level of spirit sources they've reached?"
Seeing that they seemed to be accepting him, Xu Haishui perked up and quickly replied, "The other four are Wang Zhensheng, Sun Wenbo, Li Wei, and Tao Bingjun. Along with Chen Xiangyu, these five are the strongest and most fearsome in Zifeng Tower. From what I know, Wang Zhensheng, Sun Wenbo, and Li Wei are all at level five like Chen Xiangyu, and Tao Bingjun is the most powerful of them all."
Ding Longyun was startled. "How did these guys level up so fast? All at level five?" He felt he hadn't been slacking off either.
Xu Haishui said, "They're all maniacs. They hunt monsters at night and form teams to search for more during the day. I only reached level four yesterday after tagging along with Chen Xiangyu's team."
Su Li and Ding Longyun exchanged glances. They thought they'd been working hard enough, but there were people even more driven.
Su Li pondered. One Chen Xiangyu had already been a tough nut to crack. If not for Xu Haishui knowing his weak spot, Su Li would have struggled to kill him with just his "Steel Skin." And the remaining four were at least level-five spirit sources.
Su Li felt the pressure.
"Do you know what abilities these four have? Any weaknesses?" Su Li thought of how Xu Haishui had known Chen Xiangyu's fatal flaw—maybe he knew about the others too.
Xu Haishui shook his head. "I've been with Chen Xiangyu the most, so I know him best. I stumbled on his weakness by accident. During a fight with a group of monsters, one of them injured his rear, and that's how I learned the fatal flaw of his 'Steel Skin' is his butt."
"As for the other four, I've had little contact with them. Tao Bingjun is the most mysterious—I've only seen him once, and I have no idea what his ability is. Sun Wenbo's ability seems related to blood. Wang Zhensheng's is probably bombs—he can create them, but I'm not sure of the details. I know a bit about Li Wei, though. He's incredibly skilled with a blade—I heard he trained before. I saw him kill someone once; with one swing, he cut a disobedient man in half."
As he spoke, a flicker of fear crossed his eyes. Deep down, he was instinctively terrified of these people.
Su Li hummed in acknowledgment, frowning.
Though he was only level four, his extra enhancement made him roughly equivalent to a level-five spirit source. Coupled with his top-tier "Spider Walk" ability, he wasn't afraid of any one of them in a one-on-one fight. But against multiple opponents, he couldn't win—unless he reached level five, which would give him another enhancement and a massive power boost. Then he'd have nothing to fear, even if Tao Bingjun was stronger than Chen Xiangyu.
Ding Longyun, still injured, slowly stood up and said, "Kid, if you're a man, go back and save the girl you love. Then I'll respect you as a real man."
Xu Haishui hesitated. "Just me..."
"Don't worry, we'll help you." Ding Longyun's eyes gleamed with determination as he growled, "I hate bastards who bully women more than anything. Those scumbags deserve to die."
Hearing this, Xu Haishui suddenly dropped to his knees with a thud and began banging his head against the concrete floor, the thumping sounds echoing in the air.