At that moment, a coarse voice came from outside the shack, speaking to their new neighbor, Xiao Yu:"Xiao Yu, I went to your place tonight and found out you'd moved here. I brought you some cigarettes."
Ren Xiaosu and Yan Liuyuan exchanged a glance, both frowning. They heard Xiao Yu say, "I'm not doing that kind of thing anymore."
"Hah!" The owner of the rough voice burst into laughter, as if he had heard a great joke. "If you're not doing that anymore, how will you eat, how will you live? Who's gonna give you cigarettes?"
"Let go of me." Xiao Yu's voice carried anger. A scuffle broke out, and a tearing sound followed—someone's clothes had been ripped.
Yan Liuyuan looked at Ren Xiaosu. Ren Xiaosu was still frowning tightly. Yan whispered, "Bro, help her."
Ren Xiaosu stood, unstrapped his bone knife from his leg, held it in reverse grip, and walked out of the shack.
At that moment, in his mind, the copper keys of the typewriter inside that palace began pounding one by one, striking words onto the parchment. A grand voice echoed through the palace:"Quest: Help—"
Ren Xiaosu cut it off with a cold laugh."I'd help even without your d*mn quest."
From the moment he stepped out to the moment he reached the man, only one or two seconds had passed.
He didn't waste breath with things like "Let her go" or "Touch her again and try me."He knew—any unnecessary action could lead to failure.
All he needed was the simplest method to solve the simplest problem.
As Ren Xiaosu's slender but solid figure pounced like a leopard, the man quickly drew the blade at his waist—everyone in town carried weapons.
The man's mind flashed with disdain. He was almost a head taller than the boy, and his weapon was real iron—not some bone knife.
But the very next moment, that disdain vanished.
It was common knowledge that iron outmatched bone, even though beasts' bones today were already stronger than steel.Stronger than steel, yes—but still not steel.
In this town, cold weapons weren't banned, but obtaining a good iron blade was nearly impossible. Industry was slowly catching up to pre-cataclysm levels, but resources were scarce.
As Ren Xiaosu reached him, his left foot hit the ground; the muscles of his right leg suddenly tightened, foot gripping the earth.His entire strength traveled from the ground—like a current—up through his waist and abdomen, then into his arms!
His bone knife carved through the night like a ravine across the earth.
Crack!
Bone and iron collided. The secretly watching onlookers were shocked—the two blades shattered simultaneously. They had all assumed only the bone knife would break.
In that instant of shock, Ren Xiaosu discarded the broken knife without hesitation.His movements were smooth, as if he had expected this from the start.
He grabbed the man's wrist. His other fist slammed toward the man's unguarded axillary nerve like a cannon shot.
The man tried to struggle free—then realized, with horror, that this boy was stronger than him.
Impossible!The boy was young, barely reaching his neck in height.
But the muscles and tendons on Ren Xiaosu's neck looked like forged steel—that was real power.
The axillary nerve lay about three inches from the armpit; precision wasn't necessary because a fist could cover the margin of error.
It was one of the human body's weak points.A sharp strike could displace the nerve. If nerves were cables, this was a violent electrical surge.
The pain signals would overload the brain; the neural circuit would short out, and the limbs would receive chaotic commands.
Calcium and potassium would flood the body—an electrical storm that temporarily paralyzed the entire system.
The man collapsed with a scream, limbs twitching. By the time he understood what had happened, he was incapable of resisting.
Ren Xiaosu stood quietly beside him, thinking.The man finally gasped, "I don't hold grudges. Let me go. I'll forget tonight even happened."
Anyone smart enough knew he was now a fish on the chopping block. The best thing to do wasn't to bluster—it was to survive and deal with things later.
Ren Xiaosu looked at Xiao Yu. "Who is he?"
"He's a foreman from the coal mine," Xiao Yu said. "The man who got stabbed to death last night—he led that. He heard the victim saved money, and since he owed gambling debts, he got greedy." She repeated what the man had bragged about the night before.
Ren Xiaosu picked up the man's iron blade from the road and walked back to him, towering over him.He calculated—four or five seconds before the man could move again.
Suddenly, the silent palace spoke again:"Quest: Spare your enemy's life."
But before the voice faded, Ren Xiaosu squatted down and thrust the iron blade into the man's abdomen.The tearing of flesh made every onlooker's scalp go numb as blood gushed out.
"You probably have three minutes. If you get to the town clinic quickly and they stitch you up, maybe you'll live," Ren Xiaosu said calmly.
The man didn't bother speaking. He scrambled up and ran toward the clinic.
"Quest complete. Reward: Basic Learning Blueprint.""Quest complete. Reward: Basic Learning Blueprint."
"Due to weapon loss, initiating side quest—"
Ren Xiaosu froze mid-thought. The first quest—saving Xiao Yu—he understood.But the second one… that counted too?
How was this palace judging things?
Yan Liuyuan asked curiously, "Bro, you just let him go like that? What if he gets stitched up and comes back for revenge? He's not a good person."
Ren Xiaosu looked into the night."That broken clinic in town? They can't stitch sh*t…"
"Bro, seeing how ruthless you are… I feel relieved."
That was exactly why Ren Xiaosu wondered how this still counted as a completed quest.The man was doomed—if not dead, then crippled.The rusty blade was practically a tetanus delivery device.
The man had iron, yes—cheap iron. If it weren't so poor in quality, Ren Xiaosu wouldn't have been able to break it.
Ren Xiaosu was a person with rigid principles.Even with supernatural powers, he wouldn't change how he acted.
If he changed, it would be by his own choice—not anyone else's.
So quest completion wasn't strict at all.The palace seemed to care only about… his attitude?
Whispers came from nearby shacks. Everyone already knew Ren Xiaosu was ruthless, but tonight had shocked them again.
The size difference between the two was huge, yet Ren Xiaosu's strength was equal—no, greater.
It was unbelievable.
Someone muttered, "I told you not to mess with him…"
Ren Xiaosu picked up the broken bone knife that had served him for over a year—its final moment had come.
He turned toward Xiao Yu.She looked fragile in the night. She was eight years older than him, but at this moment she seemed eight years younger.
Ren Xiaosu said bluntly, "Can you quit smoking?"
Xiao Yu nodded hard.
"It's not that addictive. Probably just mixed with some poppy husk. Old Wang says the dose is low; you can quit," Ren Xiaosu said as he walked to her shack and stabbed the remaining half of his white bone knife into the dirt, leaving only the tip visible.
The people who had been entertaining ideas about Xiao Yu immediately lost all interest.
In this town, that half bone knife was a symbol of resolve.No one wanted to cross someone like Ren Xiaosu.
Ren Xiaosu turned to Xiao Yu. "But just to be clear—I know I'm handsome, and although… well, there's no way anything's happening between us."
Xiao Yu froze. "I only see you as a younger brother."
Now Ren Xiaosu froze."Hahahaha… this is awkward."
He dragged Yan Liuyuan back to their shack, glaring at him the whole way.This is all your fault—always talking nonsense!
Yan Liuyuan secretly turned back and winked at Xiao Yu.Xiao Yu laughed, the gloom on her face melting away.
She squatted and stared at the half bone knife for a long time before smiling and returning to sleep.
Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu closed his eyes and examined the palace within his mind, reading the words freshly typed on the parchment.
A side quest.Interesting.