Volume 1 – Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 9: Night Raid

The people surrounding Qianye were a few older children. They had joined this cla.s.s from another company, and they often walked around together.

The tall child with a full hair of curls approached Qianye and examined him with the eye of a predator examining its prey.

This child was called Chen Lei. His character was both bold and brutal. The results of his physical subjects were ranked among the top ten, but his knowledge subjects were always a sore spot. As a result, his overall ranking had been overtaken by Qianye not long ago.

Chen Lei walked forward until their noses were almost touching.

He lowered his voice and said ruthlessly, “Listen! From now on, you will do poorly in your knowledge subjects! The Vermillion Countenance Blood is completely wasted on a useless piece of garbage like you. If you dare to disobey, then I will have my people beat you to death in every combat cla.s.s. Furthermore, we will give you another round of beating every day before you sleep. Today’s will be the first!”

Before he had finished speaking, Chen Lei had already punched into Qianye’s stomach!

This punch was extremely brutal, and he had used almost all the strength in his body!

Qianye’s stomach immediately bunched up, and the terrible urge to vomit filled his chest. His throat, however, was completely blocked. He couldn’t vomit at all. Qianye’s choked face instantly turned a deep purple!

Chen Lei took out some tape and slapped it onto Qianye’s mouth. Then he said, “Alright, now he can’t scream! Beat him hard!”

Qianye was instantly pummeled to the ground as the group of seven or eight began kicking him from every direction. There was a cla.s.s called Biological Structure that was paired with the combat cla.s.s, and the first thing that had been explained was the structure of the human body. The children who had learned about this were incredibly ruthless, and every one of their attacks were aimed at spots that could damage Qianye’s internal organs. However, they avoided places that could be seen clearly, such as the head and face.

If Qianye allowed this to continue, he would suffer permanent damage to his body and be unable to endure the high intensity training. He would become a corpse in less than a few days. Chen Lei and the others weren’t just thinking of giving Qianye a lesson—they were planning to just murder this junkyard eyesore!

The other kids inside the barracks watched coldly. No one stood up to stop them, and no one reported it to the guards or instructors outside the room. There were several kids who were even stronger than Chen Lei. Gloom and wariness currently filled their eyes when they looked at him.

In the training camp, private brawls were forbidden outside of the combat field. However, most people were well aware of why Chen Lei had chosen Qianye as his target. Qianye was an orphan that had been born on the Empire’s poorest planet of trash. From the moment they began their knowledge cla.s.ses, the information of the students started to spread, intentionally or otherwise. Anyone who paid attention would know the background and ident.i.ty of another.

Chen Lei had finally established a dangerous precedent. Every kid began to reevaluate their relations.h.i.+ps and status.

Qianye felt as if he had returned to the junkyard and was being beaten by a bunch of older children once more. Since he was unwilling to bow his head, he had been frequently beaten in the past.

He protected his vitals as best he could and waited for his chance. Intense pain continuously exploded in his body, but the more pain that Qianye felt, the calmer he became.

“Calm down! Calm down! Only show your anger when necessary. When the time comes, express all of it in an even calmer fas.h.i.+on!” the instructor’s roars resonated in Qianye’s mind.

It was at this moment that Qianye felt the punishment on his body lessen quite a bit. The kids thought that it was about time to stop since they were afraid that the injuries they caused might be too obvious.

“You will have every opportunity to kill each other in the future, but that time is not now! I will kill anyone who dares to fight and kill among themselves!” These were Long Hai’s original words. Only G.o.d knew how many times they had been repeated throughout their stay in the camp.

Chen Lei also thought that it was enough, and with a wave of his hand, he said, “Alright! How dare a b.a.s.t.a.r.d who was born in a junkyard try to compete with us…”

Yet, before he could finish, Qianye suddenly sprang up from the ground and rammed into an older kid’s chest. His right hand instantly gripped the kid’s genitals!

All of the kids froze. The kid whose genitals had been caught didn’t dare to move a muscle.

Qianye used his left hand to tear the plaster from his mouth. His movements were slow, and anyone could see that even standing was a difficult task for him.

With the plaster torn, everyone was waiting for Qianye’s next move. Ruthlessness appeared on Chen Lei’s face once more, and he began to signal to his companions with his eyes that, the second Qianye called the guards over, they would point at him unanimously and accuse him of starting the fight! Without any solid evidence, both parties would be punished according to the training camp’s rules.

Qianye continued to look calmly at Chen Lei. His eyes were clear, and there was neither anger, nor hatred, nor… anything at all. He simply stared at Chen Lei icily without any expression on his face.

“I’m not going to cry out,” Qianye said, almost inaudible.

Chen Lei felt a chill from the bottom of his heart. This was the first time that he had felt true fear.

Qianye’s right hand began to slowly tighten into a fist!

The youthful face of the older kid whose genitals were caught suddenly turned deathly pale. His mouth was opened so wide that it could fit a goose egg! There was only the sound of breathing coming from his lips, but anyone could see that it would turn into a blood curdling scream in the next moment!

Every child in the room instantly came to a realization! The person who cried out first would be punished the worst because they would have clearly broken the rule of silence after lights out! In this training camp, crying for help required a payment of blood!

The older kid knew the consequences of crying out first, which was why he held it in as best he could, but Qianye’s hand continued to tighten around his genitals without mercy. It was as if he was simply gripping a lump of cloth in his hand.

The older child suddenly understood that Qianye really would crush his b.a.l.l.s! This junkyard b.a.s.t.a.r.d, who had grown up to look as pretty as a girl, was actually a complete lunatic down to his bones!

“AHHHH!!!” The bloodcurdling scream resounded throughout the entire training camp.

Intense pain and fear made the older kid break instantly, screaming at the top of his lungs. He no longer had any energy to resist or attack Qianye—every bit of his senses were flooded by an imaginable sense of pain.

The bloodcurdling scream abruptly stopped, and the older kid fainted from the pain. Only then did Qianye release his grip and allow him to fall to the ground.

The door to the barracks was kicked open with a bang.

The guard who charged in frowned at the scene before his face immediately became sinister. He removed the whip at his waist and began to look at the boys and girls inside the room maliciously.

Long Hai, who was only wearing a pair of leather pants, walked in three minutes later and glanced at the scene. When he saw the blood pouring from Qianye’s nose and mouth, but the boy was still stubbornly on his feet, he frowned instinctively and lashed a flying whip in his direction. With a crack, Qianye was immediately struck to the ground.

This whip blew away all the resistance left within Qianye’s body. He lay on the ground, utterly paralyzed and unable summon any strength. The whip was extremely painful, but the origin power imbued in the whip had also cleared the congested blood within Qianye’s body and made him feel much better.

A stalwart man walked to the older kid who had fainted, crouched down, and examined his body for a moment. Then he removed his pants to have a look before shrugging. “They’re crushed.”

Long Hai looked slightly surprised, then nodded. “Drag him away later then.”

Then Long Hai began to gently slap the whip against his palm, asking, “Now, who will tell me what happened just now?”

Chen Lei’s head was half bowed, but his gaze coldly swept across the other kids from the corner of his eyes. Brutality shone in his eyes, and the threat behind them did not need to be said.

Suddenly, there was a loud slapping noise as Long Hai’s long whip struck Chen Lei’s back like a venomous dragon, sending him to the ground. This time, his whip was far harsher than when it had struck Qianye, instantly shredding Chen Lei’s clothes and splitting his flesh. The pain was unspeakable. Luckily, he hadn’t lost his senses, gritting his teeth until he nearly pa.s.sed out. He did not dare to utter a sound.

“How dare you play such petty tricks in front of me? Are you trying to die?” Long Hai smiled cruelly, but he did not whip him a second time.

Not all of the kids were afraid of Chen Lei. Two kids who were stronger than him immediately explained what had just happened inside the room. Other than Chen Lei, the face of every older kid who had beaten Qianye was deathly pale.

Long Hai kicked the older kid who had been severely injured by Qianye and coldly said, “So that’s what happened! You mean to say that, not only did this unlucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d fail to bully his victim, he was even thrashed within an inch of his life? What absolute garbage! We don’t need garbage in our training camp. Drag him away!”

Later on, the punishment that the kids underwent adhered to in Long Hai’s style of cruelty. Aside from Chen Lei, every older kid who ganged up on and beat Qianye was strung up on the field and whipped a total of ten times. These ten lashes were enough to bring them within an inch of losing their lives, but tomorrow’s training would not diminish in the slightest.

This also meant that there was no way they could rank above fifty in the next one or two weeks. Furthermore, they had to think of a way to overcome their injuries so that they wouldn’t be crippled by the others during combat cla.s.ses.

It was probable that a huge majority of those who ganged up on Qianye would soon be disqualified.

Chen Lei stood in a daze within the barracks while bloodcurdling screams continuously rang throughout the camp. He could not believe that Long Hai actually had not punished him more than that one lash that ached all the way to his bones. It was only when Long Hai led the guards away that he finally confirmed that the matter was over.

Qianye slowly got up from the ground, still a little shaky on his feet. The remaining force of Long Hai’s whip was still affecting his body, causing him to feel weak, but his internal organs had also recovered slightly thanks to it.

Chen Lei suddenly walked in front of Qianye and yanked him by the collar, saying ruthlessly, “This isn’t over!”

Qianye looked at him calmly and replied, “This is not over. Either you kill me now or, from now onward, you keep one eye open when you sleep. Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll become just like that unlucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”

Qianye’s tone and expression were extremely natural. He looked as if he were just making conversation on a normal day. However, after the terrifying silence ran its course, every kid in the room truly felt a sense of ruthlessness and peril.

When they thought about the older kid’s recent downfall, all the boys subconsciously clamped their legs together.

Chen Lei’s expression changed rapidly. He had no intention of having his b.a.l.l.s busted on some unknown day while he was dreaming. Even if Qianye were beaten to death later on, it would be too late. Should he just kill him right now and be done with it?

This was an extremely difficult decision to make, and in the end, Chen Lei could not make up his mind about whether or not he should take Qianye down with him. The burning lash mark across his back seemed to grow even more painful.

The matter seemed to be over, and no one else dared to provoke Qianye. They all had the feeling that they would be faced with an endless nightmare if they could not take out Qianye immediately.

With that, a month peacefully pa.s.sed, and Qianye managed to stabilize his ranking in the top fifty. This was also thanks to the older kids under Chen Lei falling to the bottom of the rankings.

With the a.s.sistance of the Vermillion Countenance Blood, Qianye’s cultivation speed began to rapidly increase. The force of his origin tide grew stronger and stronger, and it was already beginning to resemble the shape of a stormy wave.

Qianye could already feel the existence of his origin node in his lower abdomen.