Chapter 60: When You Hit Someone, Aim for the Face

Chapter 60: When You Hit Someone, Aim for the Face

The night slipped by quietly.

As the sun rose, the faint rustling sounds that had persisted throughout the night in the city finally subsided.

The streets slowly came back to life, with residents going about their daily routines, starting another ordinary day.

In the rest stop of South City's 6-7 District, the daily commuter train began to arrive.

There weren’t many people on the train, and those boarding at the station were sparse. Everyone still looked half-asleep, with weary expressions and no interest in talking.

Only a few teenagers rushing to catch the train, clutching their unfinished breakfasts, hurriedly boarded: "What the hell? Why weren’t there any announcements today? We almost missed the train!"

They were wearing matching uniforms, likely students.

As the commuter train departed, several soldiers in silver dragon uniforms leisurely returned from outside.

They looked dusty and carried a chill from the night.

They were the team responsible for patrolling South City's District 6 today.

District 6 is several times the size of District 7, and they started patrolling late at night and didn’t finish until nearly dawn.

As they entered the rest stop, a middle-aged man who had missed his train complained to them: "What the hell’s going on? Where’s the schedule and announcements?! Why isn’t anything working? This is a joke!"

The soldiers glanced inside the rest stop and noticed that it was unusually quiet today, with none of the station systems activated.

"Shit, those guys must’ve gotten drunk and passed out again," cursed the shorter man at the front.

He then approached the complaining man, smiled, then suddenly drove his fist into the man’s gut.

Seeing this, his companions also stepped forward and kicked the man a few times.

They then gave him a strong kick to the rear, sending him sprawling to the ground, and sneered, "Old man, this is just a dump. The train schedule’s the same every week. Can’t you remember it?"

After saying this, they walked over to the control room next door, unlocked the security door, and activated the station's systems.

"Good morning, welcome to the South City 6/7 District rest station on Taiyue Star's Southern Continent."

"The station system has been activated, and the train schedule for the day has been updated."

"Wishing everyone a wonderful new day."

The system’s voice was still the same old robotic tone.

After locking the control room door, they headed towards the rest room.

Sun Hongbing walked while laughing and cursing: "Unbelievable. We’re busting our asses while Old Liu and the others are lounging around here, huh? I’m gonna give them hell—"

His words stopped as the rest room door opened.

The small room was a complete mess. The table, littered with empty food containers and beer cans, had been flipped over, with trash and debris strewn across the floor.

It was chaos.

On the left side of the room, a stranger had pulled up a chair and was sitting with his back against the wall.

He sat with his arms crossed, his long legs stretched out and propped up on another chair, appearing to be resting with his eyes closed. The lines of his profile were striking, and even without seeing his full face, it was clear he was exceptionally handsome.

Pale and delicate, with a calm demeanor, he seemed out of place in their dirty, shabby surroundings.

But what truly shocked the incoming group was the sight of their companions responsible for patrolling District 6, all kneeling in a row beside Xu Qingran in a state of extreme humiliation. Their clothes were disheveled, their faces bruised and swollen, and they were as quiet as mice.

Seeing his brothers beaten so miserably, Sun Hongbing, who had opened the door, shouted in shock and anger, "What the hell is this?"

"Who the hell did this to you?!"

The stocky man bellowed, startling the kneeling group, who widened their eyes in panic and gestured frantically for him to be quiet: "Shh... shh!"

"Keep it down!" The bearded man, who should have been very agitated, tried his best to suppress his voice to a whisper.

The men outside turned their gaze to Xu Qingran sitting against the wall.

Seeing that he was quite thin and looked delicate, like a spoiled rich kid, they didn't take him seriously. They even felt that their companions were utterly disgraceful, being scared into such a cowardly state by someone who looked like a pretty boy.

As Sun Hongbing thought this, his eyes inadvertently caught sight of a severed tentacle on the floor next to Xu Qingran.

The cut was clean, clearly from a sharp blade. Moreover, the bloodstains on it had dried, indicating that it had been severed for some time.

Looking at the purplish color of the tentacle, Sun Hongbing felt a chill run down his spine.

He shouted in horror to the bearded man, "Don't tell me that's from Brother Ma's pet!"

The kneeling men stayed silent, despairing.

At the same time, Xu Qingran slowly opened his eyes due to the noise outside.

His icy gaze locked onto the furious man at the door.

The kneeling men paled, bracing for the pain.

The incident had started late at night.

After Xu Qingran emerged from the basement and beat them up, they finally realized they'd brought back a force to be reckoned with. Outmatched and helpless, they could only humbly follow his orders.

These men, who had been bullying and intimidating in South City for so long, felt humiliated for the first time and resisted at first. When Xu Qingran ordered them to clean up the mess in the lounge, they deliberately clattered around while he tried to rest.

Then, they were dealt with.

Xu Qingran warned that any noise disturbing him would earn them a beating.

Even the sound of a mosquito would make him beat them.

This repeated until dawn.

Now, they trembled instinctively whenever Xu Qingran woke up.

At this moment, Xu Qingran had already put down his legs and stood up.

The men at the door, seeing his stance, rolled up their sleeves and taunted, "Want to fight? Let's see if we can't beat you to death!"

Xu Qingran glanced behind them and said, "Close the door first, I'm afraid it might not look good."

The shortest man sneered disdainfully, "You're afraid of losing face? If you dare to provoke us, you'd better be prepared to get beaten!"

Sun Hongbing, who was speaking, had the highest level of spiritual pool among them—A level!

Moreover, he was at the top tier of A level, which was already considered high in the South City military, so he was very confident in his strength. Clenching his fists, he charged forward with his brothers.

At this moment.

Outside the waiting area, another group of people arrived, ready to board the next train.

Some were sitting or standing, waiting, while others took the opportunity to buy breakfast and drinks, planning to head to the platform as the time approached.

Suddenly, bodies were seen 'flying' out of the staff lounge.

—Literally flying out in a parabolic trajectory and crashing onto the ground.

After the first one, there came the second, third, fourth...

Accompanied by painful wails, they were successively thrown out after suffering a huge impact, landing face down.

The onlookers were stunned, but no one stepped forward to investigate or intervene.

In everyone's impression, the South City guardsmen were like this—getting into fights every few days, always ready to fight at the drop of a hat. The residents in the guarded areas also had significant conflicts with them; if they upset the guards, they would get beaten up too.

However, civilians without combat training generally couldn't win against them.

And fellow soldiers of comparable skill level would only get a few scratches when fighting each other. It was the first time they had seen someone beaten so badly like today. So, rather than concern, the people in the waiting area were more in a mood to watch the show.

After four or five bodies lay outside, a tall, strikingly handsome man walked out of the room. His fitted black trousers accentuated his long legs as he casually walked up to the person who had earlier said they would make him lose face, looking down as the person slowly lifted their head from the ground.

Then he smirked, "I meant, I was afraid of the negative impact you might have."

In front of so many people, it really ruins the city's image.

"Who... who are you?!" The typical line came from the person on the ground.

Xu Qingran knelt down, grabbed the other's thick mane to slightly tilt his head back, and said, "Just a new soldier reporting to Taiyue Star."

Sun Hongbing, whose scalp hurt from being pulled, winced in surprise.

This guy's skill level must be at least S-rank. How could someone so young with such abilities be sent to Taiyue Star? Did he offend someone?

Thinking that the other was just a rookie straight out of training, Sun Hongbing mustered some confidence: "Then we are all your seniors. What do you mean by this?!"

Xu Qingran's gaze fell on him, casually saying, "No special meaning, mainly because you disturbed me."

"Damn you—"

The man, pressed down by Xu Qingran's mental pressure and unable to get up, had just opened his mouth when his left cheek was suddenly punched.

He glared at the unrelenting Xu Qingran, his expression furious: "You bastard—"

Then his right cheek was hit.

Sun Hongbing was in so much pain that his vision blurred, and he opened his mouth: "I..."

His left cheek was hit again.

And this person really didn't hold back at all; each punch hurt deeply.

Sun Hongbing stubbornly opened his mouth several more times, until he slowly understood Xu Qingran's meaning, and then tearfully and humiliated, he shut up.

Xu Qingran indeed stopped hitting him.

At this point, the second batch of patrolling soldiers returning to the waiting area finally realized why their companions in the lounge had such intense reactions when they saw them making noise.

They're downright savage!

The guards at the South City 6-7 District rest station finally behaved themselves.

Under Xu Qingran's stern gaze, they obediently cleaned up the mess in the rest room, not daring to utter a single complaint.

Until the phone rang.

Sun Hongbing glanced at Xu Qingran, and seeing his eyes still closed, he dared to answer the phone.

"Hello?" Because his cheeks were badly swollen, his voice sounded a little off.

The person on the other end said something, and Sun Hongbing's expression instantly turned fawning: "Oh, it's Brother Ma!"

He chuckled nervously: "Everything's fine, just normal work, hahaha..."

Over the crackling landline, a man's rough voice asked: "The East City plans to hold a welcome ceremony for their newly appointed colonel this Sunday afternoon. If it really happens, then I'll have a reason to ditch work, and I'll come find you and Old Liu to hang out."

Why say that?

Because they decided to set up a little surprise for the incoming colonel.

What's the most embarrassing part of a welcome ceremony?

That is, no one is willing to attend or show support. Not to mention the North City, where no one ever comes, the other three cities have also decided to follow the North City's approach this time—just not showing up.

Let them punish us, they're not afraid.

The man on the phone continued: "By the way, how's my little pet?"

Sun Hongbing glanced at Xu Qingran again.

The severed tentacle had already dried out, and he didn't know how the tentacle monster below was doing. But he heard that such species generally have regenerative abilities, so if only one tentacle was severed, it should... be okay, right?

"Old Sun, are you listening?"

The person on the phone sounded a bit impatient, and Sun Hongbing hurriedly responded: "It's fine, it's fine, everyone here is afraid of it, what could possibly go wrong?"

But towards the end, his tone had a guilty undertone.

Under their district's rest station, there was a multi-tentacled creature. It was caught by Brother Ma Biao, the guy on the phone, during a mission at sea. The station below happened to be a place where researchers used to detain alien species, well-equipped, so they temporarily kept it there.

Mentioning this, he still felt strange.

Every time a new soldier arrived, they would throw them down to scare them a bit, to intimidate and control them, so that the new soldiers would obey and know their power.

Although the detention area was in the same space as the tentacle monster, due to the constraints of shackles and other tools, it couldn't move far. As long as one stayed obediently by the door, they wouldn't be hurt by it, at most the haunting and terrifying sounds in the dark were unnerving.

So the question is, how did this new soldier manage to sever one of the tentacle monster's tentacles?

And now that he's come to his senses, this tentacle monster is a mid-level alien species, and without S-level psychic power, it's impossible to harm it. When they almost let it escape due to a mistake before, it took dozens of people to just barely keep it under control.

Only someone like Ma Biao, with S-level psychic power, could keep something like that as a 'pet'.

"By the way, Old Sun, what's wrong with your voice? It sounds a bit strange?" The person on the phone finally noticed something unusual.

Sun Hongbing touched his swollen cheeks and forced a laugh: "Nothing, I'm just, just eating something!"

"Oh, okay, then let's see how things go in a few days." The person on the other end didn't suspect anything and hung up directly.

Sun Hongbing finally let out a sigh of relief.

Everyone was exhausted after the night shift, and the dual impact of Xu Qingran's mental and physical challenges left them all collapsing onto sofas and beds, sleeping soundly.

They were eventually woken up by a tantalizing aroma that made them hungry.

Sun Hongbing groggily woke up, instinctively wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth.

He pressed too hard, and the pain from his facial injuries made him grimace.

It was probably mid-afternoon outside.

Xu Qingran had opened the window and, having found their stored barbecue grill, was sitting by the window grilling meat.

The meat sizzled, dripping with oil, and the aroma of the seasoning filled the air.

Everyone's stomachs growled in unison.

Surprisingly, upon seeing them all awake, Xu Qingran offered, "Want to eat? I have plenty here."

The people in the lounge exchanged glances, their burly frames now showing timid hesitation and fear.

Xu Qingran didn't look at them, his attention focused on the new batch of meat, saying, "That earlier incident was just to teach you my rules. As long as you behave, I won't do anything to you."

He added more freshly grilled food to the plate.

In the silence, one person, too hungry to wait, finally stood up and walked to the table, grabbing a fork and shoving a piece of meat into his mouth. As he chewed, his eyes lit up, as if savoring the deliciousness of the food.

Sun Hongbing swallowed his saliva.

Never mind, he just needed to fill his stomach; he still had work to do tonight!

He also rolled off the sofa and went over to try a bite.

Damn, this is really good.

Xu Qingran wasn't great at cooking other dishes, but having survived the apocalypse, he was pretty good at grilling. After all, back then, with no electricity or water, if you hunted and wanted to eat cooked food, you had to start a fire and grill.

He had unknowingly mastered grilling.

Sun Hongbing and the others ate until they were almost in tears, as if they hadn't had such good meat in ages.

Indeed, Taiyue Star was resource-poor, and with the devil swarms causing chaos, it was not suitable for farming or development. The frozen meat transported from other main star systems was also very expensive due to cost reasons, so most residents here couldn't afford it often.

Sun Hongbing chewed the food in his mouth, noticing its texture was different from chicken or pork.

It was firmer, crispier, and chewier, with a natural sweetness.

He was about to ask Xu Qingran where he got this meat when he saw him stand up and say, "Eat up, no rush. There's plenty more. I'll go down and get some more."

After saying this, he also popped a small piece of grilled food into his mouth, eating as he walked towards the basement.

Sun Hongbing had just cheerfully responded along with the others when he suddenly paused, rising from his seat in horror and calling out, "Wait a minute!"

Xu Qingran turned around, and the others who were happily enjoying the food also looked up in confusion at the person who had shouted, not yet realizing what was wrong.

Sun Hongbing's voice shook, "Where did you get this meat?"

The brown-haired man’s deep amber eyes were calm and unreadable.

He smirked and said, "It’s from the basement—that octopus monster you’ve been keeping down there."

Sun Hongbing: "...What?"

At this, the others froze mid-bite.

Horror slowly dawned on their faces.

Xu Qingran drawled lazily, "Wasn’t it your emergency food supply?"

The 'treasure' hidden away in the basement was actually a tentacled creature resembling an octopus.

As Xu Qingran battled it, the salty tang of the sea still lingered in the air. Mid-fight, he couldn’t resist asking the system, "Is this thing even edible?"

The system confirmed it was, adding that while it looked odd, its meat was similar to the octopus he’d eaten in his past life. Safe to eat, harmless, and packed with nutrients.

Xu Qingran shrugged, "The meat seemed fine, but its attitude wasn’t, so I took it out."

Everyone stared, speechless.

Wait, what just happened?