Chapter Eight: Truly Inhuman

Li Can had never been so both shocked and delighted by the explosion of a mineral water bottle in his life!

The shock came from the simple fact that it was nearly impossible for a normal person to crush a water bottle with bare hands—it required a level of brute strength bordering on the monstrous.

The delight, however, was even greater. Ever since the car accident, his hands had been plagued by a recurring weakness that lingered despite long-term physical therapy and showed no sign of improvement.

But now, the lost strength had returned—and it was even greater than before!

Ecstatic, Li Can swung his fists in the air, feeling the power surge through him, convinced he could fell a grown ox with a single blow.

“Could this be the benefit of becoming the agent of a god?” he wondered.

He opened another bottle of mineral water, gulping down a mouthful. The cool liquid slid down his throat and settled in his stomach, its chill soothing his emotions and restoring a measure of calm.

Seating himself by the bed, he picked up his necklace.

“The sun pendant shows no abnormalities. Its surface is dull and lifeless, betraying nothing unusual. I can’t determine whether entering the Hall of Contract has anything to do with it,” he mused.

The experience he’d just had was extraordinary, and deeply strange. It was clearly some kind of sacred ritual, but it had been so rushed it left him feeling confused and uncertain.

What would the black dot, representing antimatter, ultimately create?

What did it mean to become the agent of a god?

Where did that final voice come from?

“Perhaps the ritual was interrupted and couldn’t proceed to completion,” Li Can thought. He couldn’t find a better explanation.

A faint sound, like sand brushing against stone, abruptly ended his train of thought.

His eyes narrowed; he swiftly grabbed the kitchen knife hidden beneath his pillow, then crept downstairs.

…

The ground floor was shrouded in darkness, the only illumination coming from a few tiny holes at the top of the rolling door, through which moonlight trickled.

Upon reaching the first floor, Li Can immediately turned on his phone’s flashlight and checked the state of the rolling door.

It was tightly shut, with a white dinner plate leaning against it.

He had placed this plate during his second trip downstairs—if the rolling door was opened, the plate would slide and crash to the floor, producing a sharp ringing sound.

The main purpose wasn’t fear of Liu Huadong breaking in, but concern that Liu Huadong might have a spare key and sneak in while he slept, intent on murder—leaving him with no time to react.

“Seems I was just being paranoid,” Li Can sighed in relief.

Still, he needed to find a way to remove this thorn; constant vigilance was no solution.

But how exactly to “remove” it was a difficult question. After all, Liu Huadong hadn’t made a move, and Li Can couldn’t prove he had a motive for murder.

“What a headache,” he muttered.

He glanced at the time—it was past two in the morning. Just as he was about to return upstairs to wash up and rest, a sudden, inexplicable sense of dread seized his heart.

Almost instinctively, he leapt backward.

At that very instant—

A flash of white light sliced through the darkness, a fierce blade cleaving the air and landing heavily on the edge of the dining table.

Li Can broke out in a cold sweat. Had he not just become the agent of a god, with his physical abilities enhanced, he would surely have died right then and there!

No time for thought, he turned and ran toward the door, banging into several tables along the way before slapping his hand onto the wall switch.

Click!

The front hall flooded with light.

“Huh?”

Standing in the kitchen doorway, Liu Huadong held a heavy bone cleaver, staring at Li Can in surprise, as if unable to believe the latter had dodged his long-prepared killing blow in the dark.

Was it luck?

Li Can spotted Liu Huadong, but his attention focused more on the dining table beside him, whose corner had been hacked away.

This man clearly didn’t intend to leave any survivors!

Had that blade struck him, his body might have been cleaved in two.

Utterly inhuman!

Li Can, meanwhile, placed his phone on the table and activated the recording function, tightening his grip on the cheap kitchen knife.

He’d never killed a man before,

But over the years, many chickens and ducks had met their end at his hands, and he’d personally slaughtered a few pigs, cows, and sheep.

In other words, his hands had been stained with hot blood, his ears filled with the final cries of life…

So if it came down to a fight to the death,

He wouldn’t hesitate.

“I was right—you know me,” Liu Huadong said, pointing at the plate leaning against the door, instantly grasping the situation. “Who are you?”

“I’m your father!” Li Can, hot-blooded as he was, having narrowly escaped death, could hardly respond calmly.

“Still mouthing off at death’s door? Die!”

Liu Huadong, stung by the retort, snorted coldly and charged forward, cleaver raised.

Li Can didn’t dodge—he met the attack head-on, launching a kick at Liu Huadong’s abdomen.

Bang!

A tremendous noise rang out. Liu Huadong’s eyes bulged, and his hefty body—nearly two hundred pounds—was sent flying, crashing into the kitchen doorway with such force that the wall cracked!

Li Can stared dumbfounded at his left foot.

He’d only wanted to halt Liu Huadong’s advance, not to unleash such explosive power.

This was a large, burly man!

Crushing a water bottle barehanded had been startling, but this kick was truly terrifying.

Taking a deep breath, Li Can didn’t get carried away. He seized the moment, kicked the cleaver from Liu Huadong’s hand, then pinned him firmly to the ground.

“Who are you…?” Liu Huadong struggled and growled in anger.

Even with Li Can’s newfound strength, he could still feel the force of Liu Huadong’s resistance—three or four ordinary men might not have managed to hold him down.

“Mind your own business—don’t move!” Li Can smacked Liu Huadong’s head, not too hard, but with a sharp crack.

“I’m asking you—do you have a grudge against Su Rui?”

Perhaps the blow to the head had stunned him, for Liu Huadong quieted. “No grudge.”

“If there’s no grudge, why try to kill her?”

“How do you know I wanted to kill her…” Liu Huadong’s voice was full of confusion.

Smack. Li Can struck his head again. “Speak!”

“Hehehe…” Liu Huadong began to laugh inexplicably.

Li Can was speechless—his arms were nearly twisted off, yet he could still laugh?

He raised his hand and struck again!

Crack!

“What are you laughing at?”

Liu Huadong’s laughter stopped abruptly. After a moment’s silence, his voice grew clear. “Do you know why people slaughter pigs? Because…”

Before he could finish, Liu Huadong began to struggle, more violently than before.

A sudden snap—

The arms that Li Can was restraining broke away at the shoulders!

Both arms hung limp and lifeless.

Li Can was stunned by Liu Huadong’s madness—

He had broken his own arms?

Did he feel no pain at all?

But just as Li Can assumed the armless Liu Huadong would be incapable of further resistance, the latter suddenly twisted his head backward, an eerie smile still lingering at the corners of his mouth!

Li Can’s pupils shrank to pinpoints as he scrambled back.

A man,

who twisted his head a hundred and eighty degrees,

and still smiled so disturbingly?

“Pigs are slaughtered… because they’re meant to be eaten.”

With the last word, Liu Huadong’s skin cracked and split inch by inch!

(To be continued…)