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It all happened in a flash.
Wei Yuan suddenly swung the machete that had been strapped behind him.
Whoosh!
A cold glint sliced through the air.
The dark-skinned man didn't even have time to react before he felt a chilling sensation at his neck.
It was like some warm liquid started gushing out from his throat.
He instinctively reached up—and saw a smear of crimson on his hand.
He wanted to say something, but no sound came out.
His wide eyes stared at Wei Yuan as he slowly collapsed to the ground, completely stunned and disbelieving.
"Ahhh!"
The woman seemed totally frozen in fear.
Staring at the man bleeding out on the floor, she let out a sharp, panicked scream.
Blood had splattered across Wei Yuan's face too.
His whole body was trembling.
He looked down at the man he'd just killed, completely blank, like his brain had just crashed.
But that piercing scream from the woman snapped him back to reality.
He instinctively tightened his grip on the machete.
"Don't blame me… you brought this on yourselves."
As he spoke, he raised the machete toward the woman.
"N-No! Please! Don't kill me!"
Driven by sheer terror, the woman shoved at Wei Yuan with surprising force, creating enough space to bolt for the door, screaming for help as if her life depended on it.
Wei Yuan quickly got up and chased after her, the machete now firmly in his hand.
Maybe she was too scared; her movements were stiff and uncoordinated, and she wasn't running fast.
Wei Yuan caught up to her in no time.
Without a word, he raised the machete and brought it down. Slick! The blade bit into her shoulder.
It didn't kill her, but her scream turned even more shrill and desperate.
Wei Yuan gritted his teeth, yanked the machete free, then swiftly slashed across her neck. The world suddenly went silent.
Then, Wei Yuan collapsed to the ground, exhausted and shaken.
No idea how much time passed before his mind started working again.
Blood had pooled beneath the woman's body, soaking into the dirt.
A wave of nausea washed over him, but he fought it down.
This is their fault, he told himself, the justification feeling thin even in his own mind.
"You two should've counted your blessings that the Buddha didn't eat you.
That alone was worth burning incense for.
If you came back and just took some valuables, I could've let that slide—but you tried to kill me!" he finally mumbled aloud.
He never wanted to kill anyone, but they left him no choice.
Gradually, his emotions settled into a heavy, grim resignation.
He started to calm down, the adrenaline fading.
He looked over at the corpses again, then walked back to the Earth God's shrine.
Tied to a tree in front of the shrine was a mule, with a wooden cart hitched to it.
Clearly, it had belonged to the couple.
Wei Yuan ignored the mule for now and went into the shrine to drag the bodies outside.
The weight was considerable, but he finally managed to get them onto the cart.
Then he pushed the cart out to a patch of wasteland beyond the village, not far from the shallow graves where he'd buried the villagers after the… incident.
Right beside that disturbed earth, he dug another shallow pit and buried the couple together.
Once the bodies were dealt with, Wei Yuan returned to the Earth God shrine.
Bloodstains were everywhere—on the floor, on the bed. Some had already soaked into the cracks and turned a dark brown, and the metallic scent of blood hung heavy in the air.
Wei Yuan tried not to dwell on it.
He went to the well outside, filled a bucket with water, grabbed a few brooms, and got to work.
He scrubbed and scrubbed, emptying and refilling the bucket countless times.
Though faint reddish-brown marks remained etched in the wood, the cloying smell of blood lessened somewhat.
As for the bedding covered in blood… well, maybe tomorrow he could find something usable in the ruins. For now, he'd just have to deal with it. After a long and gruesome day,
Wei Yuan felt mentally and physically drained.
He walked out to the shrine entrance and saw the mule tied to the tree.
The poor thing looked thin and weary, and even let out two soft, plaintive brays when it saw him.
Looking at its skinny frame, the thought of stew had briefly crossed Wei Yuan's mind earlier. "…
Forget it.
It's not its fault," he sighed, a wave of exhaustion and a flicker of guilt washing over him.
"I'll keep it for now."
He went outside the village, cut some coarse grass, and brought it back for the mule.
Once that was done, Wei Yuan turned his attention to cooking his own meager meal.
After eating his fill, he carefully locked all the doors and windows… then his exhaustion overwhelmed him, and he knocked out and went straight to sleep.
But later that night, Wei Yuan woke up in a cold sweat.
He'd had a nightmare—something terrifying and vivid, replaying the violence of the day.
It took a long time for his heart to stop racing and the images to fade.
Eventually, he drifted off again into a restless sleep, filled with uneasy dreams.
The next morning, Wei Yuan got up early, his body still stiff and his mind clouded.
He ate a simple breakfast and fed the mule.
Then he adjusted his posture, pulled out the dice, and got ready for today's roll, a small ritual in this chaotic new reality.
The dice bounced a few times before coming to a stop.
The side facing up had a brand-new image: a mighty, towering general clad in golden armor.
[You rolled: Giant Spirit God.]
[Special ability unlocked: Divine Might.]
[Duration: One day. You can roll again tomorrow.]
As the voice echoed in his mind, Wei Yuan's expression turned serious, a flicker of hope amidst the lingering grimness.
Divine Might… of the Giant Spirit God… Sounds powerful enough.
But after fumbling around for a while, a frown creased his brow.
He still had no idea how to activate it.
Am I supposed to feel different? Is there a command?
Am I missing some kind of condition?
"....."