LABMY CH97.2

No one stepped in to interfere, but everyone was guessing when the patrolling ability-user squad would arrive.

Just like that, Jian Yuanbai “carried” Wang Li—covered in blood and wearing nothing but shorts—through the streets to find He Hu.

Qu Wenxuan and the others following Jian Yuanbai didn’t dare to speak. Countless pedestrians watched this strange and horrifying scene unfold.

Wang Li’s face was flushed red, but under the threat to his life, he dared not voice any objections. He knew—it was over. Everything was over.

He Hu was a well-known ability user in the S City fortress, leading a group of over a dozen people. He hadn’t joined the official ability-user squad but had instead formed his own faction.

If pollutants were ranked from C to S, then ability users were also classified, from Tier 1 to Tier 7.

While humans hadn’t figured out exactly how pollutants evolved in rank, they had discovered a widely accepted method for ability users to level up:

Push your abilities to their limits. Unleash your full potential. Use up every last drop of your power—only then will your abilities grow stronger.

But this method was undoubtedly dangerous. The stronger an ability user was, the more they valued their own life.

So far, the highest known level among ability users was Tier 5, and He Hu was a formidable Tier 4 ice-type ability user.

Thus, when Jian Yuanbai and his group arrived at He Hu’s territory—an old auto repair shop converted into a base—people were stunned.

“Who goes there?”

Before they could get close, several men stepped forward, blocking Jian Yuanbai with aggressive expressions.

Jian Yuanbai said, “Tell He Hu to come out.”

The man in front sneered. “You think our boss is someone you can just summon at will?”

“Who the hell are you?”

With a deafening boom, the arrogant man was sent flying, crashing hard against the metal gate.

Jian Yuanbai’s patience had nearly run out. His eyes flickered between human pupils and golden vertical slits.

Seeing this, the system’s voice turned urgent: “Jian Yuanbai! Control yourself! If they discover you’re a pollutant, every ability user in S City will hunt you down!”

Jian Yuanbai’s response was only three indifferent words: “Let them come.”

The system fell silent.

Hearing the commotion, He Hu arrived at the entrance. The moment he saw Jian Yuanbai and the bloodied Wang Li, his expression shifted.

He immediately understood who this was. “I didn’t expect you to have the guts to come here.”

Jian Yuanbai asked only one thing: “Where is Shen Nian?”

He Hu smirked. “You didn’t have to rush over like this. I was going to return him to you anyway.”

“But he’s not ready yet. You’ll have to wait a little longer.”

Suddenly, Jian Yuanbai shifted his stance. In an instant—too fast for the human eye to catch—he vanished.

The moment He Hu felt a sharp gust of wind beside his ear, it was already too late to dodge. A heavy punch landed squarely on his face.

Blood and teeth flew.

He Hu, furious, shouted, “You f*ing—”**

With a flick of his hand, razor-sharp ice spears shot toward Jian Yuanbai.

Jian Yuanbai’s gaze was cold. Without even looking at the incoming ice, he disappeared again.

Another brutal kick landed on He Hu’s abdomen.

The ice spears missed their target, spun in the air, and redirected toward Jian Yuanbai’s back.

This was no fight. This was a one-sided massacre.

No matter how powerful He Hu’s ice abilities were, he was simply too slow. He couldn’t even touch the hem of Jian Yuanbai’s coat.

More and more people gathered to watch.

The only place no one dared approach was the open space in front of the repair shop—where only Jian Yuanbai and He Hu stood.

Enraged, He Hu let out a furious roar. A dense storm of ice spears materialized, forming a deadly encirclement aimed at Jian Yuanbai.

The crowd gasped.

He Hu wiped the blood from his mouth and spat, “This ends here.”

But this time, Jian Yuanbai didn’t use his speed.

Under countless watching eyes, he advanced step by step.

The ice spears shattered ten centimeters before reaching him.

He walked forward, and countless ice shards fell around him like snow.

He Hu’s eyes widened in horror.

A hand shot out and clamped around his throat.

Jian Yuanbai didn’t even flinch as he grabbed an ice spear.

Sharp. Deadly. Frost-cold.

He held it firmly—then pointed it straight at He Hu’s eye.

Murder intent surged in Jian Yuanbai’s gaze. “Where is Shen Nian?”

He Hu swallowed hard, shaken by Jian Yuanbai’s strength, but he still clung to his leverage. “He’ll be back soon. You can’t kill me.”

Jian Yuanbai’s face was expressionless as he drove the ice spear directly into He Hu’s eyeball.

A scream of agony echoed.

At the same time, another voice rang out:

“Stop immediately!”

“If you don’t, we will take action!”

The patrolling squad had finally arrived.

The squad members, clad in combat gear, sternly declared, “According to fortress regulations, ability users cannot engage in severe battles within the city, nor can they kill each other. Now, step away at once.”

The crowd parted to make way for them.

All of them recognized He Hu—a Tier 4 ability user.

If someone could suppress him so effortlessly, the squad wasn’t confident they could take Jian Yuanbai down either.

Instead, they tried reasoning with him while calling for reinforcements.

“If you kill him, you’ll have no place in S City anymore. Are you sure you want to become enemies with the entire fortress?”

Jian Yuanbai suddenly laughed.

He released the ice spear, covered his eyes with one hand, concealing his unstable pupils.

He Hu yanked the spear from his eye, but Jian Yuanbai’s grip on his throat remained firm.

Suppressing his rage, He Hu snarled, “The patrol’s here. Let me go, you—”

A calm, almost indifferent voice interrupted him: “I’ll ask one more time. Where is Shen Nian?”

Jian Yuanbai kept one hand over his face, while the other still held He Hu by the throat.

A faint black mist curled around his fingers.

If he just pressed his fingertips a little deeper into He Hu’s skin, he could infect him.

And once infected, Jian Yuanbai would be able to extract every thought from He Hu’s mind.

His pupils flickered between human and golden beast-like slits.

If anyone could see his eyes right now, they would witness a terrifying sight—

His left eye was a deep black human pupil.

But his right eye—

Was a golden vertical slit.

He Hu was certain that Jian Yuanbai wouldn’t dare kill him in front of the patrol team. At this moment, he wasn’t in a hurry to threaten Jian Yuanbai, nor would he openly state what Shen Nian had been taken to do in front of the patrol team. Instead, he even spoke provocatively, “Why are you looking at me like that? Won’t you have to let me go in a moment anyway?”

“Let’s sit down and talk properly, shall we? Look at your expression—it’s like you’re about to kill me. I’m so scared.”

Suddenly, a car drove in, taking advantage of the crowd making way.

The system immediately said, “Shen Nian is in the car!”

Someone stepped out of the car. “Big Brother, what’s going on?”

The person tightly gripping He Hu suddenly let go. He Hu’s face lit up with satisfaction. “Ah, see? I told you we could talk things through, didn’t I?”

But Jian Yuanbai walked straight toward the car. The people who had just gotten out immediately tried to stop him, but before they could even see how he moved, they were sent flying in the blink of an eye.

The rear door was locked. Jian Yuanbai simply tore it off.

At the same time, he saw Shen Nian.

Covered in blood, lying in the car, his hands bound.

Sensing the commotion, Shen Nian weakly lifted his head, revealing a pair of eyes that had turned blue.

When those eyes met Jian Yuanbai’s, his eyelashes trembled, and tears fell. “Xiao Ba, I’m in so much pain.”

He had been sent to be repeatedly scratched and bitten by monsters, then kept alive using healing-type abilities—just to confirm whether he would be infected.

Seeing Jian Yuanbai tear the door off, He Hu grew anxious. If the patrol team saw that Shen Nian was infected, he wouldn’t get to see the result if they killed him.

He signaled to his subordinates to block the view while speaking nonchalantly, “Didn’t I say I’d return him to you? Why are you in such a rush?”

“We’re all friends here. Would I lie to you—”

His words abruptly stopped.

His pupils dilated, then gradually lost focus.

His entire body suddenly collapsed to the ground.

A neat, water-vapor-laced incision ran across his neck. His head rolled to the side, spinning as it went.

“Jian Yuanbai!”

“Mr. Bai!”

“Mr. Bai!”

“Mr. Bai!”

“You dare?!”

“Come with us immediately!”

The system, Qu Wenxuan, Yang Jinhang, Su Su, the patrol team—everyone on the scene was stunned.

Killing someone right in front of the patrol team.

And not just anyone—He Hu, a fourth-tier ability user.

In Fortress S, aside from the commander of the ability user squad, who was at the fifth tier, fourth-tier ability users were already the highest-ranking ones.

Jian Yuanbai picked up the severely injured Shen Nian and gently covered his eyes. “I was late.”

His throat tightened, as if something was lodged in it. He slowly lowered his head but only ended up kissing the back of his own hand, which was covering Shen Nian’s eyes.

Softly, he repeated, “I was late.”

Shen Nian’s eyelashes brushed against Jian Yuanbai’s palm, damp with tears.

Shen Nian was crying.

Realizing this made Jian Yuanbai’s chest ache with sorrow.

The patrol team members watched Jian Yuanbai warily. “Our commander is on his way. You must come with us.”

Their bodies were tense, afraid he might suddenly resist.

But unexpectedly, he was surprisingly cooperative. “Fine.”

Just as they were about to breathe a sigh of relief, they heard him continue, “But you’ll have to wait a moment.”

“For what?”

A man in combat gear stepped forward through the crowd. “Hello, I’m Xu Tianguang, the combat commander of Fortress S.”

Jian Yuanbai looked at him. “You can’t beat me.”

“I just need to do one more thing.”

He turned his gaze toward the driver, who had collapsed on the ground in terror. His voice was soft. “Do you know who among He Hu’s subordinates was involved in or aware of this matter?”

Then, Jian Yuanbai looked at the three people who had gotten out of the car, his gaze pausing briefly on each of them. “Whoever speaks first, I’ll spare.”

“If no one talks, you’ll all join He Hu.”

Their so-called group had only stayed together because of He Hu’s strength. Now that he was dead, how could they keep quiet for the sake of others?

As they scrambled to tell him everything, Jian Yuanbai nodded. “I see.”

Xu Tianguang frowned and blocked his way. “You can’t kill any more people.”

Jian Yuanbai shook his head. “You can’t stop me.”

“If you want to try, go ahead.”

Xu Tianguang knew he was telling the truth. But if so many ability users died, it would be a devastating blow to Fortress S—even if they weren’t part of the city’s official ability user squad.

He looked at the trembling group and spoke. “Healing abilities are rare, and ability users are equally valuable.”

“You want revenge, but let them serve a purpose. Let them die at the hands of pollutants rather than yours—that way, they’ll at least have some use.”

Jian Yuanbai smiled.

But he himself was a pollutant.

Holding Shen Nian, he whispered to Xu Tianguang, “Let’s go.”

Xu Tianguang let out a breath of relief, thinking he had listened.

But just as he turned away—

A dull thud.

The sound of a head hitting the ground.

Followed by the horrified screams of the crowd.

“You—!”

Xu Tianguang abruptly turned around and looked at Jian Yuanbai.

One by one, those people kept dying.

They begged for mercy, tried to run, knelt on the ground and kowtowed desperately—but it was all useless.

In Jian Yuanbai’s arms, Shen Nian kept crying—silent, broken sobs. His body trembled slightly.

Because of the healing-type ability users, none of his wounds were still bleeding, yet his clothes were soaked through with blood.

That clothing had been dyed red by the countless times his blood had flowed.

From beginning to end, Shen Nian hadn’t spoken a single word.

He only curled up in Jian Yuanbai’s embrace, shivering, enduring the excruciating pain of his body being transformed by the infection.

Xu Tianguang took a deep breath. “At the very least, the healing-type ability user—he absolutely cannot die.”

Jian Yuanbai didn’t turn around.

With a single step forward, the last person died.

His expression remained blank, his tone calm.

“There’s no one I can’t kill.”