novelraw Chapter 331: That's right, they're here to cause trouble
Chapter 331: That's right, they're here to cause trouble
Su Zhan didn't delay, his figure weaving through the alleyways of Black City.
Shatterbone Street lived up to its name.
Pale, shattered chunks, whether construction debris or something else, were piled on both sides of the street. Under the dim light, they truly resembled heaps of bleached bones at first glance.
The buildings here were low, dilapidated, and run-down. Many windows didn't even have wooden boards, leaving only dark, gaping holes.
Following sparse signs and a kind of intuition, Su Zhan finally stopped before an utterly inconspicuous wooden door.
He didn't knock. He simply reached out and pushed it open.
The scene inside met his eyes.
It was an extremely cramped room, less like a clinic and more like a storage room combined with a workshop.
The walls were hung with all sorts of bizarrely shaped tools. Some gleamed coldly, while others bore dark red stains.
Several dusty shelves were stacked with jars and bottles, inside which floated some unidentifiable tissues.In the center of the room was a surgical table covered with grimy leather, its surface still bearing un-wiped bloodstains.
A gaunt man wearing a stained leather apron stood with his back to the door. He was heating some kind of curved, hook-like instrument over a bubbling alcohol lamp.
Hearing the door open, his movements paused, and he slowly turned around.
This was Liu San.
He looked to be around forty, with a sallow complexion, deeply sunken eye sockets, yet his eyes were sharp and shrewd.
His fingers were unusually long and slender, with blackish-red grime embedded under his fingernails.
Seeing the unfamiliar Su Zhan.
Liu San's murky eyes narrowed, sizing him up from head to toe.
"New face, huh. Know the rules? Where's the money?"
Liu San extended that filthy hand, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together in the universal gesture for demanding payment. "In our line of work, it's pay first, surgery after. No credit."
Su Zhan uttered two words flatly. "No money."
"No money?"
The muscles on Liu San's face instantly tensed. Anger flashed in his eyes, turning them gloomy.
"What are you doing here if you have no money?"
Liu San slowly put down the hook-like instrument in his hand. His other hand instinctively reached for a bulging spot beneath his leather apron.
"Hmph, think I, Liu San, run a charity here? Or... are you tired of living, kid, deliberately here to cause trouble?"
Su Zhan chuckled lightly. "That's right. I'm here to cause trouble."
"Hahahahaha..."
Liu San laughed as if he'd heard the biggest joke in the world, revealing a ferocious grin. "Kid, you probably don't know how to write the word 'death'! Dare to cause trouble on Liu San's turf? I'll show you today why they call this place Shatterbone Street!"
A powerful aura erupted violently from Liu San's gaunt body.
Stream Realm, eighth stage.
He tried to completely overwhelm Su Zhan with his presence.
The hand that had reached under his apron also jerked out, gripping a peculiarly shaped willow-leaf blade. The tip pointed directly at Su Zhan, his eyes fierce.
Su Zhan simply smiled faintly, with a kind of aloof indifference.
A pressure far deeper and more profound than Liu San's aura descended like an invisible mountain, centered on Su Zhan, crashing down.
Liu San's Stream Realm, eighth-stage aura, before this terrifying pressure, was like a candle flame in a gale. It couldn't even struggle for a moment before being utterly crushed.
"Urgh!"
Liu San's legs gave way, and he heavily knelt on the ground. The willow-leaf blade fell from his grasp.
He clutched his own throat with both hands, his face turning red and then purple, his eyeballs bulging.
He felt as if his internal organs were about to be squeezed to pieces.
Sp...Special-risk... It's a Special-risk powerhouse!
Despair flooded him completely.
How could he have provoked an existence of this level!?
Su Zhan slowly walked up to him, looking down from above. "Now, do you still want money?"
Using all his strength, Liu San frantically shook his head.
His eyes were filled with pleading, not a trace of the previous fierceness remained.
"N...no... don't want it... spare me, my lord... spare me..."
Su Zhan withdrew his aura, allowing Liu San to breathe with difficulty.
"Give me a new face."
Su Zhan commanded. "Do it to my satisfaction, and I'll spare your life."
Liu San greedily gulped air.
Spare his life?
In Black City, could such words be trusted?
Once the surgery is done and he's of no more use, that's probably when I die...
Having survived in the underbelly of Black City for years, he no longer believed in any empty promises. Entrusting one's life and death to another's mercy was the most foolish act.
Su Zhan seemed to see through his thoughts, his tone devoid of inflection. "Do you have a choice?"
This sentence shattered all of Liu San's wishful thinking and mental defenses.
Yes, he had no choice.
Before a Special-risk level powerhouse, his measly Stream Realm, eighth-stage strength didn't even qualify for struggle.
Resistance meant death. Not doing it also meant death. Perhaps... perhaps obediently following orders and fulfilling the other's demand might offer a sliver of hope?
Even though that hope was pitifully slim.
Liu San slumped on the ground, his face ashen. He closed his eyes as if resigning himself to fate, his voice trembling.
"I'll... I'll do it... Please, my lord... give your orders..."
From this moment on, his life was no longer his own.
Su Zhan's tone was flat, carrying absolute confidence. "I won't use anesthesia during the surgery. When you operate on me then, the blade will cut across my face. But you must not entertain any improper thoughts.
Think about it. You, at Stream Realm, eighth stage, even if you attack my face with all your might, even my eyes, do you think you could kill me?"
Liu San's heart jolted violently.
He... how did he know?
He had indeed harbored that thought just now.
To seize the opportunity during the surgery and plunge the blade in his hand into the other's most vulnerable spots—the eyes or temples.
But now he suddenly realized the absolute chasm created by the difference in realms.
The physical resilience of a Special-risk level powerhouse, especially one who was likely an Aberrant known for physical prowess, how could a mere Stream Realm cultivator like him hope to penetrate it?
And once he acted, what awaited him would be consequences more terrifying than death.
Understanding this.
That last bit of desperate, reckless thought in Liu San's heart completely vanished. He hurriedly assured, "I wouldn't dare! Absolutely wouldn't dare! My lord is wise! This lowly one only wants to live, harbors no disloyalty! I will... I will serve you with utmost diligence!"
Su Zhan said no more. He walked directly to that filthy surgical table and lay down calmly, closing his eyes.
"Begin."
He said faintly. "Make a perfectly ordinary, unremarkable face."
"Yes... yes!"
Liu San didn't dare delay. Suppressing the fear in his heart, he walked to the workbench.
First, he hastily washed his hands in a grimy water basin.
Then he picked up the willow-leaf blade he had dropped earlier and poured some transparent liquid from a bottle, smearing it onto the blade.
Liu San took a deep breath, trying desperately to steady his hands, and walked to a position above Su Zhan's head.
Looking at Su Zhan's face, eyes closed in tranquility, Liu San swallowed hard.
Without anesthesia, he couldn't imagine how the other would endure such pain, but he was even more afraid to ask.
Holding his breath, he brought the willow-leaf blade down.
The sharp tip of the blade split the skin, and blood instantly welled up.
What horrified Liu San was that Su Zhan, lying there, didn't even furrow his brow.
A faintly flickering dark red light flashed deep within the wound and then vanished.
That was the Flame of Destruction, searing and sealing off some blood vessels and nerve endings, forcibly blocking the transmission of intense pain in another, more domineering way.
Su Zhan's powerful regenerative ability was also slowly at work, forming a kind of balance with the destructive force of the blade.