A sharp pain exploded in his back. He turned his head to the right. He saw the fatty stabbing him with a faint smile on his lips. Zi Fan understood immediately.
The fatty was one of his kind. But he didn't care; he just wanted to grab the fatty and beat him senseless, but…
Then another.
And another.
The blade kept going. It continued until it made 12 to 15 horrible, deep cuts.
Zi Fan's heartbeat grew slower; his body went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Brother, what did you—"
The muscular man who was lying down froze, unable to finish.
Hearing his brother's voice, the fatty's face became pale. He momentarily forgot his brother was also here. Quickly, he thought of an idea and took action. He acted as if his legs gave out, falling to the ground on his knees.
"I—I didn't mean to… I… what have I done?!"
He shook his whole body, showing it was an accident.
On Zi Fan's side,
"Blood…?"
Blood gushed from Zi Fan's back. His hand pressed tightly against it, but it was no use. Soon, the ground was stained red.
His face became deathly drained of color. His vision went blurred.
"Am I going to die, then?"
His hands slipped toward the blood-stained ground.
His will to survive faded… The tension left him, and a quiet smile formed on his lips.
"Did you regret?" a faint whisper came to his ears.
"Regret…? No. This… this is better than acting like a coward…"
"But I feel a little regret, though. I want to kill that fatty bastard… And I swear,
if I have a second life, I shall never show kindness or sympathy to my enemies ever again." He gritted his teeth.
But what could he do? Soon, dizziness consumed him.
Yet, he saw that he was in front of a grand and majestic tower. From its window, two red eyes watched him.
A voice echoed from all directions in his mind.
"We could give you a chance to live one more hour, but you have to sacrifice your soul to us."
Zi Fan froze. He couldn't understand his situation, and they didn't care about that.
The voice returned, colder than before.
"Do you agree?"
For some unknown reason, Zi Fan felt his mind become clear.
He wanted to process the information, but the voice was imposing.
The voice announced it in his mind: "You have 10 seconds."
10, 9, 8...
With the countdown hammering in his ears, Zi Fan didn't think anymore. "Agreed," he murmured with closed eyes.
"I'm already dying—what worse could happen?" he thought.
Boom.
Time and space froze for a second. Then it stabilized as if nothing had happened.
But… an unbelievable event happened.
Zi Fan's spilled blood moved, twisting into an ancient formation that glowed faintly.
From the clock tower, a red light fell onto Zi Fan's body.
Suddenly, Zi Fan stood up. His body, which had been badly wounded, was now perfectly fine, as if he had never been injured.
"T-That's impossible…!" The fatty, who had been looking at Zi Fan's dead body with hollow eyes, couldn't help but scream in fear when he saw the sudden movement.
As the fat man's scream tore through the air, the muscular man, who had been thinking about how to hide the dead body, looked up—and what he saw, he would never forget… of course, if he lived long enough.
Zi Fan's pair of eyes stared at him with a warm smile, but the muscular man couldn't feel any warmth. What kind of eyes were they? There were no black pupils, only white.
The muscular man immediately knew something was off. He turned to run. But after a few steps, he stopped. He glanced back—Zi Fan's gaze had already shifted to the fatty.
The muscular man closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "For my little brother," he murmured, then turned back toward Zi Fan.
To protect his brother, the muscular man ignored his fear and moved forward to attack the unknown.
But he was shaking. He didn't understand what had happened to Zi Fan's body or how he was still alive.
In his mind, there was only one thing—distract this zombie, or whatever it was, and save his little brother.
Zi Fan didn't expect the muscular man would come back. He had been thinking about how to kill the fatty bastard.
But suddenly, from behind, a wind-cutting sound came—boom. A fist landed on Zi Fan's head.
Surprisingly, Zi Fan didn't feel any pain.
"...Right. I'm dead." Zi Fan burst out into laughter. "Hahaha! So this is what I've become…"
Those two robbers felt a deep fear in their hearts. Their whole bodies screamed at them to run. But the fatty's body didn't respond, and the muscular man couldn't run.
But…
It's not that the muscular man was brave or strong; he also wanted to run, but a powerful rope tied him tightly—it was emotion, the emotion of family love.
And this thing can even make a human face death.
The muscular man's legs trembled—but he stepped forward anyway.
"Little brother, run!" the muscular man shouted and again threw many jabs and hooks, but it was no use. Zi Fan dodged effortlessly. Zi Fan didn't know why he could do that. "Was it the sacrifice… or something else?"
He didn't care. He only wanted to kill the fatty.
The fatty weakly stood up. Zi Fan thought the fatty would run away, but unexpectedly, he came closer toward Zi Fan.
"No, brother, don't!" the muscular man shouted, and Zi Fan thought, "Does he want to stab me again?" A faint curl appeared on Zi Fan's lips.
The fatty came near and showed the knife before Zi Fan and said in a begging tone, "Take it… do whatever you want to me. Just don't kill my brother." He burst into tears.
Hearing the fatty's words, the muscular man and Zi Fan both froze for a moment. But the muscular man reacted quickly and hit Zi Fan's face with a hook. Zi Fan stumbled back a little.
He shouted while attacking Zi Fan, "No, brother! I wouldn't just leave—"
But before he could finish his words, Zi Fan twisted his body and struck his neck.
"Thud."
The muscular man collapsed, unconscious.
The fatty screamed, "Don't hurt my brother, please!"
Zi Fan glanced at him with a wide smile. He didn't speak. The road fell into deadly silence.
Cold sweat fell from the fatty's forehead. Even his breathing became lighter.
"Okay," Zi Fan's chilling voice broke the stillness.
Zi Fan stretched out his hand. "I accept your request. Come and die," he said with a relaxed expression.
The fatty's face turned intensely pale. He trembled backward and hid the knife behind him. "No, no, please don't kill me…" He fell to his knees. "I was wrong," he begged.
If Zi Fan had looked at him with anger or hatred, the fatty would surely have given the knife to him. This trick had always worked before. But he forgot Zi Fan is a joker; his job is to play with human emotions and psychology.
But today, seeing that relaxed expression and those emotionless white eyes, he truly felt that if he gave the knife, this joker would kill him.
Zi Fan's smile vanished. "Do you think this little trick would work on me?" he said coldly. "Pathetic…"
Tap, tap. Zi Fan walked toward the fatty and circled around him. "But do you know… your big brother really loves you?" He stopped and pointed his finger at the muscular man. "Look at his face," he said to the fatty.
The fatty obeyed. He didn't know why, but he felt that if he didn't follow this joker's instructions, surely his head would roll on the ground.
"Should I wake him up and show him his little brother's true face?" A devilish whisper came to the fatty's ears.
His body tensed; he sweated all over.
Zi Fan whispered again, "I'm giving you two choices: kill yourself… or I shall expose you and then kill you myself." He paused. "And of course, whichever choice you make doesn't matter. I will spare your brother's life."
Zi Fan circled him in silence. He was waiting… waiting for the fatty's answer.
And the fatty—he only stared at his brother's face as tears fell from his eyes. When Zi Fan's voice reached his ears, his mind went blank. Every one of Zi Fan's footsteps felt like a heartbeat to him.
Tap… tap… tap.
The fatty slowly brought the knife close to his neck and took a final look at his brother's face. He whispered, "Live well, brother." Then he stabbed himself in the neck.
Blood gushed out, and the fatty's body dropped to the ground.
Zi Fan watched the corpse silently. A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Finally, I did what I wanted," he murmured and looked toward the clock tower. "Hmm, I have 50 more minutes to live." His white eyes became even whiter. He moved closer to the fatty's body and took the knife.
"Manager Chen, today you'll experience hell." Zi Fan walked forward toward the circus train.
To be continued....