Slap!

The sound was crisp and heavy, cutting through the morning air.

The brat spun like a top under the force of the blow before landing hard on his backside. For a split second, there was silence, and then—

“Waaaaaah!”

The child’s wailing erupted, shrill and ear-piercing.

In the old woman’s eyes, her grandson was the picture of obedience and cuteness. He only wanted to eat. He only tried to snatch the bowl. The young man didn’t give it to him, so that should have been the end of it. It wasn’t a big deal.

Besides, this young man was a grown adult. How could he lower himself to haggle with a small child?

But this young man before her didn’t just argue; he struck out. And he struck hard!

Seeing the bright red, swelling handprint on her grandson’s face, the old woman’s heart twisted in agony.

The commotion drew the gaze of nearly everyone in the camp.

Zhou Xiaoxiao watched Chen Ye with the expression of someone enjoying a drama, though he whispered criticism to his sister. “Sister, look at that. This Chen Ye is too excessive.”

“Giving him a barrel of gasoline was a complete waste,” he sneered. “It’s a good thing I took it back.”

In Zhou Xiaoxiao’s mind, Chen Ye had crossed a line. It was just a child, after all. If you don’t want to share, fine, don’t share. But why slap the kid? His evaluation of Chen Ye dropped several more notches.

Zhou Lan nervously scanned their surroundings. Confirming that no one was paying attention to them, she scolded him in a hushed, reproachful tone. “Xiaoxiao, what nonsense are you spouting?”

“It was clearly that child who was in the wrong!” she hissed. “What do you expect a grown man like Chen Ye to do when someone tries to rob him? Let it happen?”

“Besides,” she added, her voice trembling slightly, “Chen Ye is a Sequence Beyonder. We cannot afford to offend him!”

“Hmph,” Zhou Xiaoxiao muttered, unconvinced. “A child is still a human, not a beast.”

Zhou Lan, having navigated the complex social waters of being a celebrity before the apocalypse, had seen more of the world than her brother. If she were in Chen Ye’s position, she might have yielded, swayed by the societal programming of “he’s just a child.”

But deep down, her fear of Chen Ye grew. She began to worry if letting Xiaoxiao take back the gasoline had been a fatal mistake. He was a Sequence Beyonder, a being above ordinary humans.

Zhou Xiaoxiao rolled his beautiful eyes, throwing a disdainful look at his sister’s caution.

“How do you think Chen Ye will handle the rest of this?”

Nearby, Chu Che watched the scene with amusement, his eyes dancing with interest.

Iron Lion scratched the back of his head, looking foolish. “I don’t know,” he rumbled in his muffled voice. “But… he is still a child, after all. He doesn’t understand things yet.”

Nana snorted coldly, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. “So what if he’s a child? A child is a human too. Does being young give him a license to act recklessly?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Before the apocalypse, some children were no less detestable than demons.”

Iron Lion mumbled something unintelligible, unable to formulate a rebuttal. Beyonders of the Titan Sequence were rarely known for their eloquence.

In the center of the attention, Chen Ye looked down indifferently at the grandmother-grandson pair.

“Grandma! Waaah… hug!” The child cried, reaching out his arms.

“My good grandson, my poor, precious grandson!” The old woman’s eyes reddened. She bent down, trying to lift him.

However, the boy was chubby and heavy, and the old woman, weakened by the apocalypse, simply couldn’t lift him. She had to settle for pulling him to his feet.

The child stood up, wailing loudly as he hid behind the old woman’s legs. Feeling emboldened by the human shield of his grandmother, he peeked out, glaring fiercely at Chen Ye with eyes full of malice.

“Young man, how could you do this?” The old woman screeched, pointing a trembling finger at Chen Ye. “Don’t you know how to respect the elderly and cherish the young? How did your parents teach you? How did your school raise you?”

“You dare hit my precious grandson? I… I’ll make you regret it! You just wait—”

Chen Ye didn’t waste a second on thought. He stood up, raised his leg, and delivered a swift, brutal kick aimed directly at the brat peeking out with angry eyes.

Thump!

The child flew backward instantly, like a ragged sack tossed by a gale.

“Zhuangzhuang!”

The old woman let out a heart-wrenching scream and scrambled after him.

The child slid across the dirt for two or three meters before coming to a stop.

“Waaaaah!”

The wailing reached a new, piercing crescendo, echoing through the entire camp.

Everyone stared, dumbfounded.

“Zhuangzhuang! How are you? My good grandson!”

“Grandma, it hurts… Waaah…”

Chen Ye hadn’t held back. The kick had landed square on the brat’s face. Blood smeared his nose and mouth, and several of his front teeth lay scattered in the dust. When he opened his mouth to cry, the gap where his teeth used to be was starkly visible.

Seeing her grandson in such a state, the old woman’s heart shattered. She hugged the boy, and the two of them wept together in a heap of misery.

The old woman looked up, glaring furiously at Chen Ye.

“Young man! He is just a child!!!”

Chen Ye looked down at them, his expression colder than the morning frost. “Some children are children,” he said icily. “And some children are just beasts.”

The old woman choked, her face flushing red. Before the apocalypse, whenever her grandson caused trouble, she would use this line—he’s just a child—to seize the moral high ground. People would blush, swallow their anger, and back down.

She never expected it to be completely useless now. Or at least, useless against this young man.

She had seen her grandson go to beg. She had seen him try to snatch the bowl. She hadn’t stopped him, fully expecting to exploit the young man’s kindness to get a free meal. She never dreamed it would end in blood and broken teeth.

Many of the survivors who had escaped from Lucheng with this pair secretly felt a surge of pleasure. They had been angered more than once by the bizarre, entitled behavior of this grandmother and grandson. The pair had survived this long only because others had pitied them. But eventually, everyone saw through their nature, and the charity stopped. If the convoy hadn’t appeared, they would have likely died in the wilderness.

“I… I’ll fight you to the death!”

Feeling cornered and humiliated, the old woman scrambled to her feet and charged at Chen Ye, claws out.

Chen Ye showed no mercy.

Bam!

He kicked out again.

The old woman was sent flying, staggering back three or five meters before landing hard on her backside. She sat there, stunned, unable to get up for a long while.

“Grandma…”

“Wuwuwu…”

The onlookers were stunned into silence by Chen Ye’s ruthlessness.

“Sis, did you see that?” Zhou Xiaoxiao tugged frantically at his sister’s sleeve, whispering. “That Chen Ye is a bastard. He doesn’t even spare the elderly and children!”

For some reason, Zhou Xiaoxiao, who had previously dismissed Chen Ye as a coward for giving up the gasoline, now felt a chill of fear. When Chen Ye’s gaze swept over their area, Zhou Xiaoxiao quickly averted his eyes, his heart thumping wildly.

But not everyone disapproved.

“I never thought Chen Ye had it in him,” Nana said, a playful laugh escaping her lips. “Matches my taste. Like a real man!”

Iron Lion scratched his head again, opening his mouth but finding no words.

Nana glanced at him and snorted. “Were you going to say young people should respect the elderly?”

“Iron Lion, I think your brain really is all muscle. The rumors about the Titan Sequence lowering intelligence seem to be true!”

Nana seemed to have been triggering a personal grievance. Her mouth moved rapidly as she vented. “Back when I took the subway to work, at least half the car was filled with these old folks rushing for discounted eggs during rush hour.”

“They get on the bus acting like frail Lin Daiyu, needing a seat immediately,” she mocked, citing the tragic, sickly heroine. “But the moment the supermarket doors open, they turn into Lu Zhishen, charging in with brute force!”

“Their monthly pensions are several times my salary! They dance in the square all night long, making noise, and then demand respect! And these bear children…”

Iron Lion blinked, completely overwhelmed by the girl’s barrage of societal complaints.

Chu Che clapped his hands, cutting through the noise. “Alright, alright, show’s over. Let’s move out!”

Back at the confrontation, the child was still looking at Chen Ye, his eyes filled with pure hatred.

Chen Ye walked over slowly.

The child, terrified by the approaching figure, scrambled to hide behind his grandmother again. The old woman shielded him, trembling but glaring. “What do you want?”

Chen Ye chuckled, a dark, humorless sound. “Are you thinking of settling the score with me later? Waiting for your son, or his parents, to come back and help you?”

Seeing the flicker of recognition in their eyes, Chen Ye knew he had guessed right.

He leaned down slightly, his voice low and cruel. “It’s the apocalypse now. Those who aren’t here right now…”

He paused, letting the silence hang heavy.

“…are never coming back.”

The old woman’s face turned deathly pale. The hope that had sustained her—that her family would reunite and protect them—shattered instantly.

The child’s mouth quivered, and he burst into a fresh wave of loud, despairing wails.

So very sad.

The convoy soon began to mobilize.

Chen Ye packed up his gear simply and started the motorized tricycle.

After days of travel, the motorcycle’s fuel tank was running low. If he couldn’t find gasoline at Longevity Village tomorrow, he would be forced to switch back to human-powered mode, which would be exhausting.

With a shudder, the engine caught, and the tricycle began to move.

Behind him, the grandmother and grandson were still crying and throwing a tantrum on the ground.

But not a single person stepped forward to help them up. No one spoke a word of comfort.

Even the woman from yesterday who had tried to incite the gender war kept her head down, silent as a mouse.

Realizing that their performance was garnering no sympathy, the pair slowly picked themselves up from the dirt.

The old woman occasionally shot venomous glances at Chen Ye’s back. Whenever Chen Ye sensed it and turned his head, she would pretend to look elsewhere with forced nonchalance.

The child, however, was broken. When he saw Chen Ye looking at him, he shivered violently in fright and averted his gaze, terror written all over his swollen face.