The breathing sounds that entered his ear had a regular rhythm and it didn't seem fake. After confirming this, Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and slowly took out his iron stick. He then softly opened the zip to the tent and slowly entered.
The interior of the tent was dim, and Xu Qing could faintly see Broken Ox lying there. He was in a very deep sleep. Clearly, his exertions in the day, in addition to being injured, caused him to be incomparably fatigued.
Besides, his mentality was that of an 'expert', and this caused Broken Ox to be unable to imagine in his wildest dreams that the cooperative youth during the day would dare to take the risk to enter his tent when all the other scavengers were present.
So at this moment, he had no idea that there was an uninvited guest in his tent.
Xu Qing stared at Broken Ox who was in a deep sleep. His cold gaze was as calm as the deep seas as he approached softly. When he finally arrived beside his target, Xu Qing didn't hesitate. The dagger in his right hand glinted with cold light as he sliced the neck of the utterly ignorant Broken Ox ruthlessly.
His strength was exceedingly great and the head of his target was almost cleanly separated from its body.
Fresh blood instantly gushed forth.
The intense pain caused the eyes of Broken Ox to snap open. When he saw Xu Qing's emotionless face, his expression became one of disbelief and dread. Just as he wanted to struggle, Xu Qing's left hand rapidly lifted and pressed down on his mouth, causing him to be unable to utter a single sound.
His struggle grew increasingly intense. Broken Ox's eyes were wide open as his entire body twitched madly.
However, Xu Qing's arm was as though it was made of steel, pressing down on his target with a strength death would envy. He also lifted his right leg and directly stomped on Broken Ox's stomach. Xu Qing's body adopted the posture of a bow, and he borrowed the stance to stabilize his strength, causing Broken Ox's struggle to be futile.
As blood continued gushing forth, Broken Ox was like a fish that was out of the water. Slowly, the look of despair flared intensely in his gaze; there was even a pleading expression.
However, what he saw was still Xu Qing's calm face. As for the sounds his body produced during the struggle, it was completely masked under the roars and mournful cries of the outside world.
Time slowly flowed and tens of breaths later, Broken Ox's struggles grew gradually weaker. Finally, his body trembled and completely relaxed into an immobile state. Only his eyes, which were still open, showed the terror and anger he felt before his death.
Xu Qing didn't release his grab immediately. He waited for a while more to confirm that the other party had really died before he released his hands. After wiping away the blood on his hands, he opened his leather pouch.
He then cautiously took out the snake head wrapped in a sackcloth and carefully used the poisonous fangs of the snake head to pierce Broken Ox's skin.
At the next instant, as the poison spread, green bubbles were generated from Broken Ox's corpse, and it slowly melted.
After the amount of time it took for an incense stick to burn out, the corpse completely dissolved into a puddle of blood that seeped into the mud.
Xu Qing silently watched everything. After that, he started to clean the scene up and cleared all of Broken Ox's belongings, creating an illusion that the other party had gone missing. Only then did he leave the tent.
The cold wind blew at his face, blowing some of the smell of blood that lingered on his body away. Xu Qing lifted his head and looked at the dark night. After that, he took a deep breath of cold air before slowly walking back to his sleeping bag.
The moment he lay down in the sleeping bag, his heart state finally felt more solid. This was the sense of safety generated from removing the concealed danger, and it allowed him to close his eyes in peace and fall asleep. However, he still held the iron stick in his hand securely; his grip wasn't relaxed at all.
The night was silent.
On the next morning, when rays of the sun streamed down and illuminated the land, Xu Qing opened his eyes. He then quietly climbed out of his sleeping bag and casually glanced in the direction of Broken Ox's tent.
At the next instant, his eyes narrowed slightly.
Broken Ox's tent had actually vanished.
Hence, Xu Qing's heart sank as he grew even warier.
Very soon, the other scavengers continuously exited their tents in the early morning and discovered this matter. All of them felt puzzled and some began searching the surroundings for clues.
However, because Broken Ox had vanished thoroughly and his tent also disappeared, everyone eventually came to the conclusion that Broken Ox had left halfway through the night due to his greed for the items in the city, or he left for some other reasons that he didn't want to make public.
In any case, in this forbidden zone, there were too many reasons why one would disappear.
This group was originally a team that was formed temporarily. Moreover, Broken Ox was a loner, so a short time later, these scavengers no longer cared about this matter. Some of them glanced at Xu Qing, but somehow, they felt that it was impossible for this matter to have a connection with him. Besides, they had no obligation to investigate, so they retracted all their conjectures.
Only the old man known as Captain Lei shot a glance filled with deep meaning at Xu Qing when he took Xu Qing's sleeping bag back. He then calmly spoke.
"Now, are you still willing to leave with me?"
This sentence was inundated with many meanings, so Xu Qing fell silent.
The old man didn't say anything more. He then called out to everyone to hurry since there was light from the sun.
Qing Xu stood dumbfoundedly for a moment at his original location. He instinctively turned his head to look at the ruined city. Ultimately, he turned back to stare at the back view of the old man. After thinking for a moment, he strode forward and his footsteps gradually grew more determined.
Six scavengers and a kid. Their shadows under the sunlight were lengthened…
Far away, the wind gusted, blowing away their sighs and rueful emotions as they continued with their journey.
"This is a calamity of the gods. The entire city was annihilated."
"There's one more forbidden zone in this world…"
"This cannot be counted as anything much. Have you guys heard about this story before? About seven to eight years ago, there was a major city in the northern region. The god opened its eyes and glanced over there. After that, that area, including the city, directly vanished in a bizarre manner. It was as though they had never existed before."
The sound of conversation grew weaker and weaker. Under the sunlight, together with the figures trekking on a long journey, the youth remained silent. He quietly listened and continued to walk.
Further and further into the distance.