I'm a proper student; I only take nine kinds of potions every day.

His voice was soft, tinged with confusion.

"Does he intend to challenge the entire Guz gang?"

"Becoming so arrogant just because you've gotten a little stronger, you're really just a lowly, narrow-minded stray dog."

He pushed himself up from the wall, ready to follow.

The master instructed that this test subject must not die outside.

He had just taken a step.

A white hand quietly reached out from behind him, like a falling feather, and gently brushed against his cheek.

The fingertips are cool to the touch, with a silky feel.

"Little Bloodthirsty Beast, come with me?"

The voice was very soft and gentle, like someone was coaxing a child to sleep.

The young man's dark red eyes instantly became empty and dull, his pupils dilated, and the red light in his irises went out.

His body stiffened for a second, then slowly relaxed, like a rope with its bones removed.

"Yes... Master."

The shadows in the alley swallowed up the two figures.

Evan headed south, his steps light as he crossed Guding Street, passed Hain Street, and ran into the southern suburbs of the city.

The road surface underfoot changed from cobblestones to gravel, and then from gravel to mud overgrown with weeds.

The streetlights became increasingly sparse, until they disappeared completely.

The smell in the air had changed; the aroma of coal smoke and food was replaced by the musty smell of sea breeze, rust, and rotting vegetation.

An old factory in the southern suburbs.

An abandoned factory area near the sea, situated on an open area at the foot of a cliff.

Two years ago, a serious chemical spill reportedly occurred here, killing several workers and forcing the factory to shut down.

And so it was left abandoned. Capitalists were unwilling to spend money to clean it up, and the government pretended to have forgotten about its existence.

Today, this place has become a secret stronghold for gang members in the Guding Street area.

The trading of stolen goods, the punishment of traitors, and the handling of troubles all took place in this dark, unlit ruin.

Ivan ran nearly a mile in one go, his face flushed and his breathing steady.

He stood at the factory gate, looking out over the landscape.

Total darkness.

The three enormous factory buildings resembled three colossal beasts crouching in the darkness, their corrugated iron roofs warped by the sea breeze, groaning intermittently in the wind.

Most of the factory's perimeter wall has collapsed, with broken bricks scattered among the weeds.

The distant sound of waves crashing against the cliffs echoed from the sea, occasionally punctuated by the barking of wild dogs and the howling of wolves from the mountains further away.

"It's dark enough and spacious enough. Let's see how I deal with you."

His 1.9 physique, combined with the perception enhancement from the Night Demon Potion, allowed him to thrive in this ruin where it was pitch black for ordinary people.

He could see every broken wall, every broken door, and every corner where he could hide.

"Furthermore, this is also an opportunity to test whether Pris has sent anyone to follow me."

He walked into the factory area, stood in the open space between the three factory buildings, and waited.

About ten minutes later, a noisy sound came from the north.

The screeching of bicycle tires rolling over the gravel road, the clicking of the chain turning, and the rough shouts and laughter of young people grew louder and louder as they approached.

Then a group of people appeared at the entrance to the factory area.

About twenty young people, around eighteen or nineteen years old, rode all sorts of dilapidated bicycles, with flashlights hanging from the handlebars, their beams sweeping haphazardly in the darkness.

They wore cheap work jackets and dirty boots, carried steel pipes, machetes, and chains, and had the kind of excitement and bloodlust typical of young thugs on their faces.

Zach threw the bicycle on the ground, and the chain rattled for a while.

He looked up and saw Ivan standing arrogantly at the factory gate, arms crossed, leaning against the rusty iron gate frame, looking as relaxed as if he were waiting for someone to meet him.

"Come on! Let's have a one-on-one fight!"

Ivan's voice echoed in the empty factory area, carried by the sea breeze, sometimes near, sometimes far.

Zach's face was as gloomy as the sky before a storm.

"Go! Block both exits!"

He pulled the short-barreled revolver from behind his waist and waved the muzzle in the air.

"Today I'm going to break all four of his limbs!"

More than twenty armed youths rushed forward and surged toward the factory gate.

Ivan did not engage in combat.

He turned around, his body as nimble as a cat's, and slipped into the nearest factory building.

The factory interior is a huge space, divided into dozens of rooms and passageways of varying sizes by partition walls and equipment wreckage.

The ground was covered with knee-high weeds, and moonlight leaking in through the broken skylight cast a few pale patches on the ground.

The walls were covered in graffiti and mold, and the air was filled with a mixture of smells of rust, engine oil, and rotting vegetation.

Some of the partition walls had holes chiseled into their bases, just big enough for a person to bend down and crawl through, like tunnels dug by rats.

For thugs who can only rely on flashlights for light, this is a dark maze.

For Evan, who possesses twice the night vision of the Night Demon Potion, this is his hunting ground.

More than twenty thugs rushed into the factory, their flashlight beams darting haphazardly through the darkness like a swarm of startled fireflies.

Their footsteps, breathing, and shouts echoed and reverberated in the empty factory, making it impossible for them to tell which direction the sounds were coming from.

Ivan crouched on a rusty beam, looking down.

Two thugs passed directly below him, their flashlights shining forward without glancing up at him.

He jumped down.

The boot landed precisely on the first person's shoulder, the immense impact slamming the man face-first into the concrete, where he groaned and lay motionless.

Using the momentum from his landing, Evan rolled over, grabbed the iron rod that the man had dropped with his right hand, swung it backhand, and the rod struck the second thug squarely in the back of the knee.

An ominous cracking sound came from his knee, and the thug screamed as he knelt on one knee.

Ivan didn't linger; just as he was about to turn and leave, his bad luck struck.

He ran forward, stepping on the beam above his head, and the once sturdy beam suddenly collapsed.

"Damn bad luck!"

To avoid the beam, I was able to pause for a moment...

The two thugs behind him reacted very quickly. One of them strode over and struck Ivan directly on the back with two sticks.

The intense pain caused Ivan's face to turn bright red instantly, and at the same time, the two thugs pounced on him!

Evan hurriedly retreated, kicking one of the thugs away as he turned to run, only to be grabbed by the arm by another thug.

This guy was like a madman, clinging tightly to Evan's arm and refusing to let go.

"I've got him!"

Ivan shook his arm frantically, but he just couldn't shake it off.

His expression was quite surprised; he had underestimated how difficult people could be.

His 1.9-meter physique makes him much stronger than the average person.

But that wasn't enough for Evan to quickly shake off the relentless force of an adult.

At the crucial moment, he swung the iron bar and smashed the thug's head open!

After his mind went blank, the thug instinctively let go.

Seizing the opportunity, Ivan used his superior night vision and perception to quickly plunge into the darkness.

Chapter 20: The Insurmountable Barrier Between Mortals and Extraordinary Beings

Despite the searing pain, Evan ran out and plunged into the darkness, only to suddenly see a figure standing in front of him.

"Run! This place is full of gangsters."

Ivan thought he was a homeless person and instinctively called out to him.

But just as he was about to get close, the perception granted to him by the demonic drug that night made his hair stand on end.

"No... Get out of the way!!!"

The potion enhanced his senses and began desperately giving him hints.

Without saying a word, Evan turned and ran, quickly hiding in the factory building across the street.

Behind them, Zach and another group of thugs heard the commotion and quickly raised their flashlights to surround the area from another direction.

The beam of light swept across the empty room, revealing two companions lying on the floor, one unconscious and the other rolling around on the floor hugging his knees.

"Chase!"

Zach caught up from behind, already holding a pistol with the muzzle pointing forward.

"I'd like to see if this sickly fellow can dodge my bullets!"

A group of people rushed out, their flashlight beams flickering in the factory corridors, their footsteps chaotic and hurried.

Then they saw it.

At the exit on the other side of the factory, a figure stood there with his back to them, motionless.

Moonlight streamed through the broken skylight, illuminating the figure's shoulder and outlining a blurry silhouette.

It's like a provocation.