Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Two security guards simultaneously raised their batons and lunged at Shen Qinghou.

Shen Qinghou pressed his fingers on the strings and plucked them sharply downwards.

hum-

The sound waves exploded from the string, like an invisible wall, crashing heavily into the chests of the two security guards.

The two men were thrown backward as if hit by a truck, their backs slamming into the door of the police car. The car window shattered with a loud crash, shards flying everywhere.

They collapsed to the ground, their ribs aching as if broken, unable to breathe, and could only watch helplessly as Shen Qinghou walked past them, stepping over the fallen batons and handcuffs, and chased after Gu Yanzhi.

Gu Yanzhi was hiding behind the police car when he saw Shen Qinghou knock the two security guards away in a few moves, which terrified him.

He turned and ran into the depths of the alley. His leather shoes slipped on the gravel, and his knees scraped off the ground. He got up and kept running, tears mixed with blood streaming down his face, mumbling, "Don't kill me," "Please."

Shen Qinghou followed behind him, his footsteps growing heavier and heavier, like a death knell, each strike making Gu Yanzhi's heart pound wildly.

"I'll kill you!!! I'm going to... kill you!!!"

The alley narrowed, the plaster peeled off the walls on both sides, revealing dark red bricks underneath, and the air was filled with the damp, musty smell and the stench of rotting garbage.

Gu Yanzhi ran for about two hundred meters when suddenly a three-meter-high dead wall appeared in front of him, with broken glass stuck on top of it, gleaming coldly in the sunlight.

Can't run away.

Gu Yanzhi slumped against the wall, his crotch soaked with yellow liquid that flowed down his legs, mixing with the dust on the ground and turning into a yellowish-brown mud.

He watched as Shen Qinghou walked in from the alley entrance, carrying the old guqin stained with blood, his eyes so red they looked like they were about to bleed.

"Don't kill me...please don't kill me..." Gu Yanzhi's voice trembled uncontrollably, his face streaked with snot and tears. "I was wrong...I shouldn't have stolen your championship...I shouldn't have had someone cut off your hand...I shouldn't have had your mother beaten...I'll apologize...I'll give you anything you want...All the money in my family is yours...My dad is the president of the music association, I can make you the most famous performer...The whole world's stages are yours..."

Shen Qinghou threw the guqin to the ground, pounced on Gu Yanzhi, stomped on his chest, making his bones creak, then bent down, grabbed his hair, and pulled his face off the ground.

Looking at Gu Yanzhi's cowardly appearance, he recalled his mother lying in the ICU, her body covered in tubes, her face so swollen she was unrecognizable, still holding his hand and saying, "Don't sue, we can't beat them." He remembered kneeling in front of the police station for a whole day, his knees rubbed raw, his pants bleeding, and no one paying him any attention. He remembered Gu Yanzhi standing at his door, laughing and saying, "Your mother died in vain, you're just a piece of trash."

The hatred in his chest exploded like a volcano, and he threw his head back and let out a roar that shook the entire alley: "You beat my mother to death!!!!!!!!!"

His fingers struck the instrument hard!

hum-

A deep sound wave rolled out from the instrument case, like a muffled thunderclap on the ground, and shot forward along the cracks in the bricks, instantly striking Gu Yanzhi's legs.

"Click—"

The sound of bones breaking was as crisp as breaking a pair of chopsticks.

Gu Yanzhi let out a scream that sounded inhuman. His legs bent at an eerie angle, and white bone fragments pierced through his pants, protruding from the ground. Blood spurted out and splattered onto the brick wall in front of him, leaving dark red streaks.

He lay on the ground, using his hands to support himself as he tried to crawl forward. His fingernails dug into the cracks in the bricks, and when he turned over, blood splattered all over the ground. Every crawl was accompanied by excruciating pain throughout his body, but he dared not stop. He crawled very slowly, like a dog whose spine had been broken.

Shen Qinghou pounced over and stepped on Gu Yanzhi's calf.

"ah--!!!!"

Gu Yanzhi's screams rang out, causing plaster to fall from the walls.

Shen Qinghou bent down, grabbed his hair, and slammed his head against the wall.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Each strike was delivered with all one's might, the plaster on the wall peeled off, revealing the red bricks underneath, and blood splattered on the bricks, blooming into dark red flowers.

Gu Yanzhi's face quickly became a mess; his nose collapsed, and his teeth flew out of his mouth, spitting onto the ground mixed with blood. His vision was already blurred, and he mumbled, "Don't...don't kill...I'm sorry..."

"I'm sorry?" Shen Qinghou's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping against wood. He grabbed Gu Yanzhi's hair, lifting his face to make him look at him. "When my mother was lying in the ICU begging me not to report her, why didn't you say sorry? When I was kneeling in front of the police station, kowtowing until my head bled, why didn't you say sorry? When you beat my mother to death, why didn't you say sorry?!"

He released his grip, and Gu Yanzhi's head slammed heavily to the ground with a dull thud.

Shen Qinghou turned around and picked up the guqin. He dug his fingers into the strings so hard that the steel strings tore through the flesh of his fingertips, and blood flowed down the strings and dripped onto the ground.

plucked!

hum-

A sharp sonic wave blasted out and struck Gu Yanzhi's right arm.

His sleeve instantly shattered into pieces, and the flesh on his arm was as if it had been ripped open by a knife. Blood spurted out and splashed on the wall. Gu Yanzhi rolled on the ground clutching his severed arm, his roars no longer human, but like the dying howl of a wild beast caught in an iron trap.

Shen Qinghou plucked the strings again!

His left arm exploded!

Pluck the strings again!

His right leg was blown to pieces!

Pluck the strings again!

Bone fragments from his left leg mixed with blood were splattered all over the ground!

With each pluck of the string, Gu Yanzhi let out a scream, the sound growing weaker and weaker until it could only make a hoarse sound, like a broken bellows leaking air.

He lay on the ground, his limbs mangled beyond recognition, only his chest rising and falling slightly, his eyes wide open, filled with terror.

Shen Qinghou's fingers were still moving, the strings of the zither were plucked and made to hum, the sound waves were like knives, cutting into Gu Yanzhi's body, cutting through his skin, cutting through his muscles, cutting through his bones.

He watched Gu Yanzhi's agonizing expression, his facial muscles contorted, saliva mixed with blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, as he strummed the strings and roared, "My mother is gone!!! You beat my mother to death!!! You'll pay with your lives!!!"

He released his grip, stood up, and took two steps back.

His fingers pressed down on the strings again, this time plucking very slowly. Each string emitted a sharp vibrato, the sound waves like the sharpest knife, precisely cutting into Gu Yanzhi's chest.

The sound of ribs breaking exploded like popping beans. Gu Yanzhi's body arched violently, and mouthfuls of blood gushed from his mouth, mixed with fragments of shattered internal organs, spraying onto the ground in front of him, a glaringly red stain.