Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

thump.

In that instant, Chen Guohua felt as if time had frozen.

The heartbeat, which had been as faint as a candle flickering in the wind, roared like an engine fueled by nuclear fuel after that strange sound.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

An indescribable torrent of scorching heat pumped from his heart, instantly washing over his withered and shrunken blood vessels.

That wasn't ordinary blood flow; it was pure energy, a violent release of life force once it was ignited.

Even without instructions or anyone to teach him, Chen Guohua instinctively understood everything the moment the thing called the "Seed of Soul" took root.

[Life Burning]

[By burning one's own life force, one can temporarily gain a significant boost to physical attributes. The more life force consumed, the stronger the increase in strength, agility, and healing power. This state will continue until the user voluntarily stops it, or until life force is completely exhausted.]

Chen Guohua could clearly sense his lifespan rapidly slipping away, like sand in an hourglass.

Under the devastating effects of uremia, even if he clung to life, he had less than two years left to live.

The recent series of tragic blows have put him on the brink of death, and tonight may be his last.

But now, control of that "hourglass" has been handed over to him.

He could use his remaining life as fuel, burning it at ten or a hundred times the speed, in exchange for a brief but terrifying sublimation of this mutilated body.

The price is dying even faster.

But so what?

Chen Guohua slowly got up from the ground.

His spine no longer ached, his joints were no longer stiff, and the surge of power made him feel as if he had returned to his strongest self thirty years ago, or even... far beyond his limits!

He lowered his head, glanced at his palms where the veins were bulging, and slowly grinned, revealing a smile that was a mixture of ecstasy and ferocity.

He traded his life, destined to rot in a hospital bed, for the power to now take the life of his enemy.

This deal is such a great bargain!

"Is this... the power of the demon? Xiaoyu, I've come to avenge you!"

Chen Guohua picked up the old fruit knife that had fallen to the ground.

The blade gleamed coldly in the moonlight, reflecting in his eyes, which were no longer cloudy but burning with a dark, eerie light.

……

Inside the house, Zhao Dayou was still cursing and swearing.

"What bad luck! That old geezer ruined my appetite for a chicken leg." He slammed the half-eaten bone onto the table and pulled out a tissue to wipe his mouth haphazardly.

"Alright, that's enough." Li Xiulian brought out a plate of sliced ​​watermelon from the kitchen. "That kind of penniless bastard can only bark at the door. Once we get the final payment from that young master, we'll sell this dilapidated house and buy a bigger one in the city center. Who cares about that poor bastard then?"

"That's true." Zhao Dayou chuckled and reached for the watermelon.

Just then.

"Thump, thump, thump."

The knocking sounded again.

"Damn it! Is this never going to end?!"

A surge of anger welled up inside him, and he slammed the watermelon back onto the table with a bang, his bulky body springing up from the sofa.

It's that old coffin wretch Chen again! Does he really think I'm made of clay? That kick just now seems too light!

He slipped on his slippers and dashed straight to the door.

"Click".

The lock turned, and the door was suddenly pulled open again.

"Old man, do you really want to die—"

Zhao Dayou's face, full of fat, trembled as he prepared to deliver another kick, just like before.

However, his angry shouting stopped abruptly.

A flash of cold light, as fast as lightning cutting through the night, exploded before his eyes without warning.

There was no unnecessary talk, no hesitation whatsoever.

Chen Guohua's arm blurred into a blur as the fruit knife in his hand precisely sliced ​​into Zhao Dayou's neck, instantly severing the carotid artery. Then, it flew out from the other side, accompanied by warm drops of blood.

"Heh...goo..."

Zhao Dayou's eyes widened, and he instinctively covered his neck with both hands.

Blood gushed out from between his fingers like a high-pressure water gun, splashing onto the shoe cabinet in the entryway and splattering onto the white TV wall opposite, drawing a shocking scarlet fan-shaped pattern.

He staggered backward, his massive body slumping heavily onto the sofa behind him, his head drooping limply at an exaggerated angle.

Even in death, a lingering rage and disbelief remained in his eyes.

"ah--!!!"

A piercing scream tore through the air in the room.

Li Xiulian, who was carrying sliced ​​fruit out of the kitchen, witnessed the moment her husband's throat was slit.

The fruit plate in his hand crashed to the ground with a loud bang, scattering shards of glass everywhere.

Chen Guohua looked at her: "Xiaoyu, Daddy's here to avenge you!"

He roared, his voice hoarse and off-key, filled with boiling hatred like magma and a kind of frenzied madness on the verge of collapse.

Li Xiulian was terrified and turned to run back to the kitchen to get a knife for self-defense, or perhaps she wanted to close the kitchen door.

But in front of Chen Guohua in this state, her movements were as slow as a snail.

Chen Guohua took a step forward, his figure darting to the kitchen door like a cheetah. He grabbed Li Xiulian's permed hair with his left hand and pulled it sharply backward.

"No...don't kill me! Don't kill me! You can have all the money! You can have it all..."

"Pfft!"

The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh interrupted her pleas for mercy.

The knife didn't pierce her heart directly, but instead plunged deep into her abdomen.

Chen Guohua did not immediately draw his knife. The red light in his eyes intensified, and the overwhelming hatred in his heart made him unwilling to give this vicious woman a quick death.

He jerked the knife handle violently, then slashed upwards with a sharp motion!

Li Xiulian let out a pig-like scream, then collapsed, blood mixed with fragments of internal organs gushing out.

She wasn't dead yet; she was convulsing in agony on the ground, her hands futilely trying to push her protruding intestines back in.

"Bang!"

A dull thud came from the bedroom as something fell to the ground.

It's Zhao Xiaoya!

The girl who distorted the truth online and told him to "face reality" was now barefoot, scrambling towards the bedroom window, trying to jump out and escape.

"Trying to run away?!"

Chen Guohua casually pulled the blood-stained knife from Li Xiulian's body, leaving a trail of blood droplets, and strode towards the bedroom.

As soon as Zhao Xiaoya climbed onto the windowsill, a large, blood-stained hand grabbed her ankle tightly.

"Ah! Let me go! Let me go!"

Zhao Xiaoya was forcibly dragged back to the floor.

Seeing Chen Guohua wielding a sharp blade, looking like a demon, she finally broke down, kneeling on the ground, tears streaming down her face, and kowtowing.

"Uncle... Uncle, I was wrong! That's not what we wanted to do! It really wasn't what we wanted to do!"

"It's Wei Zixuan! It's Young Master Wei!" Zhao Xiaoya spoke at breakneck speed, desperate to survive. "That rapist isn't my brother! My brother is just a driver! The real culprit is Wei Zixuan, the eldest son of the Wei Group! He gave us three million to have lawyer Zhang Jingyi arrange for my brother to take the blame!"

"Those words... those words were taught to us by Attorney Zhang Jingyi! He said that as long as we ruin Xiaoyu's reputation, public opinion won't sympathize with you, and the sentence will be lighter... Uncle, the grievances have their source, the debts have their debtors, go find Wei Zixuan, go find Zhang Jingyi! Please, please let me go..."

Wei Zixuan... Zhang Jingyi...

Chen Guohua's breathing became rapid and heavy.

It turned out to be the case.

It turns out that in these people's eyes, his daughter was just a plaything that could be bought with money, a tool that could be splashed with dirty water at will.

Taking the blame?

Ruin his reputation?

"Good...very good..."

Chen Guohua laughed, laughing until tears mixed with blood streamed down his face.

"Whether it was your idea or not, you did it."

"You're the ones who spilled the dirty water."

"Since you've become an accomplice to the ghosts, then go down and become a ghost yourself!"

"No--"

Amid Zhao Xiaoya's desperate screams, Chen Guohua, filled with all his anger and resentment, plunged the knife in his hand into the young body.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

One cut, two cuts, three cuts...

He lost all composure, like a wild beast venting its rage, frantically stabbing Zhao Xiaoya in the abdomen and chest.

He stabbed countless times, until one furious, all-out thrust, the blade snapped shut with a "crack" as it was firmly wedged into his ribs, refusing to budge no matter how hard he tried.

This sudden resistance made Chen Guohua pause abruptly.

Amidst his heavy breathing, he finally saw that the girl in front of him was already a bloody mess and completely lifeless.