Start with push-ups to gain experience

In the early hours of the morning, Haitian Garden was shrouded in a continuous curtain of rain.

On the distant ring road, occasionally one or two car headlights pierced through the mist, tearing a brief moment of brightness before disappearing back into the darkness.

The entire apartment building seemed to have fallen asleep, with only the rustling sound of raindrops hitting the green belt echoing in the night sky.

Click.

The security door was gently pushed open and then closed behind him.

Fang Cheng stepped into the house.

He didn't turn on the light, but took off his sneakers, which were slightly muddy, in the entryway and neatly placed them next to the shoe cabinet.

With a casual flick of his wrist, the shoulder bag, slung over his shoulder, traced an arc and landed precisely on the sofa cushion in the living room some distance away.

Then, barefoot, he stepped onto the cold floor tiles and walked straight into the kitchen.

As you open the large freezer where food is stored, a wave of cold air hits you.

Fang Cheng reached out and took out a bottle of mineral water, unscrewed the cap, tilted his head back and gulped down more than half of the bottle.

The cool liquid slid down his throat and into his stomach, giving him a slight jolt of energy.

He took the remaining half-bottle of water to the living room, stopped in front of the wide French windows, and quietly looked at the city outside shrouded in torrential rain.

The clouds in the sky hung low, a dark, oppressive mass.

Suddenly, a thick bolt of lightning tore through the night sky.

The silvery light shone through the glass, illuminating his face.

Fang Cheng was only wearing a black T-shirt and sweatpants.

With each breath, the muscles in his chest and back undulate slightly, revealing strong, defined lines.

Despite walking through the torrential rain, not a single patch of his clothes was soaked from head to toe.

Protected by his protective aura, the rain didn't even touch the hair on his skin.

Fang Cheng's eyes were bright and his face was calm.

The lingering smell of blood that couldn't be washed off gradually dissipated with the breeze blowing in through the side ventilation window.

You'd never guess they'd just been through a horrific massacre two hours earlier; they looked like they'd just returned from vacation.

After leaving Heping Farm, they squeezed into the dilapidated van and took the extremely weak Li Jie back to Yunyin Xiaozhu in the suburbs of Jiangbei overnight.

Lin Chuqiao and the professors were unable to sleep and sat around in the living room all night waiting.

Only when they saw Fang Cheng return safely with Li Jie and step through the gate did their hearts finally settle down.

Fang Cheng lingered briefly at Yunyin Xiaozhu, and after watching Li Jie take the medicine and his injuries stabilize, he gave him a few instructions on the follow-up arrangements.

They were instructed to keep a low profile for the time being, while also being wary of a potential counterattack from the Black Shark organization, and to report any news to him immediately.

Afterwards, Fang Cheng drove alone to Haitian Garden.

He didn't go to Jiuchang Street tonight, nor did he return to Wanghu Town.

Going back at this time would only disturb the family members who are already asleep, and many things would be difficult to explain.

As for the mess left behind at Heping Farm, he had already made proper arrangements on the way back.

Fang Cheng first called Chen Chen of the Red Tiger Gang and asked him for help.

The old fox agreed readily over the phone and immediately dispatched his most capable subordinate to the south of the city overnight.

According to Chen Chen, the Red Tiger Gang had done a lot of dirty work for the Noah Organization in the past, and had specially trained a team of "cleaners" who were good at handling the aftermath.

They were extremely skilled at destroying bodies and eliminating evidence, demonstrating a perfect match for their profession.

At the same time, Fang Cheng also asked Chen Chen to pass on a message to the frightened farm couple: if they were smart enough, they would know how to keep quiet about it from the outside world.

Of course, this only applies to the police and special investigation teams.

If Utopia wants to find out the whereabouts of Ghost Fox, it only needs to ask the people at the Black Shark organization's Xia Kingdom base, and they will know everything.

After settling the aggrieved party in, Fang Cheng made another phone call to Zhou Yongnian.

He specifically instructed the Red Tiger Gang to leave two Black Shark Killer corpses at the scene, so that Zhou Yongnian would lead a team to investigate after Chen Chen's men finished cleaning up.

If the case falls into Uncle Zhou's hands, it will be classified as an ordinary, serious kidnapping case.

According to the pre-arranged confessions, the dead ghost fox and others were revealed to be bandits who kidnapped the farm owner out of greed.

During the division of the spoils, they clashed with a mysterious third party who intervened, and were ultimately killed in a shootout.

With Zhou Yongnian cooperating within the police force, the impact of this heinous incident that led to the complete annihilation of the Black Shark organization will be forcibly downplayed, and it will certainly not cause too much of a stir in Dongdu.

Fang Cheng drank the last sip of water, then slightly tightened his fingertips, causing the plastic bottle to shrink into a shriveled plastic ball in his palm.

With a clatter, it was casually tossed into the nearby trash can.

As his thoughts raced, Fang Cheng recalled the words that Ghost Fox had shouted before he died.

The ideal world is secretly planning a groundbreaking project.

If successful, it might be enough to change the entire situation of the Xia Kingdom.

Although Ghost Fox is only a peripheral member of the ideal world, half of them are taking advantage of the situation to boast and try to deceive others and survive.

But Fang Cheng knew very well that the information behind these words was probably true.

Because Xuanzhen, who died at his hands, had also expressed similar sentiments.

The old monster's words were full of Utopia's contempt for the old order and its grand ambition to build a new world.

Fang Cheng narrowed his eyes, his pupils reflecting the lightning that streaked across the sky once more.

Could it be that the focus of the other party's so-called "grand plan" is actually on the Xia Kingdom?

It even has intricate connections with Xishan, where strange events have recently occurred repeatedly.
Fang Cheng stared at the dense rain lines outside the window, standing there pondering for a long time.

Finally, he chuckled to himself and shook his head.

Regardless of what kind of illusion Utopia is creating, and no matter how many top experts from all over the world will gather in Dongdu next.

One thing he knew perfectly well was that he would eventually have to confront the leader of that mysterious ideal world.

This is not only a revenge battle to settle old scores with the father, but also a fateful duel for a martial arts practitioner to reach the pinnacle of the world and challenge the strongest.

The true energy within his body seemed to sense his will, flowing through his meridians and emitting a series of low rumbling sounds.

Fang Cheng clenched his fist slightly, his eyes flashing with a sharp light.

Since the other party wants to turn Dongdu into a place of trouble, he will take this opportunity to crush all the monsters hiding in the shadows without leaving a single one alive.

Thinking of this, Fang Cheng's mind stirred slightly, and a light blue screen appeared before his eyes.

Lines of densely packed notification messages scrolled by rapidly, like a waterfall.

Boxing Experience +40

Boxing Lv3 (719/1000)

[Sanda Experience +30]

【Sanda Lv3 (385/1000)】

[Muay Thai Experience +30]

Muay Thai Level 3 (121/1000)

[Palm Technique Experience +50]

【Palm Technique Lv2 (63/500)】

[Qigong Experience +20]

【Qigong lv3 (347/1000)】 Fang Cheng raised an eyebrow as he looked at the series of data.

Tonight's one-sided, overwhelming battle, while not requiring much effort from him, yielded a considerable amount of skill experience.

All close-combat skills are progressing steadily, especially "boxing," which is getting closer and closer to breaking through level 3 and moving towards the level 4 king level.

As for the skills of "palm techniques" and "qigong," they were honed through repeated combat, accumulating experience and gradually improving.

This is reflected not only in the progress bar data on the panel, but also in the various ways of using skills that I have figured out in my daily life.

As his basic skills became more solid, Fang Cheng's techniques for using true qi in combat, including the process of condensing qi into qi, became increasingly smooth and skillful, as natural as using his own limbs.

Their ever-increasing strength has solidified into absolute self-confidence.

Fang Cheng showed no hesitation in facing the challenges ahead; instead, he felt an eager anticipation.

Information about increasing experience scrolled upwards, and the text on the screen flickered slightly.

Immediately afterwards, even more dense notification messages appeared below, the lines overlapping and almost forming a continuous sheet on the retina:
[You possess a rare item that allows you to absorb the life energy of your prey after killing it, increasing your Spirit by 0.02.]

[You possess a rare item that allows you to absorb the life energy of your prey after killing it, increasing your constitution by 0.01.]

………………

[You possess a rare artifact, but failed to absorb the life energy of your prey after killing it.]

[You possess a rare item that allows you to absorb the life energy of your prey after killing it, increasing your Spirit by 0.05.]

[You possess a rare item that allows you to absorb the life energy of your prey after killing it, increasing your constitution by 0.02.]

………………

Fang Cheng's gaze lingered on the long string of flashing characters.

He wasn't surprised by these extra gains; he had already expected them.

This is the special effect brought about by the transformed demon mask, "Feast of Slaughter".

It's like a sophisticated water pump, forcibly extracting the remaining life energy of the target the moment it's killed.

Half of it was used to nourish the mask itself, while the other half was fed back into the body of its host.

Such methods are extremely domineering.

With a thought, the screen on the retina switches accordingly.

A semi-transparent personal attribute panel appears:

【Strength: 80】

[Agility: 81]

[Physical Fitness: 95]

【Spirit: 71】

The values ​​of the four basic attributes do not appear to have changed on the surface.

Fang Cheng lowered his gaze and then clicked on the detailed progress bar hidden behind the numerical values.

At this moment, the progress bar representing "spirit" has quietly climbed to 75%, while the progress bar representing "physical condition" has also crossed the 50% mark.

It should be noted that his mental attributes had just broken through once not long ago.

Now, after less than half an hour of slaughter, the progress bar is once again nearing full capacity.

Fang Cheng made a rough estimate in his mind.

Tonight, the killing of over ten elite Black Shark assassins, along with the S-level superhuman Ghost Fox, resulted in him losing approximately 0.7 points of his mental attribute and 0.35 points of his physical attribute.

For this mask, life energy representing spiritual attributes seems easier to obtain, while life energy representing physical constitution is relatively more difficult to obtain.

The absorbed energy values ​​of 0.01 to 0.03 mentioned in the notification message likely originated from those bronze and silver medal killers.

The absorbed energy, ranging from 0.05 to 0.08, clearly originated from a more powerful and vigorous top-tier assassin.

Even the final stroke, which showed a value above 0.15 and caused the progress bar to surge dramatically, was definitely thanks to Ghost Fox.

Therefore, the more people killed and the stronger the target, the greater the energy absorbed by the mask.

The moment this thought took shape in his mind, an uncontrollable surge of excitement rushed up Fang Cheng's spine to the back of his head.

My heart pounded twice in my chest.

In the depths of my heart, it seemed as if a seductive voice was whispering.

As long as he wears this mask and abandons all worldly concerns to slaughter indiscriminately, his strength can soar like a rocket without any bottlenecks.

He will slay gods and Buddhas alike until he becomes invincible.

The extreme temptation of taking shortcuts is far more potent than any addictive drug.

A night breeze carrying raindrops blew into the living room through the gaps in the ventilation window, hitting Fang Cheng's face and bare arms, raising goosebumps.

He took a deep breath, and his boiling blood quickly cooled down.

The fleeting fervor that had just risen in his eyes was extinguished as if doused with ice water, returning to a deep calm.

The end of a shortcut is often an abyss of no return.

This attribute, which is forcibly plundered from external objects, is ultimately not the original power that one can acquire through hard training, shedding blood and sweat.

Because that represents the mindset unique to the strong.

The process by which the mask continuously feeds back its power is essentially a bait thrown out by the "Lord of Slaughter" who resides in another dimension.

He is using this most direct physical feedback to amplify the greed and bloodlust in the host's heart little by little, until the host completely loses his true nature.

A name involuntarily surfaced in Fang Cheng's mind—"Bai Xiao".

The earliest recorded appearance of him was that of a notorious murderer.

The other party also happened to wear the same mask by chance back then, and his strength initially increased by leaps and bounds, killing all kinds of masters and powerful families.

But what awaited him was a complete breakdown of reason, turning him into a heartless beast.

Ultimately, amidst endless battles, they were attacked by various forces, ending up spiritually exhausted and without a trace.

As for those successors who inherited the title of "White Owl" and put on the mask again, they all could not escape the fate of losing their reason and became bloodthirsty puppets controlled by their killing instincts.

Thinking of this, Fang Cheng turned around, walked barefoot on the floor tiles, and slowly walked to the sofa in the center of the living room.

He bent down and opened the canvas satchel that was casually tossed on the sofa cushion.

Reaching inside, he pulled out the dark red demon mask.

Outside the window, a bolt of lightning ripped through the night sky, briefly illuminating the living room.

The cold light shone on the surface of the mask, and the material, which resembled congealed blood, shimmered with a chilling, eerie glow.

The two slightly curved short horns on his forehead pierced the air and split into the gaping maw at the base of his ears, with fangs arranged in an interlocking pattern.

From a certain angle, the mask's empty eyes were silently gazing back at Fang Cheng.

The exaggerated curve of his lips seemed to be a silent, sinister grin, exuding an extreme degree of seduction.

Fang Cheng held the edge of the mask with one hand, feeling the hard, bone-like texture with a touch of warmth in his fingertips.

He looked at the cursed artifact, a faint smile curving his lips.

"Want me to feed you? Let's see if you have the appetite."

He casually tossed the mask back into his bag, zipped it up with a "rip," and completely sealed off the faint, sinister aura in the darkness.

Then, he turned and walked to the bathroom to wash away the last trace of blood on his body.

Time flies, I have to get up early to exercise tomorrow. (End of Chapter)