38 We Are All Cowards

A man dressed in a warden's uniform slowly walked to the pile of Chief's parts and knelt down. With trembling hands, he lifted Chief's head, carefully wiping the blood off it with white gloves.

"I'm late. I'm sorry," the man's voice choked, his eyes red and swollen.

With a rustling sound, a figure made of refined steel broke through the sand and stones, slowly standing up.

"Ptui..."

Noah spat out a mouthful of saliva mixed with sand and stones. The slap's force was actually quite ordinary, looking more intimidating than it was, especially compared to the strength of monstrous beings like Chief.

But his clothes suffered, torn to shreds by the sand and stones. He slowly turned his head to look at the man weeping not far away, who must be the second in command.

Two lines of small text caught his eye:

[Ability: Sandstone Sovereign S]

[Wealth: 38,000,000]

Another S-class ability. An elemental type, capable of controlling sand, stones, and similar materials, it was both a combat and functional ability. In his previous life, he had encountered such an ability once.

That person was also an S-class Sandstone Sovereign, who alone built a huge city out of sand and stone, claiming a territory and ruling over it, earning the nickname 'Lord of the Sands'. This shows the strength of such an ability.

An S-class ability was never mediocre, especially a versatile type like this. What made Noah even happier was that this person's wealth was a whopping thirty-eight million.

Adding Chief's materials, the total had even surpassed Hu Ye. The resources held by these two groups combined had already broken through a hundred million in wealth value, which in terms of money, was at least starting from ten billion.

No wonder he had such a hard time in his previous life, feeling as if the resources in Suzhou had evaporated into thin air, unreasonably scarce. How much resources could there be in the entire Suzhou? It turns out, most of them had been scavenged by these two groups.

But upon closer thought, it seems reasonable, appearing coincidental but actually inevitable.

Hu Ye had the advantage of a "celestial start" with resources readily available, like being the first to see the moon from a waterside pavilion.

'Sinners Island' crushed everything with its formidable strength. Both groups awakened at the best possible times, and having their own teams, they were able to find a massive amount of resources quickly.

For Hu Ye, hoarding stuff with his wide-area space was not difficult. And for Sinners Island, paving the way with two S-class monsters made things even easier.

Both parties operated in the shadows, ruthlessly eliminating any competition. Such cancer! Absolute apocalyptic cancer! Hoarding so much resources, how are others supposed to survive?

Am I also a cancer now?

"Well, no problem then, truly delightful!"

The second in command turned his head, eyes red with hatred, and glared at Noah, emitting a deep-seated loathing. "Who are you, and why? Why did you kill my brother? We have no quarrel with you."

Noah twisted his body, loosening some stiffness, and with the sound of metal clashing, he lightly jumped to a spot not far from the second in command.

Noah looked at him with disdain and scoffed, "Why pretend to be sheep when we are all wolves?"

"When you were distributing flyers everywhere to lure those ordinary people to their deaths, did you not consider that you might also attract a demon who could take your lives?"

"Unfortunately, I am that demon you attracted. Encountering me is just your bad luck."

The second in command looked at Noah with resentment, "Just for those ordinary people, you killed my brother?"

Noah shrugged, "Not exactly. If anything, there's not much difference between us. Essentially, we are all predators who prey on the weak."

"You enjoy plundering the fates of ordinary people, imprisoning them and ruling over their lives and deaths because, as former prisoners, you also lost control over your fate. Once you gained power, the first thing you thought of was to dominate the fates of others."

"Because you are cowards, you are afraid, in fear, so you donned the most fearsome prison guard uniforms to become the aggressors."

"You and your brother were probably just small fry in prison, frequently bullied, right? Your brother must have often gone hungry, the scar on your forehead looks like it was caused by a cigarette burn, and how's your dignity doing?"

"Am I right? Mr. Prisoner in a guard's skin."

The second in command, hit where it hurt by Noah's words, suddenly stood up, and a giant fist made of sand and stones smashed towards Noah.

"Enough, shut up!"

Noah, not backing down, activated 'Super Charge' and swung his fist to meet the attack.

With a loud bang, the sandy fist was shattered.

"Getting angry?"

"I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush, I haven't finished speaking."

"Do you know why I didn't leave immediately after killing your brother? Because I was waiting for you to come and deliver your head."

As Noah finished speaking, hundreds of steel bars floated up behind him, shooting towards the second in command.

"Who kills who is not yet decided. I'll have you join my brother!" the second in command snorted coldly, his body radiating an earthy yellow glow, and a pair of giant sandstone hands burst from the ground beneath him.

The sandstone hands alternated in front, blocking all the incoming steel bars.

Noah, already poised, surged forward in a burst of energy and leapt high into the air with a flash of lightning, smashing towards the second in command.

Seeing Noah leap into the air, the second in command showed a disdainful expression.

With no leverage in the air, he would be at his mercy.

But then, with a slight stomp of his foot, a giant hand, over ten meters wide, burst from the earth, transforming from palm to fist, and smashed towards Noah in the air.

"Hmph, die, fool."

This strike contained his full force, enough to flatten even a body cast in iron. The only person who could have withstood this attack was the one with 'Super Charge,' but he was already dead.

However, at that moment, he heard a series of chilling syllables from above that made his soul tremble.

"Super Charge."

In the instant before the giant hand could crush him, Noah activated 'Super Charge' and countered.

With a 'whoosh,' Noah's body turned into a cannonball, effortlessly piercing through the giant hand. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of the second in command. As they passed, he snatched the throat with a claw and smashed it fiercely to the ground.

Holding down the second in command, they slid several meters on the ground, leaving a deep scratch before finally coming to a stop.

"Ugh..."

The second in command tasted sweetness in his throat, and a mouthful of blood was vomited out.

Noah's voice slowly rose, "Actually, I am just like you. We are all cowards. I am also afraid of being powerless, afraid of betrayal, afraid of having my fate controlled by others, afraid of being chopped in the leg and thrown into a mass grave like in my previous life, living like an animal, struggling on the edge of death by eating rotten corpses."

"So in this life, I must become stronger than anyone else, and for this, I will spare no expense!"