Long after Shi Long disappeared from the horizon, Huang Wen still stood and watched. He felt threatened, to find out an existence such as Shi Long, for the first time he felt fear.

Shi Long was the first man who had the skills and stats at his level or even above him. Even when he fought against Zhang Hu, Huang Wen didn't feel such intimidation coming out of him. It was true that Zhang Hu could easily beat him in their first few bouts, but as soon as Huang Wen learned of Zhang Hu's strength. Huang Wen could use his speed to overcome his weaknesses.

Even if he couldn't beat Zhang Hu due to his inexperience, Zhang Hu couldn't beat him either.

Shi Long on the other hand, could match him in speed, strength and skills. Shi Long had skills that attack one's mind, read one's mind and a physical attack with ice attributes.

"... where did he come from? Did he come from Fuzhou like me?"

Many thought passed through his mind. He couldn't get rid of the feeling of threat coming from Shi Long's existence. After he met Zhang Hu few days ago, he hadn't had time to concentrate on improving his level. He stuck on level 19 for quite some time, only when they planned to help the villagers to fight Shi Long's group that he had his mind on improving his level.

Now that he knew how to suppress his presence, he would have many chance to hunt zombies and demons but if he did, then Zhang Tian Yi and the other won't be able to improve their level much. Huang Wen must kill most of the population of zombies and demons if he wished to improve his level fast.

"Five years... he will train like hell within that 5 years... He didn't need to share his experience with other people too. I bet he won't.", Huang Wen felt his chest tightened.

"Friends... he had no friends... he lives for himself...", he wondered whether Shi Long chose the right path after all.

Huang Wen analysed himself and found him neither that or this. He wasn't like Zhang Hu who put complete trust to his people and does his best to nurture them. He wasn't like Shi Long who only trusted himself and improving himself without any care for the other. He tried to emulate Zhang Hu, but now he wondered if that was the right choice in this new world.

"What should I do? Is it okays to be lukewarm?"

Many thoughts, passed his mind. Many worries filled his heart. Few days ago, he felt Zhang Hu had opened a path for him but now after he met Shi Long he doubted the wisdom in that path.

"Huang Wen! Are you okay?", someone called him, Huang Wen turned and saw Tian Zhong followed by the other four were running toward him, behind them tens of other men followed, one of them was Yao Ming.

"Hoi, boy! They said you're fighting the boss, where is he now?", Zhang Tian Yi asked.

"Did he hurt you?", Chen Wu Xuang asked.

Huang Wen could feel their sincerity, even from Zhang Tian Yi roughness, he smiled, "We fought and no one can get the better of the other. At the end, I agreed to let him free and in exchange he agreed to leave this village without harming anyone."

"Oh... thank God... he finally leaves us alone...", some of the villagers sighed in relief.

"He said he will come again after 5 years though...", Huang Wen said sheepishly.

"We could think about that later, if he could fight you head to head without losing, then none of us can match him. It's better that he leaves now without taking more victims. He could train within that 5 years, but it's not like we'll be lazying around within that 5 years either.", Chen Wu Xuang patted Huang Wen.

"It's the first time I felt frightened during a fight...", Huang Wen said.

"Hmm... from now on, you don't need to hold back when we met zombies. We improved a lot since we make this journey with you. You need to improve as well.", said Liu Wang Yun and the others nodded their heads.

Huang Wen smiled and said, "Thanks..."

"Wait..., aren't you going to stay here? Or at least one of you...?", one of the villagers asked.

Huang Wen, Zhang Tian Yi, Chen Wu Xuang, Ma Heng, Liu Wang Yun and Tian Zhong were looking at each other. They were concerned for the villagers as well but they were on a mission.

Finally Zhang Tian Yi answered, "We came from Fuzhou, if you wish you could go to Fuzhou and join with our main force. I don't think the journey will be too hard for you, since the route from this village to Fuzhou, more or less are safe, after we cleared most of the zombies on our way here. Beside some of you already had the ability to protect yourself and the other."

"Can't one of you lead us the way to Fuzhou?", someone else asked.

Zhang Tian Yi frowned, "Hmm... I can draw a map for you but unfortunately we could only help you this far."

Yao Ming walked to the front and faced the other villagers, "Brothers, aren't we men as well? Are we knelt and bowed down to other too long that we forget how to protect our families? These men already opened a path to safety for us, do we ask them to take care us like babbies, until we reach Fuzhou too?"

Those who heard Yao Ming's word nodded their heads.

"Yao Ming is right.... we've been lived under fear for too long...", one of them said and the other agreed.

Huang Wen, Zhang Tian Yi and the other four glad that the villagers knew how to stand for themselves.

"But before you leave, why don't you have one more day or two in our village? We want to show our gratitude as well and the mean time, you guys could tell us about your situation at Fuzhou.", one of the villagers voiced his mind and the other spoke their agreement instantly.

"What do you say?", Zhang Tian Yi asked Huang Wen, since the mission was his.

"I guess a day or two is fine. We will continue our journey after that.", Huang Wen gave it a thought and accepted.

All the villagers shouted in joy when they heard Huang Wen's answer. Together they returned to the village hall, they have many things to work on but at least for now they wanted to celebrate their victory. Many put their hope in Lei Jiang, place where their savior came from. Huang Wen felt peace in his heart, there were some doubt but as he looked around, he knew he made the right choice.

--------

Mean while, far from that village, Shi Long walked alone.

"Curse them all...!", his face twisted in anger.

"Heroes... heroes my a**...! Fools that's what they are...", he silently cursed at Huang Wen and his friends.

For a moment Shi Long remembered the glimpse of Huang Wen's mind when Huang Wen thought of his girls. Shi Long did read people's mind, he wasn't saw it in form of pictures or words, but more like sensations, he could feel every idea, thoughts or feelings.

Shi Long remembered how Huang Wen  remembered Zhang Xuan with such feeling of love and grateful.

"Hero... all he wanted to do is to sc*** her... he called himself hero... when it's nothing but lust. Why couldn't he be honest and said that he wants to f**k her!", the more Shi Long thought about Huang Wen the angrier he be.

"Puihh! Hah... He could think like that because he can't read her mind. He actually wants her love?", he spitted and curse.

Shi Long's mind brought him to the events that happened weeks ago. Just like Huang Wen, he killed a demon and absorbed the demon's soul. Since birth Shi Long lived in an orphanage ran by the state. He had no love for other people, but he just in that age where boys began to fall in love for the first time. It happened that one of the social workers who worked in that orphanage was a young woman in her twenties.

Her name was Wang Lien Hua. She was the flower among the thistles. She had beautiful long and curvy hair, her skin was milk white without any blemish or spot. She was tall with a long leg and generous curve on certain part of her body. For Shi Long she was perfect.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She also had a bright personality that drew people to her. Everyone felt she treated them special, including Shi Long. For a long time Shi Long wanted to confess his love to her but couldn't gather his courage to do so.

Until that happened.

When the zombies started to attack, the first thing that crossed Shi Long's mind was to go to safe Wang Lien Hua. It was on his way to her office, that he learned he could level up by killing zombies.

Similar to Huang Wen, this discovery brought changes to Shi Long' character. It turned him from a timid boy into someone with self confidence but deep inside he still the same person with low self esteem. Such that he kept it as a secret from other people, including Wang Lien Hua. When he arrived at her office, there were four other people in there. Shi Long still remembered the look on their face when they saw Shi Long killed the zombies and brought them to a safer place. It made him felt like he was on the top of the world.

Wang Lien Hua asked Shi Long to bring her to her parent's house. She told the other that it will be much safer there, since the apartment only had one entrance, which means it was easier for them to secure it from the zombies, unlike the orphanage that had many entrance and impossible to defend with few people.

Everyone agreed, since Shi Long didn't want the secret of his power revealed, he acted alone all along the way. He opened the path, he secured the path. He acted as vanguard and rearguard.

Since he was alone, he couldn't keep everyone safe but Shi Long didn't care. As long as Wang Lien Hua was safe, that was all on his mind. He would bring her home and then confessed. All the way to her home, his mind filled with fantasies. Sometimes when they found a place to hide and rest, Shi Long dared to take advantage over Wang Lien Hua.

It began with holding her hand. Shi Long pretended to unconsciously took her hand, when he led her into safety. When he saw she didn't object, he began to freely hold her hand anytime he wanted to.

From holding hand to place his hand on her back, and then on her hips, Shi Long bit by bit was more daring in his action toward Wang Lien Hua. While she coyly allowed him did all that, the way she accepted it, made Shi Long believed that she loved him too.

He looked after her and two other girls who survived so far. He would go out to find food and safe route for them to move forward. Shi Long risked his life, but he felt happy.

The other two girls began to compete in alluring him as well. Shi Long secretly enjoyed it but in his mind there was only Wang Lien Hua. He loved her so much that he was suppressing his desire. She did allow him to touch her, but she would stop him whenever his hand started to move into a more private area. It usually ended with kissing while her hand worked on his manhood. For Shi Long, this was paradise on earth. He wished nothing more than this, in fact since he was the one who went to find a safe route, he purposely took a longer route.

It all happened in the matter of days. Everything changed so much and so fast, that everyone overwhelmed by the changes but for Shi Long it was the happiest day.

Until one day when he killed the first demon. It wasn't warrior like Baihu, but one perverted necromancer. The demon was skillful at manipulating mind. The skill he got after he killed the demon was the mind reading skill.

He was delighted to learn the skill, in his fantasy he would use the power to read Wang Lien Hua's mind and found her desires. He would know how to made her went crazy with pleasure. He even fantasized that maybe she said no but actually with a little bit more effort, she would give in. Now that he could read her mind, he didn't need to worry about losing her by doing something that made her hate him.

Since we already knew how Shi Long ended up, we could easily guess what happened when he read her mind. Shi Long found out that Wang Lien Hua never loved him. She never wanted him the way he wanted her. She merely used him to reach her home and to find her parents. All the time, in her mind wasn't Shi Long but her fiancee. Despite all of his sacrifice, she never had any feeling for him.

Actually, who can blame her? Wasn't she being loyal to her fiancee, being loyal to the man she loved but surely that's now how Shi Long felt and thought.

That day amidst all the scream, the tears and the begging, Shi Long took her by force. The more she struggled, the more he desired her. Within a night, Shi Long changed into a totally different person. He took pleasure in her fear. He reached satisfaction as he felt her shame and pain. All night long he feasted on her without any restriction, by the time he finished she already died.

He was trembling from pleasure and when his eyes fell on the other girls. He read their mind and found how much they fear him as much as despise him.

None of them lived to see another day.

Early that morning between the state of waking up and dreaming, the demon appeared and had a conversation with him. Shi Long's part to fulfill his pervert desire, in exchange he would teach skills to Shi Long. When Shi Long agreed, the demon granted him the skill to attack people's mind with fear.

Since then he listened to that demon attentively, the demon never prevented him from fulfilling his own desire, in fact the demon joined him in the carnage. Whether it was a rape, murder or torturing people, both the demon and the man had similar desires and drew pleasure from a similar experience.

Now as he relived that memories, an evil grin appeared on his face, "Huang Wen... Huang Wen... one day I'll give your girls a visit...oh... but before that... I still have some unfinished business with that Little Lin... heh heh heh.... oh how happy her father to find her virginity intact... but I'll be the last one to laugh... I will return, I will definitely return...."

"Heh heh heh.... hero? Surely they must exist. Only then we villain can enjoy their sorrow... Their pain..."

Just as Shi Long obsessed with Wang Lien Hua in the past. Now he was obsessed with Huang Wen. Huang Wen's existence filled his mind and heart.

"Now where should I go? Perhaps we should secretly sneak to Fuzhou? Heh heh heh, how about that?", he asked.

"Far... we should go as far as you could. We need more strength.", suddenly the demon talked to him, for the first time the demon didn't support his idea.

"What? Are you afraid of him?", Shi Long suddenly angry.

"No... not him, but the demon inside him. Do you see his sword?", the demon asked.

"Hmm... what about that sword? Is it special? Let's take it from him then."

"The hilt. Do you see the tiger head at the end of the hilt? And it is a white jade. That was Baihu's (White tiger) sword. Baihu was a demon warrior, far stronger than me. He was my sworn enemy. I want to kill him but now isn't the time yet. If that boy carries Baihu's sword, that means he killed Baihu and absorbs Baihu. We should never underestimate him. Baihu won't let him died easily, if the boy died we'll absorb Baihu, you and me, he will grow weaker after absorbed for the second time.", the demon explained, there was hint of fear within his voice.

"We should leave this place immediately.", the demon urged Shi Long.

"But where?", Shi Long hesitated, now that he heard fear in the demon's voice, he began to feel afraid as well.

"To the north, east or west, hell if I care!", the demon almost cried and Shi Long began to run.