Hearing Yang Bin's words, Zhao Kun's anxious heart finally settled.
He'd never imagined a day would come when he'd worry about someone not wanting him-even when he was offering his life.
But after this many days in the apocalypse, he'd accepted reality. Only by following the strong could you survive.
On the other side, Zhou Xiong watched Zhao Kun latch onto Yang Bin's leg, and his expression darkened immediately.
He acted untouchable in front of Zhao Kun and the others, but he knew the truth. Against those three freaks, forget his current numbers-even at full strength, they wouldn't stand a chance.
He'd just watched them butcher Tier-3 Zombies like stray dogs. They were very likely Tier 4 already.
It had only been a few days. Tier 4. That was genuinely terrifying.
His taekwondo club only respected raw power, but Zhou Xiong had enough self-awareness to know: against a Tier-4 Evolver, he had zero hope.
He'd originally planned to stay invisible. Maybe they wouldn't even notice him.
But now that Zhao Kun had linked up with them, invisibility was off the table. He'd nearly killed one of their people just moments ago. If they used Zhao Kun's crew to settle that score, he was done.
Behind Zhou Xiong stood seven or eight taekwondo club members and two guys from Dormitory Building 21.
Those two from Building 21 hesitated briefly, then stepped out from behind Zhou Xiong. They walked up to Yang Bin's group with ingratiating smiles.
"Boss Yang Bin, what a coincidence! So, uh... we're actually with Boss Zhao Kun. How about we follow you from now on too?"
Zhao Kun's face twisted the instant he saw them. He wanted nothing more than to beat to death these guys who were trimming sails to the wind and letting the guest usurp the host's role.
But he didn't move. He understood clearly-since he'd chosen to follow Yang Bin, every decision belonged to Yang Bin now. If he overstepped, it would only breed distrust.
Yang Bin noticed Zhao Kun's expression and asked, "What's the deal with these two?"
Disgust flickered across Zhao Kun's face. He recounted everything that had just happened.
When he finished, a cold glint passed through Yang Bin's eyes. If there was one thing he despised most, it was betrayal.
"Boss Yang Bin, don't just take Zhao Kun's side of the story. We were only playing along to survive-we never actually meant to betray anyone," the two rushed to explain.
Yang Bin ignored them entirely. He looked at Zhao Kun. "How do you want to handle it?"
Zhao Kun stared at the two men. His grip tightened on the steel pipe, and both of them flinched.
"Boss Zhao Kun, you... you're not going to kill us, are you?" one said, face pale with fear.
"Boss Zhao Kun, come on-we followed you for so long. It's not worth it over something this small," the other pleaded.
Zhao Kun raised the steel pipe. Then slowly lowered it.
"Get lost. Don't let me see you again."
"Okay! We're going-we're going right now!"
The two exhaled in relief, dropped all talk of joining, and hurried toward the exit.
Bang. Bang.
Two skulls burst apart. Headless bodies crumpled to the floor.
Yang Bin pulled back the Barbell Rod, his voice flat and cold. "People like that-you don't kill them, what, you're saving them for the holidays?"
Everyone present froze. No one had expected him to be that ruthless.
Zhao Kun's heart clenched. He understood. Yang Bin wasn't just killing them. He was making a statement-about what happened to traitors.
After the bodies dropped, Yang Bin turned his gaze toward Zhou Xiong's group.
"I hear you've been pretty full of yourselves."
"No, no-absolutely not."
"You bullied my brothers, and you're telling me you weren't acting tough?"
"But... they weren't your brothers back then!" Zhou Xiong's face scrunched like he was about to cry.
"Doesn't matter. They're my brothers now. You messed with my brothers. That needs settling."
"What kind of settling?" Zhou Xiong said, voice tight. He could tell from Yang Bin's demeanor-this wasn't going to end cleanly.
"Here's what we'll do. Since this is between you, you'll settle it yourselves. Can't say I'm not giving you a fair shot. You fight Zhao Kun. You win, your whole group walks. You lose, you all stay."
"You're serious?!"
Zhou Xiong's eyes lit up instantly. He and Zhao Kun were both Tier-2 Peak, sure-but he was a taekwondo black belt. There was no way he'd lose to Zhao Kun in a straight fight.
Meanwhile, Zhao Kun startled and blurted, "Brother Bin, this... maybe we should reconsider?"
"Scared?"
"Not scared. It's just... I might not be his match." Zhao Kun shifted uncomfortably. "I don't want to embarrass you."
"Just tell me-do you have the guts to fight or not?"
"I do!" Zhao Kun said, dead serious.
He knew this was Yang Bin testing him. Even knowing he'd probably lose, he couldn't back down. Worst case, he'd fight to the death.
"Good man."
Yang Bin clapped him on the shoulder, then turned to Zhou Xiong. "What do you say?"
"I agree-absolutely I agree!" Zhou Xiong said quickly. "But how do I know you won't go back on your word? What if you're sore losers, or your people jump in?"
"Relax. I give you my word. This fight is just between you two. Completely fair. You win, you walk out of here. My people won't lay a finger on you." Yang Bin's tone was perfectly earnest.
"Fine. I hope you mean it. Don't do something that'll make people lose respect for you."
"Relax. My word is good." Yang Bin smiled. "Since you've agreed, it's settled. You're both pretty banged up-rest five minutes, patch yourselves up, then we start."
"Deal."
Both sides nodded. They sat down on the ground to recover.
Zhou Xiong sneered at Zhao Kun. "Hah. Fighting me? I have no idea where you found the balls."
Zhao Kun said nothing. He closed his eyes, focused on clawing back every scrap of energy he could.
"Liang Zi, help Zhao Kun with his injuries." Yang Bin's smile didn't waver.
"Sure."
Hu Wenliang nodded, walked over to Zhao Kun, and placed his hand over the wounds.
Zhao Kun looked confused but didn't resist. He let Hu Wenliang's palm rest against his torn flesh.
A moment later, soft white light bloomed where skin met skin. Zhao Kun's wounds began closing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Every jaw in the room dropped.
"An Ability User?! A Healing Ability!" Zhou Xiong's voice cracked.
"You're cheating!!"
"Cheating?" Yang Bin blinked, the picture of innocence. "I said rest five minutes and patch up your injuries. You agreed."
"I-but-"
Zhou Xiong's mouth worked open and shut. Nothing came out.
Yang Bin had said heal your injuries. That was technically, infuriatingly, exactly what he'd said. Zhou Xiong just hadn't imagined this was what "healing" looked like.
Five minutes. He'd figured they'd catch their breath, maybe stop the bleeding a little. But at this rate, Zhao Kun would be fresh as morning while Zhou Xiong was still held together by adrenaline and spite.
But he couldn't argue. He'd agreed. Yang Bin hadn't technically broken a single rule. All Zhou Xiong could do was swallow his fury like broken glass.
"Hmph. Even injured, I'm not afraid of him!" Zhou Xiong spat through gritted teeth.
Hu Wenliang spent two minutes closing up the worst of Zhao Kun's wounds. The man looked halfway to brand new.
Then Yang Bin reached into his pocket, pulled out a Tier-3 Crystal, and tossed it to Zhao Kun with a casual smile.
"Here. Eat something to replenish your strength."
Zhou Xiong's eyes nearly burst from their sockets.
His taekwondo members went rigid.
Even Zhao Kun stared at the crystal in his palm, momentarily forgetting to breathe.