At the first question, Shen Jie’s pupils shrank, and his companions trembled slightly.

Han Yuxin showed no reaction, maintaining her faint, professional smile as she waited for their answer.

Shen Jie swallowed. His brain, grown rusty from long-term repetitive labor, whirred to life.

He scrambled to find the best possible answer.

He knew Han Yuxin wouldn’t miss the tells from his companions. The question was no longer *if* they had killed, but whether they should *admit* to it.

And, of course, they had.

Just yesterday, in fact.

The men from the neighboring camp had snuck into their tents in the middle of the night, intending to assault the women in their group.

It was premeditated. They had conserved their strength during the day and, being much stronger than the sixteen- and seventeen-year-old girls, quickly overpowered them.

Zhang Liying was the first to react. Having been enhanced once, she still had a bit of strength to fight back against the lunatics who had broken in under the cover of darkness.

Her terrified screams quickly woke the sleeping Shen Jie.

In the ensuing melee, their group of twelve lost a man and a woman. Their attackers left four corpses behind.

Shen Jie could still clearly recall the sensation of plunging the crowbar he had secretly sharpened into the lead attacker’s throat, tearing the man’s artery as warm blood sprayed across his face.

The coppery stench of blood still lingered in his nostrils.

The survivors—five men and four women—were terrified, but life had to go on. Shen Jie knew they couldn’t stay. Even if they went to another bunker construction site, they would still face harassment and retaliation from the attackers’ allies.

So, before word got out, he dumped the bodies into a concrete pillar pour, then found the foreman and requested a transfer to the service area construction project.

That was the real reason they were here.

Shen Jie believed it was justifiable homicide, purely in self-defense.

He was sure that if he admitted it and explained the situation, Han Yuxin would understand.

After weighing his options, Shen Jie finally nodded.

"Yes. We’ve killed before."

"But it was—"

But before he could finish, Han Yuxin cut him off.

"That’s enough. Next question."

"If you were needed to kill again, right now, could you do it?"

Shen Jie stood frozen, his mouth agape, not knowing what to say. It took a few seconds for the implication of her question to sink in, but then it hit him.

’She doesn’t care why we killed,’ he thought. ’She only cares that we did it.’

This next question, then, revealed the purpose of their recruitment.

To kill.

Shen Jie’s breathing grew heavy. After a long moment, he nodded.

Han Yuxin’s smile vanished, her expression turning serious.

"One last question."

"Who do you work for?"

Shen Jie stared at Han Yuxin for a dozen seconds before answering.

"We’re homeless. We have no one. We work to survive."

Han Yuxin nodded, satisfied.

"Good. Congratulations, you’ve been accepted."

"Go to the hotel room upstairs. Get cleaned up and get some sleep. There are some leftover Cans of food in there. Help yourselves."

"I’ll notify you at dusk. We’ll assemble for your first mission then."

Hearing they had passed the "interview" and now had a place to stay, the group erupted in cheers. Only Shen Jie’s expression remained grim, showing little joy.

He knew exactly what this would cost them.

As he turned to follow his companions upstairs to the room, he saw that Zhang Liying’s expression was also strained, her eyes filled with anxiety.

Shen Jie offered a small smile, trying to reassure her.

......

The construction site outside was a cacophony of noise, but inside the RV, Lin Feng and Chen Yanyan were enjoying a peaceful afternoon.

Chen Yanyan had changed into casual loungewear—cool shorts and a tank top—and tied an apron over them. She was making a hearty dinner for the two of them.

They were eating early because they had a mission to run around five or six, when the sky grew dark. They needed to dispose of the twelve Black Spine Zergs in the back of the RV as soon as possible.

During the meal, Chen Yanyan suddenly expressed her doubts about Lin Feng’s plan.

"They’re still just students. Do they really have the stomach to do this?"

Lin Feng shrugged, completely certain.

"People can abandon anything to survive. The first step into this cruel game is the end of one’s childhood."

"The fact that their group has gotten smaller proves they’ve already been through it."

"Don’t worry. Even if they’re not up to the task, I’ve already notified Hu Fei to arrange a backup."

"I’m just using them to make things easier down the line. We can’t rely on Hu Fei for everything; we need our own people."

Chen Yanyan nodded and said a silent prayer for the students, hoping they could successfully take this first step.

Time flew. Once word came from Hu Fei that everything was ready, Lin Feng had Chen Yanyan start the Armored RV. With its front caked in severed limbs and gore, it slowly pulled out of the service area.

Before they departed, Han Yuxin had already secretly instructed Shen Jie’s group. They took several barrels of gasoline, found three cars abandoned on the highway’s emergency shoulder after running out of fuel, got them started, and then lay in wait.

They were positioned not far from the service area.

Their mission from Han Yuxin was simple: after the monstrous, modified RV passed, they were to ram the very next vehicle that appeared on the road and loot it.

Shen Jie gripped the gun Han Yuxin had given him for "self-defense." He knew its true purpose wasn’t killing bugs, but killing people.

However, out of caution, he preferred melee weapons. They allowed for a quiet takedown, avoiding the noise that could attract more trouble.

He handed the pistol to Zhang Liying and picked up his own weapon—a crowbar with a sharpened, hooked end—placing it in the back of the car.

Soon enough, a large RV drove past their ambush point. A short while later, the nervous group spotted a commercial van with its lights off, tailing the RV.

"Go! Floor it!"

At Shen Jie’s command, he slammed on the accelerator.

In the van up ahead, two cameramen were staring at the RV with a mix of nerves and excitement, carefully maneuvering around roadblocks.

"We’re not going to get in trouble for sneaking out, are we?"

"If Boss Jiang finds out, we’re screwed!"

The driver scoffed.

"That woman Jiang is just trying to chase clout herself, so why can’t we get a piece of the action? I told you, I’ve got a source. This Lin Feng guy is way more than he seems."

"He’s got deep ties to Qin Hu. If we can get some real dirt on him, who gives a damn about Jiang Yun’er? Once we make a name for ourselves, won’t that be better than a dead-end salary?"

"Besides, this has nothing to do with her, so she can’t pin it on us. Worst case, we get the footage and quit."

His partner nodded, gripping the camera tightly and trying to suppress his pounding heart.

But in the next second, another car with its lights off appeared behind them. It suddenly accelerated, slamming into them just as their van was about to change lanes to get away.

In a flash of twisted metal, the van, caught completely by surprise, crashed head-on into an abandoned car. The impact shifted its center of gravity, causing it to tip over and skid to a halt on its side.

In the car behind, Shen Jie gripped the steering wheel, his foot jammed on the brake. His own car spun out of control, rotating twice before its rear end slammed into the guardrail.

Airbags slammed into the faces of Shen Jie and his passenger. They were pulled from the wreck by their other companions, shaken but largely unharmed. The cameramen in the van weren’t so lucky.

They were knocked unconscious on impact. Following Shen Jie’s orders, the others pried open the van’s doors, took all the valuable equipment and supplies, and stripped the vehicle bare.

With that done, they left the two men bleeding in the wreckage to die.

Shen Jie saw they were bleeding heavily from abdominal injuries caused by the crash. They would bleed out in less than ten minutes. He got into one of his companion’s cars and they sped away from the scene.

Not long after they left, two explosions echoed in the distance. A car then pulled up to the accident site. After confirming the two men in the van were dead, it drove away.

When Lin Feng returned, the twelve live Spine Zergs had been reduced to two pairs of Giant Mandibles and a large, heavy-duty tarp, the kind used to cover cement at a construction site.

And, of course, the pistol tucked into his waistband had successfully initiated its Lv17 Upgrade.

Now, he needed to stretch the tarp over the entire vehicle so he could begin the modifications for the Lv12 Armored RV Upgrade.

He was going to mount three Machine Cannons.

In the dead of night, as Lin Feng was in the workshop preparing for the Upgrade...

A director from the film crew showed up, asking Chen Yanyan to inform Mr. Lin that his boss, Jiang Yun’er, needed him to come see her in person about a few things.

She wanted to discuss matters face-to-face.

Lin Feng put down the Black Spine Zerg’s Giant Mandible he was holding, wiped the sticky insect ichor from his hands, and looked at the director at the door with a flicker of contempt.

"I’m tired today."

"Tell her to come here herself."