Chapter 162 Sudden Hunger

"Why look for them?" Milan asked. "That is not a place just anyone can walk into."

"No, I just want to take a look first," Liu Chang replied, urging her on. "Stop dawdling, let's go. Don't worry, there's no danger, we're just going to wander around their entrance."

"Oh," Milan nodded. "I don't care if you wander or not, my only job is to guide you to the place. If you want to go inside, you go in by yourself."

"Rest assured," Liu Chang said. "Even if I wanted you to go in, it wouldn't be of any use, right?"

"That's true." Milan nodded and followed Liu Chang toward another area of the urban district.

Cutting through the dilapidated blocks and what used to be the commercial center, Liu Chang followed Milan to a rundown office building.

"There, this is it. Their faction is called the Breakthrough Society, which means leading everyone out of distress." Acting as a local guide, Milan instinctively introduced the local geography and conditions to Liu Chang. "If you really are a newcomer from the outside, you should know that our city has been trapped here for a very long time. In such a predicament, in a closed environment, autocratic rule is most likely to emerge. Since this place is completely cut off from the outside world, the rulers here are even more arrogant and despotic. Naturally, the people in these criminal gangs are also far more ruthless in their methods."

"They are not easy to deal with, just watch your step," Milan instructed with a hint of unease.

"Don't worry, everyone goes out into the world to do business and survive, there aren't that many pointless complications." Liu Chang asked, "Since they've managed to become a local power here, they must have ties with government departments, right?"

"Mhm, without weapons in your hands, no one will submit to you," Milan said. "They do have connections with the military and political authorities. Not to mention them, even Li Feng has ties with those departments. Otherwise, in this day and age, without people and hardware in your hands, who would bow to whom?"

"Ah, I see." Liu Chang stood still in thought for a moment, then said, "How about this, you go back to Li Feng's place and wait for me. I need to figure out how to handle this matter, and I'll come find you after I'm done."

"Alright, don't forget," Milan instructed, still worried. "My pay for today depends on you coming back to collect it."

"Rest assured, one catty of food, I remember." Having said this, Liu Chang turned and walked away toward the office building.

***

Within just two or three steps, Liu Chang's retreating figure was completely swallowed by the thick fog, vanishing from Milan's sight.

Walking up to the office building, Liu Chang paused for a long while, observing the guards stationed there. In truth, he had been pondering the issues Milan had raised. The defensive strength of a criminal gang naturally went without saying, but since he was currently asking for a favor rather than picking a fight, he had no wish to escalate matters too severely.

Yet, after much deliberation, he could come up with no better plan. Liu Chang had no choice but to brace himself and step forward.

As he entered the line of sight of the society's guards, Liu Chang was stopped in his tracks by two men with buzz cuts wearing suits.

"Where are you from? What do you want?" The two men stepped directly in front of Liu Chang.

"Uh, I'm from right here in the city. I'd like to ask you for help with something." Unable to think of a better approach, Liu Chang simply stated his purpose truthfully.

"What business? Who the hell are you?" The two men stared at him, scrutinizing his features as they barked, "Who is this? We've never seen you before!"

"You don't know me. I want to ask you for a favor, and the reward can be negotiated separately," Liu Chang said with a smile. "I guarantee you won't lose out."

"Lose out on what? Get the hell out of here." Upon hearing Liu Chang's purpose and confirming his identity, the expressions on their faces darkened instantly. "This isn't a place where you belong, scram right now."

"Is there really no room for discussion?" Seeing their attitudes, Liu Chang's expression stiffened as well, yet he still wished to avoid making a scene.

"Get lost, don't be so shameless." With those words, one of the two men gave Liu Chang a hard shove against the chest.

However, a slow-motion push even slower than actual slow motion naturally could not touch Liu Chang. The latter sidestepped slightly, causing the shove to hit nothingness. Moreover, because the man had used too much force, his momentum carried him forward in a stumbling lurch.

"Fuck your mother!" Losing face in front of a companion is one of the things a gang member dreads most. Nearly tripping over his own momentum, the man who had pushed Liu Chang flew into a rage from embarrassment and whipped a firearm out from his waistband.

Yet this action naturally escalated the trajectory of the conflict, and the direct consequence was that half of his face instantly caved inward. At the exact same moment, his companion also took a fist to the face, his facial bones collapsing as his nose and eye sockets were smashed into a bloody paste.

"Fuck!" Breaking someone's face with a single punch—this was the first time Liu Chang had ever employed such a lethal method. Years ago, half of his own face had been smashed in by a single punch from a synthetic human; returning the favor today felt exceptionally gratifying.

After all, purely in terms of physical conditioning, his current self was not a whit inferior to the synthetic humans of yesteryear. Endowed with intelligence, augmented by weapons, and possessing a variety of biological skills, Liu Chang was now more than ten times stronger than those synthetic humans of the past.

Back then, a single synthetic human possessed the combat capability of an entire coordinated infantry company. With suitable weaponry in hand today, Liu Chang was utterly invincible.

Following those two punches, the opponents died completely before they even had time to emit a scream. Moreover, following those two blows, it was the first time Liu Chang had ever experienced such intense pleasure from killing. For a moment, a heavy, stuffy sensation gripped his chest, accompanied by an overwhelming urge to vent. Copious amounts of sweat began pouring from his body, accompanied by a tingling, itchy sensation all over his skin.

"What is happening to me?" His mind suddenly grew dizzy and muddled, as if poisoned, but fortunately his sanity remained intact for the moment. Sensing that something was terribly wrong with his body, Liu Chang hurriedly lowered his gaze to his exposed arms—there, in the areas where the skin itched the most, wrinkles had begun to surface, layer upon layer of thick, rhinoceros-like hide slowly growing across his flesh. Simultaneously, a hunger of such unmitigated intensity surged from the depths of his abdomen like rolling thunder.

This hunger was long-absent, something he had scarcely experienced a handful of times in his entire life.

The last time he had felt such ravenous hunger was four years ago in Kaifeng when he drank that "feces-flavored thick soup." Yet this hunger hit him far more violently than back then, and furthermore, the sensation kept escalating with every passing moment—that overwhelming intensity continuously battering at his remaining shreds of sanity.

He even looked down at the two corpses he had just beaten to a pulp on the ground, feeling an intense, surging impulse to devour them.