Lily had eaten about half of the steak when a sudden scream pierced through the audio feed from the surveillance monitors.
Startled, she set down her knife and fork, turning quickly toward the screens. What she saw made her heart lurch.
Ethan Reed was storming into the Viper Gang headquarters, his blood-red eyes blazing like those of a wild beast. The scene unfolded in a narrow corridor—on one end was Ethan, radiating an aura of menace; on the other, a tide of black-clad enforcers armed with gleaming steel blades surged forward like a relentless wave.
The first enforcer swung his blade down at Ethan's head with lethal precision.
Lily gasped, her hands flying to cover her eyes, unable to watch.
But instead of the sickening sound of flesh being torn, the speakers emitted a loud, metallic clang!
Slowly, Lily peeked through her fingers, her eyes widening in disbelief. The screen showed Ethan standing unharmed, the blade frozen mid-swing against his skull. It was as though it had struck solid steel.
Aside from a few strands of hair being shorn off, Ethan was completely unscathed.
"H-how is this even possible!?" Lily stammered, her voice quivering with shock.
Sam's eyes gleamed with excitement as a wide grin spread across his face. "This is exactly the power I've been searching for," he murmured.
With this strength, I'll no longer have to worry about my growing mental energy.
On the screen, Ethan's expression was colder than ice. With a sharp downward swing of his right hand, he brought it down on the enforcer's blade.
Snap!
The steel blade shattered into two pieces as though it had been struck by a sledgehammer.
They were fanatical, shouting at the top of their lungs:
"For the Chief!"
Yet such a horrifying scene didn't faze the Viper Gang in the slightest. Sam had long since hypnotized them, erasing their fear and turning them into emotionless machines.
At Sam's command, the black-clad enforcers surged forward again.
Through their earpieces came Sam's calm and calculated instructions: "Try different angles. Look for any weaknesses."
Following the directive, the enforcers began slashing at Ethan from all directions, aiming for every conceivable part of his body. Their attacks became chaotic, leaving openings in their defense, but none of them hesitated.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The corridor filled with the relentless clash of steel against steel.
Ethan, like an unstoppable armored tank, bulldozed through the hallway. Every punch sent bodies flying, leaving a trail of blood and broken bones.
His strikes were devastating. With fists like iron, he crushed skulls and shattered ribs.
Despite the one-sided slaughter, Ethan felt no sense of triumph. Instead, a creeping chill seeped into his heart.
A black-clad man, whose chest cavity had been caved in moments ago, staggered back to his feet. Clutching a blade, he charged forward again, his face devoid of fear.
"For the Chief!" he shouted, his voice filled with zealous fervor.
Ethan's pupils contracted. He couldn't comprehend it. These were mortal wounds—how could someone like that still stand?
It wasn't just one of them. All of them were like this!
Ethan had faced gangsters before. Most of them were cowards, quick to beg for their lives when confronted with overwhelming force. But now, there was nothing but fiery fanaticism in the eyes of every single member of the Viper Gang.
Not fear. Not hesitation. Only zeal.
Facing the fearless and unrelenting members of the Viper Gang, the chill in Ethan's heart grew colder. He struck out again and again, each blow precise and devastating. In mere moments, the entire hallway was cleared of resistance.
Without pause, Ethan grabbed one of the bloodied black-clad enforcers still writhing on the floor. Lifting him effortlessly, he stared into the man's bloodshot eyes, his own gaze icy and murderous.
"Where is Lily?" he growled, his voice like a thunderclap.
The enforcer chuckled weakly, blood bubbling from his mouth as he sneered, "For the Chief!"
With his remaining left hand, the enforcer swung a desperate punch toward Ethan.
Ethan's eyes narrowed, his reflexes lightning-fast. He intercepted the attack mid-swing, grabbing the man's arm and twisting it brutally.
Crack!
The arm contorted grotesquely, snapping into a shape that resembled a twisted rope. Jagged shards of bone pierced through the man's torn skin, stark white against the crimson of his blood.
"Arghhh!!" the enforcer howled in pain.
"I'll ask one last time," Ethan said, his tone frigid and uncompromising. "Where. Is. Lily!?"
The only response he received was another fervent cry.
"For the Chief!"
The enforcer used the last of his strength to lunge at Ethan, his sole remaining weapon a set of bloodstained teeth. With wild abandon, he aimed to sink them into Ethan's neck.
Bang!
Ethan's steel-like fist connected with the man's skull, shattering it instantly. Blood and fragments of bone sprayed across the walls as the enforcer's broken body collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
With the obstruction gone, the surveillance camera captured Ethan's face clearly—cold, emotionless, and grim, like a predator on the hunt.
Ethan's fists trembled ever so slightly, betraying the turmoil brewing within him despite his stoic expression.
In the surveillance room, Lily was retching violently into a trash can, her face pale as a sheet. Her body shook uncontrollably, the brutal images on the monitors proving too much for her to handle.
Sam shook his head lightly, a hint of disappointment in his gaze. "What a waste of my M9 steak."
He raised his wine glass and downed the remaining liquid in one swift motion.
"Why?" Lily's voice came suddenly, strained but sharp.
Sam didn't respond.
"Why are you doing this!?" she demanded, her voice trembling but resolute. "All this just to ask Ethan a few questions? You're toying with him—letting so many people die! Why!?"
She raised her head, her trembling eyes locking onto Sam's behind his tinted glasses. Despite her fear, there was a defiant fire in her gaze.
"You lose so many men, and all you care about is a piece of steak! What do lives even mean to you!?"
A heavy silence descended upon the room.
It was suffocating, oppressive, like a vacuum where even the sound of breathing felt too loud.
Then, a soft chuckle broke the stillness.
"Ha."
The chuckle grew into a laugh.
"Ha… hahaha… HAHAHAHA!"
Sam's laughter shattered the silence, reverberating through the dimly lit surveillance room.
"What's so funny!?" Lily demanded, disbelief written across her face. She stared at the man before her, unable to reconcile his carefree, almost childlike joy with the carnage playing out on the monitors.
"Funny? No," Sam replied, still grinning. "This is fascinating. Utterly fascinating. You, Lily—here you are, wallowing in the filth of life, yet you can't stand seeing others equally drenched in the same muck. People like you… you're what makes the world so endlessly entertaining."
He leaned forward slightly, his glasses catching the dim light. Behind the tinted lenses, his eyes gleamed, sharp and alive, like a predator's.
"What's a human life worth? You tell me. A life is just that—a life. No more, no less. Its value depends entirely on the context."
Lily's breath hitched. She felt overwhelmed, her mind awash with fear and disgust as the reality of Sam's words hit her like a tidal wave.
"You've heard of the Viper Gang, haven't you?" Sam continued, his voice calm but tinged with amusement. "You know what kind of people gather here. Let's be honest—they can hardly be called people. They're scum. Filth. Parasites.
"Tell me—do you honestly believe the world is worse off without them?"
Without waiting for her response, Sam poured himself another glass of wine. The crimson liquid swirled hypnotically in the glass, reflecting in his eyes like molten fire. He took a slow sip, savoring the sensation before setting the glass down with a soft clink.
"People like that, living and breathing, waste precious air. Dying for me? That's the greatest honor they could hope for."
He turned abruptly, his gaze falling on one of the black-clad men standing silently behind him.
"Do you feel honored?" Sam asked, his tone nonchalant.
The black-clad man's face lit up with fervor, and he dropped to one knee in a gesture of utmost reverence.
"Glory! To die for the Chief is the highest honor one could attain!
For people like us—scum, outcasts, the dregs of society—you, Chief, gave our meaningless lives purpose. You granted us rebirth! Your will is what we live for, and we will carry it out to our last breath!"
His voice rang with unshakable conviction, his every word laced with unyielding devotion.
Lily shrank back, her fear deepening with every passing second.
From Sam, she felt an overwhelming sense of arrogance—a cold, unfeeling superiority that disregarded life itself. He didn't see the world as others did. To him, it was as if he were the only real person in existence, and everyone else was a mere tool, an NPC created solely for his amusement.
At this moment, Ethan had reached the second floor of the Viper Gang headquarters.
The building loomed five stories high, and each floor had been carefully rigged with traps and ambushes.