85: Chapter 85 Still Alive?

"..."

After those words were spoken, the two fell into a tacit silence.

After staring at each other like this for a few seconds.

The other man's expression stiffened. His mouth twitched as if he wanted to curse, but he forced himself to hold it back.

Finally, he patted the person beside him and ordered, "Go, gag him for me."

A moment later.

A towel was stuffed into Gu Changming's mouth, but he didn't struggle. He just blinked, his expression unchanged, as he scooted back to lean against the inner wall of the truck bed.

Not a shred of humor.

Gu Changming actually had a rough idea of what these people were doing, as well as their origins and how they were formed.

This was indeed how order developed and formed in the new era.

In the beginning, perhaps some people gained strength superior to others by relying on a slight advantage they obtained early on.

And among these people, not everyone would go to Secret Realms to adventure and earn points.

Instead, they chose an easier, more accessible method—targeting others.

Using force to snatch points from others to strengthen themselves.

Once they were strong enough and no longer feared being backstabbed by subordinates, they would start recruiting lackeys, gaining more human resources (underlings) to better plunder points from other humans.

Through such actions, a small group, or rather a gang, would naturally form, coalescing into a team with shared interests.

But looking at them now...

They had likely passed that stage of savage growth.

The reason?

Naturally, it was because he had been press-ganged by them.

Before, if they encountered someone "alone" like him, they would have certainly threatened and squeezed out all their points before killing them outright.

But now, after several months of the Assessment's tempering, few among the survivors could be easily manipulated. Even if someone couldn't win a fight, they would never hand over their points even in death, and might even take one or two of their attackers with them.

Moreover, groups formed for mutual protection were appearing everywhere now, such as Su Wan's squad, or on a larger scale, orderly human settlements like the Xinhuo Stronghold with tens of thousands of people.

It was no longer possible for them to plunder as freely as before.

Once a fight broke out, it would be a battle between dozens of people. Even if they won, the gains wouldn't cover the losses.

Therefore, to keep their team from perishing, they had to change their survival strategy from slaughtering to press-ganging, maintaining their organization's competitiveness to avoid being wiped out.

Naturally, by doing this, the original leader could continue to leach off these subordinates, maintaining his past status and environment.

...

The car engines roared back to life, and the vehicles continued to bump along toward the city.

Gu Changming made no other moves and remained quiet.

He withdrew his gaze from the passing desolate scenery and let it fall on the Giant black cocoon in the bed of another pickup truck.

Suddenly, the pickup carrying the giant cocoon jolted violently—the front right wheel had run over a protruding rock.

The vehicle tilted instantly, and the giant cocoon in the back was tossed up by the force, leaping high into the air.

Seeing this, Gu Changming's eyes narrowed.

From just this omen, he knew what was about to happen.

The "gift" was coming.

Sure enough, the next second, the pickup lost control upon landing, spinning wildly on the gravel ground like a runaway horse.

The "driver" in the vehicle wrestled desperately with the steering wheel, but to no avail.

"Watch out!" someone screamed.

But it was too late; the out-of-control pickup swept sideways, slamming hard into the side of the middle vehicle.

*Bang!*

The loud crash of tearing metal exploded. The middle vehicle was knocked sideways and smashed into the rear of the leading modified car.

The three vehicles tangled together at high speed, with the screeching of friction and the sounds of impact continuing unabated.

Then, various errors and accidents followed in quick succession.

The lead car was pushed into a half-spin, instantly losing balance and flipping over with a crash, slamming into a broken pillar of a building by the roadside.

The other two weren't much better. The out-of-control pickup rolled twice, parts flying everywhere.

The other one rolled repeatedly on the ground, its roof grinding against the surface and sending out a shower of sparks.

The people on the vehicles were thrown out by the massive centrifugal force, tumbling through the air like tattered ragdolls.

Gu Changming was no exception; the moment the pickup rolled, he was tossed out of the truck bed.

The world spun upside down before his eyes, the wind howling in his ears.

He saw the azure sky, the rolling ground, scattering parts, and other figures being thrown through the air, all blurred together.

...

Liu Yang felt the world spinning; the moment the vehicle flipped, the massive inertia hurled him violently out of the driver's seat.

The windshield shattered, and he smashed through the broken frame, thrown onto the hard ground like a sack of garbage.

"Ugh!"

He groaned, his body rolling uncontrollably.

He rolled for who knew how many turns, dizzy and feeling as if his internal organs had shifted.

Before he could catch his breath, a sharp whistling sound approached!

He looked up instinctively, his pupils constricting suddenly!

A metal rod that had snapped off in the collision was now spinning wildly in the air like an out-of-control javelin, whistling as it tore through the air, heading straight for his face!

"Fuck!"

Purely on instinct, Liu Yang squeezed a roar from his throat, twisting his body like a dying fish and kicking back frantically with his hands and feet!

With a squelch, the metal rod drove deep into the dirt less than ten centimeters from his hip, its end still vibrating with a hum.

Just a little bit more.

If he had been just a split second slower, that rod would have pinned him to the ground.

Liu Yang slumped on the ground, panting heavily, cold sweat instantly drenching his filthy vest.

The fear and bewilderment of surviving a near-death experience left his mind blank, and he could only stare dumbly at the scene before him.

The vehicle that hit the building pillar was already on fire, with thick black smoke billowing upward.

Two faint, pained wails could be heard vaguely from inside the car, but they were soon swallowed by the crackling of the flames.

And beside the vehicle he had just been in, the lackey who had been sitting to his right and lighting his cigarette just minutes ago...

...was now decapitated. His head had rolled a short distance away, eyes wide open, while his headless body slumped against a wheel, the severed neck a bloody mess.

As for the other two, their fate was currently unknown...

The smell of blood mixed with the acrid stench of burning gasoline permeated the air.

While he was in a daze.

Suddenly, a calm voice came from his side.

"Hey, still alive?"

Liu Yang jolted and turned his head toward the sound.

It was the youth he had just tied up and thrown into the truck bed.

At some point, the boy had reached his side. His hands and feet were still bound, but it didn't seem to hinder his movement.

He was hopping slightly, trying to shake off the dust and debris clinging to his clothes.