The woman's breaths thinned out, each one quieter, smaller—like her lungs were giving up inch by inch. Then nothing. No shudder. No final flare of life. Just stillness.

Her husband didn't move. He stared at her the way someone might stare at a broken screen, waiting for it to flicker back on, praying it would.

A heartbeat passed.

"YOU BASTARD!" he lunged at me, his fist aiming straight for my face.

I began dodging his clumsy strike by tilting my head with little to no effort.

"YOU KILLED HER!"

"YOU KILLED HER!"

"YOU KILLED HER!"

Watching him flail like a madman brought me no satisfaction. At the end of the day, what happened to his wife had already happened to countless others—it was simply her fate to die.

Though, if I'm being honest, my fist was ready to send him to her if he missed her that much. Really considerate of me, actually.

Hai‑Min stepped forward, trembling yet determined, mustering every ounce of strength to speak for my sake. She looked so fragile that it made her utterly adorable.

"Please stop! He just did what you asked him to do!" she pleaded.

"YOU BITCH!" he roared, spinning toward her, spit flying, eyes bloodshot with grief and rage.

Before his fist could even get close, my hand shot out and caught his wrist. My voice came out colder than usual.

"I think you're misunderstanding my silence," I tightened my grip until his bones creaked. Then I pulled him close so I could whisper directly into his ear, "I'm already contemplating the slowest way to kill you… so stop testing my patience."

The man's voice cracked, ugly and desperate, as he writhed under my grip.

"Y-you're killing me! Somebody—help! He poisoned my wife and now he's trying to kill me too! Help!"

A ripple of fear went through the room, directed squarely at me.

I stared at him, unblinking, while he kept thrashing and screaming like a cornered animal.

Loosening my grip just enough, I let him drop to his knees. He wheezed, clutching his arm like it got torn halfway off.

Then I finally spoke.

"Do you think any of that matters in this place?" My voice didn't rise; it didn't need to. "If I decide to walk out and leave you all here… how long do you think you'll survive?"

Silence. No one dared to breathe wrong.

Their lives weren't protected by laws or morals or hopeful pleading. Not here.

Here, their survival depended entirely… on me.

"But—" he mumbled.

"Your wife is dead," I cut in bluntly. "So get over it. If you don't, you're going to end up just like her."

The words hit harder than any of his punches.

For a second, I thought he might swing again.

But his shoulders sagged instead, the fight draining out of him all at once, leaving nothing but a hollow shell kneeling in the cold floor.

Talking to him any longer would've been like arguing with a broken radio. So I turned my back on him and faced the other survivors instead.

"We're finding a safer place to hole up, somewhere sturdier, with a basement if possible," I said, scanning the shaken crowd. "Anyone who can still carry something, start packing. Food, water, medicine—whatever keeps you alive comes first."

They nodded immediately. The rest dragged themselves upright, trembling but moving, stealing wary glances at me like I was both savior and loaded gun.

I tilted my chin toward the wrecked storefront. The place looked like a dragon had sneezed on it and then sneezed again just to make sure the insurance wouldn't cover it.

A twisted mess of metal, cracked concrete, and pulverized shelves—yeah, that was definitely my handiwork.

Very flashy and explosive.

Efficient? Absolutely not. I poured way more Qi into that strike than necessary.

Note to self: learn some damn self-control.

Preferably before I accidentally destroy a whole building.

'I need to focus,'

Closing my eyes for a moment, I let the hum of the area settle into my ears. The faint echoes of distant explosions rumbled in the background, but none of them were close enough to be an issue for the time being.

Regardless, I knew for a fact I was more than strong enough to handle any monster in this area—well, assuming I didn't have to fight a few hundred at once. That would be less of a battle and more of a stamina problem.

Taking a deep breath, something felt off immediately. The air wasn't normal—it pressed heavier in my lungs, almost syrup‑thick with energy. Every inhale carried a faint burn, not painful, just… concentrated.

With that in mind, I found a relatively safe corner and dropped into a seated stance.

The floor was cold, the air buzzing, and the moment I inhaled, the energy rushed in—thick, like breathing smoke. It funneled straight into me, and I guided it down to my navel where my lower dantian sat.

And then—brick wall.

No matter how much I pushed, my Qi reserves refused to rise any higher.

The problem now wasn't just how much energy I had—it was that my lower dantian was packed to the brim, every bit of Qi were pressing against its limits.

'I need a catalyst… or a trigger,' I muttered inwardly.

Just forcing it until it miraculously broke wouldn't work. My body had to respond on its own. Last time, it happened when I nearly died in that hotel; the time before that, when the system had thrown me into agonizing torment.

Still, letting it soak into my body wasn't a waste. Even if it wouldn't push me through to the next stage, it could temper my bones, harden muscle fibers, reinforce everything bit by bit.

This was the advantage of being in the Body Refinement Stage. I could strengthen my body independently, honing muscles and bones without overloading my dantian.

Time passed as I stayed put, reinforcing my body. Around me, the survivors moved at their own pace, hauling bags with worried expression.

Hai‑Min watched me intently. She stayed quiet, simply observing, trying to understand what I was doing.

Frankly, everyone here owed their lives to her. Without her, I would have abandoned them all in the blink of an eye.

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Authors Note:

Bonus Chapter 2/6

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