Chapter 471: Infighting
Despite everyone knowing about the ugly past between Xu Sa and Zhang Bijuan, she had been his mother. Now that she was dead, wanting revenge didn’t seem unreasonable.
The problem was…
Most of them had bullied her at some point.
“No one wants to speak up?” Xu Sa smiled faintly. Around him, invisible energy began to surge. A dense web of electricity spread out from him in all directions, forming a net-like lightning barrier that covered the entire villa.
The once-calm woman in front of him raised her head and watched in growing fear as panic spread in her eyes.
Those who had been secretly observing from inside the villa now bolted out like rats fleeing a sinking ship. A middle-aged man rushed out and pulled the woman behind him, standing directly in front of Xu Sa.
“I’m Qin Hai, captain of the Morning Light Team,” the man declared. “Mr. Xu, what exactly are you trying to do? Are you planning to stir up trouble in our team?”
Qin Hai was a direct relative of Qin Hu. When Qin Hu died, he was the first to stabilize the team’s internal situation and successfully became the new captain.
“I just want to know who killed her. I hope Mr. Qin will cooperate.”
“Heh,” Qin Hai sneered, looking at Xu Sa with a mocking expression. “Don’t you think your concern comes a bit too late? The woman’s already dead, and now you want revenge? What do they call that… oh right—‘belated affection is cheaper than weeds.’”
“Are you old and half-blind?” Xu Sa retorted sharply. “Which of your eyes saw me showing any concern for her?”
“Then you—”
“At least we’re blood-related. Someone killed her—doesn’t that mean they’re stomping on my face? Is it strange for me to look for the culprit?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the net of lightning in the air fell like burning sparks. From the outer edge inward, anyone it touched became part of the electric web—no one was spared: men, women, young or old.
Grunts, gasps, and cries of pain echoed all around, and that was with Xu Sa intentionally keeping the voltage low. Qin Hai’s face turned an ugly shade, but Xu Sa only smiled coldly. “Remember anything now?”
He glanced at Qin Hai, then shifted his eyes to the woman behind him. A bolt of electricity traveled through the ground and struck her.
“Ugh… Dahai…” The woman crumpled to the ground, clutching at Qin Hai’s clothes.
“She’s a healer!” Qin Hai growled.
“Then she can pay extra with crystal cores,” Xu Sa responded coldly. He immediately raised the voltage. The moans around them turned into screams. “Anyone remember anything now?”
“This has nothing to do with us—we hardly even knew Zhang Bijuan!”
“I only joined the team recently, I don’t even know who she is. You can’t just punish everyone indiscriminately…”
“We really don’t know. There are so many people in the team—many don’t even know each other. You can’t hold all of us accountable just for being in the same group…”
Not a single person dared speak the truth. If Xu Sa hadn’t figured it out earlier, Qin Hai’s comment about the healer made it clear.
In any team that managed to stay afloat after the apocalypse, healer-type ability users were indispensable. That explained how Morning Light survived losing two key fighters.
Everyone knew how important she was. If anyone spoke up, they could easily be punished after Xu Sa left.
“It was Jiang Xin! She beat my mom to death!” Qin Leyang’s tear-filled eyes locked on the woman protected behind Qin Hai, his gaze full of hatred.
“After Dad died, she would hit my mom whenever she was upset. She took over her job, bullied her constantly, and said my mom stole Dad from her.”
He lifted Zhang Bijuan’s sleeve, revealing a swath of wrinkled, scarred skin. “She poured boiling water on Mom. Her whole arm was covered in blisters. We had no crystal cores to buy medicine, and the pain kept her from sleeping—but she still had to go to work during the day.”
He gently laid her arm down. Her fingers were visibly deformed. “She stomped on her. In heels. Over and over again while Mom screamed. She said she liked seeing her miserable.”
He picked up her pinky finger—its joint clearly shattered and now only held together by tissue.
“She tried to sell my sister today. Mom said no, said the buyer was a pervert who would torture her. Jiang Xin started throwing things at Mom. That vase—it was aimed at me. Mom blocked it for me… for me… sob sob…”
Qin Leyang couldn’t go on. He buried his head against his mother’s body, sobbing quietly.
When Xu Sa first met him, he was just a spoiled and rebellious rich kid. Now he was thin, frail—little more than skin and bones. Like he could be broken at any moment.
Xu Sa looked calmly at Jiang Xin. His gaze was blank, but it made her feel like a target. She let go of Qin Hai’s clothes and backed away in pain. “I’m a healer! You can’t hurt me…”
“Is that so?” Xu Sa didn’t move—just spoke. And suddenly, Jiang Xin’s skin split open like dry earth. A web of bloody cracks spread across her body, and blood gushed from the wounds.
“AHHH—” Jiang Xin screamed in agony, staring in disbelief at her hands. She wiped her face with trembling fingers. The pain and blood overwhelmed her—her reason crumbling. Her once-elegant dress soaked through with blood, revealing just how deep the injuries were.
“I heard healer-types can heal themselves. I’ve never seen it before,” Xu Sa said with a cold smile, eyes fixed on her.
“Dahai, save me! Save me! I’m the only healer in the team!” Jiang Xin wailed, frantically grabbing at Qin Hai’s clothes.
“You’re going too far!” Qin Hai bellowed, face red with rage and chest heaving—
—but he didn’t make a single move to help. If Xu Sa didn’t know better, he’d think he was bullying an ordinary woman.
From Qin Leyang’s account, Xu Sa could already imagine how hard life had been for Zhang Bijuan and her children. He wasn’t surprised by who was responsible. When he’d decided to kill Qin Hu, he had foreseen this day—just not so soon.
Jiang Xin’s injuries had mostly healed after a few steps, but the blood stains remained. The moment she realized the pain was gone, she sprang up and shoved Qin Hai toward Xu Sa, using him as a human shield, and dashed for the villa.
Seeing that Qin Hai’s pudgy body was about to crush the sobbing children, Xu Sa kicked him aside—hard. Qin Hai flew and slammed right into the fleeing Jiang Xin, knocking her to the ground. Her skin cracked open again.
This time, the wounds were even deeper. On her thinner limbs, you could faintly see exposed bone.
“Ah—let me go! Please, let me go! I’m a healer—I’m important to the team…” Jiang Xin’s shrieks drowned out all other cries.
“F*** you, you b***h—you tried to screw me over?” Qin Hai roared as he got up. He slapped Jiang Xin’s face so hard it tore away parts of her already damaged skin.
At such close range, Xu Sa could clearly see chunks of flesh flying through the air, and the splattered blood landed on the two children, staining their pale faces with a hint of grotesqueness.
“You dared to hit me?! If it weren’t for my support, how would you have become team leader? And now you have the nerve to hit me?” Compared to Xu Sa, Jiang Xin was even less able to accept that Qin Hai—the man who used to flatter her constantly—would now strike her.
Ignoring her injuries, she raised her hand to claw at Qin Hai’s face. Her perfectly manicured nails scratched down hard, leaving long bloody marks across his face.
“I’ve fing had it with you for a long time. Just because you’re a healer, you think you’re above everyone else. Saving someone as if they have to beg you on their knees. You spoiled bh, no one ever taught you manners…”
Qin Hai, provoked by the slap, completely lost his temper. He grabbed her long curly hair and started hitting her. The sound of slaps rang out repeatedly, sometimes punctuated by kicks.
Physically, women were already weaker than men—let alone one who was an ability user like Jiang Xin. Even as she fought back, she was clearly no match.
Her cursing gradually grew weaker. A few onlookers noticed something was off and wanted to intervene, but Xu Sa’s eerie smile and the crackling electricity at his fingertips froze them in place. No one dared speak up.
“If it weren’t for the lack of healers, someone like you—so shameless and toxic—would have been beaten to death ages ago. Always screaming about people stealing your man. A sneaky mistress like you, showing your face and running your mouth…”
“You’ve done nothing but seduce men and freeload off others. And you still had the nerve to cheat on me, you filthy whore…”
Years of pent-up anger exploded out of Qin Hai. He showed no restraint. By the time he stopped, panting and gasping for air, Jiang Xin lay completely motionless.
“Get up! Don’t you f***ing play dead with me!” Qin Hai kicked her.
No response.
He began to panic.
“Jiang Xin?”
He took a step back, his gaze darting around nervously. At some point, the thunder net above had vanished. People in the courtyard were supporting each other, casting complex looks his way.
“You didn’t really kill her, did you? Tsk… Killing a healer? That’s expensive,” Xu Sa said with mock concern, covering his mouth theatrically.
Qin Hai’s face changed instantly. “Don’t talk nonsense. I didn’t.”
“There were so many people watching. You literally beat a woman for twenty minutes straight,” Xu Sa leaned over to look at Jiang Xin on the ground. “Poor thing… she doesn’t even look human anymore.”
“N-no… it wasn’t me… I only kicked her once… she…”
Qin Hai stammered. “Jiang Xin, stop faking it! Get up!”
“If you don’t, I will kill you for real!”
His barked threats didn’t boost his courage much. At that moment, a teenage girl stepped out from the villa. She approached coldly, completely ignoring the blood soaking Jiang Xin’s body, and pressed her fingers to Jiang Xin’s neck.
