A wild beast on the verge of death will typically use every last ounce of its strength to fight to the bitter end, burning through the final reserves of its life rather than retreating.
But people are different.
When faced with fear, people tend toward one of two extremes: either rage overwhelms the fear, driving them to fight like a cornered animal, or fear crushes the rage instead, unleashing a powerful will to survive that sends them running without a second thought.
Right now, in the alley outside Ning Zhe's house, it was the latter playing out.
The two assassins fled for their lives, racing without hesitation toward the mouth of the alley, while Ning Zhe moved like a beast gone feral, a savage light burning in his eyes, locked entirely onto one figure.
The lead man, the one with the crossbow.
"Damn it! We can't let him keep chasing us like this! We have to stop him!" The lead man, hearing the heavy footsteps closing in behind them, gasped out the order to the man beside him.
"That guy fights like a demon, going back means dying for nothing! I signed on with you for a meal ticket, not to throw my life away!" The man beside him didn't slow down at all, if anything he sped up. Back when things were easy, the lead man had kept them fed, and they'd gladly called him "boss" for it. But faced with death, no amount of brotherly loyalty mattered more than staying alive.
"Fine, then. I'll count to three, and we both turn and fight him together. One! Two... three!" The lead man counted all the way to three, and neither of them turned around.
The alleys of the refugee zone were all packed dirt, turning to thick mud whenever it rained, and once dry again, left riddled with ruts and potholes. Ning Zhe had grown up running through this very alley his whole life, he knew every dip and rise in the road by heart, while the two fleeing men stumbled and lurched with every step.
In the blink of an eye, Ning Zhe had closed the gap behind them. The young man beside the lead man let out a strangled cry of terror and, in a sudden burst of adrenaline, used his own momentum to leap straight up onto the roof of a nearby house.
"Thud!"
Ning Zhe caught up to the lead man, clamped his left arm down on the man's shoulder, and leapt high into the air, driving his knee straight into the man's spine.
"Thud!"
The lead man let out a strangled grunt and collapsed to the ground in a heap. He'd barely managed to turn around when he saw a figure bearing down on him, knife raised.
"Smack!"
In that split second between life and death, the lead man threw aside his now-empty crossbow and grabbed Ning Zhe's knife-wielding wrist with both hands.
"Thud!"
Ning Zhe drove a backhanded punch straight into his face, knocking the cloth mask loose from his features.
Under the dim moonlight, the two men locked eyes, and both recognized the other at once.
"Ning Zhe?"
"Li Bin!"
The two names came out at the same moment, though each carried an entirely different weight.
Ning Zhe had hated Li Bin down to his bones ever since the man had gotten his brothers killed, while Li Bin, having witnessed firsthand the slaughter Ning Zhe was capable of, felt an involuntary wave of dread wash over him.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"You son of a bitch!" Ning Zhe stared into the face he'd despised with every fiber of his being, his arm muscles drawing tight, the veins bulging along his neck, the knife-wielding arm pressing down harder and harder.
The group waiting outside the alley to back up Li Bin, hearing the sounds of fighting, came rushing in as well. One of them, catching sight of the two men grappling in the distance by the light of an oil lantern, waved his arm at once. "Damn it! Cut him down!"
"Whoosh!"
Five or six men beside the young man drew their blades and surged forward.
Seeing this, Ning Zhe surged with everything he had, determined to finish off Li Bin before the others could reach him, but the moment he pushed himself to his limit, that same burning heat surged through his body once more.
The illness was coming on!
This time, Ning Zhe didn't erupt into that berserk rage he had against the bandits before. Instead, just as it had always happened before, the warning signs of a blackout crept in. Li Bin, still gripping Ning Zhe's wrist, could feel his body temperature climbing, but his strength was fading fast, he was losing his grip.
At that same moment, near the alley entrance, Su Fei and the young man and woman who'd come to see him stood outside, watching the fight unfold down the alley.
Su Fei had originally intended to see the two of them off, but the sudden brawl in the alley had made them all pause, though none of the three had any intention of getting involved.
In a place as rotten as the refugee zone, gang bloodshed and roadside robberies happened far too often for anyone to want to risk their own safety for a stranger's sake. Cold as it sounded, it was a survival lesson refugees had all learned the hard way.
"We're heading out." The powerfully built man, seeing the group charge into the alley, gave Su Fei a parting nod and turned to leave. They'd waited this long only out of fear of blowing their cover.
"Wait!" Su Fei, already halfway back into his courtyard, glanced instinctively down the alley, and by the lantern light, caught a clear look at Ning Zhe's face. He turned to the pair beside him. "Help him."
The girl gave a faint smile. "We're not your subordinates."
"I'll owe you both a favor. Is that enough?" Su Fei looked at them both, dead serious.
"Tramp, tramp!"
Before he'd even finished speaking, the powerfully built man had already charged into the alley, moving with astonishing speed.
Deep in the alley, the young man tasked with backing up Li Bin now held the lantern in his left hand, a bone knife drawn in his right. "Move fast, brothers, finish him off quick, then..."
"Thud!"
Before he could finish the sentence, the men beside him saw him tip sideways and collapse. In the light of the lantern, the man who'd caught up from behind swung another fist straight at the young man beside him.
"Clang!"
The young man reflexively raised his knife and slashed at the man's arm on instinct, but the blade only tore through his sleeve, revealing a metal arm guard underneath.
"Damn it!"
Another man behind him, seeing this, thrust a blade straight at the man's lower back.
"Bang!"
A gunshot cracked through the alley like thunder.
"Thud!"
The young man who'd been about to launch a sneak attack dropped instantly, his head blown apart, his body crashing straight down.
At the mouth of the alley, the girl stood with a silver revolver in her hand, her arm perfectly steady. "Your lives aren't worth a single bullet. Clear off, now."
"Not good! They've got a gun!"
"Run!"
The moment the gunshot rang out, the remaining men bolted instinctively toward the far end of the alley. Even Li Bin shoved Ning Zhe's unconscious body aside and broke into a full sprint.
In a place where owning a firearm was a capital crime, whoever held a gun stood at the very top of the food chain. Out here, a bullet was the most efficacious bodhisattva of all, and the hardest truth to argue with.
In moments, the alley emptied out completely.
Only once everyone had fled did Su Fei step forward to join the pair.
"This one's a bit strange..." The girl studied Ning Zhe, lying motionless on the ground, a faint red glow still lingering in his eyes, deep in thought. "This state of his, I feel like I've heard someone mention it before, but I can't quite place it."
"Could he be a Mutant Seed?" The man looked Ning Zhe over as well. "The way a Mutant Seed awakens can take all kinds of strange forms."
"Maybe not. It's just his eyes glowing, after all. The radiation in this world is so severe now, all sorts of strange things happen. Out in the radiation zones beyond the Federation, plenty of people develop glowing blisters after exposure, some even end up with luminescent blood." The girl studied Ning Zhe's eyes a moment longer. "Radiation causes far too many different changes in the human body to count."
"This isn't your concern anymore. You two can go." Su Fei, paying no mind to their discussion, spoke in a flat, even tone.
Once the pair had left, Su Fei bent down and hoisted Ning Zhe over his shoulder. For someone who looked like a frail scholar, his strength was surprising.
"Cough, cough!"
Just then, the young man knocked unconscious by the powerfully built man's punch began to stir, staring in confusion at Su Fei's actions. "Who are you?"
"Squelch!"
Su Fei gave a flick of his wrist, and a concealed blade sprang into his palm. In one clean, precise motion, it slid across the young man's throat, and then, with Ning Zhe slung over his shoulder, he vanished into the glow cast by the lantern.