Chapter 11: Not Afraid of a Cleaver

Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Not Afraid of a Cleaver

It was the last night of the weekend at home.

Gu Qing went to the mall with his parents for the first time in a while.

As for his younger sister, Gu Yao, she had already returned to school for evening self-study after lunch, so she wasn’t around.

The moment they arrived at the mall, his parents immediately went into a frantic shopping mode, buying a pile of food for Gu Qing to take back to school.

Gu Qing’s eating habits at home these past two days had been outrageous.

His parents suspected he’d overspent his money at school and had nothing left for food, starving himself. That would explain why he ate so ravenously the moment he got home.

After they finished shopping, they returned home.

Just as they walked through the door, Wen Wanyi smacked her forehead, her voice tinged with annoyance.

"Oh, honestly, look at my memory! I can’t believe I forgot to buy soy sauce at the mall."

"I’ll go downstairs and buy a bottle."

Gu Qing said, then turned and went downstairs, heading to a supermarket across from their residential complex.

When he was returning with the soy sauce, he found a large crowd gathered at the entrance of the complex.

He also heard a series of terrified shouts:

"Murder! He’s killing people!"

"You property management people, stop cowering in your shells! Go stop him!"

"I only make 2,800 a month! I’d have to be crazy to go up there and risk my life fighting him!"

Hearing the chaotic shouts, Gu Qing hurried forward to see what was happening, and the sight that met his eyes made his heart tighten.

A drunkard, reeking of alcohol, was holding a cleaver and swinging it around wildly like a madman.

On the ground lay a man and a woman covered in blood, completely still. It seemed they had been hacked to death.

No.

It wasn’t ’seemed’.

They were definitely dead.

Because an extremely conspicuous tag was floating above the drunkard’s head:

--[Murderer]--

Gu Qing stared at the drunkard for a moment and found that the man’s swings were as slow as a snail.

He knew very well.

It wasn’t that the man was swinging the cleaver too slowly, but that his own Reaction Speed was too fast.

This created a slow-motion visual effect.

[Total Reaction Speed +83]

[Total Physical Strength +20]

With the boost from these two Attributes, ’My combat power now far exceeds that of an ordinary person.’

’Dealing with a single drunkard with a knife should be no problem at all.’

Thinking this, Gu Qing rolled up his sleeves and walked unhurriedly toward the drunkard.

He was going to try to stop this vicious assault, provided he could guarantee his own safety.

After all, it was happening right at the entrance to his own residential complex.

And it was blocking his way home.

"Young man, don’t try to be a hero! No matter how good your kung fu is, you should still fear a cleaver!"

An old man on the roadside, seeing Gu Qing walk empty-handed toward the knife-wielding assailant as if to play the hero, hurriedly shouted a warning.

Gu Qing ignored the old man’s advice.

He walked straight up to the drunkard and stopped.

He decided to try words before force, advising,

"Those two on the ground might still be saved."

"Listen to me. Put down the knife. There’s still a chance to turn things around."

"Don’t back yourself into a corner."

The two people on the ground were already as dead as they could be.

But that didn’t stop Gu Qing from lying through his teeth.

Unfortunately, the cleaver-wielding drunkard’s thought process was not that of a normal person.

Hearing Gu Qing say the two might still be saved, he immediately crouched down and stabbed their chests a few more times—STAB, STAB—each blow fatal.

Then he sprang back to his feet and swung the cleaver at Gu Qing, who had come to reason with him.

"I’ll fucking kill you!"

’Holy shit!’

’This guy’s a complete psycho!’

’There’s no talking to him at all!’

Gu Qing decisively gave up on verbal persuasion and switched to physical persuasion.

The moment the drunkard swung the cleaver at him, Gu Qing simply sidestepped slightly, effortlessly dodging the attack.

He then immediately raised his arm and brought a karate chop down on the arm holding the cleaver.

With this strike, Gu Qing used less than ten percent of his strength.

But when it landed on the drunkard’s arm, it felt as heavy as a mountain crashing down.

It instantly numbed the drunkard’s entire arm.

The cleaver in his hand fell to the ground with a CLANG.

Seeing this, the onlookers immediately swarmed forward and subdued the drunkard.

Seeing that the matter was resolved, Gu Qing didn’t linger at the scene. He picked up the bottle of soy sauce from the ground, turned, and left.

’A reward for being a good samaritan? I don’t need one.’

’I just want to farm my Attributes in peace.’

But just after he left, the drunkard who had been subdued by the crowd suddenly began to convulse, his eyeballs bulging.

Then, he couldn’t catch his breath.

And dropped dead on the spot.

...

When Gu Qing walked into the living room, he saw his parents sitting on the sofa, their faces etched with worry.

Seeing him return, both of them breathed a sigh of relief.

"You child, Mom just called you several times. Why didn’t you answer a single one?"

Wen Wanyi chided him.

Gu Qing explained, "I put my phone on silent last night before bed and forgot to turn the sound back on."

Wen Wanyi said with lingering fear, "You have no idea how worried your father and I were. The homeowner’s group chat said some drunkard was attacking people with a knife at the complex entrance, and you had just gone downstairs to buy soy sauce. It was terrifying just to think about."

Gu Qing smiled. "What’s there to be afraid of? Your son isn’t stupid. If I see danger, I’ll definitely run far, far away."

He had just finished speaking when Gu Mingbo looked up at him, then back down at his phone with a puzzled expression.

"Son, why do I feel like the young man in this video who acted heroically looks a bit like you?"

"What did you say?"

Wen Wanyi immediately leaned over to stare at the video on her husband’s phone screen.

The same height.

The same clothes.

And a bottle of soy sauce in his hand...

’Isn’t that my precious son?!’

Wen Wanyi was first surprised, then angry. Her face hardened as she looked at Gu Qing to scold him.

"You child! And you said you’d run far away from danger? Is this how you lie to your mother?"

"Who gave you permission to play the hero?"

"If something had happened to you, how do you expect me to go on living?"

As Wen Wanyi spoke, her eyes began to redden.

She never would have imagined her son could be so impulsive, acting without any thought for the consequences. To think he would dare to provoke a man with a knife.

Thank goodness the man was drunk and could barely hold the knife steady. Otherwise, with that madman’s frenzy, how could her son have so easily dodged the cleaver?

Just thinking about it sent a chill of fear down Wen Wanyi’s spine.

Gu Qing found the situation a bit overwhelming.

He had planned to slip away after doing the deed, hiding his accomplishment and name to avoid unnecessary trouble.

He never expected someone at the scene would record him.

And even post the video in the homeowner’s group chat.

This was a disaster for him.

...

That evening, a Security Officer came to their door to understand the situation.

He immediately praised Gu Qing for his bravery, saying his heroic act was worthy of commendation.

He also said they would arrange for media interviews later and hoped Gu Qing would cooperate.

Hearing the Security Officer say this, his parents, who had just been scolding Gu Qing for his reckless heroism, were now both beaming with pride. They claimed they had always taught their child to be brave and do good deeds.

Gu Qing was speechless listening to them. ’They sure change their tune fast,’ he complained internally.

Then he said to the Security Officer,

"Um... Officer, I don’t want to be interviewed by the media, and I don’t need any rewards for my actions. I just want to live a quiet life."

The Security Officer was very surprised.

’A young person these days who doesn’t want to be on TV and in the spotlight?’

’That’s rare...’

But appreciation aside, the Security Officer still tried to persuade Gu Qing to accept the interview.

His security department had an annual publicity quota to meet.

Gu Qing’s case was perfect for publicity material.

Unfortunately, Gu Qing’s attitude was firm. He simply would not agree to an interview.

The Security Officer tried to persuade him for quite a while.

But failed.

He was forced to give up for the time being.

As he was leaving, the Security Officer looked at Gu Qing and asked with some curiosity,

"Young man, have you trained in martial arts?"

"Yes, I practiced a little at school."

"No wonder. So that’s why the drunk’s arm bone shattered from just one hit. That karate chop of yours in the video was incredibly powerful."

"..."

Gu Qing just smiled without saying anything.

’What martial arts? It was purely a case of brute force working wonders,’ he thought.

...

PS: My begging bowl is out! Please toss in your monthly and recommendation tickets!