Scavenging through the rubble was a tedious affair for Xiao Shu; he harbored no illusions of striking it rich, and wealth held little sway over him. Perhaps the legacy of the Li family’s enduring prosperity had dampened any inherited interest in riches among the younger generations. For the old woman, however, treasure hunting in the ruins was more than a task—it was a longevity-extending form of entertainment. Every time she unearthed something useful, no matter how mundane it appeared to Xiao Shu, she would erupt in sheer delight.

In less than half an hour, Xiao Shu’s interest in the scavenging waned entirely, and he began to wander the immediate vicinity on his own. He surveyed the area for any shadowed nooks where bandits might hide, or looked out for any corpses lying dismembered, paying extra attention to any personnel whose movements seemed suspicious. Yet, across the vast expanse of the district, it seemed that at this precise moment, aside from himself and the elderly scavenger, there was no one else—not even a trace of thieves or plunderers. The world seemed forgotten, devoid of sound, breath, or vitality, lying there silently, like an abandoned, broken remnant.

However, silence and safety were not synonymous. While Xiao Shu and the old woman whiled away the time on Goldwork Street, pillage and slaughter continued in other parts of the city. Police vehicles, repeatedly laden with corpses, were driven to the morgue, where heaps of body bags containing the dead were unceremoniously dumped into the incinerators, sending plumes of smoke that lingered over the facility. Most bodies were hastily cremated before their families could be located, with only a single photograph taken just before they entered the furnace serving as the sole proof for future identification. The slaughter had come too swiftly, and the unexpected deaths were too numerous; allowing the bodies to pile up would inevitably lead to devastating epidemics and unforeseen complications, not to mention the certainty of official condemnation from the bereaved families. Under the current circumstances, sending off those who were gone and avoiding further tragedy was the best course of action.

The old woman, true to form, made another discovery amidst the debris. Before long, she was standing atop a mountain of bricks, clutching a glittering object and laughing maniacally. Xiao Shu turned to look; it was a golden bowl, about the size of a fist, intricately carved with patterns of dragons and phoenixes symbolizing auspiciousness, and studded around the rim with several rubies and emeralds. Still, such brazen exhibitionism would be strange if it didn't cause the eyes hiding in the dark corners to turn red with envy.

In the blink of an eye, four or five raggedly dressed men and women rushed onto the pile of rubble where the old woman stood, joining the fray of the robbery. First, a bespectacled man snatched the golden bowl from the old woman’s grasp and shoved her roughly. The elderly woman staggered back, falling into the arms of a woman in red clothes behind her. The woman in red steadied the elder, pointed a finger at the bespectacled man, and said, “Thief, didn’t you just see her pick up that golden bowl? Give it back quickly.” The bespectacled man glanced dismissively at the woman in red and sneered, “This bowl doesn’t belong to the old woman either. Can she produce a receipt to prove she bought it?” No sooner had the words left his mouth than a slap landed squarely on his face. As he clutched his cheek, he clearly saw two close-cropped young men materialize beside him. One of them remarked, “Since it belongs to no one, then it’s whoever can grab it.” Immediately, the five were entangled in a brawl: a punch here, a kick there, a slap, a leg sweep, hair pulling, arm twisting, groin kicking—they quickly became a chaotic mess. The old woman, frail due to her age, was quickly overwhelmed after a few exchanges, landing with a dull thud on the rubble. Except for Xiao Shu, who observed coldly from the sidelines, no one paid heed to her fall; some even felt her prone body was in the way and viciously kicked her aside twice.

Seeing this, Xiao Shu could bear it no longer. He rolled up his sleeves, preparing to charge forward and rescue the elderly woman. However, before he could even make a move, a dark brown object whizzed past his back and smashed directly into the middle of the struggling group, instantly severing half of the bespectacled man’s head. Blood and tissue sprayed everywhere, leaving the remaining assailants paralyzed with shock, standing dumbly as the bespectacled man’s corpse fell straight down into the center of the scrum.