NOVEL WEB Ch. 20
Chapter 20: Heard You’re Not Convinced? Planting the Evil Lotus
The gate of the shelter slowly opened.
Then two off-road vehicles drove in slowly.
At the entrance, someone was responsible for disinfection and checking each part of the vehicle for issues.
Only after that did they wave at the driver inside the car, indicating they could enter.
Inside the leading car, Liu Xin sat casually in the front passenger seat.
He held a cigarette in his mouth, looking quite relaxed.
Suddenly, his gaze fixed, and his pupils contracted sharply.
Not far from the entrance, a man dressed somewhat unusually, with a hair bun like that of an ancient person, caught his attention!
Unusual attire, the air of an ancient man, and a signature squinting smile...
It was that legendary mysterious bigshot!
"Watch what you say! That bigshot is back!"
Liu Xin’s words immediately turned all his underlings pale.
They had just been talking bad about him, and now the man himself had returned.
It felt exactly like getting caught gossiping behind someone's back!
"What do we do, boss..."
"Damn it, just act natural! We didn’t do anything wrong, what’s there to be afraid of!"
After Liu Xin scolded them a few times, the underlings in the car barely managed to compose themselves.
At this moment, Liu Xin saw Gu Fan waving at him from a distance.
His heart sank slightly, but Liu Xin still immediately jumped off the car, analyzing rapidly in his mind.
Xia Yan had definitely told him about his strength.
Knowing he was a Tier 3 Evolver yet still greeting him so dismissively—this man must really be above Tier 4!
Liu Xin quickly ran over and bowed without hesitation.
But before he could say anything, Gu Fan’s voice drifted to his ears.
"Liu Xin, right?"
"Ah... Yes, yes, that’s me. Hello, boss!"
Liu Xin’s heart was pounding rapidly.
Gu Fan was famous.
Even if the rumors weren’t all true, it still showed how ruthless Gu Fan could be.
Say no more—just that flesh-slicing game showed how twisted his mind was!
What normal person could come up with rules like that?
More importantly, he was panicking inside.
He had, after all, done something he shouldn’t have!
Gu Fan still wore that smiling face, revealing nothing of his true thoughts.
"Good. Another Tier 3 Evolver. That's a great asset for the shelter’s security."
"Oh no, no, Boss, you flatter me."
Hearing this, Liu Xin felt a bit relieved. Looked like Gu Fan was trying to recruit him.
"Mm, there’s one more thing I want to ask you."
"Please go ahead, Boss. I’ll answer truthfully anything I know."
Liu Xin replied with a full smile.
Seeing Gu Fan’s gentle demeanor, his nerves slowly eased.
"I heard you’re unhappy that I’ve taken eighty percent of the shelter’s resources?"
Liu Xin instinctively looked up and met Gu Fan’s pitch-black eyes!
At that moment, the smile on Gu Fan’s face had vanished, replaced by a calm expression.
An alarm blared in Liu Xin’s heart.
Without any hesitation, he struck.
He knew Gu Fan’s strength absolutely crushed his.
But such a close-range surprise attack—he might have a chance!
He had to make the first move.
Otherwise, he was dead for sure!
Xia Yan’s expression changed dramatically as she shouted:
"Stop! Liu Xin, are you looking to die!"
With a cold sneer on his lips, Liu Xin's body instantly hardened into metal, and he punched Gu Fan in the chest.
One second later, Liu Xin's expression froze.
The scene he had imagined—piercing through Gu Fan’s chest—did not happen.
Instead, he saw Gu Fan’s cold sneer.
"Is that all you’ve got?"
Liu Xin shook his head wildly, shouting:
"How can you be this strong! Impossible!"
Gu Fan placed a single hand on Liu Xin’s shoulder, speaking in a cold tone:
"You hit me once. Returning a palm strike isn’t too much, is it?"
As he spoke, the hand on Liu Xin’s shoulder lightly slapped down.
Liu Xin’s metalized body sank into the ground like a nail struck by an invisible hammer.
His entire body was nailed into the ground, with only his head left exposed!
A miserable scream rang out. This palm strike not only drove him into the ground, it also crushed every bone in his body. The pain was probably worse than being pierced by ten thousand arrows.
Gu Fan clapped the dust from his hands and turned away calmly.
The entire process took less than a minute.
The underlings in the car hadn’t even processed what happened before seeing their boss nailed into the ground.
Screams rang out in waves, with only death awaiting slowly.
The entire scene was especially chilling.
But the other older residents of the shelter weren’t surprised—this was already considered an easy way to die.
Still, Gu Fan casually disposing of a Tier 3 Evolver truly shocked everyone.
It looked no harder than killing a chicken.
“Holy crap, I thought Tier 3 Evolvers were already powerful. Why did Boss handle him like a chick?”
“Yeah, yeah, I bet Boss is a level-four Evolver at least.”
“Not necessarily. I think he might be Tier 5.”
“Liu Xin really had a death wish. Boss gave him a safe shelter and endless food, and he still complained about crystal core distribution? Ungrateful bastard.”
“There’s always someone who’s not content. Life now is so much better than before. We should take this as a warning and appreciate what we have. Anyway, from now on I only recognize Boss as my leader!”
“Me too!”
...
While everyone was chattering, Gu Fan had already ordered Xia Yan to bring Liu Xin’s underlings over.
They stopped beside a dry landscape pool in the hospital.
At this point, Liu Xin’s underlings were already trembling with fear.
“B-Boss, I don’t really know Liu Xin...”
“Noisy!”
Gu Fan waved his hand, and a black flame immediately engulfed the man, burning him to ashes in the blink of an eye.
“Did I give you permission to speak? Too mouthy.”
The rest were even more terrified.
Just like the legends said—this man was ruthless and killed without blinking!
“You lot, take these shovels and double the size of this pool. I’ll check it in an hour.”
With that, Gu Fan left with Xia Yan.
Inside the meeting room, Gu Fan held a meeting for everyone.
He explained their next task.
That was—flower cultivation!
No one cared what the job was.
As long as they could eat and drink well and not get abused, it was a heavenly life!
An hour later, Gu Fan returned with others to the pool.
It had already expanded quite a bit.
At his command, everyone used tools from the hospital to move the surrounding piles of zombie corpses.
Cart after cart, and the pool was soon more than half full.
Seeing this, Gu Fan directly released the Evil Lotus.
Perhaps sensing the abundant flesh and blood, the Evil Lotus floated to the center of the pool on its own.
Its roots then extended and pierced into all the zombie corpses, beginning to absorb them!
A purple glow swayed and spread, quite mystical.
Then Gu Fan looked at everyone present and said:
“Let me be blunt. You should already know my personality. As long as you don’t go against me, I don’t care how you live.”
“Food, a safe place—none of that’s a problem. I can provide everything you need to survive. But I have one request: take good care of this lotus. Just feed it corpses.”
As he spoke, Gu Fan casually slapped Liu Xin’s remaining underlings to death and tossed them into the pit.
“Be they zombies or humans, everything must go into this pit to nourish my flower! Understood?”
The moment Gu Fan finished, all the survivors shouted in unison:
“Understood! We’ll complete Boss’s task for sure!”
Gu Fan nodded with satisfaction, then ordered a few chefs to cook a good meal to reward everyone.
As a leader, wielding both kindness and severity was the right way to manage people.
Gu Fan was naturally learning too.