Finding an empty bed furthest from the four men by the restroom, William Carter lay down and relaxed. The four exchanged glances; two of them were clearly displeased with William Carter's casual disregard, their faces twisted as if about to stand up. The man with a deep scar on his forehead made a gesture, “Don’t cause trouble now.” Only then did the other two reluctantly sit back down.

William Carter was fully aware of their movements, but just as with the big man earlier, all he wanted now was to get through the night safely and go home tomorrow. He absolutely didn’t want anything to happen that might affect him. Even though the men harbored ill intentions, William Carter simply pretended not to notice.

Lying on the bed, William Carter thought about being free tomorrow, and couldn’t help but feel a bit impatient. Then he considered that things might not go so smoothly, and his mood inevitably sank again. Amid these ups and downs, William Carter felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier, while the big men nearby loudly exchanged stories about visiting prostitutes. To William Carter, their voices grew more and more distant and indistinct.

In a daze, William Carter suddenly felt someone pressing down on him. Startled, he snapped awake. At that moment, he felt a chill on his backside—his sweatpants and underwear had been yanked down in one swift motion. “This kid’s pretty fair-skinned, just right for us brothers to let off some steam…” a hoarse voice said gleefully behind William Carter.

William Carter instantly understood what was happening, and an uncontrollable fury surged within him. In that split second, his mind was filled with hot blood, his eyes turning blood-red. The pent-up resentment of the whole day, even more than a decade’s dissatisfaction with fate, all exploded at this moment. The rage was so intense that even the most balanced and peaceful supreme technique, the Vajra King’s Mantra, couldn’t calm it.

As the Vajra King’s Mantra circulated, an inexhaustible power filled his body. His right leg, which had been pinned down, suddenly sprang up, kicking the leering man behind him square in the chest. “Crack…” William Carter unleashed his full strength with that kick, almost snapping the man in half at the chest. All twenty-four ribs and the spine were shattered by the force, and the heart, lungs, stomach, and other organs were mashed into a pulp.

The kick was vicious and unmatched, the fierce whistling sound reverberating through the room like wind and thunder. The man couldn’t even retreat to absorb the force—he took the full brunt of the blow, unable to utter a scream, collapsing on the spot like a dead snake.

In the pitch-black room, only a faint sliver of light filtered in from the corridor. The other three still didn’t know what had happened, only that the boy they’d pinned down suddenly started struggling. One of the men straddling William Carter’s back, twisting his arms behind him, was still muttering, “Little bastard, you’ve got some strength. Ah—”

Before he could finish, William Carter had already arched his body and stood up. The man on his back smashed his head into the wire mesh of the upper bunk, then crashed into the iron corner of the bed, nearly splitting his skull in two. He rolled to the ground, screaming in agony.

William Carter didn’t bother with him. The first thing he did after standing up was pull up his pants. Then, aiming at the head of the man wailing on the ground, he delivered a full-force kick with the Vajra King’s Mantra. With a dull “bang,” the man’s head exploded into countless pieces. Blood and brain matter sprayed in all directions, and a thick stench of blood instantly filled the air.

William Carter’s resistance was so violent and swift that the two bystanders hadn’t even reacted. Only when the man’s head was kicked to pieces and the stench of blood filled the room did they realize something was wrong. Shouting, they both charged at William Carter.

Though their movements were fierce, to William Carter they looked as laughable as toddlers learning to walk—their strength and reflexes were on a completely different level. Feeling utterly humiliated, William Carter’s killing intent surged. These four had to die. With a single stride, he closed in on the man to his left, chopping down on his forehead with a knife-hand strike. The powerful blow caved in the man’s forehead to the depth of a palm; under the immense pressure, both his eyes were squeezed out of their sockets, and blood spurted from his ears, nose, and ears like a fountain.

After finishing off this one, William Carter spun and kicked the man on the right in the waist. The man’s intestines and organs were crushed by the savage kick, and he immediately doubled over like a shrimp. The pain was excruciating, and though he tried to scream, only a rush of blood choked his throat, leaving him unable to make a sound.

With a cold expression, William Carter hooked the man into the air with another kick. “Bang, bang, bang, bang…” Like a child kicking a shuttlecock, the man bounced up and down in the air—no one knew how many times William Carter kicked him. By the end, he was like a broken sack, every bone shattered, every bit of flesh pulped, no longer resembling a human being.

In less than a minute, the four men were wiped out without any resistance—including the last one, whom William Carter kicked over a hundred times to vent his anger. The disparity in strength made this fight a massacre.

Looking at the spreading pools of hot blood on the floor, William Carter gradually calmed down. He had killed four people, and in such a brutal way—there was no way he could claim self-defense. Did this mean he would have to go on the run?

Chapter 8: Clarity of Mind