Chapter 108: The Supermarket Ambush

Finally, they reached the ground floor, emerging near the ruined front of the community supermarket close to the main entrance gates. The rolling metal security shutters had been forcefully pried open from the bottom, leaving a jagged, dangerous gap of torn steel. Inside, the store was completely wrecked; metal shelves had been violently shoved over, and broken packaging, crushed glass, and spilled grain littered the floor like snow.

A rough group of at least fifteen men occupied the center of the store, clustered around the aisles. Some brandished heavy steel pipes; others gripped blood-stained butcher knives and rusted crowbars. And right in the middle of the pack, Trevor was pinned face-down against the filthy linoleum floor. Standing directly over him was a tall, long-haired man with cold, dead eyes, pressing the heel of a heavy combat boot mercilessly against the side of Trevor’s face.

"I’m going to ask you one more time," the long-haired man drawled, pressing down harder. "Where’s the rest of the food stash?"

Trevor muffled a cry of pain beneath the heavy boot, clawing frantically at the floor tiles. "That’s everything! I swear to God, that’s all he gave me!"

The long-haired man grunted, applying more pressure just to watch him squirm. Then, his eyes drifted toward the front entrance and caught sight of Ethan walking calmly through the shattered shutter gap. A cruel, triumphant grin spread across his face.

"Well, look what the stray cat dragged in."

He lifted his boot, letting Trevor gasp for air, and turned his full attention toward Ethan.

"So, you’re the legendary little ghost we’ve been hunting down all evening."

His eyes roamed over Ethan’s coat before fixing on his hands. "Word on the street is that you possess a rare Space Ability. Rumor has it you’ve been stashing away tons of hidden resources inside some magical pocket dimension." He jerked his chin toward his armed thugs. "Here’s how we play this: hand over full control of your storage space right now, and maybe~just maybe~we’ll let you walk out of this store with your skin intact."

Ethan stood casually inside the wrecked doorway, his hands tucked deep into his coat pockets as he looked around the supermarket. Fifteen men. Standard melee weapons mixed with a few crude firearms. And one frontline Ability User who specialized in defensive petrification. Beside them, Trevor was already struggling up from the floor, instantly switching his expression to look like a victim who had been brutally coerced. Ethan almost let out a dry laugh at the sheer, pathetic transparency of it all.

So that’s how it is. A set-up from the very beginning.

The long-haired gang leader tilted his head, his smile turning predatory. "What’s the matter, big shot? Cat got your tongue?"

Ethan finally pulled his hands from his pockets, his voice dangerously flat. "You said you wanted my supplies."

"That’s right, pal."

"Then come and take them yourself."

The leader’s false smile vanished instantly, replaced by a flash of genuine rage. The atmosphere in the store dropped below freezing.

"Stone," the leader barked, pointing a finger at Ethan. "Go break his fucking legs."

From the back of the pack, a massive figure stepped heavily into the aisle. He stood nearly two meters tall, with thighs like tree trunks, thick arms, and impossibly broad shoulders that strained against a heavy leather vest. He cracked his thick knuckles, producing a sound like snapping dry branches.

"Shouldn’t take more than five seconds," the brute grunted.

Before their eyes, a dull, metallic blue-gray coloration erupted across his skin. It started at his fingertips and surged rapidly up his forearms, covering his massive chest and neck in thick layers of mineral armor. Within a heartbeat, his entire human appearance had vanished, replaced by a towering monstrosity resembling a statue carved from solid rock. His face hardened into an expressionless mask of stone, and even his fingers thickened into jagged blocks of granite.

The brute took one heavy, floor-shaking step forward. The concrete tiles cracked audibly beneath his massive weight. "Let’s see how long that pretty little face stays intact once I cave your skull in."

He lunged. His heavy fist hurtled forward toward Ethan’s head with enough raw momentum to whip up a violent gust of wind that blew dust across the floor.

Ethan didn’t flinch. At the last microsecond, he casually stepped sideways. The devastating punch whistled past his ear by barely a hair’s breadth and smashed squarely into a steel shelving unit behind him.

Crash!

The heavy metal shelving folded in half like wet cardboard under the impact, sending canned goods and shattered plastic containers spraying across the floor in a chaotic wave.

Before the petrified brute could retract his heavy arm, Ethan closed the distance with blinding speed. He stepped directly inside the man’s defensive guard and whipped his right hand upward. A thick, volatile wave of black mist spilled instantly from his palm, hissing violently as it made direct contact with the monster’s rocky forearm.

Stone’s cocky grin vanished, replaced by a sudden flash of stark horror. "What the hell is~argh!"

The dark corrosive mist spread like wildfire across his petrified skin. At first, the rocky armor seemed to resist it, but a second later, the surface began to blister, foam, and dissolve into bubbling sludge. Deep, jagged cracks fractured across the forearm. Chunks of heavy stone sloughed off like melting wax, clattering uselessly against the linoleum.

Stone stared down at his rapidly disintegrating arm in absolute disbelief. "No! Stop! What is this?!"

He tried desperately to wrench his arm away, but Ethan’s grip was like an industrial hydraulic vise. The black corrosion ate deeper, stripping away layers of rock down to raw, screaming muscle and bone beneath.

The brute let out a blood-curdling shriek~a raw, agonizing sound that bounced off the supermarket walls and made the other gang members step back in sheer terror. "Get it off me! Get this black shit off me!" he howled, blindly throwing his free fist in a wild, frantic arc.

Ethan released his grip with clinical calm and stepped backward out of range. The wild punch cut harmlessly through empty air. Stone staggered sideways, crashing heavily into a collapsed shelf while clutching his mangled, half-dissolved arm, whimpering in shock as blue-gray dust drifted from his ruined flesh.

The remaining fourteen thugs stared in dead silence. The long-haired gang leader had lost every trace of color in his face, his eyes bulging as he looked from his crippled powerhouse back to Ethan. "What... what kind of goddamn monster are you?" the leader stammered, his voice cracking with panic.

Ethan calmly wiped a stray speck of dust from his sleeve, looking down at the curling wisps of black mist still dancing lazily across his fingertips. "I was actually wondering the same thing about you."

He took one deliberate step forward.

The gang leader snapped out of his paralyzed state, pointing frantically at Ethan. "Kill him! All of you, get him right now!"

Three thugs rushed forward at once from different angles. One swung a heavy steel pipe straight toward Ethan’s temple; another lunged low with a jagged hunting knife, aiming directly for his ribs.

Before the weapons could connect, Ethan simply flickered out of existence.

The steel pipe slammed empty air, striking the floor with a deafening clang that rattled everyone’s teeth. Before the attacker could even blink, Ethan had teleported directly behind him. A flash of silver light cut through the air as a spatial blade swept past. The man’s weapon clattered uselessly to the floor, followed an instant later by a deep, clean gash across his chest as he pitched forward, unconscious before he even hit the ground.

Ethan didn’t break his rhythm. Another thug charged in from the left, screaming a war cry. Ethan raised his left hand lazily; a wave of corrosive mist washed over the man’s raised iron crowbar, instantly eating through the metal handle like paper. The man dropped the dissolving tool with a panicked yell and stumbled backward, but Ethan didn’t grant him mercy, sweeping his leg out in a crisp, fluid motion that sent the thug crashing hard into the remaining shelves.

The remaining members of the gang suddenly froze in their tracks. They had swaggered into this supermarket expecting to bully an ordinary survivor with a neat little parlor trick for storage. They had never expected to run headfirst into a nightmare who could teleport through space, carve people apart with invisible blades, and melt solid petrified armor down to bone with a single touch.

The long-haired gang leader took another panicked step backward, his boots sliding on the scattered debris. "Fall back!" he shrieked, his voice cracking hysterically. "Everybody get out of here, run~"

But Trevor had other plans entirely.

While the chaotic firefight and melee had drawn the gang’s collective attention away, Trevor had slowly dragged himself up from the floor. His face was a bruised, swollen mess, his clothes were filthy, and his eyes burned with a toxic, desperate resentment. He realized in that split second that even if Ethan won, he would never look at him with anything other than cold contempt.

Trevor reached inside his jacket, his trembling fingers closing around the grip of a heavy, concealed hunting dagger. For a fractional second, he stared fixedly at Ethan’s unprotected back as the man stood dealing with the remaining thugs.

An ugly, twisted grin spread across Trevor’s face. You arrogant bastard. You made a fool out of me.

Ethan had tossed him food, water, and even handed a life-changing Core to Tessa right in front of him, treating him like an absolute beggar. It wasn’t enough. To Trevor’s warped, narcissistic mind, Ethan owed him everything.

Trevor’s grip tightened around the knife hilt until his knuckles turned white. He took one deadly, silent step forward across the littered linoleum, his eyes locked entirely on the soft spot between Ethan’s shoulder blades, ready to drive the steel home.