I Am a Rune Engraver, Carrying a Knife Makes Perfect Sense-Chapter 1 - The Little Rusty Knife

“Your name is Xu Shen, right?”

“Come on, Uncle Wang, how long have we known each other? Do we really need to go through this?”

“Name!”

“…Xu Shen.”

“You’re eighteen, right?”

“Eighteen.”

“And those chickens… were they killed by you?”

Inside the dimly lit interrogation room, a middle-aged man in a pitch-black uniform with a menacing scar across his face sat expressionless. Across from him was a young man, Xu Shen, who looked completely indifferent.

Xu Shen sighed and tapped the table. “For the last time, I’m not joking! Those chickens were bitten by ghouls, so I killed the ghouls! Then I saw the chickens were in pain, so I helped them move on. What’s wrong with that? I figured they wouldn’t want to turn into ghoul chickens.”

Uncle Wang’s face twitched as he resisted the urge to smack the boy. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

“Twenty-five chickens, all bitten, and you ‘helped them move on’?”

“Yeah, what a coincidence, huh?” Xu Shen slapped his thigh.

Creak.

The interrogation room door opened, and a woman holding a tablet walked in. She showed it to Uncle Wang, who studied it for a while in silence, his headache visibly worsening. The woman gave Xu Shen a quick glance before leaving, even giving him a thumbs-up on her way out.

As soon as the door closed, Uncle Wang stood up abruptly and walked behind Xu Shen. Without warning, he grabbed Xu Shen’s ragged shirt and tore it open.

“Hey! Uncle Wang, what are you doing?” Xu Shen protested, alarmed, trying to turn around but was firmly held down.

Uncle Wang’s face darkened as he stared at the hideous scar on Xu Shen’s back. Although it had scabbed over, traces of black blood still oozed from it.

“Deep breaths… deep breaths…” Uncle Wang muttered to himself as he tried to stay calm. But suddenly, his expression turned fierce, and he smacked Xu Shen on the head.

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“Are you out of your damn mind? You haven’t even awakened your talent, and you dared to fight ghouls? Did you think about your siblings, Xiao Dong and Xiao Xia? And where did you even get this knife?” He pulled out a small, rusty black knife from behind his waist and slammed it onto the table in front of Xu Shen.

Realizing Uncle Wang was genuinely angry, Xu Shen fell silent for a moment before softly saying, “Sorry, Uncle Wang…”

—

Later at the hospital’s special treatment room, Xu Shen was lying on his stomach while a nurse cut away the rotting flesh from his back with a small knife. Despite the pain, he grinned and said cheekily, “Hey there, miss. I’m eighteen, single, and super friendly. You get what I mean?”

The nurse didn’t respond but gave him a playful glance. “Xu Shen? The infamous East Street bully? The one who got into fights at fourteen and cracked someone’s head open last week? And the same guy who ends up in this treatment room every few months?”

Xu Shen froze for a second before his face turned slightly red. “Well… maybe it’s just someone with the same name? There are plenty of Xu Shens out there…”

Behind a curtain nearby, two kids—a boy and a girl—covered their faces in embarrassment. “Big bro, please stop talking… What are you even blushing for?” they thought.

The nurse ignored him but couldn’t hide her surprise. Most people couldn’t endure this kind of pain without screaming. Yet Xu Shen only looked pale and slightly shaky but didn’t make a sound. “What’s with this kid?” she wondered.

Creak.

A doctor walked in arrogantly with his hands behind his back. When he saw the two kids sitting on an empty bed nearby, his brows furrowed. Their clothes were old and outdated but clean. However, in his eyes, they looked like trash.

“What’s going on here? Who let these kids in? This is a VIP ward! What if it gets contaminated? Get them out of here!” he barked.

Two other doctors immediately moved toward the children.

Whoosh!

Before they could act, the curtain around Xu Shen’s bed was yanked down violently. The boy lying on the bed turned his cold gaze toward them. His back was still being treated by the nurse, who was cutting away chunks of rotting flesh. Blood flowed freely, yet Xu Shen’s face remained emotionless.

“If anyone touches them,” Xu Shen said in an icy tone, “you’ll leave your hands behind.”

The doctor gulped nervously. He could tell Xu Shen wasn’t joking. The rusty knife that had been on the tray earlier was now somehow in Xu Shen’s hand.

“Who just said that crap about being a doctor with compassion? What a load of nonsense!” Xu Shen sneered.

The arrogant doctor quickly turned and left with his assistants in tow.

Xu Shen placed the knife back on the tray and gave the nurse an awkward smile. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m usually very nice.”

The nurse left shortly after with a tray full of foul-smelling blackened flesh. As soon as she was gone, the two kids rushed over.

“Big bro, are you okay?” the little girl asked worriedly as she looked at his bandaged body.

Xu Shen grinned and patted his chest. “I’m fine! Your big bro is tough as nails!”

Despite his words, his back throbbed with pain. But he refused to show weakness in front of his younger siblings—Xu Dong and Xu Xia. Their parents had died during a ghoul outbreak when Xu Shen was eight years old. Since then, he had taken care of them alone. Over the years, they had become each other’s only family.

He had sworn back then never to show weakness in front of them.

—

The treatment room door opened again as Uncle Wang walked in with the woman from earlier. She gestured for Xu Dong and Xu Xia to follow her out for some food.

Uncle Wang sat down next to Xu Shen and gave him an appraising look.

“What are you staring at? I don’t like men, especially older ones like you,” Xu Shen joked.

Uncle Wang ignored him and grabbed his hand. Strange patterns appeared on Uncle Wang’s exposed skin as his eyes turned golden and wolf-like.

Xu Shen stayed silent as he felt a chilling energy sweep through his body.

“No runes engraved… no awakened attributes… How did you kill that ghoul?” Uncle Wang asked after returning to normal.

Xu Shen smirked arrogantly. “Do I need to explain myself?”

Uncle Wang’s face darkened. He knew he wouldn’t get anything out of the boy. “Come to my house for dinner tonight,” he said before leaving a rusty black knife on the bedside table. “And tomorrow, I’m taking you to school to awaken your attribute. Stop messing around.”

Xu Shen picked up the knife after Uncle Wang left and muttered to himself, “If I told him the truth, they’d probably dissect me…”

He tightened his grip on the knife and stared out the window.

—