Page 43

Sure enough, Qi Yue's gentlemanly manner at the academy had all been an act. His bloody, brutal methods and coldhearted ruthlessness were his true nature.

Now that Zhou Ziyao had seen Qi Yue like this, could he still... leave alive?

The terrifying thought left Zhou Ziyao's mind blank.

Splat... As a powerful stench of blood and rot reached Zhou Ziyao's nose, he felt something chilling and slimy on his face and body.

Something seemed to be sliding down his cheek, leaving a foul-smelling, disgusting trail on his skin.

The rain was still falling.

But Zhou Ziyao knew those traces definitely hadn't been left by rainwater.

Having witnessed the bloody, brutal scene firsthand, Zhou Ziyao felt his mind explode with a buzz. Before he could think, his hand instinctively rose to brush the slimy stuff off his face.

People's joys and sorrows were not shared.

While Qi Yue was briefly immersed in the joy of successfully killing a Third-Level Aberrant, Zhou Ziyao's hand touched the sticky, mangled chunks of flesh. His pupils contracted, and the awareness that had fled in fright at the sight gradually returned. Belatedly, he shook his hand frantically, then, amid the fear Qi Yue inspired and the nauseating, brutal scene before him, bent over and vomited his guts out.

"Blargh—"

The sound of the protagonist group member vomiting behind him pulled Qi Yue out of his joy at victory.

The immediate problem was resolved, and it was time for him to deal with the protagonist group member.

The thought that he had almost killed a member of the manga's protagonist group sent a chill through Qi Yue. That was a member of the protagonist group! Forget anyone else—if he hadn't been involved himself, even he wouldn't have believed it.

He had actually been that bold!

He hoped the Panel wouldn't display anything like "protagonist group's hatred value increased."

No matter how much Qi Yue mocked himself inwardly, he maintained a detached expression as he rose unhurriedly from the boulder and turned around.

Even his gaze as he looked at the protagonist group member still in Area E behind him retained the coldness his character was supposed to have.

Based on the voice he had heard earlier and evidence such as the length of the red hair he could make out in the lightning, Qi Yue identified the protagonist group member.

The person who had come was Zhou Ziyao, one of the red-haired twins.

Qi Yue: "..."

Thinking of the hatred value that had inexplicably risen to 6%, Qi Yue felt even more traumatized.

Of the six areas, A through F, the closer an area was to Area A, the higher the level of the Aberrants. The Third-Level Aberrant had approached Area E, and Zhou Ziyao belonged to Class E and had been forced to separate from Zhou Zifu of Class D. If Class E's combat mode was similar to Class F's and its strength had been greatly reduced, it was normal for him to look for low-level Aberrants on the outskirts of Area E.

All things considered, running into Zhou Ziyao here wasn't strange.

Qi Yue's gaze fell on Zhou Ziyao, who was still bent over, vomiting violently. He watched him for a full fifteen seconds, but Zhou Ziyao showed no sign of stopping.

Qi Yue: "..."

Speaking while the other person was vomiting seemed... a little strange.

Given his previous "record," he might start randomly adding to Qi Yue's hatred value again at the slightest disagreement. Qi Yue had better wait until he finished vomiting.

Besides, the third Aberrant hadn't appeared yet, so he still had a fair amount of time.

But—

Seven seconds later, Zhou Ziyao still showed no sign of finishing.

Qi Yue: "..."

Zhou Ziyao's vomiting made Qi Yue feel as though the bloody stench he had ignored earlier was rising up at him now.

Sometimes, people inexplicably tended to follow the crowd. When no one was vomiting, they could endure it and felt nothing much, but once one person started, it was like a chain reaction, and the others couldn't help vomiting too.

That was exactly what was happening to Qi Yue now.

But...

Even if the king of heaven himself came down, his character couldn't vomit in public.

It would ruin his image.

Since he couldn't vomit, he could only make the person doing the vomiting leave.

For the sake of his character, Qi Yue braved the risk and pressure of the protagonist group's hatred value rising and spoke to Zhou Ziyao, who wouldn't stop vomiting.

"Hey, I said—"

The moment Qi Yue turned around and fixed his sinister gaze on the top of Zhou Ziyao's head, Zhou Ziyao noticed it, though he didn't look up.

But Qi Yue kept staring at him without speaking.

Was he thinking about how to make me disappear?

Zhou Ziyao, who was trying to use vomiting to avoid facing Qi Yue directly, shuddered when he suddenly heard Qi Yue's icy voice.

He was terrified that Qi Yue would say something he couldn't accept the next moment, such as "You saw something you shouldn't have" or "How about I just kill you to keep you quiet?" After all, Qi Yue had always presented himself as a gentleman when interacting with others at the academy, so he surely wouldn't want anyone to know about this terrifying side of him.

It was common for esper hunter trainees to die during assessments.

For his own safety, Zhou Ziyao hurriedly raised his head to plead his case before Qi Yue could deliver an unacceptable "verdict." "I won't tell anyone anything... No, today, I didn't see anything!"

When Zhou Ziyao raised his head in a panic, he saw Qi Yue standing silently on the boulder, with shattered flesh and blood melting in the rain beneath his feet and behind him.

Qi Yue himself stood in the rain, his eyelids slightly lowered, his scarlet pupils gazing without warmth at Zhou Ziyao, who was standing with a hand braced against a tree, in the light of the lightning.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zhou Ziyao saw tiny chunks of flesh splash up as raindrops struck the grass and leaves.

A bloody mist hung around Qi Yue.

Zhou Ziyao had seen firsthand what it meant to be "red-eyed from killing."

At the academy, Qi Yue had attacked Atas, who had been "investigating" him, right in front of the trainees, and Atas had only escaped with his life because Beixing was there. Now, Beixing wasn't here, and neither was anyone else from the academy. I'm going to die, aren't I...?

Qi Yue, who had been about to tell Zhou Ziyao to leave but had been interrupted before he could finish: "..."

Has Zhou Ziyao misunderstood something?

What exactly has he misunderstood? Could he have seen the transparent threads I hid in the rain and mist to control the props? Or did he discover the injections I used to make the Aberrants appear to melt?

Although Qi Yue was over ninety percent confident in his plan and setup, he couldn't overlook the possibility of an accident.

Even if the other party was a member of the protagonist group, and even at the risk of the hatred value increasing again, he had to make absolutely sure nothing went wrong.

Judging by the fear in Zhou Ziyao's voice, he was afraid of Qi Yue at the moment. Qi Yue assessed the situation.

In that case, things would be much easier.

Unsure exactly what Zhou Ziyao meant by "I didn't see anything," but knowing he was afraid of him, Qi Yue made use of every emotion he could. He narrowed his eyes slightly, remained silent, deliberately put on a gloomy expression, and stared fixedly into Zhou Ziyao's eyes.

He was standing, while Zhou Ziyao was bent over, bracing himself against a tree. He had the advantage in presence, and the same was true emotionally.

Now it remained to be seen which of them would crack and "show his hand" first.

"..."

Qi Yue's gaze grew colder as he stared at him without a word. Zhou Ziyao swallowed with difficulty, hearing his own heart pounding.

Unable to see Zhou Ziyao's face clearly, Qi Yue could only watch his body more intently.

When he clearly saw Zhou Ziyao swallow nervously, Qi Yue spoke at just the right moment, using a chilling tone to increase the psychological pressure on him. "Really?"

Although he didn't know exactly what "really" referred to, Zhou Ziyao, who had said those words, obviously knew what his "really" was based on.

Under that scrutinizing gaze, every second felt like a year. When Qi Yue finally spoke, Zhou Ziyao felt as though he had glimpsed hope.

"Really!" Zhou Ziyao spoke urgently, almost without hesitation. "The way you looked just now, whether it's Beixing or the other trainees at the academy, no one will ever know about it."

Knowing that Qi Yue cared about his image as a "gentleman," Zhou Ziyao hastily added, "At the academy, you'll always be elegant and saintly. No one will know what you looked like just now..."

Qi Yue: "..."

Mystery solved. Zhou Ziyao hadn't seen any of his threads or devices at all.

But...

Elegant... saintly?

A question mark slowly appeared in Qi Yue's mind. Was it possible that this was all a scene he had deliberately created? He had wanted to substantiate the esper ability strength that Class F had been "marketing" him for.

His character was clearly "a mysterious, formidable big-shot-level trainee with the strongest esper ability in Class F."

In any case, it was good that Zhou Ziyao hadn't discovered any of his tricks.

Qi Yue let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief.

This wasn't the time to dwell on it. A Third-Level Aberrant could appear at any moment, and with the "threat" removed and Zhou Ziyao afraid of him, Qi Yue seized the opportunity. Ignoring what Zhou Ziyao had said, he merely reminded him in a deliberately cold tone and with a "fierce" look in his eyes.

"This isn't a place you should be."

The transparent threads that triggered the mechanisms were tangled around the monsters' shattered, rotting flesh. Six hours hadn't passed, so the threads hadn't begun to melt yet.

For that reason, he also had to send Zhou Ziyao away and make sure he never came back.

Zhou Ziyao: "!"

He had guessed right. Qi Yue really did have a close relationship with the First Hunter Academy and was obsessively attached to behaving "elegantly."

Although Qi Yue's expression was cold and his face resembled the King of Hell's, he no longer intended to kill Zhou Ziyao like those Aberrants. Zhou Ziyao hurriedly seized the chance, nodding as he backed away from this devilish place.

"I-I understand. I'm leaving now..."

Terrified that Qi Yue would change his mind and "stab" him from behind, Zhou Ziyao kept backing away in the comical position of facing him. Only when Qi Yue's figure, shrouded in killing intent, was out of sight did Zhou Ziyao's body go limp. He fell onto his back and lay there, letting the icy rain strike him.