Puppet

It was evening, and the setting sun was red as blood. The final bell had rung a long time ago, and students were only now trickling out of the school building.

Lou Shisui walked out through the school gates with an empty backpack, his black hair melting into the shadows beneath his hood.

He walked past the bus stop without pausing and headed straight for the outskirts of the city.

Lin Feng dismissed his driver, tucked his conspicuous red hair beneath a baseball cap, and turned to follow Shisui.

He was skilled at tailing people, stopping and starting while keeping a distance that would not arouse suspicion.

As time passed, night swallowed the brief twilight. Only the streetlights in the deserted outskirts struggled on in the darkness.

The farther off the beaten path Lou Shisui went, the more impatient Lin Feng grew behind him, steeped in malice after an entire day.

The puppet controlled by the toxin quickened his pace, eager to be lured by the bait onto the unlit wasteland.

Lou Shisui stopped. They were some distance from the school now, and aside from a bus that had passed through half an hour ago, hardly anyone ever came here to wander.

Even if some unlucky soul did show up, it would just be meal delivery.

Shisui turned to look at Lin Feng hurrying toward him and whistled cheerfully.

Lin Feng's pupils were unfocused, his face was a sickly white, and the Psychic Energy inside him was turbulent and violent.

"Lou Shisui... Lou Shisui..."

A murmur like that of a walking corpse escaped Lin Feng's mouth, and his intense killing intent clung tenaciously to Shisui ahead.

Lin Feng pushed off with both legs and charged forward. His Psychic Energy instinctively began to circulate, and the protective dagger his family had given him flashed with a sharp blade light.

The next moment, his body, already hollowed out by the toxin, proved unable to withstand the rampaging Psychic Energy. Lin Feng suddenly crumpled, falling half a meter in front of Shisui.

Shisui regarded the prey that had come to his door with satisfaction. He crouched down and brushed the eyesore of a baseball cap aside.

Then he grabbed that clump of red hair, white at the roots, and carefully studied Lin Feng, who had already stopped breathing.

The toxin had lain dormant for a long time before erupting all at once, instantly dissolving the prey's insides. Like plasmolysis in a plant cell, it had left Lin Feng's face distorted.

Shisui released his Bikaku and wrapped it around Lin Feng. Black-and-red droplets slowly began to seep out from all over him, only to be immediately absorbed by Shisui, leaving little red spots on his deathly pale skin.

This slowly expelled the mixed toxins from the body, preventing them from further dissolving the intact skin.

Half a minute later, the toxins had been expelled. He slid his arm into the skin, and Koukaku extended from beneath his shoulder blade, following his arm inside before swiftly forming bones to prop it up.

Shisui deliberately severed his connection to the Koukaku and withdrew his arm.

He did not retract his Bikaku, instead casting a wary glance at the abandoned houses in the distance.

The residents who had lived there had already been relocated, and the houses were scheduled for demolition the following month.

A brand-new puppet rose to his feet in the wild grass on the outskirts. His body was covered in dust, and patches of blood left by the expelled toxins still marked his pale skin for the time being.

If anyone from the Ghoul world had been there, they would have immediately recognized whose handiwork this was. Residents who had suffered at the hands of Ghouls would have fled at once and called the CCG tip line with practiced ease.

But this was a new world, and this puppet was the first Shisui had made since arriving here.

With the same appearance, flesh and blood, and scent as Lin Feng, slipping into the Lin Family would naturally be easy.

He took off his backpack and handed it to the puppet. It was now full of poisonous Blade Scales.

Then he instructed the puppet to call the Lin Family's driver.

Such suspicious behavior would increase the risk of the puppet being discovered, but he was a disposable "source of infection" meant to carry the toxins anyway. If he was exposed, so be it.

As long as he lasted through tonight, that was enough. If he was discovered, they could just switch to plan B!

Shisui caught his breath. He had both manipulated Koukaku to create an entire, complete skeleton and produced a large quantity of mixed toxins.

He had even separated out a large number of Blade Scales, consuming quite a few Rc Cells when he was already hungry.

Before returning to school, he had to hunt.

Otherwise, his fighting strength would be greatly reduced by the shortage of Rc Cells.

He strode toward the abandoned houses, ready to collect some admission fees from his uninvited audience.

Zhao Nana darted through the empty old building. Thieves had stripped the houses awaiting demolition before work had even begun, leaving not even doors or window frames behind. That was how she had been able to climb inside and hide.

She had originally planned to confess to Lin Feng today. After all, they were still schoolmates now, but after tomorrow, that favored son of heaven would have nothing more to do with her.

She couldn't accept that. Even if she would most likely be rejected, she had to at least try!

She had waited at the school gates and stopped Lin Feng as he came out, but he hadn't even looked at her. He had pushed straight past her and gone over to his driver, said a few words, and headed toward the outskirts.

She had stared blankly at Lin Feng's pale, bloodless face, sensing that something was wrong.

So she had followed Lin Feng all the way to the abandoned houses on the outskirts.

Then she had seen a horrifying sight.

Lin Feng falling in front of the hooded man, eight long, slender tails dancing, and the walking corpse rising to his feet again.

And finally, the monster charging toward her!

The moment she took out her phone, a black crystal had shot through it, piercing her sanity along with it.

Her terrified screams echoed through the deserted outskirts as she began the final flight of her life.

Zhao Nana leaned behind an old sofa in a room. Even with her mouth covered, her heavy breathing still echoed through the silent building.

She couldn't remember how long she had been running. Maybe five minutes, maybe half an hour.

The building's stairs seemed to lead all the way to the abyss. All she knew was that she had fled straight upward.

She knew that the moment she stopped at the old sofa meant she was completely exhausted.

Tears streamed down her face as she clenched her teeth, trying to keep her sobs from escaping.

"Hi! Surprise!"

"Aah!!!"

The sudden voice snapped Zhao Nana's taut nerves in an instant, and her broken cries burst forth.

Shisui flew in through the window and perched lightly on the back of the sofa, his Owl Wings folded behind him and his eight Bikaku swaying leisurely.

He savored his prey's fear at his leisure, marveling at how well protected the human young of this high-martial world were.

She had collapsed after only two minutes. She couldn't even run him around as well as an overworked drone just off the night shift in the Ghoul world!

Had they grown so accustomed to taking the offensive that they had given up on further honing their wits?

No, I can't quite say that. They've still retained their wits for infighting and exploitation.

As Shisui let his thoughts wander, he pierced his screaming prey with one Bikaku.

A familiar sweet scent spread through the air. Shisui dealt with the red and white matter clinging to his Kagune and settled down to enjoy his dinner.

There was still a tough fight ahead, so he had to fill his stomach quickly.