As an elder of the Blood Banquet Guild, Jiang Zhennan had not felt fear in a long time.
He had always been the one others feared, yet now he was afraid of someone who had only recently joined the game.
He did not even know why he was afraid,
but that sense of danger would not go away, leaving him uneasy.
At last, he noticed Shen Hao's eye. It was blood-red, and it seemed capable of seeing through everything in the world.
In that moment, he finally understood. That eye was the source of his fear.
It was the eye he feared.
"Kill him! Kill him!"
At his command, the giant warriors raised their battle-axes and charged at Shen Hao.
Shen Hao paid them no mind. He had already seen the lifeline that represented Jiang Zhennan's life.
Even the lifeline of an otherworldly evil god like the Bloodied Sovereign had weak points that represented "death," and Jiang Zhennan's lifeline was no exception.
His lifeline was covered in weak points, or "death"—far more than Shen Hao had seen on the Bloodied Sovereign's lifeline.
Jiang Zhennan could not compare to the Bloodied Sovereign, so there were more points of "death" on his lifeline.
Shen Hao touched it lightly with a finger, and the line representing Jiang Zhennan's life immediately collapsed.
Lifelines were a very special kind of existence. Not even something like the Demon Blade could sever one.
But if someone could see the "death" on a lifeline, even the slightest touch would cause it to collapse.
All things came to an end, so all things had "death." "Death" was the weakest point of everything.
As Jiang Zhennan's lifeline collapsed, the warriors froze, then vanished into ash in an instant.
They were creations of Jiang Zhennan's domain. With their master's life collapsing, they naturally had to dissipate as well.
Jiang Zhennan stared in disbelief at what was happening before him. He did not understand what had happened, but he knew his life force was rapidly draining away.
At that moment, he could do nothing but feel his life ebbing away.
He felt utter despair, and unwillingness and fear welled up from the depths of his heart.
How could a newbie who had only recently joined the horror game possibly kill him?
No, I don't believe it. None of this can be real!
But there was nothing he could do now.
He looked at that eye again. The chilling eye was the last thing he saw before he died.
He fell to the ground, and his body instantly broke apart, as though someone had carefully cut it into countless pieces with a knife.
His eyes remained open. One was filled with disbelief, the other with fear.
Even someone like him, whose hands were stained with the blood of countless people, would feel fear in the face of death.
No one could face their own death calmly.
Shen Hao looked at the shattered corpse on the ground, broken like glass. Blood continued to flow across the floor, tracing out a scarlet scene of beauty.
"Your prey died in fear. You have gained 1,000 Fear Points."
Shen Hao smiled. The old man was worth quite a bit, though still far less than the Bloodied Sovereign.
He really wanted to kill the real Bloodied Sovereign someday. He would probably gain a huge number of Fear Points then.
Unfortunately, the Bloodied Sovereign was an evil god from another world. He probably would not get a chance to encounter his true body.
With Jiang Zhennan's death, the surrounding barrier also shattered. The phone Xia Bing had given him vibrated; she was calling him.
Shen Hao did not answer, because he was still thinking about how to explain what had happened.
Killing Jiang Zhennan was a great achievement, but if he did not explain it properly, he might run into trouble.
Before entering the amusement park instance, he had told Xia Bing that he was only level eight. Everyone surely thought he was still below level ten.
Someone below level ten killing an elder of the Blood Banquet Guild would draw far too much attention.
That was unscientific.
He was the Demon, a devious and cunning existence. How could he put himself in the public eye?
That was not very demonic at all.
Shen Hao looked at his classmates lying on the ground. He walked over and lay down as well.
That was much more reasonable.
None of them had seen him kill the Bloodied Sovereign or witnessed Jiang Zhennan's end, so they knew nothing.
He could pretend to know nothing, just like the rest of them.
Besides, he had used Gaze into Death twice, and the Demon Power contained in his left eye had been exhausted.
His left eye was no longer scarlet and looked normal now.
No one else would be able to tell anything from his left eye, either.
After about ten-odd minutes, he dimly sensed a light shining over.
School had ended a long time ago, and the gates had long since closed. If there was a light, it was most likely the Alliance Guild.
The phone Xia Bing had given him had a location function, so the Alliance Guild could find out where he was. They should indeed have found him by now.
A car pulled up at the school gate. Its doors opened, and two people got out.
Since the school gate was closed, the two of them simply jumped up and vaulted over it.
Only when they came a little closer did Shen Hao see what they looked like. They were a man in his forties and a woman in her twenties.
He had never seen the man before. He had a beard, dressed casually, and looked a little unserious.
Shen Hao knew the woman. It was Xia Bing.
When he saw them running toward the group, Shen Hao immediately closed his eyes and pretended to be unconscious.
The first thing they saw was the corpse on the ground, broken into many pieces.
Jiang Zhennan's face was relatively well preserved, so they quickly recognized him. Both looked shocked.
"It's Jiang Zhennan. How... how did he die here? A-and like this..."
Xia Bing's voice was full of shock. Then she noticed something else strange and continued,
"It looks like someone cut him up like this while he was alive, but there's no sign that he resisted at all. How is that possible?"
The bearded man in his forties pondered aloud,
"Jiang Zhennan was no one to trifle with. Anyone capable of killing him this way must possess unfathomable strength."
They both found it hard to believe.
But the fact was right before their eyes, and they had no choice but to accept it.
They turned their attention to the other side and saw a crowd of people lying on the ground. Xia Bing hurried over.
She checked the breathing of several people and only breathed a sigh of relief after finding that they were all still alive.
"Boss, they're all still alive. They should just be unconscious. There's nothing seriously wrong with them."
"That's good." The man nodded. The pressure on him immediately lifted, and his body felt much more relaxed.
Several Alliance Guild branch presidents had decided to use this method to draw Jiang Zhennan out. If it had caused too many casualties, they would likely have been in trouble.
Now Jiang Zhennan was dead, but the students were all still alive. Their mission could be called a complete success.
Xia Bing spotted Shen Hao lying on the ground and hurried over. She checked his breathing and let out a long breath.
"Shen Hao, how are you?" Xia Bing gently shook him. Shen Hao opened his eyes and looked at her in surprise.
"You're here! Thank goodness you came, or I would have died here. Where's Jiang Zhennan? Did you kill him?"
What Shen Hao asked was exactly what Xia Bing had wanted to ask. Now it seemed she no longer needed to.
Clearly, Shen Hao did not know anything either.
At that moment, the man in his forties walked over, looked at Shen Hao, and asked,
"You really don't know how he died?"
Shen Hao shook his head. He had already decided to play dumb to the end and claim he knew nothing, no matter what he was asked.
In any case, no one had seen what happened here.
"You really don't know?" the middle-aged man pressed again. "Young man, you've narrowed your path."
Shen Hao did not understand what he meant. How had he narrowed his path? Did this man know what had happened here?
The man said indignantly, "The way I just killed that cultist was so cool. Didn't you see it?"