Volume Three: Academy Run Amok - Murderous Ghost

"Ten minutes have passed... Is Xiao Wu doing well?"

Ling Ye narrowed his eyes slightly, looking in the direction Xiao Wu had left, and frowned.

But he wasn't worried; rather—

"It's such a pity we can't see her fighting style up close..."

Ling Ye looked at the monsters scurrying about below. Were they just too bored? He recalled what had happened about an hour ago.

Ling Ye skillfully dragged the two unconscious and stripped patrolmen to a dark spot, cleverly concealing them with the surrounding dust and vegetation. Once everything was done, it looked like an ordinary little mound of earth; unless someone as experienced as him was, no one would suspect that someone was hiding underneath.

"Did you... bury them alive...?"

"How could I do that with you here? I've already created enough space for them to breathe."

"So you're saying you'd kill me if I wasn't around?"

"Probably in the past... but probably not now."

"Why?"

"Because of you."

"..."

Xiao Wu remained silent, realizing that "because of you" was not the same as "you are here" from before.

For a fleeting moment, she felt a surge of curiosity about the young man.

"I say, Ling Ye, why are you so fixated on me?"

"Does a man need a reason to like a woman?"

"You know perfectly well that's not the kind of question I'm asking..."

"Um..."

"Could you tell me about yourself? Of course, it's not out of curiosity, but simply out of a sense of the importance of knowing yourself and your enemy to win every battle."

"... Tsundere?"

You're overthinking it.

"Yes, yes, yes..."

Ling Ye narrowed his eyes slightly, seemingly lost in memories.

"How should I put it... my past self, or rather, my life from childhood to adulthood, has always been a terrible one."

"Terrible?"

"Yes, my hometown is a city that can hardly be called a place of simple and honest people, and I was born in the dirtiest brothel in the whole city. I don't even know who my parents are..."

"Well..."

"The name 'Ling Ye' was a nickname I made up randomly when I killed someone for money for the first time, probably because it was midnight. I remember it was a fat man with a greasy face who muttered things like 'She's just a prostitute, and she won't even let me have her' while he found me sleeping on the roadside. He gave me a small package to tie around my neck and said that if I ran to the room of a top prostitute and pulled the string on the package, he would give me money for dinner. Of course, I was only six years old at the time and didn't know that it was a bomb, nor did I know that pulling the string would kill me. I just obediently went there for a meal."

"... Then what?"

"I did as he said, and the result was—the brothel's rooftop was blown to smithereens, the woman he wanted to kill was reduced to charred remains, but I, who was at extremely close range of the explosion, only suffered minor injuries."

"Because of superpowers?"

"Yes, it wasn't until then that I realized I was a superhuman. When I realized I possessed power—and it was a simple, brutal, and powerful power—I immediately killed a lot of people. First, the man who wanted me as a human bomb; second, the brothel owner who kicked me off the building, along with all the prostitutes and clients in her brothel; then all the homeless people who had hit and kicked me; and then many, many, many more. Naively, I didn't understand what killing meant; I just felt it was the most effective way to get rid of everything I hated, and reaping lives was as natural as breathing... Later, when I realized it, there was no one in the entire city who could match me in a fight. Then I realized that besides fighting, I had no other way of communicating with others."

"..."

"But that doesn't bother me at all. There's no such thing as 'falling into darkness,' because I was born in darkness. As I grew older, murder, robbery, kidnapping, extortion, torture, and tormenting prisoners became my daily routine. I don't know any other way to survive. It's disgusting, isn't it?"

"... Yes, but--"

"But ironically, even someone like me was able to find redemption one day, simply because—"

Ling Ye looked at Xiao Wu, his sharp gaze softening in a rare way.

"I fell in love with a certain woman at first sight."

"..."

"If being a scumbag is something you're born with, then I'm probably one. Day after day, I wallow in darkness, merely existing, without goals, without desires, without my own will. If I hadn't met you, I'd probably still be living like a walking corpse, and my soul would have died completely... But I fell in love with you at first sight. Just the fact that I 'fell in love with you' made me realize that I still have a part of myself that's like a normal human being, that I still have the ability to 'fall in love with someone,' and that I still have the human instinct to pursue happiness..."

Ling Ye stopped and stared at her.

"So, I've been resurrected, thanks to your appearance, thanks to the fact that I've fallen in love with you, which has revived my heart, which was already rotten to the core."

"..."

"But I know my place. I am filthy and unworthy of your beauty and dignified presence. Your kindness is like a flame; the closer I try to get, the easier it is to get burned. Yet, knowing I will be burned, I still want to get closer... I am truly hopeless."

"... No, I am not kind..."

"Why be ashamed to admit it? You are the most beautiful and kindest woman I know, without a doubt."

Looking at the Ling Ye, Xiao Wu Mai was at a loss for words.

"Oh, I'm sorry, saying all this all of a sudden will only put you in a difficult position. Just pretend I didn't say anything. Besides, how credible do you think my words can be?"

"Are you kidding me?!"

Ling Ye shrugged and walked out of the passage.

"Hoo... hmm?"

The sudden silence brought Ling Ye back to her senses.

The monster suddenly fell silent.

Looking down, all the monsters were neatly and obediently standing on the ground, just like a well-trained army.

The melodious flute music spread through the air, and every monster that heard it became extremely docile, making it hard to believe that they had just been wreaking havoc.

Right in the middle of all the monsters, a middle-aged man in a white coat was playing a flute.

"Is that... something that can completely control demonic beasts? Artifacts and abilities that control demonic beasts aren't uncommon, but to control so many demonic beasts so thoroughly at once is truly unheard of, not to mention that the ones here are all extremely dangerous species..."

At this moment, the man's mouth left the flute, and the monsters remained obedient, indicating that it was not necessary to keep playing the flute to control them.

"Search!"

Several bird-like monsters immediately took to the air and flew into the sky, one of them locking onto Ling Ye's direction.

"Oh, how could that be discovered? How unlovable—"

Boom!!!

A crimson beam shot out from the Desolate Beast's single eye, blasting towards Ling Ye's hiding place like a laser cannon, scattering an entire row of shipping containers in all directions.

The man with the flute gave a cold laugh.

"Hmph, is that all? You little sneaky mouse..."

"--However, it didn't."

A mocking voice rang in his ears.

"How— Spike Serpent!!!"

The serpentine, insect-like monster roared and lunged, its sharp claws slashing down. Ling Ye executed an elegant backflip, and with a flash of silver light, the Spike Serpent was cleaved in two when he landed.

"I'm telling you, this is a disrespectful way to look down on people. At least send someone from one of the ten major clans!"

"You're the one who looks down on me! Black Abyss Tribe, Desolate Beast, attack together and kill him!"

A thick black mist immediately rushed in, while several Desolate Beast gathered their strength in the distance, their scarlet eyes beginning to flash red. But Ling Ye merely bent down slightly and raised his dagger.

"Flash Sheath--"

A crimson beam of light blasted down, while at the same time, the aliens entwined with the dark shadows swung their claws down—

" --Eight Flower Mirror."

None of the creatures present could react in time to what had just happened.

There was no booming sound, no dazzling light, only a soft metallic clang.

In an instant, Ling Ye appeared a hundred paces away, still in the stance of swinging his sword.

There were a total of five Desolate Beasts, eight Black Abyss Tribe, and all other demonic beasts located on the line connecting his disappearance and reappearance locations.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!!!

Cracks suddenly appeared on the bodies of the monsters, and in the next instant, the cracks expanded into huge, grotesque gashes. Blood of different colors gushed from the wounds, spraying into the air and then falling back down, turning into a foul-smelling Blood Rain of blood that covered the ground.

The man with the flute was completely thrown into chaos.

Ling Ye gently brushed aside his blood-soaked black hair, looked at the monster carcasses scattered on the ground, and revealed a smile that was not just mockery but also sadism.

"What a joke! This kind of trash can't even fight me face to face."

"You—you bastard!"

The man began to play his flute like a madman, his voice becoming extremely passionate compared to before. Influenced by this, the demonic beasts, who had been intimidated by Ling Ye's murderous aura, all let out deafening roars, their eyes bloodshot, and they all rushed towards Ling Ye!

"Flash Step!"

Lightly push off the ground with your foot.

"--Six Rabbits."

Boom!!!

"Speed is power..."

Like a volcanic eruption, the sea of surging monsters suddenly burst open, kicking more than a dozen enormous monsters into the air. Ling Ye remained unfazed, launching multiple kicks in mid-air. With each kick, at least a large chunk of flesh was sent flying from the monster. By the time the combo was complete, the monster, which had originally been covered in a hard shell, had been reduced to a bloody pulp.

"What if a human fist was thrown at four times the speed of sound—what do you think would happen?"

A simple, unadorned punch struck downwards, the resulting shockwave shattering the bones of seven or eight demonic beasts. A deep crater appeared in the solid ground, and the violent shockwaves echoed through the underground space.

"My ability is quite simple; I can only move at up to ten times the speed of sound, of course—"

Boom! A dragon-shaped monster slammed its claw at him, but he didn't even flinch.

"--It also comes with an exceptionally strong physique capable of withstanding such intense exercise."

The dagger, hurled at four times the speed of sound, pierced—no, rather than pierced—it shattered the entire body of the dragon-like creature! The intense friction with the air caused the dagger to melt instantly, transforming into a streak of orange light that shot forward. By the time it had completely melted into nothingness, a trench several meters deep had been carved into the ground, and all the monsters caught in the blast had been reduced to dust.

Almost all the extremely dangerous monsters that escaped were dead, and all of them met a gruesome end, their bodies torn to pieces.

"Next up is you—Flash Sheath One Wind."

With a flash of light, Ling Ye appeared behind the man in an instant, slicing him and his beast-taming flute in two.

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Don't worry, fellow Yuri fans, this is Yuri story; there will be no heterosexual or heterosexual elements.

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