Swish—
The crisp sound of fabric being lifted suddenly rang through the solemn basement.
The heavy, bloodstained white sheet was abruptly thrown back, and the stillness hanging in the air was utterly torn apart at that moment!
The white sheet fell to the floor, revealing upon the long metal table a scene so cruel it made everyone's scalp tingle...
Upon the icy silver-white metal surface lay the tall, slender body of a young man.
His lean, upright figure and broad, clean-cut shoulders and back were a form they remembered day and night, one they knew incomparably well.
Yet the most horrifying, most brutal sight suddenly entered everyone's eyes—
This body had no head.
The cleanly severed cross-section of the neck was grisly and cold. Flesh had congealed, blood had darkened, silently telling of that decisive, merciless slash from before...
There was no head, no face—only a lonely, empty torso lying silently upon the cold long table.
The white-and-gold academy uniform on the young man's body had long been soaked through with blood, layer upon layer of dark-red scabs covering it.
It was the exclusive standard uniform of Heavenly Soul Royal Academy. Its patterns were exquisite, its emblem faintly visible. Though covered in blood and ruined by soaking, it remained unmistakable. There could be no mistake.
At that instant, the entire basement fell utterly silent.
The air froze completely. A chilling cold burrowed madly through their limbs and bones into their hearts, freezing their bodies stiff and stopping their breaths.
There was no face, no eyes, no cool yet gentle gaze that had always brought them comfort.
Yet that figure alone, that uniform alone, was enough to shatter everyone's last line of defense.
Ning Yurong stood frozen in place, her slender body abruptly trembling.
She had clearly not seen his face.