Have You Ever Seen Such a Handsome Savage?

On an open stretch of ground by the riverbank, several human corpses lay scattered about.

The blood had not yet dried. It seeped into the soil, its color horrifyingly vivid.

Two groups faced off in the clearing.

One side consisted of three human professionals—two men and a woman—wearing matching dark blue uniforms.

Their faces were grim, their bodies covered in wounds. Standing back-to-back in a triangle formation, they made their final stand.

The other side consisted of seven or eight humanoid creatures. They were slightly shorter than ordinary humans, their bodies covered in short grayish-brown fur, with sharp claws on both hands and feet and feline heads.

Vertical pupils.

Pointed ears.

Cat tails.

The Blood Cat race was one of the myriad races of the Source Realm. Their territory bordered that of humanity, making them one of humanity's primary enemies.

Blood Cats were known for their agility. Individually, they were not particularly powerful, but they reproduced quickly and were extremely troublesome in groups.

And yet—

Among that group of aliens stood a human man.

He was young and wore the same dark blue uniform. Standing behind the cat people with his arms folded across his chest, he wore a faint smile.

What was strange was—

Those Blood Cats, who were mortal enemies of humanity, did not attack him.

The young man's gaze fell upon the three human professionals, especially the girl among them.

The girl looked sixteen or seventeen. She had an oval face, fair skin, and beautiful almond-shaped eyes. At that moment, her eyes were red-rimmed, her lips tightly bitten, and her entire body trembled.

"Xu Yinyin, stop struggling."

The young man spoke with a teasing note in his voice. "Your resistance is just a waste of energy. Accept my contract obediently, and I'll let you suffer a little less."

Xu Yinyin gritted her teeth, her voice trembling. "Lin Yueming, you're insane! You colluded with aliens and murdered your classmates. Once this gets out, even the Lin Family won't be able to protect you!"

"Gets out?"

Lin Yueming smiled, his expression gentle yet cruel. "Who is going to let it get out? You? Or those two corpses beside you? Once you become my contract slave, I guarantee you won't even think of reporting me!"

He looked directly at Xu Yinyin, his tone certain. "My talent is Emperor's Oath. It may only be A-rank, but its rarity rivals that of an SSS-rank talent! Once you bind yourself to me, I won't mistreat you. With your S-rank talent joining forces with mine, someday, we'll both reach the pinnacle of power!"

"You're a completely insane beast!"

Xu Yinyin clenched her silver-white teeth.

Emperor's Oath.

It was an exceedingly rare talent.

Although it was only A-rank by itself, it allowed its user to form contracts with other professionals.

They could share attributes.

In other words—

One person could gain twice the attribute bonuses and talent abilities!

However, the price was that once the oath took effect, the bound party would become the contractor's lifelong dependent, forever unable to defy the contractor's will!

What professional with an S-rank, or even higher-ranked, talent would willingly become the dependent of an A-rank professional?

Calling them dependents was already a rather euphemistic term.

In truth, they were slaves!

Back at the academy, Xu Yinyin had already made her rejection of Lin Yueming perfectly clear.

She had thought he would restrain himself.

Who would have thought—

He had only become worse!

Taking advantage of this outing, he had actually dared to collude with aliens. He was willing to murder his classmates just to forcibly complete a contract with her!

Xu Yinyin shouted furiously, "I'd rather die than let a beast like you get what you want!"

Lin Yueming's gaze turned icy, and a sinister smile curled across his lips.

"Your mouth is pretty tough."

"No matter."

"What I enjoy most is playing with self-righteous girls like you."

"Remember your good friend, Chen Yufei? She used to be just as proud as you. But before she died, wasn't she crying and begging me without end... Of course, I couldn't bear to kill you!"

"So you were behind Feifei's disappearance!"

Two streams of tears rolled down Xu Yinyin's cheeks.

"You bastard!"

The two teammates behind her also reddened with fury. One of the boys roared, raised his sword, and was about to charge out, but the other boy grabbed him tightly.

"Don't be impulsive! He's saying this to provoke you! If you charge in, you'll be throwing your life away!"

"I'd rather die than take this humiliation!"

"Fine. Then I'll grant you your wish."

Lin Yueming waved his hand coldly.

The Blood Cat assassins surrounding them moved at once.

One pounced from the front, feigning an attack and drawing out an opening in the boy's defense. Another Blood Cat darted out from the side like a ghost and tore open the boy's throat with a single swipe of its claw.

Blood sprayed into the water, quickly spreading a vast crimson stain across the river's surface.

"Song Quan!"

The other boy met an even worse fate.

He was not killed immediately. Instead, Lin Yueming used him as leverage to threaten Xu Yinyin.

Four Blood Cat assassins surrounded him, clawing from one side and slashing from the other, toying with him like cats playing with a mouse.

Lin Yueming wore a cruel smile. "Xu Yinyin, I'll ask you one last time. Will you sign or not? If you sign the contract with me willingly, I'll give him a quick death. Otherwise..."

He gave them a look.

"Argh!!"

The boy suddenly let out a miserable scream. One of the Blood Cats tore off his arm outright. His eyes nearly burst from their sockets as he cursed, "Lin Yueming, you dog bastard! Even as a ghost, I won't let you go!"

Lin Yueming glanced at him. "Quite the backbone. Tear his mouth apart for me!"

"Wait!"

Xu Yinyin clenched her shortsword until her knuckles turned white. Her heart was filled with grief and fury, but she could not bear to see anyone else suffer because of her. "Let Huang Yi go! I..."

"I say."

At that moment, a voice came from behind the reeds, interrupting Xu Yinyin before she could finish.

Everyone turned at once.

They saw a soaking-wet head poke out from the reeds.

Jiang Chuan was bare-chested, water running down the lines of his muscles. A pile of tattered strips of cloth was wrapped around his lower body, barely covering his private parts.

With a completely sincere expression, he complained, "Fight if you want, but could you stop throwing corpses into the river? What if you hit some little fish or shrimp?"

"Even if you don't hit any fish or shrimp, can't you pay attention to environmental hygiene?"

"I just finished washing myself, damn it!"

Lin Yueming's smile froze on his face before he frowned. "Where did this savage come from!?"

Jiang Chuan did look somewhat like a savage in his current outfit.

But he was not pleased to hear that. "Are your damn eyes blind? Have you ever seen such a handsome savage as me?"

Lin Yueming's gaze darkened. "I don't care who you are. Since you stumbled upon my business, I can't let you live!"

"Meow!!"

A Blood Cat assassin roared and pounced toward him, moving so fast it left only an afterimage in the air.

Jiang Chuan did not even look at it. He casually threw a punch.

His fist struck the Blood Cat assassin in the chest, accompanied by a dull crack of breaking bones.

The Blood Cat assassin immediately flew backward like a kite with its string cut.

It smashed through four or five thick trees.

Finally, it became embedded in the trunk of another tree.

It twitched twice.

Then it stopped moving.

The remaining seven Blood Cat assassins instantly bristled in unison, their ears standing erect, their backs arched as they let out threatening hisses.

Lin Yueming's pupils contracted sharply.

One punch had killed a Blood Cat?!

The Blood Cat race's physique might not have been its strength, but the Blood Cat assassins he had summoned were all at least Tier Four. They were not the sort that could be casually killed with a single punch!

Just who was this savage!?