Shude Maiyi

Caesar observed the nearly one-sided battle through his sniper scope.

Even though the enemy had broken through the Critical Blood Limit and completely turned into a Dead Servant, the explosion and the searing heat that had followed had destroyed his already unstable body.

Now, he faced an enemy who utterly surpassed him in bloodline, combat judgment, battle awareness, and every other aspect...

Because he had repeatedly injected himself with Molotov Cocktails, an alchemical drug capable of keeping Dragon Blood continuously burning, he remained highly active and aggressive.

But anyone could see that the moment the Dragon Blood inside his body burned out, this Dead Servant who wielded Word Spirit: Time Zero would collapse on his own.

A countdown to death...

Caesar rested his index finger on the trigger. Though he could not make out the target's movements at all, just as Li Lin had done, he used the sounds fed back by Kamaitachi to read the enemy's "instincts."

At first, he had thought his Kamaitachi could never keep up with the enemy. But after shifting his perspective slightly, he understood that catching prey did not require keeping one's attention fixed on it at all times. One only needed to observe what each of its actions left behind and what it intended to do.

A bloodthirsty beast did everything for the sole purpose of "killing its prey."

No matter how fast it was, the sounds it produced betrayed its intentions.

Caesar's sniper rifle remained aimed at various open areas around the battlefield. Whenever he moved the crosshair in his scope, a black shadow flashed through the spot it had just been targeting.

He knew perfectly well that if he pulled the trigger, he would receive an outstanding grade in this semester's War Practice Class for "decisively eliminating the mission target," and be exceptionally allowed to join the Executive Department early in his second year.

The Gattuso family would publicize the outcome of this mission, allowing him to rise through the Executive Department at a speed ordinary students could never imagine...

That was what the family wanted, which was why they had deliberately placed Li Lin in Caesar's course group.

But Caesar would never do such a thing.

Glory and victory stolen from a friend would only make him sick.

He watched Li Lin drive the shattered Dead Servant into the ground with another heavy punch. The surrounding soil kept piling over it, wrapping around its entire body like chains.

The battle was over.

Caesar set down his sniper rifle expressionlessly. He could sense that his uncle was surely observing the situation through the camera behind him.

He waved at the surveillance camera overhead, politely informing the watcher to get as far away as possible. The footage was transmitted in real time by Norma to Frost Gattuso's office.

Caesar then returned the sniper rifle to Declan. Now, he would earn a sufficiently impressive result in this mission through his own strength.

For example, he could find the alchemical drug Leonardo might not have injected yet, or gather the intelligence the gang had tortured out of that Japan Branch victim.

Caesar put on a baseball cap that barely concealed his face and left the old apartment building with light steps.

But Kamaitachi suddenly brought back some strange sounds.

He abruptly turned toward the stairwell beside him. It felt as though someone had brushed past him just moments ago, but all he saw was a fading phantom melting into the Los Angeles night.

Meanwhile.

Having successfully subdued the Dead Servant, Li Lin wiped away his sweat. Killing it on the spot would not have been difficult, but Professor Schneider kept insisting through the earpiece that he leave it alive.

In truth, the battle had ended the moment Li Lin struck the Dead Servant with Mountain-Leaning Strike.

He looked at the Dead Servant before him, sealed tightly inside re-hardened cement, with only its scaled face exposed.

Li Lin met those dim, lifeless Golden Eyes, then glanced at the two Executive Department agents hurrying over with blood-drawing equipment. Feeling rather awkward about continuing to stand there foolishly, he took out his phone to call Xia Mi while pacing around and enjoying the admiring, awestruck looks from the Mixed-Bloods around him.

In fact, Li Lin had never felt much sense of belonging as a Mixed-Blood. He had always considered himself an outsider. Even after becoming a Mixed-Blood, he was still an outsider. He merely thought that now that everyone was a monster, it was nice to have monster-related topics to talk about.

In the end, he casually found a bench by the roadside and sat down, idly watching the Executive Department agents bustle about.

After all that, he realized that even after joining Cassel College, he still seemed to be the monster among a crowd of people.

The call to Xia Mi unexpectedly failed to connect.

Is this place haunted? Wasn't that girl assigned as a liaison officer? What was with not answering her phone? Was she neglecting her duties?

By chance, Aki Shigede, who was also serving as a temporary liaison officer, passed by from up ahead. Li Lin stopped her directly.

"Senior Shigede, have you seen Xia Mi?"

"Hm? I think she said the mosquitoes were too annoying, so she went out to swat mosquitoes."

"That excuse is way too ridiculous."

Li Lin no longer cared. The mission here had been over for some time, and if students did not intend to continue participating in the course, Schneider tacitly allowed them to wander around nearby and relax.

Los Angeles was certainly chaotic at night, but the Executive Department had already secured the entire neighborhood. There was no need to worry about some unlucky student walking down the street and randomly having someone empty a pistol magazine at them.

"Oh, right. Please take this can of cola. Thank you for saving me today."

Aki Shigede smiled as she handed him a chilled can of sugar-free Diet Coke. She had actually gone out onto the street specifically to buy it earlier.

Li Lin accepted it without ceremony. "We're comrades-in-arms. Helping each other is only natural, so don't take it too much to heart."

At that moment, he suddenly felt as if someone was spying on him from the shadows.

But the feeling of being watched vanished in an instant.

Li Lin activated his Word Spirit, closed his eyes, and carefully sensed the changes in the elements for quite some time. Finding no anomaly at all, he dismissed it as an illusion caused by the rush of adrenaline after the fight.

At a newsstand some distance away, a tall woman with long legs stared stiffly at the "customer" before her, not daring to move.

"Shh."

Xia Mi raised a finger before her lips, signaling for the overly glamorous and seductive proprietress to keep her mouth shut.

Just as a little girl as beautiful and adorable as a fairy, lovely as a flower, should not have been wandering alone into a neighborhood like this to buy newspapers at night...

The exquisitely beautiful woman in the newsstand, dressed boldly and fashionably, should not have been running a newsstand on a street near the slums either.

Two people who should not have been here had met.

Shude Maiyi looked at Xia Mi's Golden Eyes as they gradually ignited. The pure dragon's might made her mistake Xia Mi for an awakened Second-Generation Species.

At this point, all she could do was force out a fawning smile at Xia Mi.