The Rabbit-Headed Creature

The memory cut off abruptly.

"Only failure deserves death..."

Luo Lingyue murmured the words as she braced herself against the corner of the wall and stood, like a survivor struggling out of the mire.

Nearby, Liang Chen was pale and unsteady on his feet, but at least he had broken free of the brainwashing.

Heavy footsteps sounded outside the door, accompanied by coarse, beastlike panting.

Yin Chao motioned for the two of them to crouch down and stay as they had been, then tucked Anna back into the umbrella.

The door opened again, spilling dazzling white light into the pitch-black room.

Yin Chao squinted in discomfort.

This time, the visitor did not seem to be the Rat-Headed Man.

Backlit in the doorway, its long ears hung conspicuously down either side of its head.

"Someone destroyed my Mirage?"

The monster looked furious. Its voice, neither male nor female, was hoarse and grating, deeply unpleasant to hear.

Yin Chao gradually adjusted to the light and raised his head to meet its gaze.

It glared with round, blood-red eyes, the dense veins in their whites clearly visible.

"It was you! You!"

Enraged, it bounded up to Yin Chao and reached for his collar.

But Liang Chen, who had been lying in wait nearby, kicked it to the floor.

"I thought we'd be dealing with something big. Turns out it's just a little bunny."

Liang Chen taunted it.

Compared with the other beast-headed creatures, the rabbit-headed creature really was small.

But that did not mean it was weak.

"Natural selection, survival of the fittest." This was the law of nature, and the unspoken rule among monsters.

Sure enough, the rabbit-headed creature's eyes grew even redder. It stared fixedly at Liang Chen, its split upper lip curling eerily upward.

A moment later, Liang Chen, who had been so pleased with himself, began to reel.

"What... what's... calling... calling me... so loud... my head hurts..."

He braced himself against the wall and slurred the words.

Yin Chao frowned, guessing that this had something to do with the Mirage the rabbit-headed creature had mentioned when it first entered. Judging by the way it had unleashed its strongest move at point-blank range, this was probably an advanced version of Mirage.

He was considering the best solution while keeping his guard up against a surprise attack, but unexpectedly, the rabbit-headed creature lost its composure first despite having the upper hand.

"How? How? You weren't affected? Neither were you! How?"

The rabbit-headed creature pointed at Yin Chao and Luo Lingyue behind him.

So this rabbit used an area-of-effect skill? Yin Chao thought.

But he truly felt nothing unusual.

He glanced at the oblivious people around him. They seemed no different from before, and he was just about to turn toward Luo Lingyue.

A sudden rush of air sounded beside his ear as a dark blur shot past his shoulder, stirring the loose strands of his hair.

Luo Lingyue flew like an arrow loosed from a bow, her baggy school uniform tied around her waist and a black curved blade in her hand.

She struck off the rabbit-headed creature's head in a single slash. Blood sprayed everywhere, splattering her delicate face.

Luo Lingyue calmly turned her head, her gaze utterly cold as she looked at its corpse.

She reached up to wipe the blood from her cheek, but her hand was bloody too, and she only smeared it over a larger area.

The scarlet blood against her pale skin lent her once-demure features a sinister allure.

"All bluster."

She spoke softly.

Yin Chao froze for a moment before his eyes brimmed with amusement. There was no trace left of the quiet girl she had been.

Now Luo Lingyue was like a red spider lily blooming in the night, mysterious and dangerous, yet fatally alluring.

I need a companion like her, Yin Chao thought.

A keen blade, an obedient, bloodthirsty knife.

After the rabbit-headed creature was killed, Liang Chen and the people around them began to come to their senses.

Aside from looking a little pale and feeling that he had made a fool of himself, there was nothing wrong with Liang Chen.