Qian Rushan continued:
"You'll rest here at the group tonight. Don't go anywhere. Don't take a single step outside the group's building."
"I'll take you to the examination site first thing tomorrow morning."
"Experts from the Three Great Schools will be stationed there. There's nothing wrong with us arriving early. People will simply assume you're there to prepare for the exam."
"That will ensure your safety as much as possible."
"All right. I won't go anywhere tonight. Thank you for taking the trouble, Supervisor Qian," Shen Ye said sincerely.
Suddenly, the loud roar of helicopter blades came from outside.
An assistant entered the room and said respectfully:
"Supervisor, they're waiting for you."
"I still have a few things to take care of. See you tomorrow." Qian Rushan rubbed his face, as though trying to drive away all his exhaustion.
"See you tomorrow," Shen Ye said.
Elsewhere.
The Western Suburbs of the City, Maple Grove Hotel.
Xiao Mengyu got out of the car with Zhao Yibing and stood on the street opposite the hotel.
She gazed at the hotel across the street, her clear eyes like the deep sea, their silent currents unfathomable.
Killing intent...
So well concealed it was almost imperceptible.
Only thorough, meticulous observation could detect a mad and terrifying malice constantly gathering into wisps of killing intent.
That killing intent was being deeply suppressed, leaving the street and the hotel's surroundings peaceful.
Like a seasoned hunter, the other party was waiting for prey to fall into the trap.
Xiao Mengyu parted her red lips and said softly:
"That online friend supplied you with large quantities of medicinal pills and high-grade nutrient solutions to improve your grades, and even pulled strings to get you recommended for guaranteed admission to a key high school-is that right?"
Zhao Yibing curled her lip without speaking, looking somewhat annoyed.
Xiao Mengyu glanced at her.
An inexplicable chill ran through Zhao Yibing's heart, and she could only brace herself and say:
"As long as I led our classmates in going after Shen Ye, ruining his reputation and striking at him, I could get everything they offered."
Now that I'd brought this person here, who knew whether that expert who never showed himself would be angry?
If he got angry-
Would my guaranteed admission be revoked?
When I saw that expert, I had to make it clear that this girl had threatened me!
"Did you ever consider that Shen Ye signing with the Human Martial Arts Group meant your task had already failed completely-do you know what will happen to you?"
Xiao Mengyu asked.
"You abducted me. I'll definitely report you to the police afterward," Zhao Yibing said threateningly.
Xiao Mengyu fell silent for a while.
Forget it.
She really was just a young girl.
She'd never encountered the real world.
She saw what she'd done to Shen Ye as nothing more than a transaction for benefits, completely unaware that the transaction was merely bait, with a lethally sharp hook hanging behind it.
She'd taken the bait.
"Zhao Yibing, I'll give you two choices."
Xiao Mengyu spoke softly.
"What are you trying to pull now?" Zhao Yibing demanded, thoroughly annoyed.
Xiao Mengyu said, "Your first choice is to stay here or hide nearby. Once I've finished dealing with things, come out as a witness and testify to everything you know."
"Your second choice is to pretend you never met me and go straight inside to see your online friend. I'll pretend I don't know you, either."
"Choose, Zhao Yibing."
"Your fate is yours to decide, and I'll respect your choice."
Without hesitating for even a minute, Zhao Yibing rushed toward the hotel across the street.
True to her word, Xiao Mengyu made no attempt to stop her. She simply watched in silence as Zhao Yibing entered the hotel, made a phone call, and was escorted to the elevator.
Five or six minutes later.
Xiao Mengyu raised her hand and gently pressed it against her scabbard.
The longsword moved, springing several inches out of its sheath with a clang.
Across the street.
Inside a hotel room.
"Bingbing-please allow me to call you that. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met, and the most gifted."
"I'm willing to recommend you for guaranteed admission to a Provincial Key High School. I can even fund your education."
Inside the spacious suite, the man raised his glass of red wine with an elegant gesture and drained it.
Zhao Yibing was still somewhat ill at ease.
She looked at the bouquet of white roses before her, then at his face with its mature masculine charm. Involuntarily clasping her hands together, she gave a slight bow and said:
"Mr. Han, thank you for your kindness. I don't know how to repay you. About Shen Ye-"
"You needn't worry about him," the man said with a smile.
"Really? I don't have to keep opposing him?" Zhao Yibing asked worriedly. "But he's signed with the Human Martial Arts Group. I'm afraid he'll take revenge on me later."
"Don't worry. As long as I'm here, he won't be able to take revenge on you," the man said.
There was a certainty in his voice that gradually put Zhao Yibing at ease.
"Mr. Han, did you just say you intended to fund my education?"
She asked cautiously.
The smile on the man's face grew even more sincere.
She liked money.
That made things considerably easier.
"Bingbing, I do intend to fund your education," the man said firmly.
He was about to continue when his right eyelid suddenly twitched.
An intense sword intent that made his hair stand on end pierced the wall and locked onto him.
That sword strike was gathering.
If I did nothing and let it keep building power-
"Mr. Han, what's wrong?"
Zhao Yibing asked in confusion.
"Nothing." The man immediately smiled. "Give me your bank account number. I'll transfer some money to you now."
"Oh!" Zhao Yibing exclaimed in delighted surprise. "Thank you so much."
She lowered her head to rummage through her handbag and took out her phone. Just as she was about to check it, she involuntarily shivered.
The man quietly clenched his fist.
Damn it.
This Sword Qi was so fierce that even she was affected.
I had to speed things up, or this romantic encounter would be completely ruined.
This was an unexpected challenge on the spot!
Even so, it couldn't stop my passion.
I would see this artistic creation through to completion!
The man swiftly took out his phone and spoke gently as he transferred money to Zhao Yibing:
"Bingbing, you're not only extremely gifted, but kindhearted as well. I've decided to support you through high school, but that's not all."
"What do you mean?" Zhao Yibing asked.
Ding!
A sum of money arrived on her phone.
The long string of digits nearly made Zhao Yibing forget to breathe.
The man stared into her eyes.
Her eyes were filled with apprehension, but it was soon dispelled by an irrepressible longing surging from deep within her heart.
Seizing the moment, the man leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "I'm qualified to recommend one student to take the entrance examination for the World's Three Great High Schools, Bingbing."
The Three Great High Schools!
Zhao Yibing felt dizzy, almost unable to keep herself from screaming.
That was a supreme honor!
She could learn truly powerful professional skills there!
Once she enrolled, she would soar to the top and never have to mingle with ordinary people again!
"Mr. Han, is that really true?"
She asked in a trembling voice.
The man took out his phone and rapidly entered a long password, saying casually:
"I once made an enormous contribution during a Sky Archaeology expedition."
"Kunlun gave me this password. By using it, my research successor becomes eligible to take the Three Great High Schools' joint entrance examination."
"I'm giving you that place now."
"But... my strength..." Zhao Yibing said uneasily.
"That's all right. With me here, I'll help you improve your strength," the man said.
Zhao Yibing's phone suddenly chimed.
She looked down.
A document bearing thirteen Trust Marks appeared on her phone, showing that she had qualified for the Three Great High Schools' entrance examination.
The more Trust Marks there were, the more attention Kunlun paid to it.
In other words-
There was absolutely no way this could be fake!
Overwhelming happiness struck Zhao Yibing. She even felt the world spinning around her and could barely stay on her feet.
A pair of large, warm hands steadied her.
"Mr. Han!"
She cried out in excitement and happiness.
"Yes. Are you happy, Bingbing?" The man wore an understanding smile.
"Happy!" Zhao Yibing nodded emphatically.
Her eyes brimmed with excited tears, and her smile grew wider and wider. She could barely resist dancing for joy.
At that moment.
The man's hands moved.
At this moment, when she was happiest-
Before trouble arrived, I had to let this supremely romantic encounter fall into the mud while its flower was still a bud waiting to bloom.
This was the climax of the movement.
I would pluck her with my own hands and bring everything to an abrupt halt!
An instant.
Something seemed to happen.
Yet both of them remained standing where they were, unmoving.
Nothing in the room had changed, either.
Only the man-
The man held his breath, an expression of mingled tension and apprehension on his face.
He gently lifted something with one hand while his other became a blur, rapidly pulling dense strands of steel wire from thin air. His long fingers moved as though playing a piano, swiftly stitching the wound shut.
A full seven or eight breaths passed.
The man finally let out a breath of relief.
Before him, the girl's headless corpse stood motionless. Miraculously, no blood flowed from her neck. The wound had even been sewn completely shut, forming a smooth surface as though there had never been a head there.
Only then did the man have time to look at the thing in his hand.
The girl's head.
Though she was already dead, delight still lingered on the girl's face, as though she were filled with hopes and dreams for the future, unaware that she had died.
The man cradled the head in both hands, examining it from every angle.
Tears of excitement that had yet to cool still lingered in her eyes.
"Wonderful, Bingbing. Together, you and I have created this magnificent work of art."
The man's cheeks flushed and his breathing quickened, as though he were a youth seeing the love of his life for the first time.
Suddenly.
The air in the room began to surge violently.
The man's expression changed, and he immediately burst into an angry roar:
"No!"
He shielded Zhao Yibing's corpse, crashing through the wall as a flash of cold light slashed him and sent him flying.
Xiao Mengyu appeared silently.
She appeared where the man had been standing, a longsword in her hand, and silently glanced at Zhao Yibing's corpse.
"Don't touch her! You can have anything you want! Don't touch her!"
The man's pleading voice carried from afar, accompanied by a wild, hysterical killing intent.
Xiao Mengyu's expression sharpened, and she raised her longsword.
She truly hadn't expected this.
With her Sword Qi keeping him in check, she had thought he wouldn't strike immediately.
Who would have thought this man was so insane!
In that instant, the ominous aura emanating from him had grown so intense that it surpassed her comprehension.
Now came the moment to see what they were truly capable of.
The next instant.
A dense web of sharp steel wires abruptly appeared throughout the room.
The man appeared on the other side of the room. With a slight twitch of his fingers, the wires swept toward Xiao Mengyu like surging waves.
Meanwhile, a few steel wires gently lifted Zhao Yibing's body and head, placing them in a corner with soft, tender force.
Xiao Mengyu suddenly charged forward and slashed at Zhao Yibing's body.
Clang, clang, clatter, clang-
The steel wires and longsword clashed back and forth with the rapid patter of a sudden downpour, while the spilling Sword Qi kept adding fine, densely packed sword marks to the walls.
"Enough! Don't hurt her!"
The man roared.
"Unless you tell me exactly who hired you, I'll do everything I can to destroy this corpse." Xiao Mengyu flicked her hand, and another sword phantom flew from her longsword.
The man had no choice but to abandon his attack and devote all his strength to shielding Zhao Yibing, speaking rapidly:
"If you leave now, out of respect for the Luo Family, I can still give up hunting you down. But if you covet my work of art-"
"I'll kill you!"
Xiao Mengyu immediately replied, "You can come kill me, but I want information on your employer!"
"In your dreams!" the man said.
Hum-
The longsword in Xiao Mengyu's hand suddenly blurred.
An enormous sword phantom emerged from the spine of the blade, radiating a terrifyingly keen aura.
Hum, hum, hum, hum, hum-
The sword's ringing grew ever more thunderous, drowning out every other sound.
The man's pupils contracted sharply.
Though he could withstand swordsmanship like this, he certainly couldn't protect Zhao Yibing.
"Bingbing!"
The man gazed at Zhao Yibing's body, reluctant to part with her, his eyes gradually turning bloodshot.
An unprecedented killing intent born of despair emerged from him.
Behind him, a sinister blood-colored puppet silently hovered in the air.
-He, too, was about to unleash his full strength.
"Let's make a deal."
Yet Xiao Mengyu spoke at that moment.
"A deal?" The man's teeth ground audibly as he voiced one final question before striking.
-Though the sword's ringing thundered in his ears, he could still hear her words clearly.
"As long as you tell me who your employer is, I'll let you hunt me down. Whether you succeed or not, I promise I won't draw on the Luo Family's power or have anyone from the Luo Family take revenge on you."
Xiao Mengyu continued calmly, "If you kill me, you can do whatever you like with my body."
The man froze for a moment.
He looked at Xiao Mengyu's breathtaking beauty, at her valiant bearing as she held her longsword, at the proud, aloof sword intent in her clear, limpid eyes-
The seething killing intent filling the entire room suddenly vanished without a trace.
"Are you... serious?"
The man asked in a tone that alternated between apprehension and shyness.
"I am," Xiao Mengyu said.
A smile slowly blossomed on the man's face.
"What a headache." His eyes narrowed with his smile, his brows also creasing slightly, as though he had encountered something both embarrassing and extremely difficult.
But in the end, he continued in a delighted tone:
"For you, I've betrayed my employer, which amounts to breaking the Assassin Alliance's ironclad rule. From now on, I'll face the Assassin Alliance's pursuit as well."
"Are you scared?" Xiao Mengyu asked mockingly.
"My lovely girl, to have you, I'd willingly make such a sacrifice," the man enunciated with a lilting cadence. "I hope that before long, I can hold you tightly in my arms and give you countless kisses as scorching as the equator."
"My sword will slice you into pulp," Xiao Mengyu said calmly.
"Ah, that's another kind of delight. Just hearing your heavenly voice has already excited me-I don't reject the prospect, unless you can't manage it." The man bowed gracefully.
The deal was struck!
Now only one thing remained.
The sound of countless steel wires rubbing against one another emanated from all over Skinner's body.
The steel wires probed back and forth through the air as though alive, constantly sensing the girl's Sword Qi, seeking to gauge her true strength.
The longsword in the girl's hand suddenly shuddered, letting out a shrill ring.
The razor-sharp Sword Qi and steel wires tested one another, carving deep gouges into the floor, walls, and ceiling.
The battle was about to begin!
(Please keep reading and vote. Thank you, everyone!)