The night was as dark as water.

Mudan ran frantically through the alleys between buildings, carefully dodging trash bins, cardboard boxes, soda cans, and other debris along the way to avoid making noise.

His burly frame had shrunk to the size of a normal person. His body was covered in terrifying, burn-like wounds.

“Thunder technique... what level of thunder technique was that?! Damn it!”

Mudan spat out a mouthful of filthy blood. He was truly having the worst luck today.

He hadn’t even encountered the people from Quexie, but ended up running into evil anyway!

But at this very moment, Mudan suddenly sensed something was wrong.

He saw it—the shadow beneath his feet, stretched long by the moonlight, was flickering strangely.

He saw it—the shadow creeping along the wall was pulsing, dimming and brightening in turns.

There was a light source. A light source was quickly approaching from behind him!

Terrified, Mudan turned his head and once again saw that nightmare-like figure.

The silver-haired girl’s delicate upper body leaned forward. Her slender brows were tightly furrowed. Blood-colored electric arcs danced in her pupils. Her fists were clenched, ready to strike. Her entire body glowed faintly, like a thunder dragon weaving through the dark alley, charging toward him.

Her flowing dress swayed with her movement, and the killing intent had already silently arrived.

Chen Yanyu’s tender, adorable face was filled with unprecedented coldness.

“Die!”

She actually bit out the words with a crackling voice like shattering ice from between her pearl-white teeth!

Her beautiful, pearlescent nails were clenched so tightly they turned red, and Chen Yanyu’s small fists smashed toward Mudan.

The man, both shocked and furious, let his body swell grotesquely with blood and flesh, forming a petal-like barrier.

However—

Bang.

The shadow of Mudan on the wall twisted, as if a chunk had been torn away, and then...

Beads of blood as red as crimson rain splattered everywhere, mixed with shattered bones and flesh, flying wildly and coating the entire wall.

Even the black shadow seemed to turn into a ghastly crimson.

In the alley, half of Mudan’s body had been obliterated by Chen Yanyu’s punch, revealing a grotesque, centipede-like spine.

He was sent flying by the force of the punch, staring at the girl in disbelief.

What terrifying strength!

It was the power of a dragon!

In Mudan’s trembling eyes, he saw the pure, sacred dragon horns atop the girl's head.

A dragon?! Why did I provoke a dragon?! There are actually dragons in this world?!

Mudan desperately activated the Blood Demon Refining God Technique, trying to regenerate his broken body. His flesh squirmed like worms, crawling and fusing back together.

“Don’t think you can run!”

Chen Yanyu’s slender, pale fingers grabbed Mudan’s airborne ankle and violently smashed him against the wall, collapsing the crumbling wall of the narrow alley.

She seemed to have changed.

Or perhaps she was always like this.

Destroying everything around her in the midst of collapse and pain, then sitting alone in the chaos, crying by herself—a little girl.

Chen Yanyu had been at peace.

Until she saw Luo Qingchuan’s blood-drenched appearance.

The girl extended her jade-like fingers, the storm in her golden pupils whirling fiercely.

A blazing thunderbeam roared toward Mudan, buried in the rubble.

He wasn’t there.

Mudan had rolled away in time, driven by a powerful will to survive.

This girl... is terrifying! She’s not human, definitely not!

I must escape... After being devoured by those high-and-mighty people for half my life, unable to even afford clothes in my lowest moments, don’t I deserve to fight back just once?!

Even knowing he’d die here.

Even knowing he’d reached a dead end.

With half his body gone, Mudan still limped and staggered toward the end of the alley.

Bang.

A tiny bolt of lightning pierced Mudan’s leg, sending him crashing to the ground.

Startled, Mudan looked back and saw the snow-haired girl walking toward him, step by step.

Why... was the lightning smaller?

Yes... yes... with such earth-shattering power, she definitely couldn’t use it continuously.

So the scale had shrunk—but maybe...

Maybe she just thinks using thunder to kill me wouldn’t be satisfying enough?!

For the first time, Mudan was truly terrified, trembling on the ground.

Chen Yanyu’s face was emotionless as she slowly raised her fist.

“Chen guniang!”

Luo Qingchuan, who had rushed over in haste, saw this very scene.

He was equally shocked—the girl’s long hair floated in the wind, her figure as cold as ice.

Chen Yanyu seemed not to hear him.

Luo Qingchuan regretted it.

He deeply regretted it.

He rushed forward and hugged Chen Yanyu from behind.

In his rush, his left hand even accidentally landed on the soft, elastic curve of her chest.

Luo Qingchuan only felt her body was ice-cold.

He tightly gripped Chen Yanyu’s delicate wrist, leaving red marks on her snow-white skin.

“It’s enough. It’s over. It’s okay now.”

Luo Qingchuan’s voice was gentle and filled with guilt.

I shouldn’t have done this. Chen Yanyu... a silly girl who gets drunk off two sips of juice, who gets dizzy when I pin her against a wall—why did I...

Why did I let her...

Let her become a killer?

This was supposed to be Chen Yanyu’s first day in the human world.

“Chen guniang... it’s alright now, it’s alright. I’m here. I’m right here. You need to calm down. Don’t kill him. This guy who bullies the weak isn’t worth it. Let me do it...”

But Chen Yanyu seemed not to hear. Her icy voice carried helpless sorrow and grievance, and she murmured:

“I want to kill him. I want to kill him. Then... then go see a movie with Luo Qingchuan.”

She sounded like she was talking to herself.

Ah... she had always been talking to herself.

Because no one had spoken to her since she was a child.

Luo Qingchuan’s eyes turned red. Clenching his teeth, he shouted, “Chen guniang... Chen Yanyu! Chen Yanyu! I’m here! I’ll go see the movie with you! Stop!”

The boy’s voice rang out like the thunderous crash of a piano struck with fury.

Chen Yanyu suddenly trembled. She turned her head in disbelief, her wrist going limp.

“Luo Qingchuan?”

“It’s me,” Luo Qingchuan finally exhaled and smiled. “It’s me.”

“Wuwuwu...”

Chen Yanyu immediately threw herself into Luo Qingchuan’s arms, pulling him down to the ground. Her head pressed tightly against his chest as she wailed uncontrollably, crying so hard she couldn’t breathe.

“I thought... I thought you were going to die!”

Her clothes soaked up the blood from Luo Qingchuan’s body, but she didn’t care.

Her damp silver bangs mixed sweat and blood from the boy’s chest, but she only felt warmth.

“How could I?” Luo Qingchuan gently held her, whispering, “This isn’t some TV drama. No scriptwriter is going to kill me off. If someone tries, I’ll reverse fate and take them down myself.”

Chen Yanyu cried hard, her delicate shoulders trembling. After a long while, she sobbed and said:

“I wish... you weren’t so good.”

Luo Qingchuan laughed cheerfully and patted her shoulder. “Don’t cry. We should go.”

Police sirens began to wail in the distance.

Luo Qingchuan helped Chen Yanyu up and looked toward Mudan, who lay on the ground with only half a body, still struggling to heal himself.

The man stared at Luo Qingchuan and the two of them, grinning.

“Young man, young man, young man... I finally see through you.”

His face covered in blood, he spat out a venomous curse.

“You cultivate demonic arts, but your heart isn’t ruthless enough. You’ll die miserably one day.”

Luo Qingchuan seemed dazed for a moment.

Then, from the shadow beneath his feet, a burst of pitch-black flame of disaster surged out and quickly incinerated Mudan.

In the final moment, Luo Qingchuan’s eyes were as dark as ink as he said softly,

“To be honest, you didn’t even die in a cool way.”

…