Prince Kai dangled upside down from the window of Room 601, a rope tied around his waist, when a bullet struck him squarely in the chest.
Qing Ling reacted instantly, wielding her dagger to sever the rope, swiftly catching Kai and pulling him through the window. She turned, yelling at Gao Yang, “Don’t just stand there! Help me!”
…
One minute earlier.
After losing three ranked matches in a row, Kai felt something was wrong. Gao Yang, renowned for his hopeless attempts at flirting, had failed miserably for years to win over Li Weiwei, his childhood friend. Now, out of nowhere, he was heading to a hotel with Qing Ling, the campus beauty? Impossible.
This had to be fishy. Were they secretly here to study?
No, that didn’t add up. Qing Ling was a sports prodigy with a guaranteed university spot, and Gao Yang, though decent academically, was far too laid-back to be cramming in secret.
Kai pressed his ear to the floor, listening intently. It was far too quiet below, nothing at all like the situation he imagined. And besides, even if they were… surely it wouldn’t last all night. Gao Yang could’ve easily called him back by now.
There was only one possible explanation.
That little rat had found a new duo partner and ditched him for Qing Ling’s superior skills! They must be in some intense ranked match together!
Unforgivable!
He had to catch them in the act. Confronting Gao Yang directly wouldn’t work—he’d deny everything. Kai, crafty as ever, found a rope used for… well, other purposes, and decided to rappel down from the sixth floor to catch them in the act.
As he slowly descended, nearing the fifth-floor window, the curtain shifted slightly. A gun barrel emerged.
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What the hell?
Before Kai could react, his foot slipped from the air-conditioning unit, and he plunged downward. An excruciating pain tore through his chest, and everything went dark.
…
Kai lay on the carpet, blood gushing from his chest, unconscious.
“The bleeding’s severe! Find something to compress it!” Qing Ling commanded.
Gao Yang rushed to the bathroom, grabbing a thick towel and pressing it against Kai’s chest. The towel rapidly turned crimson.
Ordinarily, a sniper shot at such close range would have blown a hole through someone’s chest, but Kai only felt as though he’d been hit by a regular bullet.
He was undoubtedly a “Beast.”
“What now?” Gao Yang asked.
“I don’t know,” Qing Ling admitted, her plan unraveling due to this fool’s intervention.
“We have to save him,” Gao Yang decided quickly.
“Don’t drag me into this if you want to die,” Qing Ling retorted.
“What else can we do? Leave the body here? We have a hotel record; we won’t get away with it. It’s only a matter of time before we’re exposed,” Gao Yang steadied his breathing, calming himself. “He’s… most likely a Lost Beast.”
A Lost Beast, a creature unaware of its true nature, often believing itself to be human—perhaps even to the very end.
Qing Ling’s eyes flickered with doubt for a moment, but they quickly hardened again. She drew her dagger. “No, we can’t take that risk. If he’s not a Lost Beast, we’ll both be dead.”
Her cousin had died years ago because he hesitated in killing a Lost Beast.
Gao Yang knew he couldn’t persuade her, nor could he convince himself. Mercy toward an enemy was cruelty to oneself.
After three seconds of silence, he clenched his teeth and turned away. “Do it.”
A sudden knock at the door startled them.
Gao Yang hurriedly grabbed the blanket from the waterbed, covering Kai’s unconscious body.
Qing Ling strode to the door, cracked it open cautiously. “Who is it?”
Standing outside was the chubby receptionist.
The man, about to speak, was momentarily dazed by the sight of Qing Ling wrapped in nothing but a bath towel.
“Had enough of staring?” she snapped.
“Ah…” the man snapped out of it. “Miss, please, let me in!”
“For what?” Qing Ling’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.
The man glanced around, then lowered his voice conspiratorially. “I know what’s happening in there. I’m an Awakened too… let’s talk in private.”
After a brief moment of calculation, Qing Ling decided to let him in, opting not to kill him on the spot.
…
The chubby man pressed his hands against Kai’s chest.
Earlier, Qing Ling had already “removed” the bullet lodged in his lung. Now, the man’s hands glowed with green energy, particles of light steadily flowing into Kai’s chest, the bleeding stopped, and the torn flesh began to heal before their very eyes.