Aiya was frozen.
That wire—sharp enough to slice steel—was now wrapped around her delicate neck.
She couldn't run. Couldn't scream.
All she could do... was wait for death.
But instead of death, came footsteps.
Footsteps in the rain. Slow, deliberate... eerie.
Kai stepped out of invisibility, eyes sweeping over the creepy, decapitated doll on the ground.
He hadn't expected Qi Feng to already own a Scapegoat Doll this early in the apocalypse.
Impressive.
That Intuition Talent really was something else.
And Qi Feng? Pretty damn lucky.
But tonight, Kai didn't plan to finish the job.
No rush.
If they couldn't beat him now... they'd never catch up later anyway.
No one would level faster than him. Not in this life.
Still, just to give Qi Feng a taste of what it's like to be hunted, Kai lifted a hand.
A glowing magic circle appeared on the ground.
From it, a half-human-tall three-headed hellhound emerged, snarling with blazing eyes.
One of the powers of Death's Grasp—Summon Undead.
In the Slaughter Game, a player could equip a max of 10 rings.
Death's Grasp alone took up four.
From index to pinky, they were known as Ring One to Four:
Ring One: Offense – Shoots razor-thin wires and needles. Wires for long-range, needles for close-up.
Ring Two: Defense – Deploys a shield and once a day, auto-blocks one fatal hit.
Ring Three: Summon – Calls undead to fight for the user. Like the hellhound here.
Ring Four: Utility – Sets up three anchor points for instant teleportation.
Death's Grasp—once wielded by the Slaughter King himself—was brutally versatile. Offense, defense, utility—it covered all fronts.
The wires from Ring One? Insanely deadly. Unless your Speed and Physique were both over 10, you were just meat on a hook.
The shield from Ring Two? Not only strong—it had a one-per-day death-cheat built in.
Ring Three's hellhound? Kai checked its stats.
All attributes: 10.
Its skill, Hellfire Breath, rivaled an A+ tier ability.
In the current timeline, it was basically unbeatable.
Even Kai couldn't take it head-on right now.
And Ring Four? That teleportation? Absolute escape god-mode.
Set your anchors, blink across the map. Zero delay.
Just these four rings alone... were enough to create a one-man nightmare.
And Death's Grasp wasn't even the #1 artifact on the ranking boards.
Still, it was enough for now.
Kai pointed.
The hellhound grabbed the broken Scapegoat Doll and bolted toward the stairs.
If Qi Feng used the doll, he must've been teleported back to wherever he had it hidden.
Most likely—somewhere still on campus.
And if that's true... he's probably running for his life right about now.
Perfect time for him to experience some real despair.
With that taken care of, Kai turned to the last living witness—Aiya.
Aiya's brain was fried.
She'd just watched a three-headed dog spawn out of nowhere and almost peed herself.
She thought she was next.
But the dog left.
Then the air shimmered, and a figure appeared in front of her.
Kai.
She instantly recognized him. The guy Qi Feng hated.
The F-tier joke... who apparently was no joke at all.
If he's the trash, what the hell were the people he killed?
Aiya didn't dare make a sound at first. But then she realized... he wasn't trying to kill her.
She took a shaky breath, forcing out a squeaky plea:
"B-Boss... I-I'm just a freshman, barely joined student council... I'm not even close with Qi Feng…"
"I-I always thought he was a fake nice guy anyway! Y-You totally did the right thing!"
Aiya looked baby-faced—round cheeks, big eyes, soft skin. She gave off that hyper anime-girl vibe.
Honestly, with her look, people might mistake her for a middle schooler.
She'd probably crush it cosplaying some cutesy anime mascot.
Right now, she was terrified but trying hard to win Kai's favor. That fear-tinged flattery, paired with her innocent face, somehow didn't feel greasy—just... kinda adorable.
Kai gave her a sideways glance.
Then smirked.
"Nice. Keep going. Keep trash-talking him."
"…"
Aiya was speechless—but disobeying wasn't an option.
So she kept going. Pulled random fake dirt out of nowhere, stacking the worst labels she could imagine onto Qi Feng's name.
Meanwhile, Kai casually burned Qiao Kun's corpse with a fireball, flexed his hand, and said,
"Let's go."
"Go? Go where?" Aiya stammered.
The wire was still tight on her neck—she had no choice but to follow.
She felt like a dog on a leash.
And that wire around her throat? A collar.
It was humiliating. Utterly degrading.
But she didn't resist.
She wanted to live.
Kai didn't look back. His voice was flat:
"Let's find a quiet grove. Got work to do."
A… grove?
Did he mean that kind of work?
Aiya's mind went into meltdown.
Just seconds ago, she was telling herself, Better humiliated than dead.
Now it was more like, Kill me before you touch me!
But... she still didn't want to die.
Maybe she could talk her way out.
So she followed behind, voice trembling:
"U-uhh... Boss, I-I may look cute but honestly I'm disgusting. I've got body odor, bad breath, athlete's foot... haven't showered in three days…"
Kai turned and raised an eyebrow. "So what, you want me to give you a bath first?"
"...That's not what I meant!" she squeaked, face burning.
She felt humiliated just saying it, but nothing was worse than dying. Or... whatever came next.
Then, desperate, she blurted:
"I-I actually have AIDS!"
Kai blinked.
"Oh."
Totally calm.
Aiya was thrown off by how chill he sounded.
"Y-You believe me?" she asked.
"Sure."
She let out a sigh of relief—then immediately regretted it.
Because Kai added, with an oddly thoughtful tone:
"What a coincidence. So do I. Guess we're a perfect match."
"???"
Aiya stared at him.
What did he just say??
A perfect match??
Can she curse now? Loudly? Preferably in multiple languages?