(Everything had ended, yet nothing had been gained. The Yukinoshita Family had vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a mess and cold corpses. Kuchiba Hiro panted slightly; the fury in his chest seemed to subside along with the slaughter, but in its wake came a deeper sense of emptiness. He looked at Hiratsuka Shizuka's lifeless body, feeling as if a piece of his heart had been ruthlessly gouged out.
That person no longer existed in this world. The teacher who would boisterously smack his head, use clumsy examples to enlighten him, and try to pull him into the crowd would never speak again. Recalling the scattered memories of her now, only endless bitterness remained.
This sentimentality lasted for only a few short seconds before being suppressed by a stronger sense of purpose. He turned and walked away, preparing to leave this suffocating place to continue his pursuit.
However, after just a few steps, an extreme, unnatural silence soaked through his senses like ice water.
It was too quiet.
The cries, screams, and fearful sobs that had filled the floor earlier... all sounds had vanished. Not just the voices, but even the sound of the wind, the chirping of birds, and the rustling of leaves... every minute movement was gone. The entire teaching building—no, it was as if the entire space had been muted, falling into a deathly vacuum.
This extreme sense of incongruity caused Kuchiba Hiro's nerves to snap to full tension!
"Yo, handsome, you're quite sharp~"
A lazy and enchanting female voice, laced with a hint of magnetism that seemed to scratch at one's heart, rang out behind him without warning.
Kuchiba Hiro spun around, his pupils constricting as he witnessed a startling sight.
A beautiful woman.
That was Kuchiba Hiro's first impression of her, followed immediately by an instinctual warning: extremely dangerous. Like a masterfully camouflaged, colorful venomous snake, she radiated lethal temptation and threat beneath her beautiful exterior.
She wore an impeccably tailored black-and-white pinstripe suit that perfectly outlined her curvaceous figure. Her long, straight black hair cascaded down like a waterfall, forming a sharp contrast with her pale skin and those non-human, ruby-like vertical pupils that were as magnificent as they were cold. The corners of her mouth were naturally upturned in a faint smile, an arc that seemed to issue a flirtatious invitation at all times.
These elements combined to create a breathtaking, suffocating beauty.
But what truly shook Kuchiba Hiro's heart was what she was standing on—a strange "flying disc" that seemed both like a living creature and a high-tech creation.
Its material was hard to discern, appearing like both metal and ceramic, with its surface covered in ornate and complex silver patterns. However, the edges of the disc would occasionally split open to reveal a crimson, tongue-like fleshy structure inside!
A Transcendent!
Kuchiba Hiro instantly reached a conclusion. Hiratsuka Shizuka's final warning flashed through his mind—"You are already wandering on the most dangerous red line!"
Was she here to eliminate those who "crossed the line"?
His body immediately entered a state of maximum alert. His muscles tensed, the power within him began to roar silently, and a black-gold hue flickered beneath his skin as he prepared for a fierce battle.
The woman on the living flying disc descended slowly, the disc finally hovering just an inch above the ground. She glanced nonchalantly at the corpses of Hiratsuka Shizuka and Hachiman Hikigaya, her eyes showing no emotion, as if they were merely pebbles on the roadside. Then, she refocused her eerie red vertical pupils on Kuchiba Hiro and laughed with a voice so sexy it made his scalp tingle:
"Hello there, handsome~"
Kuchiba Hiro didn't answer; he only stared at her with cold, wary eyes, every cell in his body screaming danger.
The beauty didn't seem to mind his coldness. She continued in a lazy tone, "Don't be afraid, little brother~ I'm just a poor working girl. My name is Hika Kuroko, and I'm here to... well, explain the 'rules' to you."
Before she finished speaking, she casually raised a slender finger and pointed lightly at Kuchiba Hiro.
Whoosh!
A beam of deep black light shot out at a speed Kuchiba Hiro couldn't comprehend, leaving him no time to react, and struck him squarely in the chest!
Ting!
A crisp sound, like crystals colliding, rang out.
Kuchiba Hiro felt an irresistible surge of energy instantly sweep through his body! A faint energy film with a crystalline luster flowing over its surface completely enveloped him!
Imprisonment!
He was completely unable to move! Not just his body, but even the last trace of alertness on his face, his chest slightly rising and falling with his breath, and even every strand of hair were completely frozen! It was as if he had become an incredibly realistic three-dimensional statue, forcibly stripped from the dynamic world.
Most terrifyingly, his mind was perfectly clear! He could clearly "see" everything before him, could think, could feel the existence of that cold energy film, and could feel fear, tension, and anxiety... but none of these emotions could be expressed through even the slightest physiological reaction. He had become a pure consciousness trapped within the statue of his own body, experiencing a desperate, absolute stillness.
Hika Kuroko stepped off the strange flying disc and slowly approached. She extended a finger with black nail polish and lightly touched Kuchiba Hiro's cold, stiff face, her fingertip tracing slowly along his jawline in a flirtatious and desire-filled motion.
"Tsk tsk, what a fine specimen..." she marveled, her red vertical pupils shimmering with undisguised appreciation and... a nearly greedy longing. "With lines like these and a gaze like that... it really would be a pity if you died."
Her finger continued downward, stroking his chest and arms covered in crystalline energy, as if admiring a precious work of art. Finally, she let out a mock sigh, her tone charming yet carrying a chilling cruelty:
"Oh, right, I almost forgot the main business~"
She leaned in closer, her red lips almost touching Kuchiba Hiro's ear, and spoke in a voice that only his consciousness could "hear":
"Listen closely, handsome. The 'Inner Side' of this world isn't that complicated. The only ironclad rule is—you cannot let the 'Sheep' know about the existence of the 'Wolves'." She pointed to the deathly silent teaching building. "Your brilliant performance today seriously crossed the line."
"So, a 'kill order' has been officially issued for you. Next, many, many people like me... or even more perverted and powerful guys, will come looking for you by scent. They won't be as kind as I am, coming here to give you a lesson~"
She winked playfully and revealed an extremely dangerous piece of information: "By the way, the corpses of Transcendents... are very valuable materials. And living ones... well, the price can double, or even increase by dozens of times~"
As she spoke, she produced a gold coin from somewhere. This gold coin was unique, engraved with extremely complex and mysterious patterns, with minute, chip-like precision circuits along the edges.
She picked up the coin, gave it a light kiss, and then tucked the coin, still warm from her lips, into Kuchiba Hiro's jacket pocket.
"This is just an ordinary gold coin, though we prefer to call it a 'Blood Coin'," Hika Kuroko explained. "It's the hard currency of the 'Inner World'. It's issued jointly by those 'Big Shots' who have lived for who knows how long. It represents more than just wealth..."
"With it, you can purchase services from the factions that control the rules—intelligence, weapons, sanctuary, or even... 'cleaning up' some unsavory trouble." She smiled meaningfully. "If you can live until then, and if you have enough coins, you can even 'revoke' the kill order against you."
"...Of course," she licked her red lips, her smile becoming dangerous and seductive, "there's an even simpler and more direct way... and that is to be strong enough. Strong enough to kill every single person who comes after you~ If that happens, naturally, no one will come to hold you accountable~"
Seeming to feel she had said all she needed to, the living flying disc beneath her feet emitted a faint hum and began to rise slowly.
But just as she was about to ascend, she seemed to suddenly remember something crucial and paused. Her eerie red vertical pupils refocused on Kuchiba Hiro's imprisoned face. The previous laziness and playfulness receded slightly, replaced by a deeper, almost absolute coldness and seriousness.
"Ah, right, right~ There's one more important point I almost forgot to tell you, cutie." Her voice was still soft and charming, but it carried an unquestionable chill, as if a venomous snake had stopped playing and revealed its true fangs.
"Listen, handsome. Although the commotion you caused today wasn't small, fortunately, it's still within the 'controllable' range. Those 'Sheep' will at most think it was some gun-wielding madman or terrorist. While troublesome, it's still within their pitiful range of understanding."
She extended a slender finger and lightly tapped Kuchiba Hiro's forehead. Even through the crystalline energy, the movement carried a heart-stopping sense of threat.
"However," her tone suddenly turned cold, "this is a one-time thing. Don't let it happen again."
"If your next 'performance' dares to expose the power of the 'Inner World' to the public eye so blatantly... if any more ordinary people, because of you, clearly and indisputably perceive the existence of 'Transcendence'..."
Hika Kuroko's red lips curled into a cold smile, her vertical pupils shimmering with a non-human, ruthless light.
"Then, the one who comes for you won't be a 'Messenger' like me who's easy to talk to and just here to deliver a notice and a 'Bounty'. And it won't be a 'kill order' of this level anymore."
She leaned forward slightly and spoke word by word in a voice that was almost a whisper, yet pierced into Kuchiba Hiro's consciousness like an ice pick:
"At that time, the 'Cleaner' will be dispatched personally. They won't care if you're dead or alive, nor will they care how much destruction you cause. Their only mission is to ensure the'Secret' remains preserved—in the most thorough, absolute, and unquestionable way possible."
"By then, it won't just be you. Every one of your relatives, every friend, every ordinary person who might have a connection to you and harbor suspicions... will be completely erased in a physical sense."
She straightened up, as if that cold warning had just been casual conversation, and her face once again wore that lazy, enchanting smile.
"Well then..." The hum of the flying disc beneath Hika Kuroko intensified. "Class is dismissed~ Good luck, my beautiful little prey~ I hope you survive until our next meeting, and... learn to be more 'low-key'."
With a flash of black light, the crystalline energy imprisoning Kuchiba Hiro vanished instantly.
At the same time, that extreme silence receded like a tide. In the distance, the faint sounds of sirens and the clamor of the crowd could be heard once again.
Hika Kuroko and her strange flying disc had already vanished without a trace, as if they had never appeared.
Only Kuchiba Hiro was left standing stiffly on the spot. He suddenly regained his breath, gasping for air as cold sweat broke out on his forehead. His hand instinctively reached for his pocket; that cold, heavy gold coin was lying there quietly, reminding him that everything just now was not an illusion, and that he had already stepped onto a darker, more cruel new battlefield.
kill order, gold coin, rules... Hiratsuka Shizuka's words had come true.)