Chapter 41 - The first stalk

"In the beginning, I only wanted money. I never thought of killing anyone! But those women kept shouting and shouting. I was afraid, so I just stabbed them a few times to shut them up! I really didn't want to kill them!"

"But what did you say after the case?"

Li Rui walked toward him and stared at him with cold, dark eyes.

"I…"

Every time Xu TongFang tried talking, he would accidentally move the muscles on his back which would affect his wound. With his mouth trembling, his voice became even softer.

"Then, after every time they screamed or shouted, I would feel excited. I liked the way that they struggled."

"So you only target women who are defenseless. Last year, June 12th, there was a 21-year-old girl who was stabbed 38 times on her back. Her back was like a honeycomb just because she was struggling?"

Li Rui's eyes hold no emotions. It was as if he were looking at an already deadman.

Bastard!

"Yes, the clothes she was wearing that day were very thin. It felt so good when the knife went into her body!"

A strange peculiar smile appeared on Xu TongFang's face as he reminisced the scene he was talking about.

When he saw Li Rui's face, he gave a bitter smile.

"I know that I'm guilty. Come and get me."

He then laid on the ground as if he were surrendering.

Li Rui stood in front of him, bent forward, and grabbed his collar.

At this moment, Xu TongFang, who had been looking down, suddenly showed a vicious look, and he immediately turned around. He took out the knife that he had hidden by his waist and thrust it toward Li Rui's stomach.

"Fuck off!"

Snap!

A claw that was as firm as metal held onto his wrist and stopped him. There were no emotions to be seen in Li Rui's eyes.

No matter how well one hid their intentions, their eyes would always somehow betray them. Plus, this guy had several broken ribs. Therefore, his movements would definitely be a little awkward.

As Xu TongFang was shocked, Li Rui slowly lifted his right fist and pushed it toward his chest like a heavy bomb.

The light shining behind him was shadowing him like a holy halo.

[Grasp of the undying]!

Bang!

The fist which was like an iron hammer landed on Xu TongFang's face, and his nose went inside of his face.

An invisible emerald-green light that appeared all around Xu TongFang flowed along Li Rui's arm and toward his body.

10 points of additional magical damage!

Permanent health points +1!

"Ahhhhhhh~~"

Along with the painful moans and the sound of vomiting, all of Xu TongFang's teeth were now in his mouth, and they all came out, along with bloody spit that landed on his chest.

However, Li Rui did not stop. His right hand held onto Xu Tongfang's wrist, and he gave him an uppercut with his left hand.

Crack!

Li Rui's heavy punch landed on Xu TongFang's elbow joint which bent downwards 90 degrees.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

A more horrifying scream came from Xu TongFang's throat. The immense pain caused him to struggle, but Li Rui firmly held onto his wrist. Every time he moved, he would feel even more pain.

"Does it hurt? The girls that you have harmed felt pain a thousand times worse than this!"

Li Rui's eyes showed no signs of mercy. The existence of these bastards on Earth was a disgrace to justice!

He was holding onto Xu TongFang's hand which held the knife. Li Rui had no idea about human anatomy, so he simply twisted the arm that he was holding so that the knife would point toward Xu Tongfang.

"I surrender…! I do! Please! Let me go!"

Xu TongFang finally broke down as he felt death was being bestowed upon him.

"Too bad. For bastards like you, the bounty does not require keeping you alive!"

There was a hint of sarcasm in Li Rui's tone along with some guilty pleasure.

Xu~

The knife pierced into his body, and only the handle could be seen sticking out of his belly.

"You… you… are not… the police…"

Xu FangTong stared at Li Rui in disbelief.

He had finally realized that Li Rui's intentions were not to capture, but to kill him!

"You're right, I'm the cleaner of the dark which specializes in cleaning up harmful garbage."

Li Rui grinned and mercilessly pulled out the knife before thrusting it back into his body again.

Whew Whew Whew!

The sharp blade of the knife moved in and out of the body like a sewing machine. After stabbing him 36 times, Xu TongFang was blankly staring at him. His body was now like a honeycomb with a large amount of blood splurging out of his mouth.

"Since you like killing so much, then you shall suffer through the same experiences as your victims. Remember to be a good person in your next life."

He stood up and wiped the blood off his hands. There was finally warmth in his eyes as he looked at Xu TongFang's dead body.

Everything ends with death. There is no need to hate a dead person.

When evil spirits are destroyed, all that is left is a big bunch of protein that may not even be as delicious as chicken.

He took out his phone and made a call to a special number.

"Yes, Xu Qiang. Yes, the address is XXXXXXX."

"Him? He's already dead."

He turned around and took a look at Xu TongFang.

As he ended the phone call, Li Rui looked at Xu TongFang's body where the air was passing through the holes in his body.

He could already hear the police sirens from afar as he walked out of the alley and merged into the crowds of ShangHai.

…

When he reached home, the side effects of the Recluse Mask had not worn off yet. Li Wei's face was once again incomprehensible to him. Luckily, she was focused on finishing her homework so she didn't notice that there was something different about him.

"Brother, you're home."

"Yep, you're not done with your practice problems yet?"

"I only have math left."

"Okay, I'll shower and then have a look at your homework."

After showering three times with soap, Li Rui finally got rid of the bloody smell on him.

He changed into a set of clean clothes and counted his reward.

[You have killed a Hero. You have been rewarded 9 EXP and 7 gold coins.]

[Daily mission completed, you have received 20 EXP.]

The rewards were much more than expected.

He had initially thought that it would only be one or two gold coins. He hadn't thought that it would be 7 gold coins!

Could it be that it was easier to get gold coins by killing real creatures with flesh and blood compared to phantom creatures like ghosts?

After thinking about it for a while, Li Rui shook his head.

There were too few cases to compare, and it was too difficult to find a pattern.

But one thing was for sure: the only way to get gold coins would be to kill.

The opponents defeated in the ring would only bring him EXP!

Plus, Li Rui also didn't get any magical shards from this.

It looks like he will have to kill the awakener to get these precious rewards.

But this was understandable. Ordinary people did not have the qualifications to move the principles!

As he looked at his attribute bar, Li Rui became even more satisfied.

[Li Rui]

Race: Human

Energy Level: None (Spiritual Awakening)

Level: 2

EXP: 68/150

HP: 114/114 [Undigested Extra Life: 112 points]

MP: 19/19

AR: 7

MR: 9

AD: 11

AP: 10

Gold coins: 74

13 basic shards