I created a foundation

It was a... a male corpse.

To be more precise, half of it.

The upper half of the corpse, from the chest cavity upwards, had been gnawed beyond recognition. Torn clothing, mixed with dark red, blackened blood, clung haphazardly to the shattered flesh. The white ribs jutted out like twigs snapped, revealing the hollow chest cavity and a blurry collection of indescribable internal organs beneath. The head was even more horrific, with most of the skull gone, leaving only fragments of bone and a tangled mass of blood-stained hair.

Thick, almost coagulated, dark brown blood spread from the body's broken torso, forming an irregular, shocking dark pattern on the dirty ground. Several flies, attracted by the smell of blood, were buzzing around, trying to find a place to land on the wreckage.

Yukinoshita Haruno felt as if her brain was hit hard by an invisible hammer. With a "buzz" sound, everything went blank in an instant.

From childhood to adulthood, she has been exposed to the refinement and elegance of the upper class. How could she have ever witnessed such a bloody, brutal, and... primitive and barbaric scene?

This was beyond her understanding of "death" and even more beyond her imagination of "violence".

This wasn't an accident, nor was it a fight. It was more like... a mark of being torn and gnawed by a wild beast.

Fear, like countless icy poison needles, began in her heart, spreading madly through every blood vessel and nerve, spreading to every part of her body. Her body began to tremble uncontrollably, her legs weakening, and she almost couldn't stand. An extreme coldness, rising from the soles of her feet to the top of her head, made her blood seem to freeze.

The pride, composure, and self-confidence that she had built up over the past twenty years were shattered and crumbling in this instant by the broken body before her.

It turns out that beneath the glamorous daily life, in those deliberately concealed corners, there really exists such... such a terrifying "truth".

Lin Qing's previous "work" remarks, which she had scoffed at, now echoed wildly in her mind like the most vicious curse.

Under the impact of extreme fear and the collapse of her worldview, an idea almost instinctively emerged in Yukinoshita Haruno's mind - protect Yukino!

Her sister! Her only sister!

She couldn't let Yukino see this... this kind of thing that would defile her eyes!

Haruno suddenly reached out, trying to pull Yukinoshita Yukino behind her, using her weak body to block the terrifying scene. This was her instinctive reaction as a sister, almost ingrained in her bones when facing an incomprehensible and huge threat.

However, as soon as her hand touched Yukino's arm, a weak but extremely firm force came from Yukino.

Yang No was shocked to find that she couldn't pull Yukino at all.

The sister she had always remembered as weak, aloof, and someone who needed her constant "guidance," now had her feet planted firmly on the floor by the window, like nails. Yukino's body tensed slightly, like a bow poised for release. While her pretty face wore a solemn expression at the sight before her, her clear, azure eyes held none of the fear or panic typical of a normal girl.

What she did have was a kind of cold alertness that Yang No had never seen in Yukino before, and an almost imperceptible desire to fight.

"Yukino..." Yangno's voice became a little hoarse and distorted because of shock and fear.

Just then, from the deep shadows of the alley below, a subtle, creepy chewing sound suddenly came.

The sound was very light, like some small animal gnawing on bones, or tearing tough leather.

Then, a faint laugh with a hint of weirdness and satisfaction floated out from the darkness like a nightingale singing on a grave.

"Squeak... squeak..."

Accompanied by the teeth-grinding sound of bones rubbing against each other, a figure slowly walked out from the darkness deeper in the alley, gradually becoming clearly exposed under the dim glow of the street lamp.

That's a woman.

A woman wearing a simple dress, with long, smooth purple hair, and even a pair of thin-framed glasses that made her look quite intellectual.

If it weren't for the glaring red bloodstain at the corner of her mouth that had not yet been wiped clean, and the Shura-like background she was in, anyone who saw her would think that she was a beautiful, elegant, and even intellectual woman with a bit of bookish air.

"Oh," the woman raised her head and glanced at the three people by the window. The corners of her mouth curled up slightly, a smile that seemed a little distressed but was actually full of amusement. "It seems... we've been seen."

Her voice was soft and melodious, with a strange charm, like the whispers of lovers.

But the look in her eyes said otherwise.

When those beautiful eyes swept across Lin Qing, Yukinoshita Yukino, and finally landed on the pale-faced Yukinoshita Haruno, it was like a hungry beast seeing three tender, delicious, steaming high-quality steaks.

Greed, bloodlust, and an undisguised...appetite.

Yukinoshita Haruno felt a chill run down her head, chilling her from the inside out. She had never seen such... such a blatant look, someone treating someone like "food."

The woman extended her scarlet tongue, and with a heart-pounding charm, gently licked the trace of blood remaining at the corner of her mouth, as if she was savoring the aftertaste of the "delicious meal" just now.

next second.

"Shh-!"

Four twisted tentacle-like objects, as if made of the purest blood, suddenly stretched out from behind the woman's waist!

The surface of those "tentacles" was covered in a dense, dark red, shell-like scales, their edges gleaming with a blade-like sheen, and their tips sprouted incredibly sharp spikes. They danced nimbly, reflecting a frighteningly dangerous light under the dim light, emitting a bloody and ominous aura so thick it was suffocating.

Yukinoshita Haruno's pupils suddenly shrank to the smallest needle tips.

What…what is this?!

monster!

The woman in front of me is not human at all!

"Perfect," the woman said, looking at the three stunned people standing by the window. Her smile grew increasingly seductive and cruel, and her purple kagune slowly spread out behind her like devilish wings. "After the main course, three desserts wouldn't be bad either."

Before she finished her words, the ground beneath her feet suddenly sank, and her whole body rushed towards the three people by the window with a sharp sound of breaking through the air like a cannonball!

Yukinoshita Haruno only felt that her heart was being tightly grasped by an invisible big hand at that moment, and then was suddenly thrown into the ice cellar.

The woman in front of me who calls herself Kamishiro Rize has four dark red tentacles extending from her waist - no, those are not tentacles at all!

It was some kind of living, bloody and ominous predatory organ!

Each one was as thick as an adult's arm, covered in a hard, dark-red carapace, its edges gleaming with a cold, blade-like sheen. Like venomous snakes with independent lives, they twisted and coiled nimbly, their spikes radiating a chilling coldness under the dim light.

"Shh-!"

The sharp whistling sound of air being torn apart almost pierced the eardrums.

The figure of Kamishiro Rize turned into a blurred afterimage in Yang No's vision, and the four ferocious kagune were like siege hammers, smashing violently towards the three people by the window from four extremely tricky angles: top, bottom, left and right!

The speed and strength are far beyond the limits of human beings!

Before He Zi arrived, the strong wind carrying a strong smell of blood had already blown in Yang Nai's face, causing pain on his cheeks and making it difficult for him to breathe.

She could even clearly see the fine scales on the surface of the hezi and the sharp spikes on the top that were flashing with cold light, which were rapidly enlarging in her pupils!

The shadow of death loomed clearer and heavier than ever before.

"what--!"

A completely uncontrolled scream erupted from Yukinoshita Haruno's throat. The sound was shrill and short, filled with extreme fear and despair.

Her mind went blank, and her body instinctively made her close her eyes tightly. Her hands subconsciously pushed forward to block, as if doing so could keep out the devastating attack.

Finished!

dying!

It will be torn apart! It will be eaten! It will become like the wreckage downstairs... No, it might be even worse!

The strong desire to survive and the fear of death intertwined together, making every nerve in her body tense to the limit, and every inch of her skin covered with goose bumps because of fear.

Time, at this moment, seems to be infinitely stretched.

She could hear her heart beating like a drum and could feel the cold breath of death touching her nose.

however……

one second.

two seconds.

three seconds.

The expected excruciating pain of the body being pierced and torn apart did not come as expected.

I didn't hear my sister Yukino's screams.

There was only a dull thud, as if a heavy object had hit a thick wall—"Bang!"

Then there was the sound of a hard object rubbing violently against the wall, followed by a woman's suppressed groan of pain and disbelief.

what happened?

Yukinoshita Haruno's tightly closed eyes were trembling violently, and there were even tears of extreme fear hanging on her thick eyelashes.

Carefully, with an almost devout plea, she slowly opened her eyes a little.

Then, her breathing, her heartbeat, and all her thoughts completely froze at this moment.

The first thing that caught my eye in my field of vision was a broad and solid figure.

It’s Lin Qing!

He didn't know when, but he had quietly and silently stood in front of her and Yukino as if teleporting.

And outside this shadow, right in front of Lin Qing——

Yukinoshita Haruno's pupils suddenly contracted to the extreme!

The Kamishiro Rize who had been so ferocious and arrogant just a moment ago was now in an extremely humiliating and awkward posture, with Lin Qing pinching her slender neck with one hand. She was lifted up high like a rag doll and pressed against the cold brick wall of the restaurant!

"Uh... huh..."

The pair of intellectual thin-framed glasses on Kamishiro Rize's face had long disappeared, replaced by a sickly flush caused by suffocation, and the intense horror and disbelief in her bloodshot eyes.

Her hands were tightly grasping Lin Qing's arm, which was like an iron clamp. Her nails left white marks on Lin Qing's sleeves, but she couldn't move it at all.

Her legs kicked in vain in the air, making a light "clicking" sound, looking so weak and ridiculous.

And the four hexagons that had displayed their terrifying power just now were now whipping, piercing, and chopping Lin Qing's body from all angles like a violent storm in an almost crazy manner!

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A series of dull bangs, like hammers hitting drums, exploded continuously in the silent alley.

Each strike contained a terrifying force that was enough to easily penetrate steel plates and tear apart the human body.

Every blow made Yukinoshita Haruno's heart skip a beat.

She could even see that the moment those dark red claws came into contact with Lin Qing's body, the hard shells on their surfaces were slightly twisted and deformed due to the huge reaction force, making a teeth-grinding "crunching" sound.

however--

Lin Qing stood there, motionless.

His body seemed to be made of the hardest alloy in the world. No matter how frantically the blade that was powerful enough to split mountains and rocks attacked him, it could not leave even a trace of injury on him.

Not to mention the scars, even the casual jacket he was wearing, which looked like ordinary material, was intact, without even a wrinkle!

The sharp tips of the spears stirred up dense, almost imperceptible energy ripples the moment they touched Lin Qing's body, and then they were like hitting an invisible barrier and were bounced back abruptly, or could only make "clang", "clang" sounds, similar to the harsh sounds of metal collision.

It seemed as if the kagune that Kamishiro Rize was so proud of was not a deadly killing organ at all, but just a pile of useless scrap metal!