It was late at night.
Thanks to the unrest that had plagued the Capital recently, the few shops along the street that remained open eventually gave in to the lack of customers and closed their doors one after another.
The entire street fell into complete darkness.
Only a few scattered streetlights flickered, casting a dim, yellowish glow that barely illuminated the small areas surrounding them.
It was the time for rats to crawl out of the dark sewers.
Draped in a pitch-black cloak, Kajiake stopped once more in front of the restaurant he knew so well.
He looked around until he confirmed the street was empty, then he pulled out the key the Boss had given him before leaving and inserted it into the lock.
With a soft click, he turned the lock and pushed open the glass door.
His eyes, hidden in the shadows, surged with a beast-like crimson frenzy, and puffs of white mist escaped his nose and mouth.
Upon entering, Kajiake did not choose to turn on the lights.
Doing so would undoubtedly attract unnecessary attention and increase the risk of exposure.
Having worked in this restaurant for nearly three months, he was so familiar with the layout of the tables and chairs that he could move through the room without obstacle even with his eyes closed.
Moonlight filtered through the glass and fell upon the scalpel held tightly in his hand, reflecting a piercing, cold light.
His footsteps stopped before the locked iron door of the kitchen.
Kajiake excitedly pressed his ear against the cold metal, listening to the soft, steady snoring of the cute girl on the other side.
His face was filled with a doting obsession, as if he were intoxicated.
“Once a girl passes the age of a young maiden, she grows old. So-called growing up is nothing more than the process of a delicate flower gradually withering. To stop the flower from fading, it is better to keep her age frozen at its most beautiful moment…”
He slowly inserted the key into the lock, and the final barrier between the two was completely shattered.
The lights in the kitchen were off, but by the faint moonlight from the window, one could still vaguely see the mountain of plates stacked in the sink, scrubbed so clean that they reflected the moon’s glow.
It seemed the girl had finished washing the entire pile of dishes and, unable to withstand the exhaustion, had turned off the lights and fallen asleep against the corner of the wall.
Kajiake twirled the sharp scalpel in his hand and slowly approached Huali, who was leaning against the wall in a deep sleep while clutching her sword.
He squatted down a short distance in front of her.
Looking at the pink-haired girl’s cute sleeping face and the drool at the corner of her mouth, Kajiake was so excited he nearly went mad.
The surfaces of his eyeballs were covered in dense, bright red veins, looking as though they might burst at any second.
This was truly too easy!
In his dozens of previous hunts, whether it was the daughter of a Noble family in the Capital or the child of a commoner, he had never felt as relaxed as he did today.
A cute girl who could sleep so defenselessly even in a stranger’s shop was far too naive no matter how one looked at it, as if she had never experienced the dark side of the world.
He hovered the scalpel in mid-air, tracing the outline of the pink-haired girl’s face while considering where to start to maintain the elegance of a gentlemanly serial killer.
Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to the Saint Sword she held tightly in her arms.
He couldn’t help but frown as he recalled her claim from earlier about being the Human Hero, and he let out a stifled sneer.
A Hero?
Everyone in the Capital knew that the Human Hero had died on the battlefield long ago.
She really was simple-minded; she didn’t even bother to do her research before trying to impersonate someone.
Just a moment before Kajiake was about to strike, the deep, sapphire-like gem on the hilt of the Saint Sword in Huali’s arms suddenly began to flicker with a faint light.
Kajiake froze, a flash of confusion crossing his eyes, which was quickly replaced by greed.
‘She even holds onto it while she sleeps… Could this sword actually be worth something?’
Hunting cute girls was indeed born from his perverted hobby, but that didn’t mean he would turn down money.
As for how to handle the stolen goods, that was something for his partner, the Bar Owner, to worry about.
“I can’t let the gem get stained with blood. I should take it off before I start…”
As he spoke, Kajiake tentatively reached out to touch the Saint Sword in Huali’s arms.
However, the moment he touched the sword, the sapphire embedded in the hilt suddenly erupted with a brilliant white light bright enough to blind anyone.
The white light shattered all the window glass in the kitchen and illuminated nearly half of the Capital’s sky.
The shattered glass fell onto the cold tile floor of the kitchen with a piercing sound, startling the sleeping pink-haired girl awake.
Huali rubbed her eyes and woke up in a daze.
Before she could react to what was happening, a shrill wail that nearly ruptured her eardrums echoed in her ears.
“Ah!!! My eyes! My eyes hurt so much!”
Kajiake lay on the ground in agony, rolling and screaming as his hands clutched the eyes that had been blinded by the white light of the Saint Sword.
Two lines of bloody tears flowed from the corners of his eyes, looking horrific.
Huali was instantly startled into alertness and couldn’t help but cry out.
“What the… Holy crap! Who—who are you? Why are you right next to me!”
The pink-haired girl had already raised the Saint Sword, preparing to swing it down hard on Kajiake’s head to knock the person of unknown origin unconscious first.
Even though he was completely blind, who was Kajiake?
As a serial killer who danced on the edge of a knife, his psychological fortitude was incredibly strong.
After only a brief moment of panic, he quickly calmed down.
His sixth sense felt the impending danger, and he immediately acted panicked.
He repeatedly begged for mercy, claiming it was a misunderstanding.
“Don’t, don’t kill me! I’m not a bad person!”
Groping blindly, he scrambled up from the floor and knelt before Huali, pulling back his hood to reveal the short blonde hair she recognized.
Huali froze and asked uncertainly,
“You… you’re that waiter from before?”
“Yes, yes!”
Kajiake nodded frantically, his brain working at top speed to devise a strategy.
“I just couldn’t bear to see a little girl like you locked in the kitchen all night, so I thought I’d sneak in behind the Boss’s back to let you out!”
“Huh? Is… is that so?”
Huali blinked her cute, large eyes, tilting her head in confusion.
Normally, Huali could tell if someone was lying by looking into their eyes, but since Kajiake was now blind, that method obviously wouldn’t work.
“Then… are your eyes okay? Sorry, it seems like the Saint Sword did that to you. I’ll scold her later.”
The kind Huali’s cute face was filled with worry over Kajiake’s miserable state.
“It’s—it’s fine! It’s just a minor injury. I’ll go back and treat it myself.”
A forced, ugly smile appeared on his face as he turned to leave.
‘Dammit!’
‘I have to leave quickly… if this continues, I’ll definitely be exposed!’
Now that he heard the term “Saint Sword” again, he no longer felt his previous contempt.
He even began to believe Huali’s claim of being the Hero.
As she watched Kajiake drag himself out the door, Huali was still dazed.
She had just been sleeping—could someone please tell her what exactly had happened?
It wasn’t until Huali accidentally stepped on the scalpel Kajiake had forgotten to take with him that her pupils trembled.
She instantly remembered the information published in the Royal Capital Headline Newspaper.
At every location where a victim’s body was found, the “Girl Ripper” would arrogantly leave the scalpel used to kill the girl at the scene!
“Has another cute girl been murdered?!”
Huali turned on the kitchen lights and searched around for a possible body.
However, aside from the broken glass on the floor, the only fresh blood present was what had leaked from Kajiake’s eyes.
“Holy crap!”
Huali suddenly snapped to her senses.
“Am I not that cute girl?”
“Girl Ripper, don’t you dare run! Tonight, I, the Heroine Huali, shall enact justice in the name of the heavens!”
Clutching the Saint Sword, Huali chased him out of the shop.