108: Chapter 108 Now, you can kill me.

Night, west of the city.

The highway not far from the abandoned Beast Taming Feed Factory was silent.

For some reason, not a single streetlight here was lit. Only the faint moonlight outlined the road. In the dim environment, bare branches swayed with the biting autumn wind, like claws and fangs.

The shops and residential complexes on both sides of the road were pitch black, as if everyone inside had died. Everything was filled with an aura that warned the living to stay away.

Suddenly, two headlights lit up at the end of the road.

Next, a yellow taxi drove over and stopped a few hundred meters away from the abandoned ration factory. The door opened, and Li Yu stepped out.

As soon as he touched the ground, a bleak autumn wind blew, making him instinctively tighten his collar.

"Driver, slow do—" Before he could finish his polite words, the taxi drifted, accelerated, and pulled a U-turn, speeding back the way it came.

Without the car lights, the surroundings suddenly became much darker.

Li Yu stood still, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. With the help of the faint moonlight, he surveyed his surroundings.

The shops and buildings nearby were pitch black, as if countless spirits were hiding within.

A deathly, eerie atmosphere welled up.

"Tsk~ Couldn't you have picked a better place? If someone died here, it would take a month or so for anyone to find them."

Li Yu paused and whispered, "Well, she was planning to kill someone anyway."

Straightening his clothes, he determined his direction.

Li Yu walked straight toward the abandoned Beast Taming Feed Factory.

The ration factory occupied a large area. Although it was abandoned, its former glory could still be seen from its outline, which looked like a crouching giant beast, and its walls that spanned several streets.

He arrived at the entrance.

On the heavy iron gate, the mottled rust looked like red copper under the moonlight. The middle of the gate had been sliced open by a sharp blade, leaving a gap just large enough for one person to pass through.

"Quite thoughtful."

Li Yu smiled and walked inside.

Inside the factory grounds, ruins of collapsed buildings were everywhere. Li Yu knew these were structures later destroyed by other Beast Tamers.

Since the Beast Taming Feed Factory was abandoned, it had once become a place for Beast Tamers to practice and fight. Those buildings were destroyed during their practice.

Suddenly, Li Yu's gaze locked onto a spot.

Under the moonlight, a long ladder poked diagonally toward the sky, standing in mid-air. The end of the ladder should have been connected to a building.

Now that the building had collapsed, only the ladder remained stubbornly standing.

A person sat on the ladder, her long hair flowing. Set against the moon behind her, she cast a cold silhouette. Her features weren't clear, but Li Yu knew it was Chen Qing.

With a faint smile on his face, Li Yu approached the figure with zigzagging steps. He could feel her gaze watching him the whole time.

Suddenly, he stopped.

He took out his phone, opened the camera, focused, and was about to take a photo.

In the next second, his vision blurred, and the figure vanished.

"What are you doing?"

A voice rang out abruptly in front of him. Li Yu put away his phone and saw that Chen Qing was already standing before him, looking at him coldly. Her clear, cold voice carried a hint of confusion.

"Taking a photo. It would be a shame not to capture such a beautiful scene."

Li Yu waved his phone.

"Can't you be a bit more serious?" Chen Qing's voice suddenly rose. "Aren't you worried about your sister's safety?"

Li Yu blinked: "I am worried."

"Then you..."

"But your target is me, isn't it?" Li Yu had a gentle smile on his face. "You want to kill me, right?"

Chen Qing went silent for a moment and said, "Yes."

"Then that's that. I'm about to be a dead man. You wouldn't refuse to help me fulfill my last wish, would you?"

Li Yu raised an eyebrow and nudged Chen Qing's shoulder. "Go on, go sit back over there. Let me take a beautiful photo before I die."

Chen Qing's head was full of question marks. Dazed, she was pushed by Li Yu and walked back up the ladder.

This plot didn't seem right...

Chen Qing sat in her previous spot, watching Li Yu run to the left, then to the right, squatting and then standing, taking a bunch of photos from different angles.

He was full of enthusiasm, as if he were at a tourist attraction admiring something beautiful. In his gaze toward her, there was no fear of impending death, only an appreciation that made her feel guilty.

In an instant, Chen Qing panicked.

Her hands were shaking. She looked calm on the surface, but a tsunami was already raging in her heart, as if a tiny version of herself was screaming and roaring in the middle of a vast ocean.

Shua!

A flash of sword light soared into the sky.

Chen Qing landed on the ground and snapped, "Enough!"

Li Yu was startled. He checked his phone's photo album, fiddled with it for a bit, nodded with satisfaction, and resumed his gentle smile.

"Alright."

Chen Qing and Li Yu stood ten meters apart, but the cold light of the sword seemed to bridge the distance, making Li Yu's skin sting.

"Don't blame me. Blame yourself for offending someone you shouldn't have."

Chen Qing raised her sword. White light flickered on the blade—it was tangible sword qi. It was this very sword qi that she had used to kill the Silver Level 2 Sand Scorpion King in one hit to protect Li Yu.

Now, it was the same sword strike, but it had changed from protection to slaughter.

"Wait!"

Just as the strike was about to fall, Li Yu suddenly shouted.

"Do you have anything else to say?"

"Have you ever watched TV dramas?"

"What do you mean? I never watch TV."

"No wonder you're so unprofessional," Li Yu said, curling his lip. "The TV shows all say that the thing most people fear before they die is dying without knowing why. If you're going to kill me, you at least have to let me know the reason, right?"

Although Chen Qing hadn't watched TV, she thought about it and found Li Yu's words reasonable. If someone else were to kill her, the thing she would want to know most was also the reason.

"What do you want to know?"

"Who killed me, and why? Who's behind it? Who did I offend?"

"The person killing you is named Chen Qing."

"Real name?"

"Nonsense!" Chen Qing glared at Li Yu; she wouldn't lie about such a thing. "You offended Jin Yulong, the Vice President of Bright Moon Company. He occupied the other Guardians, forcing Supervisor Song to recruit a Guardian from Guild, which allowed me to get close to you and find an opportunity to kill you."

"I didn't expect it to be a factional struggle. I haven't even found evidence yet, but they've already made their move. They even sent you to kill me." A self-deprecating smile flashed across Li Yu's face.

Seeing this, Chen Qing remained silent for a moment before saying, "You can curse me; I won't blame you. I will try my best to give you the least painful death possible."

After saying that, she closed her eyes, waiting for Li Yu's insults.

Having carried out many missions over the years, she had often disguised her identity to gain trust. The eyes of those who realized they had been deceived and used were always filled with such hatred before they died.

Usually, she would just lose a night of sleep and be fine.

But this time, she was afraid.

She was afraid of seeing Li Yu hate her, afraid of his disgusted gaze. She was afraid that his gentle, smiling face would be ruined by negative expressions.

She was also afraid she would suffer from insomnia for the rest of her life.

Even with her eyes closed, she could still kill!

Just when she thought Li Yu would use the most vicious and filthy words in the world to curse her, she heard a gentle voice that could almost soothe any wound say, "Thank you."

Chen Qing snapped her eyes open and looked at Li Yu in bewilderment.

"Thank me? Thank me for what? For killing you?" Chen Qing asked.

"You had many chances to kill me. In the hallway, in the room, in the Thick Earth Mystic Realm, or even at the company..." Li Yu paused. "With your strength, killing me is as easy as crushing an ant."

Chen Qing said nothing.

Li Yu continued, "Although you approached me with ill intentions, your saving me was real. You let me live a bit longer, and for that, I thank you. Besides, I enjoyed our time together."

"Enough!"

Chen Qing suddenly became agitated. "Don't think a few words can make me let you go! Impossible! I will definitely kill you this time!"

"I never expected you to let me go and bear the consequences yourself."

Li Yu grinned and spread his arms:

"Now, you can kill me."