Chapter 39: It Is He Who Pursues Fang Qiong Relentlessly

"Damn it, do you think you can escape like this?"

The murderer’s voice, cold and eerie, came from directly in front of Ye Sangsang. It was heavy with frost—or rather, with a palpable, thick aura of murder. It emanated a sense of intense discomfort and suffocating pressure.

[This voice is so terrifying.]
[It makes my scalp tingle, like cold air is crawling down my spine.]
[So uncomfortable, so awful. Sister Sang, kill him!]

The moment the murderer spoke his first words after entering the house, the lively atmosphere in the livestream chat instantly chilled. The viewers were all ordinary people; even through the screen, they felt a profound sense of fear. They stared silently at the murderer, realizing with chilling clarity that this was a vicious, malevolent serial killer. For the first time, bloodlust was materialized before them, and malice was laid bare in all its brutal reality.

Ye Sangsang could not see what the audience saw; she could only discern the other’s emotions through sound. Pure malice.

It was the first time she had encountered someone this formidable. In her first trial, she had always been prepared to face her opponents, and the difficulty hadn't been this high. This time, caught unprepared and unable to see, she wasn't certain of victory. She felt no fear; what bothered her most was the torrential rain outside. In such a loud environment, the sound of the opponent's footsteps became difficult to track.

Fortunately, it was the same for her opponent. She could sense that he had narrowed down her general direction and was closing in on her like a hunting leopard. He was waiting for the perfect moment to pounce and deliver a fatal blow.

She shifted her feet slightly, moving three meters to the side, ears straining to catch his movements. She circled into the inner area and headed toward the floor-to-ceiling windows, aiming to get behind him. Just as she expected, he walked into the partitioned area.

In the pitch-black darkness, she could see nothing, but she could sense that he, too, had become vigilant. At that exact moment, Ye Sangsang lunged forward with light, swift steps. Calculating her movement, she slashed her knife horizontally toward his neck.

[Thank goodness for the super-intelligent night vision; I saw that fast, precise, and ruthless throat-slash immediately.]
[As expected, she didn't stab his back—it’s hard to kill someone instantly that way, and the blade might get stuck in the bone, leaving her vulnerable.]
[Too thrilling! I would’ve gone for the back or the kidneys, boohoo, and then gotten countered and killed, boohoo.]

Ye Sangsang’s movements were incredibly fast. Though her frame was slender, she was not short, and she was remarkably agile. She pressed one hand against his shoulder to distract him, while her other hand went for his throat, requiring minimal wasted energy. She could not see, but she could feel the blade graze his skin. One more centimeter, and her goal would be half-realized.

The next second, she felt resistance. She knew he had detected her presence. Choosing to cut her losses and protect her weapon, Ye Sangsang calculated the risk and pulled back. But it was already too late. As she withdrew, the killer spun around, shifted his blade, and thrust it toward her. Because she was blind, her withdrawing blade collided with his. She retreated rapidly, vanishing back into the darkness.

In the shadows, Ye Sangsang heard the murderer’s pained gasp and his heavy, enraged breathing. Relying on his physical superiority, he began to close in on her position. Ye Sangsang feigned weakness, retreating a few steps, then leaned to the side and drove her blade fiercely into his arm.

"Ah!"

The sudden pain forced a cry from the murderer. As he instinctively kicked out, Ye Sangsang stumbled back, feeling the sting of the impact. She stood up the moment he approached. She didn't run because the power distribution box was behind him; if she fled and he turned on the lights, death would be waiting for her. As a blind person, even if she escaped the room, she would be easily caught. What awaited her then would not just be a disadvantage, but a death filled with excruciating pain.

The murderer thought to reach for the power box, but the person before him proved with her strength that if he dared to move, she would surely kill him. He admitted to himself that he had underestimated her. He drew his knife, and the two stood in a silent, invisible standoff in the darkness. They exchanged no words, but through their brief clash, each was perfectly clear on the other's intent.

Ye Sangsang dared not be careless. After the brief stalemate, she knew he would attack. After all, once human eyes have been in the dark for a long time, they can begin to make out faint silhouettes. The murderer, living up to his experience, soon noticed that Ye Sangsang was barefoot. He watched the window, waiting for an opportunity. Ye Sangsang, meanwhile, was contemplating how to kill him.

[I have a feeling it’s a life-or-death moment in the next second.]
[So brutal.]
[If Sister Sang were even a little weaker, she’d be done for. This is so intense.]

In the brief pause in the chat, a flash of white light streaked across the screen. Lightning!

Ye Sangsang was blind and could not see it. She heard rapid footsteps; she could sense the murderer had pinpointed her location and was charging toward her. She dodged immediately, shifting half a body-length. But she was a second too late—his blade pierced her abdomen, then was quickly withdrawn.

She felt a searing, fiery pain. Refusing to succumb to the instinct to retreat or block, she realized that in this thunderstorm, the lightning must have revealed her position. The flash lasted only a second; eyes blinded by intense light suffer a moment of disorientation. She couldn't afford to retreat. In that split second, she calculated his position and height, preparing to strike at his eyes. Even in the dark, his greatest advantage was his sight. He was guarding his head and abdomen, but he almost certainly hadn't accounted for an attack on his eyes. Or rather, it wasn't that he hadn't guarded them—it was that he hadn't expected her to strike there.

"Rumble—" The thunder exploded right after the lightning, the shockwave vibrating through them both.

The murderer struck with lightning speed, stabbing at her abdomen again. He expected Ye Sangsang to dodge, so he used both hands to put force behind the blow. But the unexpected happened: Ye Sangsang gripped his wrists with both of her hands, driving her own blade deep into the edge of his abdomen.

"Hiss!"
"Ah!"

The most important thing in killing is to be fast, precise, and ruthless. Many people fear these types because of their absolute cold-bloodedness—that willingness to achieve their goal without hesitation, viewing human life as nothing more than grass. The murderer had assumed she was just an ordinary blind girl; Ye Sangsang’s move left him stunned for two seconds.

That gave her the opening she needed. She didn't hesitate to slash directly across his eyes. After a brief sensation of cold, the murderer felt agonizing pain in his eyes and let out a blood-curdling scream. Ye Sangsang let out a soft cry too, gasping as the sharp pain from her own wound took hold.

The mutual agony lasted only two seconds before the vicious, predatory nature in both of them was fully ignited. Neither had any intention of stopping; the kill-or-be-killed intent only grew thicker, even surpassing the physical pain.

Ye Sangsang gripped her knife and thrust it again toward his neck. The murderer, realizing Ye Sangsang’s strength and ferocity, ignored the pain in his eyes and grabbed the hand that was stabbing toward him. They fell into a deadly grapple, with Ye Sangsang at a slight disadvantage due to her height and weight. She threw out a leg, and he did the same; the force of the collision sent them both stumbling backward several steps.

[This evenly matched brutality... I’m hugging myself.]
[Sister Sang and this guy—sometimes I want to ask, are you two even human?]
[It hurts just watching, boohoo.]
[Too ruthless, too ruthless. It's a one-for-one trade at this point.]

As they paused, the viewers in the chat gasped in unison. Ye Sangsang listened to the movements across from her, clutching her wound and panting. The opponent wasn't faring well either; he stumbled back, hitting a chair and crashing to the ground with a loud thud.

Neither side had gained an advantage in the second round. Ye Sangsang’s strike had been slightly off, but she had been pierced in the abdomen; blood was flowing rapidly, impossible to staunch. The murderer’s eyes had been slashed, robbing him of his sight.

The chat turned into a heated discussion as Ye Sangsang and the murderer began to wrestle again. True combat is nothing but a desperate struggle for life. Fists and blades struck out repeatedly. Ye Sangsang’s loungewear was soon shredded, though her vital organs remained untouched; the killer’s face was bloodied, with wounds on his shoulders and hands. The cuts on his face were the result of Ye Sangsang’s miscalculation at the neck—she had been a hair's breadth away from killing him.

"I can let you go," the murderer offered first.
Ye Sangsang replied, "Sure."

Neither let go. The standoff remained. The murderer was bewildered by her immense strength, while Ye Sangsang simply didn't believe a word he said.

Soon, because they couldn't see, they tripped over something while moving and both fell to the ground. Ye Sangsang scrambled up, kneeling and driving her blade toward where she guessed his heart to be; if she succeeded, her mission would be complete. The murderer was not to be outdone, moving even faster than her. Ye Sangsang was forced to block, but because he had the initiative, he pinned her to the ground, his weight pressing down on her.

Neither could see, but both were hyper-aware, quickly adjusting the aim of their blades. Their arms were locked together, wrestling for control—he pushing down, she pushing up. In this position, Ye Sangsang was at a disadvantage; she could feel her wrist trembling. She was reaching her limit.

His knife was at her throat; hers was at his heart. One more downward inch, and she would be wounded, only to be slowly, inch by inch, run through at the throat. A tug-of-war began. The murderer used his body weight to press down with all his might. Ye Sangsang’s hand faltered for a second, and a crimson, bleeding gash appeared in the hollow of her throat. Her hand shook violently—if she couldn't hold on, she would be impaled. She gritted her teeth, pushing upward with every ounce of strength, both of them fueled by the same desperate, ferocious will to survive.