The white man moved with clean, sharp motions—no wasted effort at all.
But just as his knife-hand was about to touch Ian Song’s skin, Ian sprang away as if his feet were loaded with springs, shooting five or six meters to dodge the strike.
Landing five or six meters away, Ian whipped around, eyes wary, still shaken inside. Thankfully, he’d learned Tiger-Leap Step—otherwise, he would’ve been hit for sure. Even so, his neck still stung faintly from the close call.
“Who are you? Why did you ambush me?”
The white man didn’t answer Ian’s question. Instead, in awkward, stilted Chinese, he barked, “Tell me—where is Blood Rose? I’ll spare your life.”
“Blood Rose?”
Ian was stunned for a moment. The image of that mysterious female assassin flashed through his mind, but he was thoroughly annoyed at being ambushed, so he sneered, “Why should I tell you? If you get on your knees and call me Grandpa three times, maybe I’ll consider it.”
The white man froze for a second, then his eyes flashed with murderous intent. “You ignorant brat, I’ll send you to meet the King of Hell!”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!!
As he spoke, the white man flicked his right hand—a faint whistling cut through the air. Three black streaks shot like lightning toward Ian’s abdomen, chest, and throat.
Ian Song was startled, a premonition telling him he could dodge at most two of the short darts.
Without hesitation, he activated the slow-motion mode of Clairvoyant Vision.
Clairvoyant Vision instantly activated, and Ian’s vision shifted as well.
The three short darts slowed to a crawl in his sight, so he calmly twisted his body a few times and easily dodged all three. Just then, the white man charged in, a cold gleam flashing as he stabbed straight for Ian’s throat.
“Such a vicious, ruthless attack!”
Ian thought to himself, certain that if he hadn’t activated Clairvoyant Vision, even if he dodged the darts, he wouldn’t have escaped the follow-up killing move.
With a quick step, he slipped to the opponent’s side, his right leg whipping out like a long lash toward the man’s abdomen.
“Pfft!”
The white man’s dagger slid downward, stabbing toward Ian’s inner thigh, but his body quickly retreated. At this moment, he was filled with shock—he’d never expected this young Chinese kid not only to dodge his chain attacks, but also to strike back.
“Hmph!”
Ian snorted coldly, his left foot flying through the air to kick the man’s wrist holding the dagger, while his right leg kept up its attack.
And then...
“Crack!”
“Bang!”
The white man’s body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, smashing hard to the ground seven or eight meters away.
Ian had used his left foot to break the man’s wrist bone, and his right leg had lashed the man’s abdomen. The opponent’s attacks had been extremely vicious, so, though Ian hadn’t used internal force, he’d gone all out. He figured the man must be seriously injured.
But just then, a sudden, intense sense of danger surged in his heart.
Ian’s pupils contracted sharply—the white man now had a handgun, its dark barrel pointed straight at him.
The gunshot rang out, and the bullet was already flying toward him. Even though he’d activated Clairvoyant Vision and could see the bullet’s trajectory, seeing it was one thing—dodging it was another.
So, even though he dodged with all his might, the bullet still struck his right arm.
“Ugh!”
He let out a muffled grunt, stumbling back several steps as his head spun in a brief daze. Only one thought filled his mind: “I’ve been shot!”
“Idiot, did you forget you have Radiance of Life?” Meow-Meow’s voice echoed in his mind.
Ian snapped back to his senses, the stabbing pain in his arm surging. He looked up, but the white man had already vanished.
“Damn it!”
A surge of killing intent flashed in his eyes. While activating Radiance of Life to heal the gunshot wound, he darted out, trying to track down the white man.
Unfortunately, it was as if the man had vanished from the world—there was no trace to be found.
After chasing blindly for several hundred meters, Ian finally calmed down.
“Clink!”
A bullet casing dropped from his skin to the ground.
Aside from the bloody hole in his sleeve, his skin was smooth and unblemished—no sign of injury at all.
“Radiance of Life really is a second-grade high-tier divine art—amazing!” Ian couldn’t help but marvel.
Bending down, Ian picked up the bloodstained bullet and stared at it for a long moment before putting it in his pocket. He couldn’t deny that, ever since getting the ring system, his mindset had changed—he’d become more confident, but also a bit cocky and reckless.
He kept the bullet as a constant warning to himself—a reminder that there were still many things in this world that could threaten him.
Back at the dorm, Ian found a needle and thread, cut a strip from his shirt, and sewed a small pouch. He found a red string, tied it to the pouch, washed the bullet clean, and put it inside, then hung it around his neck.
He touched the pouch resting on his chest, then grabbed some underwear and beach shorts from the closet and headed to the bathroom for a shower.
But when he stepped out of the bathroom, he found someone sitting on the living room sofa—a woman, to be exact. And not just any woman, but a stunning beauty, her face pale and bloodless.
Ian stopped in place and asked in a low voice, “Are you Blood Rose?”
She nodded.
Remembering what just happened, anger welled up inside Ian. “Shouldn’t you give me an explanation?”
Blood Rose grabbed a black bag from behind her and tossed it to Ian.
Ian instinctively caught the black bag.
“Open it. That’s your explanation,” Blood Rose said calmly.
Heart pounding, Ian opened the bag. But as soon as he saw what was inside, his eyes shrank—he instantly felt nauseated, dropped the bag, and rushed to the bathroom to retch.
After a while, Ian emerged from the bathroom, his face still ugly.
“Who is he?” Ian stared at Blood Rose. He’d never imagined the bag would contain a human head—the head of the white man who attacked him.
Blood Rose spoke calmly, “His name is Hans, one of Darkworld’s top ten Silver-Rank assassins, ranked just below me. That’s why he was always scheming to kill me and become number one. Too bad for him—he died by my hand in the end.”
Blood Rose’s words were brief, but she revealed a lot. After a pause, Ian asked, “Is Darkworld an assassin organization?”
“That’s right. It’s the strongest assassin organization in the world!”
“Since you were both Darkworld assassins, won’t your organization come after you for killing Hans?” Ian pressed.
“Of course they will. But I’ve already defected from Darkworld. Hans was sent by the organization to kill me.” At this, Blood Rose’s tone grew a little more animated. “Honestly, I was only able to kill Hans thanks to you. If you hadn’t injured him, I wouldn’t have managed it!”
Ian’s expression turned cold. “You mean, when Hans ambushed me just now, you were nearby?”
“That’s right.” Blood Rose admitted openly, her gaze falling on his bullet-wounded arm, a strange look flickering in her eyes.
Instantly, Ian’s heart tightened, a surge of murderous intent rising within him.