Her roommates were bolstered by her fearless aura, though they remained terrified, huddled together and shivering behind her.
Lulu’anna met the monster’s gaze with a fierce glare. Her beautiful golden-brown hair drifted as if caught in an invisible wind, and her slender frame stood straight and sharp as a spear.
She threw the stack of drawing paper into the air, scattering it to distract the creature. She kept only one sheet, then bit her finger and quickly drew a square on the paper with her blood.
The monster’s attention was diverted for only a heartbeat. In the next instant, it compressed its hind legs and lunged. Swish, swish, swish! It moved like lightning, covering the distance in a few bounds to pounce on Lulu’anna.
The impact force was comparable to a charging bull. The four mandibles at the front were as sharp as iron hooks; a single snap could puncture steel.
Snap!
Lulu’anna thrust the paper directly toward the creature. The moment they made contact, something impossible happened.
The massive monster vanished into thin air!
As the paper drifted down, one could faintly see a two-dimensional version of the creature skittering within the bloody square frame. Lulu’anna flattened her palms and brought them together with a sharp clap. The paper folded in half, turning into a neat slip that floated gently to the ground.
Her roommates stared, mouths agape, wondering if they were hallucinating.
“We’re saved!” Wei Ning cried out.
“The Dorm Leader is so strong… the monster didn’t stand a chance!”
“I was scared to death. That thing was so fast, I didn’t even see it before it was right in front of us. Thank god she caught it… if it had hit us, I’d be a pancake.”
Despite the victory, Lulu’anna’s expression remained grim. She had assumed the market was an absolutely safe zone—after all, there was more than one Hush-Name Witch at Balor Academy. If their power couldn’t even cover the surrounding areas, the school itself might not be safe.
Her mind raced with troubling thoughts. She leaned down to pick up the folded paper and, without hesitation, ripped it in half.
In an instant, blood erupted from the tear like a fountain.
The Fast Food Stall.
Old Berry hadn’t moved for a long time. The customers had cycled through two or three rotations, yet he remained motionless before his platter of roasted sausages, having only taken two bites. The beer beside him had long since lost its foam and its appeal.
“Hey, boss, give him a poke. Make sure he hasn’t kicked the bucket,” one diner teased.
“Nonsense. Old Berry isn’t even seventy yet. He’s probably just asleep.”
The owner frowned, but ultimately grew concerned. He walked over and gently shook the old man’s shoulder. It felt strange—tough on the outside, but soft on the inside. He wondered if Old Berry was wearing some kind of padded vest under his clothes.
Suddenly, he heard a faint cracking sound, like someone munching on potato chips.
Looking closer, the skin on the back of the old man’s neck split down the middle, the crack extending under his clothes. The thick, yellowish dead skin peeled back like a cicada’s husk, revealing a glimpse of fresh, tender green thoracic segments and curled, bloated leathery wings.
This year-over-forty middle-aged man’s face twisted in immense horror. He let out a short, sharp yelp and scrambled away on all fours.
The other customers at the stall froze for a second or two before they also realized what was happening. They scattered instantly, fleeing in a panic. In the Evernight Realm, running for your life was an essential skill, especially when faced with the unknown.
The diners sprinted away, showing off their true capabilities as they leaped and vaulted over obstacles. Within seconds, the food stall was empty—except for Prima.
“Wait—! Someone help me!”
The little girl’s small, pitiful voice echoed emptily, with no response for a long time. She was on the verge of tears as she watched the old man’s human husk split from the neck all the way to the tailbone just three meters away.
A viscous fluid oozed out, followed by a writhing, indescribable mass of dark green soft-bodied biological matter struggling to emerge from the skin. It looked like a locust, but magnified hundreds of times, its wrinkled wing covers and membranes slowly unfurling.
“Help… someone… please save me…”
Prima’s face was deathly pale.
The monster shed its human skin as if taking off a tuxedo, elegant and composed. It unfurled its wings, which quickly dried into the shape of sharp blades. Its hooked legs tapped against the ground as it stepped toward her, a giant predatory locust whose crescent-shaped mouthparts clicked together, creating that maddening sound of scraping porcelain.
A powerful will to live surged in Prima’s heart. She didn’t want to die. She had finally learned to release magic while biting her wand; she could turn into a round, fluffy cat; she was even supposed to play a head of broccoli in the school play. Everything was supposed to be getting better, so why… why now?
She bit her lip, tears streaming down her face. A sense of profound injustice crashed against her soul, and a deep sorrow erupted from her emotions.
The terrifying six-legged insect stared at her. Its flat head rotated a hundred and eighty degrees, its dull compound eyes reflecting hundreds of tiny images of the trembling girl.
Prima closed her eyes. She realized her life might end here. The hollow sensation of impending death and the crushing psychological blow left her mind in a daze.
Her resentment eventually faded, replaced by a sense of sheer vulnerability. She hoped to be killed gently, without too much pain. She didn’t want to look too gruesome in the end. If it could be that way, she felt she might even be willing to say “thank you” to her killer before the end…
She sobbed, huddled into a ball. If anyone had held her at that moment, they would have felt the warmth and the violent trembling of her small body.
Suddenly, a familiar, arrogant, and rude voice rang out behind her.
However, the person didn’t say something hurtful like they usually did. Instead, she heard Lilith say:
“What do you think you’re doing… to my cute roommate?”
Prima turned her head, her eyes wide with disbelief. She was certain she must have misheard.
