"Come?" Gao Yang was a bit panicked. "Come for what?"

Qing Ling bent her legs, pressing down on Gao Yang. The moonlight highlighted her collarbones, making them shimmer beautifully.

She let out a cold, disdainful laugh. "What else could it be? Don't play innocent."

Gao Yang was baffled.

Qing Ling didn't waste words. She flipped her hair and leaned towards Gao Yang's face.

"Wait!"

Gao Yang shouted. He wasn't a traditional person and had watched plenty of adult movies. But this was happening way too fast, too fast to be anything but a setup.

"What?"

"If I've committed a crime, the law will punish me. You don't need to torment me like this..."

"You're pretty guarded," Qing Ling said.

Gao Yang thought, isn't that a normal reaction?

Three hours ago, he nearly had his head crushed by his most trusted childhood friend. Now, an unfamiliar beauty suddenly throwing herself at him gave him every reason to suspect she meant to kill him.

"Relax," Qing Ling's voice softened.

"If you really hate me, you can imagine someone else's face." Qing Ling placed her hand on Gao Yang's chest and slowly moved it downwards.

"Maybe... let's start as friends first..."

Suddenly, Qing Ling stopped.

Gao Yang was drenched in sweat, barely daring to breathe.

Qing Ling got up from the bed and put her clothes back on. "Alright."

Gao Yang was dumbfounded. He sat up and realized there was a small, sharp knife hidden under his pillow.

Fully dressed, Qing Ling flicked her wrist, and the knife flew back into her hand. With a twirl of her slender fingers, the knife vanished.

"Were you just... planning to kill me?" Gao Yang asked, still a bit shaken.

"That depends on you," Qing Ling replied.

"What do you mean? If I gave in to temptation and made a move on you, you'd kill me?" Gao Yang reasoned. "So this was a test. I passed the test and gained your trust."

"Wrong," Qing Ling said, tying her hair back into a ponytail. "If you had no reaction, I would've killed you."

"Why?"

"Beasts don't have a real reproductive system."

Gao Yang suddenly understood. "So, you were confirming my identity!"

"You encountered a Wrath Beast today."

"A Wrath Beast?"

"There are many types of beasts. The Wrath Beast is one of them. In short, they're cunning and good at disguising themselves." Qing Ling said, "If you want to survive in this world, trust no one."

"Then how do I know you're human?" Gao Yang countered.

"Not bad, you're learning quickly," Qing Ling said without a hint of emotion. "Confirming if a woman is a beast is much more troublesome. You'd have to actually do it."

"Uh..."

Qing Ling tossed a small bottle to him. "This is a special medicine. Use it and make sure to dispose of it. Don't let anyone see it."

Gao Yang caught the small bottle and examined it closely. It looked like an ordinary bottle of blue potion, nothing special.

He hid the medicine under his blanket. At the moment, he had many questions to ask Qing Ling.

What exactly were these beasts?

Why did they want to kill people?

What was his current situation?

What was Qing Ling's ability? She seemed much stronger than him.

How could he become stronger?

"Bang!"

The door suddenly flew open, and his sister rushed in.

Gao Yang was startled, standing up shirtless. "It's not what it looks like..."

"What?" His sister looked puzzled.

Gao Yang turned around, and Qing Ling was gone, leaving only the swaying curtains and the moonlight shining into the room.

No way, her movements were too quick! She really came and went like the wind...

"How suspicious," his sister eyed him up and down, then suddenly smirked. "Brother, you're not... doing that, are you?"

"I'm not! It's not like that! Don't talk nonsense!" Gao Yang was on the verge of tears. "And next time, can you knock before coming in?"

"Got it!" His sister suddenly smiled sweetly and sidled up to him, wrapping her arms around his. "Brother, let's discuss something."

"Say it."

His sister immediately took out her phone. "Look... this Lolita dress, isn't it cute?"

"It's nice..." Gao Yang realized, "What do you want?"

"It's only 498 dollars! Super cheap! If you buy it now, you can save 198 dollars."

"Not buying saves 498 dollars."

"My birthday is only 11 months away!" His sister pouted. "Can't you consider it an early birthday present?"

"I'll be dead in seventy years. Can't you consider me already dead?"

"You don't care about me! You don't love me! You're not fit to be my brother!" His sister yelled. "I'm going to tell mom and dad that you were out fooling around tonight and came back all bloody!"

"Alright, alright!" Gao Yang panicked and transferred a few hundred dollars from his next month's allowance to his sister. More than feeling the pinch, he needed to avoid further trouble right now.

"Brother, you're the best! I love you the most!"

His sister happily ran off with her phone.

Watching her shut the door, Gao Yang breathed a sigh of relief.

The special medicine Qing Ling had given him was very effective. The next morning, his wounds had mostly healed, leaving only some red marks that looked like scratches from mosquito bites.

After breakfast, Gao Yang went to school.

In the classroom, Li Weiwei's seat was empty.

Gao Yang felt a dull ache in his chest, as if something had been ripped out.

He thought about the past twelve years with Li Weiwei: going to and from school together, eating together, doing homework together, setting off fireworks on New Year's Eve. He had seen her smile, cry, and get angry... All those familiar and beautiful memories had been torn apart by that beast last night.

Gao Yang wished he was dealing with two separate beings: a pure and kind human girl and an evil, unknown monster. But they were one and the same.

Gao Yang couldn't accept it.

Even by the end of morning study hall, Li Weiwei's seat remained empty. Some girls in the class began whispering, probably having heard that something had happened to Li Weiwei.

Gao Yang hadn't slept much all night. He had too many questions for Qing Ling.

Unexpectedly, after the morning study session, Qing Ling approached him, loudly questioning in front of the other students, "Gao Yang, where is Li Weiwei?"

Gao Yang was stunned: What's going on, are we acting?

"I don't know," Gao Yang replied.

"You don't know?! Weren't you with her last night?"

"Yes, we went home separately at night..."

"What's going on? She's not answering her phone, not replying to WeChat, and not coming to class." Qing Ling frowned, looking frustrated. Seeing she couldn't get anything out of him, she turned and left.

The first period was math, and the math teacher was also the class teacher.

The class teacher walked in with a heavy expression. He placed the textbook on the podium and adjusted his thick glasses on his low bridge nose.

"Students, before we start class, I need to tell you something."

"Li Weiwei from our class... was killed last night."

The entire class erupted in shock.

"What?!" Qing Ling stood up, agitated.

Gao Yang was taken aback but suddenly admired her: Life is like a play, it all depends on the acting skills.

Li Weiwei and Qing Ling were very close and spent practically all of their time together. This response was entirely typical. It also reminded Gao Yang that his response was too strange given that they were childhood friends.

With a startled and perplexed expression, Gao Yang got to his feet swiftly and said, "Impossible! I had a glimpse of her yesterday afternoon."

"Late at night, while traveling home, she was killed. "The homeroom instructor groaned, "It looks to have been a robbery; she was stabbed in the chest and died on the spot. That's all I know."

"Oh my gosh! How is this possible to occur?"

"So pitiful, I never thought something like this would happen to her."

"The killer must be sentenced to death if caught!"

"Waah..."

The boys who were fond of Li Weiwei were enraged and let out joyful shouts. A few of Li Weiwei's close friends began to cry softly.

"Class, I'm also very sad and angry about what happened to Li Weiwei."

"The police are doing everything they can to catch the killer, and they will bring him to justice!"

"Those who want to say their goodbyes to Li Weiwei can come with me to the funeral home tonight."

"Now, let's gather ourselves and continue with the class."

As soon as she opened the arithmetic textbook, the math teacher realized something. "Qing Ling, Gao Yang, you two come to my office."

Gao Yang started to feel nervous. "Is there something wrong, teacher?"

"Police officers are present. They have some questions for you two."

Red-eyed, Qing Ling hurried out of the classroom, seemingly excited to see the cops. Gao Yang trailed after her.

As they walked through the corridor, Gao Yang, trailing behind, quickly caught up to Qing Ling. "We need to align our stories."

"What stories?" Qing Ling turned, her eyes filled with sadness and anger.

"About Li Weiwei."

Qing Ling paused for a moment, then grabbed Gao Yang by the collar. "So you do know something! Did you kill her?"

"Huh?" Gao Yang was stunned.

What's this now? Are we still acting?

"Come on, this is no time for acting!" Gao Yang said.

"Who's acting!" Qing Ling's expression was serious. "You are indeed suspicious. Why didn't you walk Li Weiwei home last night? Why was she killed? I bet it has something to do with you!"

No! This wasn't part of the plan!

What's Qing Ling up to?

"Say something! You've always wanted to pursue Li Weiwei, right? She didn't like you, didn't accept you, so you killed her out of spite, didn't you?" Qing Ling pressed on.

Gao Yang's mind raced. There were only two possibilities:

One, the Qing Ling in front of him wasn't the Qing Ling from last night, which was highly unlikely.

Two, Qing Ling was still acting. She decided to throw him under the bus to save herself. She had told him yesterday not to trust anyone.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Gao Yang lowered his head and walked past Qing Ling. He decided to stay silent; the less he said, the better.

"Stop pretending! I'll make sure the police investigate you thoroughly! If you killed her, I won't let you get away with it!" Qing Ling stormed into the office.

Gao Yang was about to follow her when a tall figure blocked his path.

Gao Yang looked up. It was a man in a police uniform, about thirty-something, with a clean buzz cut, a broad chin, a face with sharp features, and keen, experienced eyes.

"You're... Officer Huang?"

"Heh, we meet again." Officer Huang smiled, but his eyes were cold.

It was Officer Huang Qi, who had shot and killed the "lunatic" and "rescued" Gao Yang three nights ago.

Officer Huang patted Gao Yang's shoulder. "You're coming with me to another office."

Gao Yang's heart sank: This is bad, the prisoner's dilemma.