Never had Sơn Nam imagined that one day, he would become the most famous student at Nhân Hòa High School. Almost every student in the school, both male and female, would glance at him and whisper whenever he walked past.

But Sơn Nam never wanted this kind of attention. He had always been a quiet, reserved person with a slightly introverted nature. He was someone who preferred to blend into the crowd rather than stand out. Sơn Nam truly enjoyed the peace and tranquility of being unnoticed in his old classroom.

As a transfer student at Nhân Hòa High School through a scholarship program, Sơn Nam only wanted to focus on studying, maintain his excellent academic record, and collect a few more national awards from his 11th grade year until graduation.

But life never gives people exactly what they wish for. Ever since Sơn Nam accidentally became the first to discover Hoàng Anh Tuấn’s corpse, his life had turned a completely different page—no longer normal as before.

Sơn Nam still vividly remembered that early morning in September. He had left his rented room to head to school at 6:30 AM, when the sun was already high and shining brightly. After more than a month living in Nhân Hòa Town, he had gotten used to the coastal climate. The salty scent of the sea no longer bothered him.

As he walked through a quiet street corner, a faintly strange smell suddenly lingered in the air, blending with the scent of the ocean. That smell… it was thick, metallic, and reeked of iron.

Squish…

Sơn Nam’s shoe stepped into a sticky liquid. He lifted his foot and looked down at his white-soled sneakers in shock.

Blood… So much blood!

Sơn Nam could hardly believe his eyes. Right ahead of him, Hoàng Anh Tuấn, a student from class 10A, lay on the ground, his face turned toward the sky, his arms spread wide like an eagle’s wings.

Blood was pouring from his throat—ripped wide open—drenching his white uniform shirt in red. It pooled beneath him, forming a large puddle, and had even splattered onto the wall of the alley where he had fallen. Sơn Nam had never imagined that a human body could bleed so much.

Anh Tuấn’s once-handsome face, which had made countless female students swoon, was now drained of all color, covered in a sickly gray pallor. His striking, deep black eyes, framed by long lashes that had once held a mysterious charm, were now lifeless. Death had not taken away his beauty—his face remained as flawless as a Greek statue, with a straight nose and thin lips.

Hoàng Anh Tuấn had only enrolled in class 10A in August. Yet, in just a month, he had won the hearts of nearly all the female students in his grade with his charming smile and gentlemanly demeanor. Even many 11th and 12th-grade girls were infatuated with him. Rumor had it that a fan page dedicated to him had even been created by his admirers on Facebook.

And speaking of hearts…

The most terrifying thing Sơn Nam noticed was the gaping hole on the left side of Anh Tuấn’s chest.

His heart was gone.

Completely missing.

And judging by the gruesome, mangled flesh scattered around, it seemed to have been crushed into a pulpy mess before being discarded. Sơn Nam felt the urge to vomit at the sight of the dismembered flesh strewn across the ground near Hoàng Anh Tuấn’s body.

The one who created such a horrifying, savage, and brutal scene—could not be human!