X
Join our Discord server and get release updates for every novel you follow.
Join the Server“Is there anything you need help with?”
Jiang Shulan’s eyes sparkled with determination.
“No.” A-Jin couldn’t help ruffling Jiang Shulan’s fluffy hair. Lowering his voice, he replied, “I think we’ve gotten caught up in a murder case. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”
He knew perfectly well that life was more important than money.
But the door had already been locked tight. There was no way to unlock it without risking an encounter with the killer.
Looking around the room, A-Jin said, “We’ll leave through the window.”
He walked over and pulled back the curtain, only to discover that the entire window had been boarded shut from the outside.
The only option left was to call the police.
Picking up the telephone, A-Jin instinctively pressed the receiver to his ear and reached for the rotary dial.
The next second, a sharp pain exploded in his ear.
“A-Jin?”
Jiang Shulan hurried over and discovered that a nail had been hidden inside the telephone.
He grabbed a piece of paper from his pocket and pressed it against A-Jin’s ear to stop the bleeding.
Cold sweat poured down A-Jin’s forehead from the pain, but afraid of attracting the killer’s attention, he could only breathe quietly through gritted teeth.
Even Jiang Shulan felt the pain just looking at him.
“A Jin, how about this?” he suggested. “I’ll go out and distract the killer. You find a chance to escape!”
“No!”
A-Jin rejected the idea immediately.
Clenching his jaw, he tried to pry away the boards covering the window.
The moment his hands reached out, they were caught in a hidden trap.
A loud metallic snap echoed through the room.
Blood flowed freely.
The killer had undoubtedly heard it.
Footsteps began approaching.
Closer and closer.
Enduring the agony, A-Jin yanked his hands free from the trap. The instant he turned around, he saw Jiang Shulan’s hand already resting on the doorknob.
“A-Jin, live well.”
After whispering those words, Jiang Shulan rushed out and slammed the door behind him.
Running down the opposite hallway, he shouted,
“I’m over here, you bastard!”
‘I’m finally getting eliminated!’
This was the fastest exit he’d ever had.
The thought made Jiang Shulan happier the faster he ran.
He wanted to lure the killer as far away from A-Jin as possible.
Soon he was breathing hard. The mask covering his face began making it difficult to breathe, so he ripped it off and tossed it aside.
‘That should be far enough, right?’
He stopped and bent over, hands on his knees, catching his breath.
A pair of black combat boots suddenly appeared before him.
The boots rose above the ankles. Their thick rubber soles made almost no sound against the floor. The laces were pulled tight, creating neat folds in the fabric of the pants.
Slowly, Jiang Shulan lifted his head.
The man wore a black mask that revealed only his eyes and the sharp contours of his brow.
His brow ridge was high and severe.
The corners of his eyes tilted slightly upward.
His pale irises gleamed coldly in the darkness.
The mask clung tightly to a sharply defined jawline, casting a shadow beneath prominent cheekbones.
His shoulders were broad enough to resemble a coat rack, while his waist narrowed abruptly into a smooth inverted triangle.
A belt cinched his lean frame, outlining firm abdominal muscles beneath his clothing.
Even without seeing his full face, the clean, efficient masculinity radiating from him was impossible to ignore.
Jiang Shulan glanced down at his own clothes, then back at the BOSS’s.
‘We’re practically dressed the same!’
‘So why do I look like a kid wearing grown-up clothes compared to him?’
‘And why is the BOSS just staring at me instead of killing me?’
An overwhelming sense of embarrassment seized him, like a counterfeit standing before the genuine article.
“What are you looking at?” he snapped. “If you’ve got the guts, kill me!”
Night Demon lowered his gaze.
Did he used to have a boyfriend?
Yes.
His boyfriend had been timid and soft-hearted.
The slightest glimpse of his true self would frighten him.
A simple touch would make him tremble.
He would need days of coaxing before allowing a hug.
And if the hug lasted too long, he would cry himself unconscious.
But now?
His boyfriend had walked straight into a murder scene.
That complicated things.
[Why isn’t he killing me yet, System~?]
The System answered with practiced resignation.
[There’s a trap to your left. Just step on it.]
[Okay!]
Jiang Shulan immediately lifted his foot toward the mechanism.
Just as he was about to step down, a hand wrapped around his ankle.
“What are you doing?”
Jiang Shulan blinked in confusion.
Night Demon crouched before him.
His grip was surprisingly gentle.
“Disobedient children need to be punished.”
He deliberately lowered his voice, disguising it.
Maybe this was for the best.
He could use this opportunity to frighten his little boyfriend properly.
When he later returned as his normal self and “rescued” him, his boyfriend would surely become more obedient.
More clingy.
Maybe then they could do even more things together.
[There’s another trap on your right. Raise your hand higher.]
“What kind of nonsense is that?!”
Determined to get himself killed, Jiang Shulan kicked at Night Demon with his other leg while simultaneously stretching one hand toward another trigger.
“You pervert! Go play by yourself!”
The next instant, the world tilted.
A feeling of weightlessness overtook him.
Night Demon had simply hoisted him over one shoulder.
“You pervert! Put me down! Bastard! Idiot! Damn you—!”
The previously silent mansion suddenly seemed alive with noise.
Jiang Shulan wasn’t particularly creative when it came to swearing. He repeated the same few insults over and over while kicking and flailing like a frog on Night Demon’s shoulder.
This development felt far too familiar.
Terrified that this BOSS would end up like the BOSSes from the previous two movies, Jiang Shulan twisted around and bit down hard on Night Demon’s neck.
‘Let’s see how you like that!’
Surely he wouldn’t hold back against someone actively threatening him.
Wait.
“AHHHHH!”
Jiang Shulan’s face turned bright red.
Then he struggled even harder.
“Holy crap! How dare you?!”
The man had smacked his butt.
And worse…
He’d squeezed it.
A vein bulged on Night Demon’s forehead.
A cold smile appeared on his lips.
It seemed his little boyfriend really needed to learn how dangerous the outside world could be.
Faced with a killer like him, instead of begging for mercy or trying to escape, the boy kept provoking him.
Kicking him.
Biting him.
Insulting him.
He was practically asking for…
The word lingered on the tip of Night Demon’s tongue, carrying a dark and predatory implication.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the mansion, A Jin heard Jiang Shulan’s scream and shut his eyes in pain.
He would not waste Jiang Shulan’s sacrifice.
He would escape.
Call the police.
And send this monster to prison.
A-Jin made his way into the basement.
He remembered seeing a crowbar there earlier.
With it, he could pry the boards off a window.
The basement reeked of blood.
There he found the homeowner.
The man’s body was covered in wounds.
Only one eye could barely remain open.
Seeing A-Jin, the homeowner became agitated.
Quickly, A-Jin explained,
“Hey, I only came back because I left some equipment here. Then I realized something was wrong and came inside to investigate. Calm down. I’ll call the police.”
The homeowner trembled.
“There’s a gun in the safe. The code is ****.”
“Hannah is still somewhere in the house.”
“Victoria is in the bathroom.”
“Please save Victoria first.”
A-Jin rushed into the bathroom.
Victoria’s hands and feet were tightly bound.
Tape covered her eyes.
Curled up in the bathtub, she looked like a terrified animal.
A-Jin explained the situation again.
Shaking uncontrollably, she whispered,
“Hannah. You have to save Hannah first.”
After a brief pause, A-Jin nodded.
“I can do that. But the killer is still upstairs, so you need to-”
“AHHHHH!”
A scream suddenly echoed through the house.
Jiang Shulan shuddered.
A trace of panic surfaced in his heart.
“You pervert! What exactly are you trying to do?!”
After bringing him into a room, Night Demon had tied both his wrists and ankles with towels.
Then he had turned around and started rummaging through a wardrobe.
Eventually, he pulled out a blanket.
After draping it carefully around Jiang Shulan’s shoulders and ensuring it wouldn’t slip off, he hoisted him onto his shoulder again.
The basement was cold.
His little boyfriend caught colds easily.
Jiang Shulan found the entire situation baffling.
His throat was nearly hoarse from yelling.
As he lifted his head casually, he spotted A-Jin sneaking onto the second floor.
‘That guy’s got guts.’
‘The BOSS isn’t even far away!’
‘As expected of the protagonist.’
Jiang Shulan was impressed.
A-Jin, meanwhile, was stunned to see Jiang Shulan completely unharmed.
Judging by the condition of the homeowner, the killer’s methods were unimaginably cruel.
After hearing Jiang Shulan’s screams earlier, A-Jin had assumed the worst.
Yet the boy looked perfectly fine.
Still lively.
After signaling for silence, A-Jin carefully opened the safe.
Inside were the red diamond he desperately wanted, and the gun.
He slipped the diamond into his pocket and checked the weapon.
‘No bullets.’
Knock. Knock.
A sound came from a red suitcase standing beside the wardrobe.
A-Jin froze.
He was certain it hadn’t been there moments ago.
Suppressing his fear, he opened it.
Inside the tiny suitcase was an elderly man.
His body was covered in wounds.
A chain fastened to his ankle prevented him from moving more than half a meter away.
The old man explained everything.
The killer was a serial murderer responsible for numerous disappearances.
The police called him…
Night Demon.
“Night Demon is a lunatic who collects living people,” the old man said bitterly.
“He only keeps the ones he likes.”
“Everyone else is slaughtered.”
A helpless smile crossed his face.
“I was his previous collection.”
“My purpose is to serve as bait for the next case.”
So that was why Jiang Shulan remained unharmed.
Night Demon had chosen him as a collectible.
Was he planning to stuff Jiang Shulan into a suitcase like this one and deliver him to someone else’s doorstep as a symbol of disaster?
A fierce anger rose within A-Jin.
His grip tightened around the gun until his knuckles turned white.
No matter what happened.
He would save Jiang Shulan from Night Demon.
The excitement doesn't stop here! If you enjoyed this, you’ll adore Crow's Golden Fragment. Start reading now!
Read : Crow's Golden Fragment
If You Notice any translation issues or inconsistency in names, genders, or POV etc? Let us know here in the comments or on our Discord server, and we’ll fix it in current and future chapters. Thanks for helping us to improve! 🙂