Chapter 21: The Slaughter Princess

‘Who?’

Shi Yue immediately turned around. What if a lot of people came? That would be terrible!

However, when she looked closely, she found that it was just an ordinary young man dressed like a hooligan, with densely packed earrings in his ears, a string of tattoos on his neck, carrying a large bag of food and drinks in one hand and holding a mobile phone in the other, swaying as he walked towards her.

As a result, when he looked up, his eyes met Shi Yue’s.

“Who are you?!” the two asked almost simultaneously.

The two stared at each other, stunned for a long while. The other person seemed captivated by Shi Yue’s cosplay outfit; instead of asking who Shi Yue was, he said:

“Are you going to work at the Jinluan Family? I heard that the boss there likes cosplay, and it turns out that’s true.”

“…I was just passing by. Who are you?”

“It’s none of your business.” The young man glared impatiently and pointed outside. “The Jinluan Family is over on the pedestrian street. Just follow the main road and you’ll get there. How did you end up here?”

“It’s my first day at work, I’m not familiar with the area,” Shi Yue said, going along with him.

“But don’t you work at night over there?”

“…I’m just taking a stroll.”

The young man nodded: “Oh, then you should leave quickly. This isn’t a place for you.”

He shifted his foot, thought for a moment, and added, “Remember not to come here again. Let me tell you, this is our territory. If the boss sees you, you won’t be able to run away even if you want to.”

Boss?

Shi Yue asked curiously, “Who’s your boss?”

Why are you still asking?!

“I’m so sorry.”

Shi Yue quickly ducked and fled. What luck! This guy actually kindly reminded her. If he were a loud and boisterous person, his other accomplices would probably have already arrived. Fighting seven or eight people at once here isn’t a good strategy, and there’s no need to get entangled with this guy now.

Let’s go first and talk later.

So Shi Yue pressed down on the knife with one hand, and tried to retreat first, but as she brushed past the young man, she suddenly felt her arm being pulled by a considerable force.

“???”

Shi Yue turned around in surprise. The young man, for some reason, dropped the bag he was holding, grabbed Shi Yue’s arm, and said seriously:

“Are you cosplaying Alita, the massacre princess from ‘Girl’s Blood Diary’?”

“Uh…ah.”

Wow, so many people have watched this anime.

“I knew it! I could tell just by looking at your outfit! But you’ve got the equipment wrong. Alita uses a sword, not a knife.”

Shi Yue didn’t know how to answer him for a moment, so she could only say, “It’s a small detail, it doesn’t matter.”

“This is no small matter!” The young man’s face flushed red. “How could you cosplayers make such a mistake? Although I guess going to Golden Glory… is probably just a job as a hostess… but you can’t treat cosplay casually just because of that! Do you know how sacred cosplay is? You have to take cosplay seriously no matter the situation!”

He suddenly stretched out his hand: “Let me see your knife!”

“ah?”

“I need to confirm if the knife is real and if it’s a good knife! If it’s fake, you’re desecrating the sacred act of cosplay!”

Shi Yue stared at him blankly for a while before she came to her senses.

……I see.

“I can’t connect with anime and manga, goodbye.”

Shi Yue didn’t want to talk to him anymore, but the young man grabbed her again, saying, “Hurry up and pull out the knife!” and “You need to pay more attention to your cosplay!” This annoyed Shi Yue, and a nameless anger surged within her.

“Can you please stop bothering me?!”

“Don’t be ungrateful! I didn’t consult you, get over here!”

The young man held onto Shi Yue’s wrist tightly and refused to let go. He was quite strong, and no matter how hard Shi Yue twisted, she couldn’t break free. Shi Yue couldn’t help but glance inside the factory; if things got out of hand and the people inside noticed, it would be terrible!

Unable to escape immediately, in desperation, Shi Yue glared at the young man, then simply drew her sword and severed his wrist in one stroke!

This was the first time Shi Yue had experienced the power of a sword. Normally, when cutting meat, it would take her half a day to cut a chicken bone with a so-called meat cleaver, but this sword in her hand could cut off a person’s arm as easily as chopping melons and vegetables!

No wonder the imperial court banned the private possession of controlled knives.

With a single slash, Shi Yue felt a sudden release as the arm the young man had been gripping slipped free. Correspondingly, the young man’s hand landed lightly on the dirty ground, leaving a few streaks of blood.

The young man glanced at his severed arm, then his gaze fell on the severed hand on the ground. He froze for a second, then a heart-wrenching scream echoed through the small, abandoned factory.

“Shut up!”

Shi Yue was frantic and quickly delivered another blow, this time slashing the young man squarely in the throat. This time, he couldn’t even scream; he could only stare blankly at Shi Yue, muttering:

“It’s… a real knife…”

thump.

The young man collapsed to the ground. At the same time, shouts erupted from inside the factory:

“Who’s yelling!”

“What happened?!”

“Hurry over there and see!”

“Damn it, I’m going to blow it up with a straight shot!!!”

A series of rapid, dense footsteps rushed towards them. Shi Yue’s heart tightened, and she turned to run, but the leaders had already spotted her.

“There’s someone there! Don’t let her get away!”

Oh no.

Shi Yue glanced at them briefly; just as her father had described, there were about six or seven men, all dressed like thugs, and a few of them were carrying weapons. This was troublesome.

Looking back at the road we came from, should we race against them?

I’m afraid that won’t work. They’ve already seen me. There’s nothing but an open field outside, nowhere to hide. Shi Yue didn’t think she could outrun them either.

…I had no choice but to go for it.

Shi Yue glanced at them; they were still several dozen meters away. Instead of running out, Shi Yue immediately sprinted to one side of the gate and quickly crawled under a parked van. She peered intently through the cracks, keeping a close eye on the factory gate.

About ten seconds later, the group rushed out, their first words a furious roar, “Which bastard killed Brother Yun?!” Filled with righteous indignation, a thug with a bowl cut quickly stepped forward and gave orders: “Brothers, don’t panic! You two, yes, you two go that way; you two, that way; you two go out and chase after her, and you two, guard the door! Don’t let her get away!”

It seems that the guy with the bowl cut is the leader of this group.

Hidden under the car, Shi Yue could see from afar that there were six of them, searching in pairs in three directions, with two young men gradually approaching her.

Shi Yue wanted to take a deep breath to calm her wildly beating heart, but reason made her hold her breath.

Closer.

Get a little closer…

Just as one of the two men happened to pass under the car, Shi Yue decisively struck, severing his ankle in a flash. The young man fell to the ground in a daze, and in that instant, he saw the clean, bleeding cuts on his feet and a pair of eyes hidden behind a mask under the car.

Before he could make any move, Shi Yue rushed out from under the car and swiftly slashed at his throat like a wild beast. At this moment, the other young man who was with him had not yet reacted. He had just turned around when he saw Shi Yue’s knife aimed at his face.