11: Chapter 11 Loyal Followers and Pests

Xu Mo thought to himself, "This is bad."

As Pei Duo poked her head out, she was completely exposed to Lei Lie; the "core" he and Lin Sa had been hiding all this time was now out in the open.

Lei Lie's cloudy eyes instantly locked onto Pei Duo.

He saw the girl emerge from the room Xu Mo and Lin Sa were protecting, so it was obvious she was the core.

As long as he controlled her, those two tough-looking bodyguards would be like declawed tigers—completely useless!

"So the pretty boy is protecting you, huh? You have that item on you, don't you?"

Lei Lie gave a sinister laugh and lunged forward, charging like an out-of-control dump truck. Disregarding all sense of sportsmanship, he bypassed Xu Mo, his large hand reaching straight for Pei Duo's fragile throat.

"Hand it over! Let's see who can protect you this time!"

"You're asking for death!"

Xu Mo's gaze turned cold.

An opportunity!

This was the chance he had been waiting for—the chance to prove his loyalty to the "True God" beside him!

The Glasses Man, who had always maintained an elite demeanor, showed incredible decisiveness at this moment.

Casting aside his refined-yet-scummy disguise, he didn't use any fancy fighting techniques. Instead, like the most loyal meat shield, he roared and threw himself forward.

At the same time, the consistently silent Lin Sa also moved.

She was faster and more ruthless than Xu Mo!

"Get lost!"

Lin Sa switched to a pitch-black dagger. Keeping her body low, she pounced from the flank like a cheetah, her blade aimed directly at Lei Lie's tendons.

However, Lei Lie was not only a veteran but also a power-based thug.

"Two flies think they can block my way?!"

Lei Lie didn't take Lin Sa's attack seriously at all. With a single strike of his firefighter gear, he sent Lin Sa and her dagger reeling back three steps, the webbing of her thumb splitting open from the impact.

Immediately after, he raised his leg and kicked.

*Bang!*

The kick landed squarely on Xu Mo's lower abdomen; it sounded painful just hearing it.

Xu Mo flew backward like a tattered sack, his back slamming heavily against the wall with a sickening thud. His gold-rimmed glasses flew far away and shattered into pieces. He clutched his stomach, a trickle of blood instantly escaping the corner of his mouth.

Pain! It felt as if his internal organs had all shifted out of place!

But he didn't pass out. He even forced his wobbling body upright to stand in front of Pei Duo once more.

"Get... away..."

Xu Mo squeezed the words through his teeth. His mouth tasted of blood, but his eyes were terrifyingly bright.

Though the kick was brutal, he was laughing wildly inside—as long as he didn't die, this was a massive win! He was literally using his life to farm favorability points!

This scene didn't just make Pei Duo's eyes turn red instantly; the live stream's bullet chat also exploded.

[(IP: Dragon Country) Holy crap! Is this the protective urge of a refined scum? I love it, I love it!]

[(IP: Dragon Country) This glasses guy is ruthless! He's gambling his life for his future!]

[(IP: Japan) Tsk, Dragon Country people just love acting out these melodramas.]

[(IP: USA) This big guy is so crude, but this is the violent aesthetic we want to see! Tear that girl apart!]

"Why act so loyal? I'll cripple this chick first, then I'll take my time torturing you!"

Enraged by Xu Mo's gaze, Lei Lie raised his blood-stained firefighter's axe high, while his other hand was about to touch Pei Duo's long black hair.

He wondered if her pretty head would explode like a watermelon when the axe came down.

Lei Lie's fingers stopped just one centimeter away from the tips of Pei Duo's hair.

No matter how hard he tried, his hand seemed welded to the void, completely motionless.

"In the Count's mansion, who permitted you to touch an honored guest with such filthy claws?"

An elegant, low voice, laced with bone-chilling cold, suddenly rang out right next to Lei Lie's ear.

In that instant, Lei Lie felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar; every hair on his body stood on end.

He turned his head stiffly.

The butler, dressed in a tailcoat with his hair meticulously combed, was standing beside him at some unknown point.

The butler was still wearing his snow-white gloves, his right hand gently pinching Lei Lie's thick wrist.

It was as if he were pinching a disgusting blowfly.

"When did you..." Lei Lie's pupils shook violently; he was about to speak.

But the butler didn't even spare him a glance. Instead, he first turned to look at Xu Mo, who was slumped in the corner trying to crawl over, and then at Lin Sa, whose hand was trembling as she held her dagger.

In those eyes, as calm as an ancient well, a very faint trace of admiration flashed for the first time.

Xu Mo's heart relaxed, and his whole body went limp as he gasped for air.

He had gambled correctly.

That kick was worth it! A massive win!

"As followers, though your strength is a bit lacking, your lives are at least loyal," the butler remarked indifferently before turning his gaze back to Lei Lie's face.

In that moment, Lei Lie saw true hell.

"As for you..."

The corner of the butler's mouth curled into a standard service smile, yet his eyes were colder than a corpse's. "Not only did you make noise, but you also brought in so many bacteria. As a piece of substandard trash, you must be prepared to be cleared away."

*Crack—*

One couldn't even see the movement.

A crisp snap.

The butler's wrist merely gave a slight flick.

Lei Lie's arm, thicker than a normal person's thigh, was instantly twisted like dough in a grinder. Bone, muscle, and blood vessels were all wrenched three hundred and sixty degrees in the opposite direction!

"Aaaaaah!!"

Before the scream could even escape his throat, the butler's other hand had already plunged into Lei Lie's chest with elegant precision, as easily as reaching for something in a bag.

No blood splattered.

There was only a muffled squelch, like cutting through soft tofu.

When the butler withdrew his hand, his snow-white gloves weren't even stained with a drop of blood, yet his palm held a heart that was still faintly beating.

Lei Lie's scream came to an abrupt halt.

His eyeballs bulged as he stared down at his empty chest, seemingly unable to comprehend even in death—why would this butler, who looked like the final boss, help a player kill? It wasn't fair!

*Thud.*

The corpse fell to the ground like a bag of unwanted trash.

The live stream fell into a deathly silence, then was immediately flooded with a screen full of "???".

[(IP: USA) WTF?! This is so unfair! Is this butler that girl's private bodyguard?!]

[(IP: Japan) Baka! This is cheating! I want to report this! How can an S-rank Anomaly help a human kill someone?]

[(IP: Dragon Country) Hahaha! This is what you call status! See that? This is top-tier VIP treatment!]

After finishing this bloody task, the butler turned around. Facing the already terrified Pei Duo, his originally straight back instantly bent into a ninety-degree bow.

"A thousand apologies, honored guest."

The butler's voice was full of trepidation and self-reproach. "It was my poor management that allowed such a crude wild dog to disturb your peaceful rest."

"If it has frightened you, then it is a sin for which even my death would not suffice."

The remaining four people from the Backyard Group had now wet their pants, the stench of urine filling the air.

They looked at Lei Lie's heartless corpse, then at the S-rank Ghost King bowing and apologizing to Pei Duo. Their knees buckled, and they all fell to the ground with a series of thuds, kowtowing and begging for their lives.

Leaning against the wall, Xu Mo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and forced a smile that looked worse than crying.

This backer... is so damn powerful.

Pei Duo was stunned for a long time before she stammered and waved her hands. "No... it's okay, I wasn't scared."

Only then did the butler straighten up, the gentle smile returning to his face.

But he didn't leave immediately.

He slowly walked over to the corpse of the skinned college student.

Normally, Anomalies have a natural craving for flesh and blood, but the butler just looked down, showing no appetite whatsoever. Instead... he frowned.

It was a look of disgust toward a "low-quality artwork," coupled with a meaningful sense of confusion.

"Strange."

The butler murmured softly. His voice wasn't loud, but it made everyone's skin crawl again.

"There is no... scent of our kind on this."

The butler looked up, and a smile actually appeared on his face—the excitement of a hunter discovering new prey.

"In the Count's mansion, a rat that enjoys skinning has actually snuck in..."

"It seems that besides these unruly wild dogs, there's also a 'Pest' hiding here."