Chapter 1 The Dark Cave

The cave was dark and gloomy.

The girl's voice was as sweet as honey.

But at this moment, to Gu Shen, that voice... sounded like the whispers of a demon!

Who would have thought that a serial killer who wandered the Jiangtan Riverbank at night, killing nearly ten men in a row... would be a sixteen-year-old girl?

This was a person who had lost control, a dangerous existence who possessed extraordinary power!

In an instant, Gu Shen's forehead was covered in a dense layer of cold sweat.

During the few seconds of his silence, the voice of the person behind him sounded again, becoming even more resentful.

"Little Gu Doctor... you... don't you like me?"

Gu Shen took a deep breath, slowly and deliberately.

If he refused...

There was a high probability that in the next second, she would pull out a pair of scissors and precisely and swiftly slash his neck—

After withdrawing from the profiling state, Gu Shen's mind remained extremely calm. He lowered his head slightly, trying to observe the surrounding environment.

The world inside the cave was almost entirely dark, but through the subtle changes in light and shadow that flickered into his eyes, he could roughly deduce Qu Shui's current posture.

She was pressed against his back, about twenty centimeters away. This distance was too close... She could attack him at any time, just like in the profiling memory.

More importantly, if she was the transcendent from Hu Danian's files, what was her extraordinary ability?

Everything was unknown.

Restraining the urge to turn around, Gu Shen said slowly, "Qu Shui... you are a very good girl..."

The conclusion he had reached from his earlier thoughts was—

He couldn't refuse.

If he refused, she would go berserk.

The girl's voice was noticeably filled with joy, "Then you mean..."

"Yes."

Gu Shen nodded lightly, "Just as you think... I like you."

Sensing that the girl's emotions behind him were gradually stabilizing, Gu Shen did not relax. On the contrary, from the moment he entered the cave and used profiling to discern the truth of the Jiangtan Riverbank case, his mind had been highly tense.

His fingers had already pinched the silver ruler inside his sleeve, and Chi Huo (Blazing Fire) swayed as he inputted mental energy into the ruler.

A stinging pain came from his brain.

He had already used the Ruler of Truth intensely once during the day, and it had only barely recovered to its current state after resting for an entire afternoon. He was even a little unsteady on his feet. Gu Shen didn't know if he could use the ruler twice in a row.

Even if he could successfully use it again... the effect would likely be reduced.

Gu Shen made the worst-case scenario in his heart. This time, he probably wouldn't be able to materialize too strong of a power with the Ruler of Truth, and the duration would also be greatly reduced. If he wanted to counterattack, he had to perfectly grasp the opportunity.

He only had one chance. Once he made a mistake, the next person hanging on the stone wall of the cave might be him.

He needed to... understand the other party's extraordinary ability.

"Little Gu Doctor just said... you like me?"

Qu Shui's voice was obviously filled with joy. The girl reflected in the shadows covered her face with her hands, smiling brightly and full of shyness: "Is it true?"

Her emotions are stabilizing… Gu Shen narrowed his eyes, preparing to slowly turn around.

He took a light breath and forced a smile: "Of course it's true... Did you bring me here just to say these words?"

"...Little Gu, don't move, okay?"

The girl changed her address, pressing even closer.

She noticed my movements… These words made Gu Shen's whole body stiff, and the posture he had been preparing to turn around in froze instantly.

He silently gripped the ruler.

"I knew it... it was right to bring you here." Qu Shui's voice was light and cheerful. She jutted her chin towards the inside of the cave's stone wall, "Look... my dad is here, he's watching us."

Dad?

Gu Shen was stunned.

In the profiling world... the person this girl killed was her own biological father?

["I live alone now... my parents are already gone."]

His thoughts raced, trying to piece together the timeline... This girl killed her father, and then successively hunted for targets on the Jiangtan Riverbank. All the victims were adult men, likely all modeled after her father.

But why did she find him?

He obviously didn't belong to this type of person...

Looking at the bones on the stone wall.

Qu Shui murmured very softly: "After Mom left, he drank every day, scolded me for being a freak, a jinx, and after drinking, he beat me with a belt, wanting to drown me in the bathtub... I don't blame him for any of these..."

"Because... he's all I have left."

The girl's hands wrapped around Gu Shen.

A bone-chilling coldness surged into his heart, Gu Shen's expression suddenly changed, and he was firmly fixed in place.

These hands were surprisingly strong, and they were slowly increasing their strength, as if his waist was about to be broken.

Breathing became extremely difficult.

The girl looked at the remains, her voice no longer resentful, but regaining a cheerful smile.

"Later, I finally understood... Lovers are destined to be separated, and the only way I can selfishly want him to be with me forever... is only one way."

Qu Shui stood on tiptoe and whispered in Gu Shen's ear, "We'll always be together, never to be separated again... how about it?"

"...Heh..."

The silence inside the cave lasted for three seconds before being broken.

Gu Shen smiled, breathing with difficulty as he uttered a few words.

"Wake up."

The girl's face was blank.

The next moment.

A ray of blazing silver light exploded in the dark cave!

The ruler burst out with a furious roar.

Two strands of silver light surged out, hitting the stone wall. At the moment they echoed back, they completely solidified, turning into two slender arrowheads, wrapped in a biting gale, directly nailing through the girl's skull next to Gu Shen's ear.

The arrowheads pierced in from her eyes and out through her skull.

The tremendous force that had been tightening around his waist was instantly scattered by the Truth Arrow's huge impact. Due to inertia, Gu Shen staggered forward, barely managing to support himself on the stone wall, finally taking a deep breath of relief.

"Aaaaah—"

Painful screams echoed between the stone walls.

Gu Shen had not turned around to see Qu Shui's true face all along in order to stabilize her and not startle her.

The Ruler of Truth would not be used unless it was guaranteed to kill with one strike.

Silver arrows pierced through her face, and even a close-combat transcendent who tempered their physical body would not be able to resist this kind of damage.

Gu Shen, leaning against the cave's stone wall, gasped for breath... but when he saw the scene in front of him, his pupils shrank and his expression instantly darkened.

The girl covered her face with her hands, and two silver arrows pierced through her entire face, but on that face, there were no facial features, only a distorted black silhouette.

"Qu Shui" knelt on the ground, writhing in pain like a small snake, gradually, the painful wails grew smaller and smaller... her figure fell prostrate, merged into the ground, and really turned into a small snake. The two condensed silver arrows also fell to the ground with a "clang", turning into silver fragments with a "buzz", falling apart.

The one he killed was not Qu Shui herself.

But a shadow.

With a "whoosh".

The little snake drilled out of the cave, disappearing without a trace in an instant.

But immediately afterwards, a voice filled with sadness, pain, and anger rang out outside the cave.

"Gu... Shen..."

The girl, holding scissors, blocked the only exit, her face covered in blood and tears, and she trembled as she spoke each word: "You... you've been lying to me all along?"