Chapter 35: This Wasn’t in the Script

The air backstage was stuffy, thick with the musty scent of cheap costumes and the varying fragrances of the young girls.

These three scents twisted together, becoming a death knell for Lynn.

“Brother, that performance just now was truly wonderful.”

Lilith’s voice was cloyingly sweet, yet the hand gripping his arm felt like an iron shackle.

“Now that the play is over… isn’t it time we talked about some serious business?”

Alicia and Vivian stood to his left and right, blocking all paths of retreat.

The smiles on their faces were more scorching than the spotlights on stage.

Lynn’s mind went blank.

‘Serious business? What serious business? Are we discussing the fairest way to cut me into pieces, or researching which chains would be the sturdiest to tie me up with?’

His **[Danger Perception System]** had never been this quiet.

“No alarms, no values. Total silence.”

This terrified him more than a **[Blackening Value]** of 99%.

It meant that in their eyes, he was already caught, and there was no longer any “danger” left to perceive.

“I don’t think there’s much to talk about,” Lynn said with a dry laugh, attempting to shuffle away.

“The Academy Festival isn’t over yet. I still wanted to go see other — “

“Where is Brother going?”

Lilith tilted her head, asking innocently.

“Do you want to go find that ‘tree’?”

Cold sweat poured down Lynn’s face.

*Whoosh.*

He felt that if he dared to nod, the poor soul who played the tree would literally become one tomorrow, planted in the Academy garden.

“No, no, no. I’m just wandering around to improve my relationships with my classmates.”

“Improve relationships?”

Vivian snorted coldly, her hand resting on her sword hilt.

“You only need to improve your relationship with one person.”

Alicia added with a smile, “That’s right. God only allows you to have a single pure bond. Everything else is just filth that needs Purification.”

It was over. They were back at this again. Lynn felt like a rabbit surrounded by three hungry wolves.

Just then.

“Ah — !”

A shrill scream rang out — not from them, but from the other side of the curtain, coming from the stage! That heart-wrenching sound was filled with terror and pain.

Immediately after, a massive commotion erupted in the audience.

The sounds of screams and chairs toppling over blended together like boiling water.

Before Lynn could react, a dark shadow flew backward through a gap in the curtain like a ghost! *Thud.*

It slammed heavily onto the ground in front of them.

It was the Student Director.

A pitch-black dagger was plunged into his chest, and blood gushed from the wound, staining the script in front of him.

His eyes were wide as he pointed toward the stage, his mouth hanging open without a single word coming out.

After a couple of twitches, he went still.

The scent of blood filled the air instantly.

The students backstage, who were still removing makeup and packing props, were all stunned.

One girl stared at the corpse for 3 seconds before letting out an ear-piercing shriek.

The entire backstage exploded into chaos.

“MURDER!”

“ASSASSINS!”

Screaming, crying, and running.

Countless figures rushed past Lynn in a panic, desperate to escape.

But Lynn couldn’t move.

He looked at the corpse on the floor and the still-vibrating dagger, his blood running cold.

This wasn’t a play.

This was real.

**[Warning! Lethal threat detected!]**

**[Source: Unknown]**

**[Threat Level: Extremely Lethal!]**

**[Target Locked: Alicia Clemens!]**

A blood-red alarm flashed frantically before his eyes.

Lynn snapped his head up and looked at Alicia.

A dark shadow had already appeared silently behind her! The person was wearing the same clothes as the backstage staff and a generic mask.

Holding a black dagger identical to the one in the director’s chest, they stabbed viciously toward the center of Alicia’s back!

“Fast! It was too fast!”

Less than 2 seconds had passed from the moment the director collapsed to the appearance of the assassin! Vivian and Lilith were still distracted by the corpse on the ground.

Only Lynn, through his system vision, could see the dagger’s trajectory clearly marked by a lethal red line!

There was no time to think! Relying on pure instinct, Lynn shoved Alicia aside!

“Look out!”

*Squelch!*

The sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed.

Alicia stumbled and fell to the ground.

Startled, she looked back, only to see a flower of blood blooming on Lynn’s chest.

“No, wait.”

Lynn looked down.

The dagger hadn’t hit him.

The moment he pushed Alicia away, Lilith had moved.

No one saw how she moved. It was as if she had teleported between Lynn and the assassin.

The dagger that should have hit Alicia — or accidentally struck Lynn — was now buried in her arm.

She had used her own limb to block the blade!

Blood flowed down her pale arm, dripping onto the floor.

Yet, there wasn’t a hint of pain on Lilith’s face.

She was even smiling.

“It’s gotten dirty,” she said softly, her tone carrying a hint of childlike complaint as she looked at the wound.

Then, she looked up, her ink-black pupils fixed on the masked assassin.

Her smile vanished.

“You dared to hurt the person Brother wanted to protect, and you even soiled my body. How should you die?”

The assassin clearly hadn’t expected someone to jump in the way.

He stared at Lilith, a flash of bewilderment in his eyes before they turned ruthless.

He pulled out the dagger to attack again!

*Clang!*

The sound of clashing metal rang out.

Vivian had already unsheathed her Knight’s Longsword, perfectly parrying the assassin’s blade.

“Scum! How dare you commit such an act in the Royal Capital!” she roared.

Straining her wrist, she twisted the blade, intending to lop off the assassin’s arm.

The assassin reacted quickly.

Realizing the attack had failed, he retreated immediately.

He was as agile as an inhuman creature, putting distance between himself and Vivian in just a few movements.

Vivian stood protectively in front of the group, sword held horizontally, her eyes cold as she glared at the assassin.

The chaos backstage continued.

Lynn helped the fallen Alicia up.

Her face was deathly pale, clearly not yet recovered from the shock.

“Are you okay?”

Lynn asked urgently.

Alicia shook her head, but her gaze went past Lynn, staring fixedly at Lilith’s bleeding arm with a complex expression.

“Brother, it hurts so much.”

Lilith walked over to Lynn and held up her injured arm.

Her voice was full of grievance, and tears even began to well in her eyes.

Lynn looked at the wound that was deep enough to see bone, and his heart twinged.

He tore a piece of his costume, frantically trying to bandage her.

“Don’t move! There’s poison on the dagger!” Alicia suddenly shouted.

She pointed at Lilith’s wound.

The skin surrounding it had already begun to turn an ominous blackish-purple.

Lynn’s heart sank.

“HOLY LIGHT, PURIFY THIS EVIL!”

Alicia reached out, a sphere of soft white light glowing in her palm.