My Villain-Raising Plan - Chapter 3

I crouched and ran a hand over the boy’s battered face.

“Shen Zhuo, do you hate me?”

Shen Zhuo neither answered nor acknowledged me.

He closed his eyes in pain, making his reluctance to have anything to do with me quite clear.

I smiled, unbothered.

A bald man standing nearby promptly kicked him.

“Didn’t you hear the lady ask you a question? Are you mute?”

His name was Chen Sheng. He was a fugitive.

Shen Zhuo grunted under the kick.

Chen Sheng hauled his head back from behind, forcing him to look up at me.

Naturally, there was no warmth in his eyes.

I wasn’t offended. I told Chen Sheng to let go.

Then, with no concern for the watching crowd, I lifted the hem of my skirt, drew a sharp knife from the side of my thigh, spun the blade, and placed it in the boy’s hand.

An eerie silence descended on the dungeon.

Only my soft, amused voice remained.

“Know how to use it?”

The boy seemed rather stunned.

He was silent for two seconds before he finally spoke.

“No.”

“Then I’ll teach you.”

I leaned close to his ear and, in a voice only he could hear, carefully explained how to wield the knife to slit an opponent’s throat within three moves.

Shen Zhuo recoiled a little at my closeness.

But as my words sank in, his body grew stiffer and stiffer.

By the end, he couldn’t help lifting his head to look at me, his eyes full of conflicting emotions and hesitation.

I knew he’d understood.

Smiling, I straightened up. “There. Now you know.”

Without giving him a choice, I turned to Chen Sheng, who had distinguished himself by beating Shen Zhuo particularly hard.

“As you saw, I gave him a knife. Now I’ll give you a chance too.”

“I want a fight put on for me alone. Kill him, and I’ll have your criminal record wiped clean. You’ll be free.”

“Of course, I’ll also pay you at least as much as you’re hoping for.”

“Well? Interested?”

Most of the arena’s performers were fugitives with crimes to their names.

They sought shelter here. Their freedom was the price.

Chen Sheng couldn’t hide his delight.

He must have thought I was doing him a favor. He even drawled casually:

“How would you like him to die, miss?”

“Wouldn’t want it too ugly for your delicate eyes!”

His teasing mockery set the others snickering.

Only Shen Zhuo kept his dark eyes fixed heavily on me.

I met his gaze as steadily as before.

Of course I knew Chen Sheng was one of the men who had killed his birth mother.

Shen Zhuo’s current stepmother had hired men to murder her.

Chen Sheng was one of those men.

Yes, I was doing this on purpose.

When Shen Zhuo had first arrived at the arena, Chen Sheng had told him all about it as though it were a joke.

He wasn’t remotely afraid of Shen Zhuo holding a grudge.

To fugitives like them, a contract killing was both an achievement and a source of pride.

Besides, Shen Zhuo was only a boy. Not yet strong enough to stand on his own.

His arms weren’t even as thick as Chen Sheng’s thighs. Dreaming of killing him was pure fantasy.

So Chen Sheng didn’t take Shen Zhuo seriously at all.

To show off for me, he toyed with the boy as though teasing a stray dog.

Shen Zhuo’s desperate stumbling drew roars of laughter.

Several times, he almost lost the knife in his hand.

Meanwhile, the system seemed determined to pour five thousand years of educational wisdom into my head.

I kept my arm propped up, entirely unmoved.

Until, with the fight dragging on, Chen Sheng tired of his game. He sneered and kicked Shen Zhuo again.

Unable to withstand the blow, the boy fell to the floor and curled up, clutching his broken ribs and groaning in pain.

Chen Sheng laughed wildly.

“Look at you. Just like your pretty mother before she died. Makes a man want to cherish you!”

“Hahahaha! I’ve got to say, that woman tasted so fucking—”

“Aagh!”

He hadn’t expected the boy’s eyes to snap open.

Shen Zhuo gripped the dagger so hard the veins stood out on his hand.

Just before raising it, he even flicked an unreadable glance at me.

I raised an eyebrow and smiled, rubbing the calluses on my fingertips.

Naturally, the outcome of the fight came as no surprise.

It was every bit as spectacular as I’d imagined.