The Red-robed BOSS Says I Killed Him - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Run!”

“Don’t look back!”

“The Red-robed Judge is out!”

Screams layered upon screams, making the entire corridor vibrate.

I had just been kicked into the Instance by the System, my knees still smarting from hitting the floor tiles, when I saw a crowd of people charging forward like they’d lost their minds.

The overhead fluorescent lights flickered rapidly, looking as if they were about to explode.

The air was thick with the smell of disinfectant, mixed with a faint, sweet hint of grapes.

The scent was subtle.

Yet for some reason, the moment I caught a whiff of it, my heart suddenly constricted.

“Newbie, don’t just stand there!”

Someone reached out to grab me.

I was about to run with them when a sharp pain, like a needle being driven into my brain, made my vision go dark.

My footing faltered, and I somehow stumbled out of the crowd, crashing straight toward the end of the hallway.

“Shit, she’s crazy!”

“Come back!”

I wanted to go back too.

But my body wouldn’t listen to me at all.

The next second, I slammed into someone’s arms.

It was cold.

And very steady.

One hand gripped my lower back while the other pinched my chin, forcing me to look up.

The entire corridor fell silent instantly.

It was so quiet that only the sound of breathing remained.

I finally saw his face clearly.

The man wore dark red robes, his collar buttoned tight. His features were as cold as glass in the depths of winter.

Yet, the corners of his eyes were tinged with a touch of red, as if he had endured many, many years-as if he had been waiting for far too long.

“The Red-robed Judge…” someone whispered from behind, trembling.

He ignored them.

He simply stared at me, his fingers sliding slowly from my chin to the side of my neck, as if he were identifying something.

After a moment, he suddenly smiled.

It was a very soft laugh.

“You have my scent on you.”

My entire body froze.

“This is my first time in an Instance.”

“No.”

He pulled me slightly closer, his voice dropping low.

“You’ve been here before.”

I tried to pull away.

His grip wasn’t forceful, yet I couldn’t budge an inch.

“You have the wrong person.”

He stared at me, his gaze suddenly darkening.

“Luo Tinglan.”

“That’s what you said the first time you met me, too.”

My breath hitched.

How did he know my name?

I hadn’t told anyone.

The people behind us were too terrified to even breathe.

Someone called out tentatively, “Lord Judge, she’s a newbie. She doesn’t know anything. If you want to judge someone, judge us…”

The man finally flicked his eyes toward them.

“You’ll take her place?”

The person’s face turned pale, and they swallowed the rest of their sentence.

I could hear my heart thumping heavily.

“Who exactly are you?”

He looked at me and said softly, “Li Shuheng.”

“You don’t remember.”

“But I do.”

He pressed a black keycard into my hand.

The surface was engraved with a silver number: 0719.

The moment my fingertips touched it, a flash of imagery flickered through my mind.

A hospital room, blindingly white.

A youth was pinned to a hospital bed by restraints, his head turned to stare at me, his lips bitten until they bled.

In a raspy voice, he said, “Don’t come near me.”

And in my hand, I was holding a bunch of washed grapes.

The vision lasted only a second.

But the ache in my chest felt as though I had truly lived through it.

“You-”

Before I could finish, the intercom crackled to life.

“Judgment countdown beginning.”

“Ten.”

“Nine.”

Everyone in the corridor turned pale.

Li Shuheng acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing, pulling me toward him.

“She’s coming with me.”

“By what right?”

A man with a buzz cut gritted his teeth and stepped forward.

Li Shuheng gave him a cool look.

“Then come and take her.”

The buzz-cut man’s hands were shaking, yet he actually took half a step forward.

Before I could react, Li Shuheng raised his hand.

A thin blade whistled past the man’s ear and embedded itself directly into the wall.

The color drained from the buzz-cut man’s face instantly.

“The next one won’t miss.”

Having said that, Li Shuheng grabbed me and turned to leave.

The door slammed shut behind us.

The nameplate on the door bore three weathered words:

Dean’s Office.