Night was falling.
It was as if someone had pressed the pause button on Xinghai City.
The entire city had fallen silent.
Lin Yi walked alone down the street.
His eyes scanned his surroundings.
In the dim corners, he could see homeless people curled up, asleep.
Elderly Scavengers clutched tools and bags in their hands.
They were rummaging through the trash cans one by one.
At times, a cluster of cars would roar past.
At others, not a single vehicle would appear for a long time.
Lin Yi had come here based on the mission intel, which listed several locations the Dog Demon frequented.
This Dog Demon was audacious.
It specifically liked to hunt for its next prey in lively, bustling areas.
Conversely, it avoided sparsely populated, rundown places like the Old Town District.
It had never once been there.
'This Dog Demon is an absolute pervert,' Lin Yi thought, recalling the brief description from the files. 'Its desires are incredibly strong. Every one of its victims was a young woman, and all of them showed signs of sexual assault...'
'To find that Dog Demon, I need to go where young women gather most.'
'That's probably the best place for it to find prey.'
The only problem was, how many entertainment venues were there in Xinghai City?
Lin Yi himself had no idea. He was just a high school senior.
He had never been to places like nightclubs, KTVs, or bars.
If you asked him to name a few, he probably couldn't come up with a single one.
He would just have to rely on luck...
Having made his decision, Lin Yi quickened his pace and walked forward.
Suddenly, a figure emerged from an alley up ahead.
The person was wearing a raincoat and a hat.
Their head was bowed, their face obscured by the darkness, making it impossible to see their features.
Seeing the person's attire, Lin Yi found it a bit strange.
'It's a bit overcast tonight, with no moon or stars,' he thought.
'But that's no reason to be walking down the street in a raincoat, is it?'
It just gave off a very strange feeling...
Lin Yi subconsciously glanced at him a few more times.
As a result, two talent traits had appeared above the person's head.
[Brutality: Possesses severe violent tendencies. Combat effectiveness increases when angered.]
[Hunter: A term for a type of predator. They often appear at night, killing for sport and enjoying the process of the hunt...]
When Lin Yi saw these two talent traits,
he froze for a second.
Just as he was passing the strange person in the raincoat,
Lin Yi caught a faint scent of blood on them.
'Hunter...'
'Brutality.'
A jolt of alarm shot through Lin Yi, and he quickly turned to look back at the man in the raincoat.
He shouldn't have looked back.
The moment he did, he saw that the person had already turned around.
It was facing him, its face covered in long, black fur.
Its crimson eyes glowed with a bloodthirsty red light.
It wore a chilling grin, revealing a pair of fangs.
'A demon...'
Lin Yi was terrified.
He hurriedly took a step back.
That's right, the figure in the raincoat before him was a demon.
It just hadn't completed its evolution yet; its face and body were covered in long, black fur.
The moment Lin Yi let out a gasp,
the demon across from him let out a roar.
It pounced at Lin Yi with extreme speed.
In mid-air, a pair of sharp claws swiped down at Lin Yi's head.
Those hard, sharp nails would undoubtedly pierce right through his skull.
Lin Yi instinctively dodged to the side.
The demon's claws slashed past his eyes.
He had narrowly escaped disaster, but before Lin Yi could even catch his breath,
the demon attacked him again.
Its movements were incredibly agile—fluid and without a single wasted motion.
Attack after attack left Lin Yi struggling to keep up.
Lacking experience and being completely unprepared,
he looked utterly wretched after several consecutive dodges.
RRIIIP—
With a soft tearing sound, the claws ripped right through Lin Yi's tracksuit.
Tearing away a bit of flesh along with it.
Blood began to flow instantly.
Spurred on by the scent of blood, the demon grew even more frenzied.
It stuck out its scarlet tongue and licked its chapped lips.
Its eyes were fixed on Lin Yi's wound.
It looked like it couldn't wait to pounce and enjoy its late-night snack...
But in that brief pause, Lin Yi composed himself.
He quickly pulled out a retractable baton.
He had bought it outside his school back in his first year of high school.
At the time, he was just curious and simply liked it.
Who would have thought that today he'd actually be bringing it out as a weapon to hunt a demon?
SHIIING—
The baton extended.
Lin Yi stared at the demon before him and took a deep breath.
Even now, he couldn't tell what kind of demon this was.
But judging by its agile Body Technique and its methods of attack,
it was most likely a Cat Demon.
Especially since its crimson eyes had vertical pupils...
"AWOO..."
The next moment, the Cat Demon retracted its greedy gaze.
It let out another roar and lunged straight for Lin Yi.
BAM—
Just as the Cat Demon leaped into the air,
Lin Yi saw his chance and smashed the baton down hard on its head.
The blow made the Cat Demon see stars.
It crashed heavily to the ground, dazed for a long moment.
It seemed it had never imagined that its prey would dare to fight back instead of running away.
This was different from the 'prey' it had encountered before.
Every target it had ever cornered had chosen to flee at the first opportunity.
And that was when its hunt would truly begin...
'Why isn't this 'prey' running?'
While it was hesitating, Lin Yi charged forward, baton in hand.
He swung the baton viciously at the Cat Demon once more.
But this time, the Cat Demon was prepared. Its nimble body leaped backward.
Just as the baton was about to land,
the Cat Demon had already jumped away.
"Hm?"
Seeing his swing miss, Lin Yi quickly looked up at the Cat Demon.
He grew a little more cautious.
'If this demon really is a Cat Demon,' he thought,
'then dealing with it will be more difficult.'
Cat Demons are naturally very agile and are kings of leaping.
With its nimble positioning and agile Body Technique,
killing it would not be so easy.
However, after their brief exchange, Lin Yi realized the Cat Demon's intelligence wasn't very high.
This meant its realm was definitely not at the Star-rank.
At best, it was about the same level as Lin Yi.
Only at the 3rd or 4th Tier.
Being evenly matched, Lin Yi's confidence gradually grew.
'I didn't find the Dog Demon today,' he thought.
'But using a Cat Demon to get some combat experience isn't a bad alternative.'
Lin Yi stared at the Cat Demon.
The next moment, he charged at the Cat Demon again, baton in hand.