# 8
**Chapter 8: His Eyes**
Jiang Qian was dead.
Lin Qiye had witnessed her death in full.
The monster descended from the sky, slicing through her neck with its nails as easily as cutting tofu, then devoured her with manic joy.
Even in her final moments, Jiang Qian’s eyes were locked onto Lin Qiye, filled with terror and resentment.
Lin Qiye’s mind registered every detail with unbearable clarity. His stomach churned, and he nearly vomited.
Though hardship had hardened him beyond his years, this was the first time he’d seen such gore.
And now was not the time to throw up.
Without hesitation, while the monster feasted on Jiang Qian’s corpse, Lin Qiye spun around and sprinted toward the other end of the alley—the direction where Wang Shao had died.
The monster seemed more interested in the body than in chasing him, giving Lin Qiye a sliver of relief.
He didn’t know what the creature was, but it clearly wasn’t human. Nor did it match any known beast.
If someone told him it was a radiation-mutated ape, he might’ve believed it. Its size, strength, speed—none were within human limits.
But only *might*.
In this fog-shrouded world, having seen the Seraphim with his own eyes, he no longer believed science was the sole truth.
He believed in the *mysterious*.
And somehow… he felt he’d heard of such monsters before.
Lost in thought, something else entered his mental perception. Lin Qiye slammed to a stop.
His breathing grew ragged.
Ten meters ahead, the monster appeared again. He was certain—it wasn’t the same one.
Same ugliness, but not identical.
The clearest proof: this one cradled Wang Shao’s corpse, still chewing.
Wang Shao’s face was gone, only a red pulp remaining. Without the distinctive clothes, Lin Qiye wouldn’t have recognized him.
A second monster.
The one that killed Wang Shao.
Earlier, with Jiang Qian and the others, he hadn’t seen this far. He’d assumed only one existed. He’d been wrong.
The first monster had preferred the corpse to chasing him—otherwise he’d never have escaped.
Yet right after Wang Shao died, a monster had hunted them.
Which meant… another had already been feeding on Wang Shao.
One alley. Two monsters. All exits sealed.
Lin Qiye’s face drained of color. Despair—an old, familiar guest—returned.
In seventeen years, only twice had he truly despaired.
Once, ten years ago, when he saw the eyes on the moon.
And now.
The monster tossed Wang Shao’s body aside like trash and turned to Lin Qiye, scarlet tongue licking blood from its lips.
Lin Qiye wanted to scream.
*Why the hell is it always me?!*
Climb a roof as a kid—see the Seraphim, go blind, fall off, get locked in a psych ward for a year.
Finally about to turn it around—study, take the college entrance exam, start a new life—and I run into *you* ugly bastards?
Most people never see one. I get *two*?
Ridiculous!
Under death’s weight, years of buried rage erupted like a volcano.
Fear shrank before the blaze. A wild, reckless courage surged.
He gripped his Guide Cane, chest heaving, facing the poised monster.
Before him stood not just a man-eater, but every injustice of the past decade.
Even his aunt and A Jin didn’t know the fury smoldering inside this repressed boy.
He refused to accept this!
Unnoticed, beneath the storm of emotion, his tightly shut eyes trembled—about to open.
“Screee—!”
The monster, eyeing tender Lin Qiye like a thug spotting a beauty, shrieked and pounced.
“Damn it, I’m not afraid of you!” Lin Qiye roared, charging with the Guide Cane!
Distance vanished!
As claws neared his throat, he jerked aside—barely evading!
His mind tracked the monster perfectly, but his body lagged. A claw grazed his temple, drawing blood.
The black ribbon snapped, whisked away by the wind.
Eyes still closed, Lin Qiye seized the moment, yelling as he drove the Guide Cane into the monster’s gut!
*Crack!*
The cane snapped. A tail whipped him aside.
He rolled across the ground, biting back pain. His mind sensed the Guide Cane in two pieces.
A tool for the blind—fragile. Useless against such hide.
“Shit!”
He hurled the broken half away.
The snapped cane detonated what remained of his control. Standing there, fists clenched so tight nails drew blood.
“I won’t accept this!!” he bellowed.
In that instant, a strange feeling rose—like spring rain softening earth, a cool stream flowing to a blocked place in his mind, brushing lightly…
The paper-thin barrier tore open!
A sun exploded inside him. Unearthly heat flooded every vein. Shut eyes burned beneath the lids.
And so, naturally—
He opened the eyes that had stayed closed for ten years.
The last thing those eyes saw: another pair of eyes.
The Seraphim’s eyes.
A blazing pillar of light erupted from the alley’s edge, piercing the sky!
Night turned to day.