On a commercial street, in a remote alley.

A small figure in a ragged cloak looked somewhat desperate at the thick wall in front of her. Unintentionally, she had walked into a dead-end alley.

"Why is this happening... There used to be a way here," she muttered.

The girl's pretty face showed an anxious expression as she looked both ways, realizing there was no way out.

"Hehe, where do you think you can run, little thief?"

"Nowhere to go, huh? You've got quite some guts to steal from our gang," several burly men said coldly as they blocked the entrance, their faces full of pleasure as they looked at the girl cornered against the wall.

"This commercial street is our gang's territory, we've been around here countless times. Do you really think you can lose us by running randomly?" One of the strong men crossed his arms, looking at the girl who was casting a resentful gaze, and licked his lips.

"Enough talking, let's just catch her and finish the job. I want to get back to drinking," said a weaker-looking man.

"Before we drink, don't you guys want to have some fun with her? Although she is a little demon girl, she looks quite cute and lively. I really want to see her begging for mercy under me," the strong man said with a lustful grin.

The girl's hood had fallen off during her run, revealing her silky silver hair. Her delicate and beautiful face was smeared with soot, but the burly men who had been around women for years could still see how lovely and pretty she was. Even her fair and tender arms were a testament to her soft, white skin.

"Boss, now that you mention it, I've never played with a demon girl before," the skinny man suddenly said with bright eyes.

"I wonder what the difference would be compared to other women," he said, also eyeing the girl with a heated gaze.

The girl, listening to their shameless, crude words, felt humiliated and angry. She pulled out a dagger from her embrace.

"Hahaha... Is this little thief trying to be funny? Pulling out a little dagger to resist us?" The skinny man laughed as he covered his stomach, and the others joined in exaggerated laughter.

"She probably doesn't know who she's messed with," the strong man laughed as well, his eyes growing even hotter. "But I like my girls feisty. I hope she can hold out a bit longer before being broken, because I plan to sell her to a brothel later."

With that, the strong man suddenly stomped the ground and shot towards the girl like an arrow, his hand wide open and directly reaching for her.

His explosive speed and movement were incredible. The girl barely saw him coming as he quickly closed in. If it wasn't for the busy crowds she maneuvered through earlier, she would have been caught long ago.

Taken aback by his sudden burst of speed, the girl reflexively stabbed her dagger towards the strong man's abdomen. He smirked and released a flash of light from his hand, not dodging or avoiding as he grabbed directly at the girl's dagger.

The girl's hand felt a sharp pain, and the next moment her dagger was snatched away. As she tried to move back, a powerful kick landed on her stomach, flinging her backwards.

"Cough, cough..." she choked.

The blow to her stomach caused tears to well up in her eyes. Clutching her belly and curling up on the ground, she couldn't get up for a moment.

The strong man sneered as he crushed the dagger in his hand and tossed it away with a crisp sound.

"With such a poor quality knife, did you really think you could hurt me? You demon girl, this is not the time when demons ruled the world. The energy cultivated by humans is far more powerful than you can imagine. But don't worry, I didn't put too much force in that kick, you'll be fine. After all, I'll need to treat you well later on. If I'd broken you, I would have been heartbroken," the strong man said, his eyes greedy as he looked at the girl struggling on the ground.The girl's burgundy eyes filled with tears, not knowing if it was because of pain or fear. The tears streamed down her face, washing away the soot stains, revealing a fair-skinned cheek, which left the burly man with a dry mouth.

"I will give you money; can you let me go?" The girl forced herself not to cry and struggled to get up from the ground, but she immediately fell back down due to weakness, fearfully staring at the approaching brute.

Her hands subconsciously protected her chest, for she had gathered from the brute's conversation what could happen if caught by them.

"Give us money?" The burly man couldn't help but laugh. "How much could you give us?"

The girl clenched her teeth and took out a white gold coin card from her bosom. It was the same card she had stolen from Loren earlier: "I have five thousand gold coins; that should be enough compensation for you. I will also return the stolen goods, as long as you let me go."

The burly man saw the girl's 5,000 gold coin card, snatched it, and his face lit up with a hint of surprise. Then he looked at her playfully, "What else do you have? Take them all out; if I am in a good mood, I might let you go."

"Didn't I just give you a gold coin card?" The girl looked at the brute, somewhat angrily.

"One gold coin card is not enough to buy your life, and for someone like you, if I sell you to a brothel, I could earn even more," the brute said coldly.

The girl showed a humiliated expression, biting her teeth and tears streaming from her eyes.

I don't want to kill anymore…

This thought flashed through her mind.

However, the brute was grinning without realizing his predicament. He revealed his white teeth and looked at the girl on the ground as if she was his prey: "Moreover, little girl, you willingly gave me the gold coin card; I didn't promise you anything."

The brute reached out to touch the girl's chin, but she turned her head to dodge it.

The burly man's face darkened: "Little bitch, are you not going to cooperate? Don't blame me for being merciless later."

The girl covered her ears, lowered her head, and tears kept falling to the ground. Her body curled up and trembled slightly.

No one noticed the blood-red light spreading in her burgundy eyes.

"Please don't…" she said with a trembling voice.

"It's not up to you," the brute said while showing a disgusting lewd smile, leaning towards the girl.

Just as the blood color in the girl's eyes was about to completely replace the burgundy,

"Ah, did I go to the wrong place?"

"Strange, it seems like I went to a dead end."

A surprised voice came from behind the alley, followed by a teenager who walked over.

Afterward, the teenager met with several gloomy-faced thugs.

When the boy saw several thugs surrounding a helpless girl sitting on the ground, he seemed somewhat surprised, as if realizing he had bumped into a significant affair.

"Who the hell are you…" The thugs initially wanted to bite back when they saw Loren. But when they noticed the Varoran Academy uniform he wore, their eyes narrowed, and they swallowed their words, yet coldness lingered in their eyes.

"You're a student of Varoran Academy. What are you doing in a place like this?"

The brute that stood up from the girl's side stared at Loren for a while before asking coldly.

On the other hand, the girl who had her head down looked up in surprise when she heard the commotion. Her eyes met the black-haired boy outside and showed a slightly timid expression. This was her third time seeing Loren. She remembered she had stolen a 5,000 gold coin card from him, but she had no choice if she wanted to survive."Would you believe me if I said I'm lost?"

The black-haired youth who had come here was Loren, who showed a somewhat innocent expression and said so.

"Kid, are you messing with us? How could someone who is lost end up in a place like this?"

The muscular man said with a dark face, but in his heart, he was somewhat cautious. At such a moment, a student from Varoran Academy suddenly came over, and he couldn't help but be on guard. However, he couldn't figure out why the demon girl would have anything to do with the people of Varoran.

"Um...it seems that you guys are not too stupid... Alright, since your intelligence is normal, I won't talk nonsense anymore. Actually, I came here to catch a thief." Loren looked at the angry faces of those men, and changed his statement: "Just now on the main street, an careless guy stole a gold coin card from me. I tracked the magic mark on the card all the way here."

"Gold coin card?"

The muscular man was shocked and couldn't help but think of the 5,000-credit gold coin card he had just snatched from the girl in his arms.

5,000 gold coins, that was a large sum of money, enough for him to play with the highest level of women in the largest brothel in the imperial capital. The muscular man naturally did not want the fat meat in hand to slip away easily.

So, he looked at Loren expressionlessly and said, "Gold coin card? What gold coin card? Kid, if you still want to fool us, even if you're from Varoran Academy, we'll have to teach you a lesson."

As he said this, the muscular man secretly gestured to his companions.

...