You’d Better Be Able to Actually Kill Me

"Big Brother, why do we all have to wear masks? This mask doesn't even cover everything."

"Let me ask you this first. Why does Batman's mask only cover half his face, leaving his chin exposed?"

"Because it looks cool?"

"No. It's so the police can tell he's a white man."

Listening to Wu Wang and Xiaoxiao's bizarre conversation, Bei Lang's expression darkened.

This guy was a terrible influence on a child!

The fourth night's ball had gone smoothly. Lured by a lollipop, Xiaoxiao danced with Bei Lang, though it looked more like a father twirling his daughter in circles. At least it satisfied the cruise ship's rules.

Number Five chose Wu Wang again.

Today was the final night. The Fifth Night's Ball would decide everything.

A trace of tension and unease rose in everyone's heart, everyone except Wu Wang.

The feeling was especially strong for Bei Lang. He clutched the 【Unforgettable Memo】 tightly, his mind fixed on the fact that the Black Cat lady was still among them. She had plotted against the three of them, making it obvious she wasn't on their side.

And now, she was nowhere to be found.

All day, Bei Lang had focused on two things. He coaxed Xiaoxiao and searched for the Black Cat.

He had a feeling she would definitely cause trouble.

"I have to go to the bathroom!" Xiaoxiao suddenly announced.

"Let big sister take you," Number Five said, taking the girl's hand and leading her toward the restroom.

Wu Wang walked over to Bei Lang.

"Still thinking about that Black Cat?" he asked with a smile.

"Yeah," Bei Lang admitted. "She won't let us win this easily."

Faced with Bei Lang's anxiety, Wu Wang just shrugged and clapped him on the shoulder.

His tone was firm. "I said we'll win, so we'll win."

He leaned in closer.

"When they come out, no matter where you two go, make sure you stay within the attendants' line of sight. Understood?"

Bei Lang looked at Decade, puzzled. He didn't understand what the man was planning.

The next second, Wu Wang stood up, opened the room door, and walked out.

Click.

He closed the door behind him, leaving Bei Lang staring in astonishment.

Bei Lang quickly turned to one of the nearby attendants.

"Did he make any requests to you earlier?"

"Yes," the attendant replied. "That gentleman asked the three of us to protect the two of you in this room."

There were three players, and they had a total of three attendants. Now, all of them had stayed behind.

Wu Wang's departure could only mean one thing. He was actively giving the Black Cat lady a chance to make her move.

The memo had made it clear. The Black Cat was no fool.

Faced with a target protected by three attendants versus Decade wandering around by himself… she knew exactly who to target.

"Come on, man! You could've at least discussed the plan with us first!" Bei Lang roared in anguish.

He felt like he'd seen this scene somewhere before. Why did Decade always have to do something so outrageous? Couldn't he just stay under protection with them and wait for the ball to start?

"He can't. When the ball starts, all the attendants will leave the guests."

Number Five's voice came from behind him. She and Xiaoxiao had returned from the restroom.

"You… you mean…"

Bei Lang's pupils constricted. The Black Cat's best opportunity to strike… was the moment right before the ball began.

With no attendants around, killing him or Decade would be difficult. But killing Xiaoxiao, whose mind was currently that of a child, would be painfully easy.

The moment Xiaoxiao died, their side would lose.

But there was still one problem. Decade's dance partner was Number Five, and she wouldn't leave like the other attendants. With her protection, Wu Wang should have been the safest one!

Why would he take such a huge risk now?

"He's doing this to… protect us?"

The realization struck Bei Lang. This was the only reason. He was eliminating any possibility of the Black Cat attacking Xiaoxiao.

The woman must have been racking her brain, trying to figure out how to kill Decade even with Number Five present. Now, he had just handed her the perfect opportunity.

If she didn't make a move now, she'd have even less of a chance later. Until the ball began, he and Xiaoxiao would be completely safe.

Wu Wang was using himself as bait.

"Don't worry, the master will win," Number Five comforted him softly. "He said he only makes bets he's sure to win."

She added, "He'll definitely be back for the ball tonight."

I hope so, Bei Lang thought. That was all he could do.

Meanwhile, Wu Wang sat alone in the empty basketball stadium.

He'd traded the prized vintage wine he won at the Starry Bar to a staff member, a man who loved wine as much as life itself, for three hours of private access.

The vast, empty space seemed desolate and bleak.

But Wu Wang was unhurried. He looked up at the rafters and shouted, "I'll only be here for three hours! Once the time is up, I'm going back to find them!"

His voice echoed in the silence.

"I suggest you come kill me as soon as possible!"

A conspiracy that can be seen through isn't frightening. An open conspiracy is what's truly terrifying.

A regular plot can be avoided. An open one is impossible to evade.

I know you're coming to kill me. So I've prepared a venue for us to have an open, honorable fight to the death.

You know an assassination shouldn't be so brazen. But you have no choice.

Miss this opportunity, and you won't get another.

Whoosh!

A sharp weapon fell silently from directly above Wu Wang's head. Just as it was about to pierce his skull, he shifted forward.

Thud.

A small knife landed point-down, embedding itself in the wooden floor where he had been sitting.

Without even turning, he reached back, plucked the knife from the floor, and glanced up. An entire lighting truss was swaying precariously, about to crash down on him.

Faced with the massive falling object, he merely stood and took three and a half steps back and to his right.

CRASH!

The truss slammed down right where he had been sitting. The other end swung down, smashing into the floor right beside him but missing him completely. It only grazed the corner of his clothes.

It was as if he had predicted its exact landing spot and even the direction of its secondary impact.

"Yo-ho, what a commotion!"

Large bags of dust, placed on the truss beforehand, burst on impact. The crash kicked up a thick cloud, obscuring Wu Wang's vision.

The next second, a dark figure dropped from above.

From her high vantage point, she could clearly see Wu Wang's position. He, on the other hand, hadn't noticed her hiding spot where the truss had been.

This strike would surely hit.

Puchi.

The sound of a blade entering flesh was extremely faint. A normal person wouldn't have heard it at all.

But to the Black Cat lady, it was deafening. Pain instantly flooded her body.

"You… Who in the world are you?"

The dust began to settle. In the open space, it only obscured their vision for a few seconds.

When it cleared, the sight was bizarre. Decade was bent backward in a logic-defying arch, having stabbed the dagger viciously into the Black Cat lady's abdomen from an impossible angle.

His flexibility alone was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

The Black Cat stared in disbelief. She had never imagined a player, stripped of all equipment and items, could possess such terrifying reflexes and motor skills.

Did this mean that even before becoming a Spirit Calamity Player, this man's physical abilities surpassed those of most professional boxers?

"Me? Just a passing-by Kamen Rider," Wu Wang said.

He straightened up, looking curious.

"You, on the other hand. Why are your physical functions so strong?"

He genuinely hadn't expected her to attack from above. The stadium ceiling was far too high for a normal person to survive the fall.

The Black Cat didn't answer. Her current abnormal abilities were the effect of a rule-violating item. The longer she used it, the greater the backlash would be when the forty-eight hours were up. It was an overdraft on her life.

In a fight where neither side could use items, superior physical ability should have decided the outcome. She just hadn't expected his to be so monstrous.

She had used a special method. But what about him? Was his natural talent for combat just this powerful? It seemed everything had been within his predictions from the very beginning.

"Too amateurish," Wu Wang said mockingly. "It seems you're not very familiar with assassination. If it were me, I would have poured gasoline from above."

He gestured vaguely.

"When facing an opponent in a leather suit, all you need is a little gasoline. Then you can just charge in with a torch. The time it takes him to get the suit off would be more than enough to kill him."

He shook his head.

"If you're not prepared to die, how can you have the nerve to kill someone?"

In truth, if it were him, he would have just blown up the entire stadium. At the very least, he would have found a nail gun and riddled her head with nails. Close-quarters combat was the least efficient method.

"Heh heh… you're right. I'm not very familiar with assassination," the Black Cat lady said with a pained smile. "But you're still going to lose to me."

With that, she bent down and picked up the small knife from where it had fallen after wounding her. She pointed the hilt at Wu Wang.

"Did you ever consider that I might use poison?" she said sarcastically. "Or did it not occur to you that the poison was on the hilt, not the blade?"

Only then did Wu Wang notice.

There were several tiny, almost invisible needles on the hilt, which he hadn't felt through his suit. But when he had gripped it to counter-attack in the dust, those needles had pierced the material covering his hand.

He looked down. Sure enough, there were several tiny wounds on his palm.

The knife was a trap she had intended for him to pick up.

"Brilliant," Wu Wang admitted. "I didn't expect that while your overall strategy is garbage, your handling of the details isn't bad."

He smirked.

"You'd better be able to actually kill me…"

As the words left his mouth, he began to feel dizzy. The world started to swim. The poison this woman used was potent.

Thud.

In just a few seconds, he collapsed to the ground and stopped breathing.

The Black Cat lady let out a long sigh of relief. That was the last of the poison she had. It was a special concoction, a blend of an item and a real-world poison capable of devouring a person's life force just seconds after entering their body.

She didn't keep it in her backpack but carried it on her person. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to use it.

At first, she had hesitated. Should she apply it to her own knife? With her enhanced physical abilities, she only needed to land one hit. If her opponent hadn't chosen to pick up the other knife to counter-attack, she really would have been screwed.

But there were no 'ifs'.

She had won.

The Black Cat clutched the wound on her waist and turned, staggering away. Next, she just had to wait for the ball and kill that mentally unstable little girl. She would create a commotion, and with so many people and distractions, making her move would be all too easy.

However, just as the Black Cat lady was fantasizing about her victory…

…the Decade lying on the ground…

…lightly twitched a finger.

Time passed, second by second.

The sky was growing dark, leaving only the afterglow of the sunset. The Fifth Night's Ball was approaching. Everything absurd on the cruise ship was about to meet its end.

William had already changed into his most magnificent attire, preparing to personally participate in the scarlet feast.

The Sound of Joy could not affect him. Mary would awaken in a ritual of blood and fire.

The first person she saw had to be him, the one who had accompanied her for so long. He would share with her a dance they hadn't performed in decades.

"Oh, Warrior, I hope you die ahead of time," William murmured to the empty room.

"Otherwise, your wails as you kill yourself will be the most beautiful symphony."

"Your death shall bear witness to my love!"