Chapter 84: The Man Behind the Mask

"Balian, then," Summer said after a moment.

Honestly, meeting such a beautiful snow leopard at a time like this had definitely not been on her bingo card.

He did not seem like he wanted to hurt her, but the way he kept looking at her made it strangely hard to think straight.

Damn it! Why did he have to be so ridiculously gorgeous?!

Summer quietly cleared her throat and forced herself to look away from him. She turned her attention back to the assassin lying in front of them.

"I just want to say that you’re right," she said. "I think I already know who sent him."

Balian’s eyes seemed to brighten a little. Without saying anything, he suddenly sat down beside her.

He did not touch her, but he was still way too close! Summer could even feel his presence beside her.

"Is it something personal?" Balian asked. "Because from what I’ve observed, this person doesn’t seem interested in killing you. It looks more like they want to leave you disabled."

Summer’s expression darkened slightly because in this world, being disabled could easily be worse than dying on the spot.

"It’s personal," Summer said with a sigh. She glanced briefly at the livestream camera. "But it’s not really a secret either."

The assassin suddenly let out a mocking laugh. "Don’t act like you’re innocent!" he snapped. "You’re nothing more than a murderer yourself!"

The livestream comments immediately flooded the screen again.

[Murderer? When did Summer ever kill someone?]

[Wasn’t she supposed to be a bully before?]

[Bully, my ass! I dug through her whole history. Winter and her friends were always the ones starting the drama!]

[The Beaumont family also neglected her a lot after they had their biological child.]

[Damn, sister. How deep did you dig?]

[At this point, you know more about Summer than Summer does.]

"Don’t throw that kind of label at someone so easily," Saddie suddenly said.

She walked closer to the assassin, and the look in her eyes made it obvious that she was truly angry.

"If you don’t have any proof, then you’re just talking nonsense!" Saddie snapped.

The assassin glared at her. "You don’t even know anything about her!"

Saddie’s expression turned cold. "And you do?" she shot back. "Because from where I’m standing, all you’ve done is attack her, call her a murderer, and refuse to explain anything!"

She turned to Summer. "Summer, if you already know who sent him, can I kill him now?"

Before Summer could answer, Balian let out a soft laugh. "Young Miss is as fierce as always."

The comment section immediately reacted.

[How fierce was Saddie back then?]

[Probably not that different from now, but anyway, why does he laugh like "Ha ?? Ha ?? Ha ??"?]

[That’s just how rich people laugh.]

[Meanwhile, some of us laugh like donkeys and have to live with it.]

[Is there a chance they got divorced because Saddie was too fierce for him?]

[If he can’t handle Saddie, how can he handle Summer?]

Saddie ignored his comment and kept her attention on Summer. "Can I?" she asked again.

Summer let out a sigh. "Not yet. I still need to confirm something."

Based on the original body’s memories, Summer could not find any clue that she had ever killed someone in the past. But after thinking about it for a while, she realized that some people often exaggerated things.

"Are you talking about Ryland?" she asked with confidence. "He’s the only person I know who died near me."

The livestream comments immediately started moving again.

[Damn, Summer is talking about her dead ex-fiancé so casually.]

[I don’t even see a little sadness on her face.]

[If my fiancé cheated on me with my sister, I’d probably be happy if a spider ate him too.]

[Btw, what happened to Winter? I haven’t heard anything about her since Zone 87.]

[Is she dead?]

[Doubt it. Her parents would probably make a huge fuss if she was.]

Outside the livestream, the assassin suddenly shouted, "I’m not telling you anything—Argh! Fuck you! Go to hell, you leopard bastard!"

He shouted in pain because Balian had just bent his index finger backward with his telekinesis.

Summer could even hear the sound of his bone breaking, but she did not mind torturing someone who had tried to cripple her just a short while ago.

"There’s no need to drag this out," Summer said calmly. "I already know Ryland’s family sent you."

By then, most of the numb feeling in her hand had faded. Summer asked Julie to lend her the plasma gun, then pointed it at him.

"You already have two broken legs and one broken finger," she said. "If I cripple both of your hands too and leave you alone in this zone, do you really think you’ll survive?"

Beside her, Balian stood up and tapped on the assassin’s terminal. Right after that, his information was clearly displayed.

[Identity: Clark Hale]

[Beast Form: Gray Wolf]

[Sentinel Rank: B]

[Pollution Level: 49%]

Balian glanced at the screen. "Miss Beaumont, isn’t Hale your ex-fiancé’s surname?"

Summer frowned slightly because how the hell did he get that information?

Still, she answered, "Yes. But I don’t know this man."

Even in the original body’s memories, she could not remember ever meeting anyone named Clark Hale.

"One second."

Balian sent a message to someone through his terminal, and less than two minutes later, that person replied.

"Well, this is interesting," he said. "It turns out your ex-fiancé had a half-brother. Same father, different mothers. But this one’s mother was never officially registered as their father’s wife."

He gave a faint smile. "Like father, like son, I suppose."

How did he also know that Ryland was a cheater as well? Had he secretly been watching her livestream or something?

She honestly did not expect a wealthy man like him to have enough free time to watch someone’s stream.

"This is a breach of privacy!" Clark suddenly shouted. "How dare you access my terminal illegally?!"

Balian clicked his tongue a few times and looked at Clark like he was some rare animal that still refused to mate even though its species was almost extinct.

"You’re complaining about something illegal," Balian said calmly, "after trying to hurt someone just a few minutes ago?"