EVIL SYSTEM

Ben focused on listening to everything around him, making sure everyone was truly asleep.

The breathing of everyone was calm and steady, but to be extra cautious, he used his shadow leap to slip out of the house.

The streets of Magnolia seemed oblivious to the concept of night. Many shops and establishments were open, welcoming people even at such late hours.

Ben ignored his surroundings and pressed on with his path.

In about twenty minutes, he arrived at the address Hubert had given him, which turned out to be under a bridge.

"Couldn't they find a hotel?" Ben mocked as soon as he saw them.

"No," Hubert shook his head with a smile.

"That's not important," Suzanne jumped in. "Show him!"

Hubert shrugged helplessly and showed Ben the computer screen.

Ben frowned in disgust and nodded.

"I understand," was all he said before turning around and vanishing into the darkness.

---

A boy, no older than twelve, knocked on the door of an old, rundown apartment.

He waited with fear and apprehension until he heard slow footsteps approaching the door.

The door swung wide open, revealing a tall, thin man standing behind it.

"You took too damn long," the man said, his face and voice dripping with irritation.

He stretched out his hand in an obvious gesture of demand, and the boy, trembling, pulled a few crumpled bills from his half-torn pocket.

The man started counting the money and scowled in disgust. "What the hell is this? It's not even half of what you brought last time!"

Without another word, he lunged at the boy and began kicking him viciously. The boy curled into a ball with practiced ease, hoping to come out of it less injured this time.

The last time he'd taken a beating, one of his arms had been dislocated, and two of his ribs had cracked.

Gritting his teeth, he endured, even though he didn't know why he did it—why he fought so hard in such a miserable life. He endured.

"You'd better bring me better earnings next time, you little piece of trash," the man sneered, pulling a packet of blue powder from his pocket and tossing it at the boy. "This is the good stuff. Sell it at ten argens a gram."

Without turning to see the state he'd left the boy in, the man stepped back into the apartment and slammed the door shut behind him.

The boy clenched his teeth against the pain and rose slowly. He grabbed the bag of blue powder as if it were his very life.

He knew that if that little bag got lost, the man would beat him to death.

One of his eyes had turned purple, and his gums were bleeding, but Peter gritted his teeth and leaned against the wall.

At least his legs hadn't taken the worst of the punishment. Using the wall for support, he started walking, and when he reached the end of the hallway, a sudden chill ran through him.

The entire hallway seemed darker than usual.

All sound faded away, leaving only the echo of footsteps in the distance.

Peter lifted his head and watched as the silhouette of a man emerged slowly from the shadows.

His demeanor was calm but deadly. A dark aura surrounded him, and his demon mask only amplified it.

Peter's heart stopped for a moment. A shiver raced through his body, and he began trembling all over.

He knew who this person was. He'd followed his exploits and was one of his loyal followers. He'd always dreamed of seeing him up close, of showing him his own demons. It was… the Butcher of Azakur!

Anyone else might think he was just a fanatic in a mask, but Peter was certain no one else could carry such an aura, such a thirst for blood.

His breathing grew erratic, and he dropped the bag of blue powder he'd been clinging to so desperately.

He fell to his knees and pressed his forehead to the ground.

"I knew you'd come!" he sobbed. "I prayed day and night for you to come!"

Ben stared at the boy, a powerful sense of déjà vu washing over him. The boy reminded him of his own pathetic figure, beaten and tormented by his bullies.

Without a word, he stepped past the boy and walked toward the door the kid had just come from.

In a calm, almost methodical manner, he knocked on the door and waited patiently.

"What the hell do you want now, you damn little—?" The man yanked the door open but couldn't finish his shout before Ben seized his face with such force that it distorted grotesquely.

The man's eyes bulged, unable to scream with Ben's hand smothering his mouth, nose, and part of his eyes.

Ben turned to look at the boy, who stared back with wide eyes. He raised a finger to his mask and made a silencing gesture. "Shhh."

With that, he stepped into the apartment, still gripping the man's face, and shut the door behind him.

Peter crawled across the floor, leaving the plastic bag behind, and approached the door that had filled him with terror for the past five years.

After only a few minutes, he began to hear the screams of pain he'd dreamed of day and night.

Unbidden, tears welled up in his eyes, streaming down his face until he could no longer hold back and broke into sobs.

A cry he'd forced himself to stifle in front of that man, to never show weakness.

But this time, it was a cry of joy.

He was finally free!

---

Ben dragged the man into the apartment and looked around curiously.

The place was a dump, littered with half-eaten food wrappers and dirty clothes strewn everywhere.

His nose recoiled at the stench. As his stats grew higher, his senses sharpened—not to an extreme degree, but far beyond that of an average human.

The smell of mold, rotting food, and filthy clothes hit him hard, wrinkling his nose.

But there was a far fouler odor beneath it all. One that filled him with disgust and nausea.

Following that smell, Ben pushed open a bedroom door with a single shove.

His face twisted as the stench hit him full force.

On the bed lay the half-decomposed corpse of a woman. Worms had already claimed half of her rotting body.

The bed was black and oozing with pus from the corpse.

Ben hoisted the man he still held by the face, staring at him coldly before glancing at the body on the bed.

According to the post on the forum Hubert and Suzanne had shown him, the man in his grasp was a well-known drug trafficker in this neighborhood, one who used innocent kids as his dealers.

The post had reported that the man had a wife and daughter, both of whom he constantly abused and beat.

He'd been reported multiple times but always got off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist from the police.

The post speculated that he had connections with the cops and various gangs, which explained why he always walked free and never faced justice.

That's why no one had stepped in to protect Peter from his abuse or responded to his wife's cries of pain.

They feared him.

But from what Ben could see, they no longer had to worry about her screams—she was already dead.

"D-D-Daddy…" A soft, pleading voice snapped Ben out of his thoughts. Following the sound, he saw something that made his heart sink.

He released the man from his grip, his eyes widening in disbelief at what he was witnessing.

His mouth went dry, and his heart seemed to collapse in an instant.

His faith in humanity… shattered.

With slow steps, he approached the corner of the room, completely ignoring the man behind him who scrambled in panic and crawled toward a drawer on the side of the room.

Ben's hands trembled as he reached for what looked like a small dog cage.

But instead of a dog, locked inside was a girl who couldn't have been more than five innocent years old.

She lay on the cold floor, completely naked and malnourished. Her body bore clear signs of violence and torture—large bruises and cuts marred her skin.

The girl was skin and bones, yet she clung to the tiny bars of the cage with a glimmer of hope.

Ben felt his eyes well up at the sight of her fragile little body in such a state.

Worst of all, between her legs was blood and a whitish fluid.

"I-I want my mommy!" she cried out between sobs, with what seemed like the last of her strength.

Ben clenched his teeth so hard he thought they might break.

It was the first time in his life he'd felt such an overwhelming desire to inflict pain.

An unforgettable pain.

---

The next chapter will be very explicit.

Too much so, so those who are especially sensitive should refrain from unlocking it.

I don't want to get blocked again for this.

You can skip to the following chapter without any issue for the plot.