Muddy water seeped into the sizzling Tomahawk steak. The rich aroma of top-tier Wagyu beef mixed with the stench of the sewer, creating an incredibly ironic contrast.
Kelvin stared dead at the meat in the mud, his Adam's apple bobbing wildly. His once perfectly gelled hair was matted with dirt. The arrogance in his eyes was completely replaced by the greed of a starving wolf. Yet, the last shred of his rich-kid pride made him tremble, unable to lower his head and eat the muddy flesh.
However, Nicole's mental defenses collapsed first.
After experiencing the extreme terror of an E-Rank clearance and hours of starvation, seeing the god-like, glowing David reignited her gold-digging instincts.
"David... David, it's really you..."
Like a madwoman, Nicole crawled forward through the muddy water. Her torn designer dress was soaked in filth, but she didn't care. She reached out her dirty hands, desperately trying to hug David's spotless tactical boots.
"I was wrong! David, I know I was wrong!" Nicole looked up, her face covered in tears and grime, crying pitifully to awaken his past love. "It was Kelvin! He forced me with his power! You are the one I've always loved! Have you forgotten how I treated you these past five years? Please, take me with you! I'll do anything for you..."
The surrounding survivors watched with absolute disgust. A few hours ago, she was moaning in another man's Presidential Suite, and now she was licking her ex-boyfriend's boots like a stray dog.
David looked down at her. His eyes were as calm as looking at a corpse.
Just as Nicole's dirty fingers were about to touch his boots.
"ROAR——" A deep, terrifying beastly growl, sounding like it came from the depths of a soul, suddenly erupted from the shadow beneath David's feet.
David's shadow twisted violently. A pair of blood-red eyes snapped open in the darkness. It was the S-Rank summon he had tamed—the [Shadow Bear Spirit]. Sensing its master's disgust, the bear spirit released a suffocating, horrific pressure.
"AHHH!!!" Nicole let out a blood-curdling scream and fell backward into the mud. She scrambled away frantically. A puddle of yellow liquid instantly soaked her torn pants. She had wet herself in pure terror.
David didn't even take a half-step back. He just stared at her coldly, his voice like the freezing winds of Siberia. "Don't touch me with your filthy hands. Right now, you are lower than the mud on this floor."
"No... don't do this to me..." Nicole sobbed in despair, completely broken.
On the other side, Kelvin watched this scene unfold, and his already fragile nerves finally snapped.
The woman he was so proud of, the woman he could buy with a ten-thousand-dollar bag, was now kneeling like a dog, begging the "loser" he despised the most! And that loser didn't even want to look at her!
Extreme hunger, humiliation, jealousy, and disbelief morphed into monstrous rage, burning away all of Kelvin's reason.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!! YOU SEWER RAT! I'LL F**KING KILL YOU!!!"
Kelvin let out a beastly roar, completely forgetting the Safe Zone's iron rule. With his only remaining left hand, he yanked out the rusty iron dagger he got from his D-Rank clear. Like a rabid dog, he leaped from the ground, aiming straight for David's heart!
The surrounding survivors gasped and backed away quickly.
Yet, David stood perfectly still. He didn't even blink. He simply raised his elegant glass and took a slow sip of the blood-red wine.
Just as the rusty dagger was ten centimeters away from David's chest—
[WARNING! Detected Player No. 4211 triggering the Absolute Ban: Intent to Kill.]
A freezing, emotionless mechanical voice exploded across the entire Hub.
Instantly, a blinding dark-red laser shot down from the top of the White Tower. Moving at an imperceptible speed, it blasted straight through Kelvin's left shoulder!
Sizzle—!
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Accompanied by the horrifying sound of flesh being vaporized, Kelvin let out an inhuman scream. The massive impact blew him five meters away, crashing him into a pile of scrap metal.
The laser had burned a pitch-black hole through his left shoulder. His left arm now hung completely useless. He was totally crippled.
[First Warning. Deducting all current HP to 1 point (Near-Death State). Any further violation will result in instant soul erasure.]
The System's cold voice handed down Kelvin's death sentence. Both of his arms were useless, and he only had 1 HP left. In this hell where even breathing cost stamina, he couldn't even defeat the weakest D-Rank monster anymore.
David walked slowly toward Kelvin, who was twitching on the ground like a dying maggot.
He tilted his wine glass and slowly, drop by drop, poured the remaining expensive red wine onto Kelvin's sweat- and mud-covered face. The red wine mixed with Kelvin's blood, flowing onto the dirty ground.
"Remember what you look like right now, young master," David's voice was light, but it carved into Kelvin's bones like a knife. "This steak is my charity for your last meal. Eat it well, and... pray you don't run into me in the next dungeon."
With that, David didn't spare the two dogs another glance. He turned around. His black tactical coat cut a cold arc in the air as he strode toward the [VIP Player Exclusive Channel] of The Hub.
Behind him, the starving Nicole watched David leave, a flash of madness in her eyes. She suddenly lunged at the Tomahawk steak soaking in mud and red wine, tearing into it like a wild beast.
And Kelvin, having lost both arms, could only squirm desperately on the ground, watching the "charity" meant for him being frantically devoured by the woman who used to be his.