It had to be said that the greenery at Ocean City Academy was truly impressive. There was a large expanse of green space, lush with vegetation. Caius figured this was probably the "little grove" that many schools had.


    It was the perfect place for what he had in mind—a secluded spot where he wouldn''t have to worry about being discovered for a while.


    Caius glanced at the ground.


    At that moment, five students, including Manasa, were tightly bound, their hands and feet restrained and stuffed into burlap sacks. Only their heads were exposed, their eyes blindfolded, and their mouths gagged with torn pieces of sackcloth.


    With a soft murmur, Manasa was the first to wake up.


    This was intentional—Caius had controlled it precisely, ensuring she woke up first.


    How? Simple. He had struck the other four unconscious girls on the side of their necks again to make them stay out longer. That way, Manasa would regain consciousness first.


    This was what Caius called "controlled precision."


    The four other girls were accomplices. A lesson like this… well, two slaps to knock out a couple of teeth should be enough. The real focus was Manasa, the true mastermind.


    Caius planned to hit hard—hard enough to make her leave Ocean City Academy for good.


    Even though he himself would be leaving in half a month, that didn’t mean he couldn''t act now.


    When Manasa woke up, her head throbbed with intense pain. Caius had not struck the side of her neck but the back of her head instead.


    She instinctively tried to reach for the pain, only to realize that her hands and feet were bound, her eyes covered, and her mouth gagged. Panic set in instantly.


    She struggled to summon her magic for self-rescue but found that there was no response from within her—her magic felt utterly lifeless.


    Caius gripped his heavy hammer, [Angel]. Within the Anti-Magic Field, mages could not invoke their magic.


    Though stepping out of the Anti-Magic Field would allow spells to be cast again, and pre-cast spells would remain unaffected, only exceptionally powerful mages could override the field’s suppression. In her current bound state, Manasa was far from being one of them.


    A mage unable to cast magic was no different from an ordinary person in Caius’s eyes.


    "Oh? Awake already..." Caius''s deep voice rang out.


    He deliberately made his voice hoarse, though it wasn’t the most sophisticated disguise. Still, it was enough to fool a frightened young girl.


    Hearing his voice, Manasa let out muffled whimpers of fear.


    Caius stepped forward and yanked the cloth from her mouth.


    Manasa coughed twice before trembling as she spoke. "Who are you? Why are you doing this?!"


    "Why?" Caius chuckled darkly. "You should ask your dear father that question. Heh heh heh..."


    Caius didn’t actually know her father. But he needed a cover story, didn’t he?


    A direct act of revenge would make Manasa connect the dots to Belle. So… he had heard that Manasa’s father was a high-ranking official in Ocean City?


    In this corrupt city, having such a despicable daughter meant the father was unlikely to be a decent man either. So the role Caius chose to play was that of an enforcer hired by one of her father’s enemies.


    "Your father offended our boss. Our boss paid a bit of money to teach him a lesson. And so… here I am."


    "And what could be more painful for a father than losing his daughter?"


    "Wouldn’t you agree, Miss Manasa?"


    As she listened to Caius’s hoarse voice, fear overtook Manasa, making her tremble uncontrollably.


    "No… You can’t kill me!"


    "You can’t…"


    "Shhh…" Before she could finish, Caius covered her mouth. His raspy voice, tinged with amusement, whispered, "You need to keep your voice down, understand? Otherwise, we won’t be able to negotiate."


    "If someone finds you now, I can guarantee they’ll only find a few corpses."


    "Nod if you understand."


    Manasa was already scared out of her mind. A girl not yet twenty, facing such a situation, was understandably terrified beyond measure.


    "What… what do you want?" Manasa trembled. "I have money. A lot of money!"


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "If you let me go, I can give you a fortune!"


    "I promise, I won’t expose you!"


    "Hahaha." Caius laughed. "Do you even believe that yourself, Miss Manasa?"


    "Besides, do you even know who I am? How would you expose me?"


    "Should I take that as a threat?"


    As he spoke, Caius drew the small knife from his belt. The cold blade traced lightly against Manasa’s neck—not cutting her, but letting her feel its sharpness.


    Manasa froze in terror.


    "No… I… I didn’t mean… to threaten you…"


    Smack!


    A loud slap echoed through the grove, leaving a bright red handprint on Manasa’s powdered cheek.


    How big were Caius’s hands?


    Well, he was nearly two meters tall. His hands weren’t small.


    That slap left her momentarily stunned. As the burning pain spread across her face, tears welled up in her eyes.


    Yet Caius spoke indifferently. "Cry out loud, and you die."


    Manasa immediately bit her lip, holding back her sobs.


    "Do you know why you’re still alive?"


    Manasa trembled as she shook her head.


    "Because you’re beautiful…" Caius’s eerie smile widened as the back of his knife traced her cheek, slowly moving downward.


    Of course, he had no intention of doing anything disgraceful. He had his own principles.


    But for a spoiled, high-born girl like Manasa, this kind of fear likely surpassed even the terror of having a knife at her throat.


    Sure enough, as the cold knife edge touched her body, Manasa’s trembling intensified.


    She shook her head desperately, pleading.


    "No… please… don’t…"


    "I’ve heard that when women say ‘no,’ they actually mean ‘yes.’ Seems like you’re quite eager?" Caius’s grin darkened.


    "No… no, I… I want… I want…" Manasa was on the verge of losing her mind.


    "Oh? So desperate already?" Caius swore—it was hard to keep a straight face.


    Listening to his taunts, Manasa was on the brink of collapse. She knew he was toying with her, that no matter how she answered, she would be wrong.


    And that realization pushed her to the breaking point.


    A pungent smell filled the air.


    Caius wrinkled his nose in distaste before standing up slowly.


    "Tch… pathetic."


    Caius wore a look of disdain before standing up and slowly saying, "But I''m not interested in you. You''re not my type."


    Manasa: "..."


    "Actually, giving your father a lesson doesn''t necessarily mean killing his daughter, right?" Caius said to himself. "After all, I''m not some monster, so I just need to have a ''slight'' and ''friendly'' conversation with you, that''s all."


    "What... what are you going to do?" Manasa asked in fear.


    Caius grinned, "There''s plenty I can do."


    "Break your limbs, hide you in some corner of the slums, and then tell your father about it. Then you can wait for him to rescue you with high expectations."


    "But let me remind you, men in the slums have basically never seen pretty women, so their welcome ceremony should be quite intense. I hope you can handle it."


    "Or else you''ll just have to rely on your dad to pick up your pieces~" That devilish voice echoed in her ears. Imagining the scene Caius described, she completely broke down.


    "No, please, don''t..."


    "I''ll do anything, just don''t take me there..."


    "Anything?" Caius raised his eyebrows and asked sarcastically.


    "Yes! Yes! Anything!" Manasa nodded hurriedly, thinking that being insulted by one person was better than being insulted by a group.


    People always prefer compromise, and Caius understood human nature very well. So he nodded, "Alright, I''ll give you this chance."


    "Now, hold it in your mouth." Saying that, Caius handed a pebble to Manasa''s mouth.


    Manasa quickly did as she was told, thinking that Caius was up to some new trick. But the next moment, she heard Caius''s cold voice.


    "And then, bite it."


    Manasa froze, holding the pebble, which was about the size of an egg, in her mouth for a moment before her body began to shake violently. "I... I can''t do it..."


    "Human potential is enormous. You have to believe in yourself," Caius encouraged her gently.


    "No..." Manasa shook her head continuously. Caius shrugged, "Alright then, it''s the slums for you."


    Saying that, Caius grabbed Manasa''s hair and dragged her outside as if he were really going to take her to the slums.


    Manasa struggled violently, "I''ll do it! I''ll do it!"


    Caius let her go and crouched down in front of her with interest, "Come on, start your performance."


    "You can only stop when the stone or your teeth break."


    Manasa had to do as she was told. She struggled to bite the pebble, with her teeth clashing against it, making a grating sound.


    "Crunch... crunch..."


    After a while, blood flowed from her mouth. But it was just from her gums; her teeth and the pebble were still intact.


    How could a Silver-ranked mage bite through a hard pebble without using magic?


    But Caius thought it was possible.


    "A friendly reminder: You can place the pebble in your mouth and then forcefully bring your jaw down onto the stone. This method has a high likelihood of success."


    "Trust me, it might hurt a bit, but it''s very effective," Caius said.


    Manasa shook her head vigorously upon hearing this.


    Caius said, "Alright then, it''s the slums."


    Manasa immediately panicked, "I''ll do it! I''ll do it!"


    To make Manasa perform, Caius even found a stone for her to put under her chin.


    "Don''t forget to use the strength of your waist. Otherwise, if it doesn''t break in one go, you''ll suffer a lot," Caius laughed like he was watching a play.


    Manasa knelt in front of the stone, her chin resting on the boulder. Her blindfolded eyes could not see anything, but she could feel the hardness under her chin and the pebble clashing with her teeth.


    She panted, her lower body already warm and wet.


    Caius''s impatient voice came from her ear, "Hurry up, I''m losing patience."


    "I''ll count to three, and this is your last chance."


    "Three... one!"


    Manasa was surprised; where was the number two? But she couldn''t think about it anymore and struggled to lift her upper body, bite down on the pebble, and then forcefully press her jaw against the stone.


    "Crack!" A sound echoed, and Caius couldn''t help but click his tongue in surprise.


    It sounded painful.


    Manasa''s body collapsed, obviously unconscious. Her mouth was full of blood.


    Caius pried her mouth open and looked inside. Well, the pebble and her teeth were broken together. He counted and found that a total of eight teeth on her right jaw were broken.


    It seemed that Manasa wouldn''t be able to use her right cheek to eat anymore.


    "Lucky you," Caius shook her head and a few bloody teeth and pebble fragments fell out of her mouth. Caius picked up one of the relatively intact teeth and put it away before patting his hands and standing up.


    This trick of biting teeth against stones was something he often used on those corporate dogs in his previous life. After all, they wouldn''t tell him what he wanted to know without breaking a few teeth.


    The difference was that when dealing with corporate dogs, Caius would do it himself. And this trick worked well on bullies too.


    This way, whether it was due to the threat from an unknown killer or the loss of half her teeth, she wouldn''t be able to continue


    As for those girls... Before leaving, Caius made sure to deliver an additional chop to the back of their necks and a slap, ensuring they would remain unconscious until the next morning. And when they finally woke up, they would feel as if they had slept wrong, their bodies aching terribly.


    Ah~ What a fine man he was, punishing evil and upholding justice!