Villain’s Favorite 250

Chapter 250 What Innocence Costs 

Among the rocks and boulders scattered across the distant hillside, a small figure had wedged himself into a crevice no wider than a man’s shoulders. 

Edric pressed his.back flat against the cold stone, knees drawn up to his chest, face buried against them. From a distance, he looked fragile, like a pale bloom bent low, the kind that wouldn’t survive a hard rain. 

His grandfather’s words had found their way back to him unbidden, the syllables surfacing from somewhere deep in the marrow of his memory. “If you refuse to learn how to grow up, then at least pay attention to who pays the price for your innocence.” 

He hadn’t understood then. The sentence had been abstract. 

He understood now. 

He had seen someone he knew dragged into the open. 

The boy was a little older than Edric, face streaked with tears. They had picked fruit together once. The boy didn’t talk much, but he worked hard, steady and quiet. 

Now he dangled in the air, held like a trapped animal. 

“Still won’t give in?” the man said, almost wearily. “You know him, don’t you? 

“I went out of my way to find him,” he lifted the boy higher, presenting him as if he were merchandise under a shop light. 

“You’re good at hiding, I’ll give you that. Slipped through twice already. 

“So what’s it going to be? Are you going to do it yourself, or do we have to make you?” Edric’s silence, the tears he couldn’t stop, only seemed to amuse him. 

“A kid like you, with everything handed to you, I wouldn’t have expected you to have such a soft heart. If you don’t kill him, he’ll kill you.” 

He couldn’t stand kids like this one. 

Kids who were born with no spine, no talent, no grit, and yet somehow landed at the top of the pyramid the moment they were born. 

Toying with Edric gave a taste of what it felt like to watch the privileged squirm. 

Look at you. Money, status, a name that opens doors… And you’re still just meat trembling under my gun. 

The man tossed the boy down at Edric’s feet. 

The child landed hard, shoulder-first, coughing as the impact drove the air from his lungs. 

Slowly, shakily, he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. 

The muzzle of the rifle swung lazily between the two of them. 

10:20 Tue, May 12 

Chapter 250 What Innocence Costs 

Baled 

“One of you walks away. One of you doesn’t.” The man’s voice had taken on an encouraging lilt, almost cheerful. “If you want to live, gentlemen, show me what you’ve got.” 

The boy on the ground jerked his head up. 

Fear does something to a person. And a child, under the weight of that need to survive, will do things he never imagined himself capable of. 

The boy grabbed a fistful of dirt and threw it into Edric’s face without a second’s hesitation. 

Edric didn’t even have time to react. The boy lunged, driving his knee down hard into Edric’s chest, pinning him in place. 

The pressure on his ribs forced a strangled grunt from his throat, short and wet. The boy grabbed a rock from the ground, lifted it high over his head. 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Number 4.” His voice shook apart as he spoke. “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.” 

Tears fell, warm and relentless, dotting Edric’s face like rain. 

He kept apologizing, a mantra winding through the sobs, each repetition softer than the last. 

Edric didn’t fight back. He lay there on the cold ground, grit scraping the backs of his shoulders, rocks digging into his spine through his shirt, the weight on his chest collapsing his lungs one shallow breath at a 

time. 

His eyes burned with the dirt and the salt and the blurry smear of tears he hadn’t even realized he was crying. 

The stone above him hung at the apex of its arc, trembling, suspended in a heartbeat of hesitation. 

Then the man’s rifle cracked once. 

The gunshot tore through the silence. 

The boy went limp. His body slumped forward, draped across Edric’s legs, and did not move again. 

The man lowered his gun, a smile tugging at his mouth as he looked down at Edric. 

“There. You see that, tough guy? Another one dead.” He sighed, the way a disappointed teacher sighs over a student who simply refuses to learn. “Why are you always so weak? Do you just wait for other people to kill you? Is that the strategy? 

“Still, you knew we’d step in, didn’t you? 

“Kids like you don’t have a clue how the world works.” 

He tilted his head, studying Edric’s empty stare. The words grew harsher as he spoke. He stepped forward, grabbed the dead boy by the collar, and dragged him closer, forcing the sight into Edric’s line of vision. 

“You see this? This is because of you. 

“Your cowardice. Your weakness. Your refusal to do what needs to be done. That’s what kills people here.” 

2/3 

10:20 Tue, May 12 

Chapter 250 What Innocence Costs 

Edric braced a hand against the ground and forced himself upright. His limbs felt distant, unreliable, as if they belonged to someone else. 

He looked at the boy. 

The boy he had known for three months. 

No names had been exchanged, but time had stitched something quiet between them. In the sparse landscape of Edric’s memory, that was rare enough to matter. 

He was one of the only real companions Edric had ever had. 

And now he was gone. 

Because of him. 

Edric pulled his knees back to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, and the shaking started somewhere deep in his core. 

“Do you even understand why you’re here? Or did you think everyone was going to play along with your little pretend world?” 

The man drawled, impatience creeping in. He flipped a knife toward Edric. 

“You’re very good at hiding. That’s the problem. We had to work to find you. 

“Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to follow your every step. And your only job is to kill every child you see. If you don’t, I’ll do it for you. But if I have to keep cleaning up your messes, we’re going to have a problem.” 

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