The fat sergeant's name was Li Tie.
His name didn't matter anyway. He was one of the newly appointed commanders of this military district by his family connection. This was an idle position. No terrorist would dare to attack the dam with the New Federation of China's soldiers stationed on this dam.
So, Li Tie here was planning to enjoy this chapter of life. Quite recently, he saw a pretty woman and snatched her. But the woman's man was a bit of a nuisance. But after giving him that many lessons, he wouldn't dare to come again, right? Li Tie was planning to go back and enjoy the rest of his night when suddenly a heavily armed soldier rushed in and frantically reported to Li Tie.
"Report, sir, the military camp has been attacked!"
"What? How many? Did our opponent say which organization they were from?"
There were really terrorists who dared to attack! Then his body stood up after he heard an explosion outside. Thousands of soldiers stationed in this barracks, so which terrorist dared to cause ruckus up here? It's fine… it's going to be okay…
"Only...only one person."
"One person?" Li Tie glared at the soldier with his own small eyes: "Are you fucking kidding me? Is it a powerful Esper?"
Among the human race, there was a group of people who're born above ordinary people and possessed incredible strength. The very existence that Lucius feared. If it was an Esper, then there's no other choice than to run away! Their destructive power was greater than an army! But just as Li Tie ran out of the barracks, he was terrified and froze.
"Shoot! Shoot! Don't run away!"
A powerful hissing voice was heard as a group of soldiers pointed their rifles at the distant shadows and pulled the triggers. Explosions rang out everywhere throughout the barracks, flames illuminating the dark night sky.
A Senior platoon leader of this barrack, currently leading the army against the foreign enemy. His strong and powerful command was the backbone of the entire army!
Good job, platoon leader! I'll give you a promotion after we finish this fight!
As the supreme commander of the entire camp, not to mention commanding, he was scared and just wanted to find a safe place to hide.
But suddenly...
"Rrrraaaahhhhh!!!"
A monster burst out of the flames from the direction of the firing target and rushed to the soldiers who pulled the trigger on it. The human body was nothing against the hunter. Its huge claws easily sliced through the soldier's body into three pieces of meat lumps, it fell to the ground, spilling blood everywhere!
Bullets fired on the creatures but unable to harm its scarlet skin. Its long tongue bound a soldier in its mouth and chomps down the soldiers with an unbreakable sickening bone-cracking sound.
What the hell was that?! Li Tie trembled as he gazed helplessly at the monster. It was as if a wolf ate a flock of sheep, the monster easily bit off and killed the soldiers. Dismembering them to pieces.
The fat man fell down, sitting on the ground, shaking uncontrollably. Finally, the monster noticed the fat man's presence.
The moment they locked eyes, Li Tie remembered the man he had just thrown out of the barracks after giving him a 'lesson'. Was it really him? Li Tie didn't get an immediate answer as the monster decapitated his head. As the monster's claws pierced his body, the head was thrown mid-air, a fearful expression fixed in the dead man's face.
"Grrrrrrrr!!!" It roared again to the sky, seemed to cheer that it finally had its revenge!
.......
On the other side.
"Despair, despair, despair."
Lucius casually walked in from the front gate without any thoughts of dodging or even hiding as the barracks were drowned in a sea of fire. Howls and screams of the human soldiers were like a symphony to Lucius' ears.
"That's it."
Lucius walked straight towards the dam management office at the back of the barracks. Ignoring the hunter's killing spree.
"Who are you? Stop right there!"
In confusion, someone finally noticed Lucius as an outsider. A wounded soldier who seemed to rescue his fellow soldier who had also been wounded by a hunter, but had survived. He then spotted Lucius and raised his assault rifle, pointing it at him.
However, Lucius continued as if he hadn't heard him, heading towards the dam's management office.
"Stop! If you don't stop, I'm going to shoot you with a..."
He couldn't finish the word 'gun' yet, but the comrade he rescued suddenly pulled him, his pupils were clouded, and he opened his mouth to bite down the soldiers on his neck.
How could this happen?! The soldier looked at his comrade, who just attacked him, feeling pain in his neck. And the soldier immediately pointed his gun at the rabid comrade and pulled the trigger!
"Click!"
Gunshots rang out, and blood continued spilling.
"Damn it! It's you!!!" The fallen soldier saw Lucius' back as he calmly walked forward, suddenly understood something as he saw his dead comrade who just turned into a monster. The soldier gritted his teeth. With the last of his remaining strength, he pointed the gun at Lucius. "You're the one caused all of this!"
But he never got the chance to pull the trigger.
"Grrrrrr!!!!" The hunter's claw swung down, shredding the soldier into three pieces.
[Gain 1 Despair Point.]
At the same time, Lucius received a system notification in his mind. He slowly accumulated more and more notification of despair points. That means the more humans died in despair, the curve formed on Lucius' lips grew wider.
This is how it feels like… watching human society collapsed as they died in despair. But it was not enough just to plunge this city into darkness. No, the whole world needs to go down in despair.
The doomsday is coming, humans…
Eventually, Lucius reached the door of the dam management office safe and sound. Lucius pushed the door open and walked in. Compared to the chaotic situation outside, the office was quiet and calm. The noises from outside gradually disappeared.
The sound of Lucius' footsteps echoed throughout the corridor. There were many pipes above the walls carrying some necessary energy. Lucius followed the pipes into the deepest part of the dam.
Finally, he saw a small pool. Water flowed from the pool. This should be the testing pool to check if the water passed the test or not. If he was not mistaken, this pool of purified water was connected to the entire city's water supply pipes.
If he dropped the virus there, the city would collapse into despair and darkness like the military camp!
Lucius was getting excited. He took out the vial with the crimson liquid inside. Just like a Pandora's box with seductive magic inside.
Just when he was about to open the vial…
"Put that down!" A harsh voice came from behind Lucius.
"Tch.." Lucius turned around and saw the figure who walked out of the corridor. Wearing a green military uniform. Bloodstained the uniform from the wound on his abdomen. From his stiff appearance and temperament, he must be some kind of senior soldier. The platoon leader managed to survive the hunter's attack. But saw Lucius, a suspicious figure, and followed him here.
After seeing the malicious looking vial in Lucius' hands, he slightly guessed that was the reason the barracks turned into an inferno. Is that a virus? If the situation that happened in the barracks were to happen to the city, the casualties would be far greater!
Against the pain in his abdomen, the platoon leader raised the pistol with a few bullets left in it and pointed it against Lucius' forehead nearby.
"Whatever you want to do, drop the vial you're holding right now!"
"Alright, you got me."
Lucius's scarlet eyes gazed at the platoon leader and slowly raised his hand, not in surrender, but instead, he held the container in his hand above the water surface.
"You!" The platoon leader gripped his gun tightly. Unable to calm down.
"Don't get excited." Lucius teased the platoon leader, "If you shoot me, this little vial will fall into the water. A good soldier's highest priority is to protect civilians, right? One small mistake and all the civilians you were protecting will turn into monsters just like those people outside."
"....."
Sweat dripped from the platoon leader's hand that was holding the gun. He didn't dare to blink his eyes on Lucius.
The same goes for Lucius. Sure, Lucius looked calm outside, but deep down, he actually had fear. He wasn't the thick-skinned hunter. A single bullet going through his brain would kill him.
And this platoon leader could do it! Death was not something Lucius was going to accept until he had fulfilled his purpose. Lucius calmly moved around the platoon leader.
"Don't do anything stupid! You'll only bring disaster to the entire human race. Kid, if you have any request, I'll do my best to help you!"
The platoon leader's words softened. From his young appearance paired with a skinny build and pale skin, Lucius did look like some kind of drug addict. Everyone understood the recklessness of such a person.
But unfortunately, the only reason Lucius did this was because he wasn't human.
"Human?" Lucius stared at the platoon leader with indifference. "I don't care about such things."
"Do you know how many people will die if you did this? Many people would lose their families and their whole life and happiness! Don't you have any mercy left within you?" The platoon leader roared out.
Lucius listened to the platoon leader's words...but suddenly lowered his own head. The platoon leader fixed his gaze at Lucius, unable to see his expression.
Mercy?
Family?
Happiness?
"Brother, you're Ji'er's favorite brother…"
"Ji'er will grow up to be my brother's bride!"
"You're the only I trust, brother…"
"It seems like they have discovered us. Why do humans loathe us so much? Is it because we're not humans?"
"Big brother… live out the rest of your life happily ever after!"
The final scene was the flame engulfing the young girl's body. The girl's pained expression was like a brand engraved deeply into Lucius' heart.
Lucius laughed. Laughing from the bottom of his heart, the sound of his laughter echoed throughout the corridor.
"What's so funny?"
"Mercy? Hahahaha!" Lucius covered his forehead, "Do you humans have this so-called mercy? That kid didn't hurt anyone, never! And yet you bind that little girl's body to the stake! We're monsters! Monsters hunted down by humans who have no mercy on us! So… we don't need it either!"
The dangerous luster in Lucius' eyes caused the platoon leader to step back.
This man… he had gone mad!
"Put that down!" The platoon leader's hand rested on the trigger.
As he opened the vial, the virus inside it elegantly poured down into the water surface. The crimson liquid spread on the pool. In a few hours, the humans drinking this water would turn into mindless monsters.
"You're crazy!" The platoon leader roared. He tried to pull the trigger, but there was excruciating pain in his heart! The pistol fell off the platoon leader's hand, and he fell to his knees over his chest.
"I'm done being human's prey."
Lucius stared at the platoon leader who fell to his knees with pitiful eyes. Lucius' left hand spilled a scarlet glow as if he was holding a beating heart.
"Now, I am the hunter...and you are my prey."
The platoon leader's gradually blurred vision looked at Lucius' figure. He understood where the pain in his heart was coming from.
This man had Esper power! The thing he held in his hand was the platoon leader's heart!
"You should be thanking me because you will die and become a normal corpse." Lucius' left hand clenched tighter, twisted, and squeezed the platoon leader's heart. "And not turned into one of those zombies to claim the lives of your loved ones…"
The platoon leader's last memory was the insane smile on Lucius' lips.
Bang!
A dull popping sound was heard from the platoon leader's chest as Lucius completely clenched his left hand. He just crushed the platoon leader's heart.
Looking at the now-dead platoon leader, Lucius sat down on the ground. He panted and asked the system for his remaining despair points.
It was showing zero.
Lucius had been waiting as more and more soldiers died outside, increasing his despair points. Before finally exchanging it for one of the most common skills used by vampires.
'Heart Squeeze'
He could squeeze the heart of an ordinary person within a 3-meter radius with his vampire's blood manipulation ability. But his despair points weren't enough, for now, he could only exchange it for one-time use. To get the permanent skill, it would cost him around 10.000 despair points.
He didn't make a fuss over that amount of points as he could collect them rather easily. Because tomorrow, thousands of despair points would pour into Lucius' body.
The change...had already begun.
As a vampire, Lucius didn't know why, but he began to look forward to tomorrow's dawn.