Zed carefully lifted the material, his eyebrow furrowed as he read through it.
Then, he glanced back at Adrian, whose face bore a smug grin.
"How about that? Our intelligence department isn't too shabby, right?"
Adrian had barely finished speaking when his eyes fell upon the unexpected and rather conspicuous wine glass beside Zed.
He quickly swallowed the rest of his boastful words.
Indeed, the intelligence department of DR was exceptional. Yet, they still couldn't see through the boy seating before them.
Even their leader had no clue what's wrong with him.
After a few seconds, Adrian managed to tear his gaze away from the wine glass next to Zed and continued:
"I understand, I really don't know why DR trusts you in that way. At first, I thought they just wanted to throw a little monster like you into someone else's house. But in the end, it seems like they genuinely trust you."
He pointed a finger at a specific term in the material and said:
"If it weren't for this 'B-rank missions and below' clause, I might have already quit."
Zed listened without making a sound. In his mind, he didn't lose his concerns after hearing these words.
The more DR trusted him, the more he doubted their intentions, to the point where his suspicions seemed to seep through his eyes, as if to say to Adrian, "Are you serious, man?"
What was even more terrifying was the content on material in his hands.
[Name: Altair]
[Ability: Invisible Pass]
[Affiliation: DR]
[Recommended Missions: Infiltration, Assassination...]
...
[Name: K.Jing]
[Ability: 7-hit KO]
[Affiliation: DR]
[Recommended Missions: Infiltration, Assassination...]
...
[Name: 47]
...
[Recommended Missions: Infiltration, Assassination...] [Recommended Missions: Infiltration, Assassination...] [Recommended Missions: Infiltration, Assassination...]
...
"Are you guys serious?"
Zed was silent for a long time before he couldn't hold back any longer and spoke up.
His perception of DR had completely transformed.
They had gone from a group that saved others to a brotherhood that feigned rescue while secretly orchestrating assassinations.
Zed sincerely hoped that this organization could save more lives by killing a single person.
It all reminded him with an event that was about to happen, something that occurred during the early stages of the 'Big Fall.' The old money in human group had a plan: since the area of human activity was shrinking, cities would have to be developed underground, leaving only essential industries on the surface. Some of them were giving out the approach...let's say, breathtaking.
But in the end, the plan had fizzled out.
One fateful night, all the council members who supported a certain proposal were found dead in their house. Zed wasn't sure how many kills DR had contributed, but from what he could see, the KDA on the board must not have been low.
They were extremely badass people.
Now, after three drinks, the two of them had reached a consensus.
"Alright, like I said before, I'm in," Zed agreed.
Zed made a sign, indicating he would keep his mouth shut about what he had just read.
Adrian didn't seem to care. He shrugged and offered a smile.
The dimly lit pub was filled with the sounds of laughter and clinking glasses. Zed knew that It's quite normal after worlds became shards. Its wooden beams creaking softly overhead. Shadows danced on the walls as the flickering candlelight and bulbs cast an eerie glow on the patrons' faces.
Adrian neatly arranged their glasses, making it easier for the bartender to collect later. He turned to face the other corner of the table, and upon seeing Zed's glass, withdrew his hand immediately.
"I'll pick you up tomorrow morning. We'll set off then," he said.
With that, Adrian hurriedly left without looking back at Zed.
******
"Ugh…"
Behind the pub, amid the pile of debris, Zed was violently retching up the alcohol he had just consumed.
His stomach was not happy.
This had never happened before, although Zed wasn't the type to frequently join others for weekend parties. He was quite sure that this wasn't a normal Performance for someone after drinking.
Soft, very soft.
Lucy paced nervously nearby, watching him with concern.
"Am I dying?"
Zed asked between bouts of vomiting, occasionally looking up at the stars.
The dazzling celestial display seemed to recount countless ancient tales, ready to be shared with him. But Zed's current condition didn't allow for any stories.
He was on the verge of passing out.
"You need to feed," a familiar, heart-stoppingly beautiful female voice said from above.
At that, Zed immediately sat up.
"You finally spoke, Lucy. I've missed you so much… ugh…"
Lucy patted him on the shoulder, saying, "You're special. You're a vampire. you need to feed as vampire, find yourself some blood."
"Blood? Where can I find it?"
Zed scratched the back of his teeth where his fangs were located.
The nerves felt itchy, as if something was about to grow out. Initially, he thought it was tooth decay since he had been trapped in the office with limited water resources and no toothpaste.
Seeing his antics, Lucy smiled. She rummaged through the debris and returned with several sheets of paper in hand—Most Wanted.
"You can start with these criminals," she said, her voice devoid of emotion.
Taking the handbill, Zed noticed that these were truly vile individuals.
In the chaos following the collapse of the world's order, they had been indulging their darkest desires—murder, rape, and more. On the most wanted list, Zed even saw signs that some of them were Awakened.
And yet, Zed couldn't help but curl his lip in disdain, dropping the papers.
"I don't plan to interfere with these neighbors affairs," he said, shaking his head.
"Honestly, as long as their sin don't affect my interests, they're none of my concern. Lucy, you might not understand, but in this doomsday..."
Zed spoke at length with his eyes closed, but before he could finish, he peeked at Lucy only to find her turned away, seemingly disagreeing with his words.
There was no denying it: men often took the feelings of the women they loved into consideration.
With a sigh, Zed picked up the handbill again.
"Can I feed on my own blood? The blood of these people doesn't seem very good...ewww"
Lucy turned back to face him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears, and threw herself into his arms.
"If it's possible, I wish you could feed on my blood to survive."
Zed gently patted her back, speaking in a calm tone:
"I know only I can see you, but as long as I'm certain you're real and can talk to me, I'm content."
But if Lucy knows what is acutally in boy's mind at this romantic moment, she must twitch her face till she can not feel it anymore.
'In books, the vampire exchange blood for sex, what if I do it on my own? A masturbate?'
Wiping away Lucy's tears, he controled his mind not go too deep in weird stuff, then smiled and said:
"Come on, let's see which unlucky soul we'll be dealing with tonight."
He had barely taken a step with Lucy in tow when he suddenly stopped.
It wasn't that Zed didn't want to eliminate a few "petty criminals". In fact, before his rebirth, he had worked as a bounty hunter for a while. Given the clues on the handbill, he could easily track down the weakest of these evildoers, and with his current gun and heightened senses, it wouldn't be a problem.
Lucy was one of the few sources of kindness left in his life anyway, and Zed just needed to be careful during their mission.
The problem was, he had no idea where to find these people.
In the past, Zed had access to a range of Spore technologies that he could use for simple hypnosis and interrogation, quickly identifying targets, and even tracking those on the blacklist with a sophisticated system.
Now, amid the uncleared ruins, all Zed had were a small pile of vomit, several useless wanted posters, and the tranquil stars in the sky.
Well, Zed admitted that as a vampire, he might have the opportunity to develop the power of hypnosis and interrogation. He had even seen vampires in an anime who could walk through walls, see through objects, or even stop time by calling the name of mather planet.
But that wasn't the issue at hand.
Lucy noticed Zed's unintentional grip on her hand tighten. After watching him for a moment, she spoke up:
"If it's just finding them out, I can help."
As she finished speaking, her body transformed into dazzling butterflies that scattered into the air, swirling like a whirlwind and reflecting the starry night sky above.