The music inside the slaughterhouse was deafening, the bass so heavy it made the walls vibrate. By the time Rex Viper emptied his first two magazines, dozens of vampires near the entrance had already been reduced to ash, but the ones deeper inside still hadn't understood what was happening. They kept dancing, drinking, and shouting under the flashing lights, completely unaware that a massacre had already begun at the door.
That only lasted a few more seconds. Rex raised his pistol, aimed at the DJ booth, and fired. The DJ dropped instantly, and the pounding music cut off so abruptly that the silence felt violent.
Only then did the rest of the vampires realize something was wrong. Heads snapped toward the entrance, and panic rippled through the hall. A few stubborn idiots rushed him first, probably thinking they could tear him apart before he had time to react, but Rex put them down just as quickly as the others.
He didn't charge forward. He stayed planted at the main entrance like a one-man firing line, calmly squeezing the trigger over and over as vampires stumbled into his sights. Nearly every bullet claimed a target, and with silver-plated rounds tearing through them, there was no room for second chances.
Once they realized the front door had turned into a death trap, the remaining vampires swarmed toward the back of the stage. They shoved and clawed at each other trying to get through the rear exit, and the moment the door burst open, a blinding purple-white light exploded into the darkness outside.
The few who ran the fastest didn't even have time to scream properly before they burned into ash. The ones behind them recoiled in horror, howling as they stumbled backward into the hall.
At that point, Rex was already reloading for the second time. More than seventy bullets had been fired, and over half the vampires in the club were already dead. The system notifications in his head kept chiming one after another, but he ignored them for now and kept killing.
The surviving vampires finally gave up on escape and rushed him all at once in pure desperation. That was exactly what he had been waiting for. With one motion, he flung out a handful of silver powder, sending a glittering cloud across the air between them.
The effect was immediate.
The fine silver dust turned into an invisible wall of agony. The moment their skin touched it, the vampires shrieked in pain as if they had run into acid. The ones who inhaled it had it even worse. They collapsed clutching their stomachs, rolling on the floor and howling like animals.
By the time Rex finished firing his third pair of magazines, the main floor had been wiped clean. Only a few survivors remained, crouched behind columns, under tables, or in dark corners, either waiting for a chance to ambush him or just praying to survive.
To everyone else, they might have been hidden. To Rex, they were glowing beacons.
His infrared vision lit them up through the darkness, every body outlined with bright heat. He walked forward at an easy pace, pistols steady, and shot them one by one as he crossed the dance floor. There was no rush to it anymore. It was just cleanup.
Then a voice sounded from behind him.
"The hell happened here?"
Rex turned and saw a black man standing in the doorway, dressed in a black leather coat, sunglasses still on even at night, with a long blade strapped across his back and a shotgun in his hands. He stared into the room full of ash, blood, and bodies, clearly trying to figure out where the targets had gone.
Blade.
Rex grinned under the mask. "You're late," he said. "I already cleaned out every vampire at this blood feast."
Blade shifted his shotgun slightly and frowned. "Who are you?"
Rex gave him a casual nod. "I'm the famous vampire hunter Night Walker. You never heard of me?"
Blade looked mildly confused. "No. I've only heard of the Daywalker."
Rex's smile widened. "Daywalker, sure, I've heard of him too. But a real man faces the strongest enemies head-on. What's so impressive about walking in the daytime? I'm best at killing people at night."
He spread his hands a little as if presenting himself. "I hunt the monsters in the dark, so naturally my name is Night Walker."
Blade stared at him for a beat, clearly trying to process that nonsense. "That's not what Daywalker means," he said flatly. "I kill people at night too. The name has to do with vampires."
"Oh?" Rex's eyes brightened theatrically. He stepped forward and stuck out his hand. "Then we really are kindred spirits. If you kill people too, that makes us both major criminals. Nice to meet you, Blade."
Still wearing a baffled expression, Blade shook his hand. Rex immediately started digging through his pocket, fumbling around until he finally pulled out a business card. It had nothing on it except a phone number and a cartoon devil face.
He pressed it into Blade's hand. "That's my number. Give me a call if you ever want to kill somebody together. I've got things to do, so I'm heading out."
With that, he turned and left through the rear exit to meet David. As they drove off, Blade was still standing there staring at the card in his hand, looking like he wasn't sure whether he had just met a lunatic or an ally.
A few seconds later, footsteps pounded in from outside. Someone shouted, "Call the police! There's probably a murderer in there!"
Then another voice barked, "Everyone freeze! You in the trench coat, hands up!"
Blade rolled his eyes. He had come to hunt vampires and somehow ended up being the one caught at the scene.
On the ride back, David kept driving while Rex finally opened the system interface. A string of notifications flooded across his vision so fast that it was hard to track them all. Mission completion notices stacked one after another until the final results settled into place.
The evaluation screen paused on two panels.
Mission accomplished.
Target level: Bronze. Upgrade: No upgrade. Cause of death: Gunfire. Freshness: One star. End-of-life emotion: Fear. Emotional rating: Three stars. Overall mission score: Two stars. Reward: Bronze two-star gift pack.
Then more rewards followed immediately.
Congratulations on triggering the first twenty-kill streak reward: free attribute points plus twenty.
Congratulations on obtaining the Hundred Kills Achievement: special achievement gift pack.
That brought them to the part Rex actually cared about. Hunting down over a hundred vampires in one night had earned him ten bronze gift packs. Most of the kills had only rated one or two stars, and three-star targets were relatively rare, but ten packs were still ten packs.
He opened all of them at once.
Congratulations on receiving the rewards: basketball proficiency, assault rifle proficiency, underwater swimming proficiency, singing and dancing proficiency, and free attribute points plus thirty-two.
Rex stared at the list.
Basketball proficiency?
At six-foot-three with those stats, why was he still out here playing vigilante? At that rate he could go straight into the NBA, make tens of millions a year, drive luxury cars, sleep with movie stars, buy yachts, and throw parties every weekend. The Celtics had dominated enough already. Why not show up and turn it into an eighteen-year dynasty?
Then he looked at the rest again and snorted. Basketball, singing, dancing. Add rap and the system might as well debut him as an idol.
He moved on to the achievement pack.
Congratulations on receiving: Ability Upgrade Card.
Now that was useful. It did exactly what it sounded like it did. He could upgrade one of his current abilities.
That left him with a choice.
Night vision was out immediately. Infrared vision was useful, but not enough to justify using something this rare. Compound eyes were one of his strongest abilities in combat, especially when paired with firearms, and that made it tempting.
Then there was Dragon's Qi.
He sighed inwardly. Last time he had failed to use that particular talent on Vanessa, so right now it had no real civilian applications whatsoever.
One option improved combat performance. The other also improved combat performance. Great.
After thinking it through, he chose Dragon's Qi. His reconnaissance abilities were already strong enough between compound eyes, night vision, and infrared vision. What he lacked wasn't offense. With Combat Master and Pistol Master, his killing power was already more than enough.
What he needed was something that could improve survivability.
The moment he made the choice, a warm current surged through his body. The information on the system panel shifted.
Dragon's Qi: Burst.
He didn't gain full-body hardening like he had initially hoped. Instead, the upgraded form became an explosive enhancement. It could instantly double his physical performance for a short period, and he could also release a concentrated burst of dragon energy into a ranged strike, forming an indestructible fist of force that could smash into enemies from a distance.
The downside was obvious. It burned through stamina fast and couldn't be used repeatedly.
Still, it was strong.
After assigning the new attribute points, his stats changed dramatically.
Name: Rex Viper.
Age: 22.
Bloodline: Human.
Status: Normal.
Strength: 26. Speed: 26. Defense: 20. Constitution: 20. Spirit: 30. Human bloodline limit reached.
Skills: Combat Master, Pistol Master, Trap Master, Swimming Master, Basketball Master, Submachine Gun and Assault Rifle Master, Diving Master, Sniper Skill, Singing and Dancing Skill.
Abilities: Night Vision, Compound Eyes, Dragon's Qi: Burst, Infrared Vision.
Items: None.
Instance: Unlocked.
Alternate Universe: Unlocked.
Main Mission: Those who are guilty must be punished.
Iron prey: 15/19. Bronze prey: 4/25.
Newest mission: Silver Hunt. Silver prey: 0/1.
Creed: Kill to gain redemption.
The part that annoyed him was the line about spirit reaching the human bloodline limit. He clicked his tongue.
So what now? Let a vampire bite him?
That sounded terrible. Sunlight, garlic, silver. Every weakness bundled together just to break the cap. Besides, for now he had no obvious path to any other bloodline anyway. Most bloodlines came from birth, not something you could casually pick up and install later.
Unless the system itself could extract one.
The night wind blew through the cracked window of the truck, and for a brief moment Rex actually felt a little melancholy.
Elsewhere, in a luxurious office lit by the glow of the city skyline, Wilson Fisk stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows with a cigar in hand. The lights of New York glittered outside, cold and distant beneath the glass.
"Wesley," he said, "how is the plan progressing?"
Wesley stood nearby, posture straight and expression controlled. "So far, I've contacted Scorpion MacDonald, Leap-Frog Bartok, Mr. X from the League of Assassins, and your adopted daughter, Echo Maya. There was also a top assassin named John Wick, but he appears to have retired."
He paused briefly before adding, "The others should still be enough to assemble a very strong hunting team. But are you sure—"
Fisk rose from his chair and walked toward the window, smoke sliding slowly across the glass as he exhaled. "You think I'm doing this because I got emotional over Vanessa?"
Wesley said nothing.
Fisk's voice turned colder. "I'm not trying to kill him just because he ruined my first real moment with Vanessa, provoked me, and then escaped." His eyes narrowed as he looked down at the city. "I want him dead because he will become a major problem for all of us."
"But he's already the most wanted criminal in the city," Wesley said carefully. "The NYPD is searching for him, the gangs are hunting for him, and he hasn't appeared in Hell's Kitchen for days. Ever since…"
"Ever since he fought me," Fisk said with a sneer.
He turned slightly, the cigar glowing between his fingers. "Over the years, not many people have escaped my hands, Wesley. Don't underestimate him and assume he's just some little thug who kills street trash."
His gaze hardened completely.
"I have a feeling he's going to change all of Hell's Kitchen. Maybe even all of New York City. I will never allow someone that dangerous to exist."
Wesley lowered his head slightly. "Understood, boss."
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