"Is it related to Jingcheng? Or because of the Evil God again? So this young man is an Apostle? I remember Ye Yan wore a mask back then, and I thought masks were standard for Evil God Apostles."
Duan Chen cautiously uttered the term, while Wu Suowei, in a 213 move, took down the enemy marksman. Simultaneously, he was caught by Charlotte, and his screen went black after two hits.
"Your guess is almost right, as expected of a senior agent. He is the Evil God's 06th Apostle," Wu Suowei said calmly.
Indeed, it was the Evil God. Duan Chen recalled the previous "3" and "5".
"You know about Gu Sang's matter?"
"Mm."
Duan Chen probed, "Will you kill him too?"
"I wouldn't have, but now I will."
"Why?"
"He has been to the 'Paradise', transformed into a chess piece, and inherited mask number 3."
Perhaps sensing the conversation had become too heavy, or perhaps detecting eavesdropping, Duan Chen did not press further.
Bai Ye, while picking things up, listened intently and suddenly revealed a sinister smile.
Although he had sent a letter to Duan Chen before, he had never seen Duan Chen in person.
There were over 30 Spirit Hunter agents in Sucheng, and only two were senior agents responsible for the Abyss. He naturally knew Gao Tiankai's identity, so the remaining one could only be Duan Chen.
"So he is Duan Chen, hehehe, interesting..."
...
As the first rays of morning sun streamed in, Bai Ye straightened his stiff back, a heavy dark circle under his pale eyes.
He, the esteemed leader of the Watchers organization, the Evil God's 06th Apostle, and the second strongest Spirit Hunter in the country... had spent the entire night picking crow feathers in this place.
It was a scene he wouldn't have dared to imagine even in his wildest dreams.
However, thanks to the feathers, he had ample time to recover his spiritual energy. Apart from the fatigue from staying up all night, he was capable of performing another [Crow Feather Reincarnation].
He had considered escaping that night.
But every time the thought emerged, a terrifying and intimidating gaze emanated from the cloakroom, as if an invisible gun were hidden in the darkness, and he was the prey locked onto by the hunter.
The moment he spread his wings would be the moment of death.
Finally, he gave up. Picking feathers, it wasn't that difficult...
But picking for an entire night was truly agonizing.
"Boss, the feathers are all picked clean." Bai Ye obediently carried a bag of black feathers towards the cloakroom.
"You hide in this bush. When Jialuo comes, take him down in one combo."
"Okay, beautiful! Leave the rest to me!"
"Double kill, triple kill, aced..."
The enemy crystal shattered with a roar, and the victory logo appeared on the screen. Duan Chen stretched and quit the game with satisfaction.
The stars he had lost at Lu Zhai's place were finally regained.
Wu Suowei, looking at the shining stars, actually showed a look of joy.
Duan Chen had discovered that the omniscient, omnipotent, and invincible Master Wu Suowei was terrible at games, and played poorly but loved to play.
After a single misplay led to him being counter-killed, he expressionlessly crushed his phone and, to Duan Chen's surprise, calmly took out a new one.
He powered it on, logged into the game, and seamlessly continued, all with practiced ease.
After sacrificing 18 phones, Wu Suowei was carried by Duan Chen all the way to the Star level.
"Now I understand why you take so many temporary jobs," Duan Chen said, glancing at the wreckage of phones on the floor, utterly speechless.
"I also understand why the Evil God plays games with you. Heh, you're really bad at games."
"..." Wu Suowei's expression soured. "The Evil God, he just likes to play little tricks."
"Can't be helped, no one can match a god in a head-on confrontation," Duan Chen said with a teasing smile.
"Boss, the feathers are all picked clean, not a single one left," Bai Ye said, knocking on the cloakroom door and showing an innocent smile, seeing that he had been ignored.
Duan Chen glanced up and suddenly felt like laughing.
Was this guy pretending to be foolish or truly foolish? He had actually obediently picked all the feathers and hadn't escaped. Wu Suowei was going to kill him, yet he practically walked into the trap.
After a sweep, the bedroom was indeed devoid of any crow feathers, and not even a single strand of hair was found.
"Not bad, very clean." Duan Chen felt a sense of relief looking at the tidy bedroom.
Bai Ye, however, felt a pang of misery. He had intended to just pick a few, but as he kept picking... his obsessive-compulsive disorder kicked in, and he became engrossed in the task. By the time he realized it, his back was already too stiff to straighten.
Wu Suowei put away his phone, seemingly in a much better mood due to regaining many stars.
"Can I kill him now?"
Bai Ye immediately hid behind Duan Chen, revealing a pair of blood-red rabbit eyes, and said pitifully, "I've worked all night and haven't eaten. At least let me have a full meal before I die."
As soon as he spoke, Duan Chen's stomach rumbled.
"Alright, then eat first, then die." Wu Suowei was surprisingly accommodating.
Bai Ye breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at Duan Chen, "Boss, for my last meal before I die, can I have something good?"
"Tell me, what do you want to eat."
Even death row inmates at the police station had human rights, and many would request a final satisfying meal. Duan Chen would naturally indulge in such a request.
Bai Ye's eyes lit up. His arms, softer and more slender than a woman's, wrapped around Duan Chen, and his head leaned against Duan Chen's exposed neck.
"Haa~"
A breath of cold air blew onto Duan Chen's neck.
Duan Chen shivered and, with a swift counter-move, grabbed him and executed a clean over-the-shoulder throw.
*Bang!*
Bai Ye landed on his backside with a pained grunt.
"Damn it, what are you doing?"
Bai Ye's crimson pupils flickered, a hint of grievance in his eyes, and four sharp fangs appeared on his smiling lips.
"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Your blood is just too tempting..."
So he was a vampire.
Duan Chen had encountered many ability users whose bloodlines changed after awakening, but this was his first time encountering a vampire.
"But I heard vampires associate with bats. Why are you with crows?"
Bai Ye smiled mysteriously, "My ability is crows. Blood-sucking is purely a personal hobby and has nothing to do with being a vampire."
"..."
At this moment, Wu Suowei's voice came from downstairs.
"Dinner's ready."
And thus, the bizarre scene unfolded: the three of them sat at a dining table large enough for twelve people, with considerable distance between each person.
The table was laden with a vast array of breakfast items.
There was Chinese cuisine: fried dough sticks and soy milk, scallion pancakes and mung bean soup, xiaolongbao, various shaped pastries...
There was Western cuisine: ham and egg sandwiches, pork patty McMuffins, various breads and sausages, coffee, orange juice...
And then there was:
A clucking free-range chicken, a oinking suckling pig, a flapping duck, a bleating sheep, and a trembling pigeon.
"..."
"..."
Duan Chen and Bai Ye held their cutlery, their expressions complex.