A Dance Together

[Part 1: The Beast's Scars]

They stared at each other—

—Vincent's gaze was cold, Victor's burning.

One was calm and indifferent. The other arrogant and obsessed.

"At this very moment—" David Victor spoke first. "—you must be wondering where Jack Martin went, Vincent, Wen Bucai, aren't you? Jack's impression of your face was so aptly described. He called it red copper, carved by knives and chisels and polished with stone dust, mysterious as an ancient artifact."

Vincent was about to lift the serving tray and pull out his gun, ready to shoot this strange-looking guest who seemed to belong to the Perfume Bottle Gang on the spot. He didn't want to waste a single word on him.

David Victor immediately added, "Don't you want to know? Not even a little? Don't you want to know who I am? Or where that young man, Jack Martin, went?"

The gun muzzle shifted to David's brow.

Wen Bucai said, "I figured he was dead."

"So heartless? So devoid of loyalty?" David Victor furrowed his brow, then muttered to himself in a mix of anxiety and confusion, "That's completely different from the personality Jack described in his profile!"

Before he could finish—

"Bang!"

Vincent pulled the trigger.

The bullet flew so close to Mr. David's face that it nearly grazed him.

It shattered the clay flowerpot at the end of the corridor.

The gunshot echoed through the narrow hallway. Only when the thunderous noise had died away did Vincent come to his senses, stunned and disoriented.

He'd missed!

Why?

Why had he missed?

Was the gun unreliable? Couldn't he trust it?

At that moment, David Victor crumpled a sheet of paper in his palm. It was the paper that had caught Vincent's attention, allowing Hell Highway to briefly seize control of his mind. Just