Uncle Billy

Thump~ thump~ thump~

It was evening.

From the bell tower of a distant Catholic church came the deep, melodious tolling of bells.

Brian yawned, opened his eyes blearily, and prepared to get up from the sofa to see if he could pick up some new part-time work.

It was not just for the money.

It was also to treat his illness.

For some reason, his mental problems had been getting worse lately, and he even often experienced hallucinations.

The hallucinations were shockingly similar: the wretched states before death of those beasts he had personally sent off through "accidents" in his early years replayed before him again and again, or else the more than thousand corpses he had dissected over the past two years kept smiling at him, questioning why he had taken them apart into pieces.

After every hallucination, Brian felt his hands itch, wanting to destroy something.

By relying on part-time jobs again and again, he had managed to hold out until now.

Just then, tap, tap~

A sudden knocking sounded from outside.

Before Brian could ask who it was, crack~

with the piercing sound of twisting metal, the apartment door's sturdy lock had already warped out of shape and was forced open.

A tall, black-haired, middle-aged white man nearly two meters tall and strong as a savage bear stood like a human wall. After sweeping a glance around the room, he strode toward Brian, then sat down on the sofa opposite him.

Behind the man, two men in suits, dressed like bodyguards, very perceptively closed the door and stood guard outside.

Creak~

The sofa that had accompanied Brian through countless bloody battles and still held firm let out a strange noise under the unbearable weight.

"Brian, my nephew, you've missed the family gatherings several times now!"

The bear-like middle-aged man looked sharply at Brian, who had sat back down.

Brian suppressed the killing intent in his heart and shrugged. "Uncle, you know how it is. My adoptive parents need a lot of medical expenses every month. Aside from work, all I can do every day is busy myself with part-time jobs."

The middle-aged man was none other than Brian's uncle, the patriarch of the Camo Family, and also the boss of Los Angeles's largest Italian mafia group—the Blood Bath Gang—Billy Camo.

He was a truly savage and cunning man.

Brian had once personally seen Uncle Billy at a family hunting gathering fighting a North American Gray Wolf barehanded, then tearing off that gray wolf's jaw alive, chewing it in great mouthfuls and sucking down the wolf blood. He was simply wilder than a real beast.

Aside from that, his grasp of the human heart could only be called terrifying.

Only after Brian had deliberately practiced microexpressions for a very long time could he conceal the hostility in his heart before this uncle and intentionally pretend to be weak.

He just did not know why.

This uncle had always kept a very low profile in New York, and only after coming to Los Angeles had he gradually begun to show his brilliance.

In just a few short years, Uncle Billy had led the family members to replace the original small gangs in those Italian Communities. Later, he had even fought his way outward directly, swallowing up several small and medium-sized gangs in succession and creating the Blood Bath Gang of today.

Billy heard the complaint in Brian's tone, and a faint smile appeared on his rugged face. "Brian, I told you, as long as you cooperate afterward, the family will cover all of your adoptive parents' medical expenses."

Brian nodded. "Uncle, did you come over because there's something urgent?"

After saying that, half genuine and half feigned, he looked painedly at the broken lock on the door.

Changing the lock would cost quite a bit.

The lock itself was not expensive; the labor was.

This was all his hard-earned money!

Hard-earned money in the truest sense!

Motherfucker!

If you were going to break in, why the fuck did you knock!

Billy, however, seemed to have heard Brian's thoughts and said with certainty, "You're cursing me in your heart!"

Without waiting for Brian to respond, he continued on his own, tossing a bank card onto the coffee table.

"Knocking is about manners. Breaking the door down is because I don't have the patience to wait!"

"Brian, everything you want to say is written all over your face."

"That won't do."

"It'll get in the way of what comes next for you."

Plans?

Brian's heart stirred. He put on a calm front, but his hand trembled slightly as he picked up the bank card. "Uncle, what is this?"

"There's over two million dollars in there. Even if you give your adoptive parents the best and most expensive medical care available, it should last more than two years."

Billy took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, weariness appearing on his face. "Stop pretending to be calm. Your act is terrible. Your hand is shaking. Brian, you're actually shocked, which means you understand what I mean."

"All right, Uncle. Sometimes I really wonder if you can read minds." Brian raised his hands in surrender and resigned himself to it. "Has there been a change in the Three-Year Pact plan?"

Billy blew out a large smoke ring and nodded.

"More than two years ago."

"I learned an astonishing secret from an old forensic doctor."

"That secret might just be the opportunity for the Camo Family to soar."

"At the time, that old forensic doctor told me."

"The Los Angeles city government would implement an expansion plan for the Criminal Experiment Team in March 2006."

"For those team members, priority would be given to the Forensic Bureau, retired soldiers, and some other groups of people."

"In there, you can come into contact with things ordinary people don't know about."

"Those things are that astonishing secret?" Billy's words had hooked Brian's curiosity.

"Yes."

Billy nodded.

"I arranged for you to enter the Forensic Bureau and set the Three-Year Pact in order to verify whether that secret was true."

"I don't trust outsiders."

"The other family members don't have much education, their backgrounds aren't clean, and their brains don't work very well either."

"They could never join those Criminal Experiment Teams."

"But you, Brian, my most valued nephew."

"You're different."

"Your file is clean, your education is the highest among the family members, your relationships are tied to your adoptive parents, and you're still my blood relative."

"You are my best choice."

"So you came over this time because that plan has been moved up?" Brian waved the bank card in his hand. "Fine, then what do I do next?"

Based on Brian's understanding of this uncle of his.

This card probably could not be used yet.

Billy habitually pinched out the cigarette he had finished in two or three drags with his fingers. Seeing Brian's action, he could not help laughing. "Your great-grandfather was right. Taking losses is the fastest way to grow up. At least you're not as naive as you used to be."

"People always grow up. Life is like the tip of a dick—if you can't resist, you might as well enjoy it." Brian spread his hands in resignation. "We're family. I trust you won't treat me unfairly, Uncle."

People were all forced into who they became.

If not for his uncle's threat to his life, he really would not have been able to develop acting skills now comparable to a professional actor's.

After hearing Brian's words, Billy nodded in satisfaction.

He skillfully stuffed the cigarette butt into his own pocket and stood up.

"My people have been keeping an eye on the government's news."

"I don't know why."

"The crime lab expansion plan has been moved up by half a year."

"When you receive the notice."

"Remember to sign up in time."

Seeing that he was about to leave, Brian hurriedly pressed him. "Then after I get in, what exactly is the secret I need to verify?"

This concerned the password to the bank card in his hand.

With enough money.

His adoptive parents would be able to leave this world with dignity.

And he could strike without any misgivings, venting the anger that had built up over the past few months!

"You'll know when the time comes." As Billy spoke, he patted Brian on the shoulder. "The secret for the password. Don't disappoint me."

With that, he walked straight to the door, then suddenly stopped and turned his head, his words carrying a pointed meaning.

"Oh, right, Brian."

Tonight was the night of the Blood Moon, a celestial event that came once every thirty years.

I had seen it once when I was little.

For countless days and nights afterward, that scene had often appeared in my dreams.

It was simply the most beautiful treasure God had ever bestowed upon mankind.

Believe me.

"When the Blood Moon returns tonight, you absolutely won't want to miss that beautiful sight."

"The Blood Moon phenomenon?"

Brian nodded and said perfunctorily, "All right, Uncle. If there are no new appraisal orders tonight, I'll—"

"No ifs!" When Billy heard Brian's words, around his dark-brown eyes, hideous bloodshot lines that made one's skin crawl actually spread at a speed visible to the naked eye. He stared straight into Brian's eyes. "What I mean is, tonight, you must bathe in the Blood Moon's radiance and properly admire the gift God has bestowed upon mankind!"

What kind of eyes were those?!

Brian swore that even back when his uncle had torn apart that strong adult gray wolf with his bare hands, the incomparably savage look in his eyes had not been as terrifying and chilling as it was today.

He did not know how long had passed.

Only then did Brian shudder and come back to himself.

Somewhat dazed, he swept his gaze around.

Aside from the apartment door, which now had only a twisted lock left, his uncle's figure had already vanished without a trace.

Brian rubbed the goose bumps that had risen on his arms, then collapsed weakly back onto the sofa. Powerless, he clutched at his violently pounding heart, still badly shaken.

That look in his eyes...

It was even more suffocating than being stared down by a savage, bloodthirsty beast.

But.

Something was off!!!

A thoughtful look flashed through Brian's eyes.

His childhood experiences, and more than two years of training at the Forensic Bureau after he became an adult!

Especially these past few years.

Under severe mental torment, his personality had already undergone an earth-shattering change!

The current Brian could chat and laugh while dismembering the corpses of his own kind during an autopsy, then, after finishing, eat a serving of spaghetti with tomato meat sauce.

All of that was nothing.

When his illness flared up, he would even give rise to some very perverse thoughts and impulses.

If not for the "pressure transfer method" suggested by his doctor, Brian had no doubt that, driven by the desires in his heart, he would have long since become a professional serial-case perverted killer.

A person like him.

How could he possibly be frightened out of his wits by someone's gaze, as if he had been hit by a hard-control skill in a game?

That simply wasn't scientific!

It couldn't be that his uncle had launched a mental attack on him, could it?

At that thought, even Brian laughed at himself.

Yet one thought rose uncontrollably in his heart: Was Uncle Billy really human?

I changed the uncle's name. In Chapter Two it was Capone, and in this chapter I changed it to Billy.

I've been dizzy with busyness these past two days.

Sorting out the ending of the old book.

Sorting out the tips from the previous old book. (Boss Ye, I won't say anything else. When you have time, come take the chrysanthemum. I have no objections.)

Revising the previous outline and detailed plot outline for the new book. (Because of scale issues, all the saved drafts have to be revised.)

The only benefit is that I got into the groove quickly, I suppose.

There will be another chapter in a bit. Thank you, brothers, for your support. Only by updating steadily and writing a good story can I be worthy of your never abandoning me.