A Different Breakfast

Day broke the next morning.

Mike got up.

Skye carried over a tray with a sandwich and orange juice on it.

"Thanks."

He had almost forgotten the last time he had eaten a proper breakfast.

Smack!

"What are you doing?!"

Skye slapped Mike's hand away and glared at him. "That's Babi's."

Mike: "..."

Babi sniffed the orange juice, then clumsily held the cup with both paws and gulped it down...

"Ha~"

Babi looked utterly satisfied.

Skye held the sandwich to Charmander's mouth.

"Char." Babi shook his head and patted his belly.

Only then did Mike notice that Babi's belly was round and swollen.

"What did you feed him this early in the morning?" Mike asked.

"Just two pan-fried steaks." Skye looked innocent as she brought the sandwich to Mike's mouth. "Here, yours..."

Yesterday, they had been all lovey-dovey, their lips practically sticking together. Now he could only eat another "person's" leftovers?

"I'm going to brush my teeth."

Mike ran into the bathroom. He felt something strange on his chest and gently peeled at it, tearing off a thick layer of hardened black grime.

"Stinks!"

Pinching his nose, Mike tossed the hardened grime into the toilet and flushed it away. While he was at it, he took a shower to make up for yesterday's.

By the time Mike came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist, Skye had fried another two steaks, along with a cup of coffee and a glass of juice.

Mike bit off more than half the sandwich in one mouthful and chewed hungrily. "I'm starving."

Skye shot him a sidelong glance. "You normally don't even eat breakfast, do you?"

"Hehe." Mike played dumb.

After staying up until dawn working out with other female fitness enthusiasts, then sleeping until the afternoon, why would he eat breakfast?

He swallowed the rest of the sandwich in another bite. "Energy is conserved... Healing my injuries consumed too much energy. I need to replenish it."

He had not noticed it right after waking up, but the more he ate, the hungrier he became. Mike felt like a starving ghost reborn. Forgetting about the knife and fork, he grabbed a steak and stuffed it into his mouth, eating until meat juices ran down from the corners of his mouth onto his chest.

"Honestly, you're like a child." Skye hurriedly wiped away the meat juice with a napkin. "You can have this one too. I'll just drink coffee."

Skye cut up her own steak and pushed it in front of Mike. At that moment, Mike did not bother being polite and grabbed it to eat.

After wolfing down two steaks, Mike felt much better and gulped down the juice.

"Is that enough? There's still a tomahawk steak in the fridge. It's already marinated. Should I bake it in the oven?"

"Sure." Mike kissed Skye. "You're the best."

"Ew!" Skye wiped her mouth in disgust. "It's all meat juice."

Mike grinned smugly.

Skye went downstairs, with Babi following right behind her like a little tagalong.

Mike got dressed, then turned on the news.

The news first reported the explosion in Hell's Kitchen. According to firefighters, it was highly likely caused by a natural gas leak. The exact cause would have to wait for an expert investigation.

Then came the bizarre breakage of support pillars on the top floor of a high-rise, causing the entire rooftop terrace to slide off the building. Fortunately, there were no other buildings nearby, and no casualties resulted.

"Both news stories have something to do with me. Am I going to become the Marvel branch of Conan Edogawa?"

Mike mocked himself.

After watching the news for a while, he saw politicians boasting endlessly, praising the United States and raging against people from other countries, while street brawls broke out everywhere. Civilians calmly walked past with coffee in hand, and their calmness was strangely heartbreaking.

As the news continued, Mike opened his computer. Fat Jerry and Coulson had each sent him an email.

Fat Jerry's email contained a list of notable shooters recently active in New York.

Coulson had sent several video screenshots and photos. One person in them looked very familiar.

"Scud?"

"A shooter hired by the Vampire Kingdom?"

"No. If it were the Vampire Kingdom, wouldn't it be better to ambush me at the Vampire Kingdom headquarters?"

"Could Scud be a triple agent?"

Continuing down, Mike saw a photo of Scud getting shot in the head.

"Silenced... Why am I not surprised at all?"

"The mastermind is cautious and ruthless. There probably won't be much to find from the other clues either. But... as long as I run into that shooter again, I'll recognize him at a glance, even if he's wearing a helmet."

Skye came upstairs carrying a baking tray, and Mike quickly closed his laptop.

"Is there something I'm not allowed to see? Flirting with other girls?" Skye narrowed her eyes.

Mike obediently opened the computer. "No, I'm investigating the shooter who ambushed me yesterday. The pictures are a little bloody."

Skye saw the photo of Scud being shot in the head and looked distressed.

After a moment of silence, Mike said, "Skye, I don't want to lie. If this guy had fallen into my hands, he definitely wouldn't have died so comfortably."

"This man and the shooter know where I live... The shooter is extremely capable, so they're probably very confident. If they weren't so confident and captured you, Old Earl, and Chloe as hostages, what would I do? What would I do if any one of you got hurt?"

"So I have to make my enemies understand that if they strike at me or the people around me in secret, no matter who they are, how much wealth they have, or what power and status they possess, they will face the fiercest retaliation. Only then will they consider whether they can bear the consequences before making a move."

"Setting all that aside, this man was named Scud. He was a Vampire Cultist. Vampire Cultists are humans who work for Vampires. They help Vampires capture humans and do things for them during the day that Vampires cannot do themselves."

Skye's eyes widened. "Vampire Cultists? Why would they do that?"

She could not understand such behavior.

"I don't know. Maybe they fear death. Maybe they worship so-called superior beings. Or maybe they truly have hardships they cannot avoid. Vampire Cultists... from humanity's perspective, this is absolutely unforgivable."

Mike gently hugged Skye. "Sorry for making you go through this. Sorry for adding so much danger to your future."

Skye leaned against Mike's chest and said softly, "This was my own choice, wasn't it... Besides, Babi, you'll protect me properly, right?"

Seeing Mike and Skye hugging, Babi wanted to join in too, but he was too short and could only circle around them. Hearing Skye's words, Charmander immediately stood up straight and patted his chest with his little claws. "Char! Char!"

"I'm not that fragile, you know. I told you before." Skye rubbed her nose. "Let's eat."

The tomahawk steak weighed seven or eight pounds with the bone and meat included. Skye ate a little, then cut off some for Babi to taste. Most of it ended up in Mike's stomach.

Noise came from downstairs.

Skye panicked. "Oh no, Old Earl came to open the door."

Mike smiled faintly. "What are you panicking for?"

Skye bit her lip. "I'm wearing yesterday's clothes. Old Earl will definitely think we... Oh no, it's Saturday. Chloe is here too. What do I do? What do I do? It's all your fault!"

"Why don't you hide upstairs until Old Earl goes to work?" Mike suggested.

"I'm not hiding. It's not like we did anything shameful." Skye put her hands on her hips.

Mike held Skye by both shoulders and looked directly into her eyes.

"Exactly. You said it's nothing shameful, so what are you panicking for? You should be thinking about how to explain Babi instead, unless you want to keep hiding Babi's existence from them forever..."