A city made new

The top floor of the Hailier Hotel was a spacious hall, without the lavish decorations of the floors below, lit only by dim lights.

In the hall, where there was barely enough light to see, stood an enormous table with a broad chair on each side.

The hall doors suddenly opened, and several servants each led someone inside.

Following the servants, they walked naturally to the table and each found a chair to sit in.

While they waited for the food to arrive, these "people" began chatting.

"Hall, why do you look so pale?"

The dim light did nothing to obstruct their vision, and an eerie gleam shone in their green eyes.

"This is our weekly celebration. Don't spoil the festive atmosphere with that miserable face, all right? Besides, the banquet is being held in your territory today. You should be the happiest one here."

One of them addressed Hall, but his expression did not improve.

The others began asking what had happened. Hall knitted his brows and slowly said, "My subordinate hasn't reported on the banquet today, and that worries me a little. By rights, the banquet should already be over."

The others exchanged glances before finally laughing. "Hall, you're too cautious. Maybe tonight's ingredients were so good that your subordinate couldn't bear to leave."

Hall's expression did not improve. Instead, it grew increasingly grave as time passed.

Ignoring the other idiots, who had started discussing how to punish their subordinates, Hall began considering why he had such a bad feeling.

He had personally planned the banquet's location and procedures. There would be none of the problems those other idiots had, where they could not even clean up the scene properly.

Moreover, they had won over most of the city's upper echelon. With those people covering for them, nothing unexpected should happen.

But Hall was an extremely cautious vampire. He had repeatedly instructed the subordinate hosting the banquet to report its progress promptly.

Hall had stipulated once an hour, but his subordinate knew his temperament and usually reported every half hour.

Holding his silent phone, Hall watched the minutes and seconds tick by, his heart growing heavier.

Just then, the doors opened, and a butler entered.

"Esteemed masters, your dinner is ready."

He clapped his hands, and servants wheeled in dining carts, each carrying a coffin.

The butler directed the servants to lift them onto the dining table, bowed respectfully, then left with the servants.

The man who had first questioned Hall stood up and smiled. "These are premium ingredients I gathered from all over the world. Ingredients of this caliber are usually reserved for the elders, but today, I've brought them out for you all to sample."

The coffins opened to reveal soft swan feathers. Nestled among the feathers were girls of various skin colors, all exceptionally beautiful.

The girls had been plied with strong liquor. Their eyes were hazy, and they had no idea they had already been served at the dining table.

The vampires stared at the delicacies before them, sniffing deeply at the scent of blood mingled with alcohol emanating from their food.

Even Hall could not look away. Gazing at these premium foods, he felt the desire in his vampire blood stirring.

The host suppressed his desire and slowly said, "This food is my apology to you all. My carelessness last time drew some vampire hunters' attention to this city and caused you trouble."

One vampire said impatiently, "A few pieces of trash who can only hunt the lowest ranks of our kind aren't worth mentioning."

The host smiled, knowing his efforts this time had not been wasted. His previous carelessness had drawn the attention of several major organizations to this city.

Among them was humanity's premier intelligence agency, S.H.I.E.L.D., but judging from that man's words, it seemed everything was fine now.

Seeing their impatience, he said no more and announced that they could begin eating.

The vampires could no longer sit still. Green light almost shot from their eyes as they lunged at the delicacies before them.

But a voice suddenly rang out.

"Well, damn. Other people want to 'eat' them, but you actually want to eat them."

Telling a joke from his native language in a foreign tongue, Luke laughed at his own amusement.

The vampires restrained their instinctive desire and warily eyed this fellow who had suddenly appeared.

"Butler?" the host called loudly. The doors immediately opened, and after a quick glance inside, the butler charged in with a group of servants.

"Who are you?" the butler demanded, directing the servants to surround Luke.

As they gradually revealed their true forms, Luke counted them.

"So many mid-level vampires. Looks like I'll make a lot today." Luke stood up on the table and looked at the vampires sheltered behind them, who had yet to reveal their true forms.

"And what level of vampires are you? Tell me so I can see how many digits you're worth."

The vampires being protected in the back were naturally furious. The host shouted, "You're a damned vampire hunter? An inferior race! A filthy blood bottle! How dare you speak to me like that!"

Luke was not angry. Instead, he glanced at him. This brat probably had the strongest backing of the lot. He could capture him later and see what information he had.

An inexplicable chill ran down the host's back, leaving him somewhat frightened. He ordered the butler to kill this vampire hunter who had a death wish, then headed for the door with his companions.

"You're already here, so why leave?" Luke called, clapping his hands as though he had not seen the approaching vampires.

He could not help it. He did not know how to snap his fingers, though clapping looked pretty impressive too.

A group of ninjas suddenly appeared, blending into the darkness with only their red eyes showing.

"You haven't even enjoyed your food yet. Why are you trying to leave?"

Looking at the vampires, Luke felt a surge of playfulness.

"After all, there are so many of you vampires. What are you scared of?" Luke said. "I only have a hundred million or two little friends."

He clapped again, and more pairs of red eyes appeared behind him.

"Right, now we're even." Luke nodded. "But you're noble vampires, after all, so I think you should at least fight two each."

He clapped again, and another mass of eyes appeared.

Watching the vampires' expressions slowly change, Luke continued, "But a few of you look like real tough customers. I don't think two against one is enough. Let's just add some more."

He clapped, but nothing happened behind him. Looking at the somewhat bewildered vampires, Luke shook his head and spread his hands. "There's only so much room behind me. How could that many people fit?"

Just as the vampires breathed a sigh of relief, Luke smiled. "There isn't enough room behind me, but there's plenty behind you."

Some of the vampires reacted quickly and turned, only to discover countless pairs of eyes appearing throughout the hall.

The encirclement had been reversed. The butler immediately ordered the vampires to protect the tough customers and break out.

But the Shadow Ninjas would not let them have their way. Glints of cold steel slashed toward the vampires. Although these vampires were several times stronger than ordinary ones, they were still hacked to death beneath the many ninjas' blades.

Seeing his subordinates rapidly eliminated, the butler roared. His body abruptly swelled into a small giant, but an even larger giant suddenly appeared before him.

"Why are you shouting so loudly?" Luke picked at his ear with his little finger as the Troll Soldier brought down a fist.

With a crash, the butler was sent flying and landed on the floor, his fate unknown.

"All that shouting, and you couldn't even take one punch. Who are you trying to impress?" Luke shook his head, exasperated by these vampires' intelligence.

Why would a bunch of assassins roar to boost their fighting spirit and then transform? Isn't agility your specialty? Move around! Fighting a team battle like this, you won't even get half an assist!

Seeing that the butler's chest was still rising and falling, Luke knew he was alive. He instructed the ninjas to tie him up, then looked at the last few vampires still standing.

"Fight them to the death!" The leader also abruptly transformed and roared.

The others transformed in succession, becoming small giants.

Luke nodded. Apparently, transformation was a skill exclusive to high-level vampires. Otherwise, those grunts would not have fallen to a single slash.

Luke now had a rough understanding of these vampires' strength. Ordinary vampires were the crowd who had been singing together, with only twice a human's physical strength. The higher-ups among those singers were low-level vampires, with four times a human's strength. The grunts just now were mid-level vampires, with roughly eight times a human's strength. These high-level tough customers had about ten times a human's strength before transforming, and twenty times afterward.

But their intelligence was a problem. They watched the Troll Soldier's fist coming without dodging and were punched straight to death.

Their intelligence was beyond saving. Luke sighed, but these high-level ones still had some hope. They knew their advantage and turned into afterimages darting through the hall.

After a moment's thought, Luke simply released 300 Assassin Ninja Soldiers to take their time playing hide-and-seek with them.

With these Assassin Ninja Soldiers matching their speed, the vampires came under far greater pressure. Unfortunately, the hall had been built with no intention of letting sunlight in, leaving it without even a window. They could not escape.

Looking at the doors guarded by numerous ninjas, Hall kept thinking of a solution.

Watching his companions being chased everywhere, Hall shouted, "These ninjas have no blood in their bodies! They aren't human at all! Why don't we kill that fellow instead? Maybe these ninjas will disappear!"

Hall shouted whatever came to mind, unaware that he had guessed the truth.

Discovering that one of the vampires had some brains, Luke cautiously prepared to sneak toward the doors and flee. At worst, he could run outside and let the ninjas shut the doors and finish them off.

Hearing those words from Hall, the brains of their group, the vampires immediately perked up. Exchanging glances, they suddenly charged at Luke.

Luke sneaked straight toward the doors, arriving almost instantly. His movement speed while sneaking was now so incredibly fast that it was no different from teleportation, beyond even his own reaction speed. But with advance preparation, he could still reach his destination precisely.

Casually placing a ring of Assassin Ninja Soldiers where he had originally stood, Luke glanced back, only to discover the vampire who had shouted flying toward him.

Holy crap, did he predict that?

Startled, Luke instantly coated his hand with 1,600 points of dark energy and threw a punch.

Hall was also stunned to see Luke suddenly appear. Seeing him punch without the slightest hesitation gave Hall a fright as well.

He actually guessed I wanted to escape? Turmoil rose in Hall's heart, but it was too late to stop. He could only force his way through!

The two collided violently. Luke was sent flying, smashing through the doors and falling to the floor.

The vampire fared little better. Force worked both ways, after all. He too suffered internal injuries from the impact, and the Assassin Ninja Soldiers catching up sliced off his hands and feet, leaving him on the floor.

His abandoned companions were surrounded by Assassin Ninja Soldiers and captured outright.

"You bastard, Hall! How dare you deceive me!" the host shouted furiously. Being deceived by one of his own was even less acceptable to him than being captured by someone else.

Hall struggled on the floor, unable to be bothered with this idiot.

Luke, meanwhile, stood up as though nothing had happened and looked at him.

Glaring viciously at Hall, Luke walked over, planted a foot on his chest, and gave him several hard kicks.

Surprisingly, the person happiest to see Hall being kicked was the host. Looking at the excited fellow, Luke suddenly had an idea.

"Hey, you over there. If you tell me where the vampires' bases in this city are, how about I hand this fellow over for you to deal with?"

Enduring the pain, Hall was not actually worried. He knew Luke had kept him alive because he had questions to ask. As long as he said nothing, he might still have a slim chance of survival. But when Luke ignored him and questioned the host instead, Hall's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Meeting the host's furious gaze, Hall felt his heart turn cold as he watched the host nod emphatically.

Half an hour later, Luke walked out of the hotel, which had already been purged. He had killed every vampire inside except the host. Of course, he was a man of his word. The host had killed Hall.

Looking at the humble host beside him, Luke put a thick, heavy iron chain around him and had him lead the way like a dog on a walk. The host dared not voice his anger and slowly led the way, his thoughts unknown.

After calling Coulson and telling him to come clean up, Luke took the host along and efficiently purged the vampires throughout Los Angeles.

A day later, facing the rising sun, Luke watched the host burn to ashes and felt thoroughly satisfied.

Over the past night, Luke had earned a full eight million dollars, five million of which had come from high-level vampires. The rest had accumulated from weaker vampires.

Having made a fortune, Luke looked at the Los Angeles behind him, now made new, and left with a sense of accomplishment. He planned to visit other cities and see just how many vampires there were in this rotten country.

As for Coulson, he was probably still running all over the city, cleaning up after Luke...