A City Reborn

The top floor of the Hailier Hotel was a spacious hall. There were none of the luxurious decorations found below, only dim lighting.

In the barely visible hall stood a massive table, with a broad chair on each side.

The doors to the hall were suddenly pushed open, and several servants each led someone inside.

Under the servants' guidance, the group naturally walked to the table and each found a chair to sit in.

Before the food was served, the group began chatting.

"Hall, why do you look so pale?"

The dim lighting did not hinder their vision. Eerie glimmers shone in pairs of green eyes.

"Today is the weekly celebration. Could you not pull such a long face and ruin the festive mood? Besides, the banquet is being held in your territory today. You should be the happiest one here."

One of them spoke to Hall, but Hall's expression did not improve.

The others began asking what had happened. Hall furrowed his brow and slowly said, "My subordinate hasn't reported on the banquet today. It has me worried. By all rights, the banquet should have ended by now."

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

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

Ignoring the others as they began discussing how to punish their foolish subordinates, Hall started pondering why he had such a bad feeling.

He had personally designed the location and procedure for the banquet. There was no way the others would be so incompetent that they could not even handle the scene.

On top of that, most of this city's upper class had been won over by them. With those people providing cover, there should not have been any accidents.

But Hall was an exceptionally cautious Vampire. He had repeatedly instructed the subordinate organizing the banquet to report its progress to him promptly.

Hall had set the interval at once every hour, but his subordinate knew his temperament and would often report every half hour instead.

Holding the utterly silent phone in his hand, Hall watched the seconds tick by, his mood growing heavier.

Just then, the doors opened, and a butler walked in.

"Honored masters, your dinner is ready."

With a clap of his hands, servants pushed carts into the hall, each one carrying a coffin.

The butler directed the servants to place the coffins on the dining table. After respectfully bowing, he left with them.

The one who had first asked Hall about his condition stood up and smiled. "These are top-quality ingredients I gathered from all over the world. Ingredients of this caliber are usually reserved for the elders, but today, I'm letting everyone have a taste."

The coffins were opened, revealing soft swan feathers. Nestled among them were beautiful young women of various skin tones.

The girls had been intoxicated with strong liquor, their eyes unfocused. They had no idea they had already been served on the dining table.

The Vampires kept inhaling sharply as they stared at the delicacies before them, savoring the blood-scented aroma of alcohol wafting from their food.

Even Hall could not look away. As he stared at those premium meals, the desire bred into his Vampire bloodline stirred restlessly.

The host suppressed his desire and slowly said, "These meals are my apology to everyone. Last time, because of my negligence, some vampire hunters set their sights on this city and caused everyone trouble."

One Vampire impatiently said, "They were just trash who could only hunt the weakest bloodkin. There's no need to make such a fuss over it."

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

One of them had been the top human spy organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. But judging by what this person said, it seemed everything was fine.

Seeing how eager they all were, he said nothing more and announced that they could begin enjoying the food.

The Vampires could no longer remain seated. The green light in their eyes nearly shot out as they pounced on the delicacies before them.

But then a voice suddenly rang out.

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

Lu Qi made a joke in his native tongue while speaking a foreign language, then laughed at it himself.

Several Vampires suppressed their instinctive desires and warily watched the stranger who had suddenly appeared.

"Butler?" the host shouted. The doors were immediately pushed open, and the butler peeked inside before rushing in with a group of servants.

"Who are you?" the butler shouted, directing the servants to surround Lu Qi.

As Lu Qi watched these people gradually reveal their true forms, he counted them.

"So many Mid-Level Vampires. Looks like I can make quite a bit of money today." Lu Qi stood on the table and looked at the few Vampires sheltered behind the others, who had not revealed their true forms.

"What rank of Vampires are you? Tell me, so I can see how many digits you're worth."

The few Vampires behind them were naturally furious upon hearing that. The host shouted, "Are you a damned vampire hunter? You lowly species! You filthy blood bag! How dare you speak to me like that!"

Lu Qi was not angered. Instead, he glanced at him. This brat was probably the one with the greatest backing among them. He could catch him later and question him for information.

For some reason, the host felt a chill down his back and became a little frightened. He ordered the butler to kill this vampire hunter who did not know his place, while he led his companions toward the door.

"Since you're already here, don't leave!" Lu Qi shouted. As though he did not see the Vampires closing in, he clapped his hands.

It could not be helped. He could not snap his fingers, but clapping still looked pretty cool.

A group of ninjas suddenly appeared. They blended into the darkness, revealing only pairs of red eyes.

"You haven't even enjoyed your food yet. Why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

Lu Qi looked at the Vampires, feeling mischievous.

"After all, there are so many of you ghosts. What are you afraid of?" Lu Qi said. "I only have a hundred million or so little partners."

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

"Mm, now our numbers are even." Lu Qi nodded. "But you are noble Vampires, so I think it should be at least two against one."

He clapped again, and yet another cluster of eyes appeared.

Watching the Vampires' expressions gradually change, Lu Qi continued, "But a few of you look like you're clearly formidable. I don't think two against one is enough, so let's add a few more."

Lu Qi clapped, but nothing happened behind him. Looking at the somewhat stunned Vampires, Lu Qi shook his head and spread his hands. "There's only so much space behind me. How could there possibly be that many people?"

Just as the Vampires breathed a sigh of relief, Lu Qi smiled. "There may not be enough room behind me, but there's plenty of room behind you."

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

The encirclement had become a counter-encirclement. The butler immediately ordered the Vampires to protect the formidable figures and break through.

But the Shadow Ninjas would not let them get their way. Blades flashed toward the Vampires. Though these Vampires were several times stronger than ordinary Vampires, they were still hacked to death by the massed ninjas.

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

"Why are you yelling so loudly?" Lu Qi hooked a finger into his ear as the Troll Soldier threw a punch.

With a bang, the butler was sent flying and crashed to the ground, his fate unknown.

"You yelled so loudly, but you couldn't even take one punch. Who were you trying to impress?" Lu Qi shook his head, feeling anxious over these Vampires' intelligence.

Why were a bunch of assassins roaring to boost their fighting spirit before transforming? Wasn't agility supposed to be their specialty? They should have been darting around! Fighting like this, they would not even get half an assist!

Seeing the butler's chest still rising and falling, Lu Qi knew he was not dead. He ordered the ninjas to tie him up, then looked at the last few Vampires still standing.

"Fight them!" the leader suddenly transformed as well and roared.

The others transformed in succession, becoming small giants one after another.

Lu Qi nodded. So transformation was an ability only High-Level Vampires possessed. Otherwise, those grunts would not have been unable to withstand even a single slash.

Lu Qi now roughly understood the strength of these Vampires. Ordinary Vampires were those who had been partying together, with only twice the strength of a human. The higher-ups at those parties were Low-Level Vampires, with four times human strength. Those grunts just now, the Mid-Level Vampires, had roughly eight times human strength. These High-Level brutes had roughly ten times human strength before transforming, and twenty times afterward.

But their intelligence was hopeless. They watched the Troll Soldier's punch and did not dodge, getting smashed to death outright.

Their intelligence was beyond saving, Lu Qi sighed. But the High-Level Vampires still had some sense. Knowing their advantage, they turned into streaks of afterimages flashing around the hall.

After thinking about it, Lu Qi simply released three hundred Assassin Ninja Soldiers to play hide-and-seek with them.

With these Assassin Ninja Soldiers, whose speed was on par with theirs, the Vampires' pressure surged. Unfortunately, this hall had never been designed to see sunlight, so it did not even have windows. They could not escape.

Looking at the doors guarded by countless ninjas, Hall continuously considered his options.

Watching his companions get chased everywhere, Hall shouted, "Those ninjas have no blood in their bodies. They aren't human at all! Why not kill that guy directly? Maybe the ninjas will disappear!"

Hall was shouting wildly, unaware that he had guessed the truth.

Realizing there was a smart person among the Vampires, Lu Qi carefully prepared to sneak toward the door and flee. At worst, he could run outside and let the ninjas close the door and beat the dogs.

Hearing Hall, the Vampires were instantly invigorated. They exchanged looks and suddenly lunged at Lu Qi.

Lu Qi directly slipped toward the door, reaching it almost instantly. His stealth speed had now reached an extreme, no different from teleportation. His reaction speed could not keep up, but with advance preparation, he could still accurately reach his destination.

After casually arranging a ring of Assassin Ninja Soldiers where he had been standing, Lu Qi looked back and discovered that the Vampire who had shouted was flying toward him.

Damn, did he predict that?

Lu Qi was startled. One thousand six hundred points of Dark Energy instantly gathered around his hand as he threw a punch.

Hall was also stunned when he saw Lu Qi suddenly appear. Seeing the other man punch without hesitation, he was startled as well.

This guy actually guessed I was trying to escape? Hall's heart stirred, but it was already too late to stop. He could only force his way through!

The two collided fiercely. Lu Qi was sent flying, smashing through the doors and falling to the ground.

That Vampire did not fare well either. Force worked both ways, and he suffered internal injuries. The following Assassin Ninja Soldiers sliced off his limbs, leaving him sprawled on the ground.

The companions he had abandoned were surrounded by Assassin Ninja Soldiers and captured immediately.

"Damn you, Hall! You actually dared to deceive me!" the host shouted furiously. Compared to being captured by others, being betrayed by one of his own was even more unbearable.

Hall struggled on the ground, too lazy to pay attention to the idiot.

Lu Qi, meanwhile, got up as though nothing had happened and looked at him.

Glaring viciously at Hall, Lu Qi walked over, stepped on his chest, and kicked him several times.

The one happiest to see Hall kicked was actually the host. Seeing this excited fellow, Lu Qi suddenly had an idea.

"Hey, you over there. If you tell me where the Vampire strongholds in this city are, how about I hand this guy over to you?"

Though Hall endured the pain, he was not worried. He knew the other side had kept him alive because they had questions to ask. As long as he did not reveal anything, he might still have a chance to survive. But Lu Qi ignored him and asked the host instead, and Hall's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Meeting the host's eyes and seeing the fury in them, Hall's heart sank as he watched the host viciously nod.

Half an hour later, Lu Qi walked out of the hotel, which had already been cleaned out. Every Vampire inside except the host had been killed. Of course, Lu Qi was a man of his word, and Hall had been killed by the host.

Looking at the submissive host beside him, Lu Qi put a thick iron chain around his neck and made him lead the way like a dog. The host was furious but dared not speak, slowly walking in front while no one knew what he was thinking.

After calling Coulson and telling him to handle the cleanup, Lu Qi took the host and efficiently purged all the Vampires in Los Angeles.

A day later, Lu Qi faced the rising sun and watched the host burn into ash, feeling immensely satisfied.

Over the past night, Lu Qi had earned a full eight million dollars. Five million of that had come from the High-Level Vampires, while the rest had accumulated from weaker Vampires.

Having made a fortune, Lu Qi looked at the reborn Los Angeles behind him 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 Lu Qi...