Is that all you've got, you scrawny mutt?

"When we go in, try not to make too much noise, and don't kill anyone."

"The owner of this nightclub has serious clout. If you kill someone inside, he'll do everything he can to make your life hell."

Natsume Fan Zhi offered the warning out of kindness.

"Relax. I'm just going in to have some fun and kill a Fiend while I'm at it."

"Let's hope so. Otherwise, we might not be colleagues much longer."

Natsume Fan Zhi led Meng Fan away from where they had parked.

They crossed a bustling street.

Natsume Fan Zhi pointed at a nightclub sign glittering with starlight nearby. "The Poppy Devil is in there."

"Pretty crowded tonight." Meng Fan looked at the long line outside, growing impatient.

"We don't have to queue. That wristband you're wearing is actually a ticket for the VIP entrance."

With that, he pulled Meng Fan toward another door.

"You even managed to get one of these? You must come here to pick up girls pretty often."

"I'm just a lowly civil servant. A month's salary wouldn't cover a single night here. How could I possibly own a status symbol like that? Someone gave me the wristband to make it easier for you to get inside and find the Poppy Devil." Natsume Fan Zhi told Meng Fan every detail of the unimportant information.

Natsume Fan Zhi's secrecy only made Meng Fan more interested in the boss behind all this.

"Looks like the seller who wants the Poppy Devil's corpse must be someone rich and powerful."

"Meng Fan, stop guessing." Natsume Fan Zhi looked a little angry.

"All right, all right. I'll stop." Meng Fan quickly dropped the subject. This was the first time he had seen Natsume Fan Zhi so serious.

The mysterious boss rose another notch in Meng Fan's estimation.

"There's only one wristband, so go in alone. I'll wait where we parked. Remember, you're here to kill a Fiend. Don't do anything else."

Natsume Fan Zhi patted Meng Fan on the back, then turned and left.

Meng Fan walked to the VIP entrance alone.

Four burly security guards stood at the door.

They noticed the wristband on Meng Fan's wrist.

One of the guards promptly opened the door for him.

No one exchanged a word the entire time.

After entering the VIP passage,

he first went through an enclosed corridor.

Scanning equipment had been installed along one side.

Meng Fan could even see his own X-ray image appear on a screen on the wall.

A Black bodyguard stood at the far end.

He opened the door for Meng Fan and walked ahead to show him the way.

The moment the door opened, pulsing music flooded his ears.

Multicolored lights converged on the stage.

A troupe of strippers was performing a sultry dance on it.

Rows of couches sat closest to the stage.

Several men lounged on them, grinning from ear to ear.

The men held thick wads of cash, constantly tossing bills onto the stage.

The crowd behind them writhed to the music.

The enormous venue was packed tight.

Meng Fan stopped and stood there, taking in the scene.

Then he slipped into the crowd.

"Hey, where are you going?" Seeing Meng Fan stray from the route, the Black bodyguard hurriedly called after him.

"No rush. I'm getting a drink first." Meng Fan tossed the words over his shoulder and quickly disappeared into the crowd.

The Black bodyguard immediately looked anxious and hurried after him, repeatedly shouting, "Hey, stop! Don't wander off!"

But by the time he spoke, Meng Fan had already vanished somewhere.

After standing on tiptoe and looking around without spotting him, the Black bodyguard hurriedly pulled out his radio to call for help.

Meanwhile, Meng Fan had already emerged from the crowd and reached the bar.

He sat down and called out, "A glass of Tsingtao Beer, please."

"Tsingtao Beer?" The bartender frowned, seemingly having never heard of it.

"Guess you don't have it. Just give me something expensive, then. This lady next to me is paying."

"What?! Why should I pay? Aren't men supposed to buy women drinks?"

The woman looked Meng Fan over curiously.

Getting hit on in a nightclub was an everyday occurrence, but she had never heard such a bizarre pickup line.

He had asked her to pay for his drink right off the bat.

"See this?" Meng Fan raised his left hand, and the VIP Wristband caught the woman's attention.

"You..."

"Give him your most expensive drink. It's on me." After one glance at the VIP Wristband, the woman's attitude changed instantly.

Anyone with a VIP Wristband ranked among the nightclub's most elite guests.

Money alone wasn't enough to buy one. You needed connections, too.

The VIP Wristband on Meng Fan's wrist was proof enough that he was a man with both money and a certain amount of influence.

The woman had come to the nightclub to find herself an ATM.

Now that one was right beside her, she certainly wasn't going to let him slip away.

"Your drink, sir." The bartender quickly set a glass of their most expensive liquor in front of Meng Fan and said, "VIPs can drink whatever they like here. There's no need for anyone else to pay."

"In that case, I won't hold back. Get this lady a glass, too. She really was planning to buy me a drink, after all." The bartender took the hint and immediately poured the woman a glass.

The woman beside him hurriedly thanked him. She usually only drank the cheap stuff when she came here.

Naturally, she was delighted that someone was treating her to the most expensive liquor.

She became convinced that Meng Fan must have taken a fancy to her.

After taking a sip, the woman edged closer to Meng Fan. "Hey, handsome, can I get your number?"

"Sorry, I use a landline."

Hearing that, she sensed Meng Fan had no intention of giving her his phone number.

So she switched to another, extremely seductive approach-one no man in the nightclub could resist.

"After we finish these drinks, would you like to come over to my place?"

"Huh?" Meng Fan froze. "Why would I go to your place to use the bathroom? Don't tell me a place this big doesn't even have a toilet."

The woman was left speechless by Meng Fan, unsure what to say.

But for the sake of securing her ATM, she decided to try again.

"Um... there's no one at my place."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Well... I mean, you could sleep at my place tonight."

"Sorry, I don't sleep at strangers' houses."

Meng Fan drained his glass in one gulp.

Just then, the Black bodyguard found Meng Fan with several other bodyguards in tow.

"He's here!"

The bodyguards quickly gathered around Meng Fan.

Meng Fan casually said, "Lead the way. Let's go."

Then the group swaggered off.

They left the woman sitting there, still wanting more.

They passed through the surging crowd.

The Black bodyguard opened a door with a keypad lock, and the two entered another corridor.

This corridor was considerably more luxurious.

Quite a few armed bodyguards stood along both sides.

This nightclub even had guns, weapons banned throughout the country.

Clearly, the power behind it was anything but ordinary.

The two crossed the corridor and entered a rectangular room.

The room was both wide and long.

It was roughly fifty meters from the entrance to the far end.

Beautifully decorated booths lined both sides.

There were ten in total.

Large quantities of Forbidden Powder were piled on every booth's table.

Men and women who were already high lay on the couches.

Creak!

A swivel chair at the far end of the corridor moved.

Until then, Meng Fan had only been able to see its back.

Now that the chair had turned around, Meng Fan could see that the one sitting in it was indeed the Fiend.

The Fiend was bald, with upturned nostrils and eight straw-like mouths.

Its body was scrawny, nothing but skin and bones, and white all over.

"You're with the Public Safety Devil Hunters, aren't you?"

The Poppy Devil exposed Meng Fan's true identity right off the bat.

That caught Meng Fan a little off guard.

He had thought he would need to pretend to be a customer for a while.

Now he might as well put his cards on the table.

"That's right. If you knew I was with the Public Safety Devil Hunters, why did you let me in?"

"Actually, letting you in was part of a plan I deliberately arranged. I need someone to help me, preferably a powerful Devil Hunter." The Poppy Devil smiled, showing no sign of panic.

"Other than helping you meet your maker, I'm not interested in getting involved."

With that, Meng Fan extended his Blade Claw and charged toward the Poppy Devil.

But after only a few steps, his body suddenly stopped in place.

"Excellent. You're fast. Once I control you, I can put the next stage of my plan into action."

"Fuck, I can't move."

Meng Fan strained with every muscle, only to discover he couldn't control his body at all.

"Give up resisting. I may not be as strong as I once was, but controlling a Devil Hunter or two is still well within my abilities."

The Poppy Devil smiled, no longer regarding Meng Fan as a threat.

Instead, it saw him as a tool to be used.

"Spin around," the Poppy Devil said mildly.

The moment it finished speaking, Meng Fan's body began spinning in place against his will.

"Did that bastard Natsume Fan Zhi betray me? Did he use that intel as a pretext to send me here to die?"

"I don't know Natsume Fan Zhi, but you have indeed been betrayed. I paid a hefty price to get a Devil Hunter with sufficient strength."

"Once I get out of here, I'm going to beat the shit out of Natsume Fan Zhi." Meng Fan's body was under control, but his mouth kept running.

"I forgot to ask. Were you involved in the Apple murder case?"

"What Apple murder case?" The question left the Poppy Devil bewildered.

Its expression made Meng Fan understand immediately. "I knew it wasn't you. Looks like some other devil was behind the Apple murder case."

"I don't understand what you're talking about, but stop asking pointless questions." The Poppy Devil clenched its hand hard, only to discover that Meng Fan didn't enter the frenzied state it had expected.

"What's going on? Why aren't you reacting?"

"What kind of reaction do you want?"

"Why can I control your body, but not your mind?"

The Poppy Devil was utterly astonished.

It had planned to stage a comeback by controlling Meng Fan.

Instead, Meng Fan turned out to be a troublesome target whose consciousness it couldn't control at all.

By now, Meng Fan had stopped spinning. He grinned at the Poppy Devil. "Is that all you've got, you scrawny mutt? I was just playing along to get you talking. You never controlled me. I was humoring you."

"What?!" The Poppy Devil was horrified.

The mind control it took such pride in had accomplished nothing at all.