The conference room held its breath. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting harsh shadows across the polished table where six figures sat in varying states of tension. Ren's fingers drummed against the wooden surface, a soft tapping that seemed to echo louder than it should in the suffocating quiet.
"I will join you, Brother Lu."
The words dropped like stones into still water. Ren extended his hand across the table, and Lu Changcheng grasped it without hesitation. Their handshake was firm, deliberate, a pact sealed in front of witnesses who understood exactly what it meant.
Evan's jaw tightened. Fuck. Now the power balance is broken. The thought raced through his mind as he watched the two most dangerous people in the room align themselves. His carefully maintained equilibrium had just crumbled with a simple handshake.
"Hey, Mr. Muscle."
Veyra's voice cut through the tension, addressing Evan with that infuriating nickname she'd coined for him. Her tone carried its usual edge of mockery, but underneath lay something else…concern, maybe even desperation.
Evan turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "What?"
"Let's form some sort of business alliance and try to maintain the balance."
She leaned forward, her dark hair falling across her shoulders.
"Although we have our differences, we can't let this go on."
The irony wasn't lost on him. Veyra and Elias represented everything he typically opposed: their hunger for power and wealth, their willingness to bend rules until they snapped.
Their faction existed to grow stronger, to accumulate influence and resources without regard for collateral damage. But Evan and Sir Armand served a different purpose entirely. They were the watchers, the ones who kept hunters in check.
Because a high ranking hunter left unchecked was essentially a walking nuclear bomb, and if they decided to do whatever they pleased, the country would burn.
Strange bedfellows, but desperate times called for pragmatic choices.
"Sure," Evan said, his voice steady despite the chaos in his thoughts.
"After this meeting, let's talk."
He turned his attention to Ren, who sat quietly observing the political chess match unfolding around him. The young man's face remained neutral, but Evan could see the intelligence behind his eyes, the way he catalogued every word and gesture.
"Hector."
Ren looked up, slightly confused. "Huh?"
Evan reached into his jacket and pulled out three items, tossing them across the table in quick succession. Ren's reflexes kicked in automatically, catching each one with fluid precision.
The first item was a silver card, about the size of a credit card but heavier, more substantial. Ren turned it over in his hands, studying the holographic elements and the crisp photo of his face embedded in the surface. His name was printed in block letters beneath: Ren Hector. A citizen ID, complete with all the necessary security features.
The second was a leather portfolio containing an official medical license. Dr. Ren Hector, certified to practice medicine in the country of Qintara. The documentation looked authentic because Evan's connections ran deep enough to make fiction into fact.
The third item made Ren pause. It was a card unlike anything he'd seen before, its surface shifting between colors like oil on water. The iridescent material seemed to pulse with its own inner light, and when he tilted it, patterns emerged and disappeared like hidden messages.
"After this meeting, we'll go register you as an official hunter," Evan explained.
"The question is: do you want to use your real class and real face, or would you prefer an alias?"
Before Ren could respond, Lu Changcheng held up a hand.
"May I interrupt?"
All eyes turned to the young man with a graceful face. He commanded attention without effort, his presence filling the room despite his relatively modest stature.
"Brother Ren, I advise that you use an alias and wear a mask or something similar."
His voice carried the weight of experience, of someone who had seen the consequences of exposure.
"A situation like that attack may happen again."
Lu gestured around the room, encompassing everyone present.
"We here are bound by contract not to reveal your power, but that same binding prevents us from revealing your identity as well. It's a double edged protection."
He leaned back in his chair, his expression growing serious.
"With your unconventional abilities, it will be difficult to live as a normal human once the world sees what you can do. People fear what they don't understand, and fear makes them dangerous."
Ren found himself nodding along. The logic was sound, even if he didn't like the implications.
"When you advance in rank and acquire more skills," Lu continued, "I can guarantee they'll become even more unconventional and, frankly, terrifying to ordinary people."
Everything Brother Lu says rings true, Ren thought, turning the iridescent card over in his fingers. After I establish an alias, I'll need to farm more fear point and purchase more abilities that won't seem too disgusting to observers.
The bitter irony struck him again. Being a monster is really hard.
"Then what can I use to disguise myself?" Ren asked, looking directly at Lu.
"I mean, my head literally splits into tentacles when I use certain skills."
A smile played at the corners of Lu's mouth, the first genuine expression of pleasure Ren had seen from him. "Well, I have something perfect for you."
Lu reached down to the leather pouch strapped to his hip, his movements deliberate and almost ceremonial. When his hand emerged, it held something that made Ren's breath catch in his throat.
The mask was a long, pointed beak of dark, burnished metal, its surface etched with delicate swirling patterns that caught the light. Round, black lenses sat deep within the sockets, giving the face an empty, watchful stare. Tubes and small mechanical details curled along the sides, adding to its intricate design. The beak itself was sharp and narrow, its edges gleaming faintly against the shadowed finish.
A wide brimmed hat rested above it, trimmed with coiled vines and a pale flower, its petals stark against the dark metalwork. The mask's ornate craftsmanship blended menace with elegance, every detail from the engraved filigree to the polished rivets—meant to draw the eye and hold it.
"A plague doctor mask," Lu said, holding it up so everyone could see the intricate craftsmanship. The room fell silent as the implications sank in this wasn't just a disguise, but a complete transformation into something both medical and mysterious.
Ren that look at the Item information
Plague Doctor Lotus Mask (C-Rank Item)
The mask was more than a façade—it was an artifact of intricate engineering and unsettling beauty. Forged from dark metal and etched with curling filigree, it carried the shape of a long, predatory beak with hollow lenses that turned the wearer's gaze into twin voids. But its true marvel lay hidden within its construction.
At the wearer's command, the mask would shift with a soft hiss of gears, the metal panels unfurling in precise, fluid motion. Like the petals of a lotus blooming in slow, deliberate grace, the beak and faceplate split apart, folding back in overlapping layers until the true face beneath was revealed. Each segment slid seamlessly into place, the mechanics so smooth it seemed almost organic—yet unmistakably deliberate, crafted for both awe and dread.
When closed, the mask was a visage of death and enigma; when opened, it was a spectacle of mechanical elegance, as if the mask itself were alive, blooming and sealing with the rhythm of a clockwork flower.
Anyone who looks directly at the mask feels an involuntary sense of unease, as though something unnatural is watching them. The effect is not overwhelming, but it lingers in the mind, making conversations tense and silences heavier.
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