But now I can feel my body temperature, and beer no longer makes me nauseous. I feel great now. I haven't eaten in days, and I'm starving, but overall, I feel like a normal person now." Angela's voice was full of hope.
Being a vampire felt like being a walking corpse. Aside from greatly enhanced physical strength, eyesight, hearing, and smell, all other senses became very dull, especially the sense of taste, which was severely distorted. Ordinary food was simply unpalatable.
Not to mention that scarlet fever tormented her constantly, so Angela now felt like she had arrived in heaven.
"Take out your hand," Li Kang said.
Angela extended her small hand, and Li Kang took a dagger and made a cut on it. Angela quickly recoiled in pain, but the wound was already gone.
"You're still a vampire, but look on the bright side, you don't have to drink that disgusting blood anymore. Let's go, I'll take you to eat some real good food." Li Kang put on his trench coat, took out an amulet made of three interlocking semicircles from its pocket, and threw it to Angela.
Angela put the amulet around her neck. Li Kang restored the Pentecostal magic circle, and the defensive spells returned to their original state.
This was the downside of being a mage; you never knew from which direction your enemy would launch a sneak attack, perhaps even from another dimension. Therefore, personal defensive spells had to be ready at all times.
Li Kang went even further than others; he had defensive spells tattooed on his body. For example, on both arms were the Eyes of Solomon, and on his back was a reversal array. This reversal array was quite interesting; it would transfer half of the pain suffered during the day to the last person who harmed Li Kang before midnight.
The deterrent effect of this array was far stronger than its actual effect. Unfortunately, arrays could not be stacked, otherwise, if he had a few more reversal arrays tattooed, no one would dare to touch him again.
Around the corner was Mrs. Jason's Wang's Chinese Restaurant. Mrs. Jason was Jewish, but her husband was a Chinese-American. The two had been classmates since elementary school and stayed together all the way through college. Mrs. Jason even fell out with her family for her husband, and that's how they opened a Chinese restaurant in a terrible place like Hell's Kitchen.
It was a rather inspiring story, but the goddess of yesteryear had become Mrs. Jason, whom even ghosts feared now. It was a bit regrettable, but Hell's Kitchen truly was a magical place.
Walking into the restaurant, they saw Mrs. Jason, who now weighed at least 180 pounds, carrying a hunting rifle in one hand and a slab of steak on her shoulder, walking into the kitchen.
"Hello, Mrs. Jason, your good tenant Li Kang is here to pay the rent, and could you also get us some beef offal, onion soup, and two portions of chow mein? Can you give us a complimentary serving of moo shu pork?" Li Kang's face was beaming with a sunny smile as he handed over the warm check he had just received today.
"No!" Mrs. Jason took the check and put it in her pocket, then pointed at Angela, "You clearly don't belong in Hell's Kitchen. I advise you to leave quickly. This guy is not a good person."
Angela smiled slightly, "Thank you, but I'm not a good person either. I'm not afraid."
"You should be afraid." Mrs. Jason stopped talking nonsense and turned to walk into the kitchen. Soon, steaming hot dishes were served at the table.
Angela was starving. She skillfully twirled noodles with her fork and took a bite. The chow mein tasted excellent. Angela then ate a few more bites of beef offal and drank a bowl of soup.
"What kind of meat is this? It's so delicious," Angela said, eating the beef offal. The more she chewed, the more flavorful it became; she simply couldn't stop.
"If it tastes good, just eat as much as you want. Don't worry about it so much." Li Kang ate the beef offal distractedly. "How exactly were you turned into a vampire?"
Angela's hand paused. Her face turned very pale. After taking a sip of water, she quietly told her story.
It turned out that Angela was a top student at Harvard University and the daughter of the Alba family. She was also very beautiful, and her suitors could line up from the Harvard gate all the way to Africa. However, her family already had their own arrangements for Angela's marriage; they wanted to marry Angela to the son of real estate magnate Wilson Fisk, the famous socialite Richard Fisk, whom outsiders called Little Fisk.
Little Fisk fell in love with Angela at first sight and pursued her relentlessly, but Angela could never bring herself to like him, especially after meeting Wilson Fisk. Although Wilson appeared very friendly, Angela still felt a very strong sense of fear towards him.
However, Angela's father, for the sake of family interests, forced Angela to marry Little Fisk. So Angela chose to run away from home. Everything was going smoothly until one night a week ago, she was attacked by a vampire named Marshall, who also made Angela drink his blood.
For the next three days, Angela hid in her rental apartment until her transformation was complete. Marshall came to find Angela, intending to completely turn her into a member of his family.
Unexpectedly, Angela had a strong will and resisted Marshall's mind control, escaping from Marshall's lair. After that, Angela wandered around. When she was truly hungry and thirsty, she also attacked a passerby and two thugs who wanted to cause her trouble, but she never killed anyone. This was already very commendable among newborn vampires.
"So, you have nowhere to go?" Li Kang raised an eyebrow.
"Hmm, I have nowhere to go now. If it weren't for your strange medicine, I think in the end, I would either completely turn into a vampire or be killed," Angela said awkwardly. She had been thinking about these things for days, but still felt a sense of unease.
"Those are minor matters. What I want to say is, I need a part-time assistant here. Would you be willing to help? The reward is blood wine. After drinking it, you can live like a normal person. The missions I undertake are very dangerous. If I hired an ordinary person, they would quickly die, but you won't have a problem. Vampires have the vitality of cockroaches. You can consider it." Li Kang looked at Angela, who was pursing her lips and not speaking. This was a big deal, and he also hoped Angela would think it through carefully.
Angela's face darkened. "If I don't accept your job offer, will you stop providing that medicine called blood wine?"
Li Kang wiped his mouth and said with a roguish air, "Of course not. It's just that this blood wine is too precious. If you want it, you'll have to pay for it."
"How much?" Angela had never been afraid of anyone mentioning money in her life.
"One hundred thousand dollars a cup, in sequential cash," Li Kang also liked people who weren't short on money and happily quoted his price.
"..." Angela flinched a bit. She hadn't brought much money with her when she ran away from home. "Let's talk about the part-time job instead."
One hundred thousand dollars a cup! And it had to be cash. If it was for a year, that would be over thirty million dollars, which was equivalent to Angela's three years of pocket money. Even when she hadn't run away from home, it would have been difficult to gather that much money.
Calculated this way, working at Li Kang's detective agency would be equivalent to an annual salary of over thirty million, even more than a Wall Street banker earned. Angela had a shrewd business mind and quickly understood the figures.
"That's good. Please sign this document." Li Kang took out a scroll of parchment and handed it to Angela.
Angela was startled when she saw the parchment scroll, and then startled again when she unrolled it. "It's in Chinese! Luckily, I studied it. Wait, why did it turn into English again?"
"This is a contract document. It will automatically change to the language the signer can understand, even illiterates can understand it." Li Kang took out a fountain pen and handed it to Angela.
This was no ordinary parchment scroll. This was a contract document that Mephisto, the King of Hell, specifically used to harvest souls. It was made from the skin of sinners, and while it looked like parchment, it was actually made of human skin and possessed powerful magical binding power. To get this good item, Li Kang had once infiltrated Mephisto's Hell and almost lost his life. Fortune favors the bold, and to get such a good item, everything was worth it.
"Wait a minute, I need to read the content first." Angela, as a student of law at Harvard University, had a natural keen sense for such contracts and agreements. Her intuition told Angela that this document was not that simple.
"Hurry up and read it. Anyway, you've already died once, what else can you lose?" Li Kang impatiently tapped the corner of the table. "Mrs. Jason is impatient. If we occupy the table for too long, she'll be unhappy. Believe me, you wouldn't want to see her angry."
"It's okay, girl! Read carefully. Whatever Li Kang gives you, you must check it carefully, otherwise, if he sells you, you won't even know what happened. We won't close today until you understand it. If you're tired, we even offer free coffee." Mrs. Jason's booming voice sounded from behind the bar.
A Chinese old man's head poked out from the kitchen. "Is that Li Kang? Who is he trying to trick again?"
"Dear uncle, please don't add to the trouble, okay? I just want to hire an assistant. Am I really such a dishonest scoundrel in your eyes?" Li Kang lit a cigarette and asked, baring his teeth.