Listening to Eilina's words, Grego also breathed a long sigh of relief and leaned back in the chair behind him, saying.
"Whew... I hope her convoy encounters some accident on the road that delays her for two days, otherwise, if she arrives in Igwinte and doesn't see any trace of me, she'll hate me to death..."
Grego said, rubbing his temples somewhat helplessly, while Eilina replied after thinking for a moment.
"It seems Captain, your relationship with your sister is quite good."
"Sort of... After all, our parents were gone when we were very young, so she's my only blood relative... I've made a bit of a name for myself in the city now, so I'm bringing her over to enjoy life, and most importantly, so she can go to school in the city, get an education. Staying in the village forever is a dead end..." Sitting in his seat, Grego said with a reminiscent expression, while Eilina added a sentence.
"You call this making a bit of a name for yourself? Captain, you are the youngest Hunter Squad Captain in the history of our Igwinte branch, the youngest Student. The Director said you have boundless prospects, how can you say you've only made a bit of a name for yourself?"
"Oh, Eilina, don't say such things to me. Although I've done well in the Bureau, this profession can't be public. In the eyes of the public, I'm just an ordinary person..."
Sitting in his seat, Grego said with his legs crossed, and while doing so, he took out a cigarette from the drawer of the sheriff's desk. Then he lit it with a box of matches on the table and put it in his mouth, soon after starting to puff out smoke.
"Hey, hey, smoking in front of a Madam is rude..." Looking at Grego in front of her, Eilina said somewhat crossly, while Grego glanced at her and said.
"Yes, yes... I'm just in a bad mood and smoking a little. Besides, didn't you say that when we're in the squad, I should treat you like a man?"
"Whew..."
"I really hope this is just those few police officers having a mental breakdown, it would be best if we could go back tomorrow..." exhaling a puff of smoke, Grego said slowly. Just then, there was a rapid sound of footsteps outside, and then a Hunter member in black pushed open the door and entered the sheriff's office.
"Captain, we found this on that body!"
Walking quickly to the desk, the Hunter member handed an envelope to Grego. Seeing this, Grego's brows furrowed slightly. He immediately stubbed out the cigarette in his hand in the ashtray, then took the envelope, opened it, and held it in front of him. Eilina also came behind Grego to look at the letter.
Looking at the letter in his hand, Grego's brows furrowed tighter, and the expression on his face gradually became serious. Behind him, Eilina's gaze shot out through her mask, locking onto the last two lines of the content on the letter paper.
"Blood cup..." Looking at the content of the letter, Grego murmured, while Eilina smiled slightly and then slowly spoke.
"It seems we won't be able to go back tomorrow."
...
The dark night dispersed, and daylight arrived. Time flowed, day and night alternated, and after rushing through a busy day, Vokan once again welcomed the Silence night.
In the western part of Vokan, there was a small, not very dense woods. This was originally a forest of considerable size, but due to the increasing demand for timber brought by urban expansion, the forest area had severely shrunk, becoming a woods overgrown with bushes and sparse trees.
Although this woods was not deep or dense, it was rumored to be the secret burial site for Vokan's gangs, so ordinary townspeople generally didn't dare to approach it.
And at this moment, deep within this small woods, in a relatively open clearing, three or four figures were standing, silently waiting for something.
These people were dressed differently, some like workers, others like gentlemen... There weren't many, less than five. This group of people, who showed no apparent connection on the outside, stood scattered in a circle, looking in different directions, seemingly on alert for something.
In the center of this group, a middle-aged man stood wearing a trench coat, a short hat, glasses, and a small mustache. The man held a briefcase in one hand and raised the other to his eyes. His gaze was fixed on the watch on his wrist. At this moment, both hands on the watch were aligned at the 12 mark.
Seeing that the appointed time had arrived, the man raised his head and looked around as if searching for something, but after looking around, he saw nothing, which caused his brows to furrow.
"Sir, we haven't seen any sign of those guys yet, have we been tricked?"
At this moment, a burly man dressed like a worker came to the man's side and whispered a few words with a hint of anger, while the man wearing glasses slowly replied.
"They're just local thugs, they shouldn't have the guts to do that. Maybe something unexpected happened, retreat immediately, no need to wait any longer..."
"Yes..."
Just as this group of people was about to retreat, in the dense bushes all around, several pairs of eyes were staring intently at their every move.
"They're retreating, don't wait for the other wave of people, act now."
In the dense bushes, following a command from a low voice, the hand gripping the gun body pulled the trigger, and then roaring flames shot out from the muzzle.
"Bang!"
A bullet flew forward from the hidden bushes, aiming directly for the head of the man wearing glasses from behind. At the most critical moment, the man seemed to sense something and twisted his body to the extreme, avoiding a direct headshot. Instead, a small piece of his skull was shattered by the bullet that grazed his head, and his hat was also blown high into the air.
"Trap!!"
Blood flowing from his head, the man opened his mouth wide, his eyes bloodshot, and shouted loudly. However, before his subordinates could react, several dark figures had already stood up from the surrounding bushes. They were all wearing masks, holding rifles, aimed at the startled people in the woods.
Instantly, gunfire erupted in the woods. Accompanied by the rapid firing of bullets, the people standing in the clearing in the woods fell to the ground one after another after being shot. For a moment, only the man wearing glasses was still standing in the center of the clearing.
At this time, besides the graze wound on his head, the man had also been shot once more; a bullet had penetrated his abdomen, yet he did not fall because of it.
"An Yin Bureau's... brats!"
Blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, eyes wide, the man with a ferocious expression roared, then flung the briefcase in his hand away, freeing both hands, and rapidly charged straight towards one of the members. His speed was incredibly fast, and his injuries seemed to not affect his movement at all.
Seeing that the target had not fallen and was instead charging towards him, the attacked Hunter member did not chamber another round to reload. Instead, he directly threw away the rifle he was holding, pulled out a revolver from his waist, and fired fiercely at the approaching man. The man was shot twice in succession but still did not fall and had already rushed in front of the member who fired.
"Satisfy my hunger!"
At this moment, the man's mouth began to open unnaturally wide, so wide it was like a wild beast's, capable of biting off half the neck of the member in front of him in one bite!
Almost tackling the member, the man bit down with his bloodthirsty maw, but instead of biting into flesh, what was between his teeth was a sharp steel blade.
"Ah... It always feels disgusting whenever I see it, the Blood cup Thirster..."
Unbeknownst when, Grego, wearing an iron mask and a uniform, appeared at the man's side. The sharp blade he held in his hand was inserted vertically into the man's mouth. The man's biting teeth were cut by the blade, and blood flowed freely.
The man glared sideways at the figure beside him. From his expression, one could read extreme astonishment, astonished by the sudden appearance of the other party, astonished that he had not detected the other party's presence before!
"Sha... Shadow..."
Blood flowing from his mouth, the man with the blade in his mouth stared at Grego and spoke indistinctly.
...
Just as Grego and the strange man were confronting each other head-on, attracting everyone's attention, in the clearing in the woods that was suddenly empty of people, a Shadow quickly emerged from the bushes.
It was clearly a large black dog.
It was a large dog that, although agile in movement, was already lifeless. There were also clear, apparently fatal external injuries on the dog's body.
Completely ignoring the tension at the scene, the walking corpse's dog bit down on the briefcase that the man had originally thrown away in the clearing, then turned its head and burrowed into the bushes.