“Sit down quickly! It's not that I won't give it to you, it's that I don't have cash now!”
Seeing the decadent man shouting, Professor Higgins hurriedly pulled his hand, wanting him to sit down, obviously worried about attracting too much attention.
“Don't even think about it!”
The Vampire threw off the professor's hand and even raised his voice:
“Pay now, I won't believe your words. If you take the train and leave as soon as you go out, where will I find you?”
“I really don't have money temporarily, but someone will send money tomorrow.”
The professor still wanted to persuade him, but he didn't appreciate it at all:
“I'll come back to you at eight o'clock tonight, if you run away—”
He leaned down and whispered something in the professor's ear, then got up and walked out of the Sicar Inn. But after a few steps, he turned back to look at the briefcase Professor Higgins was carrying, so he waved to the professor, signaling him to follow.
The two walked out of the Sicar Inn together. Xia De didn't follow immediately, but thought about drinking the apple juice in his hand before leaving. If he couldn't find them, he would give up his interest in this matter.
But before he could finish the drink in his hand, another person came down from the stairs. It was Armand Bernhardt, the uncle among the Vampire uncle and nephew whom Xia De had saved in Between Life and Death.
Similarly, as soon as Xia De saw him, a small bat also condensed from the bloody mist above Mr. Bernhardt's head. Compared to the down-and-out Vampire just now, Mr. Bernhardt was clearly a high-class person.
He was probably attracted by the quarrel just now, or had been paying attention here all along, so he came down from upstairs and followed after the two left the Sicar Inn.
Xia De remained seated, as if none of this concerned him. He only moved to leave after finishing the drink in his cup.
From a distance, he saw Mr. Bernhardt walking along the east street, but he didn't go far before turning into an alley beside it.
Xia De hesitated for a moment and didn't follow him in. Instead, based on the terrain he had scouted nearby last time, he took a long detour from an alley on the other side, passing through the narrow alleys between dense apartment buildings, wanting to go around to the front to see where the professor and the Vampire who had left earlier had gone.
During this time, seeing that there were few people on the street, he “pulled” out a new coat from the inside pocket of his overcoat and put it on, “stuffed” the hat on his head into his pocket, and then “took” out a new hat and put it on his head. Finally, after hesitating, he even put on a mask.
But the result was very unexpected. Xia De finally found Professor Higgins and the Vampire in the garbage alley behind the Sicar Inn. He appeared from the east side of the east alley, while Mr. Bernhardt, who was walking leisurely, appeared from the west side of the alley.
The two almost simultaneously saw the scene in the alley: the old professor lying on the ground, and the disheveled blonde middle-aged man with blood all over his mouth, holding the briefcase that originally belonged to the carson rick linguistics professor, a wallet that clearly didn't belong to him, and a pistol. He was about to escape from the crime scene.
“This—”
The down-and-out man almost simultaneously noticed that people had appeared at both ends of the alley. And after seeing Armand Bernhardt on the west side, he almost without any hesitation, turned around in horror and ran towards Xia De, who was holding his hat down, on the east side.
“Get out of the way!”
While running, he waved the pistol and shouted loudly. The sight of his mouth stained with blood was indeed very frightening.
Xia De looked up, and the Vampire also saw the mask on Xia De's face. But before he could think much, he saw Xia De clap his hands together with a “snap~” and then instantly separate them.
A brilliant silver arc was pulled between his palms, and the next second it shot out, splitting the charging Vampire diagonally into two neat halves. But after the body fell to the ground, it only left a puddle of blood on the ground before dispersing into a small group of flying bats.
That group of small bats flew towards the west end of the alley, and after passing Professor Higgins on the ground, they only flew for more than twenty meters before being forced to re-aggregate, changing back into the appearance of the blonde down-and-out middle-aged man in a cloud of blood mist.
“Is it a racial talent of Vampires? I remember they are very good at the power of flesh.”
Of course, although the other party avoided this death by relying on the racial talent of Vampires, when he re-aggregated into human form, he was almost unable to move due to serious injuries:
“Save me, Mr. Bernhardt!”
Lying on the ground with difficulty, the blonde middle-aged man reached out to Armand Bernhardt on the west side of the alley. But the latter's face was very gloomy. He walked over in silence, and then unexpectedly stepped on the middle-aged man's head with his boot:
“I kindly introduced you to work, is this how you repay me? Do you know how much trouble you'll cause me? Don't you know what mission I bear coming to this City?”
This was not carson rick, nor was it any language Xia De had ever heard, but fortunately, he understood it. There was not much emotion in Bernhardt's voice, but for a well-dressed, high-class gentleman to make such a gesture, he was clearly angry.
Xia De also walked into the alley from the alley entrance, first picking up the briefcase, pistol, and wallet from a pool of blood, then continuing forward, squatting down to check on the condition of the Gray Gloves agent, “Professor Higgins.”
Unfortunately, he was already dead, and the bite marks on his neck were the fatal cause.
“Sir, is this your friend?”
Stepping on the down-and-out Vampire's head, Mr. Bernhardt, from half an alley away, asked Xia De, who had stood up.
“You could say so.”
Xia De said softly. Although the two had met in Between Life and Death, Xia De at that time was much more powerful than he was now, and Mr. Bernhardt obviously hadn't recognized him.
“Can I ask him a few questions?”
Xia De pointed to the Vampire being stepped on, and Mr. Bernhardt nodded:
“Of course you can.”
“First, what did Professor Higgins commission you to do?”
“Spirit communication! Spirit communication with a corpse in the police station. We agreed on a price of 500 pounds! He paid 300 pounds first and promised to settle the remaining 200 pounds today!”
The weak Vampire managed to speak.
This price was of course unreasonable in Xia De's opinion, but for ordinary people who could not access mysterious powers, no matter how much money it was, they could only accept it.
“What did he ask the soul?”
“I don't know. I'm only responsible for spirit communication and sending the soul away. I wasn't there when they talked.”
“Why did you kill him?”
“I owe a large gambling debt at the underground rhode cards casino. If he didn't give me cash today, I would be in big trouble. I saw him carrying that briefcase all day today, so I thought of exchanging the things inside for some pounds—”
It was pretty much as Xia De thought. The Gray Gloves agent used the power of extraordinary creatures to obtain information and ultimately died because of it.
“How did he contact you?”
“I introduced him.”
Mr. Bernhardt, who was stepping on his head, said in a deep voice:
“Your professor friend and I both live on the fourth floor of the Sicar Inn and occasionally smoke together. Last week, the professor suddenly told me that his friend had passed away, but there were still some secrets he hadn't had time to tell. So, out of good intentions, I introduced this guy, and I didn't expect this to kill the professor instead.”
The boot stomped hard again, and the Vampire being stepped on barely had the strength to groan.
“This gentleman, if you have no objection, I can give you some compensation.”
Mr. Bernhardt said politely.
This was not because this Middle-Ring Vampire was afraid of Xia De, but because Xenomorph creatures like Vampires were more dangerous than Ring術士 in the eyes of the Orthodox Church. In broad daylight like this, in a busy urban area, they certainly couldn't fight, so exchanging some compensation for keeping a secret was very worthwhile.
“Compensation?”
Xia De shook his head, pointing to the down-and-out middle-aged man being stepped on by him:
“What about this guy's life?”
“Very fair.”
The boot crushed that head heavily, and the corpse didn't even have time to leave any last words. Bernhardt shook his head, took out a small bottle from his pocket, and after sprinkling powder, the Vampire's clothes and body slowly “melted” into the muddy ground:
“I am an outsider and don't want to attract too much attention in this City. Since Cost broke the rules, I think his paying the price of death is what he deserves.”
Xia De nodded, looking up at the bedsheet hanging on the clothesline above the garbage alley. He gently flicked his hand, and a silver light cut the clothesline, letting the bedsheet float down and perfectly cover Professor Higgins's body on the ground.
He squatted down in a feigned manner, continuously folding that bedsheet, then gathered it into a ball, tied a knot, and carried it on his back.
This was to prevent the other party from seeing through the Miracle 【Toy Making】:
“Then, Mr. Vampire, I think you can also see that what Professor Higgins did was not clean either, so this matter ends here. I'm not interested in you, and you should not reveal this matter to anyone.”
“This is fair.”
Mr. Bernhardt nodded:
“I came to this City with my nephew, and I have no intention of clashing with local forces. This matter ends here.”
But Xia De put his hand into his pocket again, took out a roll of banknotes sealed with a paper strip, and threw it over from a distance. The rolled banknotes flew over the garbage alley and were steadily caught by Armand Bernhardt.
“The 200 pounds for the spirit communication balance, I paid for the professor.”
Xia De said.
This way, he could justifiably consider that briefcase his own, because he had already paid for it.
The middle-aged gentleman in the black top hat smiled and did not refuse this large sum of money, but put it in his pocket. Then he took out a business card and, holding it between his fingers, flew it to Xia De. This action was completed with the help of the basic spell 【Moving Objects】 and superb skill:
“After such a thing happened, my nephew and I can't live here anymore. We will move to live with our kinsmen in this City who have forgotten what decency is. If you need anything, you can find me at this address. I think no one would refuse one more friend.”
“Yes.”
Xia De glanced at the business card and found that it was a local wine estate. The business card did not belong to Mr. Bernhardt; it should belong to a Vampire living in this City. After putting the business card into his pocket, the two nodded to each other, and then tacitly left from opposite ends of the garbage alley.
Apart from the bloodstain on the ground and the sparrow standing on the clothesline, no one would know what had just happened there.
