Who is the Hunter, Who is the Prey

Blood rain sprayed across the sky, saturating the factory rooftop with a crimson deluge.

This was Evelyn's counterattack, as if demonstrating what true firepower meant.

Gerald didn't resign himself to fate. Despite his towering two-meter frame, he moved with surprising agility, rolling repeatedly to dodge while leaping down from the four-story rooftop.

"Thank goodness he dodged that!" Officer Leon watched with his heart in his throat.

To jump from such a height and land as if nothing happened - this agent's physical abilities were simply extraordinary.

"He's finished," Luo Wei shook his head, delivering his verdict.

"Why?" Officer Leon asked, puzzled.

Luo Wei just shook his head again.

When a hunter loses their advantageous position, their powerful weapons become useless. All Evelyn had done was force him down from the rooftop.

The moment Gerald failed to kill Evelyn with his first shot, the battle's outcome was already decided.

Sure enough, as he predicted, once Gerald reached the complex terrain of the ground level, that blood-red shadow pursued him like a specter.

Gerald could only react defensively. Each time he turned to shoot, Evelyn would instantly vanish, using the terrain as cover to wear him down.

After several exchanges, Gerald couldn't land a single threatening shot, while that persistent blood-red shadow drew ever closer.

The blood mist continued to spread, obscuring Gerald's vision. He stopped calmly.

Weapon at the ready, he cautiously aimed at a specific spot in the blood mist - he'd heard something.

Gunshots rang out in succession, dispersing some of the blood mist, and several thin, dark figures were cut in half by his bullets.

"Blood servants?"

Seeing the dead blood servants before him, Gerald seemed to realize something.

He whirled around, his pupils contracting.

Ten meters away, a blood-red blade pointed straight at his chest, murderous intent manifest.

Too fast!

Even though Gerald's reaction speed was exceptional among humans, when faced with this vampire at close range, his movements seemed laughably slow.

The ten-meter distance was crossed in an instant. Gerald could even see his own reflection in his opponent's pupils.

But just as death was about to claim him...

A strange sound emerged from the darkness - urgent, unclear, like countless unspeakable things whispering from dark corners, or wailing, creating an uncomfortable sensation that clung like maggots to bone.

A wave of intense mental pollution spread rapidly, making Gerald's scalp crawl and bringing on a wave of nausea.

Evelyn's attack faltered.

Her arm could no longer grip the blood-red blade firmly, her entire body trembling slightly.

This moment of hesitation saved Gerald's life as a small man in a black cloak suddenly jumped out from the darkness, positioning himself between the two.

"You... what took you so long..."

"Again with these indiscriminate abilities... couldn't you warn me next time..."

Though Gerald covered his mouth in discomfort, seeing his colleague appear brought him relief.

"Looking at how confident you were,"

"I thought you could handle this vampire yourself."

The mysterious man known as the Wizard curved his lips in a mocking smile.

"It's amusing how some people overestimate themselves."

"Save the mockery..." Gerald smiled helplessly, "Let's deal with this one first, she's more troublesome than expected."

Without Gerald having to say more, the Wizard had already fixed his shadowy gaze on the figure before them.

Evelyn, recognizing the troublesome nature of her new opponent, coldly retreated back into the blood mist.

Meanwhile, watching from above, Police Chief Raymond and Officer Leon wiped cold sweat from their brows in relief.

Even though the sound from earlier had weakened by the time it reached them, its effect was still intense, as they were ordinary humans.

Officer Leon was almost overwhelmed by the mental pollution, his body curled up, completely losing interest in watching the battle below.

"Chief... is this... the kind of cases you've been investigating all along..."

He was almost crying, "Can I request a transfer... I'm still young, I don't want..."

"Stop talking nonsense!" Chief Raymond glared at him with a pale face, "If you leave, where am I supposed to find a new assistant... with the police department aging so badly..."

Luo Wei watched them with amusement. The Chief's implication was clear: everyone else in the department was too shrewd to get involved in this mess, so he could only deceive newcomers.

Chief Raymond forced himself to stay focused and continue observing, "With these two working together, it's practically guaranteed. Have all units been notified to prepare for the net?"

A battle between supernatural powerhouses would inevitably endanger ordinary officers, so the police backup was positioned far away.

"They've been notified..." Officer Leon muttered resignedly.

Luo Wei continued observing the scene below. Under the combined efforts of the two agents, the tide of battle had indeed turned.

Evelyn had intended to overwhelm them with numerous blood servants, but as the servants approached the pair, the Wizard's body began to transform.

His small frame beneath the cloak expanded rapidly. As the fabric tore away, it revealed bloated, grayish-white muscles, grotesquely irregular, like pieces of rotting flesh stitched together. Long, sharp claws emerged, along with mismatched fangs dripping black fluid.

"A ghoul?" Luo Wei looked questioningly at Chief Raymond. "Does the Special Affairs Department recruit monster species?"

"Probably not..." Chief Raymond furrowed his brow in thought. "I've seen this Wizard before, and he wasn't like this then. He didn't even wear a hood. But after years of researching those things, he became something neither human nor ghost..."

"Contamination and backlash." Luo Wei understood - this was the price of wielding supernatural power.

Magic in this world wasn't like in traditional fantasy works, where wizards cast colorful elemental spells like fireballs and water spheres...

Instead, it involved things like: rot, implosion, curses, death and resurrection - things that sounded more like black magic...

Now transformed into a half-human monster, the Wizard opened his foul-smelling mouth and spewed forth a nauseating black mist.

The mist spread quickly like miasma, bringing with it an aura of corrosion. Plants withered, and even walls developed horrifying black spots.

As black and blood-red mixed together, Gerald raised his gun with practiced coordination.

With just a casual shot, the scene exploded like an ignited methane pool.

A thunderous boom rang out, instantly dispersing the blood mist and reducing the numerous hidden blood servants to charred corpses.

With the blood mist dispersed, Evelyn was forced into the open.

Luo Wei noticed that Evelyn was now a bloody mess, desperately dodging Gerald's bullets.

Perhaps due to her severe injuries, she could no longer cast her life-draining Vampire Magic. The blood energy surrounding her grew thin, and she could neither summon blood servants for support nor maintain her previous speed.

Gerald's gun tracked the shadow, a confident smile spreading across his face.

The monster-transformed Wizard leaped high, blocking Evelyn's escape route.

Caught between the two, Evelyn had nowhere to run.

Even the usually cautious Luo Wei felt victory was assured.

However, before he could savor the moment, the situation reversed again.

Under the moonlight, another blood-red shadow descended from above, and to everyone's shock, crashed like a hammer onto the Wizard's massive head.

The force was so great it drove the Wizard below ground level, drawing out agonized howls.

Watching the sudden turn of events, Gerald's smile gradually faded.

Luo Wei's eyes widened.

After the dust settled, he saw a woman standing over the Wizard's body. She was wearing a butler's attire with exquisite makeup, appearing somewhat older than Evelyn.

The mysterious woman brushed off the dust with distaste, then turned her gaze toward the pitiful Evelyn.

She gathered her skirt and performed an elegant servant's curtsy with slightly bent knees.

"Miss Evelyn, it's been a long time."

"The master has been thinking of you constantly."