High noon.
The blazing sun hung high in the sky.
An apartment building in a Brooklyn neighborhood.
*Thud!*
“Open up!
SSS!”
*Crash!*
Armed with a battering ram, the wooden door of the apartment shattered instantly.
Clad in a gleaming silver-plated tactical suit and wearing a crucifix around his neck, Brown charged into the apartment with imposing momentum, leading his men from the front.
The interior of the apartment was just like the many others they had visited before: pitch-black.
But that didn’t matter.
In the darkness, Brown’s eyes locked instantly onto the wooden, oiled coffin sitting in the living room.
The creature inside the coffin seemed to sense the commotion, stirring awake.
The lid of the coffin could no longer hold.
The next second, a newly awakened, plain-looking, and frankly rather ugly vampire pushed the lid open and sat straight up, only to find multiple gun barrels pointed directly at him.
*What is going on?*
The vampire froze for a second before his instincts kicked in, especially upon hearing the subtle click of a trigger being pulled.
In an instant, terrified out of his wits, the vampire’s eyes narrowed into slits as he prepared to leap out of the coffin.
“Skre—”
*Bang!*
Brown pulled the trigger.
A specialized UV bullet shot out of the barrel with a sharp whistle, instantly piercing the forehead of the fanged vampire as he lunged forward.
Instantly, like burning embers, the vampire—still suspended mid-air—disintegrated into ash at a speed visible to the naked eye.
*Clink.*
Along with two fangs hitting the floor, a pile of white ash drifted down into the coffin.
[Ding!] [Obtained: Extraordinary Points × 1] [Current Extraordinary Points: 198] […]
Just like a month ago, and as in every operation, Locke had chosen not to go to the front lines.
He stayed downstairs as backup.
As the vampire upstairs turned to ash, the notification from his cheat program echoed in his mind.
Just as I thought.
Hunting vampires is so much easier than hunting mutants.”
Over the past month, Locke had finally experienced what true grinding felt like.
Compared to exerting a massive effort to track down hidden mutants for Extraordinary Points, harvesting points from vampires was pure bliss.
Over this month, it was no exaggeration to say that the Extraordinary Points Locke had obtained from vampires far exceeded what he used to get after months of painstakingly searching for mutants.
Not to mention there was also Blade lurking in the shadows, currently helping him grind experience.
He and Brown had only hunted about 123 vampires as a team; the rest of his Extraordinary Points were all provided by Blade.
Locke thought to himself, thoroughly pleased.
With Brown in the light and Blade in the dark, grinding these points was not only effortless but also incredibly safe.
Of course, when Brown first started hunting vampires, things hadn’t gone so smoothly.
Even though they were armed with UV bullets, vampires were still extraordinary creatures, possessing reflexes far superior to ordinary humans.
And Locke, waiting downstairs, couldn’t provide immediate support.
But the end results were good.
Besides, wisdom comes from experience; after a few operations, practice made perfect.
They replaced their standard bulletproof vests with silver-plated flexible armor.
If any vampire dared to touch them, they were guaranteed to end up with festering sores.
Around their necks, they wore crucifixes given to them for free by the church and blessed by priests, eliminating any possibility of a vampire getting a headshot right at the start of a fight.
They also ditched the hand grenades on their belts in favor of small vials of holy water, another free gift from the church.
As for ammunition, they had fully upgraded to specialized UV bullets.
With a setup focused on maximizing both defense and offense, their sweep speed grew faster with each passing day under the protection of this gear.
By now, Locke and Brown’s “Wake-Up Operation” could easily take down three or four vampires a day, and they would even work overtime if they felt like it.
Efficiency was their main game.
If he kept grinding at this rate, Locke felt he could gather enough Extraordinary Points to upgrade his [Vampire Gene] again by the end of the day.
With one more level, he would be able to regain his body temperature and heartbeat, freeing himself from the need to drink Thunder Bourbon three times a day just to keep warm.
Soon, Brown and his men walked out of the apartment building.
Locke, who was waiting outside, saw the smile on Brown’s face.
Even though he already knew the outcome, he still smiled and asked, “All done?”
Brown nodded and handed what he was holding to Debbie, who had walked up to him.
“Another one down.”
Debbie happily pinched the two vampire fangs Brown had just handed her with her fingers, holding them up against the sun.
Under the sunlight, a faint golden gleam was barely visible within the vampire fangs. This story is hosted at g.com.
“Whoa.
A golden legendary!” Debbie’s eyes lit up, and she turned to Locke, reporting with delight, “Boss, this one is worth over ten grand!”
Locke and Brown exchanged a look and smiled.
This was why, even after a month had passed and the fire of vengeance for their fallen comrades had gradually cooled down, Brown and his team’s enthusiasm remained completely undiminished.
Money speaks to the soul.
Who would have thought?
Even Locke hadn’t expected that vampire fangs could actually be sold for cash.
This was an unexpected harvest they had gotten from Blade after establishing their collaboration with Natasha.
In short, vampire fangs were worth money, and they were highly valuable.
This was precisely why Blade, without drawing a salary from SHIELD or working a regular job, could run around New York City every single day, tirelessly hunting vampires.
Anyone in their right mind would be more than happy to do it.
Add to that the fact that hunting vampires yielded Extraordinary Points, and…
well, vampires were literally walking treasures from head to toe.
Moreover, much like traditional Chinese medicine, the higher the grade of the vampire, the more valuable its fangs were.
The one Debbie was currently holding, which had a faint golden sheen and was roughly a C-grade fang, was worth at least ten thousand US dollars!
Unsurprisingly, after learning that hunting vampires brought in such hefty side income, their original plan to stop after killing fifty vampires to avenge their comrades was quietly and mutually forgotten.
Ten grand a pop—they were on the fast track to striking it rich.
Granted, C-grade vampires were relatively rare; most were lower-grade ones worth around five thousand dollars.
Still, it was a fantastic source of side income.
Neither Locke, Brown, Debbie, nor any of the other secret service agents had any aversion to money.
Debbie carefully pulled out a cloth bag that was already half-full from the past two weeks of work and slipped the newly acquired fangs inside.
All the vampire fangs were kept with her, and when the time came to split the loot—or rather, the dividends—she would be the one arranging it.
Locke chuckled as he watched Debbie, who was acting like their treasurer, and glanced at his watch.
“Ten o’clock.
We don’t have any other tasks today.
Next stop?”
“Let’s go, let’s go!”
“…”