The bumpy road knocked Liz’s head into waking up. She groaned and frowned. Slowly opened her heavy eyelids, realizing she was in her rental car and bounded by raffia ropes.

Looking to her side, SK sat still gazing out of the window. Liz nudged him with her foot. Prompting her partner to look over as she mouthed off the words, what’s going on? SK shrugged his shoulders. And continued to look out through the window as acting like a tourist.

Liz looked in front and saw who was driving the car. She frowned. Noticing it was Zane, the man who grappled her to being unconscious. She took pride in her strength and her close-quarter combat capability, and the only time she lost was against the Chief, and now a scrawny guy one-upped her even with such amateurish skill in grappling. Her heart blazed intending to take revenge. But a voice stopped her.

“I know you’re awake, and if you try anything stupid, I won’t mind changing my plan to something more bloodier,” Zane warned. As he didn’t even glance behind him.

“Stay down, Griner,” SK advised her the same.

Liz glared. “He’s a vampire! We don’t listen to vampires,” she said. Throwing her reasoning out of the window.

SK looked confused. “What are you talking about? It’s broad daylight out here, and the vamp didn’t even bite him,” he vouched for Zane.

“He’s in the process of being one, you idiot,” she reprimanded him. “You and I know that some people take time in changing, and in the process, they would still be immune to their natural weaknesses. Sooner or later they will turn, and become the monster that they are.”

“Wow,” Zane exclaimed. “Dude, your partner is really a bitch.”

“Sorry, sir. She’s a bit cranky when she wakes up,” SK said.

“Sir? The fuck are you doing addressing a vampire as a sir?” Liz glared at her partner. “What the hell are you doing SK? You turning coats right now, is this what it is?”

SK glowered back. “Stop calling him a vampire, you shithead,” SK said. “He showed me his body and there was no bite wound on him. So you better lay off or else he’ll do something else to us.” After building up some rapport with SK, Zane did show his body to SK as a sign of goodwill. And indeed there was no bite wound on him.

“You’re saying he’s not a vampire? Then tell me how the hell did he knock me unconscious?” Liz uttered. “With that scrawny body of his, you think he can really defeat me in a one-on-one situation?”

“You fucking idiot! He—”

“Ahh, what a pity,” Zane said. “I thought of just doing the bare minimum. But your friend, dude, she really knows how to press my button.”

SK could only sigh.

The car stopped after a short journey filled with cuss words that kept coming from Liz’s thick lips. They were in the middle of nowhere with an old building right in front of them. Trees were lushed around them as if they were in a tropical jungle with a rundown four-story building smacked in the middle of it.

Zane carried SK on his shoulder and went inside one of the ground floor rooms of the abandoned building. SK looked around, not knowing what was Zane up to. He was told it wasn’t anything dangerous, just a little bit of punishment for their trespassing.

“What is this place?” SK asked, curious.

“It’s an abandoned hospital, and I’ve heard it’s quite haunted,” he grinned.

“FYI, we don’t deal with ghosts and anything intangible,” SK said. Starting to grow nervous over this place.

“Well, that’s something good to hear. At least now I know ghosts really do exist,” Zane said. “And besides, it’s not like ghosts could hurt anyone, right?”

And before he left, Zane glanced back at SK. “Ah, I almost forgot. I’ll leave your phone in one of the rooms here, so try your best to find it,” Zane said.

Zane went back to the car and noticed Liz wasn’t there. He looked around and noticed she was on the ground, dragging her body away, trying to get away.

He went to her and lugged her on his shoulder. She was a bit stunned at first, seeing Zane did the most outrageous thing. She was two meters in height and Zane carrying her like that was unthinkable considering how he appeared. But that amazement didn’t last long as she kept cursing at Zane as he brought her up to the highest floor in the abandoned hospital.

He found the most spacious room, and rather than putting her down gently, he threw her down like a rag doll.

“You fucking piece of shit, you think you’ll get away with this?” Liz threatened.

“Huh,” he sighed. “I don’t want to do this, but you really getting on my nerve.” Zane flipped open a swiss knife.

“What are you doing?” Liz turned cautious. Seeing a sharp weapon alerted her that things were about to get messy.

“Stay still, okay?” he lazily said.

“You think I’m afraid of you? Because I’m not. Once I get out of this… wait, what are you doing? Stop!…” she was helpless over what Zane was doing to her. And by the time Zane left her he had a broad smile on his face.

In the room, Liz was on the floor naked without a shred of clothes on her. She thought she was getting raped. But Zane didn’t do it. He just left her after cutting off all her clothes into shreds. The cold cement floor slowly sapped the heat of her two-meter body as she lay still, not budging even an inch. For the first time since she became an agent, she had never felt so helpless.

* * *

Zane returned back to his apartment. Feeling good after he punished those evil-doers after messing up his living room and his bedroom. Yet his biggest joy was the things cradled in his arms. To his surprise, while carving Liz’s cloth to shreds, the female agent had a lot more stuff hidden in her clothes. A silver butterfly knife, a silver combat knife, a few small canisters of silver mist spray, and a few small-sized silver-infused smoke grenades. She was packing a whole armory of vampire-slaying weapons, and Zane reaped the reward.

But he did feel slightly guilty of turning her naked. Yet who could blame him? The woman kept cursing at him, calling him names, and always calling him a vampire even when he wasn’t. But it all then boiled down to a single fact, the WNBA-like agent couldn’t accept being defeated by a weak-looking man. Well to be fair, Zane didn’t actually look weak. He just looked scrawny due to his lean muscles, and wearing boxy clothes only made him look thinner.

Nonetheless, he did logistics for his new catalog of weapons. Not to forget those guns he threw under his TV cabinet, a boon if he must say. Something he didn’t expect. From Liz alone, he got four extra guns and a few extra magazines filled with silver bullets.

[Silver Bullet(.50 Caliber)(2-Star). A .50 caliber bullet made out of silver. Highly effective against certain supernatural beings. Known effectiveness: Vampire, werewolf. Effect: 4x Damage to certain supernatural beings.]

The explanation said it all. With this kind of firepower, he would have no problem going against vampires and werewolves in the fantasy world. But the question right now was, would those guys report him for having illegal firearms? He did send something to SK’s phone, but he doubted a bit about that tall female agent. He had a hunch that she wouldn’t let go of her grudge that easily.

Hmm, should I pay for another visit to my cousin in Malaysia? Zane thought. He had something in mind, but in this short term perhaps his cousin was the only answer for safekeeping his weapon stash.

Nah, that would be too tedious, Zane thought. In the end, he chose the fantasy world as the place where he would keep his firearms. Packing every firearm he had in one of his old suitcases, he left nothing not even a single bullet. Even the holsters were packed inside, leaving no clue that he had anything to do with a gun.

He slumped down on his couch and leaned back. Slowly submerging in the cushion and fabric as if he was hugged by his own sofa. “Can’t believe all of those things are real,” Zane said. He imagined every known mythological creature on Earth that existed in literature and modern media to really roam on this Earth in reality and not just a figment of imagination.

“And where there’s a supernatural being, there are also people that wanted to cover it all up,” he said. As those agents came to mind. He still didn’t have the full name of the supposed organization that hid this thing from the world population. But with how the general people were clueless about these creatures, he could surely say that the organization or CPU in this case did very well in keeping a lid on it.

“But I wonder why exactly that they do not tell these things to the people?” Zane asked. “I can understand it could incite unrest in the global population, but wouldn’t it be better for all of us to know and just be prepared and combat these things out in the open?”

It got him thinking “Unless there’s a reason to hide it all,” Zane said. “I just hope it isn’t like Underworld where the high nobility of vampires really ruled the modern world in the shadows.” The thought kinda scared him a bit.

“Well whatever it is, I need to get stronger,” he said. Knowing that the solution to everything was only one, to level up and become stronger. Stronger than any foes that he would fight in the present and in the future.

[Status]

[Zane][Lv.13]

[Class: Mage(Lv.13)]

[HP: 40/40]

[MP: 55/62]

[Strength: 21]

[Vitality: 20]*

[Agility: 27][+1]

[Arcane Power: 31(+26)]

[Perception: 17]

[Available Points: 5]

[Trait]

[Enhanced Drop Rate]

[Multi-Class]

[Unique Skill]

[Warp][Lv.1]

[General Skill]

[Hi-Analysis][Lv.1]

[Physical Resistance][Lv.3]

[Mage Spell]

[Mana Manipulation][Lv.1]

[Force Beat][Lv.3]

[Fireball][Lv.3]

[Earth Wall][Lv.1]

[Sense][Lv.1]

[Wind Burst][Lv.1]

Looking through his stats, Zane saw there was a lot of work that needed to be done. For now, he placed three points to perception bringing it to twenty and the last two points to strength.

“Oh, yea. Before I leave for the fourth trip, I probably need a shovel.”