Chapter 49 An Offer You Can't Refuse

Along the way, feeling the aroma that was almost cloyingly sweet to the point of making her tongue numb, Hannibal appeared quite uneasy. Rachel, however, seemed to have no such issue; as a vampire, she had long since lost sensitivity to tastes and touches.

She was far more concerned with where she was being taken. Maria drove neither too fast nor too slow, and Rachel could barely perceive the passage of time. She suspected there was something wrong with the air inside the vehicle, causing the flow of time and her own consciousness to slow to a crawl.

Just as Rachel began to feel increasingly irritable and confused, Hannibal took her hand.

"Don't worry, whatever happens, we'll face it together."

"Easy for you to say. I still remember you getting weak in the knees just seeing a vampire a few months ago."

"Well, that's all in the past. I'm much better at dealing with vampires than you are now."

Maria found their nervous expressions somewhat amusing. She was no longer who she used to be; compared to that fool Deacon who relied on some ancient dark arts, Maria felt Lynn Sidis was practically her second parent.

If in the past her mind had been filled with thoughts of escape, lately she had become utterly submissive, incapable of harboring any rebellious intentions.

"How much longer?"

"Don't be impatient, little panther. We still have a long way to go."

After that, no matter what Rachel and Hannibal said, Maria refused to reveal even the slightest bit of information. Soon, the only sounds reaching Hannibal and Rachel's ears were the sloshing of Maria drinking and the cloying fragrance permeating the cabin.

After an unknown length of time, Rachel and Hannibal finally felt the vehicle come to a stop. Shortly after, Maria opened the car door and spotted the combatants waiting quietly in the alley.

"What are you still standing there for? Toss the two of them into the crate."

"A crate? What crate?"

Before Hannibal and Rachel could react, seven or eight large hands grabbed them, subduing the pair before throwing them into the heavy-duty wooden coffin Maria specifically used for cargo transport. The thick solid-wood casket was reinforced with double-layered cast iron.

The interior was lined with soundproofing foam, specially designed for transporting human resources.

With their vision obscured, the two naturally failed to react in time and were effortlessly loaded into the cargo box by Lynn's combatants.

Once the coffin lid was locked, the two fell completely silent. In the alley, only Maria could be seen taking out a lighter, pulling a dried plant-stem roll from her pocket, and igniting it to exhale a plume of stale smoke.

"Ms. Maria, should we follow along?"

"Of course. The order is to deliver them to the target location."

Maria glanced back at the man.

"Get in a car and go home yourself. I don't need you today, and a driver will take you back."

Hearing this, the man fled as if granted a pardon. It was unclear what the female vampire had done to him, but he looked completely exhausted.

--

After Hannibal and Rachel exhausted a good deal of energy struggling inside the heavy coffin, they realized it was a futile effort. This apparatus was specifically designed to safely deliver targets to the former vampire brass.

It was nearly impossible to break through.

After quite a while, Hannibal finally felt a vibration, followed by the sound of the coffin being unlocked.

He rushed to push the lid open, but instead of the heavily guarded vampires they had anticipated, they were greeted by a completely empty underground space.

"Welcome, the two of you. The Doctor is waiting. Please come with me."

"This hardly feels like a welcome..."

"Maria's delivery methods are indeed a bit high-efficiency, but they aren't exactly comforting. I can understand your thoughts. However, you'd best not keep the Doctor waiting. Now, shut your mouths and follow me."

Cara lacked patience, and her abilities required no explanation to the two. The moment her words fell, the minds and consciousnesses of the antagonistic pair were forcefully extracted from their bodies, as if someone else were controlling them.

With their hands and feet completely refusing to obey their will, they moved autonomously, following the black-veiled Cara. They were utterly powerless to resist along the way; even though they knew what they were doing, under Cara's command they could not utter a single word nor make any superfluous movement.

Guiding them past the deserted central control area, Cara walked through a completed corridor. The pure white walls and blue corridor lights exuded a strong sense of high technology, while maintaining a remarkably high standard of security internally.

Hannibal and Rachel could both see all of this clearly; it appeared they had arrived at some extraordinary place.

The path to the biochemical reaction zone was not far. Lynn had just finished processing the chunks of Gamma monsters within the entire biochemical reaction zone.

After numerous rounds of life-force infusion and modulation, some of the meat chunks had shed their original forms and gradually taken on a specific shape. They glowed an overall green while retaining embryonic shapes, and the Gamma energy within their bodies pulsed, emitting flashes of light.

--

It seemed some form of metamorphosis was taking place.

The massive Abomination at the very center was kept intact by Lynn right where it was, without any unnecessary genetic manipulation. Under the rhythmic, breathing-like fluorescent pulses of those Gamma embryos, the entire laboratory was dyed a faint green.

It looked indescribably evil, perfectly matching the stereotypical horror laboratory.

"Welcome, my two friends."

As he spoke, Lynn waved his hand, and purple psionic energy enveloped the two, quickly shielding them from Cara's control. At that moment, Cara stepped back to stand behind Lynn.

Only then did Hannibal and Rachel collapse to their knees. Hannibal, being human, panted heavily with cold sweat streaming down his face, while Rachel, as a vampire, fared slightly better and experienced less discomfort, though the sensation of mental control was far from pleasant.

"It seems Maria's methods were indeed a bit heavy-handed. Well... I apologize to my subordinates; I didn't actually want to employ such rough tactics to invite you here."

"Who are you?"

"Ah, Blade and I are acquaintances, and I believe you've met him. After all, we raided the Romulus Pharmacy in the Bronx together. Honestly, Blade left quite an impression on me. After all, the two of you were able to suppress an entire Nosferatu catacomb of vampires with him, and there were quite a few high-tier individuals among them. To be frank, your strength is quite good."

Lynn meant what he said; purely from a human perspective, their combat capabilities were already considered quite decent.

"That really is—" Hannibal was about to say something when Rachel clamped her hand over his mouth. Her boyfriend certainly had a silver tongue on occasions, but his honeyed words often landed him in trouble with quite a few people.

"That is certainly kind of your appreciation, Mr. Sidis."

"Hmm... It seems Blade has mentioned me to you?"

"I've only heard your name. Meeting you in person is a first."

"I see..."

"Yet he told me that not long ago you were still—"

"Circumstances always change, don't they? Just like how you've come to me seeking change right now, to solve your little vampire problem."

"You have a way?" Rachel asked eagerly. This was clearly her inner demon; as long as she could shed the influence of vampires, she was indeed willing to pay a certain price, provided it wasn't too excessive.

"Naturally. Breaking free from the vampire's influence is no major issue; both the dark energy and genetic problems within your body can be resolved. I believe you've both met Maria? If you have any further questions, you may ask them now."

Hannibal clearly had many things he wanted to ask, but after Rachel glared at him, the motor-mouthed man quickly quieted down. Clearly, in front of his girlfriend, he held the subordinate position.

"Are there any side effects to this modulation?"

"Ah, you mean minor issues like that..." Lynn smiled, letting a cup of coffee prepared by Cara float into his hand, and said with a chuckle:

"I trust Maria made it quite clear to you. This is just the first stage. As for those minor side effects, I imagine you will experience them firsthand in due time, without needing me to spell them out for you. At that time, your body will naturally urge you to complete what I've instructed. Considering you are friends with Blade, I will provide some assistance so that your body doesn't collapse too quickly."

"Collapse? What collapse?" Hannibal cared more about Lynn's phrasing than Rachel did. The word 'collapse' sounded extremely harsh, so he ignored Rachel's warning and asked directly.

"If you treat curing the vampire influence as a medical treatment, then naturally it needs to be sustained. You'll need to maintain this course of treatment midway, otherwise your body will inevitably collapse due to metabolic issues. That should be quite easy to understand."

Lynn made no secret of this issue.

"This..."

"Though it wasn't my original intent, you can view this as a condition to spur you into working. After all, sometimes a little danger helps keep you on your toes, doesn't it?"

"You—"

Just as he prepared to unleash his silver tongue, Rachel clamped her hand over Hannibal's mouth again.

"I accept. But can you let him leave first? After all, I'm the only one who needs treatment, isn't that right?"

Lynn glanced at Hannibal and nodded.

"Very well."

--

He then watched with interest to see how Rachel would bid farewell to her little boyfriend. He rather enjoyed such mundane soap operas, using them as a temporary mental break from his high-speed cognitive processing to observe what kind of things people under the sway of romance might say.

"Listen to me, Rachel, you can't just agree to his terms. Didn't you see his laboratory? This is literally the underground dungeon of a mad freak. Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have accepted this bloody condition. Maybe we could figure something out on our own."

"We can't figure anything out. The vampire problem isn't something that can be resolved so easily. I know that better than you. Many people think they can resist that temptation, but honestly, most vampire hunters I've seen ended up turning into things far worse than ordinary vampires. I don't want to become that. Give me a chance, please?"

"But—"

"Shh, no 'buts'. Alright, handsome, do as I say and go home and wait for me."

"I—"

Hannibal wanted to say more, but seeing Rachel frown and gesture for him to observe the surrounding environment, he quickly understood her meaning. They had no choice; having carelessly followed Maria's words to arrive here, they no longer had any room to maneuver.

He finally recalled what Blade had told him.

--

"You're asking about the partner I found previously?"

"Right. What kind of ability does he have to attack a vampire catacomb, let alone the headquarters of the Blood Pact..."

"Lynn Sidis is not someone you make casual trades with. Let me give you a warning: if he extends any invitations to you later, keep your distance from him."

"Why? You seem to be on good terms with him."

Blade rarely removed his sunglasses, though a deep skepticism lingered in his gaze.

"You want to cure Rachel's vampirism? Don't answer me. Telling you about him was my mistake, but I'll give you one piece of advice: if you insist on making any deal with Lynn Sidis, do not approach within ten meters of him. Otherwise, you'll find yourself with no way out. You ask why I dared approach him for reinforcements? Because at the time I was confident I could escape from his hands, and frankly, my relationship with him isn't too bad. He's a rational person; there was no need for unnecessary risks."

--

Hannibal finally caught sight of the shadowy phantoms of psionic tentacles filling the entire space. Those pale purple illusory tentacles writhed constantly, jarring his nerves. Intuition told him those things were extremely dangerous.

He looked toward Lynn, who was sitting not far away in an inconspicuous chair.

He could no longer clearly make out Lynn's features, seeing only a pair of glowing purple pupils.

"It seems your girlfriend is a bit more perceptive than you, handsome. To be honest, I prefer equal cooperative relationships. If you agree, then head back out and lie down in the transport vehicle that brought you here. Go home and wait to be reunited with your girlfriend; that way everyone gets the best ending, handsome."

Hannibal swallowed involuntarily, unable to speak. In the end, Rachel slapped him across the face, followed by a deep kiss, and said,

"Go back and wait for me, alright?"

--

When Cara escorted Hannibal out and returned to the biochemical reaction zone, Rachel had already been placed inside the biochemical bioreactor by Lynn.

Light-blue solution bubbled continuously, and the buttons on the experimental control panel operated autonomously under the shroud of purple psionic energy.

"Doctor, it seems you intend to conduct some additional experiments on her?"

"I need utilization data on Gamma energy. She's a good choice; a moving living subject to collect parameters of various daily activities is quite meaningful to me."

"Would using those combatants be a better choice?"

"Them?" Lynn said with a smile. "They are certainly safe enough. But in order to divert other people's attention and ensure the success rate for the two of them, she still needs a little extra assistance."