A day's work ended quickly.
As closing time approached, a familiar figure appeared before Lynn once again.
"What do you want?"
Blade glanced at Tom, but he didn't draw his sword.
"This vampire can appear during daylight. What did you do?"
"You don't want to know what I did. Are you here for more of the mixture, or something else?"
"Give me the mixture."
After speaking, Blade pulled out a stack of American bills from inside his trench coat.
"The usual price, right?"
Lynn instructed Tom to go downstairs to get the items, then said, "The rest is on me. I'm planning to move."
"Are you still going to stay in this business?"
"I plan to take a break for a while."
"Then good luck."
Blade took the briefcase Tom tossed to him, looked at Lynn, and then disappeared into the night. He had no intention of asking Lynn about his destination.
Lynn watched Blade leave, put the money in his pocket, then said to Tom:
"Deal with those tail-followers. Remember, don't let a single one get away."
Tom was obedient. Lynn's senses had detected vampires tailing Blade, their dark energy quite obvious to his perception.
Since it was nighttime, vampires couldn't keep getting played by Blade. They would naturally find ways to track him.
And also find out who was supplying Blade with those powerful new equipment.
Lynn understood this clearly, but he didn't plan to kill those vampires himself, at least not openly. Leaving it to Tom was a good choice.
Soon, the only streetlight near the fried chicken shop suddenly went out, with only sparse light from outside the alley shining in.
Several vampires surrounded Tom, who was standing at the entrance of the fried chicken shop.
"Is this the fried chicken shop? Is this where the Daywalker got that bomb?"
"Stop asking questions. Kill the skinny guy, then we'll go back."
The vampires pulled out submachine guns from their waists. They weren't high-level vampires and still needed modern weapons to fight. At least these inferior bloods couldn't rampage like true beasts of the night.
"Attack!" the vampires shouted.
"Attack," Lynn's command also appeared in Tom's mind. Lynn's telepathy had some limitations; only those directly affected by his psychic tentacles could receive his mental commands.
In an instant, Tom's body expanded to twice its size, revealing the form of Hunger.
The surrounding vampires didn't even have time to be surprised. The 9mm bullets from the submachine guns spat flames toward Tom, but they just pinged off his body without causing any damage.
Tom roared and charged at one of the vampires, his massive claws easily tearing through fragile flesh.
These lowest-tier vampires weren't particularly powerful, probably only five or six times stronger than normal humans. Tom in his Hunger form killed the first vampire so easily.
Lynn was lying in the basement, watching everything upstairs through the security monitors.
"Speed and strength sufficient to subdue these ordinary vampires, and the skin effectively defends against small-caliber firepower."
A large number of bullets rained down on Tom's body, but these projectiles couldn't penetrate his dense fur and fell to the ground.
The bullets couldn't harm Tom in the slightest, but Tom's claws could effortlessly cut through the vampires' bodies. These guys had no way to withstand those massive claws.
What terrified them even more was that the bodies of the two unfortunate fellows who had been killed first by Tom were already being dissolved. The blood-red claws were secreting the serum Lynn had made for Blade.
"The liquid secretion adjustment was also successful. Should be able to produce nitrate bombs in the future. Hmm, that's one direction."
Lynn made another note in his little notebook. Meanwhile, one of the vampires realized that the submachine gun was completely useless against Tom.
His legs trembling, he dropped his weapon and prepared to flee.
But turning your back on a predator was clearly unwise.
A huge mouth quickly bit down on his head, the tremendous bite force instantly crushing his skull. Pale jelly spilled all over the ground as Tom swallowed the tissue in his mouth.
Tom turned to look at the few vampires frozen in place.
For a long time, these guys had played the role of predators. Even Blade could only kill them on equal footing.
But today was different. Tom still had unidentifiable liquid flowing from his mouth, and his image completely shattered the vampires' mental defenses. This time, they transformed from their usual role as hunters to prey. A change in status often breaks a person's inner resolve.
These fragile creatures seemed to become mortals again, dropping their weapons and preparing to flee.
But Lynn changed his mind. With a slight thought, the vampires found they couldn't move their legs.
Purple psychic tentacles wrapped around their bodies, and the vampires felt their strength draining away.
A warmth they had long forgotten began flowing from all over their bodies down to their feet, as if their life force was being drained away.
"Bring them in, Tom, then close the shutter door."
These vampires lost consciousness before realizing what terrible things would happen to them later. Sometimes, superhuman vitality isn't necessarily a good thing.
In the early morning, Lynn was dealing with the last vampire he had captured alive. The surgical knife precisely cut through the vampire's nerve bundles, and throughout this process, the vampire stared at him in terror.
"Hmm? You woke up early?"
Lynn was curious why this guy had woken up early. His psychic tentacles should have drained a large amount of their life energy, including their dark energy which Lynn had absorbed.
Lynn had estimated these guys should only wake up around noon the next day.
Perhaps this vampire was stronger than the others? Or did he have a better physical foundation?
Lynn hadn't completely severed the connection between his brain and upper body, so he asked with interest, "What's your name?"
"Jekyll..."
The vampire's speech was somewhat slurred, and Lynn couldn't clearly hear the second half of what he added, including his surname.
However, this vampire seemed afraid to say anything more, not even begging for mercy. He feared the madman before him might do something more horrific.
"Ah, I was just asking for the sake of it. You don't need to answer, and I'm not interested in knowing..."
Lynn smiled, feeling a sense of pleasure from the vampire's name, a small memory from the past that seemed to relax his tense nerves a bit.
He had been too tense since arriving here, and even having superpowers hadn't relieved his emotions, after all, this world was completely unsafe.
Lynn put down the surgical knife and restarted his computer and engines.
"There are still some materials left. Making another beast soldier isn't troublesome."
Lynn said with a smile.
"You should thank your name, but I've been too tense lately. Maybe it's better to relax a bit, otherwise doing this kind of thing every day."
After speaking, Lynn knocked this guy unconscious, withdrew the purple psychic tentacles, and once again filled the cultivation tank with culture fluid.
Those mechanical cilia and injection needles pierced into Jekyll's body under psychic control. With the successful experience of Tom, Lynn was much more at ease this time, and also more careful, after all, he didn't want to waste this name.
"Make some basic adjustments, after all, there will be more functions to modify later."
________________________________________
In a building in a certain New York district
Deacon asked with a gloomy face:
"None of them came back? Didn't I tell them to go in groups of three?"
Silence. The room that usually held various foul-smelling gatherings every night was exceptionally clean today.
The lower-tier vampires responsible for cleaning keenly picked up on the change in the boss's expression and quickly left the room.
After this came screams and pleas for mercy. The lower-tier minions obviously couldn't withstand the rage of a high-level vampire.
An hour later, the janitors cautiously pushed trash cans in, accompanied by several colleagues.
Outside, they might swagger and chase ordinary people for fun through several blocks, but here, their status might be even lower than that of ordinary humans.
They had just seen Deacon return from his enormous transformed state to normal.
"Clean this mess up, damn it..."
Deacon grabbed a pair of jeans from a dead body and put them on, then pointed at one of the janitors:
"Tell Rogue to see me!"
Deacon eventually met with Rogue in another room.
"Boss?"
"How's the underground altar coming along?"
"Almost ready, but we still don't have enough sacrifices. After all, the pages of the sacred book require the children of Abraham, which aren't easy to find."
"Use the other patriarchs."
"You mean the other elders? But they..."
"The Daywalker has been causing too much trouble lately. With this excuse, they'll come."
Obviously, compared to the elusive descendants of Abraham, these high-level vampire elders were much easier to find.
"Do we still have those things Daywalker left behind last time?"
"Yes, are you planning to use these?"
"Mix them into the blood packs."
Early the next morning, Lynn arrived at the school as soon as it was light. One security guard at the school gate was sleeping, while another was on duty. Only a few football stars were doing morning practice.
The time for his appointment with the school was approaching. Lynn brought Jekyll to Central High School, leaving Tom to sell fried chicken at the shop.
After all, when Lynn had used his mental control, he wasn't very skilled yet, and Tom's brain didn't work very well, appearing somewhat simple-minded. Jekyll had better control over his expressions, at least no one would think he was an idiot at first glance.
"Boss, I'm going to apply for the janitor position?"
"Go ahead, just find a way to stay in the school."
A lot would probably happen at this high school in the future. Considering future developments, being a not-so-busy biology teacher at this school seemed like a good choice for Lynn.
After all, there was more than one notable figure here, which could serve as his best cover.
"Slow planning might be the best choice."
Lynn strolled into the campus, while Jekyll headed toward the administration office. They were never short of janitors, as it wasn't a desirable position, and not many people wanted to do it.
"Hello, Mr. Sidis."
A rather kind voice reached Lynn's ears. An elderly teacher with white hair seemed to have been waiting for Lynn at the teaching building for a long time.
Lynn glanced at her notebook, which revealed the lady's name.
"Hello, Ms. Maggie."
"Mr. Sidis, how did you know my name? I haven't introduced myself yet."
"I saw it on the notebook you're holding to your chest."
Lynn extended his hand and exchanged greetings with Ms. Maggie, then continued:
"Perhaps you could show me my classroom?"
"Of course, of course, follow me, follow me."
Although this lady had completely white hair, her body still looked quite robust. Lynn didn't offer to support her, and soon, Maggie led Lynn to his own classroom.
"The staff office is on the other end. You can come over if you want. We sometimes share snacks, Mr. Sidis."
"Of course, I'd be delighted, Ms. Maggie."
Lynn nodded politely, then Maggie began to introduce the content of the work. Lynn listened more or less. There wasn't much to do: prepare lessons, teach, and write teaching plans.
Lynn had just arrived, so the class schedule might only come down in a couple of days.
"Not much different from selling fried chicken."
But Lynn's purpose for coming here wasn't entirely to teach. After arranging the desks and chairs in the classroom for a while, he went to the staff lounge.
Classes hadn't started yet, and many staff members were in the lounge, having coffee and reading newspapers. Lynn greeted them all.
But apart from Maggie, he didn't really remember any of them, as he wasn't here to establish interpersonal relationships today.
Lynn scanned the room and quickly found an office computer. Maggie had told him this was a public computer, connected to the school's own management system.
It contained records of student information.
Central High School didn't have many students, and with effective use of the search function, Lynn quickly found the name he was concerned about.
"Jessica Jones, eighteen years old, third-year student, home address, Queens..."
Lynn quickly read through Jessica's information.
After finding Jones's home address, Lynn planned to visit this girl who hadn't come to school for a month and a half.
Throughout the morning, no students came to Lynn's classroom. After Maggie told him he could rest early and that the class schedule would be arranged tomorrow, Lynn planned to leave.
Using telepathy to call for Jekyll to leave Central High School together, Lynn wanted to go to Jessica Jones's home.
This young girl should have awakened her superpowers by now, and should undoubtedly be a superhuman.
When Lynn stood at Jessica's doorstep, he didn't sense any trace of people there.
Lynn extended his psychic energy toward the room, but under the psychic probe, he couldn't find any human presence.
"Looks like we need to go in and see..."
Lynn and Jekyll started walking toward Jessica's small house.
After Lynn used his psychic energy to disengage the effectively useless mechanical lock, Jekyll opened the front door without causing any damage.
Entering the room, a cloud of dust was stirred up by the airflow from the door. This house definitely hadn't been opened for a long time.
But Jekyll quickly responded to Lynn.
"There are footprints. Their time doesn't match the rest of the dust."
"Go upstairs and take a look," Lynn commanded Jekyll while he himself left the house.
Lynn was now sitting on a bench in a nearby park, holding a hamburger and a newspaper.
While Jekyll was exploring Jessica's house, Lynn had time to consider his abilities. He wasn't sure if his power came from being a mutant or was an additional benefit from his dimensional travel.
However, after a few days of analysis, he had figured out several parts of his superpowers.
So far, he had developed several aspects of his abilities. The first was telekinesis that could directly act on inorganic objects and organic life, which was the basic ability he used to operate his laboratory.
The second was those psychic tentacles, which could not only absorb various types of life energy but were also the medium through which Lynn operated others' minds. The tentacles needed to act directly on others' brains to exert mental power, but absorbing life energy didn't require this.
At the same time, Lynn's perception of life energy and dark energy was quite keen, but he felt he had more power that hadn't been developed yet.
He didn't have much time to daydream. Jekyll quickly responded, and Lynn learned everything in the room through Jekyll.
A rather tidy room, but Lynn still discovered something different through Jekyll's eyes.
"Blood stains."
Lynn found blood stains soaked into the crevices. These long-congealed blood stains indicated something extraordinary must have happened in this room.
"Looks like we have other things to do. Come down, let's leave this place."
Jekyll began to leave the room without hesitation, but when he pushed open the front door, he saw that the entrance was surrounded by five or six soldiers dressed in black.
Those surrounding Jekyll were fully armed, their weapons reflecting the sunlight, with dark muzzles pointed at him.
With the appearance of these soldiers, the surroundings even quieted down, as if everyone except those present had disappeared from Jessica's house at the center.
This meant someone didn't like others investigating this place...