Chapter 3

At this moment, he was desperately controlling the trembling urge in his fingers to pick up a scalpel, fighting to keep the surging killing intent buried deep in his heart.

He knew all too well how terrifying the man before him was. When he had first been brought back to the family, he had witnessed at a family hunting gathering how Andrew had barehanded torn apart a North American gray wolf's jaw, then without a care sprawled over the convulsing wolf carcass, greedily chewing the flesh and sucking the wolf's blood.

Andrew's beast-like intuition and grasp of human nature were terrifying to the extreme. Steven had to practice micro-expressions in front of a mirror hundreds and thousands of times just to barely hide his true emotions in front of this man.

"Uncle Andrew, it's not that I don't want to come." Steven rubbed his face, putting on a tired and helpless expression. "My adoptive parents' medical expenses are almost gone. The ICU burns money every day. I can only work part-time jobs day and night."

Andrew pulled out a cigar and stuck it in his mouth, catching the deliberately revealed complaint in Steven's tone.

"I promised that your adoptive parents' medical expenses would be fully covered by the family."

Steven glanced at the broken lock on the floor and muttered, half-truthfully: "Will the family reimburse me for fixing the door?"

Actually, he was already calculating which part of Andrew's body to start cutting from when the time came to strike.

Andrew bit down on his cigar and suddenly let out a cold laugh, his gaze pinning Steven's face like a knife: "You're cursing me in your heart."

Steven's heart skipped a beat, but his expression remained unchanged.

"Snap."

Andrew didn't pursue it further. Instead, he pulled out a black bank card from his pocket and casually tossed it onto the coffee table.

"Knocking is an elder's courtesy to a junior." Andrew exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, leaning forward like a volcano about to erupt. "Breaking down the door is because I have no patience to wait today!"

"There's over two million dollars in that card. This money is enough to cover your adoptive parents' top-tier medical care at the best hospital in Los Angeles for the next two years or more."

Looking at the card on the table, Steven let out a low breath, clasping his hands tightly together.

Andrew caught sight of Steven's slightly trembling fingertips, and a contemptuous smile curved at the corner of his mouth: "Steven, you're still too green. Your disguise is terrible. Look at your hands—they're shaking with excitement."

Steven didn't argue. He kept his head down, because only he knew that his hands weren't trembling from excitement or fear, but from extremely engorged excitement—the impulse to immediately snap Andrew's neck was becoming impossible to suppress.

"Has the three-year agreement plan changed?" Steven took a deep breath, forcibly changing the subject. He was very clear that the money in the card definitely wasn't free, and there was absolutely no way to withdraw it now.

Andrew looked at him approvingly.

"Two years ago, I spent a fortune to buy an amazing secret from an old coroner who was about to kick the bucket." Andrew pointed toward the window. "The Los Angeles city government has already approved a project that will officially launch the 'Expanded Criminal Investigation Unit' program in March 2006."

"This unit will have enormous authority. When recruiting members, the coroner's office and veterans will have absolute priority. Most importantly, if you can get in there, you'll be able to access 'things' beneath the surface of this world that ordinary people have no right to know about."

Andrew stared coldly at Steven: "When I originally shoved you into the coroner's office and set the three-year agreement, it was so you could naturally get in when the program launches and verify the authenticity of that secret for the family."

"Why me?" Steven asked knowingly. "The family has so many capable people."

"Don't mention those idiots to me!" Andrew looked disgusted. "Those wastes in the family either didn't even finish high school, or have records so dirty that even the rats in LA's sewers are cleaner! Their heads are filled with nothing but weed and women. You're different."

Andrew tapped the coffee table: "Your record is clean, you have the highest education in the family, your social connections are tied to those two half-dead adoptive parents of yours, and most importantly, Thomas family blood flows in your veins. You're the only one qualified for this job."

Steven stared at the bank card: "What do you need me to do next?"

"I thought you'd resist." Andrew laughed, showing his white teeth. "Looks like you're not as naive as before."

Steven shrugged, self-mockingly pulling at the corner of his mouth: "People always grow up. Life is like rape—if you can't resist, might as well choose to enjoy it."

"Good." Andrew nodded with satisfaction, extinguishing the still-burning cigar between his fingers, then somewhat neurotically carefully tucked the ash-covered butt back into his expensive suit pocket.

"The plan has been moved up by half a year." Andrew stood up, his massive body blocking the ceiling light. "Keep your ears open. As soon as you receive recruitment news released internally by the coroner's office, sign up immediately."

"You've been at the coroner's office for two years—your seniority is just right. Remember, at any cost, get into that unit for me."

Steven looked up at him: "What exactly is the secret you want me to verify?"

"You'll know when the time comes." Andrew looked down at him from above. "Remember, secret for password. Don't disappoint me—you absolutely can't afford the consequences."

With that, Andrew turned and walked toward the door.

Just as he was about to step through the damaged doorway, Andrew's steps suddenly stopped dead.

The dim hallway light fell on his broad back, and the atmosphere suddenly became eerie.

"Steven, do you know? Tonight is a blood moon phenomenon that only happens once every thirty years." Andrew spoke with his back to him, his voice suddenly becoming ethereal and uncertain, carrying an almost pathological fervor. "I saw one when I was little. After that, for countless days and nights, that red moon kept appearing in my dreams... It's simply the most beautiful treasure God has given to mankind."

Steven frowned, feeling somewhat discordant about the gang boss's sudden poetic tone: "If I don't have any new part-time orders tonight, I'll take a look."

Andrew suddenly turned around.

In that instant, Steven's scalp went numb.

He saw that the capillaries around Andrew's eyes had somehow burst open in a grotesque way, with dense, menacing bloodshot veins crawling across the whites of his eyes like a spider web, staring straight at Steven.

"There are no ifs."

Andrew's voice was like a cold wind scraping from the depths of hell, his gaze a hundred times more terrifying than when he had torn apart the gray wolf years ago, carrying an inhuman oppressive force that brooked no defiance.

"Tonight, you must stand by the window and bathe in the blood moon's radiance! Properly appreciate the gift God has given to mankind!"

Steven's whole body stiffened, cold sweat instantly soaking through his back.

When he shivered and came back to his senses, the doorway was empty. Andrew and the two suited bodyguards had disappeared without a trace, as if they had never returned.

The apartment was deathly quiet, with only the violently twisted door that couldn't close properly making desolate "creaking" sounds in the night wind.

Steven suddenly turned to look out the window.

In the depths of the night sky, a glaring dark red color was quietly eroding what should have been a bright, clear moon.