Su Ming sighed inwardly; Rachel was the typical case of having a "savior complex" but not the destiny of a savior.
Perhaps Quincy should never have taught her to be a vampire hunter back then; instead, he should have sent her directly to Kama Taiji to learn magic.
Although The Ancient One wasn't Dumbledore and wouldn't teach her Avada Kedavra, the speed of escaping through the Teleportation Gate was certainly faster than two legs, right?
Watching Rachel sit awkwardly on the sofa, sipping soda with her head lowered, and showing a relaxed smile because of the sweetness, she probably hadn't realized how tough her choice was.
Using a finite lifespan to deal with an undying existence was doomed to be a tragedy from the start.
Dracula is an eternal dead, leading a vast vampire clan.
His abilities include hypnosis, controlling animals and insects, transforming into animals or black mist, and unleashing Thunder God-level storms without Mjolnir.
He possesses a powerful self-healing ability, is immune to bullets, undetectable by mirrors and cameras, has superhuman speed, endurance, agility, strength, is a martial arts master, has magic resistance, is unafraid of sunlight, doesn't need to breathe, and even when pierced through the heart with a stake, he only becomes temporarily paralyzed.
For Deathstroke, there are always ways to counter these abilities, but the main problem is that Dracula cannot commit suicide even if he wants to; he stands at the pinnacle of Marvel's undying ability, second to none.
Compared to him, even Deadpool and Wolverine are nothing; Dracula's undying nature comes from a higher-level concept, and no one in the All-Powerful Universe knows how it works.
Wade's sweetheart, Death, is very curious about Dracula's ability and has personally tried to kill him several times.
But Dracula seems soulless; no matter if his body perishes, he always resurrects quickly, even Death can't kill him.
Whether it's 'Eternity' striking him into molecules, or 'Annihilation' erasing his existence, Dracula will still emerge and be there; no one can deprive him of immortality.
Death couldn't outlast him and eventually had to give up, begrudgingly acknowledging such a bizarre existence in the cosmos.
In the history of comics, Dracula had his own series.
Unlike other characters boasting in their series, Dracula's series was all about getting shown up by various heroes.
Dracula has died about three to four hundred times; roughly every two superheroes have killed him once. If they haven't teamed up to kill Dracula at least once, they wouldn't even feel worthy of being called a superhero.
But Dracula revives infinitely and would retaliate by, for instance, draining the blood of heroes' spouses and children while they're not home, and female heroes often get ambushed in the dark and taken back to his castle by a smirking creepy uncle.
All in all, he's an existence that even Creator Gods can't handle; ordinary people facing him don't stand a chance of a good ending.
Su Ming can afford to oppose Dracula, but he doesn't want those around him to be constantly threatened. Being a mercenary is always a high-risk job; if others can't deal with you, they'll go after those around you.
The Time Gem is not omnipotent.
The best approach is to continue Kama Taiji's neutral stance; don't provoke Dracula, and he won't bother the warlocks out of boredom.
Doctor Strange is a negative example.
In the comics, not long after Strange inherited the Supreme Mage position, he ignored Earth Protection Array duties and instead thought about earning money through magic commissions. Due to some trivial matters, he stubbornly went up against Dracula, and it never ended well.
Dracula attacked him dozens of times; even if he got obliterated each time, he'd soon come back.
Everyone related to Strange suffered attacks: his butler, his wife, a night nurse, his former hospital colleagues, clients he exorcised for, childhood neighbors, and friends from the Magic Realm, and even his dog was taken by Dracula as a 'dog hostage.'
Dracula's attitude was to disgust you to death even if he couldn't defeat you.
Until the comics before Su Ming's crossing, Dracula was still pestering Doctor Strange.
The only person Su Ming knew who could restrain Dracula was Wade because he's more disgusting and shameless than Dracula.
Yet Strange and Deadpool don't get along; once, Wade's daughter was kidnapped across time, and Wade begged Strange for help, even kneeling and bowing his head.
But Doctor Strange cruelly rejected him: "You came to me only after finding Wolverine, so I won't help."
???
Even Deadpool was shocked to the point of speechlessness; can't he find a more reasonable excuse? Or is it jealousy?
In the end, it was Captain America and the X-Men who lent Deadpool a hand.
Being a Supreme Mage to the point of Strange is quite the failure; in Doctor Strange's series, Monac would often come around and scold him mercilessly.
The Ancient One's neutrality was lost in Strange's hands, and even Earth's Dimension Protection was neglected. The Magic Prince never looked at Doctor Strange favorably.
Monac was a veteran in the Magic Realm, powerful, leaving Strange to meekly endure the scoldings, evading and making excuses for himself.
Unbeknownst to him, this only made Monac despise him even more; since you're the Supreme Mage, why not get angry and fight me? What kind of Supreme Mage gets berated by an ordinary warlock to the point of losing face?!
Monac only wanted Strange to become a true Supreme Mage, but he seemed utterly hopeless.
Angry.
Su Ming had previously thought about letting Strange take the blame, but now the Time Gem was irresistible, so another path needed to be arranged for Doctor Strange.
Even Blade, who's not the brightest, knew to go after Dracula's minions instead of confronting him directly, and even the brainless skull of Evil Spirit Knight didn't dare seek trouble with Dracula.
Strange's IQ seems to only qualify him to be a warlock in Marvel; as a warrior, he'd certainly be beaten to death, so task allocation needs to be considered carefully.
............
Su Ming observed the people in front of him, relaxedly chatting, eating, and drinking, only showing a smile, like looking at the dead.
But before they die, they must disclose the intelligence Su Ming wanted. Whether they want to conduct suicide attacks on Dracula or just jump off a building afterward, they're dead either way, and Su Ming won't care.
"So, Master Hake, can you now explain why you left the corpse in front of Dr. Richards' house?"
Su Ming, with a smile, sat between Quincy and Rachel, gently asking.
As these words were spoken, the elderly hunter paused slightly, his wine glass frozen in mid-air before bringing it to his mouth hesitantly two seconds later.
His Adam's apple moved a few times, the wine flowed into his stomach, followed by a long sigh.