Those were a pair of dark red eyes. In the gray haze, they gleamed with a bloodthirsty hunger, vivid as blood.
"Huff… huff…"
At the same time, a beastlike panting came from within the gray haze.
At first, the yellow-haired man and black-haired man only thought it was a hallucination from taking too much, and still did not pay much attention.
Until a huge claw reached out from the gray haze with a sound.
The five fingers at the end of that claw were as sharp as steel, and the arm was connected to a strange bracer. On the bracer were three storage tanks filled with green liquid.
Only then did the two stop and stare closely.
"What the hell is that, pretending to be a ghost?"
"Stop trying to scare people. Get out here! This is Gray Nails territory!"
The two took out their weapons. The black-haired man held up a revolver, loaded with all six bullets.
The next second, that figure emerged from the gray haze.
The two immediately froze in place, and cold sweat burst out all over them.
What stood before them was clearly a monster, neither human nor beast.
He was the size of an ordinary person, his whole body covered in beastlike fur. From his wolf's head, a mouthful of sharp teeth dripped saliva.
At this moment, he was crouched on the ground, panting constantly, like a beast ready to pounce.
Most importantly, strange tubes were inserted all over his body, and embedded in his back was a massive fluid reservoir, inside which green liquid flowed.
Being stared at by those scarlet eyes, a bone-chilling feeling rose from the depths of both men's hearts.
He seemed to be thinking about something, and did not move for the moment.
"W-what kind of monster is this?"
The yellow-haired man was so frightened that he took a step back and could not help letting go of the hand holding the girl down.
The girl was also terrified by this werewolf-like monster. She fell to the ground and did not dare move.
"Bang!"
A sudden gunshot rang out. The bullet struck the werewolf directly, opening a bloody hole in his body.
The pain on his body seemed to awaken the werewolf. He finally raised his head, and those scarlet eyes were instantly covered by fury.
"Roar!"
He let out a roar, and the green liquid in the tubes inserted into his body seemed to activate as well, as though it were being madly injected into him.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The black-haired man's hand trembled faintly as he held the gun, and he was so frightened that he backed away two steps.
He fired three shots in a row. All of them hit, but to the monster, they seemed like nothing at all. Instead, they only enraged him further.
"Bad idea! Run!"
The yellow-haired man's eyes showed terror. He turned and fled without looking back.
The black-haired man was a step slower. He looked around in panic, then saw the girl sitting on the ground, scared stiff.
So he grabbed the girl and threw her toward the werewolf. Then he turned and ran without looking back.
The girl was flung down onto the ground. The pain in her body was not worth mentioning compared to the fear and despair in her heart.
"Huff… huff…"
The beast's breathing drew closer. The girl was so frightened that she held her breath, tears constantly spilling from her eyes.
This scene seemed to provoke the werewolf. He growled twice and slowly approached the girl, sniffing at her.
At this moment, the girl was extremely nervous. Her despair was beyond words. She could only keep crying, waiting for death to arrive, not even daring to open her eyes.
Yet after waiting for a while, she realized that there was still no movement, nor any sound.
She mustered her courage and opened her eyes, only to be instantly startled again.
That werewolf-like monster was behind her, watching her. At this moment, he had actually stood upright like a person.
Her legs went weak from fright again, and she almost fainted.
"Leave… this place…"
Suddenly, a restrained whisper came out, muffled and unclear, mixed with pain and a sense of struggle.
The girl watched with her own eyes as the werewolf looked at her one last time, then turned and chased in the direction where the black-haired man and yellow-haired man had fled.
He was very fast, vanishing into the gray haze like an afterimage.
Only after the alley had been quiet for a long while did the girl finally come back to herself. She hurriedly got up from the ground, wiped the tears from her face, and ran out of the Gray Lanes.
In her heart, she silently swore that she would never set foot in the Gray Lanes again for the rest of her life.
What happened today was simply a shadow over her heart.
In comparison, that werewolf-like figure did not seem quite so frightening anymore.
Why had he spared her?
The girl did not understand, but she would keep that question buried in her heart.
"Dack, are you sure you hit him?"
"Damn it, are you blind? Didn't you see the bullets hit him?"
"I saw it, but… why did he look like nothing happened?"
"How the hell should I know? I've never seen that kind of monster before."
The black-haired man and yellow-haired man ran a long way. Only after realizing that no one was chasing them did they finally stop and discuss what had just happened.
The black-haired man said with the relief of surviving disaster, "I pushed that woman over just now. The monster should be going after her now. Hopefully she can hold him off for a while."
The yellow-haired man nodded as well, not feeling the least bit of pity. "I don't think we can stay here either. Who knows when that monster might catch up? Let's leave first and call more people."
"Right. A monster like that showed up in our territory. We have to notify the others."
Both of them were panting faintly, intending to call for reinforcements.
No matter what, now that this kind of monster had appeared in their territory, they had to call people over and figure it out.
Just crouching there, that monster gave off a chilling sense of danger. They swore they never wanted to run into him a second time.
Just then, the yellow-haired man suddenly stopped, his expression filled with terror.
"What are you…" The black-haired man noticed something wrong from his expression. When he looked in the direction of the yellow-haired man's gaze, he froze instantly as well, and an enormous fear surged up from his heart.
That werewolf-like monster was standing right in front of them now, upright like a person. His eyes were even redder than before.
"Run! Run!"
The yellow-haired man turned and fled, bursting out with the fastest speed of his life.
But after only a few breaths, an even faster figure suddenly flashed past beside him, and from its throat came a panting sound as if its patience had reached its limit.
He was so frightened that he fell to the ground. He could only watch as the werewolf opened his bloody maw and pounced at him.
"Ah!"
Amid the screams, Dack was already drenched in cold sweat. In a panic, he dug bullets out of his pocket and shoved them into the cylinder.
His terror made him turn and run. But the moment he looked back, he saw that the werewolf had already stood up from the yellow-haired man's corpse and was chasing him.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Dack did not hesitate and emptied the cylinder directly.
In the Gray Nails, he had been issued a revolver precisely because his marksmanship was good.
On ordinary days, he was extremely confident in his shooting. Yet at this moment, Dack began to doubt himself.
He swallowed with difficulty. The handgun slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.
At such close range, six consecutive bullets, and not a single one had hit.
The speed that monster unleashed made him feel despair even toward the idea of running away.
"Ah!"
Another scream rang out.
The werewolf dragged the two corpses and disappeared from the Gray Lanes.
After returning to his "wolf den," an utterly ordinary cave, the werewolf looked at the prey he had captured today, but he had no desire to eat.
It seemed the hunt was only to satisfy his bloodthirsty craving, out of a beast's instinct, but eating was not.
Deep within his soul, he actually felt disgust toward that act.
Every time this kind of self-conflicted thought appeared, it was often accompanied by a burst of headache.
His nose caught the scent of blood, which stimulated the pain in his head even more. And amid the pain, the memory from just now inexplicably flashed through his mind.
Then suddenly, a girl's helpless scream echoed in his head.
His head hurt so much.
In his life, it seemed there had once been a girl as pitiful as that one in the gray alley.
The Gray Nails. Such a familiar name.
He seemed to remember knowing them once.
Just then, more images of memory flashed by, and even his body began to hurt with them, as though it were being torn apart alive.
The pain, accompanied by an intense burning sensation, made the werewolf fall to the ground in agony, clutching his head and roaring.
Right. A laboratory. He had escaped from a laboratory.
He had a name. What was his name again?
"Bloodhunter Experiment Subject No. 1, Warwick. The results of this experiment are not ideal. The subject has developed a rejection reaction to the alchemical substance. The cause is unknown."
"It seems human and wolf genes are inherently mutually exclusive. The presence of alchemical substances will only make them break down more quickly."
In his scarlet vision, a man with sunken eye sockets and bandages wrapped around his face was conducting a post-experiment record. As he spoke, the bandages occasionally moved.
Warwick remembered now. It was that man who had turned him into this inhuman, unbeastly monster.
In an instant, an incomparable hatred and fury surged forth, once again awakening the chemical pump connected to his nervous system.
That endlessly produced liquid rage made Warwick ignore the pain in his body, and a howl echoed through the cave.
Tonight's hunt had only just begun.
The next day.
Vi woke up in her room, sat up in bed, and spaced out for a while.
Her room was not large. It was the place she had lived in when she was little.
Back then, she and her younger sister had slept in the bunk bed inside this room, whispering to each other every night until very late before falling asleep.
When she found this room, no one had lived here in a long time. The furnishings in the room had not changed much, but ever since that day, no one had come back to take care of it.
Now, she had cleaned it up again and was living here, while also leaving a bed for her younger sister.
Powder had grown up too, so naturally, Vi could not keep her tied to her side every day.
She usually stayed overnight with the band, but occasionally, she would come back and spend a night here.
To Vi, that was already very good. She only wanted to be able to see her every day.
After washing up briefly, Vi set out for The Last Drop.
The place was not far, and she arrived soon.
The Last Drop was the bar Vander had once run. Now Vi had inherited it, and she planned to reopen it and run it even better.
She had found the former employees and had everything cleaned up until it was just like before.
Only, every time she sat at the bar, she knew that without her noticing, too many things had changed.
Before she had finished a freshly mixed cocktail, someone pushed open the bar door and walked in.
"Enrico, what happened?"
Seeing the serious expression on his face, Vi could not help asking.
Enrico was one of the Firelights. Ekko had sent him to help her. He had grown up in Zaun since childhood, was from the same age group, and could be trusted.
"Something seems to have happened with the Gray Nails. Their boss is shouting that she wants to see you."
Enrico told Vi.
"The Gray Nails?" Vi frowned slightly. "Didn't we already go talk to them a few days ago?"
Enrico shook his head. "I don't know what happened. In any case, you should go over."
"Fine. Wait for me."
Vi did not know what was going on, but she knew she did indeed have to go.
So after making some preparations, she brought the Hextech gauntlets she had gotten back from Jayce and set off toward the Gray Nails' territory.
By now, everyone in Zaun knew she had returned, and that she was preparing to inherit Vander's position.
After this much time, quite a few gangs had already backed down.
As for these gangs, Vi had not forcibly merged them together, and had instead kept things as they had been in the past.
Only, she demanded that these gangs have a bottom line in what they did. Otherwise, she would come knocking again.
Once she came knocking again, that meant a gang was about to disappear.
This was not something that would happen in the future. It was something that had already happened.
So now, Vi's status in Zaun had gradually risen, and many gangs had begun watching her expression before making a move.
After arriving at the Gray Nails' territory, Vi saw a middle-aged woman with a poor complexion waiting for her with a cigarette in her mouth.
She was the boss of the Gray Nails, Miranda.
She was also an old-timer who had been active in Zaun for many years. When Vander was still around, she had already been a member of the Gray Nails.
"You called me here. What happened?"
After Vi approached, she asked directly.
Miranda exhaled the smoke in her mouth, her expression still ugly as she said, "Two people from my gang disappeared. It happened around here. I suspect someone went after them."
Hearing this, Vi first asked, "Disappeared? You don't know whether they're alive or dead?"
"They're probably dead. Come with me."
Miranda took another drag from her cigarette, then led the way forward.
Vi followed her, and soon the two arrived at one of the Gray Lanes.
They saw bloodstains everywhere.
"Here, we found Dack's handgun, as well as six fired rounds. And a few streets over in that direction, we also found three shell casings."
"The bloodstains are only here. Someone chased them to this place, then dragged them away from over there, until the trail disappeared."
As Miranda spoke, she showed Vi the scene, her expression growing uglier.
She looked at Vi, who had fallen into thought, and spoke unhappily. "I listened to you and haven't been causing much trouble lately. But now someone has come to my territory and killed my people. Don't you owe me an explanation for this?"
"An explanation? I need to give you an explanation?"
Vi raised her eyes from her thoughts and looked at Miranda calmly.
Miranda choked on her cigarette mid-inhale. Her eyes warily glanced at the Hextech gauntlets on Vi's hands.
She did not know where this woman had gotten such advanced equipment, but by now, no small number of people in Zaun had already been beaten by those gauntlets.
And more and more people were submitting to her.
Miranda knew that the current Vi was indeed not someone she could afford to provoke.
She spat out the smoke in her mouth and controlled her emotions. "My subordinates are dead. You have to understand how I feel."
"I understand." Vi nodded. Then her tone changed. "There are some things I've been wanting to talk to you about too. You know I've been managing things very leniently because I thought you people would have some self-awareness."
"However, over the past couple of days, I've learned that your subordinates like taking drugs and causing trouble. It seems they only behaved for a day or two."
Facing Vi's piercing gaze, Miranda felt somewhat guilty. "Am I supposed to be able to stop them from taking drugs?"
"I don't know whether you can stop them, but I do know I can replace you with someone who can."
Vi took a step forward, a formidable presence radiating from her body, making Miranda, whose own momentum was weaker, take a step back.
Miranda promised repeatedly, "I understand. I'll keep them under strict control."
"Listen carefully. If you want to ruin your own bodies, I can't control that, and I don't care." Vi looked at her and emphasized each word. "But if they cause trouble again and make people suffer, I'll hold you responsible."
Miranda nodded again.
"I'll help you investigate your missing subordinates. After all, something like this happened in Zaun."
Vi's attitude softened, and her gaze turned toward the bloodstains on the ground, revealing a thoughtful look.
Miranda did not say anything else from the side. She felt that Vi truly had more and more of an Undercity boss's presence now, as though she were even more formidable than Vander had been back then.
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