Epilogue: The Doomed, the Survivor

Malone hurried through the winding alleys of Venice. All he wanted now was to get as far from Blood Owl as possible and save his own skin.

When he led Silver Shadow's killers here, he had believed Blood Owl was already dead. That was why he had dared to strike without warning. Who could have imagined that murderous fiend would survive such a terrifying attack? Still, this turn of events need not spell disaster. He could pin the deaths of Paper Hero and Faru, along with the murders of those dignitaries, on Blood Owl.

What worried Malone now was that those two had still been breathing when he fled. If either survived and testified against him, the whole plan would come to nothing, and the Empire would erase the name of Jim Malone in disgrace.

Silver Shadow's killers were formidable, but Malone knew perfectly well that they were no match for Blood Owl. All they could do was buy him time to escape. How else could he silence the witnesses? An idea soon flashed through his mind, and he took out a communicator as he ran.

Malone intended to call in the air force and have them bomb that section of the city indiscriminately. Buildings, bridges, streets, residents—all would be reduced to ashes. Even if it failed to kill Blood Owl, at least it could silence Paper Hero and Faru forever before that Instructor Luca arrived. If he was held accountable afterward, he could put on a remorseful face and say that Blood Owl had killed Lieutenant Colonel Faru and his dearest friend, causing him to lose his reason. He had also been acting to rid the Empire of a threat with a high danger level, and he trusted that his superiors would accept sacrifices on that scale. Even in the worst case, his actions would not warrant death.

But before he could make the call, a tall, dark figure blocked his path, snatched the communicator away with lightning speed, and crushed it into scrap with one bare hand.

Malone stood motionless. It wasn't that he didn't want to move; he couldn't. Deep down, he wished he could grow four legs to run away on, but the two he had could do nothing but tremble. A toad being stared down by a cobra was probably in much the same state.

Drenched in blood, Blood Owl stood before Malone with a savage grin, looking down at his feeble, soon-to-be-dead prey. “I'm going to ask you a few questions. There are five things you mustn't do—refuse to answer, lie, give irrelevant answers, bargain, or get on your knees and beg for mercy. Otherwise, even I don't know what might happen. Do you understand?”

Malone nodded, his voice shaking. “I… I understand…”

Blood Owl gave a cold laugh and asked, “That bunch of killers following you just now. Who are they?”

“They're Silver Shadow's killers, the most expensive mercenaries in the world. But as long as you have the money, they'll take on any mission.”

“They're the ones who copied my murders?”

“Yes.”

“You said you'd spent a month preparing this plan. How did you know I'd stay in Venice after that night?”

“It didn't matter whether you were still in the city. A month ago, Faru and Paper Hero confirmed with their own eyes that you really were Blood Owl, a wanted criminal with a danger level of four. That was enough. Since you'd recently appeared here, as long as I didn't wait too long to act, people would naturally connect the murders to you. I just had to have people copy your methods and kill everyone I wanted removed, then silence the two officials who might notice something wrong. That would accomplish my purpose.”

Blood Owl stared hard into Malone's eyes. “Last question. Do you have any other valuable information to offer me in exchange for your life?”

Malone was a cunning man himself. He knew this was his only chance of surviving an encounter with someone like Blood Owl. In fact, he had been waiting for this very question. “Yes! I wasn't actually the one who devised this whole plan! It was someone else!”

The name Tian Yi immediately flashed through Blood Owl's mind, but he betrayed nothing, merely asking, “Then… who was it?”

“Consultant! The overall scheme, every detail, including putting me in touch with Silver Shadow, the timing and methods of the murders, how I should react in public—he told me all of it! After the incident a month ago, I did see an opportunity and start thinking about taking over this city, but I had nothing like such a detailed plan. The man who really plotted everything was Consultant! So he's the one who wanted to frame you, not me!”

“Oh?” Blood Owl was interested now. “Do you know this Consultant's name? Or… what he looks like?”

Malone said, “No… I've never met him, and I don't know his real name. I only saw that codename two years ago on a list of wanted criminals with a danger level of one. According to HL's intelligence, he accepts commissions online through a public email address, offering ‘criminal consulting’ services. HL has tried all sorts of ways to catch him, but neither technical tracing nor posing as clients to lure him out has produced any results. Headquarters has even questioned whether the email address is genuine, but rumors about Consultant have never stopped circulating. There are traces of his involvement in many cases involving ordinary criminals without superpowers. Judging by a few people's vague descriptions, Consultant should still be under twenty. He's a criminal genius who's emerged in the last few years.

“A little over a month ago, I sent him an email just to try my luck. To my surprise, he contacted me himself afterward. He also told me he had his own way of telling whether someone emailing him really wanted criminal consulting or had some other purpose, so it was impossible to catch him. And he was very happy to provide services to someone with an HL background like mine.”

At this, Blood Owl asked another question. “You're sure he's under twenty?”

“Yes… It may not be accurate, but his approximate age is already one of the very few things HL has been able to establish. He's extremely careful, and very hard to track down.”

“Can you still contact him?”

Malone began to look nervous. “No… A month ago, he put the plan together for me very quickly and gave me the contact details for Silver Shadow. After that, I paid him, and I haven't been able to reach him since.”

Blood Owl rubbed his chin. “Oh, I see.” He laid a hand on Malone's shoulder, and Malone nearly wet himself in fright.

“Don't be scared, um… Matong.”

“It's Malone… Mr. Blood Owl.”

“Whatever. I just wanted to tell you there's no need to worry. I'll pay this Consultant a visit myself, then kill him. Your part in this whole conspiracy was merely that of an incompetent schemer. There are far too many useless people like you on this planet. I don't absolutely have to kill you.”

“Th… thank… thank you, Mr. Blood Owl.” Malone had no idea what else to say at a time like this except thank his lordship for sparing his life.

Then, a second later, Blood Owl changed his tune. “But you dared to correct my mistake, Matong. You're asking to die.” And he tore Malone apart with ease.

…………

At dawn, amid the ruins, HL's cleanup squad was busy “mopping up,” carrying away mutilated bodies and thoroughly disinfecting the blood-soaked ground.

“Hey, guys, come over here,” one of the squad members suddenly shouted.

Five or six people gathered around. The sharp-eyed among them soon spotted a corpse in a black military uniform, buried about half a meter underground. The body had been snapped in two at the waist, its internal organs spilling out. It looked rather like a spring roll laid on a wooden board and hit with a hammer so hard that even the board had broken. That was what Lieutenant Colonel Faru now looked like.

As they stood sighing over this superior they had barely known, someone shouted from another spot, “We've got a live one here!”

This time, almost everyone in the cleanup squad nearby rushed over, the stretcher bearers leading the charge.

It was a man in a trench coat. Half his face was gone, exposing a row of teeth amid bloody bone, skin, and flesh. But his chest still rose and fell faintly, showing that he had yet to yield to death…