Midnight Kill

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Settle in, take your time, and let's see what waits in the dark 🖤

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In Mad Hatter Town, death was normal. It happened almost every day.

Ragren's death, however, was not normal.

At the time it happened, no one within a hundred meters heard a clear gunshot.

More frightening than the lack of sound was the fact that the lead ball had punched through a wooden wall before striking Ragren.

Leaving aside its power, that meant the shooter did not seem to have been aiming at Ragren at all.

It looked more like someone had fired a random shot.

And Ragren had become the unluckiest man in the room.

After the pirates around him figured out the apparent truth, a chill ran through them.

They cursed for a few minutes, still shaken, then went back to drinking and talking as if nothing had happened.

By the next night, Wolf Rat sat at the bar of the alley tavern looking as if life had drained out of him.

He looked at the blank-faced bartender in front of him and sighed.

"Tatamu, I'm done for. Before I die, I want you to inherit my fortune so the money I worked so hard to earn doesn't go to waste."

Tatamu, whose body was as tall and broad as a bear's, polished a glass with mechanical precision. Hearing that, he paused, then continued as if nothing had happened.

Seeing no reaction from Tatamu, Wolf Rat's eyes darkened.

"I'm not joking. That damned Ragren wanted to die, and he dragged me down with him."

Tatamu kept polishing the glass in silence, but his gaze settled on Wolf Rat.

He realized Wolf Rat truly was not joking.

"Not an accident?"

Tatamu spoke. His voice was clear and almost feminine, wildly mismatched with his bear-like body.

He was asking about the shot that killed Ragren.

"No."

Wolf Rat had long since grown used to Tatamu's strange voice.

He lowered his head and stared into his liquor. He could not hide the fear in his voice.

"I'm certain that bullet was aimed at Ragren."

Tatamu froze.

Wolf Rat sighed. "Imagine it. There's a bullet that could be pointed at your head at any moment, ready to take your life. Can you understand what that feels like? Maybe the moment I walk out that door, my head gets blown open."

"My condolences."

Tatamu's answer was brief.

"Hah."

The more Wolf Rat thought about it, the more despair settled over him.

"The only thing I can't let go of is the money I haven't had time to spend. After storage fees, what's left should still buy a few bottles of good liquor. I thought about it, and I'll leave it to you, Tatamu."

"No thanks. Too little."

Tatamu set down the glass, poured half a cup of liquor for himself, and lifted it toward Wolf Rat.

"Safe journey."

After offering the farewell, Tatamu drank it in one go.

Wolf Rat nodded and silently finished his own liquor.

"The way to erase fear is to face it. Farewell, Tatamu."

He put down the cup, stood with tragic determination, and walked toward the tavern door.

He pushed it open and stepped outside.

A few seconds later, a gunshot suddenly came from somewhere down the street.

"What the hell!"

Wolf Rat's terrified shout carried clearly into the tavern.

Tatamu went still. He turned toward the empty doorway, then lowered his head slightly in silent mourning.

A moment later, Wolf Rat's slightly crazed laughter echoed through the alley.

"Ha! Haha... I'm alive! I'm alive! Hahaha!"

Inside the tavern, Tatamu listened to Wolf Rat's laughter, the laughter of a man who had escaped death, and the corner of his eye twitched.

He looked down at the cup, then at the treasured liquor beside him.

"Wasted."

Two days passed. Red's death caused no stir. Everything remained calm.

Corvin thought he had hidden himself well. He did not know Mad Hatter Town had uncannily capable information brokers like Wolf Rat.

He also did not know that after accepting him as a student, Sol had casually removed one of the hidden dangers for him.

Otherwise, given Ragren's cautious and difficult nature, the man might very well have found a way to stab him hard from the dark.

Corvin knew none of that.

He also did not know that Wolf Rat, who had taken money to do a job, had spent two full days terrified because of it, becoming so suspicious he was nearly unhinged.

Unaware of all of this, Corvin put the matter out of mind and began a new hunt.

It was deep night.

Corvin was fully prepared.

Before leaving, he checked his equipment one more time: two flintlock pistols and a well-made dagger.

He had gotten them from Sol.

Before he became Sol's student, figuring out how to ask Sol for weapons had been an impossible problem.

After their relationship was established, the problem solved itself. In fact, it became the easiest thing in the world.

After checking his weapons, Corvin slipped out of the weapons shop in the dark. He climbed to the rooftop as lightly as an ape, bent low, and headed toward the building where his target was staying.

After his constitution improved, jumping and climbing had become easy.

That was why, with more confidence this time, Corvin planned to use the dagger to assassinate his chosen target.

This method would reduce the chance of exposure, while the two flintlock pistols he carried would give him room for error.

After some effort, Corvin used the cover of night to slip into the building where his target was staying.

He moved quietly to the door and heard snoring from inside the room.

After pausing briefly, Corvin gently pushed the door open.

Using the faint light, he looked toward the bed inside.

On a bed not far from the window, two human silhouettes slept in each other's arms. In the dimness, they looked almost fused together.

'Two again...'

Corvin was a little surprised. He quietly approached the side of the bed.

An unpleasant smell mixed with sweat and liquor hit him.

Corvin frowned slightly. Once his eyes had fully adjusted to the darkness, he could barely make out the two people asleep together.

To his surprise, they were not the man and woman he had imagined.

They were two muscular men pressed together, both naked.

One of them was his target for the night: his second marked prey, Clifford Garden, with an eight-million-Berry bounty.

Corvin took in the unexpected scene without comment and silently drew his dagger.

His gaze moved away from Garden and landed on the unknown muscular man beside him.

After looking over the man's strong body, a thought suddenly occurred to Corvin.

'No point wasting him.'

Without hesitation, he drove the dagger twice into Garden's back, aiming for the heart. Then his wrist turned quickly, he reversed his grip, and he cut straight down through Garden's throat.

The three strikes were fast and vicious.

Compared with the way he had stabbed Watt with a knife before, the difference was night and day.

Garden took all three blows. His eyes snapped open, and he barely managed a few leaking, airless sounds before life left him.

After killing Garden, Corvin reached out with his left hand and clamped down on the other man's throat while his right hand drove the dagger three times into the man's abdomen.

The muscular man woke with a violent start and struggled hard.

But Corvin was no longer what he had been.

Using the advantage created by the ambush and the strength he now possessed, he pinned the man firmly beneath him.

Once he had control, Corvin forced the man's eyes toward Garden, who had died with his own eyes still open.

"Let's talk."

His voice was quiet and cold.

A few minutes later, Corvin left the building.

Two new stars had appeared on the black ledger's cover.

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