Eric glared at the detective, his eyes reflecting the waves of confusion that he felt, although he somehow managed to keep a stern face. This detective was too experienced to be deceived by it.

He moved closer and placed one hand on Eric's shoulder, speaking with a calm tone:

"I have seen several victims like you. All of them are used by Whitman, and because of it, I have been at his tail for years. He was very secretive about you, I think you are special in a way that he can never compensate for. And there is still time, I just need you to talk to me, let's destroy Whitman together." historical

A frown broke out of his face:

"How am I supposed to know if you are telling the truth? What if that video is a fake?"

The detective sighed.

"I know that you will continue to be paranoid. Don't worry, I am not in a rush, I think you just got into some messy shit and it's a pity you don't realize how dire your situation is."

He brought out a cigarette and replaced the toothpick with it, continuing:

"I wish you a happy recovery, Eric. I'll be here again"

He walked out after that. Eric was left alone with his confusion and tormenting thoughts, afraid of what might befall him, scared that he truly might have been abandoned by the Chairman, unsure of what is to become of his future but amidst these frustrations that pested on his mind, a ray of hope glistened.

A smile curled up on his face.

'Yes, I have that. I still have the two of them with me... I can still place a negotiation'

The chairman had put the two phoenixes in his possession after they managed to make it out of the gate while the humanoid monster was preoccupied with killing Li Mingwu.

The chairman had specifically told him to make their existence a secret. Phoenixes were considered legendary creatures on the level of dragons. Although there was little to no information about them but one or two gates had opened in the past in which all the catastrophe-ranked hunters of that era had to gather to defeat just one pheonix.

It remained written down in the pages of history, memories of the old ones of today. A mature Phoenix's might could as well be compared to that of a dragon.

However, little was known about these creatures on Earth, after all, they are just creatures that appear in a gate and are defeated before they can be studied. Whatever information hunters have managed to gather is always from a short encounter with these monsters.

It wasn't enough to vet how strong and important these creatures are to the essence of existence.

The humans at this time knew too little about monsters.

Eric shrugged, he had accepted to train them regardless of all odds because they were cute. And it was going well, he was in fact getting addicted to them and was living with them in the same house.

His eyes suddenly widened.

'What if the chairman has gone to my house?!'

Knowing Chairman Whitman very well, Eric knew that there was no way he would willfully give him such a powerful creature. Apart from them being a great source of strength should they manage to be tamed. He could kill them and get their core, or get a very good runestone from killing them.

Alec Whitman was not the type of person to do such insurmountable good.

Eric attempted to stand up again but his hand was cuffed to the bed frame. He could only grit his teeth in curses and pray that Whitman should not go to his house.

If he knew that this operation was going to be the end of him he would have moved them to a safer space, somewhere no one would be able to reach.

—

"Search everywhere"

Agents in black suits ran up and down a studio apartment dominated by black hues. The whole place was turned over and yet not a trace of the birds could be found.

Whitman sat on a black-colored sofa and gripped the arm with force reverberating with vexation.

An agent came to his front, shivering like a cold sheep.

"We found nothing, sir."

It was weird enough that he was making them find a blue and red bird, telling him that they couldn't find it infuriated him so much that they feared for their lives. Alec Whitman was well known for his temper tantrums, should anything not go his way, heads could fly.

This particular agent was making sure to keep considerable distance between himself and the chairman. Of course, he couldn't be too far away, that would cause more trouble for him. However, keeping that considerable distance will give him enough space to kowtow before the chairman manages to grab his head. Yes, he thought this thoroughly.

Wham!

The sofa's arm crunched into pieces and scattered, leaving Whitman's grip with nothing to hold. The agent immediately slumped to his knees and bowed his head. Shivering, his body was infested by a cold embrace of fear.

"Fuck that bastard. You dare play me, Eric"

He mumbled and stood up. Then, walked away.

The agent slowly raised his head realizing that he managed to survive the moment.

'I should prepare my resignation letter, I can't continue to suffer like this, scared that any day the chairman gets angry might be my last.'

—

lightsnοvεl After the detective left the hospital, he got in his jeep and made his way to his favorite coffee restaurant, it was a small establishment that was started by his late friend who was a hunter at that time.lightsnovel

He had gotten married to a beautiful young woman and was getting ready to retire to live a happy life. But things don't always go as people plan them, especially if you have to risk your life every moment fighting unhuman creatures whose source of existence is unknown.

They can come from anywhere, at any time, and rob you of your well-deserved happiness.

As he walked into the Cafe, warm sunlight gently filtered through lace curtains, casting soft patterns of light and shadow.

A few well-worn tables, polished with care, cradled mugs of steaming coffee spread over the left side of the cafe, while the right side was the wall, adorned with several posters of models and popular hunters, amongst one of them was a blonde-haired, guy with almond shaped eyes framed by a thin subtle arch of eyebrows.

The detective stopped in between this particular poster and looked to his left. A man was occupying a seat and staring holes into the poster but immediately he looked, the man raised his cup of coffee to gesture him a welcome.

He nodded and walked to the counter which was just a straight walk from the entrance.

The young lady with a gloomy beauty greeted him with a bright smile and said:

"Your visitor has been waiting for you."

"Ah, thank you, Helen"

He looked at her with a slight touch of sympathy and erased it off his face before she raised her head.

"Can I get a latte?"

"Sure. Go sit down, I'll bring them right to you in a minute "

Her voice was gentle and silky although they seemed void of life, even though she managed to put on a good smile for him.

Forcing himself to ignore all that, he walked over to the table where the middle-aged man was.

"Chairman Mok Jun Seo..."

His pronunciation was a bit tacky but the person sitting in front of him didn't mind. Besides, Mok Jun-Seo's English wasn't all that...

"It is fine Lewis, so?"

"It is hard to get information out of the guy. But things turned out well for us because your catastrophe-ranked hunter came to America"

He said looking at Mok Jun-Seo. Then, he added:

"Was it your plan all along? If there is anything you are not telling me about, I'd appreciate it if you start speaking right now."

Mok Jun-Seo smiled.

"It was never my plan, if anything I don't want to get Hunter Raven involved in this matter. This is between Alec and I. Even I am curious about why he is in California."

"I think it has something to do with the gate. Ruan Zhaohui stopped us from going to his quarters when we wanted to interrogate him."

A few lines of wonder formed on Mok Jun-Seo's face but they quickly faded, turning his expression somber.

"If it is Ruan Zhaohui, then I believe he is in good hands. She's very competent."

"Yea...."

Silence ensued between both of them as the young lady came with a tray with a cup of coffee and dropped it with her usual smile.

Lewis nodded as she excused herself.

While Mok Jun-Seo watched her till she reached her counter, he returned his gaze to the detective in front of him.

"Is this his wife?"

"Yes."

"I see..."

"Uh"

The way he responded insisted that he didn't want to talk about it. Releasing the subtle frown on his face, he asked:

"How are you so sure it was Whitman that killed Li Mingwu."

"Don't be mistaken, Whitman does not have such strength... even with that Eric guy that can block out abilities, I doubt it would ever be possible to defeat my master. Which is why Whitman must have schemed this whole thing."

"We have no way to prove that, if Eric does not talk no one would believe us that Li Mingwu's death was Whitman's plan as he has done to several hunters. Including hunter Noe Hyeon-Jun"

He looked back at the poster and returned to Mok Jun-Seo's gaze.

"Yes...and that is why I have come to put an end to his madness. I don't know what he is planning but I have a very bad feeling about it. If he delicately took his time to take out Li Mingwu from the picture, then Alec is up to something that may threaten the balance of the world. And that is why we must not lose this chance."

The detective nodded with his eyebrows forming a delicate frown of determination.