“Awoo—!”
One silver-white wolf after another lifted their heads, facing the moon hanging in the night sky, and released resounding howls.
Sayonaki led a group of white wolves. He glanced at Aria, then directly ignored the kneeling Riko on the ground, fixing his gaze on Fang Li.
At this moment, Sayonaki’s perfectly poised smile finally transformed.
It morphed into an evil-looking smirk.
Immediately, Sayonaki spoke, “How unpleasant.”
This unexpected remark left Aria stunned.
Fang Li, however, didn’t say anything; he just stared at Sayonaki.
“That’s the look,” Sayonaki said, then shook his head shortly after. “No, it should be about you as a person. It’s as if your existence itself is a mistake, and it’s really quite displeasing.”
“Honestly, I’ve never felt such intense aversion toward anyone before,” Sayonaki said in a tone that sounded both helpless and ironic. “But for some reason, I feel an extreme aversion to you. It’s so strong that I can’t allow your existence. Why is that?”
“What… What are you even talking about?” Aria couldn’t help but take a step forward.
However, Fang Li stopped her, signaling with his eyes for her to hold off on speaking for now.
Soon, Fang Li shifted his gaze to Sayonaki’s form and directly asked, “Who are you, exactly?”
“Me?” Sayonaki shrugged with a seemingly playful tone. He pointed towards the kneeling Riko on the ground and said, “If I have to say something, then that would be the master of that bitch over there.”
“You…!” Riko struggled to raise her head and glared angrily at Sayonaki.
However, Fang Li sensed something keenly.
In Riko’s enraged eyes, there was a subtle mix of astonishment and fear, triggered by the term ‘bitch’.
This emotion seemed to amuse Sayonaki, evident by the delighted smile that formed on his face.
“Honestly, you’ve disappointed me greatly, Miss Fourth-generation.” Sayonaki sighed, “I thought even if you couldn’t do much with the Holmes family’s flawed item, you should’ve at least been able to expose some vulnerabilities in that unfathomable mystery of a guy. That’s why I had a tiny bit of expectation, an expectation I shouldn’t have had, and came aboard this ship. But it turns out you’re just a useless waste. You’re better off back in your cage.”
“Back… in the cage…” Riko’s body started to tremble, and she stammered, “Could it be… Could it be that you’re…”
“By the way, you’ve never seen me in ‘this form’ before,” Sayonaki put on a show of realization, then smiled, “But that’s fine. I don’t have any expectations for you anymore. Later, I’ll help you remember. I’ll make you recall the state of despair that you were once in.”
“However, before that, you will obediently stay there. I’ll deal with this unpleasant fellow first, and then I’ll put the Holmes over there in the cage with you.”
From Sayonaki’s tone, it was clear that he didn’t view Riko as a human being.
As he had said, to Sayonaki, Riko was just a creature no different from a female dog.
“A human’s worth is determined by their genes. Humans lacking excellent genes, no matter how hard they try, will soon reach their limits.” Sayonaki pronounced as if he were reciting an ultimate truth, “Fourth-generation Lupin, you haven’t inherited any of your ancestors’ advantages genetically. From a genetic standpoint, you’re a useless waste. However, you still possess a superior bloodline. So, at the very least, you’ll remain in your cage, enjoying the privilege of being used to produce superior specimens in the future.”
Under Sayonaki’s unbearable speech, Riko seemed to have realized something. She held her body and trembled desperately.
“What… What’s going on?” Aria really didn’t know how to react.
Fang Li, however, recalled Riko’s words just now.
“For freedom.”
Fang Li could discern that this statement carried no falsehood.
In other words, Riko was genuinely obsessed with defeating Aria to prove she could surpass her great-grandfather, all for the sake of obtaining freedom.
In this context, combined with Sayonaki’s words and Riko’s evident fear of him, Fang Li finally reached a daring conjecture.
It was likely that Riko had truly lost her freedom, been kept imprisoned in a cage, and treated no better than a female dog.
And the person responsible was Sayonaki.
No.
That wasn’t quite right.
More accurately, it was the monster hidden beneath Sayonaki’s facade.
“You’re… Vlad…”
In the tremulous voice of fear emanating from Riko, Aria was the first to react.
Aria widened her eyes slightly, and her gun was aimed at Sayonaki as she exclaimed, “So, you’re Vlad after all!”
Seeing this, Fang Li immediately asked, “Do you know him?”
“Of course I do. He’s one of the criminals responsible for my mother’s unjust suffering.” Aria answered without hesitation, “He’s the second-in-command of I-U, the most influential person after the leader. He’s known as Vlad of the Endless Sin!”
However, as Aria’s words fell, Sayonaki also spoke.
“Unfortunately, I’m not Vlad. To be more precise, I’m not yet Vlad.”
“Not yet Vlad?” Aria was puzzled.
“Then let me give you all a lesson,” Sayonaki said with a smirk.
“In fact, there used to be a species in this world that could modify their genes through bloodsucking, gaining evolutionary traits through it. That species is known as vampires.”
“However, aimless bloodsucking led to the near-extinction of vampires. Only one vampire gained human-like intelligence due to consuming human blood. This vampire strategically consumed the blood of various creatures to evolve into a powerful being, ultimately surviving.”
“To preserve intelligence, this vampire had to consistently drink human blood, leading to human genes continually rewriting themselves in its body.”
“Finally, the vampire’s true form was hidden by its human shell. Only when this shell’s mind/energy produced a strong excitement that led to extensive neural transmission substance secretion would the vampire reveal itself.”
With that, Sayonaki’s smile gradually turned into a sinister expression, “And I am that human shell.”