Hank was about to rush out and drag Max back, but the group of three was already charging toward Max, brandishing sharp, dagger-like knives in their hands.
Knowing he couldn’t pull him inside without the three also getting in, Hank gritted his teeth, clenched the handle of his knife and stepped out, wanting to fight them along with Max.
However...
Harman grabbed his hand, stopping him in place.
"What do you think you are doing?" Hank growled, really angry.
Did this old man want him to let Max die outside when they were responsible for bringing danger to him?
"Did you already forget what I told you a while ago? He can deal with the situation." Harman calmly said.
When they were just one street away from this place, he had noticed these three following them.
Realizing what their intentions were, he decided to face them. When he and Tom showed them they had knives and asked why they were following them, the trio suddenly attacked. While Hank managed to defend himself, Tom was stabbed on the shoulder.
Just when they thought the situation was going to become grim, the trio turned around and ran away.
Though relieved, they were confused by their actions. But thinking they might have gone insane like many others they saw on the way, and since they had disappeared from their sight, they decided to continue onwards and arrived in Max’s neighborhood.
Unfortunately, Hank and others didn’t know that these three had been following them for quite a while now and the only reason they left after wounding Tom was to make sure they would go wherever they were going while they secretly followed them.
After they arrived here and began knocking on the Martinez family’s gate, these three suddenly appeared once again. However, they didn’t attack them and just stood there, waiting.
Tom wanted to return, not wanting to cause Max any trouble, but Hank told him that doing so wouldn’t be of any help.
They had already seen Max’s house and seeing how they arrived here, seemingly confident that whoever lived here was still alive, after they left, the three would surely barge inside to try their luck.
After coming to this realization, they didn’t know what to do. It was at this moment Harman told them that they only needed to bring Max out. Once he knew of the situation, he could definitely find a way to resolve it.
...
Hearing Harman’s words, Hank hesitated, but in the end, he still stepped out, gripping the handle of his knife tightly.
Shua!
But right then, as the group of three rushed him, arriving in Max’s vicinity, he saw Max pull out a kitchen knife from his pants. Then, seemingly with no difficulty, he grabbed the knife wielding arm of the man in the middle and slashed at his neck with his other hand.
Immediately, a fountain of blood sprayed out from his neck which he clutched tightly, but it made no difference as blood continued to pour out.
"Why... You killed... me...?" The man croaked out these few words, staring at Max in horror.
Watching this scene, his two companions had frozen in place like Hank and everyone else, chills running down their spines.
Thud!
The sound of the man falling to his knees snapped everyone back to their senses.
The remaining two guys’ eyes reddened. Although they weren’t related to each other, they shared a bond stronger than even blood brothers. So, seeing their brother being killed in front of them, murder flashed in their eyes.
Unfortunately for them...
While they had frozen in place following his attack, Max had not.
Shua! Shua!
By the time they regained their senses and prepared to attack him, he had slashed one of their necks and plunged his knife into the other’s heart.
The look in their eyes transformed from murderous rage to horror akin to their companion’s in the last moment of his life. What horrified them even more was that Max, like a cold-blooded assassin, looked completely unperturbed and met their gazes as he took their lives.
"You... monster..." One with a knife in his heart cried out before he and his companion also fell to the ground with two dull thuds, their lives spilling away.
Max looked at the corpses around him calmly. Then, he crouched down, wiped the blood-stained blade on their clothes before he stood up and swept his gaze across everyone on the street.
"Anyone who dares to touch my people or even have any sinister thoughts about anything remotely related to me... will suffer the same fate as these three." He announced, his voice cold.
Everyone, including Hank, Harman and Tom, shivered. As for the people on the street, they started to leave the place.
Max ignored them and was about to turn back when he heard a weak voice say...
"...Sir, do you want some help moving these bodies away?"
’Oh?’ Surprised, Max turned around and saw a six-feet-tall skinny boy who looked a few years younger than him, covered in dust and grime. He looked no different than a malnutritioned beggar, on his last legs, but strangely enough, his eyes hadn’t lost their light yet.
Max felt he looked familiar and soon recalled who he was, but he wasn’t sure, so he asked, "Aren’t you... Samson, Samson Smith?"
The boy nodded, "Yes, sir. I’m Samson. I used to be your neighbor."
Normally, in this situation, most would have been excited because since they were acquaintances, the chances for the opposite party to help them were increased. Samson, however, showed no such excitement which surprised Max.
Max looked at the corpses for a moment. He still had the [Corpse Decomposing Powder] left, so taking care of them was no hassle, but he didn’t want to show he had such means. Besides, after seeing Tom, Hank and now Samson, a thought had appeared in his mind.
So, he nodded, "Sure. Take them away."
Samson nodded, walked over, grabbed a body by feet and began dragging it away.
"Inform me when you are done." Saying this, Max walked inside the villa.
Hank, Tom and Harman, after exchanging a glance between them, followed after him.