Right now, Blade didn't give a shit about being someone's lab rat. All he wanted to know was whether this milk could actually suppress his bloodthirst.
If it really worked, then apart from being stronger, having better hearing and smell, and faster healing, he wouldn't be much different from a regular human being.
"Can I try it? What do you need from me?"
From the very beginning, Mario had wanted to find out if the milk in his hands was as stupidly overpowered as it was in the game. And Blade's behavior right now was like a lamb seasoning itself and jumping in front of a wolf, even striking poses and saying: "Go ahead, eat me! All you can eat buffet!"
But then he thought again, Blade didn't actually have jack shit. His daily expenses came from killing vampires, looting their corpses, and selling watches. Other than that, he didn't want much else.
After thinking it over, a smile appeared on his face.
"If you come across any lone vampires in the future, could you hand them over to me? Don't worry, unless something unusual happens, any vampire you bring me won't survive a day."
This didn't conflict with Blade's interests at all. Apart from being a bit of extra work, it was nothing to him. He agreed readily.
"No problem. But lone vampires aren't very common. If I catch too many, they'll definitely start sticking together."
Mario waved his hand. "That's a small problem, however many you can get will be fine. Oh, before you drink the milk, I've got something good here. See if you want it."
As he spoke, he pulled out a pixelated-looking human heart. In the game, this item was vampire food, just like bread was for Mario.
Vampires could eat it to replenish their blood levels. If you had empty bottles and your blood was maxed out, eating the heart would automatically fill a bottle with blood. It could also be used at an altar for upgrades.
But when Blade saw the pixelated heart, he stared at it for a long time without recognizing what it was.
"What is this? Why do I feel such a strong pull toward it?"
"This is a human heart. Don't ask me why it looks like this, I don't know either."
Blade chuckled and shook his head slightly. "Now that you mention it, it really does look the part. If this is what a human heart looks like, then the person who had it must have been cube-shaped."
Mario's eyes went wide as he stared at Blade. Inside his head, he was shouting, Holy shit, the prophet has spoken!
Unaware that he'd accidentally hit the nail on the head, Blade reached out and took the human heart from Mario's hand. He sniffed it lightly and frowned. No matter how he looked at it, it couldn't possibly be a human heart, but the scent it gave off stirred something deep inside him. If he hadn't just injected the serum, he would have lost control and eaten it already.
"Can you tell me where you got this thing?"
Mario looked at Blade. He wanted him to eat the heart, to see if it could boost his strength. So he decided to tell a lie... a well-meaning lie.
"Honestly, you probably won't believe me. I picked it up. I have a special ability, when a vampire dies, I can obtain certain unique items. Like this vampire's heart."
Blade believed Mario's explanation. It also explained why Mario insisted on killing vampires personally. But then he looked up at Mario and asked, "Then what do you get when you kill a follower?"
Was it really that obvious? Mario fell silent.
Yeah, he was just an ordinary guy. How could he fool someone like Blade, who lived on the edge of death every day? Maybe Blade had already seen through a lot of things but just hadn't said anything...
Thinking this, hisgaze grew clearer. He cast aside all his bullshit thoughts and said directly:
"Alright, I lied. This is what the followers drop. Vampires drop their fangs."
"I want you to try this human heart. I know you haven't drunk human blood in a long time, and your strength hasn't been fully unleashed. What we'll be facing next is a whole nest of vampires. They could show up as soon as tonight, you don't think your base is that well-hidden, do you? Maybe you could run away. But what about him?"
He pointed toward Whistler, who was trying to heat up the bucket of milk. Then he took out another bucket of milk, handed it to Blade, and said, "You can drink the milk first and then consider my proposal. Only by strengthening yourself can you destroy more vampires and other monsters that threaten humanity."
As expected, honesty was the ultimate trump card.
Faced with the reality Mario had laid out, Blade looked at the heart in one hand and the milk in the other. His expression grew complicated. He never thought of himself as someone indecisive, but when the choice was placed before him, he still hesitated.
Whistler wasn't just his partner, he was his teacher, and his foster father. He'd taken Blade in when he was very young, and it was Whistler who had taught him everything about survival.
If anything happened to Whistler, he knew he wouldn't be able to bear it.
He gave Mario a long, serious look, then lifted the milk. The liquid that wouldn't spill no matter how much it was shaken seemed to come alive as he brought it to his lips, flowing straight into his mouth.
At once, he felt his body become light, and the weight on his mind lifted. It gave him a rush of euphoria, he couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "Shit!"
Whistler and Karen, who were busy with research, both jumped at the sudden outburst. But seeing that Blade was fine, they went back to their work.
Blade stared at the now-empty bucket in his hand, a smile spreading across his face.
"Thank you. I've never felt this relaxed before."
Then he looked again at the hman heart in his other hand. That strange pull it had exerted on him had vanished, but he could still sense what it was.
Taking back the empty bucket from Blade, Mario didn't rush him. He simply watched in silence, waiting for Blade to make his own choice.
Two minutes later, Blade handed the heart back with a smile.
"I still won't eat it. I know you mean well, but this isn't the right choice. I know this thing isn't really a human heart, but the scent it gives off is exactly the same as fresh blood I've smelled before. Even if I can't be fully human, I don't want to become a vampire enslaved by desire."
Hearing Blade's words, Mario didn't feel the slightest disappointment. Maybe deep down, he'd known all along that Blade would never abandon his principles.
"Alright then, I won't force you. Maybe when you find a wife someday and break a few speed limits, your strength will naturally rise."
"Breaking speed limits?"
"What does getting a girlfriend have to do with driving fast?"
When it came to girlfriends, Blade's first thought was of Karen working beside him. Then he remembered that Karen was still in the process of turning into a vampire. Although a special serum was suppressing it, that could only delay the transformation for a while.
"The milk I just used, can it really solve Karen's problem?"
Hearing Blade's question, Mario turned to look at Karen, who was bent over testing blood samples. With a light chuckle, he said, "Very simple. Whistler still has another bucket of milk, right? Let Karen drink it, and you'll see the result."
Blade glanced at Whistler, who nodded slightly.
Since Blade didn't want to eat the heart, there wasn't much else to do for now. All they could do was wait until nightfall to see whether the vampires would attack. If they didn't, then Mario would just go attack them instead.
"You'd better be ready," Mario said to Blade. "I have a feeling those vampires might launch a surprise attack tonight. Also... I want to go find a little scrap iron."
Just a tiny bit.
Blade's expression grew heavy when he heard this. As for Mario saying he wanted scrap iron, he didn't pay much attention, just grunted and turned to walk toward Whistler.
Mario smiled as he watched Blade's back.
Walking out of the workshop, he came face to face with a true wasteland landscape. Everywhere were discarded machines and twisted metal pipes winding about. In his eyes, they were all shining iron ingots.
"I'll need Blade's help to buy some coal. Using only wood for this is way too wasteful."
Lucky for him, this was the modern world. Almost anything he needed could be bought.
From his inventory, he took out a crafting table and placed it on the ground. Then he took out cobblestone and crafted three furnaces, placing them side by side. Picking up his iron pickaxe, he began dismantling the equipment around him.
Soon the constant clang-clang-clang of metal filled the air.
Happy times always passed quickly. The sky gradually darkened, and Mario sat in front of the furnaces, grinning as he looked at the chest beside him, now filled with iron ingots.
By now, he'd modified the furnaces with hoppers to make them fully automatic. All he had to do was place iron items into the top chest, and they would continuously turn into iron ingots.
Just as he was about to head farther away to chop some trees, Blade's voice came from the workshop doorway.
"Mario, din—"
The word "dinner" hadn't even left his mouth when Blade took one look outside and completely lost it.
"What the hell did you do?"
The once-crowded mess of pipes and broken equipment was now as clean as if it had been power-washed. Not only the pipes, even the decorative trees around the perimeter were gone. All that remained was barren dirt.
For a moment, he wondered if he'd somehow been teleported to the Wild West.
Hearing Blade's voice, Mario put on his most innocent smile.
"I just helped tidy up the surroundings for you. With everything so messy, it wasn't convenient for you to live here. Oh, since you're here, could you help me buy some coal? The more the better."
Blade: "..."
He walked over to Mario's side and looked at the still-burning furnaces. But no matter how he stared, he couldn't see what was being burned inside. Even though he was standing barely a meter away, he couldn't feel any heat at all, only the faint crackle of flames.
"What's this?"
"A furnace. For smelting things."
Mario didn't explain further. It was too much trouble, and he knew that if he tried to explain, Blade would just ask even more questions.
"You came to get me for dinner?"
Blade nodded. Seeing that Mario didn't want to elaborate, he didn't press the issue. He glanced around at the completely barren landscape.
Just as Mario was about to return to the workshop with Blade, the roar of engines came from the distance. Mario instinctively looked over to see several cars speeding their way, headlights cutting through the darkness.
Smiling, he said, "Looks like we won't be getting that meal tonight."
Blade could only look helplessly at Mario, who was munching on bread.
Mario looked at the approaching headlights and said, "Since they've come, we should help them settle in permanently."
"What do you mean by that?"
Mario chuckled and explained, "I mean, since they had the balls to come here, we'll give them a proper burial."
With that, he turned and strode back into the workshop. Inside were Karen and Whistler. Though Whistler was Blade's mentor, time spared no one, he was too old now for front-line combat.
Mario planned to build a steel bunker and put the two of them inside. No questions asked, he had plenty of iron blocks in his inventory. With walls a full meter thick, he didn't believe any vampire claws could dig their way through.
"Whistler, Karen, the enemy's here! Get over here!"
Under their disbelieving gazes, he rapidly constructed a room using iron blocks, leaving only a two-meter-high entrance.
The moment Whistler heard "enemy," he went straight to the workbench and grabbed a double-barreled shotgun and Blade's sword. When Blade came running, Whistler tossed the blade to him.
Catching his weapon, Blade flashed a smile.
The roar of engines was now right outside. Karen had already run into the safe room, looking back at Mario.
"Thank you, thank you for the milk!"
Mario waved it off. "No need to thank me. I might need your help someday. When that time comes, don't refuse."
Karen was no mere pretty face. This woman had a bug-like talent for blood genetics. The special serums she developed could easily deal with vampires, stronger than concentrated garlic extract, silver, or even ultraviolet light.
Even the final boss from Blade 1 would be blown to pieces by just a few of her injections.
After saying that, Mario waved at Whistler, "Hurry up. Leave this to me and Blade. You're too old, just sit back and give us tactical advice."
Whistler glared at Mario, but he knew the truth about his own condition. If he stayed outside, he'd only hold Blade back. Besides, he was quite intrigued by the room Mario had just built.
Pulling out an iron door, Mario sealed the entrance shut. By then, the vampires had already stormed into the workshop. Looking at the horde of them flooding in from outside, Mario's lips curled into a smile.
"Disguise."
The moment the words left his mouth, he vanished into thin air.