Just as the rich kid fled the metro station, Selene caught up.
Bang!
A bullet struck the ground near his feet. The rich kid immediately froze—he was afraid that if he kept running, he'd end up dead.
He turned around to see Selene approaching. The number on his Power Level Detector jumped wildly until it finally stopped at 13.
Selene walked right up to him and yanked the device off his head.
After confirming it was real, she shot the detector point-blank, blasting it into pieces. Then she looked at him coldly and warned:
"You didn't see anything today. Keep your mouth shut."
"Unless you want to lose your life."
With that, she turned and walked away without another word.
…
Meanwhile.
Smith Dole and the others had already left the gravity chamber. Just then, John Wick—who had been mid-training—stopped suddenly and approached Smith.
"Boss, I just got some kind of message in my head. It was about the Dragon Balls."
Smith raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised.
"You mean even you received the Dragon Ball's information?"
John nodded with a serious look.
"Yes, Boss. I don't know what it means, though."
Smith replied calmly:
"The Dragon Balls have awakened again. A new round of trials begins now."
"This time, it'll be even more intense than the last."
Without lingering in the chamber, Smith returned to his office and began tracking the Dragon Balls.
Soon, he confirmed a few locations: one was still in Tony's underground lab; another was embedded in a decorative scepter in a castle; one was in a cabinet; another in a box.
The remaining three were scattered—one in a cave, one in the sea, and one on a glacier.
Not all the Dragon Balls had been found. Since they still appeared as round stones to most, no one was really carrying them around. Smith couldn't even identify who had them.
…
Meanwhile, in the UK—inside the vampire stronghold.
Selene returned to the castle, frowning at the sight of vampires still enjoying their lavish banquet.
With the Power Level Detector now widespread, the risk of exposure among civilians was growing fast. And now, someone had developed special weapons against vampires.
Ignoring the festivities, Selene stormed into the armory, placed a pistol on the table, and declared:
"We've got a big problem!"
Connor, the vampire in charge of weapons research, picked up a bullet, examined the pale blue liquid inside the tip, and muttered:
"I need to run some tests. This stuff looks radioactive."
Selene answered flatly:
"UV radiation rounds."
Connor blinked.
"Sunlight as a weapon?"
At that moment, the vampire Kraven approached and sneered:
"You expect me to believe some filthy mutt used a specially-made bullet to kill a vampire?"
Connor, the Black vampire, chimed in:
"I don't buy it either. I'd bet it's military tech."
"They probably stole these weapons from some special unit."
Selene shook her head and cut them off:
"I don't care where it came from."
"Roger is dead. Nathaniel is still out there. We need to call back all the Death Dealers."
"With the Power Level Detector becoming so common, I even ran into some rich punk wearing one at the station today."
"And if those guns really come from the military or a government agency—that's a much bigger threat."
"Do you even know that the blood clans in America already evacuated because of the Detector?"
Kraven retorted:
"We can't retreat just because of one random attack."
"In a few days, it'll be Awakening Day. This house is on edge already."
Selene glared at him:
"Random?"
"They shot at us in broad daylight, in public! I heard tons of werewolf howls in the tunnels."
"If I hadn't destroyed that guy's Detector, the internet would be flooded with footage of vampires and werewolves…"
"Yes, we have a coexistence agreement with London's government and even with the local S.H.I.E.L.D. branches—but do you really think that'll hold forever?"
"Have any of you even looked at what's happening out there?"
Kraven scoffed.
"You didn't see a werewolf—you just heard something. Maybe it was some addict flipping out."
"The werewolf race has already been hunted nearly to extinction. No way there's a large group left."
"And by 'what's happening out there,' do you mean God or Iron Man?"
"We're in London. They're in New York. They have no reach here."
"We only act at night. We don't even bother normal humans unless we're dealing with werewolves."
"We've got synthetic blood and infinite wealth. We're not a destabilizing force."
Selene was clearly growing angry at Kraven's disbelief.
"I trust my instincts. And I think we need to treat this werewolf thing very seriously."
"We also need to monitor what's happening in the world. Constantly."
"I don't want to wake up one day and find we've been wiped off the map."
Connor added:
"Selene, Kraven's got a point."
"It's been centuries. There's no habitat left for werewolves. After Lucian died, we've never seen them again."
Hearing that both men disagreed with her, Selene could only sigh.
"I know that, Connor."
"But I want everything investigated—thoroughly. I want to be proven wrong."
"Connor, have your people look into everything."
Connor paused, then replied:
"I'll have Soren assemble a search team."
Selene, who was just about to leave, turned back sharply:
"No—I'll lead the team myself."
Kraven immediately objected:
"Absolutely not. Let Soren handle it."
Selene knew exactly what Kraven was doing—trying to block her from gaining more authority. She stared at him coldly.
"I don't care who investigates it. But I want real answers. The truth. No cover-ups."
With that, she turned and left the armory.
Walking back into the banquet hall, Selene's eyes scanned the room—and something immediately felt off.
She walked toward a statue that had once held a stone scepter. The tip of the scepter had featured a smooth, round rock.
Now, that rock had become a glowing orange orb—with three stars inside.
The reason she remembered so clearly was because she had found that stone and placed it on the statue's scepter herself. It just looked aesthetically better that way.
Frowning, Selene stepped up and reached for the Three-Star Ball, muttering:
"Which idiot thought it was a good idea to swap out my stone?"
But the moment her fingers touched the Dragon Ball—
A surge of information about the seven Dragon Balls flooded into her mind.
…
(End of Chapter)
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