Feeling the undisguised look of contempt from Du Mu, even Blade, who was known for his cold and aloof persona, couldn't help but show a flicker of awkwardness on his face.
To effectively deal with these dark creatures, every pellet in his shotgun shells was laced with expensive pure silver.
One magazine emptied meant a loss of at least a few hundred US dollars.
As a perpetually unemployed vigilante who hunted vampires year-round, Blade's financial situation simply couldn't support the luxury of this "spraying bullets" playstyle.
Otherwise, why would you think he went around all day wielding that silver longsword to hack at vampires?
Did you really think he did it purely to look cool and show off?
...Well, okay, that was a small part of the reason.
"Give me the gun," Du Mu held out his hand.
Blade hesitated, "My gun is already out of bull—"
"Five thousand US dollars. Consider it bought."
"Catch! The gun and the remaining twenty rounds are all yours!"
Blade instantly became incredibly decisive, unhesitatingly tossing the shotgun in his hand, along with all the silver shotgun shells he carried, over to Du Mu.
Du Mu: (•_•)
Bro, your cool persona sure broke character a little fast.
Du Mu steadily caught the shotgun, quickly loaded the shells, raised the gun, and fired at the vampires.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out one after another, and the heads of several vampire gunmen instantly exploded!
The headless corpses swayed, then collapsed to the ground, quickly turning into piles of ashes.
Seeing Du Mu's precise marksmanship, the remaining vampires were terrified and immediately ducked behind cover, not daring to show their heads.
Seeing this, Du Mu calmly pulled out a few grenades, yanked the pins, and without even looking, forcefully threw them toward the cluster of cover where the vampires were hiding.
Boom!!
A massive explosion sounded!
A few unlucky vampires were directly blown away by the grenades, their skin and flesh torn open. They fell to the ground, howling in pain.
It had to be said that vampires' vitality was indeed tenacious; despite such severe injuries, their cries of agony were still full of vigor.
Du Mu raised his muzzle and finished off the vampires on the ground one by one. The mission progress soared up by several points.
Seeing how fierce Du Mu was, Quinn swallowed hard, forcing himself to shout with feigned composure, "Don't be afraid! Let's go together! He can't possibly kill all of us at once!"
The few vampires looked at each other, seemingly persuaded, and simultaneously aimed their guns at Du Mu.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
As the gunshots ceased, another layer of ash was added to the ground.
Facts proved that Du Mu certainly could.
Bang!
Du Mu slightly raised his muzzle, a shot precisely hitting Quinn's legs as he tried to escape in the chaos.
"He's all yours."
Du Mu ignored Quinn, who was wailing on the ground, and walked toward the vampire that Blade had just knocked down, holding his watermelon knife to finish the job.
[Current Vampires Killed: 665]
Looking at the number, Du Mu frowned, feeling uncomfortable all over.
He turned his head to look at Blade, who had just finished his brief interrogation of Quinn. "Do you want this kill?"
Blade shook his head, "No."
Shing!
A flash of the knife, and Quinn's head instantly changed location.
[Current Vampires Killed: 666]
"Ah, that's better!"
Du Mu let out a long sigh of relief, as if a great burden had been lifted.
"..."
Blade looked at Du Mu's relieved expression and felt that this guy might have some sort of special fetish.
Du Mu put away his watermelon knife and asked, "What are you planning to do next?"
Blade said solemnly, "Quinn said Deacon Frost has been planning a big move recently, but he doesn't know the specifics. I'm going to search Frost's territory one by one and pull him out."
When Frost's name was mentioned, Blade's voice was filled with deep-seated malice.
Frost killed his birth mother; he and Frost had an irreconcilable feud that must be avenged!
Du Mu grinned, "I'm hunting vampires anyway. How about we temporarily team up? You look for your Frost, and just leave the kills for me."
"Alright."
Blade thought for a moment and agreed to Du Mu's proposal.
He wasn't a stubborn man; with an extra powerful helper, the search for Frost would only go more smoothly.
The moment Blade agreed, the system's notification tone rang in Du Mu's mind:
[NPC Eric Brooks has joined your team]
[You can view your teammate's character panel]
Seeing the notification, Du Mu was surprised. "This game actually has a team-up function? Why didn't it appear before?"
He recalled fighting a BOSS with Tony not long ago, and there was no such prompt then.
[Teaming up with an NPC requires the player to personally send an invitation. Teaming up is successful only after the NPC agrees. NPCs do not have the authority to initiate team-ups]
"Then why didn't you say so earlier!" Du Mu was speechless.
[This game boasts extremely high freedom and aims to provide the most authentic immersive experience. All gameplay and plot developments are to be explored and discovered by the player themselves]
"Fine."
Du Mu pouted and curiously clicked on Blade's character panel.
[NPC: Eric Brooks (Blade)]
[Race: Half-human, Half-vampire]
[Stats: Strength?, Agility?, Constitution?, Spirit? (Cannot be viewed without sufficient Favorability)]
[Equipment: Cool-Guy Sunglasses, Bulletproof Armor, Silver Longsword, Silver Dagger]
[Favorability: 0]
"This guy is actually a half-human, half-vampire."
Du Mu was a little surprised, but then he wondered, did that make him half a vampire?
If he killed him, could the mission progress increase by 0.5?
Then, Du Mu suddenly noticed that Blade's equipment slots seemed touchable, and he curiously clicked on the Silver Longsword.
[The NPC's Favorability toward the player is insufficient. This equipment cannot be removed]
"!!!"
Du Mu's eyes instantly widened.
He immediately asked the system, "Does this mean that as long as the NPC's Favorability is high enough, I can freely remove their equipment!?"
[Yes]
"Hiss~"
Du Mu gasped, contributing slightly to global warming.
He seemed to have unintentionally discovered the god-tier mechanism of this game!
Du Mu looked at Blade, his gaze suddenly becoming incredibly warm. "Bro, do you have any quests? Or anywhere you need help? I'm free anytime!"
"No."
Blade looked at the suddenly enthusiastic Du Mu and felt an inexplicable chill run up his spine, as if some sort of conspiracy awaited him.
The two didn't linger in the nightclub.
After agreeing on the location and time for their next move, they left one after the other.
Before leaving, Blade didn't forget to meticulously search for the scattered silver shotgun shells on the ground, even using his dagger to pry out those embedded in the walls.
These pure silver bullets were exceptionally precious to him; after taking them back to melt and recast, they could be used again.
This was the reality behind being a superhero—bitter and true.
Du Mu also asked Blade for some of the specialized equipment for dealing with vampires.
Blade was initially hesitant; after all, his equipment was all quite expensive to manufacture.
Du Mu, however, pulled out a large stack of banknotes printed with Benjamin Franklin's portrait without a word.
Seeing Du Mu trying to insult him with money, Blade immediately turned hostile, snatched the Franklins from in front of him, slammed them fiercely into his pocket, and then unhesitatingly stripped off the equipment and weapons he was wearing, tossing them all to Du Mu.
If Du Mu hadn't explicitly said he wasn't interested in his iconic sunglasses, Blade might have even taken them off to give to him.
It was no wonder Blade reacted so strongly.
After all, the price of pure silver had been skyrocketing recently, and he was running out of money to eliminate vampires and protect New York.