†††
“IS that true, Wei?”
“It’s true. I wish you wouldn’t underestimate our information network like that, Mia,” Wei Lin-jie said, lowering his velvety voice to a whisper.
Wei’s hard chest accentuated with well-defined muscles refined by his daily training as a police officer defined his tall frame. Though he served in the Second Criminal Investigation Division, one of the most dangerous divisions of the Gothic City Police Force, he never forgot how to be charming.
He readily accepted Euphemia’s invitation to dinner and had joined her at a diner near the Central Police Department after his shift. Euphemia only had to mention Zel’s name and features to Wei before he effortlessly listed off the man’s full name and job.
“I don’t know his full profile since he’s outside my jurisdiction, but I’m familiar with the name. You don’t need me to look him up for you. Zelaide Silvergray’s a famous freelance Contractor, you know? His type calls themselves Hunters though.”
“Neat! So, what’s a Contractor?” Euphemia asked, leaning across the table between them.
“Contractor, bodyguard, mercenary, odd-job man—they go by many names and professions, but the gist is they undertake any kind of dangerous job that involves fighting.”
“Bodyguards? Mercenaries? Sounds like something out of the movies. Who knew those professions actually still existed?” Euphemia mused.
“Well, anyone can take on whatever public title they like. We live on a dangerous world far out on the fringe; bodyguards have plenty of work. You just aren’t aware of it because you’re an easygoing young lady from a rich family,” Wei said while he slurped the noodles wrapped around a cluster of vegetables like it was the most delicious thing in the world. Deep-fried chicken garnished the top of his bowl.
“The city might look peaceful from the top of a shiny, heavily guarded tower,” he continued, “but criminals swarm in droves beneath the bright lights. Countless criminal cases happen every day without public knowledge. That said, things have gotten better thanks to your older sister increasing the police budget.”
“Young lady from a rich family? Now that’s rude,” Euphemia protested, pointing her spoon at him.
“What’s rude about calling a woman a young lady? You just proved my point, because only a young lady sheltered from the rest of the world would complain about a compliment like that.”
“Hmph.”
Euphemia stuffed her mouth with seasoned rice wrapped in a fluffy egg. The mouth-watering dish had been doused in vegetable sauce and did wonders for her tired body.
A young lady sheltered from the rest of the world. Euphemia couldn’t deny there was some truth to his accusation. Knowing what Wei was getting at, she decided to drop the topic altogether.
The more important thing was that she had learned her mystery man’s full name.
“So he’s called Zelaide Silvergray…” Euphemia repeated to herself.
Zel was his nickname, not an alias.
“Why are you asking about him anyway?”
“Hm? A bunch of stuff kind of happened… I’ll tell you about it later. But first, is there any way I can see the data on him?” Euphemia pulled her IHT from her purse and propped it up on the table. “I’m asking too much trying to see police intel on him, aren’t I? Can I take just a teeny-tiny peek?”
Euphemia peered up at the taller Wei from under her newsboy cap she had positioned at an angle and blinked her long eyelashes. His cheeks flushed a faint shade of scarlet as he shook his head.
✦ ✦ ✦
“No can do. Even if you beg me with those puppy dog eyes, it’s still no. Mia, need I remind you how you rejected me during our university days?”
“I totally forgot!”
“Ugh, this is why rich young ladies from the high security districts aren’t worth the trouble,” Wei teased, throwing up his hands in defeat. “Still, you don’t have to go out of your way to search the police databanks for information on him. I can’t show you our files, but you can look him up on the DataNet like a normal person, you know? He’s famous in his, uh, line of work. Let me borrow your IHT for a sec.”
Wei accepted the IHT from Euphemia and his fingers made quick work of the search screen. The search results popped up immediately, and he spun the screen toward her.
Zelaide Silvergray’s profile filled the screen next to his picture.
It’s him!
Euphemia’s eyes widened. On her IHT was a picture of Zel from the bust up sporting shorter hair, and some basic information listed in the text beside it.
Zelaide Silvergray
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown (has the appearance of an adult male in his early-twenties)
Place of Birth: Unknown
Physical features (approximate):
Height: 193
Weight: 84
Hair: Silver
Eyes: Teal
Skin: Swarthy, Scars of Various Sizes.
Occupation: Freelance Contractor and Muta Hunter. Both S Rank.
Job Requests will only be accepted through Palmina Nielsen of Negotiator G.
Contact: ××××‐××××‐××××
List of Primary Past Jobs:
……………………
…………
nota bene: Beast Blood
“Beast? He’s a Beast Blood?” Euphemia asked.
“Yeah, he’s a Beast Blood all right. Kind of rare, aren’t they?”
“Beast Blood…”
Euphemia closely stared at his handsome profile image as if devouring every pixel with her eyes. Then she pulled the IHT toward her to swipe her fingers over the keys. The new search results popped up right away.
Beast Blood (Therianthrope)
A subspecies with a chromosome arrangement that is subtly different from humans. The occurrence rate is estimated at 1 Beast Blood to every 10,000 humans. The ratio between men and women is about 4:1. Their average life expectancy is 106 years (according to the current data of 20×× year). Though there is variance among individuals, Beast Bloods are generally physically stronger and larger than humans, with their physical abilities and senses far surpassing human base stock and does not cover class A or higher genetic sculpting. Their intelligence tends to be on par with or slightly lower than humans, but there have been rare reports of exceptionally intelligent individuals. Beast Bloods have a naturally aggressive and combative disposition. Their most distinct physical characteristic is that their irises glow in the dark. It has yet to be discovered why or how they glow.
While still unconfirmed, anecdotal data suggests Beast Bloods dislike alcohol and nicotine, and love animal meat. They are disinclined to conform, and display poor collaborative skills. Hence, although Beast Bloods born to human parents are granted citizenship, the majority seek out independence at an early age. Beast Bloods born to Beast Blood parents, on the other hand, might not have citizenship. Although it is possible for humans and Beast Bloods to copulate, there are few reports of children born from a mixed-species union, likely due to the longer lifespans of Beast Bloods and the fact these cases are underreported. Regardless, scientists have calculated that the offspring of such a union has about a 90% chance of resulting in a Beast Blood.
The following is a list of the most atrocious crimes committed by Beast Bloods….
The rest of the page featured a table filled with the names of Beast Bloods on the run or in custody next to the horrific crimes they had committed.
To Euphemia’s relief, Zelaide Silvergray’s name wasn’t on the list. She scoured the Data Net with several other queries, but it provided similar results. Every description on the species detailed their bestial nature and mentioned a wild, violent disposition.
But he didn’t do anything to me. He was so reserved, Euphemia thought. Sure, he threatened those pigs, but he stayed calm and didn’t act like he was going to violently kill them. Killing the Muta was more out of self-defense than anything else… If he hadn’t, we would’ve been dead.
Beast Blood. No wonder why his eyes glowed so bright in the dark. That silver glow was tinged with a beautiful blue.
“Mia? Euphemia?”
“……”
“Hey! Mia? You okay? What are you zoning out on me for?” Wei asked, waving his hand in front of her face.
“Huh? Oops, sorry. What were you saying?”
“Why are you looking up weird stuff like Beast Bloods and Zelaide Silvergray? Those aren’t topics you come across normally. Something happened to you, didn’t it?”
“Y-Yeah,” Euphemia admitted.
She should’ve expected as much from a police officer.
Figuring it was smarter to tell a certain degree of truth than to cover it up completely, Euphemia summarized the events of the prior night for Wei. She told him what she could remember of her attackers as well, but she omitted the part where they had nearly raped her, choosing to leave it at them forcing her out of her car at gunpoint. Their possession of a Muta might’ve connected to a bigger crime, so she left out the graphic details and gave a simple explanation about what she saw.
“I see. Zelaide was right; you did something extremely stupid and careless going out at that hour! It didn’t end poorly for you this time, but there’s no guarantee someone will always randomly show up to save you. Don’t do it again.” Wei told her the same exact thing as Zel after he finished attentively listening to her story. She had avoided mentioning the most horrifying aspects of her encounter, but wound up with a scolding for it. If Wei knew the full-extent of what had happened he would’ve addressed it completely differently.