Dusk wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He had no intention of taking revenge or anything of the sort.
After all, it wasn’t worth jeopardizing his long-term plans over a single punch.
’I should be more cautious around her from now on. Getting hit by this hot-tempered girl won’t do any good anyway.’
In his opinion, keeping his distance and minimizing interactions with her in the future would be for the best. If she didn’t allow it, well... He’d just have to endure.
Right now, he was in a weaker position — and those in a weaker position had no right to demand what they wanted.
At that mont, she stepped right in front of him, their faces close enough that he could feel her breath brushing against his skin.
To an average person, having such a beauty so near might stir up a few emotions, but all Dusk felt was pain.
Her teasing eyes lingered on him, making his face darken.
"What... exactly do you want from ?" he asked.
Seeing that Dusk didn’t seem particularly angry, she gave a nod of approval.
"Not bad. You got hit for no reason and still hold no grudge. You understand your place well. From now on, just stay close to ," she said casually. Then, her tone turned playful. "That way, I’ll have soone to punch whenever I need to vent."
Dusk’s lips twitched. He wasn’t sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, but one thing was certain — she had taken a particular interest in him. The near future wasn’t going to be easy.
Even if one day he reached Rank 1 before she did, he wouldn’t flaunt it. Doing so would only bring him trouble — and she wasn’t soone he wanted to antagonize.
"I give up. Whatever you say, I’ll just go with it," he said, clearly surrendering to the situation.
Seeing him yield, she decided not to ss with him further. Since this was her first ti eting soone new, a proper introduction felt appropriate.
"I already know who you are, but to be polite, let’s introduce ourselves anyway. My na’s Vivienne Morreau — but I prefer to go by Viper. Since you’re not exactly my subordinate, you don’t have to call boss. Just Viper will do."
"My na is Dusk Vale. Just call Dusk," he replied.
"Good. Now that introductions are out of the way, it’s ti to get to work."
Hearing that, Dusk felt a bit bewildered. He hadn’t expected to be given a task so soon after joining.
Viper paused, thinking for a mont, then turned her gaze toward Silas.
"Hey, is there anyone in the nearby area who borrowed money from us but is now completely unable to repay it?"
Up until now, everyone had been casually chatting, but the mont work was ntioned, the atmosphere shifted. Their professionalism kicked in.
"Give a mont," Silas replied, pulling out a notebook to check if anyone nearby t the criteria.
It didn’t take long before he found soone—a young man addicted to gambling who didn’t live too far from their current location.
"Boss, there’s a guy who’s not too close, but we can reach his house within 20 minutes by car. He’s been owing us for a long ti, and based on our investigation, neither he nor his family has any ans to repay the debt."
"Good. Then let’s pay him a visit," she said, pulling out her phone to make a call.
"Mirella, send soone to bring Aldric to this address for . Ah... hold on a second."
Just as she was speaking, sothing crossed her mind, and she turned to look at Dusk, causing him to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"Why are you looking at like that? This is literally my first day with you guys—I’ve got no experience," Dusk said, raising both hands in surrender.
"It’s not about that. I just want to ask you is there a limit to eating raw or cooked?" she said calmly, as if eating sothing raw was completely normal.
Upon hearing that, Dusk imdiately understood what she was referring to. He shook his head and replied:
"There’s no restriction on eating raw or cooked, but it’s best to consu only one heart at a ti. Wait until it’s fully absorbed before eating the next one, or you’ll end up wasting it."
Viper nodded thoughtfully. Cooking it would be preferable—who knew how a raw heart would taste? Still, eating heart raw didn’t exactly suit the image of a mafia boss like her.
"Bring so cooking gear too. The kind of stuff you’d use for camping."
"Huh?..." Mirella responded in confusion. Sothing about the boss’s words felt... off.
"No need to ask why. Just do as I say," Viper ordered. She was eager to verify whether Dusk’s words were true and didn’t want to waste ti explaining.
"Understood. I’ll get it done right away," Mirella replied and headed off to prepare.
Dusk had just learned two new nas. Judging by how casually they were ntioned, he guessed they were important figures in The Crimson Vow, and naturally, his curiosity was piqued.
"Those two you just ntioned—who are they?"
"Oh? Curious about them, huh?" Viper said with a smirk. "They’re both rather special. Mirella is my personal secretary, and Aldric is our top-tier surgeon. When our people get injured, he’s usually the one patching them up. You’ll probably be seeing him a lot too. Might even beco regular buddies."
The corner of Dusk’s mouth twitched. He had no desire to beco a regular at the clinic.
"Could you... say less?"
He knew the answer even before she opened her mouth.
"I’m the boss here. Anyone who dares talk back gets a smack," she snorted, then promptly punched Dusk in the head.
She wasn’t so delicate young lady—her punch packed real weight. Dusk’s head buzzed from the impact.
’Damn it... I’d better keep conversations with her to a minimum from now on.’
Once the greatest heart master atop humanity’s peak, now reduced to silently cursing a girl in his heart. Ah, how cruel life could be.
"Let’s grab the car and move out. I want to see if he’s telling the truth," Viper commanded.
"Yes, Boss!" everyone responded in unison.
But instead of heading down the previous way, the group gathered in front of the wall behind Viper’s seat.
The scene felt oddly familiar to Dusk. He was sure he’d seen sothing like this before.
’Oh, co on. Don’t tell they’re about to chant a spell to open a secret door... again?’
Though the place was clearly highly secure and secretive, this whole secret passage aesthetic still struck him as a little over the top.
Sure enough, the familiar phrase echoed through the room—not from Silas this ti, but from Viper herself.
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