The Vixen's Gambit: Tonight We Hunt

"You're an idiot." Kalpas said. "Hurting yourself for something that might not even work, just to satisfy others… I need a word stronger than 'idiot'."

Kalpas, are you talking about me, or yourself?

But Lee was understanding. Some things were better left unsaid. She chuckled. "Good thing I didn't teach you more insults; you might have used them on me."

"Anyway, I need to deliver this. Not sure if it'll still be effective if I wait—"

Lee turned to leave, but Kalpas blocked her path.

"Promise me something. Whether this works or not, don't tell anyone it's your blood." His voice was muffled by the mask. "If you can't promise, don't go."

"Is that necessary?"

Kalpas paused, then scoffed. "…Very necessary."

Human desire was a bottomless pit. If word got out about Lee's blood, things would spiral out of control.

If it worked, people would hound her for it. Even if it didn't, desperate people would cling to the hope that it might, that they just needed more—if Lee could resist the Honkai, why couldn't they, after drinking her blood?

Kalpas knew this firsthand.

It wasn't a pleasant experience. He hadn't resisted because that village was his only home. Now…

He didn't want Lee to suffer the same fate.

"Fine, I promise." Lee didn't ask for an explanation; she just nodded. "Can I go now?"

"…One more thing."

Kalpas crossed his arms, his voice dangerous. "Who taught you that no one deserves to die?"

"I can't tell you; you'll just cause trouble…"

"I can guess. That Aponia, right?" Kalpas scoffed. "Good, very good! She—"

"Kalpas, don't."

Lee glared at him. "I won't tell you not to hurt people, but don't hurt innocent people."

Aponia was basically a normal person with a slightly enhanced vocabulary. Kalpas could probably squish her like a bug!

Lee hadn't farmed enough energy from Aponia yet. She couldn't lose such a good ATM.

Thankfully, Kalpas listened when Lee was really mad. He just grumbled, not actually going on a rampage.

Otherwise, Twilight Street might have witnessed a clash of titans…

As expected, Lee's blood worked, but perhaps because drinking it straight was inefficient, it took almost half a liter to cure one person.

Lee filled several test tubes with her blood, telling Aponia it was an experimental drug from Fire Moth. Aponia didn't suspect anything; she already assumed Lee worked for some big organization.

With Lee's steady supply, Aponia no longer worried about having too many patients. In a few months, the number of patients increased from a dozen to almost a hundred.

Lee regularly provided "medicine," keeping their conditions stable.

"Aponia's really saving a lot of people…"

Lee leaned against a tree, watching Aponia bring in another patient. She flexed her arm, wincing slightly.

Saving people was good, but she was getting tired of bloodletting. At 400ml per person, 100 people needed 40 liters, almost an entire adult's blood volume. And she'd saved way more than 100 people.

Her wrist was starting to look different, the new skin paler than the rest.

Thankfully, it was spread out over time. Her healing could keep up. If she had to donate all that blood at once, she wasn't sure even her enhanced regeneration could handle it.

Draining her blood twenty or thirty times in one go would probably knock her out for days.

But if it were Shoko, the weakest of her clones, it probably wouldn't be a problem—she had self-regeneration. A few sips of blood, and she'd be back to full power, a perpetual motion machine.

"How much longer can this last?"

Lee checked her phone. The 6th Herrscher's arrival was imminent.

If she left to fight the Herrscher and didn't come back… Kalpas would protect the orphanage, but the patients…

Could Aponia abandon them?

Lee doubted it.

But there was another possibility. Fire Moth, determined to diminish Lee's fame, might keep her in Twilight Street. Kevin was stronger; sending him to fight the 6th Herrscher made more sense.

And sometimes, the world was just that predictable. As Lee pondered this, her phone buzzed with a message from Kevin.

[Lee, the 6th Herrscher appeared. Elysia's staying at HQ; I'm leading the attack.]

"Speak of the devil… Kevin can handle this, right?"

Lee frowned, looking worried, but quickly typed a reply.

[Lee: I'll apply to join the attack team.]

[Kevin: Don't worry, Lee. I got this.]

Buddy, I want to believe you, but if I remember correctly, you messed this one up…

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