"Boss, can you move a little faster? I've been waiting a long time." A young man with blond hair and blue eyes stood at the entrance of the fried chicken shop, shouting at a black-haired youth working inside.
"Don't rush, it'll be ready soon." The youth glanced at the timer beside him. There was still a little time left. He also glanced at the guy in front of him.
This dude in a suit actually had no urgent business. He was just looking at his phone while shaking his leg, pretending to be in a hurry. But Lynn knew this guy would always buy fried chicken and grape soda from his shop and then walk out of the alley. After that, he'd find some cheap-looking coffee shop and sit there all day—Lynn knew this because he had delivered food to him before.
Although the fried chicken wasn't completely cooked yet, Lynn still took out the large chicken cutlet that had been soaked in oil, with a crispy skin that had an enticing golden color. The fresh hot oil drained from the metal strainer as Lynn skillfully sprinkled chili powder and black pepper on top. In the high temperature, a delicious aroma quickly and unreasonably invaded the customer's nostrils.
Expertly packaging the fried chicken and putting the ice-cold grape soda into a plastic bag, Lynn said to the man, "Seven dollars, where's the money?"
After the man placed several crumpled bills on the counter, Lynn took off his cooking gloves and handed him the food.
Having sent one customer off, there were still several people waiting in line. Lynn looked at the remaining ingredients, let out a sigh of relief, and began preparing for the next meal.
Several hours later, Lynn sent off the last customer and prepared to close the shop, putting away the cooking utensils and moving the front counter slightly inward toward the shop. As he was about to roll down the shutter door, a voice stopped him.
"Wait, boss."
But this voice came from above.
"I thought you weren't coming today."
"How could I miss it? Your fried chicken is really good. Do you still have some left? I see you're about to close?"
Along with the voice, a person wearing a distinctive fiber suit descended. Lynn naturally knew who this neighbor was.
He took out a large package from under the counter and tossed it to Peter Parker.
"Next time, come earlier. I don't want to reopen the roller shutter after I've closed the shop."
"Hey, can't you wait for a friendly neighborhood hero to come eat fried chicken before closing?"
Lynn leaned on the cash register and pointed to the message playing on loop outside.
"The red-suited freak and the glue maniac's battle has once again destroyed an entire street built with taxpayers' money. Can the NYPD only rely on these unprofessional vigilantes to deal with criminals? This masked spider..."
JJJ's voice was distinctive and penetrating, audible even in this alley from the supermarket screen, cursing the friendly neighborhood hero in red and blue spandex standing in front of Lynn almost every second.
"The Daily Bugle thinks they've got a big scoop today. Maybe you should consider changing to a different outfit. I think black would look good."
"No way! I carefully chose this color scheme!"
Lynn shrugged, not commenting further.
"Go find your girlfriend for a date, my heroic neighbor—Spider-Man." With that, Lynn pulled down the roller shutter.
"If you need anything, just let me know!"
Lynn didn't bother responding to the little spider outside, as the roller shutter blocked out the sound.
After organizing the miscellaneous items in the shop and cleaning up, Lynn moved the floor sofa in the corner and opened the hidden cellar door that had been concealed.
Speaking of transmigration, it had happened a year ago.
Lynn had woken up to find himself sleeping in this New York fried chicken shop. He inherited the original owner's memories and discovered that the body's original owner was called Lynn Sidis. After inheriting the original owner's memories, he felt somewhat lost and could only continue selling fried chicken as before.
However, as more and more knowledge continuously appeared in his mind and his thoughts became increasingly clear, selling fried chicken obviously could no longer satisfy him. Lynn had always been a person with strong desires. After his brain gradually understood the knowledge that appeared out of nowhere, Lynn naturally wouldn't remain idle.
He quickly withdrew all his savings, purchased a series of raw materials, effectively utilized the previously empty basement, and met a business partner with quite a unique personality.
Following the ladder down, a large glass container occupied about five or six square meters of the basement space. Various electrical wires and pipes were orderly connected to the central container, with several generators providing additional power. There was hardly any space to set foot in the entire basement.
Fortunately, both the shop and the basement belonged to Lynn himself, so there would be no landlord to interfere, and there was no homeowners' association either—a small benefit after transmigrating here. The downside was that the neighborhood had quite poor security at night.
As these computers started up, Lynn also pulled out a compartment from a nearby upright freezer. Judging from the size and specifications of the bag, it definitely didn't contain fried chicken.
Lynn skillfully unzipped the nylon body bag, revealing a frozen human form inside. Lynn patted the body with his hand and cut open his eyelids. Surprisingly, the man's eyeballs could still stare at Lynn.
"Seeing that you're still so spirited, I'm relieved, you poor bastard. A vampire's body is indeed more resilient than a normal human's. Your entire body has been frozen solid, yet your brain hasn't broken down. That strange energy is still repairing those dehydrated and collapsed tissues in your body."
This guy that Lynn had put in the freezer was a vampire.
However, Lynn's actions didn't frighten the vampire. On the contrary, the vampire began to stare intensely at Lynn due to his primitive desires that had gone unsatisfied for a long time, even though he couldn't move a finger because of the low temperature and the operation.
Lynn shook his head, put on cut-resistant gloves, and roughly threw the guy on the ground before dragging him into the upright glass container at the center of the basement.
As he started the generator, a large amount of data began to appear on the computer screen. Lynn sat in front of the large screen composed of five or six monitors and typed on the keyboard.
Soon, he turned around again. A large amount of liquid began to be injected into the vessel, gradually submerging the vampire placed inside.
"Magical creatures can also be explained by these scientific methods. How fascinating."
"Only people like you find them fascinating. I completely lack that empathy. These things should all die." A deep voice appeared behind Lynn.
"Maybe you're just not good at discovering? What if there are good vampires among them?"
Lynn turned around to see a fully armed Black man standing behind him, with a long silver blade on his back and a submachine gun of indistinguishable model. Wearing very cool sunglasses late at night, if he wasn't mentally ill, then he represented someone with quite a heavy character setting. He was the business partner Lynn had met in a small alley nearby.
"Most vampires can't control themselves. Indulgence is far easier than asceticism. I don't believe any of them can transcend their dark nature."
Blade placed the not-so-large briefcase on the table and opened it, revealing the green cash inside, while saying, "We've talked enough about vampires. Where's my stuff?"
"Let me count the money first."
Although Blade had always been reputable, Lynn still wanted to follow procedure. After all, he had never touched so much cash in his previous life. At least now, he couldn't refuse the act of counting money.
A minute later, Lynn closed the case and walked to the freezer. He pulled out a whole box of items from one of the compartments, opened the box, and revealed fifteen neatly arranged bottles and jars inside.
"This batch of solution is more stable and more suitable, but remember, I haven't thoroughly studied your blood sample and constitution. Experiments on rats and a few vampires can't fully guarantee the effect," Lynn said, picking up one of the red reagents.
"Injecting it into your body can greatly enhance your recovery ability, allowing you to temporarily get the benefits of blood-sucking without actually doing so. Compared to your own reagent, the intensity might not be enough, but the duration is longer, and ordinary people can use it too. I tried it on that unfortunate guy outside who almost froze to death on the street, and the effect was good."
Lynn then pointed to a button on the bottle. "Another aspect is its lethality."
Lynn put the finished product back in the box and walked to his experiment table. He took out some of the same red liquid from a sealed test tube and dropped it on his hand, but nothing happened. It seemed just like ordinary blood.
"As for dealing with vampires, I think you've already tried it, so I won't continue to introduce it. This thing has its pros and cons compared to your usual reagent."
With that, Lynn handed the box to Blade.
"Is there anything else you want to know?"
"Is there an age limit?"
"No, age and metabolic ability are not issues. There are many walking corpses around here whose brains have been burned by neurotoxins. These drugs even made them more clear-headed. However, the sample size is not enough, and I dare not say there are no more side effects. Use it according to your own judgment."
After hearing this, Blade asked no more questions. He picked up the box and left Lynn's laboratory. He also didn't seem to care what Lynn was doing with the vampire's body.
After all, he had a bigger vendetta to pursue. A human trying to profit from vampires was not within his hunting range.
After confirming that Blade had left, the glass container at the center of the laboratory had also been filled with some kind of liquid, and the vampire finally had personal consciousness beyond his primitive desires.
However, he could only move his eyes and head, seemingly having completely lost control of his body. At the same time, his body was covered with numerous small infusion tubes and various circuits for electrical stimulation.
"It's good that he's just Blade, not the 'Daywalker,' a guy obsessed with revenge and hunting vampires."
With that, Lynn ignored the vampire's gaze, sat at his experiment table, and operated the computer.
"I hope you survive this time, my vampire friend. It's not easy to get him to bring me another live vampire..."
With these words, he pressed the Enter key. As several civilian generators began to roar together, a large amount of refined reagent was injected into the vampire's body.
The vampire placed in the cultivation tank's eyeballs and body began to visibly shrivel, but as the body shriveled, it also seemed to be constantly churning inside, as if brewing some kind of new life.