Adam had to tilt his head back just to catch a sliver of grey sky.
The buildings of Athens leaned inward like conspirators, four stories high on average, their upper windows almost touching. Laundry lines crisscrossed overhead. Voices bled through cracked walls. Even the wind struggled to pass.
Space here wasn't expensive.
It was extinct.
Owning an entire building was luxury. Owning a full floor meant wealth. For most residents, a single rented room was a lifetime achievement.
Wealth had piled upward like the buildings themselves—compressing everyone else beneath it.
Mortgage slaves, it seemed, had been born centuries early.
The three walked through filthy streets, boots crunching over grit and refuse. They asked passersby for directions again and again.
No one knew where Corsica Mansion was.
After a long search, they dropped onto roadside steps to rest.
"Where the hell is your damn Corsica Mansion?" Yinling puffed her cheeks, chin propped on her hands.
"How would I know?" Yu Jia spread his arms helplessly. "First time here."
"No map? No address?" Adam's voice was flat as a tombstone.
He looked at his crew.
One miser.
One airhead.
Smoke was the only one missing—and the only reliable one.
Following him now meant being desperate, scheming… or brain-fried.
Chelman fell into the second category.
Yinling, clearly, the third.
In short—his forces were either liabilities… or idiots.
Yu Jia rummaged through his messy stack of documents, frowning.
"I really didn't find anything. I heard people here don't need directions, so when they didn't mention it… I didn't ask."
"How about we find an inn first?" Yinling glanced at the darkening sky.
"No. Too expensive. We're low on funds." Yu Jia rejected instantly. He'd spend fortunes on lab equipment—but not a coin elsewhere.
"So your plan is to let vampires sleep under sunlight?" Adam said calmly. "We could ask Chelman for help."
"Forget it!" Yu Jia shuddered visibly. "I'd rather pay a stranger. At least strangers are honest. With him we'd lose money and still get nowhere."
Rows of zeros flashed through his memory—his drained bank account.
He ground his teeth.
"Trust a scammer if you must—just don't trust him!"
"Excuse me… need help?"
A man in light armor approached.
Sallow face. Messy hair. Thick stubble. The stench of alcohol hit before he did.
He looked like he'd slept in a ditch.
But the sword at his waist gleamed—polished with obsessive care.
"We're looking for Corsica Mansion," Adam said. "Directions?"
"Corsica Mansion, huh…" The man scratched his chin. "That's troublesome. If I guide you, what do I get?"
A mercenary.
And a bottom-tier one—at least on the surface.
Otherwise he wouldn't bother with guiding work. Street kids handled this in daylight.
"What do you want?" Adam asked.
"One gold coin. Or…" He grinned drunkenly. "A kiss from the lady works too."
His hand reached for Yinling.
She slapped it away hard.
Then—almost instinctively—she glanced at Adam's face.
His expression didn't change.
Still, she turned away quickly, cheeks tight with suppressed anger.
She'd nearly lost her temper twice already today. She didn't want him thinking she was temperamental.
After all… she was still the self-appointed candidate for Second Progenitor's Wife.
"One gold coin," Adam said.
He flicked a coin forward.
Fast.
Straight at the mercenary's face.
Clink.
The man caught it cleanly.
His palm didn't even shake.
Adam's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Fast reflexes."
"You're strong," the mercenary laughed, flexing his fingers. "That stung."
He pocketed the coin.
"Job accepted. Tonight's drinks are secured."
He turned and walked off.
"Hey! Where are you going?!" Yu Jia shouted. "You haven't guided us!"
"He'll be back," Adam said.
So they waited.
Not long.
The mercenary returned—dragging someone.
He tossed a short, ugly man onto the ground in front of Adam.
"Done. Task complete. Time to drink."
He paused, glaring at the dwarf.
The wailing stopped instantly.
Fear replaced it.
"I'm off. Good night."
He staggered away.
But just before turning the corner, his steps… straightened.
Then he was gone.
The dwarf scrambled up once the mercenary disappeared.
"Let's go. Damn bad luck—getting dragged out at midnight to guide people." He grumbled. "You're looking for Corsica Mansion, right?"
"Yes," Yu Jia said.
"Follow me."
He jogged off into a narrow alley in quick, choppy steps.
"Can you slow down?" Yu Jia called, hurrying after him with the others.
"Unpaid labor. No complaints. And it's my habit." The dwarf flashed a twisted grin.
"You won't be unpaid."
Adam tossed him another gold coin.
"What's your name?"
"Everyone calls me Rat."
He bit the coin, satisfied, and pocketed it. His attitude improved immediately.
"Rat? Fitting," Yu Jia chuckled. "You run like one."
Rat took it as praise.
Tiny steps. Quick darts. At every corner he pressed to the wall and peeked first—pure rodent instinct.
They wound through a maze of alleys before Rat suddenly said:
"Occupational habit."
That answered the earlier joke.
Thief… or pickpocket, Adam guessed. Definitely not a bandit.
Finally, Rat stopped.
"We're here."
They looked up.
A narrow four-story building stood before them.
Barely five meters wide.
White paint peeled away in sheets, exposing brick beneath. Children's graffiti scarred the lower walls. Bamboo poles jutted from second-floor windows, dripping dirty laundry water onto the street.
A crooked wooden sign hung over the door.
It creaked in the wind.
One nail was half-loose.
The sign tilted sideways.
Corsica Mansion
Silence.
A rat scurried across the adjacent passage.
"This… is it?" Yinling stared. "You're kidding."
"I… think it is…" Yu Jia sighed, crushed.
This was nothing like he'd imagined.
Corsica's status in Athens was… this low?
Adam studied the building a moment, then tossed Rat another coin.
"Tip?" Rat asked.
"Deposit. Come back tomorrow after sunset," Adam said.
"Deal."
Rat vanished into the alleys.
"Why give him more money?" Yu Jia protested. "You see how bad our situation is!"
"We need a guide," Adam said dryly. "Or you plan to navigate Athens yourself?"
"Exactly!" Yinling chimed in.
Yu Jia shook his head at the two spendthrifts and stepped forward.
He grabbed the bell rope hanging beside the crooked door.
And pulled.