"The key aspect of a successful hunt is silence."
On a huge bronze gargoyle, the Ghost silently listened to Karyel's words. He was indeed born with knowledge of many things, but not those that Karyel was talking about now.
He was still too young to understand the laws by which this world beneath his feet lived. Innate knowledge only generated more questions.
"As you can see, there are tens of thousands of gangs in all of Quintus. Their territories are divided very clearly, down to some inconspicuous alley. This means that if you don't act quietly, the sound of murder will be heard by other gangs."
"Aren't they already used to murders?" the Ghost asked in bewilderment. "Do they even care about the noise from another gang's territory?"
"The sounds that civilians and gang members make when they die are different, Ghost."
Karyel stretched his lips into a cruel smile.
"Civilians die, and that's it. Few of them cling to life, and there are plenty of suicides. Do you think there are so many bodies without visible injuries at the crematoria? Is it all due to illness?"
"And as for gang members... you've killed them. Tell me, Ghost, what sounds do they make when they die?"
"Curses," the Ghost replied after thinking. "They curse me and say someone will avenge them."
"And not only that."
Karyel waved his left hand, and the smile on his pale face widened.
"And gunshots... Ghost. They will shoot without stopping. If you can't muffle the sound like I can, it's better to act quietly."
"Then why don't you muffle the sounds for me?"
"Because this is your solo hunt."
Karyel stretched his neck and shoulder muscles, squinting.
"Listen, I will die someday. I am an ordinary person, I cannot, like you, tear armored vehicles apart with a wave of my hand... And you, Ghost, obviously have some common goal with me."
"Therefore, I will teach you everything I know. And then, even if I die, you will be able to change this damned place. In that case, even after death, I will be very happy."
Saying this, Karyel shrugged. The Ghost listened to him silently with a calm expression.
He nodded the whole time, but it was clear from his face that he didn't fully understand the meaning of Karyel's words.
And again, Karyel Loxars felt a sharp irony looking at this naivety.
"You naive little monster... why did you appear on Nostramo of all places?"
Karyel shook his head with a smile.
"Go," he said. "One gang. Destroy them all."
The Ghost walked to the edge of the gargoyle. The moment he was about to jump, he suddenly stopped.
He turned to Karyel and said:
"Murders won't solve the problem, Karyel. You told me that."
"Yes."
"Then why do we keep destroying these gangs?"
"Complete the mission, clear them out so that other gangs don't notice, and I'll tell you the answer."
"Really?"
"I've never lied to you."
The Ghost hesitated no longer. He nodded and jumped off the gargoyle. Karyel watched him go until the tall shadow finally dissolved into the night, and only then sighed.
"Only eighteen months old..." he muttered. "What kind of psychopath created such a monster and abandoned him in Quintus?"
...
"The coroner from House Scryvok is dead," said a bald man.
He had no lips, and his face was disfigured by countless piercings, making it difficult to look at.
His torso was bare, and chains emerged from his wrists, deeply embedded in the flesh and extending to his waist. The sight was strange and frightening.
Piercings were common. Many gang members liked to decorate their faces to stand out. The same applied to body modifications – there were plenty of masochists here.
But cut lips – that was the point.
It meant he belonged to the "Knocking Teeth" gang.
It meant he belonged to a noble house from the Upper Hive.
"I heard that woman had a special metal arm, so strong it could crush the head of a tusked bull with one blow. How did she die?"
In a room lit by candles, another woman asked.
She was dressed in a lush white dress with numerous folds. Her waist was thin, and her exposed chest was soft and white. She looked beautiful, but around her neck was a necklace skillfully made of human bones.
The bald man looked at her irritably and said maliciously: "Are you just babbling, Guvas? Everyone knows that House Scryvok is swimming in money, and if you serve them like a dog, you can get anything. What difference does it make who killed her? What matters is where her body is!"
"Oh, who knows, Kangja, who knows. Maybe I am just babbling out of boredom... but you'd better speak to me more politely."
The woman laughed coquettishly, and her lips, stained with human blood, slowly stretched into a smile.
"I recently got a batch of hallucinogens from the top... if you don't want to wake up one day and find yourself hung up by your own people and about to be skinned, show me a little respect."
The man, named Kangja, snorted coldly. He raised his right hand and stroked his bare teeth. With his free left hand, he continuously pricked the flesh of his thigh with sharp nails.
He needed a little physical pleasure to remind himself not to lose his mind.
"Enough," finally said the third person in the room, who had been silent until now. Compared to Guvas's lush court dress and Kangja's brutal body modifications, he, in his black clothes, seemed like the only normal person here.
"We have no relation to House Scryvok," he said emotionlessly. "It's not our concern."
"But House Scryvok is always generous, Prey," said Kangja. "Won't we get our share?"
"We can't handle whoever dared to kill the coroner of House Scryvok on the eve of the Great Purge," Prey shook his head calmly.
"And even if we get lucky and find her body... how will we solve the problem that House Scryvok will throw at us? They will certainly want to know who killed their coroner."
Kangja nodded thoughtfully, which sharply contrasted with his irritability in conversation with Guvas.
"So, do we declare a curfew?" asked the beauty Guvas.
She squinted and, while speaking, took an object resembling a syringe from a handbag on the table.
Through the transparent body, the mesmerizing scarlet color inside could be clearly seen.
"Not yet. And inject yourself less. Addiction to type three blood mixture is too strong. You'll burn out your brain. Look at your lips, you're already hooked on human blood, aren't you?"
Guvas licked her lips, savoring the taste of blood, and nodded absently.
Just a glance at the syringe clouded her vision, her breathing quickened, and a blush appeared on her cheeks.
Kangja, watching this, smirked coldly.
This is what happens to those hooked on type three blood mixture. At any unpredictable moment, a wave of addiction can overcome them.
If they don't drink blood or inject a dose, this insane state can last for several days.
Seeing this, Prey irritably grabbed a gilded plate from the long table and threw it, knocking the syringe out of Guvas's hands.
The woman's first reaction was not rage, but an instinctive lunge, like a dog. She crawled on the carpet, trying to find the syringe.
Her actions continued until a black leather boot stepped on her right hand.
Guvas raised her head and saw Prey's emotionless face.
"I shouldn't have let you deal with hallucinogens..." Prey said quietly, his left foot beginning to press down, rotating cruelly on Guvas's palm.
The bald Kangja grinned. Guvas paled from the pain but dared not move.
"You have absolutely no self-control, and that's only half the problem... In normal times, your promiscuity doesn't matter, but now lives are at stake, and you're thinking about injecting yourself with a dose?"
Prey kicked her in annoyance, throwing her to the other end of the table. He finally lost his temper and burst into curses.
"Not to mention whose damn private soldier this is, this cursed avenging spirit, but also the death of Father and Razor! They were torn to pieces and thrown in that damned church, and we, damn it, had to clean it all up!"
"The Great Purge is about to begin, Guvas!"
Prey stood up from the table and glared furiously at the bleeding woman. Her first reaction was not to stop the bleeding, but to continuously touch her bleeding nose and bring the blood to her lips.
There was an expression of ecstasy on her face.
Unconcealed disappointment finally appeared on Prey's face.
He looked at Guvas and opened his mouth again. Because of this, he didn't notice a dark shadow flashing outside the window and ignored the quiet sounds coming through the curtain of rain.
These sounds were like tearing flesh.
"Kangja has established ties with the 'Knocking Teeth,' which means we won't have to pay bribes anymore to survive this Great Purge. And you're drowning in hallucinogens and can't get out..."
"Look at yourself, dying from a black disease in a factory would be better than you..."
"...Prey?"
Kangja blinked, not understanding why Prey had fallen silent.
He, of course, would have been pleased to see Guvas punished or even expelled from the gang. He would have gladly taught this fool who traded in hallucinogens a lesson. However, Prey's silence stopped everything.
He turned and looked at Prey. And his eyes widened in horror.
He didn't see Prey.
More precisely, he didn't see Prey's head.
The headless body swayed by the window, into which acid rain was lashing. They hadn't even noticed when this window opened.
Kangja jumped up sharply, simultaneously drawing his pistol and trying to shout for help from the gang members waiting outside the door.
Unfortunately, he was not destined to do so.
A long, pale hand had already managed to grab him by the neck.
"Goodbye," the Ghost said politely. "By the way, your windows open very easily."
The next moment, a dull crunch was heard. The last thing Kangja saw in his life was a piece of white bone, stained scarlet.
Half a second later, as his consciousness began to fade, he finally understood what bone it was.
It was a piece of spine.
Whose was it?
With this question, he plunged into eternal darkness forever.
The Ghost threw away the head with the piece of spine and turned to Guvas, who remained in the room.
He had heard the entire conversation of these three gang leaders from outside. He knew her name and knew that she was addicted to blood.
In fact... the latter could be easily understood from her behavior.
A normal person wouldn't pounce on the corpse of their comrade and greedily drink his blood.
The Ghost approached her mercilessly.
Outside, the downpour continued.
***
Read the story months before public release — early chapters are on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Granulan