Hunter of Immortals

Chapter 335: Combining Body and Soul

"This restaurant is able to stand out among the many restaurants on the dark web, not just because of their exceptional chefs, but also because there's a focus on the concept of soul, outside of just the three pillars of presentation, aroma, and taste.

“What they seek to offer here is an experience for both the body and the soul," the gentleman introduced. "This used to be one of my subordinates. I trusted her very much, and I was very good to her, assigning her many important jobs, but unfortunately, she betrayed my trust."

"I didn't, Boss! I was framed..."

While the gentleman was setting the scene for Rabbit, the tied-up individual began to try and explain herself.

The gentleman waved a dismissive hand, and one of the chefs jammed a special tool into her mouth to silence her.

"I came to discover that not only was she using the company's money for her own private ends, and she was also working with people outside of the company to take over certain projects in order to profit those people. Even after I discovered something wasn't quite right, I still didn't suspect her.

“Instead, I asked her to carry out an investigation, but she abused the power given to her to eliminate those in the company who opposed her. What do you think I should do to a person like her?"

"If it were me, I would definitely kill her," Adam replied, then took a glance at the entrance of the booth.

Adam and the others still hadn't come in yet, most likely due to the fact that there were so many chefs who were still in the booth.

Rabbit wasn't a very strategic or tactful person, and she pointed directly at the chefs as she asked, "When are they going to leave?"

"In Japanese cuisine, raw dishes are a major specialty, and as I'm sure you can imagine, eating raw human meat is a far rare opportunity than dining on sashimi. All of these chefs possess exceptional knife skills and understanding of human anatomy, allowing them to avoid all major arteries while slicing flesh off a human subject.

“In ancient times, there was a form of punishment in the east known as 'death by 1,000 cuts'. 1,000 slices of flesh must be removed from the subject's body, and they must remain alive throughout the entire process. Only exceptional knife masters are able to carry out this type of torture..."

"Alright, so when are they going to leave?"

"They'll leave when we're past the halfway point in our meal."

Rabbit's repeated questioning was getting on the gentleman's nerves, but he was able to keep his cool and return to the original topic.

"Even after I chose to give her my trust many times, she still chose to betray my trust every single time. If I go the legal route, her punishment won't be very severe at all because this is a business crime. At the very most, she'll be ordered to pay some compensation and locked up a few years. After she comes out, she could even start over again.

“However, the losses that I've suffered and the resentment that I feel for her will permanently remain. Hence, I brought her here. She must pay for her crimes, and the legal system simply won't be able to deliver the justice that I desire."

The gentleman made his way over to the woman as he spoke, then pulled out her gag before indicating for the chefs to begin.

With a swift slice of a sharp knife, a sliver of flesh that was as thin as a cicada's wing was removed from her body, then placed onto a elegant dish. The gentleman dipped the slice of flesh in some wasabi and soy sauce, then consumed it amid the woman's agonized howls.

After that, the woman began to beg for mercy, but her pleas fell upon deaf ears.

A few slices later, her pleas for mercy turned into violent cursing, only to quickly revert back to blood-curdling screams.

In the end, even her screams had become extremely feeble, trailing off into barely audible groans as the gentleman continued to enjoy his meal.

"What a wonderful thing this is. Every single slice is a blissful experience for both the body and the soul. Just eating her flesh alone without witnessing her suffering would not have been anywhere near as cathartic, wouldn't you agree?"

"That's true," Rabbit replied as she plonked her legs onto the table, making no effort to mind her manners. "Killing an enemy is definitely a cathartic experience. I have a friend who's so obsessed with hunting down his enemy that he finds no enjoyment in anything in life. You know how to enjoy life far better than he does. You should enjoy yourself while you still can..."

Not long after Rabbit's voice trailed off, the chefs finally prepared all the food, and after wishing the two patrons an enjoyable culinary experience, all of them departed from the booth.

Shortly thereafter, the man picked up a slice of meat with his chopsticks, and he was just about to say something to Rabbit when he discovered that the woman next to him had suddenly transformed into a giant white rabbit.

What the hell?

The man smacked himself on the cheek to find that he could still experience pain, but the pain was rather muffled and surreal.

At this point, he had already figured out what was happening.

This isn't the real world! When was my psychic world invaded?

He had traveled extensively for business purposes all over the world, and unlike the average person, he had encountered many adapters during his travels. In fact, he had even experienced what it was like to have his psychic world invaded on multiple occasions.

Hence, he was immediately able to sense that something was amiss, but it was already too late.

In the next instant, the booth completely collapsed, and the massive palm of a stone giant that was even more massive than the booth itself smashed through the ceiling before crashing down upon the gentleman's head.

The gentleman couldn't react in time and was smashed straight into the ground.

The average person would've undoubtedly been crushed into mincemeat by such an almighty blow, to the extent that it would've been impossible to discern their flesh and blood from the soil down below.

However, in the gentleman's psychic world, he was an anomaly, not an average person.

"Are you an adapter?" The voice of the gentleman rang out from the ground beneath the booth, following which an anomaly in a black cape slowly flew out from the crater that had been smashed into the ground by Sludge's palm. "You're a very powerful adapter. Just the power of that blow alone far exceeds the power of the vast majority of adapters that I've seen. May I ask what I've done to wrong you?"

The anomaly rose up into the air as it spoke, revealing itself to be a vampire.

Adam had encountered a similar anomaly in the past, but this one was looking far more regal and elegant.

If he had to compare the two, then the previous vampire that he had encountered could only have been considered to be a vampire of the lowest rank, while this one had to have at least been a count.

After rising up into the air, the anomaly didn't immediately retaliate. Instead, it began to speak to Adam.

Adam was also quite curious to see an anomaly like ths, and he asked, "You can speak? I've encountered many anomalies in the past, but not many of them possess sentience and autonomy like you do."

The majority of the anomalies that Adam had encountered in the past had been completely deranged, with Raven being the only exception.

Aside from Raven, this was the only other anomaly Adam had encountered that was capable of completely controlling its host's psychic body.

"In the beginning, I was unable to control myself, either. I felt like I was in a fever dream, unable to control or predict anything. The more I tried to not do something, the more I would push myself into doing that very thing. However, after an extensive amount of training, I was finally able to wrest back control."

"Training? What kind of training?"

Adam had heard of training for adapters, but never had he heard of any training methods for anomalies.

"You still haven't answered my question yet."

"You haven't done anything to wrong me," Adam replied, finally answering the anomaly's first question. "I cam here to kill you purely because I want to test out my powers."

"That's a very unreasonable explanation, but I believe you," the vampire replied with an elegant nod. "In exchange, I'll answer your question. Aside from the training methods adopted by adapters, there are many niche psychic training methods out there, most of which evolved from religions and meditation techniques of the past.

“I train using a dream technique from a secret eastern sect. The training process is extremely arduous, but so is anything that's worth pursuing. Thanks to my training, I've managed to survive two psychic assassinations. This is the third time, and you are by far the most powerful psychic hitmen I've had to face."