Chapter 1 Horace's Invitation

“Oh, looks like nobody’s here.” Horace poked his head into the treehouse, finding it empty.

Still, he led Xiao Tan in through the entrance and told him to find a place to sit.

“It’s still early. I think everyone will be here in the afternoon,” Horace said, walking to the table at one end of the treehouse and picking up a monster magazine. He showed Xiao Tan the cover and said, “As long as you pass our ‘monster test,’ you can join the club.”

“Monster… test?” Xiao Tan replied, looking around.

“You know…” Horace shrugged. “It’s just testing you on monster knowledge to see if you’re qualified to join our club.”

“Like?” Xiao Tan asked tentatively.

“Like…” Horace pondered for a moment. “Um… how to kill a vampire.”

“Oh…” Xiao Tan responded, then blurted out, “The most thorough way is exposure to sunlight, right?”

“Right, right.” Horace nodded. “What else?”

“Um… staking through the heart is a classic…” Xiao Tan thought for a moment, then added, “And in some mythologies, you have to cut off their heads.” He paused. “Of course… a friend of mine thinks throwing them into a hay baler works too…”

“Wow! You know so much!” Horace exclaimed.

“Heh… not really.” Xiao Tan chuckled dryly. Actually, his knowledge used to be limited, but after playing Thriller Paradise for half a year, he knew everything about classic demons and monsters.

Creak—

Just as they were talking, the treehouse entrance was suddenly opened again, and a small head popped out from the floor (the treehouse entrance was usually on the floor side).

“Hey, Horace, you’re here.” The brown-haired boy in a red T-shirt greeted Horace, then looked at Xiao Tan. “Who’s this kid?”

“This is Wang, the new kid,” Horace replied, then said to Xiao Tan, “Wang, this is Sean. He’s the founder of the club. His dad helped us build the treehouse.”

As he spoke, Sean climbed into the treehouse and closed the entrance behind him.

“Hello,” Xiao Tan greeted.

“Hey, hello,” Sean replied politely.

“Sean, I want Wang to join our club.” Horace struck a strange "martial arts" pose, his eyebrows dancing as he said, “He’s super awesome. He used Chinese kung fu to chase away E.J. and Derek today.”

“But this is a monster club, not a kung fu workshop,” Sean joked.

“Wang knows a lot about monsters too. You can test him if you don’t believe me,” Horace retorted immediately.

“I guess…” Xiao Tan said. “…But I do know a few things.”

“Oh?” Sean perked up. “Then… try our ‘monster test.’ If you get more than half the questions right, you can join.”

***

Meanwhile, downtown, at the police station reception hall.

As usual, the place was bustling with activity every day, every hour, every minute.

Today, a strange man came…

“Officer, please! Please lock me up!” Dressed in a green hooded jacket and jeans, looking about thirty years old, he kept shouting at the officers, “I’m a werewolf! A werewolf!”

The officers he was pestering were quite troubled. Frankly… they rarely heard requests to be voluntarily imprisoned, and they had never heard of "I'm a werewolf" as a reason.

“Just for one night, please, tonight is the full moon!”

“Calm down, sir.” “Please calm down.”

“You don’t understand! You have to handcuff me! Put me in a cage!”

As the conversation progressed, the man claiming to be a werewolf grabbed one of the officers by the shoulders, refusing to let go no matter how the officer struggled.

“Oh! Is that so, buddy! If you want to get arrested that badly, then fine by us!” The officers were finally annoyed.

Two seconds later, two patrolmen and a detective came forward together, and the three of them worked together to twist the man's arms behind his back, preparing to handcuff him.

“What’s with this guy?”

“Who knows… let’s contact the mental hospital.”

Hearing the officers’ conversation, the man became even more agitated. “Oh, God! You still don’t understand… you have to…”

He stopped abruptly because he suddenly had an idea.

The next second, the man seized the opportunity, pulled out the gun from the nearest officer's waist, and used a burst of strength from who-knows-where to push the three of them away.

Bang bang—

He raised his gun and fired two shots into the ceiling without saying a word, then shouted, “Lock me up!”

Bang bang bang—

Before he finished speaking, three more shots rang out.

But this time, it wasn’t him who fired, but a patrolman who had rushed over from the next room after hearing the gunshots.

After the gunshots, the man who claimed to be a werewolf fell down in full view of the public…

In the eyes of others, this "mentally ill patient who attacked the police and seized a gun" seemed to have been "shot dead"…

***

At the same time, downtown, at a certain museum.

"Okay, let me confirm this with you again…" a black detective in a trench coat said in a helpless tone to a museum security guard who looked close to retirement, "There… used to be a 2,000-year-old mummy here, right?"

"Yes, officer," the security guard replied.

"But he's not here anymore, gone, disappeared, history," the detective said in his own rap-like way.

"Yes, officer," the security guard replied with the same affirmation.

"And you…" the detective said, walking around him, "...say you didn't hear anyone come in... or leave, right?"

"Uh-huh," the security guard nodded.

"Can you hear me now? Hello?" the detective raised his voice in frustration.

"Of course, I can hear you clearly, officer," the old security guard replied calmly.

"So... you mean no one went in to steal the mummy?" the detective continued.

"If they did, I would have heard them, officer," the security guard replied.

"Heh... yeah, of course you would, I asked a stupid question." The detective shook his head and muttered, then suddenly turned back and looked at the security guard. "Did you take it?"

"No, officer," the old security guard's replies were calm, clear, but useless to the case from beginning to end, which made the detective extremely angry.

"Okay, just asking." The black detective raised his hands and turned to look at his white partner. "Alright, I tried my best, this case is too difficult, man. I think we should switch to being firefighters."

"I'm glad you're still in the mood to joke, Richie," the white detective replied with a straight face, then walked two steps towards the exhibition hall where the stolen mummy had been, and muttered, "The problem is... a dried corpse that's been lying there for two thousand years can't just get up and walk away on its own."

***

“Ah—” After a *thump*, the tramp who had been knocked unconscious by Feng Bujue woke up.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a dilapidated room, lying on a dirty mattress.

“Woke up pretty fast.” The pre-pubescent voice of the child version of Feng Bujue quickly entered the tramp’s ears.

“Huh?” The tramp turned his head abruptly and saw Brother Jue sitting on a small stool at the other end of the room, looking over at him leisurely.

“You! You little bastard…” He cursed as he got up, intending to grab him.

But Feng Bujue just sat there calmly and said a nonsensical word: “Taro.”

Unexpectedly, as soon as this word came out, the tramp screamed and fell to the ground, his body spasming for several seconds.

“Oh! My back!” The tramp rolled over after falling to the ground, trying to reach for his back, but it seemed… that this action was very difficult for him.

“Don’t bother, you can’t take the chip out by yourself,” Feng Bujue said.

“Wh…what chip?” The tramp replied, “What are you talking about, you little…”

“Taro.” Feng Bujue interrupted him before the next curse came out.

“Ah!” The tramp screamed again, but the pain came and went quickly, and he soon caught his breath and asked, “What… what did you do to me!”

“Nothing much, I just inserted a chip into your back with the help of a friend,” Feng Bujue said. “The technological level contained in this chip far exceeds your understanding and imagination, so I won’t go into details. All you need to know is that from this moment on, as long as I say…” He paused. “You know… that word…” He was undoubtedly referring to the word “taro,” “…you’ll become like that again.”

“Nonsense… how is that possible?” The tramp certainly wouldn’t believe it easily.

“Still don’t believe it?” Feng Bujue said, “Then I’ll say it again, Tar…”

“No… don’t!” This time, the tramp chickened out. “Don’t… don’t say it…”

“Heh…” Feng Bujue smiled. “You should be glad, Mr. Hill. Long-term alcoholism and various unhealthy habits have made your nerves dull and numb… otherwise, you would feel even more distinct pain.”

“Who… what are you?” At this time, the tramp, Hill, obviously no longer regarded Feng Bujue as an ordinary child. “How did you know my name?”

“The only thing of any value in your jacket pocket… is your driver’s license, Mr. Hill,” Feng Bujue replied. “As for my identity, you don’t need to delve into it. You can call me… Mr. F.”

“Okay… F-boy,” Hill asked, “Why did you put that… uh… chip in me?”

“Isn’t it obvious… of course it’s to have you do things for me,” Feng Bujue replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “After all, I’m still a child, and it’s easier for adults to handle many things. Even if I take a step back… you can at least be my driver.”

“But… why did you choose me in particular?” Hill asked.

“You brought it on yourself, Mr. Hill,” Feng Bujue replied. “You tried to rob me, remember?” He spread his hands. “Your behavior eliminates all my guilt towards you. Based on your character, I could say ‘taro’ all day long.”

“Ah—” Hill was shot for no reason again.

“Secondly, given your lifestyle, I think… even if you ‘suddenly disappear permanently,’ it won’t have a major impact on society.” The "disappearance" that Feng Bujue referred to in this sentence was obviously implying "death." "Anyway… no one will notice it in the short term, which is also a very suitable condition."

“Thirdly…” Brother Jue paused for two seconds, then added, “Similar to the second point, since you are an alcoholic and a tramp, your integrity will inevitably be questioned by the secular world. For example… no matter what illegal activities I force you to do, even if we are arrested together in the process, I am still safe. At that time, I just need to pretend to cry and everything will be fine; and you… you can try telling the police that you were controlled by a child with a super-tech chip and forced to commit a crime to see what the result will be.”

At this point, Hill was sitting stiffly on the ground, dumbfounded.

“Now, Mr. Hill. If you don’t want to hear that word again, get up and change your clothes.” As he spoke, Feng Bujue pointed to a set of clean clothes next to the mattress. “I have a lot to do before sunset…”

***

At the same time, on the edge of the city, on a not-so-rugged mountain road.

A very simple-looking family hatchback slowly drove to the side of the road and stopped next to a fence.

Then, a pale face appeared in the car window on the driver’s seat side, peering at the city in the distance through the window glass and sun-blocking film…

No one knew where Dracula got the car, and no one knew why he wasn’t burned to death by the sun after turning into a bat and leaving the plane.

Even less did anyone know… how a vampire who had been away from the human world for a hundred years learned to drive…

In short, Dracula in the *Slayer Squad* world was a man full of mysteries.

“Let it all begin…”

After staring at the city outside the car window for a moment, Dracula muttered to himself in a very melodramatic tone, and then… revealed an expression of finally being able to relieve himself after being constipated for a long time, mixed with a bit of excited smile.

After showing this display of villainous acting common in horror movies… he still restarted the car and drove down the mountain…