Fanghunt Office Fixer Hong Lu/Identity Story

Overview

Voicelines

Identity Story

Speaker	Dialogue
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Hello! Anyone home?
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Hmm~ I heard on good authority that this was your hideout… So I wonder why you're ignoring me?
	The child strode confidently through the dilapidated, run-down hallway of an old building.
	He comes to a sudden stop in front of a small door at the metallic stench of blood.
	The child raises his hand, soft and clean, unlike his outfit and the brutish manner in which he carried himself. He gently places it on the doorhandle.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Excuse me, may I enter?
	His voice is bright and upbeat.
	… But between every knock, his voice drips with murderous intent so intense that it couldn't be masked.
	Perhaps whoever was in hiding could sense it, too.
??? ???	…….
	A barely-noticeable sound of breathing seeped past the doorframe.
	Barely noticeable.
	But that hint of profound terror carried by that slightest exhale… brought a grin to the child's lips. He simply could not help it.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Aha! Are we playing hide-and-seek? Pretending to be… unavailable?
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Ha ha! I can hear your breathing, you know~ If you won't open up, then…
	Still, there was no reply. But this silence seemed to have only emboldened the child.
	He slowly and casually lifts his leg, then…
	… kicked the door down.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	… you leave me no choice but to let myself in!
??? Bloodfiend	Agh!
	The door splinters open, and…
	… the Bloodfiend, who'd been hiding and listening from behind the door, gets flung across the room.
	The child smiles cheerfully at the Bloodfiend on the ground.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Aww. Why didn't you just open up when I asked you nicely? You gave me no option, you know.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	It's not like we'll turn a blind eye and walk away just because you're holed up in here like a dirty little rat~
??? Bloodfiend	How… did you find this place…?
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	I'm impressed by the bond between you and your Family. They knew the addresses of every single one of their relatives, including yours…
	The child lightly tapped a photograph framed on a wall with his hammer and took a slow look around the room.
	There was a whole mound of letters on the table, while framed group photos with other Bloodfiends were placed about the room.
	The Bloodfiend realized that something must've happened to his Family.
	Something… awful. If they were forced to spill even his location, then…
??? Bloodfiend	W-wait! There's— There's been a misunderstanding. Can we talk first? Without waving that hammer in my face…?
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	A… misunderstanding?
??? Bloodfiend	Yeah! A misunderstanding! I've never… I've never hurt a human before!
??? Bloodfiend	I always kept to myself, drinking blood only from humans who were already dead!
	The Bloodfiend wasn't lying.
	Bloodfiends hiding out in this area were yet to hurt a human.
	They've been stalking the Backstreets, subsisting on stale blood from corpses.
	An inexperienced Fixer on their first Bloodfiend hunt might hesitate upon hearing this, but…
	… it didn't matter to this child, who's been in the business for a while.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Ah~ Yep, I remember! That's exactly what your Family told me.
??? Bloodfiend	M-my Children would never spill the beans on me… Unless you— What have you done to my Family…?
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	They had the audacity to bite a human. How… uncivilized, hm? So, I employed a little ice-breaking trick grandfather taught me.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	And it worked! It really was a chatterbox; it started sharing all kinds of fun stories with me.
??? Bloodfiend	Broke the ice…? Y-you just tortured my Family!
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Oh, don't be overdramatic. I don't think it was *that* bad. At least, not enough to be called 'torture'.
??? Bloodfiend	Why… why are you doing this to us?! We've never even made a Bloodbag! Not one!
??? Bloodfiend	We just wanted to live! We just wanted to live a life like anyone else! Why are you doing this?!
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	What? Oh, that's…
	The child started, then stopped himself with a scoff.
	Maybe he thought whatever he said wouldn't matter.
	So, the child's answer to the Bloodfiend's cries was far from logical… almost flippant.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Because you're a Bloodfiend. What other reason do I need?
??? Bloodfiend	What… what the hell…
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Oops…! We've wasted enough time. Shall we begin? I hope to hear…
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	… many, many stories from you tonight, too.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Stories about your family.
	The child produced a silver bottle and swished it in front of the Bloodfiend.
	Then…
??? Bloodfiend	Ahh-aghhhhhhh! Go away! Get that thing away from me!
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	What's so scary about this little vial of water? Ha ha.
	A drop of water falls through a small crack in the vial.
	As soon as the drop lands on his skin, the Bloodfiend begins to convulse, an inhuman scream escaping his mouth.
	The child continued to swish the vial in front of the Bloodfiend, until…
	… he grew so exhausted that he couldn't even scream anymore. Then, the child picked up the hammer.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	That sure was scary, huh? Don't worry. I'll help you forget this horror soon enough.
	As the Bloodfiend shuddered helplessly from the sheer horror engraved in his instincts, the child suddenly raised the hammer and brought it down upon his leg.
??? Bloodfiend	Gahhh!
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Wow~ You can regenerate from a crushed leg? Your kind sure are persistent~
	He continued to pummel the Bloodfiend's legs with the hammer until they were nothing more than shards of bone amidst a sludge of meat. So that he may never pursue a human again… so that he may never flee from hunters such as himself again.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Just…
	Then, the child crushed his arms so that he may never grab a human.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	How…
	Then, he held the Bloodfiend's jaws open and pulled his teeth out one by one, so that he may never bite a human.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Much blood have you drunk…
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	To keep regenerating like this?
	What followed was a brutal, one-sided beatdown.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	You're holding out for longer than I expected.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	But struggling won't change anything.
??? Bloodfiend	Why… but… why… are you so… cruel…
??? Bloodfiend	I… never attack… a human… I live just like… humans do… a normal life…
	The child shook his head in exasperation, watching the Bloodfiend trying to speak through his mangled gums and lips.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	What? Ha… haha. Wait, you're serious?
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	You are a monster. A beast, filled with nothing but yearning for blood. You can act like a human, but your nature… doesn't change.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Sure, a few corpses might fill you up for now. But sooner or later, you won't be able to stand that yearning. Besides… you have other sins to answer for, don't you?
??? Bloodfiend	What… sins…? I just… I just want to live a quiet life… with my Family…
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Whoa, would you look at the time! Let's wrap this up, okay?
	With that, the child raised the hammer over his head, and slammed it onto the Bloodfiend's head.
	Then again. And again. And again, until he could no longer regenerate. Until the sun began to rise over the horizon.
	Only when even the Bloodfiend's fingers stopped twitching did the child rise from his position with a hollow smile.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Family, huh…
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Ha ha… that's a good one. I'm sure it mentioned the Family only because it didn't know who contracted me for this job, but… that's really funny.
	The child unfolded a tiny piece of paper, dipped his fingers in the pool of blood that filled the room, and drew a red circle.
	On the paper was a heartfelt request. A contract on the life of a Bloodfiend that turned one of their family into a Kindred before fleeing.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	Will your real family no longer be your own after you get turned into a Kindred?
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	I suppose that's why he protested his innocence to the end, but…
	The child produced several other pieces of paper, all yet to be circled, and read them.
	He found one of them that seemed particularly relevant to what the Bloodfiend said and unfolded it.
Fanghunt Office Hong Lu	… Bloodfiends are, at the end of the day, evil from the moment they are born. It's their nature.
	The child quietly left the building, red sun rising behind him.
	He may rest for a short while, but… it will be long before he finds true respite.
	Beneath the surface of the City, Bloodfiends and their victims still skulked within…
	And whether he wished to or not, the child had to behold so many more things about Bloodfiends in his shimmering eye before he would be able to return.

World of Fanghunt Office Identity Stories