My Tenant Dragged Me Back to Hell

Cemetery.

Klein Gray placed cigarettes one by one on the tombstones.

The names carved on the tombstones read 'Best Comrade Miles', 'Best Comrade Carl', 'Best Comrade Selene'...

The weather was bleak, with a strong wind blowing. Klein pressed the cigarettes down with stones. As the wind blew across the cigarette tips, they burned fiercely for a moment, just like someone was actually smoking them.

Klein stood motionless before the tombstones, like a new tombstone himself.

The tap of a cane approached from a distance. An old man in a black suit and a medium-height silk top hat walked toward Klein, one hand on his cane, the other holding a bouquet of flowers.

"They were the best soldiers I've ever seen."

Ralph Harrison placed the flowers in his hand in front of Miles' tombstone.

He straightened up, staring at the name on the tombstone, and asked, "What are your plans? You're the only one left from the whole squad. But you're a legend in the mercenary world, plenty of people would be willing to follow you..."

"I'm planning to retire." Klein suddenly smiled, without a trace of sadness on his face.

Ralph's expression turned stunned. "You're giving up after just one failure?"

"I'm just tired of all this fighting and killing, plus I don't like being stabbed in the back." Klein turned his head, looking directly at Ralph. His face still wore a smile, but his eyes were ice-cold, without any warmth.

Ralph's face turned pale, his facial muscles twitching as he forced out a smile. "I don't understand. Are you saying there was a mole in this mission?"

"Ralph, stop pretending. Don't forget I have friends in the hacker world, too." Klein's smile completely disappeared as his eyes swept across the bushes around the cemetery.

"These goons are your people, right? If I don't agree to your new plan, they'll take me out?" Klein's tone was ice-cold, like a winter wind.

Ralph felt as if death itself had set its sights on him. He turned to run, but Klein's hand just moved slightly in the air, and Ralph's body froze in place.

Lightning flashed across the sky, and heavy rain began to fall. Rainwater mixed with blood flowed down the cemetery steps, level by level.

Ralph clutched his throat, his lips trembling, but in the end, he could only fall heavily to the ground with regret and fear.

"Damn it, he killed Ralph, open fire!"

An angry roar came from the bushes, followed by a hail of bullets shooting toward Klein.

Klein had already rolled behind a tombstone before the shout even finished. His figure moved between the stone markers, dodging bullets with agility, like a ghost.

Three minutes later, all gunfire in the cemetery ceased. Klein wiped his dagger on one of the corpses, cleaning off the blood, then calmly left the cemetery.

From that day on, the legendary mercenary known as 'Black Reaper' disappeared. No one knew where he went.

Pales Villa District. An unremarkable Volkswagen pulled up outside a villa. In the back seat sat a stunningly attractive woman and a middle-aged man.

The man wore a mask and was bundled up tightly, his eyes warily watching the world outside the window.

The woman hugged her shoulders with a look of indignation. "I can't believe that even with all the money you donate to the police every year, they still can't keep me safe!"

"Of course they're willing to protect you, my dear daughter." Jared Watson shrugged. "But my years in business tell me you should never put all your eggs in one basket."

"So you're planning to put me in this crappy basket instead?" Carol Watson pointed at the three-story villa outside, her expression very unwilling.

Jared spread his hands. "This is already the best place I could find for you. If you call the police from here, they can arrive in less than ten minutes. Trust me, no one knows you're living here. Including those drug dealers."

Jared let out a long sigh. His daughter was a top chemistry and pharmaceutical talent, but recently, the drug she had developed to help people overcome addiction had made her the number one assassination target in the underground world.

Carol stared at the three-story villa outside, her eyes full of disdain, but thinking about her current situation, she could only nod reluctantly. "Fine, I get it. What kind of person is my landlord?"

"A man."

"A man?"

Carol's voice suddenly became sharp, her eyes full of disbelief.

Jared jumped, quickly glancing outside the window, anxiously telling Carol to keep her voice down. "Keep it down. I've checked him out. This man doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, doesn't mess around, and definitely doesn't do drugs. He's safe, and lately he seems really eager to find a roommate. As long as you pay enough, he'll meet all your needs!"

Carol's brows remained furrowed. After a long pause, she asked, "So is he gay?"

Jared shook his head. "I don't know about that, but don't worry, if he really has any bad intentions toward you, just yell, and the bodyguards will pin him down."

"Fine, I get it." Carol finally gave in to her father. After getting out of the car, she dragged her suitcase toward the three-story villa she looked down on.

Inside the villa, Klein came out of the bathroom, naked, drying his hair with one hand and holding a phone with the other, looking very irritated.

"You damn bloodsuckers! I bought this house with money I earned by risking my life, and I still have to pay you property tax! Why don't you just go rob a bank?"

"Robbing banks is illegal, but this is legal."

The bank employee on the other end remained polite.

"You're so damn right about that. You bloodsuckers should all be on the gallows, damn it..." Klein cursed some more, then angrily hung up the phone.

"I danced with death on the battlefield, while these dirty capitalists just sit in their offices watching their pretty secretaries dance and making more money than I could earn in a lifetime. I should have become a fund manager instead of a mercenary."

Klein grumbled as he walked to the living room and picked up a newspaper from the table. He needed to look through the job listings. His rental post had been on the website for almost half a year without a single inquiry. If he didn't find work soon, the damn bank would take away his poor house, and he'd become a homeless bum.

Klein swore that if it came to that, he would shove a Gatling gun up those capitalists' asses and pull the trigger.

"Steakhouse employee? No way."

"Auto repair shop worker? I hate the smell of motor oil."

"Pizza delivery guy? Too much work, too little pay."

"Damn it, isn't there any decent job?"

Just as Klein was complaining, the front door swung open. Carol saw the completely naked Klein and let out a scream.