Chapter 156: Persecutory Delusions

That tedious and dull day had finally come to an end.

A new residence, new neighbors, a new school, new teachers, new classmates, and a new set of textbooks that needed to be familiarized all over again.

When Polly Albenson first moved with her father, she still found this kind of life rather fresh and novel. She had even been fully prepared to embrace this new life.

The first time, she and her father lived in California for half a year. She had grown accustomed to the surrounding environment and made new, good friends. Just when she felt she had weathered the initial unease and truly integrated into her new life, her father packed up and moved them once again.

This time, they moved to Texas.

Despite feeling somewhat depressed, Polly told herself she should approach this new life with a positive mindset. Moreover, the cowboy boys in Texas were extremely enthusiastic, and the state itself was vast and open. This time, it took Polly only two months to become familiar with all the new surroundings and make new friends. She also met a sunny boy and fell into a tentative, innocent love, giving away her all at the age of fifteen. That could be considered her first boyfriend.

Polly fell in love with Texas and desperately wished she could truly settle down there.

However, things did not go as she hoped. Another half a year later, at the end of the sixth month after moving to Texas, her father packed up and moved them once again.

This time, her emotions were extremely agitated, and she got into several fierce arguments with her father. But in the end, she could not win against her domineering father; she had no independent source of income, and he was her legal guardian.

After that, they moved to Alaska.

The freezing climate there made Polly very uncomfortable. But it didn't matter; her father would surely drag her along to move again anyway.

Sure enough, half a year later, they packed up and left once more.

Polly gradually grew numb.

New Mexico, Missouri... and then they went abroad.

Polly had long wondered if her father would take her out of the United States, and that thought had indeed become reality.

Yes, Polly understood everything now.

Her father was sick—he suffered from severe persecutory delusions. He always imagined that danger was approaching, that various vague and indescribable evil forces were trying every possible way to capture or eliminate him.

As time went on, this fixation would reach a peak, causing her father to suffer from an extreme lack of a sense of security.

Yet, strangely enough, most of the time, Siso Albenson was a perfectly normal and wise man, to the extent that whenever Polly insisted her father undergo psychological evaluations, the results always came back completely normal.

She missed her hometown, missed her childhood when her father worked for General Dynamics, and missed Texas even more, along with George, her first-love boyfriend. As for the mother she had never met—sorry, she didn't know her and had long since given up any romantic fantasies.

Having moved to Canada for half a month already, she was still in a daze and couldn't remember the names of the teachers in her class.

Perhaps it wasn't that she couldn't remember, but rather that she had closed herself off.

Fraid of parting time and time again, if she didn't know anyone or grow familiar with anyone, she wouldn't have to endure the pain of separation.

She was already a high school junior. Holding her mobile phone, she relied on GPS navigation to walk through the unfamiliar city, searching for the way back to their rented apartment.

It was a rented apartment, never a "home."

"Polly?"

A deeply magnetic female voice interrupted her numb thoughts.

Polly put down her phone and turned her head to look toward the roadside.

Standing there was a beauty even more gorgeous than many Hollywood superstars, waving at her.

She wore a tight, black leather suit, and her extremely sultry and smooth bodily curves made even Polly, a woman herself, suspect that this woman was wearing nothing underneath that leather suit.

The gaze of every passing male was instantly drawn to her, giving Polly the eerie feeling that even dogs on the street would be no exception.

Polly pointed at herself in confusion.

"Polly!"

Daeşan called out once more, then smiled and waved at Polly again.

Only then did Polly confirm that she was indeed the one being called, and the beautiful woman was walking toward her.

Polly adopted a somewhat defensive posture, but she didn't leave; the presence of many pedestrians around actually made her feel safer.

Perhaps due to her past experiences, Polly possessed an inner calmness or rather an emotional detachment far beyond her years, making her completely unable to understand why idiots in movies always ran off to sparsely populated places to court death.

Polly was certain she did not know this woman. Since she was a complete stranger here, the most likely scenario was that this woman knew her father.

Could she be his mistress?

Impossible. Aside from persecutory delusions, that guy only had his research; she even felt that in the eyes of others, her father was probably often suspected of being gay.

The woman maintained a smile and walked naturally up to Polly's side. Ignoring the girl's guarded posture, she wrapped an arm around Polly's shoulder with extreme familiarity, striking a very intimate pose.

"Dr. Albenson is in grave danger. They have already found you. Hurry and take me to your father."

Before Polly could cry out, Daeşan whispered these words in a solemn tone.

This sentence stunned Polly, making her feel somewhat confused while also sparking a vague, fleeting realization. But before she could dwell on it further, a tremendous force struck her back, shoving her away.

"Run! I'll find you again!"

Hearing only those words, she heard a loud "bang" erupt right behind her.

Polly turned around, her pupils contracting sharply.

A muscular man wearing a tank top was already locked in combat with the gorgeous woman she had just been talking to.

"So fast!"

One was petite and fiery, the other immensely powerful and fierce.

Their hands and feet collided at least two or three times every second.

The sounds of impact—"thud," "thud," "thud"—sounded more like two metal plates slamming against each other.

During the exchange, the muscular man clearly cast glances toward her several times and tried to charge over, but he was blocked each time by the beautiful woman.

"Why aren't you running? Are you waiting to die?!"

A sharp roar echoed from the woman as she unleashed a flurry of combo strikes, forcing the muscular man back.

Polly saw her open her mouth as if to say something, only to be slammed into by the muscular man as the two of them locked bodies and flew backward.

"Crash..."

The glass storefront of a shop along the street shattered, and the battlefield shifted indoors as the two locked in grapple tumbled inside.

Sounds of fighting echoed from within the shop from time to time.

"Boom..." Whatever the attack was.

Another glass display window was shattered from the inside, sending countless shards of glass exploding outward and striking many of the curious onlookers gathered outside.

Although it was safety glass, getting hit by it hurt immensely, and some people were even bleeding.

The crowd of people who had been marveling and watching the spectacle just moments ago now panicked and scattered in all directions.

Polly, who had been somewhat at a loss since a moment ago, finally snapped back to her senses. No matter what, she had to get out of here immediately.

Yes, find her father! Find her father right now!

He didn't suffer from persecutory delusions at all; he had been dragging her along to escape danger all this time, and he had constantly been fulfilling a father's duty to protect her!

As she sprinted away, hot tears welled up in Polly's eyes.

And that woman—please, don't let anything happen to her!

This brief encounter, followed by such an intensely shocking sequence of events, had caused Polly Albenson to readily place her trust in Daeşan the vampire.

She naturally linked everything back to her father's alleged persecutory delusions.

Ah, Hollywood blockbuster movies truly deserved the highest credit for this.

...

After Polly fled, the commotion inside the fighting arena died down.

Two figures slipped into the mall from another entrance, moving with lightning speed before vanishing into the bustling downtown district.

The two individuals who had been trying to kill each other just minutes ago were now strolling together, completely unscathed.

"My Lord is truly a genius!"

The muscular man couldn't help praising Director Wu Yue once again.

"Hush! The act isn't over yet. We'll split up at the next street corner. Don't mess this up; if you let My Lord down, I will kill you."

"Haha, Daeşan, you'd actually have to be able to beat me first! Don't worry, My Lord's will is higher than my life!"