Matthew was serious about killing demons.
After all, for ordinary people, no one wanted to run into creatures like demons.
Of course, most people would hardly ever encounter one anyway.
The sorcerers of Kamar-Taj were simply too diligent—whenever a demon appeared on Earth, they either killed it on the spot or drove it away.
But Matthew was different.
In the past, he had never paid much attention to demons because they had nothing to do with him. He wasn't so kind of guardian of the world.
Now, however, demon souls were directly connected to lighting up the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.
That was a real, tangible benefit.
What troubled him now was not avoiding demons, but failing to find any.
And now that one had finally appeared—or at least sothing highly suspicious—it only made sense to rush over imdiately.
After taking control of Pierce and officially becoming one of the hidden big bosses behind the scenes, Matthew had direct access to all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal information the mont he gave an order.
Needy had hidden herself well. S.H.I.E.L.D. still hadn't located her, but they had narrowed it down to a general area.
To find her completely, they estimated it would take around twenty hours, since the search range was still fairly large.
But for Matthew, finding her was much simpler.
The range of his Observation Haki was vast enough that locating soone like this was far more efficient than anything S.H.I.E.L.D. could manage.
Back when Reacher had been kidnapped, Matthew had used Observation Haki to find him in the middle of the open sea.
That sa afternoon, about forty kiloters outside Cook County in northeastern Minnesota, there stood a small abandoned farm beside a highway.
The sky was gray and heavy.
Far above, at nearly ten thousand ters in the air, a ghost plane cruised forward at high speed.
A ghost plane—aning an aircraft invisible to both satellites and radar.
It was a stealth transport specially developed by Hydra, used for carrying out cross-border classified missions.
When it ca to black technology, both Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. were far ahead of the rest of the world.
Perhaps only top geniuses like Beast, Hank McCoy from the X-n, could compare.
The only difference now was that all of it belonged to Matthew.
Inside the cabin, seated calmly in his chair, Matthew slowly opened his eyes. "Found her. She's right here."
Lock onto the coordinates. Our people will head there imdiately. Estimated arrival ti is about thirty minutes." Neagley's voice ca through the earpiece.
"That's enough ti."
Golden light spread across Matthew's body.
In the next instant, his entire body sank straight through the seat beneath him, passed through the aircraft cabin itself, and dropped toward the earth below.
He did not turn into light.
Instead, he simply let himself fall freely.
Far below were rolling mountain ranges, a long highway, open flatlands stretching along both sides of the road, and dense forest.
About a hundred ters to the left of the highway stood a farm of modest size.
At the sa ti, inside the farmhouse, on a wooden plank bed, a magnetic female voice echoed in Needy's mind as she slept.
"Wake up, Needy."
Needy's appearance had completely changed from her forr bookish girl image.
Her light brown hair was tied into a ponytail, a baseball cap sat on her head, and she wore a thick gray hoodie with sweatpants. Her skin was pale and smooth, and her features were delicate and beautiful.
Even in such ordinary clothes, her naturally seductive charm could not be hidden.
The voice in her mind jolted her awake.
The mont she opened her eyes, her clear light-blue pupils were sharp and dangerous.
She sat up imdiately, scanning her surroundings with vigilance.
The farm had been abandoned for a long ti. Dust and weeds were everywhere inside the wooden house. Only the wooden bed and the table nearby had been cleaned and looked relatively tidy.
On the table were sandwiches and plastic wrappers from hamburgers.
"Sothing wrong?"
"Soone is coming. Needy, soone very dangerous. Leave now." The voice in her mind was unusually serious.
Needy almost didn't hesitate. She got up at once, ready to run.
But the mont she had just risen from the wooden bed, her entire body suddenly went stiff.
Because she saw countless golden particles falling densely from the ceiling, gathering together in front of her until they ford a person.
He wore a black coat over a white shirt, with slim black jeans and black Martin boots.
"It's you."
The mont Needy saw him, she couldn't help but cry out.
She recognized him.
He was the one who had saved all the residents of Devil's Kettle back then—the one who had killed the demon that had possessed her closest childhood friend.
"Whoa, cool," the voice in Needy's mind chid in again.
But she had no ti to pay attention to it. Her thoughts were in complete chaos, and her emotions were even more complicated.
Matthew, having just landed, watched the beautiful girl's expression shift rapidly. Her eyes seed to lose focus as if her mind were elsewhere. For so reason, he found it rather amusing.
"Hey. You're Needy, right?"
Matthew's voice pulled her out of her wandering thoughts.
She hurriedly replied, "Yes, my na is Needy. You…"
"Matthew."
"Alright, Matthew… are you here to kill ?"
She hesitated for a mont before asking, her voice carrying obvious unease.
"If we're including the one inside your head, then I suppose not."
Matthew directly pointed out the source of her anxiety.
Needy froze as if struck by lightning. Her body began trembling uncontrollably as she stared at him with wide eyes, never expecting him to see through it so easily.
Yes—the voice in her mind belonged to none other than Jennifer.
After being possessed by a demon, Jennifer's soul should have been completely devoured.
But for certain reasons, her soul had beco intertwined with Needy's.
Two souls in one body.
"Relax. I have no intention of hurting you."
Seeing how uneasy she was, Matthew imdiately reassured her.
He couldn't directly sense souls—that wasn't part of Observation Haki—but he could feel another emotional presence inside Needy that clearly did not belong to her.
Optimism. Cheerfulness. And so strangely inexplicable happiness.
More importantly, there wasn't even the slightest trace of malice. It felt completely different from the demon that had once occupied Jennifer's body.
The aura around Needy did resemble that of a demon to so extent, but it didn't make him feel disgusted.
That was why he couldn't quite figure out what exactly this girl was.
"That's good, sir…"
Hearing Matthew's words, Needy let out a sigh of relief and started to explain, but Matthew interrupted her. He turned his head slightly and looked outside the wooden house.
"It seems you have another guest."
Another guest?
Needy was full of confusion. She followed Matthew's gaze and looked toward the open doorway.
A figure was slowly walking inside.
The mont she saw him, Needy's expression changed.
The voice in her mind vanished instantly, as if it had encountered its natural enemy and hurriedly hid itself away.
She could even feel the fear and terror Jennifer was sending to her.
Matthew's expression remained unchanged, though inwardly, he grew slightly more serious.
The man before them was an old man with white hair.
He wore a black suit, a white stiff-collared shirt, and a black bow tie at his collar. His lower half was dressed in formal trousers and polished leather shoes. On his head sat a round hat, and in his hand he held a cane.
Old-fashioned. Cold. Elegant.
Like an aristocrat from the Middle Ages.
From him, Matthew felt a pressure unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
"How are you, Matthew?"
The old man looked at him with a gentle smile and spoke softly, his voice aged, yet warm.
...
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