Chapter 1: The Daughter He Never Met

Five Years Ago, to protect the woman he loved, he cruelly deceived her into leaving him. Five Years Later, the woman he loved secretly bore him a daughter, but now both mother and daughter are held captive by enemies. “Anyone who dares to touch my wife and daughter, I'll send them to hell!” Because I am... the Reaper! 1 **Mexico-US Border** In the desolate desert, Joseph drove an old car on the verge of breaking down. The car’s hood and sides were riddled with bullet holes from large-caliber bullets. Three bodies lay in the trunk, with the body of a large black man hanging partially out, being dragged along the ground. Suddenly, a cellphone rang in the desert. Joseph felt for his phone but realized the sound wasn't coming from his. He stopped the car and went to the trunk. One of the bodies had a ringing phone in its pocket. Normally, Joseph wouldn't answer a dead man's phone, but something compelled him to do so. “Joseph, is that you?” The phone wasn’t his, but the caller immediately knew his name. Joseph looked around but saw no drones, indicating he wasn’t being watched. What was going on? Joseph remained silent. The voice on the other end continued, “Do you remember Lucy?” Lucy. The name made Joseph tremble. Of course, he remembered her. Lucy was the only woman he ever loved, but to protect her, he had to abandon her. “What do you want?” Joseph gripped the phone tightly. The voice coldly replied, “It’s not about what I want. I'm just here to inform you that your daughter with Lucy has been kidnapped. If you don’t get to this location by nightfall, she will be killed. Haha!” Daughter? Joseph’s mind flashed back to five years ago. He was a man dreaming of a family with Lucy. But when he got involved with those people, he knew he had to stop wasting her time. Joseph knew breaking up normally wouldn’t work; she would never give up on him. So he pretended to fall in love with someone else and forced a breakup. They didn’t have a child back then. Could it be that Lucy was pregnant when they broke up? Despite thinking he was a scumbag, she kept the baby and raised it? The voice confirmed his thoughts, “Even after you hurt her by letting her see you with another woman, Lucy didn’t abort the child. She loved you, and no matter how you hurt her, the child was innocent. She raised your daughter alone. She just turned four, but now she’s kidnapped because of you. Joseph, you truly are evil! And Lucy…” The call cut off before the sentence finished. Holding the phone, Joseph couldn’t calm down. Looking at the location on the phone, his eyes burned with fury. “Who dares to touch my daughter! I’ll destroy every last one of you!” Anyone who knew Joseph knew that once he was enraged, there was no escape unless death. Joseph pulled out another high-tech phone, and a robot appeared before him. “009, I need to be at the location I sent you in an hour. Prepare weapons on the way.” The robotic voice responded, “Understood. A plane will land in your location in 90 seconds. Do you have any other instructions, Reaper?” “Find out if the people I killed today are connected to Lucy. And find out who called me!” 009 had been with Joseph for three years but had never seen him this angry. It quickly gathered all the information and sent it to Joseph. “Report, Reaper! The caller is a teacher from Los Angeles named Susan. The exact address is...” Joseph saw the approaching plane and quickened his pace. “Susan, huh? You’ve made the worst mistake of your life threatening me with my family. Prepare to die!” The Hell organization members heard the conversation between Joseph and the robot and were stunned. Samael, Joseph’s right-hand man, remarked, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him this angry. Los Angeles is going to be a bloodbath today.” Beelzebub curiously asked, “I never knew the Reaper had a family. Could this be a trap?” Azazel calmly looked out the window, “Trap or not, I believe the Reaper will break through it.” **Los Angeles** Joseph’s plane landed right in the middle of the central avenue. The mayor of Los Angeles, Kyle, was dumbfounded. “Isn’t that the Reaper, the highest-secret wanted criminal? What’s he doing here?” Despite being a top-secret target, no one dared to arrest him. Those who tried had disappeared without a trace. The Reaper led an international assassination organization: Hell. It had seven key members, each responsible for countless deaths. They had no family, no country, no loyalty—only the Reaper. “What are they planning?” Mayor Kyle frantically called for help, but all city communications were down. “Mayor, report! Samael is leading a hundred warplanes into our airspace!” “Mayor, report! Beelzebub and a thousand suicide soldiers have entered the city!” “Mayor, report! All communications are down, it’s Azazel’s doing!” “Mayor, report! Abaddon has set high-intensity contagious viruses at key locations in our city. At any moment, he could turn Los Angeles into a death zone!” “Mayor, report! Belial has entered your home!” “Mayor, report! Mastema has surrounded the city with a hundred warships!”