Chapter 66: Knight—Punch!!
Boom—!
An invisible sonic boom exploded within the alley.
The knuckles shattered the air, rippling out a pale white ring of vacuum that looked like a translucent air cushion encasing the fist. It then expanded violently, compressing the air in the entire alleyway as it struck forward with a thunderous roar.
The curtain of rain froze for a split second.
Countless water droplets hung trembling in mid-air. In the next second, they were swept up by the violent pressure of the punch, transforming into visible arrows of water that flooded the entire alleyway, blotting out the sky.
The dozen or so vampires closest to Green didn't even have time to react before they were ignited by the positive energy carried on the fist's edge. Their bodies instantly exploded into piles of ash, flying backward along with the kicked-up debris.
Those slightly further away were not spared either.
It was as if they were being scorched head-on by invisible thermal radiation. Sparks burst from the surface of their skin, and amidst shrill screams, their flesh peeled off like charred wallpaper, revealing blackened skeletons beneath.
The skeletons couldn't even hold up for a second before they cracked and collapsed with a series of snaps, scattering charred remains that still held residual warmth across the ground.
"Holy fuck!"
Quinn's pupils constricted sharply. Subconsciously, he grabbed his girlfriend standing in front of him and held her up as a meat shield.
The two of them flew backward together.
"Quinn!! Aaargh—" His red-haired girlfriend screamed as her beautiful face turned to ash in an instant. Her charred skull tilted backward, and she could no longer make a sound.
The camera pans up.
One could see that in a corner of this silent block, a spray of water suddenly surged toward the sky.
The curtain of water gushed upward against gravity, exploding under the dim yellow streetlights before scattering into a sky full of crystalline droplets.
It was like at a deserted bus stop, where a soaked black girl was struck down by a vicious punch from a beer-bellied, ugly man in a wet shirt using his thick, heavy palm.
The accumulated curtain of water seemed to have finally found an exit, erupting from one end of the alley to the other, surging toward the night sky.
At the same time,
Inside a room within the underground structure behind the alley,
A man exuding a street thug vibe stood before a computer, staring obsessively at the pages flashing across the screen.
Those were yellowed, brown pages of ancient books made of human skin.
"This is what I need... the correct way to become the vessel for the Blood God, hahaha!!"
He laughed and clapped his hands; the applause sounded particularly jarring in the empty room.
"With this, just think how fast I can convert the humans in this city into vampires—" He paused, tilting his head as he thought, his pale face filled with ambition.
"No, no, no, I have to keep some. Some as breeding machines, some as blood bags, some..."
"The thing I was tasked to deliver has arrived." Opposite him, a tall Latina woman interrupted him coldly.
"Don't let him down, Deacon."
She sat with her legs crossed, leaning back slightly into the sofa.
She had two piercings on each eyebrow, and her black hair was tied back with a golden clover hair ornament, revealing a beautiful yet cold facial profile. She made no effort to hide her wariness toward the man before her.
Deacon stopped his muttering and looked at her sideways.
"Oh~ of course, my dear Princess Nisha."
[Note: Nisha is a pure-blood vampire, a princess of the ancient vampire noble family—the Damaskinos Family, from 'Blade II'.]
He performed a mock-gentlemanly noble bow, then straightened up with a mocking smile on his lips.
"Even though your kind doesn't have the guts to perform the ritual in human society, I don't mind being your test subject. After all, if I succeed, I will be the true King."
He suddenly threw his head back.
"No, a God!"
"Tch." Nisha sneered, squeezing a few words through her teeth.
"Lowly turned-breed."
The two were in a standoff.
Suddenly, a tremor came through.
The pale lights in the room flickered and dimmed.
"Seems the stronghold you picked isn't very good," Nishasneered, her tone carrying a hint of schadenfreude.
"It's not an earthquake." Deacon frowned, turning his gaze to the computer screen.
An alarm popped up on the screen; it was a signal sent by Quinn, who was guarding the factory outside.
"Could it be a large-scale invasion by human forces? Or... that Daywalker?"
He pondered inwardly, his fingers quickly tapping the keyboard to pull up the camera feed from outside the factory, only to see static. He couldn't see anything.
"Tsk." He clicked his tongue and turned to Nisha. "You should go. Give my regards to Archduke Eli."
"I was never here." Nisha wrapped her coat tighter and stood up.
"You were the one who broke into the archives without the Elder Council's authorization and discovered these records yourself."
"Right, right, right." Deacon curled his lip. "It's all my fault."
"It better be."
Nisha casually pulled out her phone, her slender fingers sliding across the screen to dial a number.
"Please give your orders." A deep, respectful voice came from the other end, mixed with slight electronic static.
"Clear a path for me. I'm leaving."
"Yes."
She hung up, tucked the phone back into the inner pocket of her coat, and glanced at Deacon.
He raised both hands, his fingers waving dismissively in farewell.
"Hmph!" She turned and left, the hem of her coat swaying gently with her steps.
Deacon's gaze stuck to her graceful figure wrapped in the coat. He licked his fangs, a low murmur escaping his throat: "Bitch, once I'm in power, the first thing I'll do is fuck you a hundred times."
Afterward, he withdrew his gaze and pressed the alarm bell.
"Let me see what death-seeking thing this is."
He sat down, staring impatiently at the camera screen behind the door where communication had been lost.
"A pity about Quinn..."
Inside the alley, the two slid over a dozen meters on the ground before barely coming to a stop.
Beside them, the dying man also skidded to a halt, his life or death unknown.
"Ah... what on earth... what kind of monster?" Quinngroaned, trying to push his girlfriend's skeleton off him.
But she had been burned so thoroughly that she crumbled into powder with the slightest effort. A rib had even pierced into his left lung—talk about loving someone to the bone.
The curtain of rain faltered for a moment before falling again, obscuring an already blurry vision.
Quinn looked up at the newcomer.
Under the broken lamp post by the wall, the bulb sizzled and flickered, plunging the scene into alternating light and shadow.
That tall figure walked slowly through the intermittent light, his feet crushing the ashes on the ground that still held residual heat.
The red scarf around his neck looked like a length of intestine soaked in blood, drooping wetly behind him and swaying gently with his steps.
"Heh, hahahaha... Man, I'm starting to understand your taste a bit. How about this, we—"
Quinn was laughing, but before he could finish,
Bang!
Green shattered his skull with a single kick.
Sparks spread across the ground like burning black blood. Half a skull cap rolled away, stopping with a thud against the door at the end of the alley.
"Filthy rat, don't try to give yourself so many lines." Green stepped over the still-twitching corpse, his soles grinding over the sparks on the ground.
The sound of footsteps grew distant.
Until the alley fell into complete silence.
The man on the ground opened his eyes.
He coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood, his chest heaving violently.
Although he couldn't understand how he was still alive after having so much blood sucked out, it didn't stop him from laughing at his narrow escape.
"I... I survived! Hahaha..."
The man's laughter echoed in the empty alley, tinged with the madness of survival.
"That was... so fucking unlucky!"
He coughed up more blood, his chest heaving. Though he couldn't fathom how he lived through the blood loss, it didn't stop him from feeling lucky.
"Thank... thank God, I'm saved."
He braced himself against the ground, his arms trembling as he tried to crawl up.
Suddenly, a shadow spread rapidly toward him like a rising tide, covering his body.
He froze and slowly looked up.
Green lowered his gaze, looking at him expressionlessly.
"Thank who?"
"I... I-I-I..." The man stammered, his teeth chattering with a clicking sound.
"Can God save the you who is about to die?"
Green raised his foot and stepped down.
Crack!
The man's face caved in. Before a shrill scream could escape his throat, he exploded into a pile of ash, scattering across the wet ground.
"Seems not."
He lifted his foot and casually wiped it against the base of the nearby wall.
"I actually missed one. How careless of me."
Green walked toward the entrance, reached out to pull open the iron door, and stepped into the bright light.
The smooth concrete floor was slightly higher than his feet. Further in, rows of pigs and cattle, gutted and drained of blood, were pierced by iron hooks and hung neatly in a line.
This was a slaughterhouse.
Of course, perhaps some of them weren't pigs. Who knows?
Suddenly,
"Rat-tat-tat-tat—!"
Staff members wearing yellow waterproof suits raised their guns, triggers held down, as bullets poured forth like a rainstorm.
Muzzle flashes flickered under the pale lights, and shell casings clattered onto the floor, bouncing and rolling.
"Ho?"
The corners of Green's mouth curled playfully. The bullets passed through the afterimage he left behind, riddling the iron door behind him with holes.
In the next instant, he appeared above the barrage.
His left hand drew the soul-releasing blade from ugly treasure's mouth. The blade sliced through the air, letting out a soft hum.
"What a warm welcome!"
Chapter 67: Slaughtering Through
A swift shadow swept past, the blade's edge humming with a sharp ring.
The fine strands of hair on Green's forehead swayed gently with his rhythmic movements.
Before the group of vampire butchers could even react,
a silver waltz sliced through the air.
Their heads rose cleanly into the air, eyes meeting in bewilderment mid-flight before simultaneously bursting into flames, turning into fiery lanterns suspended in the air that illuminated the gun-toting bodies below.
"Ha!"
Green didn't stop.
He lowered his stance, moving like a black Beast darting across the ground.
His blood-stained red scarf fluttered fiercely behind him as he brushed past the flying barrage of bullets, his blade acting as fangs, pouncing and killing incessantly.
Horizontal slashes, vertical cuts, direct thrusts...
Another wave of bullets came at him.
Green grabbed a nearby vampire by the neck, lifting him with one hand to use as a shield.
"Agh—" The vampire was choked to the point of suffocation, his scream cut short as he was riddled with bullets by his own companions.
The dripping remains slid from Green's hand, crashing to the floor and shattering into a mess.
Green's figure lunged out from the side in an arc.
A flash of light swept past,
and the remaining vampires froze in place.
A long, narrow sword mark appeared on the wall behind them. As the light shone down from above, the humanoid shadows suddenly buckled, and flesh slid apart into two halves.
The surviving vampires scattered in terror.
Inside the slaughterhouse, the walls intersected, and the 'cargo' hanging from iron hooks acted like rows of silent curtains, blocking their vision.
The hems of their yellow waterproof suits flapped as they ran for their lives. Their faces, usually indifferent and expressionless while performing dissections, were now filled only with primal fear.
One of them suddenly heard the sound of wheels sliding behind him.
He turned his head, and the glimpse he caught nearly scared him to death.
That monster-like human was standing on the wheels of a cargo trolley, speeding toward him over the slippery concrete floor.
The wheels rolled through puddles, splashing fine droplets of water. Green crouched on the trolley, his body swaying slightly with the uneven ground, his blood-stained scarf fluttering behind him.
"No, no, no—I don't want to die, I don't!"
He screamed in terror, his voice cracking as he quickened his pace, desperately trying to duck into a narrower passage.
"Why are you running?"
Green's voice chased him from behind.
"Come to me!"
He swung his arm, launching an iron hook out.
The hook traced an arc through the air, passing over the vampire's shoulder. Green yanked hard, and using the pulling force, the hook embedded itself into the vampire's shoulder blade.
"Ah—!"
The vampire let out a wretched scream but seemed not to realize he was hooked, continuing to run forward desperately.
The iron chain snapped taut behind him, dragging Green along as he slid, his feet carving a long water trail on the slippery floor.
Positive energy conducted through the iron chain.
"So hot! It's so hot!" Green smoke rose from the vampire's eye sockets, and his pupils trembled violently.
Immediately after, skin fragments began to drift from every pore of his body. Like a mass of burning smoke, he dragged Green around a corner.
"Where did they go?"
"I can't see their position!"
"Don't panic, don't panic, fire at will! One of them is bound to hit him!"
"Fuck! He's as fast as a ghost, what kind of monster is this?! We can't get away either!"
The remaining vampires could only hear the shrill screams and the sound of rolling wheels echoing in the room, but they could see nothing. Unknown fear drove them to look around, instinctively huddling together.
Suddenly, within a patch of light, an even brighter blaze overwhelmed everything.
"It hurts... it really hurts! Suffer with me!"
The vampire, now fully engulfed in flames, charged back out from the corner.
He had no way out; resentment drove him to pounce toward his former companions. Flames crackled on his body as charred flesh continuously peeled away.
"Kill him, quick!"
Gunfire erupted.
The bullets tore the vampire apart, and his charred remains scattered into a cloud of sparks amidst the flames.
The vampires looked through the sparks at the trolley—it was empty?!
The man was gone!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Suddenly, dense gunfire rang out from the side. Bullets caught them off guard, tearing into their bodies.
"No..."
Before they could finish their sentence, their bodies rapidly crumbled into piles of ash.
Green stood by another corner and whistled, the muzzle of the Skorpion submachine gun in his hand still emitting wisps of blue smoke.
He casually caught a still-warm casing ejected from the chamber, rolling it in his palm. The silver plating on the casing looked exceptionally piercing under the lights.
"vampires using silver-plated weapons to fight off outsiders, hmph."
It was likely meant specifically for that Daywalker, or to suppress any restless subordinates.
He ejected the empty magazine, leaned down to pull a fresh one from the belt of an ashen corpse, clicked it into place, and pulled the charging handle to chamber a round.
Then, with a blade in one hand and a gun in the other, he walked toward the inner sector.
As Green's hand touched the handle of the door leading to the inner sector, he suddenly sensed something.
He looked up toward a corner of the wall.
In the corner, an electronic eye glowed with a red dot.
"Hmph." He gave a provocative nod toward the camera.
On the other side of the electronic eye.
Bang!
"A mere piece of food dares to be so arrogant!" Deacon's face contorted as he smashed a corner of the table with his palm, sending wood splinters flying everywhere.
He then narrowed his eyes and slowly sat back in his chair.
"Fast blade, extreme speed, adept at lurking in shadows..." he muttered to himself. "That mercenary from Hells Kitchen."
Being an outsider, he naturally had to investigate the key figures entrenched in this area.
Kingpin's arms empire and The Hand's assassination group shared the top tier. Aside from those two, there was this solitary Owl.
He had no faction, yet he stood at the top solely by the heads he had severed, even making the underground forces of Hells Kitchen develop a habit of not going out at midnight.
The second tier below him consisted of those messy ethnic gangs, the strongest being the Foot Clan, as well as those so-called vigilantes.
"Tch, the most troublesome one showed up," Deaconcursed, staring at the bared-teeth dog-head mask on the screen.
"When I succeed, I'll turn you into blood food!"
Despite his words, he still got up obediently and pushed open a secret door in the room.
That Owl's blade was too fast for him to see clearly, not to mention the man seemed to possess a strange energy specifically designed to counter them. It was best to retreat for now.
As for the rest, they would serve as a distraction to buy time.
Other sectors were also under attack, seemingly a raid by local gangs. This Owl was likely just the vanguard.
The secret door slowly closed,
sealing seamlessly and turning back into a plain white wall.
"That feeling of being watched is gone. Did he run?"
As his template continued to grow, Green's intuition was also gradually enhancing, especially his perception of malice.
He withdrew his gaze and turned the doorknob.
Behind the door was a long, narrow corridor.
Bright white linear light bulbs stretched from the ceiling all the way to the door at the end, the pale light leaving every corner with nowhere to hide.
Loud rock music seeped through the gap under the door, the drum beats and bass blending together.
"Hey!"
The nearest vampire guarding the door shouted in suspicion, seemingly completely unaware of what had happened on the other side of the door.
Bang!
Green raised his gun and delivered a headshot.
The vampire's head exploded into a flower of sparks that bloomed instantly, scattering everywhere.
The headless body fell backward from the momentum, crumbling into a humanoid pile of ash in mid-air before scattering under the bright white light.
"They didn't notify the people behind. Just meat shields to buy time, then."
Green thought to himself, but his hands didn't slow down. He continuously picked off the vampire guards in the corridor, the muzzle flashes flickering under the pale lights.
"Doesn't matter. I'll kill as many as there are."
The lights were as white as snow. Green was so tall that his head almost brushed against the light tubes on the ceiling.
Light poured down from above, silver-plating the edges of his wet black hair with a halo, looking like an ethereal white crown.
The light couldn't penetrate his hanging hair to reach his eyes, casting two heavy shadows beneath them that looked like terrifying black lines.
The soles of his shoes were stained with water and vampire ash, leaving a row of pitch-black footprints on the pristine floor.
As he advanced, death and ash continued to fall behind him.
The sound of music grew closer...
Chapter 68: The Party Crasher
The backroom.
The pit originally used for bleeding livestock had now become a dance floor where a group of young men and women vented their desires.
They rubbed their bodies together wantonly, sweat glistening with an oily sheen under the dim lights.
The scent of hormones, mixed with a heavy stench of blood and body odor, fermented and diffused in the humid, hot air.
Red light occasionally flashed in hazy eyes, sweeping seemingly unintentionally over the few... humans in the ballroom who were out of place with the atmosphere.
"This is yours."
Elena was one of them.
The heavy burden of student loans made it hard for her to breathe; having heard a recommendation from an acquaintance, she had braced herself to come here as a temporary waitress.
Carrying a tray, she navigated with difficulty through the crowd of frantically gyrating bodies, carefully avoiding the hands reaching out toward her.
"Here."
A blonde woman took the beer and stuffed a banknote into the neckline of the undershirt Elena had haphazardly tied across her chest. The edge of the bill brushed against her skin, and Elena instinctively flinched.
"Tha... thank you."
She tugged at her collar somewhat awkwardly, trying to cover the gap where the money had been stuffed, but when she looked down at the denomination, her eyes lit up, and a sincere smile unconsciously spread across her face.
"I'm the one who should thank you," the blonde woman said with a meaningful smile, her gaze lingering on her.
"Haha..." Elena forced a smile and silently backed away.
The blonde woman watched her back, licked the sharp teeth that had inadvertently peeked out from her lips, and whispered,
"After all, in this day and age, virgin blood is quite hard to find."
Elena walked to the edge of the ballroom and lit a cigarette.
The scarlet tip of the cigarette glowed and faded in the dim light.
She leaned against the cold wall, trying to distance herself a bit from those frantically gyrating bodies.
"How is it? Not bad, just like I said, right?"
Another girl who was also resting nearby approached, a cigarette between her fingers, waving it in front of her face.
"Stay for a few more nights, and you'll earn enough to match months of being a waitress in a restaurant. Many of the people here are rich folks looking for fun."
Elena kept a polite smile on her face: "It's very good, it's just... I can't put my finger on why it's so strange."
She frowned, looking at the undisguised gazes in the ballroom—those looks weren't like they were looking at a person, but rather like they were looking at... a dish.
She subconsciously raised her hand to hug her own arm, her fingertips pressing slightly as if trying to comfort herself.
"This place is a bit too cold."
"Who cares, as long as they pay."
The girl was beckoned by a companion in the distance. She crushed her cigarette out against a support pillar and gave Elena a smiling glance before leaving. "Good luck."
With that, she walked away.
Leaving Elena alone, cigarette in hand, her mind a mess of thoughts.
"I originally planned to become a journalist... but here I am, earning money for college in an underground illegal gathering." She stared at the blue smoke rising from her fingertips and laughed self-deprecatingly.
Behind her, several high men and women ran past, bumping into her without even saying sorry.
"What is this..."
She stubbed out her cigarette, took a deep breath, re-entered the crowd, and continued working.
Perhaps in response to her confusion, a few drops of cold liquid suddenly dripped onto her face.
"A leak?" She wiped it off in confusion and looked down at her fingertips: viscous and red.
She tentatively brought it to her nose and sniffed.
"Is this... blood?!"
The next second,
Sss—Sss-sss—
The piping system above the bleeding pit began to gush.
Bloody water poured down from the spouts, drenching her stunned face and body, soaking her through.
"Eh?"
She stiffly turned her eyes to look at the people around her.
Their bodies were all coated in a layer of blood. They tilted their heads back, opened their mouths, and stuck out their tongues, thirstily swallowing the blood falling from the sky.
The cold blood didn't dampen their passion; instead, it ignited their desires. They gyrated even more frantically and screamed even more wantonly,
And shattered Elena's illusions about this World.
"Ugh, haha... can this World get any worse? I... I just wanted to make money so I could move from that tiny apartment where even the tap water is dirty to somewhere better."
For the first time, she realized she could withstand being watched by so many people—only it wasn't because they coveted her body... well, it was, but they wanted to eat it!
Through the gaps in the crowd, she caught sight of that girl—the one who had brought her in.
The girl playfully raised her hand and wiggled her fingers at her.
Her gaze was identical to the grinning vampires around her, but the difference was that her eyes held not hunger, but mockery.
She was a human, but also a pro-vampire sympathizer. People like her took pride in becoming vampires.
So—from beginning to end, she was the only outsider.
"Go away! Get away from me!" Elena wailed as she pushed them aside and ran desperately.
They just stared at her fixedly, unmoving.
In their eyes, this food couldn't escape.
And blood shed after a struggle was the most delicious!
"No, no, no!!"
Elena ran with all her might, but the first thought that popped into her head wasn't the self-delusional joy of escaping, but rather...
"Wait, does this mean I don't have to pay back my loans?"
Just as this thought flashed by, her foot slipped.
"Waah!"
She took a nasty spill, face-planting hard. It wasn't her fault; the blood on the floor was too slippery. She slid forward quite a distance, her face scraping against the sticky ground.
"Look at that, it's actually quite fun. It's making me reluctant to take a bite."
"Then don't drink. I spent a lot of money to mark her. She's just a loser; it's no big deal if she dies."
"The taste from last time has already faded from my taste buds. I need to let my body remember this flavor again."
The vampires on both sides tacitly stepped back to leave a space, looking down with sneers as their gazes fell upon her.
That kind of collective staring was undoubtedly the most terrifying thing, like a group of diners sizing up a dish on a plate.
"Ah~~" She endured the pain and propped herself up. The skin on her knees and palms was scraped raw, burning with pain.
"If I'd known, I never would have come to this shitty big city,"
She gritted her teeth, her fingers clawing at the viscous, slippery floor tiles ahead as she dragged her body forward.
"I'd have been better off staying in my hometown and reopening that hostel,"
"Speaking of which, I'm this old and I still haven't seen how beautiful Crystal Lake in the next town over is. What a shame."
She crawled forward, one pull after another.
Tears mixed with blood blurred her vision, but she didn't stop.
She... didn't want to die!!
It seemed her prayers were answered.
The surroundings suddenly went quiet.
A deathly silence.
Elena continued to crawl forward regardless, her nails digging into the viscous blood and her knees aching from the friction, until she saw a pair of black and white sneakers blocking her path.
She froze.
Slowly raising her eyes, she followed the shoes upward—past the straight trouser legs, then further up to a tall frame,
And finally, she met a pair of impatient eyes.
"Move."
Green spoke coldly.
"Ah!" She jumped in fright, her whole body trembling.
"Oh, okay, okay."
For some reason, Elena instinctively obeyed the man's command, scrambling to her feet using both hands and feet.
Only after standing up did she realize he was even taller, like a reef blocking the curtain of blood—towering, sharp, and standing there in silence.
With her head lowered, she walked past him.
She glanced at the surrounding vampires out of the corner of her eye,
Only to see their bodies shuddering and their eyes trembling. The mockery, sneers, and hunger on their faces had all vanished, replaced only by fear—a fear exactly like the one she had felt just now.
"Is he... that scary?"
She quietly stole a glance at Green's profile.
Surprisingly, she felt... he wasn't scary at all.
Yes, it was very stabilizing.
Although that face was fierce, cold, and impatient, standing beside him made all the things that had terrified her seem... afraid to approach.
Her pace unconsciously slowed down,
But she didn't notice that the gazes the vampires directed at her were now filled with a hint of envy.
"Take us with you too!!" they howled internally.
When dark creatures are killed, they die, but after death, a few wisps of their aura linger on the hunter.
Their own kind can capture those pheromones through their unique olfactory senses, allowing them to avoid the hunter in advance.
They had thought this ability would never be needed, until the moment this man walked in.
Almost simultaneously, their senses conveyed the same message to their central nervous systems: Don't move!!!
It was like a weak opossum encountering a lone coyote—close at hand and with no way to retreat.
Elena's mouth opened as if to say something, but in the end, she didn't speak.
She kept walking toward the exit without stopping.
Suddenly, a pain flared in her neck.
She quickly pressed her hand to it and found an injection needle. The one who had shot it was Green; he hadn't turned around, he'd just done it in passing.
Elena was confused but didn't ask questions. She climbed the stairs, burst through the door, and fled like mad.
At the last moment, she glanced back at the figure behind the door.
A blood-red scarf hung behind his neck, rainwater dripped from the hem of his black waterproof trench coat, and a row of pitch-black footprints stretched all the way to his feet.
He stood there, blocking all the monsters behind the door like a fearless knight, while she ran away like a useless princess in a story.
He was different from the superheroes she had imagined.
Cold, powerful, aloof, exuding a savage aura from head to toe, and wearing a ridiculous cartoon mask.
"A black... hero, huh."
She etched that figure deeply into her eyes.
Green stuffed the injection gun back into the quick-draw holster at his thigh.
Inside was garlic essence mixed with some compounds that created resistance to the vampire virus.
Elena hadn't noticed, but she had already been bitten.
The teeth of those blood clans could secrete a neuroparalytic toxin that kept the prey in a state of extreme excitement and pleasure.
Of course, crude feeding would still be very painful.
Hill had privately developed several doses of anti-viral serum before the operation, with a time limit of 24 hours before full transformation—this was also a result tacitly accepted by the higher-ups.
As for why he didn't inject the man from just now?
True, his value was higher to Green.
But Green had no desire to save trash who lacked a heart of gratitude.
"Those who respect me shall live."
Green pressed one hand on the hilt of his blade, the tip resting on the ground, splashing a small puddle of bloody water.
With a half-smile in his eyes, he slowly scanned the crowd of fearful vampires before him.
"What do you think?"
The group of vampires gritted their teeth, trying to resist their biological instinct of fear, but their feet moved backward in spite of themselves.
The space around Green gradually cleared out.
No one dared to make a sound.
"Go to hell!"
Suddenly, the fear of a burly man at the very front hit rock bottom and rebounded. Rage pierced through his sanity as he suddenly pulled out a short-barreled shotgun from his lower back, the dark muzzle pointing straight at Green.
An arc of light flashed past.
The burly man suddenly couldn't feel the index finger pressing the trigger.
No, it was his wrist.
Wait! And... his body!
In a split second, he saw his own wrist flying in mid-air, fine droplets of blood trailing from the stump, and the headless corpse beneath his eyes. The cut at the neck was as smooth as a mirror.
"This corpse... looks so familiar..."
His head burst into flames in mid-air.
Bang!
The trigger was still pulled.
The severed hand still gripped the shotgun tightly, and momentum carried the muzzle upward in mid-air.
Driven by residual neural instinct, the iron pellets sprayed out with a clatter, shattering the lights on the ceiling.
Glass shards fell like rain, creating tiny ripples in the blood on the floor.
The light suddenly dimmed.
And sinking along with it were the hearts of the vampires.
As their eyes gradually adjusted to the gloom, they saw Green holding his soul-releasing blade, a savage grin spreading beneath the dog mask.
"Wrong—answer!"
In the ballroom, the music continued to blast, the heavy metal drumbeats making the walls tremble.
And the screams mixed in between added a few terrifying notes to this frantic movement.
Chapter 69: Little Yellow Duck
Tap, tap, tap, tap—
Elena was sprinting through the deathly silent corridor.
The sound of her footsteps echoed repeatedly in the cavernous space, as if countless versions of herself were chasing from behind.
She was like a bird desperate to escape its cage, her wings flapping until they ached, yet she didn't dare stop.
Foul-smelling blood sprayed and dripped from her swaying body, trailing a broken line behind her as she ran.
The screams fading in the distance behind her mingled with the sound of her footsteps.
She instinctively followed that row of footprints, stepping into those blurred black marks with every stride.
Even though they looked like traces left by an evil spirit, at this moment, they were the only coordinates she could trust.
Just like that, she kept running.
Until at a corner, she was suddenly caught in a one-armed chokehold by a figure that darted out.
In the next moment, a sharp knife held in a reverse grip was about to pierce her heart.
"It's over!"
Just as the terrifying knife tip was about to fall before her eyes—
"Stop! Wesley."
A shout stopped the descending knife.
"Hah... hah..." Elena's chest heaved violently as she gasped for air. She looked down at the black glove gripping the sharp knife and the overly young boy's face behind it.
Her first impression was,
"This boy's eyes are so blue,"
Like winter lake water—clear, yet so cold they lacked even a hint of warmth.
"Let her go." An old gentleman walked over. "She is a citizen, not one of those filthy rats."
He was wrapped in a long black overcoat with a crisp suit underneath, and his thick white beard was neatly trimmed.
Beneath the brim of his top hat, his aged eyes still unconsciously revealed a sharp edge, but when he looked at the boy named Wesley, his gaze was serious and held a touch of satisfaction.
Wesley silently shoved her aside.
Elena staggered and leaned against the wall, barely managing to steady herself.
"Who are you people?!" she asked with a trembling voice, instinctively raising the used injection needle she had pulled out.
"It seems that person has already given you the Serum." The old gentleman glanced at the syringe in her hand.
"Who? Him?" Elena was stunned for a moment.
"Is it the masked man? Are you together? Go help him! Many monsters have surrounded him!"
"Surrounded him?" Wesley sneered, sliding the sharp knife back into the sheath at the small of his back and covering it with the hem of his suit jacket.
"How could that trash possibly pose a threat to that man?"
The old gentleman didn't respond to him. He simply said warmly to Elena:
"You may leave, lady. If you experience sunlight discomfort or a blood-thirst reaction after 24 hours, please consult the front desk of the Continental Hotel immediately. There will be specialists to arrange things for you."
"The Continental... Hotel?" Elena frowned. "Shouldn't I go to a hospital?"
"Either is fine." The old gentleman snorted with a meaningful look in his eyes. "Anyway... we'll be able to find you."
Elena didn't say anything else.
She was just an ordinary person and was very afraid of dying; the less she knew, the better.
But as she continued walking out and saw men and women dressed in suits, behaving elegantly yet performing acts of slaughter, passing by her—
She suddenly realized that these people were from another unknown World.
A supernatural organization? An assassin syndicate? She didn't know.
They only glanced at her before withdrawing their gazes to continue their respective tasks.
Yet Elena felt that these scrutinizing, somewhat offensive looks gave her a great sense of security.
At least... they were the eyes of her own kind.
Finally, she stepped out into the rain and disappeared into the rainy night.
Inside the slaughterhouse,
The old gentleman led the boy all the way to the back room and pushed open the half-closed door.
Behind the door, swirling ashes drifted out through the exit, with sparks flickering within them like countless dying fireflies making a final struggle.
The light inside was dim, like a projection screen on the ceiling about to go out from exhaustion.
In the flickering light and shadow, Green stood amidst a floor covered in ashes.
He held a half-burning head in his hands, brought it to his mouth, and lit the post-action cigarette he was dangling.
After taking a deep drag, he casually tossed the head onto the ground, letting it roll among its kind to burn and turn to ash together.
"Lord Green."
The old gentleman took off his top hat and bowed respectfully, pressing the hat against his heart.
The boy beside him, however, had a tense face, his eyes fixed on the man standing in the ashes. His gaze held awe and a sliver of killing intent that he tried desperately but failed to suppress.
"To show killing intent to an invincible enemy before you've grown up is reckless stupidity, kid. Do you want to follow in your old man's footsteps?"
Green exhaled a puff of smoke. Amidst the swirling mist, his words pierced the boy's pride as coldly as a knife.
The boy clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking.
The old gentleman beside him acted as if he hadn't seen anything, keeping his eyes lowered and remaining motionless.
After a moment of silence—
"I understand." The boy finally bowed his head, the words squeezed out through gritted teeth with a suppressed tremble.
"I'll let you off this time for Winston's sake." Green flicked the ash. "There won't be a next time."
"...Yes, Lord Green."
Only then did the old gentleman speak at the appropriate time.
"The small fry outside have been cleared out. Lord Green, I trust you are satisfied with this hunt?"
"Ah—"
Green looked up and exhaled a smoke ring. The ring rose slowly in the dim light, hit the ceiling, and dispersed into a blurred mist.
"It took a bit longer."
"After all, prey that struggles makes the carving more satisfying!"
[slaughter value]: 16.4%
[Blood Hunt Value]: 51.7%
"A few gaps appeared in some corridors, and we lost a few good hands," the old gentleman reported.
"Accidents are always unavoidable."
"Let the Cleaners enter. Bury the dead rats in the soil as fertilizer."
Before the operation, he had already sold this territory to the Continental Hotel, which would support a local gang to act as a wedge driven into this power zone.
He had also conveniently set up the intelligence network; as the middleman, he had made another profit.
"Yes," the old gentleman replied, his top hat still pressed to his chest.
Beside him, Wesley kept his head lowered, but his peripheral vision crept upward to observe something.
He couldn't deny that what this man did was right. Even the fact that he was alive was due to the other's mercy.
Consequently, he instead wanted to become someone like him.
Of course, Green didn't care about any of this.
He stubbed out the cigarette and casually flicked it into the ashes at his feet.
"Time to go see how my little piglets are doing."
...
In an alleyway outside the slaughterhouse,
A pure-blood vampire tossed aside the assassin whose carotid artery he had just bitten through. The corpse slumped to the ground, splashing into a small puddle of blood.
He licked the corners of his mouth and turned to look at several companions beside him.
They stood coldly, their gazes sweeping over the bodies strewn about the alleyway. Those were all Continental Hotel assassins, now devoid of life.
His right arm was gone, but the stump was squirming at a visible speed, with flesh buds growing to gradually outline the shape of a small hand.
He had been hit by a silver bullet just now and had to cut it off on the spot.
The silver burn still lingered deep within the wound, making regeneration slow and painful.
"Let's go."
Nisha, acting as the leader, spoke. She had a faint sense of worry.
Was that earthquake just now man-made? If it was a weapon, they could still contend, but if it was a person... better to dump this trouble on Deacon and get away as soon as possible.
The others nodded and immediately moved out, escorting Nisha as they dashed toward the perimeter.
Their figures wove through the alleyways like leeches swimming rapidly with the current inside a blood vessel, silent and swift. Walls, floors, and piled-up junk all became springboards beneath their feet.
As the dim yellow glow of the street drew closer, just one more corner...
The one in the lead suddenly had his pupils constrict.
Standing in the middle of the alley was a blonde girl in a yellow raincoat.
Thunder rolled, and ghastly white lightning tore through the night sky, illuminating her slender frame.
The hood of the raincoat partially obscured her face, revealing only the fair chin beneath the Little Yellow Duckmask.
The moment she saw them, she raised an index finger.
Along the eye socket of the mask, her fingertip slowly traced a tear line.
"Bleh—"
Then she turned and bolted!
Chapter 70: The Three Little Ones on the Attack
"Hmph! Since when did assassins start using child labor?" the vampire sneered.
"Stop talking nonsense. Kill her and evacuate quickly," his companion said coldly.
"Understood."
Their figures simultaneously turned into two black shadows, lunging forward close to the ground.
The wind howled, and the rain was smashed into a mist.
"Poor human child."
Nisha glanced from afar at the yellow figure sprinting through the alleyway, her eyes showing no emotion.
She had no intention of stopping her subordinates.
In the concepts cultivated by her family for generations, the Kindred were superior beings; their race was above all else, and human lives were nothing more than consumables.
Behind her, the rest of her companions guarded Nisha as they continued to advance.
"Run, run, run!!!"
Gwen's pretty face was tense as she charged forward with all her might.
She muttered to herself, her pace actually quickening by a few notches, but the chill behind her was still closing in, like a viper's tongue licking the back of her neck.
Also approaching was the corner!
"Got her!"
The two vampires reached out simultaneously, their fingertips about to touch Gwen's back.
She suddenly lunged forward onto the ground.
As her body slid along the ground, the hood of her raincoat seemed to brush against something in mid-air, and a slit was silently sliced open.
All three of them rushed into the corner at the same time.
Just then, Laura pounced from a side exit with two flashes of cold light.
Her feral face broke through the raindrops, a bloodthirsty killing intent flashing in her eyes.
Laura tackled one of them directly, her silver-plated claws viciously piercing his chest.
"Ah—!"
The vampire screamed as sparks began to crackle from the wound, and in an instant, he burned into a pile of ash.
The other one suddenly noticed a black line mysteriously suspended in mid-air within his field of vision, barely catching a few drops of dew, so thin it was almost invisible.
No, it wasn't a black line; it was a Silver Blade so thin it was hard to detect.
"No!!"
He couldn't stop himself in time, and his momentum carried him straight through the silver line. As his expression froze, his body was split in two and crumbled into ash.
Not even a trace was left on the Silver Blade; it remained suspended in mid-air, glistening with raindrops.
Gwen adjusted her posture, using her back to land on the ground and sliding until she hit the wall.
Bang!
"It hurts!"
She gritted her teeth without making a sound, her gaze quickly turning toward the vampires whose eyes had turned cold.
She was weak, a fact she was well aware of, so she decided to act as bait!
"Only two? That's too few."
Gwen blinked, the droplets hanging from her eyelashes rolling down and blurring her vision for a moment.
She watched the ash scattering around her, the fine, warm powder drifting onto her raincoat and sticking to her cuffs before being washed away by the rain.
Strangely, she didn't feel much disgust. Perhaps because they weren't human at all, or perhaps because of Green's influence.
She couldn't say for sure, but she knew that what was beating in her chest right now wasn't fear or guilt, but a strange, certain calm. This was the right thing to do!
"It doesn't matter." Laura stood up from beside the ash, shaking off the residue from her wolf claws. The silver-plated tips flashed with cold light in the dimness. "Leave none alive. Slaughter them all."
"Don't hog all the credit for yourself."
Lorna, leaning against the wall, held her hands in front of her, her slender fingers slightly spread. Dark green energy danced on her flickering fingertips like clusters of burning ghost fire.
There was no light in the rainy night; instead, the flashlight on her head made her pale little face look even more ghostly, like a white lotus soaked under a lily pad.
Her fox-like long eyeshadow looked somewhat wicked at the boundary of light and shadow. Rain slid down her cheeks and dripped from her sharp chin.
"I want Green to praise me too."
"Hehe! Let's do it!"
Laura flicked her claws, the silver-plated tips slicing through the air with a faint hiss.
Her legs bent slightly, and in the next moment, she shot out like an arrow from a bow, lunging alone toward the group of vampires.
Behind her, Gwen pulled out a gun, her hands trembling slightly. She raised her arm, haphazardly wiped the rain from her face with her sleeve, and then leveled the gun at the dark figures.
The muzzle swayed slightly in the rain. She bit her lower lip, trying her best to steady her breathing.
"Truly seeking death. End this quickly," Nisha shouted coldly, her eyes sweeping over the three girls.
"Don't touch that wolf cub's claws. Shoot her!"
The vampire guards raised their submachine guns in unison, the dark muzzles aiming at the charging Laura. Just as their fingers pressed against the triggers—
Lorna sensed it.
A curve formed at the corner of her mouth, and she lightly clenched her small hand.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The guns backfired simultaneously. Metal fragments mixed with shattered gun bodies, flying magazines, and a few fingers exploded into clouds of blood mist in the rain.
"Ah! Fuck!"
"What's going on?!"
"It's a telekinetic-type superpower!"
The screams were swallowed by the sound of rain before they could even escape their throats.
"Hehe..."
Lorna chuckled, her fingertip giving a light flick.
The Silver Blade suspended in mid-air silently changed direction. Its body was almost invisible in the rain, only revealing a hair-thin cold light when it occasionally sliced through the curtain of rain.
The Silver Blade bypassed Laura and pierced a vampire's head. Before he could even blink, his expression frozen in the ferocity just before firing, his head split down the middle and burned into ash.
"No! Davis!"
The vampire beside him roared. Pureblood Vampires were rare; each was the result of generations of family effort and couldn't be easily replaced once dead.
Laura had already pounced.
He dodged to the side. The howling wolf claws brushed past his cheek, taking a few strands of cut hair and a small piece of flesh. Rain poured into the wound, causing a stinging pain.
"Go to hell!"
He grabbed Laura's wrist and swung her up with a sudden burst of strength, lifting her over his head and slamming her hard toward the ground!
Shink!
Suddenly, a wolf claw protruded from the top of Laura's shoe, its silver-plated tip flashing with cold light in the gloom.
He didn't notice the killing blow aimed at the back of his head.
That wolf claw stabbed straight toward the back of his head. His companion saw it, his pupils shrinking as he reached out to grab it, but he was too slow.
The wolf claw pierced the back of his head.
Entering from the back of the head and exiting between the eyebrows.
"Ugh..."
His face was horribly distorted, his features crumpled together. Before a scream could escape his throat, his head began to burn.
Sparks spewed from his eye sockets, nostrils, and ears.
Laura exerted force with her thighs, using the momentum of the fall to rip half a spine out of the burning body.
The bloody spine steamed in the rain, blood still dripping from the break, each vertebra clearly visible.
The headless corpse swayed, knelt on the ground, and then collapsed with a thud, burning into a pile of ash.
Before Laura could even land—
Bang!
Nisha stepped forward and kicked her in the chest. The sound of bones cracking was clearly audible. Laura was sent flying like a broken kite, her back slamming heavily against the wall.
The wall plaster exploded, fragments flying. Rain mixed with wall dust fell over her as she and the headless corpse landed almost simultaneously, crashing into the puddles and splashing a large amount of water.
But in the next second—
Laura propped herself up on all fours and suddenly looked up.
There was no pain on her face, no expression, only the killing intent still burning in her eyes.
She kicked off the ground and rolled to dodge the fists of two vampires slamming down at the same time.
The fists missed her and hit the wet ground, creating two shallow pits. Gravel flew, and rain splashed into her eyes.
Seizing that moment of stagnation, the Silver Bladesuspended in mid-air accelerated into a dash.
Puchi!
Another one was pierced.
The Silver Blade entered from the back and exited through the chest. The vampire looked down at the hole that had suddenly appeared in his chest, and before he could react, his body began to burn.
The Silver Blade turned toward the next one.
That vampire was prepared and quickly pulled out a dagger to parry.
The Silver Blade quickly avoided the collision, drawing an arc in the air. While extremely sharp, it had sacrificed durability and couldn't withstand a direct clash; it was meant only for assassination.
Lorna hadn't quite mastered micro-control yet. The Silver Blade trembled slightly under her command, like a snake that was hard to tame.
She gritted her teeth, cold sweat beading on her forehead.
With a sudden lift of her finger, the Silver Blade rose straight into the air, merging with the rainy night and disappearing.
Laura continued to struggle with the remaining few.
A vampire grabbed her left arm, and she twisted her shoulder without hesitation.
Crack!
Her left shoulder joint dislocated, and the entire arm hung limply.
Yet she acted as if she couldn't feel it. Using the momentum of the twist, her right wolf claws swept across, leaving three deep gashes on the vampire's face that exposed the bone. White smoke hissed from the wounds.
Another grabbed her right leg, and she similarly dislocated her hip joint. Crack!
Her right leg lost its support, and she fell to one knee, but she used her left leg to push off the ground, spinning her whole body. Her left wolf claws slashed the vampire's throat.
Burning blood gushed out, flowing down mixed with the rain.
Dragging two dislocated limbs, she continued her slaughter.
"Who taught this brat? How can she be so ruthless?!"
The remaining vampires felt a chill in their hearts as they looked at her expressionless face.
Although they could heal themselves, natural evolution had lowered their pain sensitivity significantly. Even so, they still felt pain, and their bodies still recoiled from it.
But this girl didn't hesitate for a second.
Dislocated? Doesn't matter!
Bone fracture? Doesn't matter!
Bleeding? Doesn't matter!
Only pure combat and offense.
In those eyes, there was no fear, no hesitation, only a Beast-like focus, staring at the next prey, staring at the next target to be torn apart.
She was simply a natural-born warrior.
But this situation was soon broken.
Nisha's figure flashed as she charged directly toward Lornaand Gwen in the distance, her speed like an uncatchable black shadow.
Gwen raised her gun and fired.
Bang, bang, bang!
The bullets chased her silhouette but only hit the hem of the discarded coat, leaving several charred bullet holes in the fabric.
In a daze, Nisha had already arrived before her. Her hand shot out, fingers spread, aiming straight for Gwen's throat!
"Oh no!"
In Gwen's eyes, that hand rapidly enlarged.
Just then, the Silver Blade suspended high in the air seemed to anticipate the move. It sliced through layers of water droplets and fell vertically, stabbing straight toward the top of Nisha's head!
Nisha seemed to sense it.
She suddenly pulled back her hand, turned, and kicked up her long, slender leg.
The tight combat suit outlined the smooth muscle lines of her thighs, and the full contour of her buttocks was clearly pressed against the fabric. Her stiletto-heeled shoes sliced through the rain curtain.
Clang!
One kick snapped the Silver Blade.
The crisp sound of metal breaking was exceptionally clear in the rain. Half of the Silver Blade flew out and embedded itself in the wall, buzzing and vibrating.
Immediately after, her hand once again reached for Gwen's neck.
Gwen's pupils shrank.
Suddenly, a Spider Totem flashed deep within her eyes, crimson patterns appearing and vanishing in an instant.
Her body instinctively dodged to the side with startling speed, barely avoiding the hand clutching at her throat.
"Oh?"
A hint of surprise flashed in Nisha's eyes.
But it was only for a moment. The totem faded, and Gwen's body couldn't help but feel weak and sore, as if all her strength had been drained. Nisha seized the opportunity to grab her neck and lift her up.
On the other side, with nothing left to control, Lorna's focus wavered.
Nisha's other hand had already gripped her throat, lifting her up as well.
"Nice combat instincts." Nisha looked at Lorna teasingly, her eyes holding a bit of playful appreciation. Only this hidden third girl was a metal-manipulating superhuman.
"Screw... you!" Lorna struggled to squeeze out a few words from her throat, her face turning red.
"Quite the backbone." Nisha smiled and turned her gaze toward Laura, who was still fighting in the distance.
There was only one vampire left now, still struggling to hold on, which made Nisha feel a bit annoyed.
"Stop!" she shouted coldly. "Or I'll kill them!"
Laura didn't stop.
She didn't even glance this way.
She directly pierced the last vampire's chest with a claw, watching him burn to ash, then panted heavily and slowly turned her head.
Her gaze swept over sideways, like a wolf that had locked onto its prey.
In the next second—
Without a word, she lunged toward Nisha to kill!
"Tch! So rational?"
Nisha's beautiful face turned grim. Just as she was about to strike back—
A sudden pain came from the Golden Hair Ornament on the back of her head.
The ornament had grown spikes inward? Those spikes were stabbing into her skull!
"Ah—!"
She screamed, instinctively letting go and throwing Lornaaway.
Laura jumped over the thrown Lorna and made a large leap, her claws aiming straight for Nisha's face!
Nisha's eyes sharpened, and she suddenly held Gwen up in front of her.
Laura's pupils shrank!
She quickly pulled her claws aside, forcing her body to twist in mid-air to barely avoid Gwen's body. Her claws brushed past Gwen's hair, taking a few strands of golden hair with them.
But this dodge also left an opening.
Nisha landed a palm strike on her chest.
Thump.
Although her sternum absorbed some of the force, her heart still skipped a beat for an instant.
"Ugh..."
Laura's eyes dimmed, and she flew back like a broken puppet.
Nisha seized the opportunity to grab her leg and pull her back, lifting her upside down.
Laura went still, her limbs hanging limply as rain dripped from the tips of her hair.
"This woman..." Gwen struggled to raise her gun, her hand shaking violently, yet she stubbornly lifted her arm.
"How is she more than a level stronger than the other vampires..."
"Still trying to struggle!"
Nisha slammed her onto the ground.
"Cough... cough cough..." Her face was pressed against the cold, wet ground, and a few streaks of blood were washed away by the rain from the corner of her mouth.
As her vision blurred, she seemed to see something.
A familiar figure was approaching.
The hand she was using to try and prop herself up suddenly relaxed.
Her fingers loosened, and her palm rested against the ground.
A faint curve appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"An ordinary girl, yet she can persist like this." Nisha looked down at her, her tone carrying a hint of complex emotion.
"I respect your bravery, but it also means I am forced to kill you."
She raised her other hand, fingers joined together like a hand-blade, aiming between Laura's legs.
The rain fell harder and harder.
The sound of the torrential rain swallowed everything, leaving only a gray curtain of water between heaven and earth.
Rain slid down Nisha's cheeks, blurring her vision, but she didn't care.
"At your age, when it's raining, you should be staying at home, eating Cocoa Cookies and watching things you should watch in your innocent youth."
"If you want to blame someone, blame your parents for not looking after you!"
She swung her arm with force, muscles tensing, her hand-blade about to strike.
Snap!
A large hand easily caught her wrist.
Nisha was stunned, her pupils involuntarily shrinking as if something had seized her throat.
Lightning flashed across the night sky.
The pale electric light tore through the clouds, illuminating the entire alleyway. The light fell upon the newcomer, outlining broad shoulders, a cold, hard jawline, and... those eyes.
Thunder followed immediately, exploding overhead and rolling across the sky, making eardrums buzz.
Her figure was completely covered by a tall silhouette.
On the shadow ripples flowing before her, a pair of golden dragon pupils were imprinted, staring coldly at her.
A calm voice spoke, yet it seemed to accompany the roaring thunder, vibrating into her ears word by word.
"You were looking for me?"