There was so much information packed into that sentence that the female vampire could not understand it at all.
Coincidentally, Jeanne arrived through the elevator at that very moment and overheard what Rod had said to the vampire.
The gates of Heaven? The will of God?
The vampire might not have understood, but as the descendant of a former Saint, Jeanne knew exactly what those words implied.
Ever since God disappeared, Michael and the others had completely sealed the gates of Heaven in order to preserve Heaven's remaining forces. Not only had entering Heaven become nearly impossible, but even the number of miracles they could perform in the mortal world had dwindled to almost nothing.
So why had Rod suddenly said something like that?
The will of God had descended upon the mortal world once again?
Could it be...
At that thought, Jeanne immediately arrived at a conclusion that shook her to her very core.
But she did not dare say it aloud and could only keep it buried in her heart.
However, when she looked at Rod again, her gaze had subtly changed.
Because of the lingering purple flames, the sacred aura radiating from Rod was practically washing over her face.
Moreover, ever since she met him, one major event after another had shaken the world.
Although there was no evidence that Rod had anything to do with those incidents, judging solely from the time she had spent with him, even if Rod was not that person, he must have an extremely close connection to Him!
Even Michael and the other Seraphs seemed unaware of Rod's secrets.
Jeanne secretly resolved to follow Rod closely from now on.
She might have betrayed the Church in the past, but it was not as though they could not hire her back. Sure, she had joined the Hero Faction and participated in several terrorist attacks against other mythological powers, but she was still a good Saint!
"Jeanne, you got here quickly."
Rod smiled at her.
Jeanne kept her expression composed and tried to sound as helpless as usual.
"Not as quickly as you. I didn't expect you to have already dealt with all the vampires here."
"But why did you leave one alive?"
"I need to ask her a few questions."
The mission required Rod to investigate the vampires, so he had deliberately left one survivor.
"I ask, you answer."
"...All right."
The female vampire had been completely terrified into submission and did not dare meet Rod's eyes.
"Tell me every plan you have."
Hearing that, the vampire hurriedly shook her head.
"Plans? W-We don't have any plans."
"No plans? Then how did you dare throw a party so openly in a human city? Don't tell me the government gave you permission."
Rod naturally did not believe her.
Seeing the darkness in his gaze, the female vampire began trembling violently and hurriedly changed her answer.
"A plan! Y-Yes, we have a plan! We used power and immortality to tempt the human authorities in this city and turned them into our slaves. Then we built a blood factory beneath the city to produce fresh blood for vampires to consume."
"A blood factory?"
Rod frowned and pointed his gun at her.
"Take me there."
"O-Okay."
The vampire hurriedly climbed to her feet and led Rod and Jeanne to the so-called blood factory.
It was located thirty meters beneath the building.
The underground area had been completely hollowed out and transformed into an enormous factory.
When they opened a sealed isolation door, the sight beyond it dealt Jeanne a tremendous psychological blow.
Before them was a fully automated production line.
Large numbers of human men and women, wearing nothing but underwear, were sealed inside plastic membranes made from a special material. Oxygen masks covered their mouths and noses, and they hung from storage racks like packaged merchandise.
Several plastic tubes of varying thicknesses had been inserted into every person's body.
Some delivered nutrients and medication to keep them alive, while others continuously extracted fresh blood from their veins.
The blood flowed through the smaller tubes into machines that combined testing and collection systems. It was then separated into different plastic bags, labeled by machines, and transported into cold storage.
The underground factory was filled with the humming of machinery and the blinking lights of various devices.
There were very few vampires present, only a handful.
The moment Rod and Jeanne entered, they rushed out of the surveillance room and aimed their guns at them.
However, their palms were drenched in sweat.
After all, their leader was standing there like a half-dead animal, her body covered in rotting wounds and her face filled with terror.
The vampires, who had no idea what had happened upstairs, were under immense psychological pressure.
Rod could not bear to see them frightened, so he kindly gave each of them a bullet and sent them off to meet Dracula.
Only the final female vampire remained in the vast factory.
Rod ignored her for the moment and walked over to the prepared blood bags. Pointing at the labels, he asked,
"What do the high, medium, and low labels mean?"
"They mean high-grade, medium-grade, and low-grade blood."
The vampire trembled as she answered.
"What standards do you use to separate them?"
"T-The machines analyze the impurities contained in the blood. Blood from sick humans is the worst. Virgin blood is considered medium grade, while the blood of newborn children is the purest and contains the fewest impurities."
Rod did not react much to that explanation.
Jeanne, however, was already boiling with rage.
"Th-There's also a lowest grade of blood. It mostly comes from Bl*ck people. Their bodies carry all kinds of viruses, sometimes even HIV, so traditional white vampires generally dislike their blood."
"Hahahaha!"
Rod could not hold back and burst out laughing.
"So this is the difference between Android and Apple?"
"Ha... haha..."
The female vampire was stunned at first, but after understanding the joke, she instinctively laughed as well.
"Who gave you permission to laugh?"
Rod's expression instantly turned stern.
The vampire immediately fell silent, too frightened to make another sound.
Rod then continued asking,
"Speaking of which, have vampires become this bold now? You're directly abducting people from cities?"
"Industries like this have always existed in secret, but only within Romania. It was only recently that the blood factories began expanding."
Rod looked puzzled.
"What do you mean by recently?"
"Well..."
The female vampire hesitated.
"Speak."
Under Rod's intimidation, she quickly revealed the truth.
"Some time ago, civil unrest erupted in the vampire cities. The government of the Tepes Faction underwent a major change, and they also went to war with the vampires of the Carmilla Faction."
"They're... still fighting now."
"Because of that, many vampires took advantage of the chaos to leave the cities where they originally lived and settle in human cities instead."
By this point, Rod had more or less understood the cause and sequence of events.
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