Chapter 19: The Most Expensive Thing
The Orthodox Bloodline should be the oldest and largest blood society organization in history.
Unlike the Black Bloodline, which has fallen into fundamentalism and seeks the so-called original faith, the Orthodox Bloodline has always maintained synchronous development with normal human society and upholds its so-called noble identity culture.
Blood trafficking has become a vast, undisclosed underground industry worldwide. The logistical efficiency of modern society allows blood from chaotic regions such as Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East to appear on the table of some bloodline within twenty-four hours. However, personally selecting lambs at least once a year to feed on their blood while in a non-blood violation state is one of the identity rituals that the Orthodox Bloodline values the most.
In the eyes of the Orthodox Bloodline, feeding on the blood of ordinary people is a divine privilege and a lifestyle that must be upheld. Ordinary people are their lambs, and they resemble feudal lords, guarding their own land and population, passing it down through generations.
They established a mainstream order within the vast underground bloodline world early on, and despite changes in power, the ecology of this underground world has never changed.
They operate in a self-contained system but are highly intertwined with the civilized development of normal human society, creating a pattern of mutual interests.
After the second industrial revolution, although normal human society gradually gained the upper hand, it became even more constrained in the secret war against the bloodlines.
On the world map of the Orthodox Bloodline, the color lines distinguish starkly different landscapes. They carve out territories for themselves, see themselves as upper-class nobility, take pride in their family bloodlines, and pass their status down through inheritance. Families intermarry and form alliances, expanding their territories and absorbing vassals.
They have long since looked down on expanding their population by violating ordinary people, often opting instead to develop high-value ordinary person volunteers discreetly, cultivating a new generation of vassals through the initial embracing ceremony. The core ruling class of the families mostly practices internal marriage to preserve the purity of their bloodlines.
They despise the Black Bloodline for hunting their kind in a bid to pursue the so-called ancestral bloodlines, viewing it as heresy; they also look down on the Stray Bloodline, likening them to sewer rats, indiscriminate in their appetites and contemptible.
……
……
June 10th, Monday.
Trading only one person per week and changing the trading location every month is the rule set by the underground merchant Wan Yue for “clients.”
The June transaction took place in the parking lot of a large logistics storage industrial area on the outskirts of the city, nearly across the entire C City from where Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao lived, costing Jiang Yan a painful hundred dollars in taxi fare.
At exactly midnight, two SUVs appeared at the designated location on time.
Today, Wan Yue transformed from a trendy woman into an elegant lady.
Dressed in a black evening gown, with an exquisite long ear chain nearly brushing her shoulders, deep red lips, and a rich perfume, she appeared like a noblewoman who had hurriedly left a ball.
Following Wan Yue was a young man in a black suit, whose cautious yet curious gaze kept darting between Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao.
“Let me introduce you to someone familiar; this is Xiao Zhao, Zhao Peng. You can call him Brother Zhao. From now on, he will supply you; you won’t need to wait for any fixed time—just call him when you need something.”
Wan Yue lit a cigarette, using an exquisite lighter to puff out a small flame, making a humble contribution to the entrance of the noblewoman.
The young man in the black suit slightly stepped forward, nodded gently, and then retreated back behind Wan Yue.
This VIP treatment caught Jiang Yan off guard.
Her mind flashed to Zhong Jing’s earnest yet difficult-to-discern frivolous act, and despite her efforts to appear calm, a hint of embarrassment after being teased inevitably appeared on Jiang Yan’s face.
“What’s wrong? Feeling flattered?”
Wan Yue’s demeanor today had softened slightly; her expression, while proud and sharp, was much calmer: “Don’t overestimate yourself; it’s just that at a free gathering over a month ago, a certain girl took out nine hundred thousand by mistake. Zhong Jing gave me the money as your advance. From now on, whatever supplies you need will be deducted from here.”
The implication was very clear, rendering Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao momentarily speechless as they exchanged glances.
An odd silence fell over the scene.
Jiang Yan had long sensed that Huang Gu, whom they had met earlier, was no ordinary stray bloodline member but was likely backed by a significant force in the shadows.
The help they received from Huang Gu and Zhong Jing wasn’t mere coincidence; it felt more like there were standards for judging their worth behind it.
Recalling how Wan Yue had saved her and Jiang Yao after confronting the aberrant Black Bloodline knight last time, Jiang Yan felt there were interests at play that she couldn’t comprehend.
“Why is it free to obtain a new identity?” After a few seconds, Jiang Yao couldn’t help but ask.
“Do you think just anyone can use Huang Gu’s connections to reach Zhong Jing and me? Alright, speak to Xiao Zhao if you need anything!”
Wan Yue discarded her finished cigarette, her sensual body swaying as she returned to the driver’s seat. After a roar of the engine, she drove away.
“Miss Jiang, may we start now?”
Seeing Jiang Yan still in a daze, Zhao Peng smiled slightly and opened the SUV’s trunk.
Jiang Yan returned to her senses, nodded quickly, and led Jiang Yao to the back of the car.
“Brother Zhao, you’re not Orthodox Bloodline, right?”
Jiang Yan pretended to act casual, finally voicing the question that had been on her mind for nearly a month.
“Orthodox Bloodline? Ha, you mean that group of old tortoises? We don’t interfere with them. We live our lives in our own way. But sometimes, it’s necessary to get in touch, like for these things…”
Zhao Peng’s attitude was very relaxed, seemingly treating the question as trivial. He lightly patted a bag of blood in the cooler and smiled mysteriously, “The demand for blood is high; sometimes Wan Jie will also get some supplies from them. Especially bloodline drugs like hormonal inhibitors and warming agents, they currently hold a monopoly on those.”
“And their territorial knights…”
Jiang Yan thought for a moment and relayed her recent experience with Sister Tan.
“The territorial knights of the Orthodox families are just a group of loyal laborers to the family, who lack the strength to enter the core. While enjoying benefits, they manage local industries for large families, providing various tributes including money, and must respond to the family’s calls for war when necessary. In fact, their peaceful lives often come at the cost of their lives.”
Zhao Peng was much more easy-going than Wan Jie and answered Jiang Yan’s questions in detail.
“Generally speaking, the grassroots managers of the Orthodox Bloodline must be knight-level in strength. However, it’s said that in Europe, due to smaller territories and less population, competition is fierce, and some families require even their territorial knights to be barons to qualify for the position.”
“As for their attitude toward the Stray Bloodline, it probably varies; these territorial knights are local tyrants, capable of killing, driving off, or even incorporating stray bloodlines as their vassals.”
After saying that, Zhao Peng thoughtfully placed an ice pack into Jiang Yan’s bag.
Jiang Yan nodded slightly, finally gaining a more complete understanding of Sister Tan’s situation.
Sister Tan likely belonged to that sort of typical old tortoise, living a quiet life in a corner without expanding her presence, making her one of the most vulnerable targets for the Shadow Arrow’s strikes.
But if any Orthodox Bloodline family wanted to hold an initial embracing ceremony to develop new members or frequently violate ordinary people within a certain range and time, they would inevitably become primary targets for the Shadow Arrow’s focus if their identities were exposed.
“Alright, whenever you need something next, just call me or leave a message, and I will deliver it to where you live.”
Zhao Peng shut the trunk, then pulled out a small box from the passenger seat and tossed it to Jiang Yao, who was idly standing by: “This is from Wan Jie for Miss Jiang Yao; she said you’d find it useful. It’s a hormonal inhibitor, which has been quite difficult to find lately.”
Looking at the small box in her hands, Jiang Yao suddenly felt awkward, looking up at Zhao Peng with a peculiar expression as she nervously moved her lips: “This is for me, so does that mean… I’m very inexperienced?”
Zhao Peng smiled without responding, politely nodded at Jiang Yan, then got into the car and left.
The scene returned to calm, while Jiang Yao stood there, lost in thought.
“Alright, stop daydreaming, let’s head back.”
Taking a few steps forward, Jiang Yan patted the shoulder of the light blonde girl and tried to suppress her laughter.
“Wait, we need to clarify this! Brother, do they look down on me?”
Jiang Yao seemed determined to get to the bottom of it, turning back to Jiang Yan with a seriously cute expression.
“Don’t overestimate yourself; anyone below baron is an ant. Do you think they’d look down on you by using something worth tens of thousands, which might not even be attainable?”
Jiang Yan grumbled as she adjusted her travel bag and turned to walk out of the parking lot.
“That might not be the case… Oh, sister, about that big meatball, I mean, don’t you think we’re rather special? Otherwise, why would Huang Gu, the old hag, and Zhong Jing care so much about us?”
“They all seem quite powerful, giving us new identities for free and even sending us hormonal inhibitors for free. Shouldn’t we ask if we can stick with them?”
Jiang Yao hurried a few steps to keep up, finally expressing her whimsical thoughts.
The black-haired girl halted in her tracks, turning back after a long pause, revealing a hint of bitterness: “Free things are often the most expensive… Xiao Yao, remember, the more special we are, the easier it is to become someone else’s tool.”
……
……
Two hours later, on the side of an auxiliary highway in the suburbs of C City, an SUV stopped by the roadside.
Wan Yue leaned against the car, her cigarette glowing with flashes of light as she took a draw in the dark.
A small delivery truck approached from a side road and eventually stopped in front of the SUV.
Dressed like a courier, Huang Gu appeared before Wan Yue, carrying a large canvas bag.
“Have the investigation results come in?”
Wan Yue glanced at her confidant, flicking away the cigarette stub and revealing a slight smile.
“Wan Jie, the Shadow Arrow has already begun to comprehensively eliminate the Tang family in D City. The Tang patriarch who escaped from the underground factory was killed in N City, likely ambushed by the Black Dragon Society.”
“Currently, the Shadow Arrow is still blocking the underground factory, so no one, whether drones or people, can get in. We still don’t know what the Tang family did. I could only take some photos from a distance.”
As Huang Gu spoke, he pulled out a small digital camera from his pocket.
“Tang Zhaowen is a high-ranking baron of the Aletai Bloodline; hunting him down isn’t easy. Since when have the Black Dragon’s minions had such neat and efficient capabilities?”
Wan Yue’s brow furrowed as she seemed to doubt this news. Yet, after a few seconds, she returned to her normal expression, “Alright, is there anything else?”
“I managed to acquire this for you to take a look.”
Huang Gu chuckled as he squatted down, opened his bag, and pulled out two dirty, tattered combat uniforms from the Shadow Arrow: “These are what Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao secretly buried in D City. The shoulder insignia is from the Xuanjia Squad, which should belong to the Shadow Arrow members who assaulted the underground factory at that time.”
Seeing the familiar black combat uniforms, Wan Yue’s smile grew wider: “Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao are likely their aliases, but that doesn’t matter now… These two girls are quite impressive; it’s hard to see through them… Perhaps they can bring some truths. Huang Gu, you indeed have good luck.”
“Haha, they are still relatively obedient. They opened a small shop on the territory of the Wang family’s territorial knight, Tan Ling, and are living quite well. I’ll invite them to join in a few days.”
Huang Gu put away the bag on the ground, smiling as he patted his chest.
Wan Yue smiled silently and got back into the car.
