Chapter 35: Mysterious Deal
August 3, Saturday.
Several days ago, Jiang Yao was already able to get out of bed, and her arm fractures had basically healed.
If a normal person had such an injury, they wouldn’t be able to get out of bed for at least two or three months. However, under Jiang Yan’s insistence, Jiang Yao had to continue lying in bed to rest. After all, the uncontrollable “boiling blood” during her menstrual period posed far greater harm to her organs than superficial injuries.
Feeling the subtle changes within her body, Jiang Yao was somewhat secretly astonished.
This time, after recovering from such serious injuries, her strength not only remained unchanged but had even increased, directly stepping into the upper-level attendant realm. The so-called taboo of boiling blood during her menstrual period and its potential for permanent damage seemed somewhat unfounded.
In Jiang Yao’s perception, Jiang Yan also showed remarkable progress. Now, in their close interactions, she faintly sensed that Jiang Yan had also rapidly advanced in strength, reaching the mid-level attendant standard compared to a month ago.
Zhao Peng had become numb to the peculiar growth rate of Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao, and he had issued strict orders for anyone in the know to keep their mouths shut.
During the days Jiang Yao was recuperating, Zhou Ping was genuinely devoted, sharing much of her insights about boiling blood and pheromone control with Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao, both of whom greatly benefited from it.
“…Actually, if it weren’t for the high cost of the small golden elixir, and we could eat it regularly, we could grow even faster. I really didn’t expect Sister Wan to give you both an entire bottle; that really is favoritism!”
Zhou Ping returned the black plastic bottle to Jiang Yao, deliberately displaying a trace of reluctance on her face, making a good-natured joke.
“Small golden elixir? What a tacky name. Isn’t that something meant to be eaten at a certain time? Can it be eaten regularly?”
Jiang Yao touched the medicine bottle, somewhat confused: “But I did feel really comfortable after taking this a few days ago, as if I had ingested blood.”
“This is made from certain blood components; it works better than fresh blood. Currently, only the Wang family has it. But Sister Wan discovered a new use for it, which can control the blood thirst chaos when relatives come over… Hehe, since a few years ago, Sister Wan has treated the small golden elixir as a bonus for the sisters; those men must be so envious!”
At this point, Zhou Ping seemed to remember something, her expression turning much more melancholic: “Unless we are accepted by those orthodox blood family clans from the start, it’s really tough for female bloodlines like ours to get through the first few years of blood invasion.”
“Due to various reasons, female bloodlines are easily hunted by the dark bloodlines, and their numbers have always remained low. It is said that the earliest few sisters are already gone…”
As Jiang Yan peeled an apple on the side, she slightly nodded in agreement.
In her memory, the ratio of female knight-level bloodlines she’d encountered was usually only one-fifth to one-tenth of that of male bloodlines. As for the reasons behind it, she only gradually recognized the cruelty involved after Sister Tan’s fall.
Apart from seeking refuge with orthodox bloodline families, most stray female bloodlines attempting to hide have perished before they could become knights or even attendants. After all, not everyone possesses the substantial financial resources to cope with the enormous blood expenditure and the deadly physiological cycle taboos.
They either die from the chaos of blood thirst during their menstrual period or expose themselves during their periods, leading to being hunted by dark bloodlines, always remaining the most vulnerable group.
“Ding dong!”
A series of dinging sounds echoed from the three women’s phones, as it seemed someone had sent messages to all three simultaneously.
“Wow! Last month’s performance bonuses have arrived!”
Zhou Ping checked her mobile banking app, sweetly saying: “On the night that the little Yao was attacked, I fired three shots. I don’t know if I hit anything, but I got divided one thousand. Hehe! Bonuses are the best!”
Sister Wan encouraged everyone to fight against the dark bloodlines, and still, this kind of good fortune? Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao were both stunned again and quickly opened their own mobile banking apps.
“Fifty thousand? Why do I have this too?”
Jiang Yan almost thought she had read it wrong. No matter how she considered, in total, she had barely worked at the Golden River Club for a week; during that time, she hadn’t come into contact with the dark bloodlines at all. How had this bonus come about?
Oh right, the night she met Sister Wan for the first time, she had been ambushed by a dark bloodline… It truly was a case of making money through killing! The dark bloodline was literally like walking RMB! Jiang Yan suddenly realized.
“小瑶，你多少？”
Jiang Yan pondered for a moment and quickly nudged the dazed light golden-haired girl beside her, who was already in a stupor.
“Ah… I… three… three hundred and fifty thousand…”
After being stunned for a while, Jiang Yao finally came back to her senses and raised her phone screen to show Jiang Yan the bank transfer information she received: “Sister, this isn’t in yen, right?”
“Ahem!”
Jiang Yan almost slipped off her chair, coughing uncontrollably.
“That day, Xiao Yao single-handedly took down a lower-level knight and a mid-level attendant. Considering all her accomplishments, thirty to forty thousand isn’t excessive,” Zhou Ping noted, with alternating expressions of envy and curiosity. But thinking of the fact that the other party was brought into the club directly by Sister Wan, she felt relieved, realizing there might have been other unknown experiences involved.
“Ha ha, Xiao Yao, you’ve recovered well. Oh, everyone’s performance bonuses have arrived? You’re satisfied, right?”
While the three were engaged in a mix of envy, jealousy, and showing off, Zhao Peng walked into the room and saw them whispering around their phones.
“Brother Zhao Peng, can I participate in the battle? As long as it’s against the dark bloodlines.”
Jiang Yan stood up, her expression appearing calm, but a trace of killing intent shone in her eyes.
“Wait for Sister Wan’s arrangements; there’s no rush.”
Zhao Peng pondered for a moment but did not directly refuse. Instead, he shifted the topic, pulling out a small black plastic bottle from his pocket: “Xiao Yao, Sister Wan knows about your situation. Let me give you another bottle to strengthen your body and ensure you don’t leave any lingering effects.”
“Oh…”
Seeing the envy on Zhou Ping’s face, Jiang Yao awkwardly lowered her head.
“Brother Zhao Peng, there’s something I don’t know how to deal with.” Jiang Yan recalled something and quickly reopened her phone, “I want to transfer money anonymously to an elder I used to know. How should I go about it?”
Zhao Peng was momentarily taken aback, then laughed: “For this kind of thing, you can find Zhong Jing!”
Him? Oh right, almost forgot…
The image of a young man and the scenery inside a company’s office appeared in Jiang Yan’s mind, and her heart settled down.
……
Night fell, and Zhao Peng accompanied the long-absent Wan Yue into a large private hospital marked as “Holy Mercy Hospital” in Area W, then descended several levels down through a hidden elevator.
Hidden beneath the bustling city skyscrapers and the flow of traffic was a secret underground room resembling a morgue.
The metallic walls on both sides were lined with densely packed squares, and in the center of the room were seven or eight metal platforms arranged in a row.
The ventilation fan buzzed, and Wan Yue, seemingly unbothered by anyone, was smoking a cigarette. Next to her stood Zhao Peng, while on the other side, a middle-aged man in a doctor’s white coat was examining the scene.
On the metal platform before the three of them lay five corpses still giving off a chill, several of which had apparent mutilations—especially the one on the far left, which looked like a grotesque monster with a severely deformed severed arm.
“Whoa, quite a haul, huh? Three knights… your little dolls are getting bolder, tailored in the style of the Seeker Consortium.”
The man in the white coat adjusted his glasses and slowly inspected the dark bloodline corpses before him. His eyes gleamed as he spoke to Wan Yue, clearly laced with mockery: “Yue Yue, this doesn’t seem like your handiwork.”
“Ha ha, shut up and die.”
Wan Yue smiled without reaching her eyes, showing no interest in engaging with this so-called specialist’s attempts at familiarity.
“This completely deformed one has most of its organs, even the bone marrow, completely perished. It’s of no value. The heart, brain, and eyeballs are a bit better; I can only give you thirty thousand for those.”
The man in the white coat put on gloves and carefully flipped through the corpse of the deformed dark bloodline knight, observing certain details, his brow slightly furrowing: “Wan Yue, this lower-level knight, distorted by blood thirst, if I’m not mistaken, should have died from the ‘blood poison’ ability of the Iberian bloodline. Those few Iberian barons in the country are all on the coast; where did you find this corpse?”
Wan Yue remained noncommittal, quietly blowing smoke rings as she gazed at the dried-up corpse of the deformed dark bloodline knight before her. But behind her, Zhao Peng’s pupils suddenly constricted sharply.
Blood poison, a signature ability of the Iberian bloodline, traces its ancestral lineage to the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe, then spread widely throughout North Africa, West Africa, India, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Like other ancestral lineages, the blood poison ability can only be awakened and used upon promotion to baron.
The deformed lower-level dark bloodline knight before her was likely killed two months ago by the Jiang sisters one night; at that time, they were probably still at the upper-level blood servant stage… No wonder Sister Wan had always expressed doubt about the Jiang sisters’ ancestral lineage testing results.
Zhao Peng felt a little dizzy, beads of cold sweat forming on his back.
“The other four are still relatively fresh; aside from this mid-level attendant who sustained damage to some of his organs from gunfire, the others are basically intact. The peak-level knight will be more expensive. Overall, I can give you five hundred thousand.”
The man in the white coat further checked the remaining four dark bloodline corpses and showed a satisfied smile.
“Eh? Wait! Let me check again…”
The sensation under his hand felt off, and the man in the white coat turned his gaze to examine another lower-level knight’s blackened corpse again, raising his scalpel.
As the skin and muscle tissue of the corpse were cut open, several major arteries and veins were exposed, revealing that all the blood vessels were filled with a powdery substance resembling charcoal, with no signs of any blood clots. Even most of the body’s muscles and organs presented the effects of being internally scorched at high temperatures, yet there were no traces of being struck by silver weapons.
“Hiss! This… this died from the ‘blood ash’ ability! Wan Yue, have you broken through to baron? Did you do this?”
The man in the white coat turned and stared at Wan Yue’s stunningly beautiful face, gasping in disbelief. Next to him, Wan Yue exuded the typical chaotic aura of bloodlines above baron, completely obscuring her details.
“Do I dare say it? Would you dare believe it?”
Wan Yue exhaled a pretty smoke ring, her face full of sarcasm.
“Hmm, if I don’t believe it, it’s kind of far-fetched… But I haven’t heard of any Siberian bloodline barons showing up in Huaguo recently… Where did you come across this corpse?”
The man in the white coat grew more and more confused, suddenly feeling that the goods provided by Wan Yue this time were a bit strange, and even his speaking tone began to feel awkward: “The organs of those who died from blood ash are all damaged; it’s simply too wasteful. You need to deduct one hundred thousand from the total.”
“You talk too much. This time, I don’t want cash. Two hundred thousand for big golden pills and small golden pills, one hundred thousand for ordinary blood, and the rest all exchanged for internal and external hormone inhibitors. If you have boiling blood medicine, that’d be even better. Don’t tell me Wang family still has no stock this time. Xiao Zhao, you calculate the total; I’ll head out first.”
Wan Yue flicked away her cigarette butt and walked towards the depths of the elevator without looking back.
“Master Jin, Sister Wan has to take care of a large family; please understand.”
Zhao Peng was quite familiar with the senior baron of the Wang family, having dealt with him multiple times. Although the other’s rank and status far exceeded his, Zhao Peng still maintained a respectful but firm attitude: “Sister Wan means that if such fresh goods can’t exchange for the needed items, we might consider switching business partners in the future.”
“Oh, learning to haggle now? Little Zhao, honestly tell me, where did these goods come from?”
The man in the white coat regained his composure, revealing a serious expression to Zhao Peng: “Several of these are one-hit kills. You’re not yet a baron, so you shouldn’t be able to do this; knights are not a common thing.”
“Sorry, Master Jin, there’s a confidentiality order from Sister Wan. Right now, our relationship with the Wang family is still just an ordinary business relationship. If we’re talking about friendship, Sister Wan could sell directly to the Seeker Consortium, and the price might even be higher.”
Zhao Peng chuckled, maintaining a respectful demeanor. As Wan Yue’s most trusted confidant, his lips were naturally sealed.
“You guys… Wan Yue has been away from the Seeker Consortium for twenty years, yet she can’t let go of her grudge? Haha, why not just join the Wang family…”
“Let’s leave it at that for today. The items you wanted will arrive here in three days; remember to come and collect them.”
The man in the white coat took off his glasses, his feelings a bit low, as if some past matters had resurfaced in his mind.
“Master Jin, such a big matter, how can a small fry like me decide? Thank you personally for making this trip, Master Jin; Zhao Peng takes his leave.”
After finishing, Zhao Peng slightly bowed and then strode away.
