Chapter 45: Jiang Yao’s Promotion
August 20, Tuesday.
The girls of Hyacinth, although enjoying a total of seven days off around their menstrual periods, Jiang Yan still insisted on returning to work. After all, the physical discomfort had gradually adapted, and it basically did not hinder daily life and work.
Before the official business hours, unsure if new members had arrived, Jiang Yan suddenly noticed a pair of unfamiliar young men and women appearing in the first-floor lobby, standing in front of Zhao Peng and talking about something.
Seeing Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao come to work early, Zhao Peng was slightly taken aback. After giving a brief explanation, he walked towards Jiang Yan.
“Brother Zhao, who are they?”
From their demeanor, Jiang Yan felt that the young couple did not look like new members who had just undergone blood invasion. Their ability to control pheromones was clearly very strong. If they weren’t only a dozen meters away, the faint but fierce aura might not have been sensed right away.
“They’re from the Hermit Alliance, looking to contact Sister Wan.”
Zhao Peng didn’t turn back but seemed to notice something. He scanned Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao with a surprised look: “Xiao Yan, you’ve been promoted to a higher-level attendant?”
“I’ve grown?”
Jiang Yan was also taken aback, looking down at her body in confusion: “I don’t feel anything special; I just feel that my condition is much better than last month…”
“It’s probably because the Great Golden Pill has been applied to you properly. It’s lucky that you came to work early, or else there are some things you wouldn’t understand.”
Zhao Peng shook his head with a smile and then turned his gaze to Jiang Yao, his expression suddenly becoming extremely serious: “Xiao Yao, you don’t need to work in the lobby today; go find a private room on the second floor to rest.”
As he spoke, he waved to the two girls in a corner who were wiping a statue: “Xiao Ling, Xiao Ai, tidy up the staff lounge immediately and prepare some things in advance.”
The two girls in the distance were slightly taken aback and then quickly dropped their work and hurried towards the staff passage.
“I… also have a problem?”
Jiang Yao raised her hand to point at herself, looking around in confusion.
“Did you not feel anything unusual when you got up today?”
Zhao Peng frowned slightly but persisted with his judgment after a few seconds: “You’re on the verge of a major breakthrough; it should happen tonight. Maybe it’s because of that injury you had before… How to put it, some of the sensations in your body were masked, or perhaps due to the menstrual issue, you’re feeling disoriented.”
“I’m going to be promoted? To a knight?”
Seeing several envious glances from around her, Jiang Yao’s eyes gradually lit up: “Brother Zhao, you’re not mistaken, right? I just got promoted to an attendant two months ago.”
Her words changed the envious expressions of those around her into a mix of emotions.
“Haha, enough with the humblebrag, go rest on the second floor. Relax; Xiaoping will go with you first. I’ll have the restaurant prepare something delicious for you; eat as much as you want!”
After glancing at the pleasantly surprised Zhou Ping, Jiang Yao had to obediently follow her to the second floor.
“Brother Zhao, does Xiao Yao need any special preparations for her promotion to a knight?”
If it weren’t for Zhao Peng mentioning a major breakthrough, one might think Jiang Yao was about to give birth. Watching Jiang Yao’s figure as she went up the stairs, Jiang Yan couldn’t help but lower her voice, filled with doubt.
“Promotion to knight is different from promotion to attendant; it not only takes a considerable amount of time to accumulate but also requires a solid foundation during the breakthrough. Then there’s a chance to challenge for a baron. If someone just muddles through the sleep phase, not to mention the success rate, perhaps their lifetime limit will be capped.”
After finishing his comment, Zhao Peng smiled and took out his phone, walking towards a corner, likely to discuss this matter with Wan Yue.
In the afternoon, at a luxurious office building, Shengxiang Investment Consulting Firm.
In recent days, Zhong Jing had entered a state of extreme busyness. Following Wan Yue’s instructions, he needed to inventory all of Hyacinth’s assets and make some adjustments and reallocations of funds.
Over the past twenty years, Wan Yue, seizing the opportunity of high-speed development in the external environment, had established a foundation comparable to that of a minor bloodline family, including some overseas secret assets.
Following the directory, Zhong Jing contacted a professional manager from a real estate agency and sent out a video conference invitation.
“Mr. Zhong, the real estate market is booming right now. The least of our owned properties has increased by over 50%. I plan to discuss with several real estate developers to secure a batch of quality listing properties in advance.”
In the video conference window, the submissive real estate manager spoke eloquently, looking very optimistic and confident.
“No need, I need to consolidate funds here and invest in other projects. I’ll send you an email shortly, and you’ll sell the previously accumulated properties in batches according to the attached list.”
Zhong Jing’s expression remained indifferent; he made a decision after glancing briefly at the document the other party sent.
“Huh? But the current market situation is unprecedented, and the market outlook is very positive…”
“I’m not here to discuss what to do with you; I’m notifying you what to do! After completing the sell-off, you can take 5% of the profits as your personal business commission and give 5% as a bonus to the lower-level employees.”
Ignoring the other party’s objections, Zhong Jing directly issued orders to liquidate properties in first- and second-tier cities, leaving the other party surprised and speechless.
After opening a video with an overseas securities broker and listening to several stock positions of overseas accounts, Zhong Jing issued several instructions to adjust the positions, but still leaned towards selling more and buying less.
Several hours later, Zhong Jing’s ashtray was already piled high with cigarette butts. He leaned weakly against the back of his chair, gulping down iced coffee to relieve his physical and mental fatigue.
The scattered financial projects totaling over two billion yuan, under Zhong Jing’s adjustment, could yield approximately two hundred million yuan in net profits for Wan Yue each year, at least half of which would be used to maintain the operation of Hyacinth.
For an average person, this was an astronomical figure. However, if these profits were all that there was, it would still be difficult to support dozens of people in Hyacinth. After all, Wan Yue’s generous spending was clearly several levels above normal.
However, as Wan Yue herself had said, there were also some more complex secret asset operations handled by Zhao Peng, and Zhong Jing did not consider this a slight.
Unfortunately, his master disagreed with investing in the gaming industry; otherwise, they could earn even more…
Looking at the game posters on the wall, Zhong Jing smiled and opened the gaming entertainment computer, intending to relax before getting back to work.
In his friends list for gaming, there was one头像 grayed out and hadn’t been online for a few days, and there were few responses on his phone’s social apps.
The previous Sunday, that ghost-story-like experience had broken both himself and Jiang Yao. Looking back, it was both funny and enjoyable, the certain natural absurdity and quirky emotions from Jiang Yao brought him a fresh but not purely innocent curiosity.
The Zhong Group’s undercover investigation had come to a pause, or rather, it had stuck at Zhong Jing’s capability shortfall, making it difficult to delve deeper. Coupled with several days of tedious busyness, Zhong Jing felt he had once again fallen into a cycle of extreme boredom.
Watching anime, but it was only Tuesday, lacking in ritual.
Playing games was dull without Jiang Yao’s whimsical bursts, even winning felt a bit bland.
After checking the time, it was already 8 PM, and Jiang Yao should still be at work. Zhong Jing shook his head with a smile and returned to his work computer.
…
Although knights in the traditional vampire clan are also pieces that can be discarded at any time, they are not commonplace. Even with abundant resources, on average, only one in fifteen vampires has the opportunity to become a knight, and for most vampires, it is the upper limit of their lives.
Once a vampire successfully promotes to the baron level, their identity and status undergo a tremendous change, and they often have higher aspirations, typically beginning to retreat behind the scenes.
Thus, in most cases, vampires above the baron level constitute the foundation and trump card of various families, while knights are the true backbone, e.g., knights managing large estates for the families.
However, knights are also the members of traditional vampires most likely to be lost, as many knights, who typically have no hope of being promoted to baron through normal channels, may take extreme measures under certain temptations and become black-blooded vampires, attempting to break through growth constraints through blood feeding.
For small families like the Tang family in City D, mobilizing almost the entire family’s resources to protect against an unusual ritual only brought together a dozen knights.
If some old soldiers from the Xuanyin team hadn’t initiated a mutually destructive tactical suicide, it wouldn’t have been easy to resist the collective mad charge of over ten blood knights with a live force of under sixty without a significant cost.
In Hyacinth, many people had followed Wan Yue over the years, but as of now, only five knights appeared in the Golden River Club, and one more with immeasurable potential was set to join, which naturally fully captured Zhao Peng’s attention.
Like a giant panda kept in a second-floor private room, Jiang Yao gradually transitioned from initial excitement to increasing tension, losing interest in games and anime.
Those who came to see Jiang Yao, both intentionally and unintentionally, came in waves. The colleagues who were somewhat aware of Jiang Yao’s rapid growth shifted their attitude from looking up to her genius to watching a spectacle.
A slightly chaotic aura had appeared on Jiang Yao, leaking like a gradually heating kettle.
According to Zhao Peng’s estimate, around midnight, Jiang Yao would enter her promotion sleep phase.
“Xiao Ping Jie, I feel dizzy and a bit thirsty…”
After several hours, the body finally started to react. At 9 PM, Jiang Yao began to exhibit symptoms of low fever, dry mouth, constant sweating, increasing fatigue, and her limbs started to feel weak.
“Okay, I’ll get you some water.”
Zhou Ping, who had been guarding Jiang Yao’s side, quickly got up and grabbed an energy drink from the coffee table. Just as she turned around, she found Jiang Yao had already fallen deeply asleep on the sofa.
Zhao Peng, who rushed over upon hearing the news, likely didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. Fortunately, the special staff lounge had already been prepared, so it wouldn’t be in disarray.
Jiang Yao was carried to a special lounge deep within the employee area, decorated much more luxuriously than necessary. Many impressive medical devices were arranged beside the large bed.
In the temperature-controlled room, Jiang Yao lay quietly on the bed, her body covered with a thin blanket, and her veins under the collarbone were already connected to a blood transfusion apparatus.
Two girls were sequentially activating all the instruments, while Zhao Peng personally held up a tube of external hormone suppressants. Zhou Ping also retrieved a bag of fresh blood from a medical temperature-controlled refrigerator.
“Xiao Ping, Xiao Yao cannot receive ordinary human blood!”
Jiang Yan quickly stood up from the bedside, trying to stop Zhou Ping.
“Don’t worry, this blood has been donated by us knights together. We know Xiao Yao has a dependency on initial blood.”
Zhao Peng smiled as he pressed down Jiang Yan’s hand, patiently explaining: “We will supplement her blood according to her condition to fully stimulate the generation and renewal of her blood energy proteins, which helps with the accumulation for the breakthrough. In theory, rare blood types would have a better effect, but unfortunately, you are the only one here. But with just you alone, you probably can’t provide enough.”
“What if we don’t transfuse blood?”
Jiang Yan remained somewhat confused, or rather, she was particularly interested in these details right now.
“Starting from the knight level, the promotion of vampires is not necessarily guaranteed to succeed 100%. If the promotion fails, it takes time and even involves certain risks to life. Decades ago, being able to successfully promote in one go was an honor worth boasting about for a knight.
Now, with advances in science, we can monitor Xiao Yao’s various physiological indicators during the sleep phase using modern medical equipment to maximize her success rate for a one-time promotion. For example, blood transfusions during the sleep phase started with the traditional bloodline families in Europe and America, and practical results have proven effective.
Having witnessed the deep entanglement and technological correlation between the vampire world and the world of ordinary people once again, and thinking about how I also reached the higher-level attendant stage, perhaps in a month or two, I would go through the same process. Jiang Yan finally eased her mind.
Just as she was speaking, a pair of youthful men and women with peculiar smiles squeezed in from outside the door, the same two who had been chatting with Zhao Peng during lunch, coming from the Hermit Alliance.
Zhao Peng’s brows slowly furrowed, and his tone turned unfriendly: “Elders from the Hermit Alliance haven’t taught you that you cannot enter another’s sleep space without permission… In light of Sister Wan, I’ll overlook it this time; you should come back another day!”
“Isn’t the new knight’s promotion… something we can help with?” The young man glanced at the light golden-haired girl on the bed, his nose twitching slightly, revealing a hint of envious astonishment, and his tone took on a playful note: “Zhao Peng, when you were promoted to attendant, it was I who helped look after you. Why have you become so distant after going out with Sister Wan?”
“Wei Jun, since Sister Wan cut ties with the Hermit Alliance twenty years ago, this is Hyacinth; it’s best to adhere to some rules.”
Zhao Peng blocked Wei Jun’s way, his expression starting to grow cold.
“Brother Zhao, Wei Jun means no other harm. I see that these two girls should be of rare blood types, which is a bit of a waste here in Hyacinth. I think it’s better for them to join the Hermit Alliance; after all, we are practically family…”
Seeing her companion confront Zhao Peng, the young woman quickly stepped forward to mediate. However, what she said plunged the room into a strange silence, especially Jiang Yan, whose expression had turned grave.
“Wei Jun, Yao Li, Sister Wan is not here; discussing this with me is pointless. Please leave immediately!”
At that moment, Zhao Peng’s expression had already become terrifyingly serious.
With a click, Zhou Ping appeared at the door with a silenced pistol raised, aimed at the backs of the young man and woman.
Zhou Ping’s expression was indifferent, seemingly ready to pull the trigger without hesitation at Zhao Peng’s signal.
“Haha, well… then we will visit again when Sister Wan returns.”
The young couple from the Hermit Alliance exchanged glances, smiled slightly, and exited the door.
The pair seemed to have realized that Jiang Yao and I had rare blood types, intending to poach? The Hermit Alliance feels a bit overbearing… Witnessing the whole scene, Jiang Yan felt a vague sense of unease arise in her heart.
Just two months ago, Huang Gu, representing Hyacinth, had also extended an invitation to Jiang Yao and me. However, at that time, Huang Gu’s attitude was extremely sincere and full of concern, completely different from the condescending attitude of the two just now.
