Chapter 73 The Truth of the Nightmare
October 8th, Tuesday, Cold Dew.
In the capital of Huaguo, at an underground base of the Dark Arrow headquarters.
No one ever imagined that deep beneath the picturesque Xifeng Forest Park in the west of the country, there existed a vast secret base.
Meng Huai had just completed his medical observation period yesterday and was now back in a neatly pressed military uniform, sitting upright in an empty conference room, awaiting a classified exchange of uncertain content.
Entering were two unfamiliar military officers, a male lieutenant colonel and a female captain.
“Comrade Meng Huai, sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s get started directly. First, we need to verify your identity.”
The opening remarks were as boring and formulaic as ever, but this formalism was part and parcel of a military career, a symbol of high discipline and organization.
Meng Huai calmly cooperated with all of the questions posed, his expression unchanging.
After exchanging glances with his colleague, the male lieutenant colonel pushed a small stack of medical records in front of Meng Huai, speaking in a soft tone, “Comrade Meng Huai, this is the most comprehensive physical examination you’ve undergone in the headquarters’ medical assurance department these days. There are condition analyses later; you can take a look first.”
Glancing skeptically at the male and female officers across from him, Meng Huai slowly reached out to pick up the medical records, scanning the familiar or unfamiliar items line by line.
Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes… until he turned the last page, Meng Huai finally looked up, surprise in his eyes: “Are you saying my body will fluctuate between stages two and three?”
“Yes, each time your stage three symptoms worsen, your body will automatically trigger a self-repair mechanism. Quite remarkable, isn’t it? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have inexplicably received over sixty injections of anti-blood invasion immune agents and still be holding on now.”
“You have a unique affinity for the anti-blood invasion immune agent, though only in comparison to others. This recurring condition will become increasingly severe over time, ultimately leading you irreversibly into stage three. Unfortunately, the current medical interventions for stage three are basically ineffective for you, only able to delay your condition.”
“So, I’m doomed… Is this the reason you brought me to headquarters?”
Meng Huai tossed aside the medical records, leaning back in his chair, a hint of sarcasm gracing his face: “Just this peculiarity alone, I don’t think it’s enough to mobilize the higher-ups. For someone with a certain death sentence, providing adequate compensation is enough; there’s no need for all this mystery. So, what secret do you want to tell me?”
The two military officers exchanged glances, and the female officer finally pulled a mobile hard drive from her pocket, connected it to the conference room computer, and then the lights dimmed, illuminating the large screen on the wall.
“I need to present you with some information. These are the highest-level classified documents from headquarters, as well as your personal confidential information. So far, no more than ten people, including the two of us, have seen these documents.”
The male officer clicked the mouse, and the image rapidly enlarged; it was a photo of what seemed to be an ordinary bedroom in a civilian home. The ceiling was partially collapsed, and the room was strewn with half-dried blood clots, resembling a pool of blood about to be baked dry under the scorching sun.
But that was not the most shocking part; what was most horrifying were the dark red blood spikes jutting out from the blood clots on the floor, resembling bizarre plants sprouting from the ground of blood.
This was a scene captured by local police a day after your home was attacked by vampires twenty-three years ago when you were four years old. Of course, it was eventually classified by headquarters. Do you understand what this represents now?
The female officer carefully circled the image on the large screen with the mouse.
Meng Huai’s complexion gradually paled, and he unconsciously stood up slowly, his lips trembling slightly, blood vessels creeping into his eyes.
It was a baron of the Rhine Blood Clan, blood change. This does not require explanation; it is clear to everyone…
Meng Huai leaned on the table with both hands, lowering his head, speaking almost word by word.
In his mind, the image of his younger self hiding under the bed appeared, surrounded by spreading blood, with his mother’s loving, helpless, and weak gaze after collapsing before him, alongside blood spikes glistening under the moonlight.
Do you believe a four-year-old child hiding under the bed can escape under the eyes of a Rhine Blood Clan baron? The baron’s perceptive abilities within the blood domain far exceed that of a spider in its web.
The male officer flipped to a new photo, taken from a very low angle peering under the bed, revealing a frail little boy collapsed in a sticky pool of blood clots, unconscious.
Meng Huai suddenly raised his head, staring intently at the photo on the large screen, which showed his childhood self, having fainted from unimaginable terror.
What does it mean that you possess this information!?
Meng Huai turned back, standing tall, his sharp gaze piercing into the faces of the two officers from headquarters, his voice hoarse.
Comrade Meng Huai, do you know why some of your personal information is classified to the highest degree? Even you are not aware of many secrets about yourself.
The male officer took out a document from his bag and handed it over to Meng Huai: Comrade Meng Huai, with the authorization of the highest leaders of headquarters, we now proceed with declassification: You are a descendant of the Apennine Blood Clan and a normal human. Your mother, Ms. Meng Xiang, is a baroness of the Apennine Blood Clan, with the real name of Heqian Mi Xiang, or Fujiwara Mi Xiang.
Electricity struck deep in his mind, shattering his brain matter, burning his nerves, the numbness and horror spreading throughout his body. Meng Huai’s face went pale, his eyes reddening, and he even had a splitting headache, trembling all over. He swayed and took two steps back, crashing into a chair.
“My mother is Japanese!? She is a vampire from the Fujiwara family in Japan!? Ha, go… go to hell!”
Meng Huai lunged forward suddenly, reaching across the conference table, grabbing the male officer by the collar and nearly lifting him off the ground.
“Comrade Meng Huai! Please calm down!”
The female officer hurriedly crossed the conference table and grabbed Meng Huai’s arm: “You need to stay calm if we are to proceed with the next declassifications!”
“Fine, continue!”
He forcefully shoved the officer back, Meng Huai threw off his military cap, yanked open his uniform jacket, his bloodshot eyes scanning the two officers of headquarters back and forth.
After a few seconds of mutual glances, the two officers cautiously returned to their seats, and once again clicked to bring up a new screen on the large display—a report analyzing over a decade’s worth of data with numerous categories, nearly filling the screen space on each page.
“This is a follow-up investigation report proving that your mother, Ms. Meng Xiang, was indeed Heqian Mi Xiang associated with the Heqian Group controlled by the Fujiwara family in Japan, who was sent as a corporate spy when she entered Huaguo to develop the market thirty-nine years ago.”
“Ms. Meng Xiang established a romantic relationship with your father, Mr. Zhong Hai, under the guise of a student, attempting to control your father to become the agent for the Heqian Group, and gave birth to you. At that time, domestic tracking and verification technology was still very rudimentary, so this evidence chain was only completed many years later.”
“Your father, Zhong Hai, also secured the first strategic investment from the Heqian Group during that time. It was not a large amount, but it was enough for the Zhong Pharmaceutical Group to rapidly expand from a small workshop to a large pharmaceutical enterprise in a few years.”
“And the government only noticed the Zhong Pharmaceutical Group as becoming part of the foreign vampire capital’s commercial layout in the country five years later, right when your mother, Ms. Meng Xiang, was murdered. They had to respond, and your father became a part of the national strategic interests.”
The male officer pointed at a complex corporate equity relationship chart, repeatedly highlighting several top-tier names with the mouse.
“Heh, the government acted in time, and he did not side with any faction but acted as a broker, right…”
Meng Huai closed his eyes, slowly shook his head, his face pale, voice hoarse: “What evidence do you have that proves my mother was a vampire, merely based on her identity as a Japanese corporate spy? Not everyone who works for the vampire family is a vampire…”
Seeing the near-desperate look in Meng Huai’s eyes, the male officer smiled wryly and shook his head gently, shifting the mouse to his colleague’s hand. The female officer hesitated but gritted her teeth and took over.
“Comrade Meng Huai… Ms. Meng Xiang was murdered, and her body had certain mutilations, but postmortem analysis has confirmed this without error.”
“Female vampires give birth to offspring that can severely damage their own root foundation, but the existing state remains unchanged; it just takes a long time to recover. It was during that window period that your mother was ambushed by an unidentified Rhine Blood Clan baron.”
“You should be aware, Comrade Meng Huai, that the ability of an Apennine Blood Clan baron is ‘Dream Manipulation’; it is very likely that at the moment she was ambushed, she used her unique pheromones to interfere with her opponent’s perception, including but not limited to hearing, sight, and touch, allowing them not to notice your presence in the room…”
“Given her strength was far inferior to her opponent, it was already remarkable for her to accomplish this. It is highly possible that the scene you witnessed at that time was also controlled to the extent she made you see it, and the actual scene might have been even more terrifying…”
The female officer spoke with profound feeling, as a woman herself, she naturally understood that a mother’s first thought in a time of crisis is always for her child.
“So, I’m that rare ten to twenty percent chance, a normal offspring born from a vampire female and an ordinary male… so I was born different from others; I could possess a better affinity for the anti-blood invasion immune agents than others… So that’s why I’ve made it this far, right?”
Meng Huai covered his face to hide his tears, slowly turning away, his tall frame slightly trembling, like a swaying tower.
“Yes, the anti-blood invasion immune agent, which is a high-dose Etwender, contains extracted components from vampire physiological organs. Essentially, the long-term high-dose injection of Etwender is a slow process of blood invasion.”
“The end stage of stage three resembles the late stages of bloodthirst in vampires, leading to multi-organ failure due to a collapse of self-immunity. The Medical Assurance Department has made the final assessment of your body; you are not likely to return to active duty in the front lines. If you’re lucky, with conservative treatment, you might live for another three to five years.”
The male officer nodded, expressing deep regret.
Meng Huai turned back, lifelessly staring at the two officers from headquarters. He slowly pulled out a chair and sat down, his face gradually calming, or rather, turning indifferent. After a minute, he spoke: “You telling me all this top-secret information today is not just to comfort me, right? To let me know who I am before I die…”
“This is a confidential document personally issued by the headquarters. If you agree, you will join the special classified action team of the headquarters and undertake a mission with no way out. If you are unwilling, today can be considered a proper resolution of your origins, and our conversation can be deemed to not have occurred.”
Meng Wenzhi, you have thirty days to consider. Starting from now, you will resume your leave period and regain freedom of movement. I don’t need to repeat the relevant confidentiality regulations, do I?
The confidential document did not contain any formatted specifications, only a string of bloody inquiries:
“Comrade Meng Heng, are you absolutely loyal to our country and people?”
“Even if it means bearing endless grievances and discrimination, even sacrificing your life?”
“Even if it means giving up this world and forsaking everyone you love and who loves you?”
At the end was a phone number, valid for thirty days, along with a self-destruct notification after reading.
…
The male and female officers exited the conference room and saw Han Jielisi waiting outside. Both had serious expressions as they slightly nodded to the young officer before quickly departing.
Another hour passed before Meng Huai walked out, his eyes visibly bloodshot and his expression chillingly cold.
“Brother Meng, the superiors have notified me that your medical observation period has ended, and you can return to normal leave. Do you want to spend a few days in the capital, or should I accompany you back?”
Han Jielisi quickly approached, wearing a relaxed smile.
Meng Huai turned his head and quietly looked at the young officer before him, a flicker of doubt crossing his eyes: “Aren’t you on temporary duty at the Western Inspection Zone’s intelligence office? How did you end up here?”
“Because of that sister, she needed me to tap into some intelligence resources at headquarters. She’s still interested in that batch of vampire forces that appeared during Operation 907.”
Han Jielisi awkwardly nodded, pulling out Meng Huai’s phone from his briefcase: “Well, we just happened to meet. Those two people I just met are from the intelligence bureau. They asked me to return your phone to you; they sure know how to delegate tasks.”
Silently receiving the phone and putting it into his pocket, Meng Huai forced a smile and suddenly raised his head, glaring sharply into Han Jielisi’s eyes: “Your Han family enjoys many privileges. Do you think that’s fair to others?”
“Privileges? Including that each generation must die with hardly anyone left?”
Han Jielisi did not avoid the confrontation but instead stared back defiantly, mouth twisting into a self-deprecating smirk.
“There has always been a rumor in Dark Arrow that anyone marked by the Han family is either someone who absolutely cannot die or has value in dying. Which one do I belong to?”
Meng Huai slowly put on his military cap, straightening his disheveled tie, his gaze fierce, his expression frostbitten, “I know, the Han family indeed has that qualification to look down on others.”
“Brother Meng, the Han family is no different from all the comrades in Dark Arrow. We are all in the same boat; it just matters who goes first…”
Han Jielisi turned his head away, finally breaking off the stare-down with Meng Huai, gazing towards the depths of the base corridor, deeply sighing.
