Chapter 88: Phantom (1)
Standing in the employee passageway, choosing a particular angle allows one to see a corner deep within the hall.
That tall soldier, like a guardian beast, stood at the corner of the golden hall, suppressing all sorts of disguised specters and demons during Halloween; not a single ghost dared to approach.
Jiang Yan was slightly lost in thought, and when she lifted her head again, she saw Jiang Yao confronting Meng Huai in a rather impolite manner.
With a sigh and a slight adjustment of her dress, Jiang Yan stepped out of the passage, maneuvered through the bustling crowd, and gradually approached.
…
“… Why bother? You’re lowering yourself.”
With her small hand supporting her chin, her body leaning slightly against a high table, Jiang Yao slightly tilted her head to avoid the gaze of the young military man, her words a bit too sharply voiced.
“Sorry.”
A few seconds later, Meng Huai stood up from the high stool, put on his military cap, adjusted his appearance slightly, took a deep breath, and turned to leave.
“Meng Huai…”
After just a few steps, he heard a familiar voice not far from his side.
Meng Huai paused, turned around, and saw Jiang Yan standing by the bonsai, quietly watching him.
Wearing a dignified black dress with a waist-cinching waist and a three-quarter sleeve suit, her smooth, dark long hair was tied up in a bun. As Jiang Yan gently brushed aside a few stray hairs by her face, her gaze wandered.
“Sister? You…”
Jiang Yao hurriedly walked to Jiang Yan’s side, then turned her head to find five or six girls in hyacinth dresses peeking from behind the distant bar.
“I’m fine, just felt a bit tired and lay down for a while… Xiaoyao, quickly go help at the drink bar. Zhao Ge isn’t here today, and Sister Xiaoling can’t handle it.”
Jiang Yan directly dismissed Jiang Yao, walking alone in front of Meng Huai, looking up at his face with a light voice: “How about we talk outside?”
“Okay!” Meng Huai nodded vigorously.
……
Across a street corner, the direct distance to the entrance of the Jinhe Club was just a few dozen meters, in the same quiet little garden.
“Thanks for sending me back to the club last time. I didn’t expect I would lose composure to that extent after drinking… Sorry, you have a bad liver; I really shouldn’t have sought you out.”
Sitting on a bench, Jiang Yan propped her elbows on her thighs, her palms supporting her chin, staring blankly at the neatly arranged flowers and shrubs not far away, her expression calm.
Seeing the other person say nothing, Jiang Yan straightened up, looking at him with an almost smiling gaze at his military uniform: “What’s this? Are you back at the unit now? What made you come to the club again?”
“I attended a meeting at short notice this afternoon… I’m still on vacation; today…”
Meng Huai hesitated, reaching into his pocket, and after a while took out two crumpled printed paper strips. “Want to watch a movie? It’s at 10:45 PM, there’s still over an hour.”
Jiang Yan was stunned, her gaze slowly falling on the small paper strip in his hand, unable to believe it.
Watch a movie? Has Meng Huai become a different person, how did he learn all this? Am I really like Xiaoyao said, is Meng Huai improving? Or has something happened to him?
Jiang Yan felt a bit numb at the back of her head and stared at the ground, gradually falling into a strange daze.
“Well… Sorry to bother you.”
Seeing Jiang Yan not responding at all, Meng Huai, feeling somewhat dejected, let the movie slip from his hand and turned to leave.
Jiang Yan slowly raised her head, her eyes regaining their brilliance, looking at his back, and finally whispered, “Why do you want to invite me to a movie?”
Meng Huai stiffened, turned around, and after some thought, managed a forced smile: “I might be going to a place I don’t even know, a forever kind of place… I want to experience some things I haven’t before.”
His complexion was much worse than last time… Shouldn’t his thoughts be focused on taking care of his body, sticking to his position? The driving force he knows always seems to be leaning toward me…
Has his body deteriorated to the point of having little time left? Is he making his life’s farewell? … Jiang Yan shivered slightly, her face slightly pale, her back feeling cold, and her palms were sweating.
Recalling the countless bloody real examples in the Dark Arrow Unit, many comrades who seemed fine could be bedridden or even pass away within just a week.
Jiang Yan seemed to smell a decayed aura from Meng Huai, the dim streetlight casting a pallid, deathly makeup over the young man, appearing valiant and imposing but internally decayed and crumbling.
“Wait, I’ll go get a jacket.”
A few seconds later, Jiang Yan bit her lip, made a strong turn, and jogged toward the entrance of the Jinhe Club.
……
In the employee changing room, Jiang Yan sat in front of the makeup counter, taking off her earrings and tossing them on the table.
With a lift of her skirt, she tucked a silver dagger into the belt of her black stockings, and with another lift, she hung a handgun on the outside of her other thigh.
All her movements were more brisk than usual.
“You’re crazy, going to watch a movie with him? Sister, do you really think… Are you in a relationship with Meng Huai?”
Jiang Yao looked at Jiang Yan in surprise, watching her prepare for going out, her expression anxious and ugly, one hand unconsciously resting on Jiang Yan’s arm: “Sister, don’t do this, you’ve said there’s nothing between you, now you’re so intimate!”
“He’s dying… Otherwise, Meng Huai wouldn’t have changed so much in the last month or two.”
Saying this, Jiang Yan swallowed a heat pill, then tucked two hormone inhibitors into her hair at the back of her head, maintaining her composure as she grabbed a light-colored lip balm to slightly touch up her lips.
“Dying? Really? He still looks quite fit…”
Jiang Yao was stunned, slowly turning to face Jiang Yan, carefully scrutinizing her expression. After a long moment, she finally determined Jiang Yan wasn’t joking and showed an exasperated expression: “Poor Captain Meng, almost dying, yet hasn’t found a real woman…”
Jiang Yan set down the lip balm, bent down to change into a pair of black heels with red bottoms, and then slowly stood up.
After looking at Jiang Yao for a few seconds, Jiang Yan suddenly grabbed her by the neck, immense strength pinning her unsuspecting body against the makeup table, her eyes starting to redden!
With her throat tightly grasped, Jiang Yao’s body was heavily pressed against the mirror of the makeup table, behind her came the crashing sound of objects falling. The mirror shattered, and the entire table began to shake, as if it might collapse any second.
Jiang Yao’s face turned red, her body slightly trembling; it was the first time she had seen Jiang Yan show such a terrifying expression.
The door of the changing room opened, and Zhou Ping and several girls peered in with expressions of surprise.
Feeling the killing aura emanating from Jiang Yan that was akin to a half-step baron, and seeing Jiang Yao struggling without any resistance like a chick, Zhou Ping and the others quietly withdrew.
“Sister… I didn’t mean it like that…”
Jiang Yao struggled to utter half a sentence, her gaze pleading while tears began to well in her eyes.
“Don’t make jokes like this in the future… Today, Wan Jie and Zhao Ge are not around. You need to cooperate with Sister Ai and be a good support. Stay here obediently!”
Jiang Yan took a deep breath, released her grip, the red in her eyes slowly fading, grabbing the white fur-collared coat from the chair, and turning to leave the changing room.
……
……
On the fifth floor of the Wanquli Commercial Square in Q District’s CBD, there was a lavishly decorated cinema.
In the dark screening room, there were over a hundred seats, but only about ten spectators were present, and on the snow-white screen, a movie titled “Send Me to the Clouds” played, a domestic film that had been out for more than two months and was nearing the end of its run.
The story’s plot was heavy yet interesting; the female protagonist, diagnosed with a terminal illness, ultimately shed her façade under the disease’s urge, pursuing her emotional desires recklessly.
In the sealed screening room, dialogues and music clashed in the black space, the flickering light and shadow danced on everyone’s faces, while Meng Huai remained expressionless and unfocused, Jiang Yan’s gaze fixed on the back of the chair in front of her, her mind wandering.
As the film approached its conclusion, the female lead rolled into bed with a man, suggestive sounds and images swirling in intensity.
A faintly sweet aroma entered her nostrils, as if someone had spilled a dessert or poured too much sweetener into popcorn. Caught in the mix of colors, sounds, and scents, Jiang Yan surprisingly began to feel drowsy.
She wasn’t sure how long it had been when Jiang Yan suddenly opened her eyes; the story on the screen had already ended, and the whole screening room was engulfed in darkness.
A dozen spectators had fallen into a deep sleep as if they’d just watched an extremely hypnotic low-quality film.
Turning her head, Jiang Yan noticed Meng Huai’s upright body leaned against the chair back, his eyes slightly closed, his brow relaxed, an expression of comfort as if he had never felt this relaxed before.
“Meng Huai!”
Jiang Yan quickly grabbed the young man next to her, simultaneously activating her blood surge.
She could already sense the unusual and eerie aura in the air, one that only blood clans in combat mode would emit, a violent and frenzied pheromone, and there was more than one.
Crap, there are blood clans that have activated blood surge in the building!
The previous scent… someone released tranquilizers via the central air conditioning system!?
With a rip!
Jiang Yan tore her skirt and then tightly tied it to prevent it from obstructing her movements. She then hoisted Meng Huai’s nearly eighty-kilogram strong body onto her back.
It was already past midnight; besides the emergency exit indicator sign, there was no light inside or outside the cinema. Thanks to her excellent night vision, Jiang Yan caught glimpses of ordinary audience members or staff who had fainted on the ground.
Directly carrying Meng Huai into the men’s restroom, she kicked aside a middle-aged man dressed as security who was blocking her way, tore the fur collar from her white coat to use as a temporary towel, turned on the faucet, and repeatedly rinsed Meng Huai’s face.
Meng Huai’s eyes opened slowly, confused and sluggish; his breathing was light but steady. After checking his heartbeat, Jiang Yan finally sighed in relief. She gently laid Meng Huai’s body on the floor and rummaged through his pockets for his phone.
His contacts were alarmingly simple; she clicked on Tao Qiao’er’s name, began to edit a text message, and then dialed her number, not waiting for an answer, instead placing the phone next to Meng Huai’s hand.
After doing all this, Jiang Yan swiftly drew the dagger from her thigh and dashed out.
Hello, Captain Meng, it’s me! Are you still at Wanquli Square? What’s the situation on site?!
Hello?! Captain Meng! Can you hear me?!
Captain Meng! Hold on, we’ll be there in thirty minutes!
The call connected, but only Tao Qiao’er’s panicked shouts were heard, while Meng Huai remained half-awake, his eyes barely open, showing no signs of movement.
In Meng Huai’s eyes, the world was a kaleidoscope of fragmented images, the central figure being a young man clad in black combat gear, a scene from half a year ago during an assault operation in City D, where the figure of the rapidly retreating Xia Yan faded away.
In a daze, the silhouette of the young man in black combat gear began to tear apart, chaotic lines intertwining, merging and distorting, slowly reassembling into Jiang Yan in a black dress…
……
……
Outside the enormous glass wall of the commercial square, the city was brilliantly lit, yet inside the square, it was a dark and eerie world after losing power.
“No… don’t come over!”
Outside the cinema, a lucky young man who avoided being hypnotized staggered backward.
With his elbows propped on the ground, continuously leaning back, he looked terrified at the young man approaching him, whose eyes were blood-red, face hideous, and arms grotesquely distorted, baring sharp fangs dripping with blood.
A shadow flashed by rapidly; the female vampire’s head flew off, and her headless body twitched a few times before collapsing to the ground.
The surroundings fell silent once again as if nothing had happened. This was the second blood servant Jiang Yan had eliminated after exiting the cinema.
Standing in the empty fifth-floor corridor, Jiang Yan closed her eyes, fully sensing the changes in the surrounding auras, a wave of chaotic, violent, thick blood clan scents lingered above, mixed with the special rancid scent of expired blood.
She could confirm that this was the unique pheromone style of most “impure” lower-ranking black blood clans.
A few seconds later, Jiang Yan opened her eyes and dashed up the already halted atrium escalator, her body springing forth like an arrow, quickly making her way up to the next floor.
The sixth floor housed a large high-end nightclub and a few sizable restaurants; visibly more guests were lingering here compared to other floors, but now the entire sixth floor had turned into a realm of blood.
Several meters away, a middle-aged fat man with distorted, backward-bending legs was holding onto a beautifully dressed middle-aged woman, his bloody fangs sinking deep into her neck.
The woman’s body went limp, her pupils dilated, her chances of survival negligible, yet still being drained of blood by the thirsty fat vampire.
Jiang Yan surged ahead, her right hands wrapping tightly around the fat vampire’s neck.
Bending down to gather strength in her legs, Jiang Yan shoved the fat man’s body, weighing at least a hundred kilograms, like a cannonball towards the nightclub’s outer wall.
With a dull thud, a substantial portion of the fat vampire’s upper body crashed into the wall, a horrifying yet comical sight.
The marble wall, radiating cracks and fractures, was splattered with human tissue that had been crushed and broken under the high-velocity impact, featuring white brain matter, bright red flesh, pale bone fragments, and yellowish fat.
Seconds later, a weak but frenzied bloodthirsty aura shot in from behind, reminiscent of a cunning little demon flying in.
Jiang Yan pivoted, squatting down, and, with blood and brain matter still on her delicate right hand, swiftly drew a handgun from her bare upper thigh, aiming directly toward the source of the aura.
In Jiang Yan’s blood-red pupils, a distorted black-blooded higher servant emerged, its emaciated arms reaching hungrily towards her.
Five meters, four meters, three meters…
In the throes of intense bloodthirst, the higher servant had morphed into a monster, sharp black bone claws poised to reach Jiang Yan’s eyes, when a wild smile finally appeared on the girl’s cold face, followed by her squeezing the trigger.
In the darkness, a burst of gunfire illuminated the reckless monster and the smiling Jiang Yan.
At point-blank range, the bullet shattered a significant portion of the black blood higher servant’s skull, the second shot piercing through its chest.
The powerful impact of the large-caliber handgun shifted the descending vampire off its trajectory, crashing past Jiang Yan like broken furniture, barely missing her body, slamming into the marble wall and leaving a grotesque bloodstain and remains.
As the thoroughly twisted and deformed body of the black blood servant fell to the ground, Jiang Yan slowly straightened up, her gaze turning toward the nightclub entrance, her smile fading; there were still more enemies inside.
With her blood-red eyes devoid of any distraction, bright red lips, and an expression of cold determination, Jiang Yan, who had reached the pinnacle state of blood surge, had killed multiple blood servants and a lower-ranking attendant in less than two minutes, all without exception being black blood clans caught in severe bloodthirst.
With a flick of her wrists, brains and blood flew off, leaving eerie stains on the ground as Jiang Yan strolled deeper into the heart of the nightclub…
……
On the bustling streets under the night, flashing blue-red police lights, piercing sirens, and swinging searchlights formed a wall of special police surrounding the Wanquli Commercial Square in Q District’s CBD.
Yet curiously, not a single fully armed officer received orders to enter the mall at that moment, merely standing with puzzled and anxious expressions, staring at the vast darkness of the towering building beneath the night sky.
