Chapter 125: The Real Mission
December 22, Sunday.
In three days, with a planned journey of over three hundred kilometers, Mont Huai, after changing his appearance, completed multiple task route nodes and transportation changes, moving through a series of stops.
A carefully arranged and time-consuming U-shaped detour allowed Mont Huai to evade the blockade and tracking of the rotating battle zone. The special operations team minimized all risks for his escape plan and behind-the-scenes interference.
However, the unique technical blood invasion also led to obvious differences in Mont Huai’s bodily sensations during the early stages of the blood invasion—not just the exhilarating surge of physical strength, but he even experienced a strange faintness lasting eighteen hours midway through.
If it weren’t for the inn that highly respected the privacy of its guests, Mont Huai’s mysterious thirteen-hour shutdown could have raised some unnecessary suspicions.
After all, the southwestern border provinces have always been high-frequency zones for various transnational crimes, naturally having a strong public vigilance in terms of community prevention and control. The closer to the border, the more so for the towns.
At noon, Mont Huai, dressed like an outdoor hiking enthusiast, quietly entered Y Province’s L City’s Yuanqing Town, which was the third-to-last task route node in this escape operation and the rendezvous point he had agreed upon with Han Jie Li after the blood invasion.
Following the predetermined signal, Mont Huai easily found a guesthouse where he checked in, the specially forged identity by the special operations team allowing him to have fewer concerns.
After changing out of his sweat-soaked clothes from a night spent stealthily traversing the wilderness, Mont Huai gulped down water and drank the last tube of blood. The physical feedback from the rare blood was very pronounced, confirming that his body had successfully passed the most dangerous early stage of the blood invasion.
After bathing, Mont Huai leaned against the head of the bed and again flipped through the study materials of the Blood Dragon Squad, practicing some basic courses essential for lower-level vampires according to the methods outlined within.
Although he hadn’t undergone special tests, through various physical sensations, Mont Huai had already confirmed that he became a retainer after the blood invasion; as for whether he was a lower-level or mid-level one, he couldn’t be certain, awaiting the testing supplies that Han Jie Li was about to bring.
Taking a deep breath, Mont Huai activated the lowest level of boiling blood, instantly enhancing all senses by a hundredfold, and countless microscopic information from the surrounding environment began to enter his perception range.
It was wondrous and unbelievable; he could even sense a dying unknown insect under the bed, emitting pheromones. At that moment, Mont Huai felt as though he had become a complete vampire.
Confirming that there were no risks around him, Mont Huai moderated the boiling blood, allowing the previously amplified perception of the outside world to gradually revert to normal. It wasn’t that Mont Huai lacked risk awareness; rather, with his current level, prolonged boiling blood could more easily attract detection from higher-level vampires.
His significantly heightened hearing picked up footsteps from downstairs that were slowly approaching his floor. After a moment of thought, Mont Huai drew his pistol from beneath his pillow, gently chambered a round, and concealed it by the side of the door.
A specific rhythm of knocking came from the door. Mont Huai smiled and deliberately coughed. Soon after, the rhythm of knocking changed, eventually transforming into a single clap against the door.
The signal was correct; it was Han Jie Li, who appeared to be right on time.
“You actually arrived today, quite smooth sailing, Mont Ge… Ah, Mont Ge?”
As the door slowly opened, Han Jie Li, dressed in outdoor sportswear and carrying a travel backpack, stood before Mont Huai, but after just one second of eye contact, Han Jie Li looked stunned, as if he had encountered something shocking.
“It’s still you, but… the detail differences are even more! Incredible!”
He squeezed into the room, closed the door, and quickly set aside the backpack, circling Mont Huai several times before finally chuckling and shaking his head. “I guess the AI recognition system on the surveillance cameras won’t be able to recognize you anymore.”
“I’m planning to rest here for a day and head to Yuega Town to find Yang Jiu by tomorrow night.”
Mont Huai chuckled symbolically, turned to sit on the edge of the bed, and displayed a serious expression. “Now, can you tell me about the mission details?”
In fact, Han Jie Li was quite curious about Mont Huai’s experiences over the past several hours, but he hadn’t expected that the first words after their meeting would be this—without even any casual greetings.
Showing a slight bitter smile, Han Jie Li pulled out an odd old-fashioned sliding phone from his pocket and lowered his voice. “Comrade Mont Huai, from now on, you will take on the role of a strategic mission seed. The identity recognition password has been previously mentioned to you… The identity code is ‘Fearless Warrior.’ The mission code is ‘Demon Hunt.’ The mission duration is unlimited!”
“The mission details: Find and deal with Xia Yan and Gu Yao, regardless of life or death.”
“Comrade Mont Huai, please repeat that!”
After saying this, Han Jie Li handed the odd phone to Mont Huai.
Heh, Xia Yan and Gu Yao, right? Ultimately, it would still be Mont Huai who had to face them and resolve the issue. Mont Huai’s heart jolted but found the mission rather unsurprising.
The headquarters, especially the special operations team, had long elevated the significance of Xia Yan and Gu Yao to a strategic level, markers that would not be given up for decades, even centuries.
The core of the problem was likely the large meatball, a conspiracy that had drawn the special operations team’s attention for over half a century. From this, it could be seen that the threat posed by Xia Yan and Gu Yao was possibly even more terrifying than most high-ranking covert operatives might imagine.
Not sure how long he had been lost in thought, Mont Huai regained his composure, lifted his head, and saw Han Jie Li’s serious face still watching him. He softly repeated the latter’s words.
Throughout the entire process, Han Jie Li maintained his gaze fixed on Mont Huai’s face and eyes, seemingly trying to catch any potential emotional fluctuations.
Not avoiding Han Jie Li’s gaze, Mont Huai toyed with the odd sliding phone in his hand and casually asked, “How can I find their clues? Is it related to what you mentioned last time about joining the Luo family?”
Seeing Mont Huai’s emotions stable as always, Han Jie Li breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as he sat down at the edge of the bed. “Currently, the deep analysis and judgment from the headquarters’ intelligence agency strongly suggest that Xia Yan and Gu Yao are likely hiding within the Wang family’s vassal forces. Whether this is the intention of the Wang family itself is yet to be confirmed by you.”
As he spoke, Han Jie Li pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Mont Huai.
A long list of dense names—at least twenty to thirty bloodline families or wandering vampire factions—suggesting that simply verifying them one by one could take many years, a colossal challenge that would make anyone’s scalp tingle just to look at.
“Mont Ge, to be honest, the Wang family is a very unique orthodox vampire family, and our relationship with them is exceptionally complex and subtle… Seventy years ago, for the sake of strategic balance and basic mutual trust, our intelligence system did not directly target the Wang family, and they have naturally been very cautious. So, we can only rely on you to make contact and dig little by little…”
“However, we assess that the Wang family’s direct lineage has not yet accepted Xia Yan and Gu Yao. They should also have some reservations. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have used intermediaries to leverage us to eliminate the Tang family. If they had certain intentions, they would have found it easier to act directly.”
“Actually, before Xia Yan and Gu Yao were blood-invaded, your original strategic task was to approach the Wang family’s vassals and gradually get closer to the Wang family’s main line, providing intelligence to Covert Arrow. Now it’s just an additional and more specific target without conflict.”
After saying this, Han Jie Li’s expression turned awkward because all of this was classified strategic information at the headquarters level. If directly stated, it would be an untouchable gray area for long-term frontline combatants in their battles with the Wang family.
Mont Huai let out a soft snort, not showing any particular expression, but raised the odd phone in his hand. “So, this is how we’ll be communicating in the future? At least from a design perspective, couldn’t you all do a little better?”
“Well, this is a dedicated secure phone that was introduced twenty-five years ago, designed to withstand wear and tear under current technological conditions as much as possible. It only has a one-way dialing function; if I want to contact you, I can only send out a request for connection signal.”
“From now on, you’ll use this to contact me, or directly input your seed identity password to connect to the special operations team’s dedicated line… To prevent accidents, there is also a backup secure phone; you should remember its storage address…”
“Mont Ge, all call content will be recorded by the system, and the special operations team will do their best to meet any of your requests! If you fail to use the secure phone to check in with me for more than three years, the special operations team will suspect that your identity and mission details have been exposed, and you will permanently lose the identity and status of a strategic seed.”
“Must remember, all communication must be done using the secure phone; once you use another phone to contact me, I have the right not to answer or can only treat you as an ordinary vampire informant.”
Any so-called request implies unimaginable access to resource mobilization rights… Gripping the seemingly outdated sliding phone, Mont Huai was deeply shocked.
How many strategic missions are still ongoing under Han Jie Li now?
Carefully placing the secure phone inside his clothes, Mont Huai pondered something and couldn’t help but ask, “What if I need to take some action that conflicts with other strategic missions?”
Han Jie Li was taken aback and then lowered his voice. “It’s all strictly confidential, and I don’t know either. But you only need to ensure your task execution progress; don’t worry about the existence or opinions of others!”
Mont Huai said nothing more, simply giving a gentle nod.
“Mont Ge, today is most likely our last meeting… Apart from other contacting methods explicitly stated in the secure phone, I won’t appear before you… If I grow old and retire or die, a new straw man will be appointed according to established procedures.”
“Have a safe journey, Mont Ge!”
Han Jie Li stood straight, saluted, and didn’t wait for Mont Huai to return the salutation before directly turning toward the door.
As his hand grasped the doorknob, Han Jie Li slowly turned back, with an obvious bitterness in his voice. “Mont Ge, from now on, aside from executing tasks, you need to regard yourself as a true vampire, not an ordinary person. Once your mission is complete, you won’t be able to return to Covert Arrow. Besides accepting new tasks, you will have no other lifestyle options.”
The door closed, and Mont Huai remained dazed, sitting at the edge of the bed, expressionless, seemingly indifferent to Han Jie Li’s final words.
After a few minutes of silence, Mont Huai bent down and picked up the travel backpack left by Han Jie Li, unzipped it, and began to take out items to inspect.
An overseas bank card, a cleverly disguised passport from Myanmar, fifty thousand in cash, twenty thousand in US dollars, several gold bars, and various hormone suppressants and other vampire secret medicines. Most valuable of all was a box of boiling blood agents that could be used to bribe a vampire broker named Yang Jiu to recommend him to the Luo family.
The last unique item was two sets of special reagents that could quickly test bloodline ancestry and levels.
“Live like a real vampire, huh… Haha, no one has taught me how to do that.”
Muttering words that only he could hear, Mont Huai gave a self-deprecating smile, extracted a tube of blood, and dropped it into both sets of reagents.
Fifteen minutes later, the results from both tests came out simultaneously, finally revealing Mont Huai’s current level status.
The Altai vampire was slightly weaker than a standard upper-level retainer, basically aligning with his previous most optimistic estimate.
However, he also received an even more unfortunate result, as he hit the smallest probability: he was a “mixed blood from the Altai and Apennine lineages.”
This meant that although he had ultimately become an Altai vampire through the blood-invasion agent he received, the hidden Apennine lineage genes inherited from his mother reacted with the final blood-invasion agent, mutating into a dominant gene.
No wonder just a few days earlier he had experienced prolonged physical exhaustion for over ten hours; at the time, he thought it was due to severe thirst, but now it appeared to be a manifestation of the mixed reaction.
This implied that he would have an enviable growth rate that all vampires would covet, and the unique talents from the Apennine lineage remained, substantially alleviating the effects of most external drugs. However, he would be limited for life at the Knight level, forever unable to reach the Baron level.
This was the most precious legacy left by his mother, Meng Xiang, entangling his fragile fate in the undercurrents of destiny, the question of whether it was a blessing or a curse remaining uncertain.
Wiping the fluid from the corner of his eye, Mont Huai finished inspecting all the items and strapped the backpack onto himself, planning to head out for a meal that had already been delayed for too long.
…
In fact, over the past few days, Mont Huai felt that his most significant change wasn’t the microscopic alterations within but rather his drastically increased appetite, astonishing even him.
Due to the geographical correlation, dishes from S Province shared certain similarities with those from S Province. Freshness, aroma, spiciness, and sourness—such flavors were highly adaptable for Mont Huai, who had long lived in S Province, and even some dishes were rather to his taste.
Having missed the prime time for lunch, few customers were present in the small restaurant along the township road. To avoid exposing his identity, Mont Huai didn’t dare to order too many dishes, and he ate slowly, also packing extra food under the pretext of takeout.
Around two hundred meters from the small restaurant, in an auto repair shop, a rugged-looking middle-aged man was watching Mont Huai’s back intently.
“An upper-level retainer of a rare blood type, a wandering vampire smuggled back into the country… It was worth my following you for two days and nights, though I almost lost you…”
The middle-aged man smiled, then turned around to beckon the staff to hurry up and repair his dilapidated motorcycle, while also taking out a phone and walking to a secluded spot outside.
…
In C City, S Province, St. Ci Hospital.
“Xiao Ping Jie!”
As soon as Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao entered the ward, Jiang Yao was the first to greet, and the girl on the bed had already changed into her everyday clothes, a glimmer of joy flashing in her eyes but quickly revealing an awkward and embarrassed expression.
“All the exams this morning were passed, and the recovery is good; she can be discharged this afternoon!”
Su Xiaomeng nodded while flipping through the medical records and test reports in her hand. “Fortunately, we used a bit of RMCE last time; there should be no genetic damage, but she still needs to be monitored for another half month after returning home.”
During this time, Xiao Ping Jie, your little…
Upon saying this, Su Xiaomeng wisely exited the ward, leaving the space for the people from the Hyacinth.
“Xiao Yao, thank you for finding the medicine that helped Brother Zheng pull through. I’m sorry…”
Once the Jiang sisters were seated by the bedside, Zhou Ping lowered her head deeply, her voice as weak as a mosquito. “And Little Mei and Little Xia, they are all harmed because of me…”
Recalling the two friends who had unfortunately fallen in battle due to her impulsiveness, Zhou Ping couldn’t hold back the tears.
“It’s all in the past; don’t blame yourself anymore… Christmas and New Year are coming soon; everyone is waiting for you to be discharged to bring good luck!”
Jiang Yan gently touched Zhou Ping’s arm, her tone soothing, while Jiang Yao nodded in agreement, spending over ten minutes to help Zhou Ping relieve the guilt that had built up over time.
At least on the surface, no one blamed Zhou Ping for her earlier impulsive actions, nor did they question the motives behind her impulsiveness.
Or rather, in the face of what had already happened, all hindsight was meaningless. After all, since its inception, Hyacinth had experienced casualties in ongoing battles with the Blood Clan, which was no longer a rare occurrence.
However, in Jiang Yan’s view, Zhou Ping’s unusual reckless behavior must have underlying factors that others couldn’t comprehend, not merely an accident.
With Xiao Ling, who had a good relationship with Zhou Ping, absent from the club, it naturally fell to Jiang Yao to investigate. This was also hinted at by Wanyue when leaving the private villa in Longquan Springs yesterday.
“I’ll check on Brother Zheng next door. After lunch, let’s go back to the club together.”
Jiang Yan gave Jiang Yao a look and stepped out the door.
The topic started from a trivial subject, and when Zhou Ping learned that Zhao Peng had begun to ascend into hibernation, she was utterly shocked.
Driven by curiosity and good news, Zhou Ping’s chatter was finally pried open by Jiang Yao, and naturally, the conversation transitioned to Zhou Ping.
These were all the preparatory tasks that Jiang Yan had done for Jiang Yao. Otherwise, knowing Jiang Yao’s unpredictable nature, it was hard to guess where the conversation would lead.
“Actually, I wanted to make a contribution… I didn’t expect to implicate Brother Zheng and Sister Xiao Dong.”
Zhou Ping spoke softly, her face reddening, but the slight tremble of her shoulders betrayed her current sensitive feelings of entanglement and regret.
“Brother Zheng already said it was his fault for not clarifying things beforehand. But what do you mean by making a contribution?”
Jiang Yao smiled and patted her shoulder, as if such matters were trivial, while secretly curious about Zhou Ping’s explanation.
“If I could single-handedly take down one or two Blood Clan servants, according to Brother Zhao’s performance standard, I’d get a few extra thousand…”
Zhou Ping didn’t dare to look at her friend’s face, keeping her head down and her voice growing fainter; this reason certainly seemed rather absurd.
“Eh… That’s it? Are you short on money?”
Jiang Yao was flabbergasted, miscomprehending the conclusion that emerged from this review, and yet upon glancing at her expression, it didn’t seem like she was lying.
Perhaps it wasn’t just Jiang Yao finding it strange; everyone in Hyacinth might not have anticipated this.
“Xiao Yao, actually two months ago, I sold my house… Right now, I live in a rental apartment. I’ve been hiding it from everyone… because I didn’t know how to explain it.”
As Zhou Ping spoke, she began to wipe her eyes again.
Jiang Yao was completely dumbfounded; the impression of Zhou Ping as a small wealthy lady with a house and car was shattered, as she had emptied her savings after borrowing a considerable sum from Zhao Peng.
The room immediately lapsed into silence.
