Chapter 15: Night Battle with the Black Blood Clan
In a brightly lit classroom, with learning materials spread out before her, Xia Yan focused intently on the instructor at the front.
“… Vampires, or what we call blood clans, do not solely rely on ordinary human blood for sustenance, as most people might think. In certain situations, they can also consume the blood of their own kind in emergencies.”
“… According to existing data, since the eleventh century, there has been a group within the blood clan that specifically preys on their own kind. They trace their origins to a pure-blooded, primordial belief. This group is reviled by what is known as the orthodox blood clan, viewed as heretics within the blood clan, and they refer to themselves as the Black Blood Clan.”
“However, blood clan members below the rank of baron that prey on their own kind may suffer from unstable negative effects on themselves, particularly a weakening of their boiling blood control ability. Yet, hunting their own kind can also accelerate the enhancement of their overall strength and increase the possibility of breaking through their realms; it’s a case of both good and bad coexisting.”
The instructor set aside the lesson plan and surveyed the students present: “The ideas and actions of the Black Blood Clan are quite extreme and stand in stark opposition to the orthodox blood clan, engaging in mutual slaughter, which in a sense also limits the expansion of the orthodox blood clan.”
“Can we consider this a form of self-cannibalism among vampires, giving rise to certain more powerful individuals through the law of the jungle from a probabilistic perspective?”
A student quickly raised their hand to ask this question.
“That’s a good question. The Black Blood Clan is numerous, and their growth rate surpasses that of the orthodox blood clan. Note that it is merely the growth rate, not their true strength after realm breakthroughs.”
“Based on combat comparisons, the majority of the Black Blood Clan show a state of ‘excessive impurities,’ with combat power at around 80% that of the orthodox blood clan at the same realm.”
In the classroom, the interaction between the instructor and the students began to heat up. Xia Yan smiled and closed her notes.
……
……
Under the dim streetlights, on a remote suburban country road, fields of harvested rapeseeds lined both sides.
Jiang Yan walked ahead with a travel bag, while Jiang Yao lagged behind, looking dejected.
In such a remote area, especially after midnight, there were no ride-hailing services available. At their current pace, they would reach the main road in about ten minutes, and then they could try calling for a taxi.
“Some lessons can’t be remembered unless you experience them firsthand. What Huang Gu said when we broke up, did you even hear it!”
Jiang Yan turned her head back, slowing her steps so she could walk alongside Jiang Yao again.
“Brother, I’m sorry, I was just curious… But what kind of power does that old hag have? It felt so terrifying; I really thought we were dead!”
Jiang Yao glanced nervously around, still a bit shaken.
“Wait a moment…”
Suddenly, Jiang Yan stopped in her tracks, extending her hand to block Jiang Yao’s path.
At the fork in the road ahead, beneath the dim streetlight, a scruffy, emaciated middle-aged man stood quietly in the center of the path, his face the color of pig liver, with a pair of blood-red eyes wide open.
A wavering aura, mixed with confusion, despair, and brutality, slowly emanated from the man, spreading into the night.
Gradually, the man’s pheromones began to show signs of boiling blood control going awry, weak yet exhilarated, the crimson in his pupils becoming increasingly vibrant, his blood temperature rising.
If there were a portable thermal imaging night vision device, one would fear that the man in front of them had a surface temperature exceeding 40 degrees!
He was a vampire of no low rank! Moreover, he was in the late stages of blood thirst, acting out in a final frenzy!
Jiang Yan had already drawn her pistol, a cold sweat forming on her forehead. The vampire in front of her, in a frenzy, emitted pheromones that, although not as overwhelming as those of the previous Wan Yue, far surpassed Huang Gu, the mid-level attendant they had encountered.
Jiang Yao jumped to the side, gripping her dagger in reverse, slightly lowering her body to adjust her stance, her expression grave.
“Heh heh, two blood servants, and such tender young girls… It really is a path where there is no end… After all these years, I sold my house, sold my car, sold my factory… Wuwu, in the end, I’m still nothing… I’ve never harmed ordinary people. I just want to live! Just want to live!”
The man growled in a low voice, speaking nonsensically, his eyes seemingly about to weep blood tears, his blood-red gaze greedily fixated on the two girls.
“Brother, he’s gone mad…” Jiang Yao whispered.
Jiang Yan did not respond, slowly holstering her pistol and swapping it for her dagger. They were only a hundred meters away from a residential area; using her gun would inevitably alarm others.
Moreover, facing such a vampire, who might have already reached knight level, it would be difficult to stop his close-range attack unless they all fired a semi-automatic shotgun together.
“Big brother, if you want blood, I can give you two bags.”
Jiang Yan tried to speak softly while signaling Jiang Yao with a gesture to take a roundabout path, slowly moving her steps toward the fields and small woods to the side of the path.
“I joined the Black Blood Clan, do I need your two bags of blood… What the boss said is right, everyone below baron is just ants. To survive, you must hunt, especially you wandering blood clans like mice! Hahahaha!”
The man sneered, his face distorting due to the uncontrollable boiling blood, appearing both comical and terrifying.
Under the streetlight, the man’s figure disappeared just as Jiang Yan activated her boiling blood, and she felt a flash of shadow dart in front of her.
Her body suffered a heavy blow, rolling backward in a high arc until she hit the ground, feeling a sharp pain in her abdomen. A gaping puncture wound felt like it was about to penetrate her entire body. As for the dagger in her hand, she had no idea where it had gone.
Hunched over, the man, now resembling a ghoul, licked the blood from his distorted fingertips, revealing a bizarre smile: “Haha, still a rare blood type! So tasty… it’s my lucky day!”
Jiang Yan’s defeat occurred in less than three seconds, while Jiang Yao had just managed to rush to the side of the man.
A knee strike collided with the man’s elbow, but the man blocked Jiang Yao’s powerful attack at an impossible angle for a normal human arm.
His body only slid half a meter to the side before he completely stabilized himself, twisting his exaggerated neck to look at the now pale Jiang Yao.
“Heh heh, I misjudged you, I thought you were just a mid-level blood servant. After boiling blood, you nearly approach the level of a high-level attendant. What kind of rare breed are you, monster? Haha! But compared to knights, you’re still a notch lower!”
Before the words finished, a bony arm, carrying a foul wind, swung toward her, with five fingers completely distorted into long brown bone claws.
“Go to hell, you ghost knight!”
The light golden-haired girl shouted, and her bright dagger flashed directly past the joint of the man’s arm.
As the bone claw plunged into Jiang Yao’s body, the withered arm of the twisted Black Blood Clan knight was also severed, the severed end emanating the signature black smoke of silver ions burning through the vampire’s flesh.
However, Jiang Yao’s desperate engagement did not gain her a decisive advantage; she merely cut off half the man’s arm, and that half of the forearm with the bone claw was now embedded in her left rib.
Before Jiang Yao could fall, another slender shadow lunged at high speed.
With a cold expression and a pair of blood-red, dazed eyes, Jiang Yan clambered onto the shoulder of the distorted Black Blood Clan knight.
Her legs locked around his shoulders, her left arm tightly clutching his head, and with her right hand gripping what was left of his upper arm, Jiang Yan seemed to lose her reason at that moment and opened her mouth to bite the withered neck.
In her blurred vision, the distorted Black Blood Clan knight seemed less horrific and disgusting. Instead, he exuded a sweet fragrance that ignited an overwhelming desire to bite into him.
Fueled by the intensity of boiling blood and caught in a state of blood thirst, Jiang Yan unleashed a fierce instinct to both bite and suck; an incomprehensible eerie flavor instantly filled her throat.
The blood of a vampire in boiling blood state contains a special protein known as the blood invasion factor, which signifies a life-altering change for ordinary people, but it has no meaning for vampires anymore.
The only value lies in the blood of a blood clan in boiling blood state, which is considered to have higher ingestion value and taste by the Black Blood Clan.
However, this time, the distorted Black Blood Clan knight felt something different; his whole body stiffened as if he had received a powerful tranquilizer, and a peculiar coolness slowly surged from deep within his body, like a giant ice cube being tossed into boiling water.
With the last remnants of consciousness, the distorted knight vampire desperately reached back with his intact left arm toward the dark-haired girl, the forearm’s claws embedding deeply into Jiang Yan’s thigh.
Seconds later, the distorted Black Blood Clan knight, drained of all energy from his thirst for blood, slowly collapsed to the ground, silent.
“Brother… can you hear me… Heh heh, you killed this bastard… Heh heh, the two of us just took out a knight… With hidden arrows, we’re almost unique too, right…”
Jiang Yao yanked out the embedded forearm claw, pressing against her rib wound as she moved to lie next to Jiang Yan, gasping heavily, her dirty face wearing a proud smile.
“Cough cough… don’t speak… I’m so tired, I want to sleep… I feel a bit hot…”
“Brother… me too… so tired… I want to drink your blood, can I…”
“My thigh is pierced… saved me a knife… move it yourself if you want to drink…”
The two girls, stained in red, lay in a weed-filled field, weakly exchanging sentences, sounding carefree.
The light golden-haired girl curled up, lying on the dark-haired girl’s thigh, tearing open the torn jeans, clinging to the resilient thigh, licking and sucking without the least bit of reservation.
The high-load boiling blood state gradually faded, but Jiang Yan, in her daze, did not feel the arrival of blood thirst; instead, she felt warmly enveloped, as the blood and flesh of the distorted Black Blood Clan knight she had just devoured seemed to be triggering a peculiar reaction within her.
After several dozen minutes, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao fell into a stupor, and if one did not see the blood stains all over them, one might think they were just asleep.
At the end of the small path, two headlights gradually brightened as an SUV approached. Wan Yue got out of the car, surveyed the chaotic scene, and lit a cigarette, deep in thought.
With a gentle sigh, she first lifted both girls into the back seat, then took out a body bag, stuffed the distorted vampire knight’s body and the severed forearm claw inside, and cleaned up the bloodstains from the scene.
……
Early summer, dawn, darkness slowly receding.
In an old residential area in District J of City C, at Unit 303.
Jiang Yao slowly woke up, feeling an indescribable discomfort throughout her body. As memories rushed back, she suddenly sat up, only to find herself sleeping on the sofa.
“How did I end up at home? Was it all a dream last night?”
Jiang Yao looked around the familiar living room in confusion; if it weren’t for the blood-stained, torn clothes she was wearing, she might have thought it was all a dream.
“Brother!”
Jiang Yao recalled something and rushed into the bedroom, where she found Jiang Yan lying quietly on the bed, covered in dried blood, still fast asleep.
Rushing back to the living room, she discovered the travel bag for blood bags on the floor next to the sofa was empty. Eagerly, she opened the small medical blood cooler to find it was neatly stocked with the blood bags she had bought yesterday, none missing.
Furrowing her brow and surveying her surroundings, she finally spotted a note on the dining table.
“You two little brats took me half the night. Luckily, I found your rental agreement in the wallet of the dark-haired girl; otherwise, I would have left you to fend for yourselves in the wild.”
Did the old hag bring us back?
Jiang Yao’s mind flashed to that mature, enchanting face and alluring figure—the avant-garde woman who had caused her and Jiang Yan to abandon their defenses with just a glare.
