Chapter 168: Blood Red Valentine’s Day (Part 2)
At the entrance of the old street in Yushui Street, District J, the Jiang sisters once worked hard to make a living.
On this cold early spring night, blessed by Valentine’s Day, the small food stall at the entrance was doing good business, mostly filled with young couples.
There were no well-dressed urban white-collar workers, nor any extravagantly wasted roses. It was all the love and warmth of the ordinary folks at the bottom of the social ladder.
It was a bit awkward; the small shop was now bustling with people, and Jiang Yan’s imagined late-night snack was off the table.
Jiang Yan went to a nearby convenience store to buy water. Meng Huai stood still, looking around, and gradually, some dreamlike changes appeared before his eyes.
A team of armed special police officers in black uniforms ran silently down the street, fleeting and elusive, with even a few fiery figures passing through him, like an illusion receding into the past.
One tall special police officer, wearing a mask, had a particularly familiar silhouette, somewhat reminiscent of Meng Huai himself…
The scene shook again, and suddenly the small shop returned to a summer night. It was packed with people of all ages, the silent hustle and bustle vibrant around them. At a small table, a tall young man in plain clothes was drinking with a girl with black hair, their table stacked with bottles.
The black-haired girl seemed in a bad mood, drinking heavily without regard for the young man opposite her…
Jiang Yan approached, holding two bottles of water, and found Meng Huai surprisingly standing still at the street corner, gazing blankly at the small shop nearby, his eyes filled with confusion.
“Meng Huai…”
Jiang Yan hesitated for a moment, quietly walked to his side, and gently nudged him.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I think I’ve been here before… so many people, and you… it feels like just yesterday.”
The distant look in Meng Huai’s eyes faded instantly, a hint of a smile appearing on his lips. A few seconds later, he took the mineral water from Jiang Yan’s hands.
Whether it was that hair salon, the convenience store, or the auto repair shop, it seemed all had new owners, transformed into unfamiliar faces. Though their enthusiasm remained, the once familiar greetings and small talk had vanished.
Perhaps since the night Jiang Jie fell, everything here started to drift away from what he once knew, including the Meng Huai before him.
Yes, it was just like yesterday, but the people were no longer the same… Jiang Yan fell silent, looking around, feeling a bit lost and helpless.
“Let’s not eat, let’s walk a bit.”
Meng Huai glanced at his watch, it was exactly 10 PM, and there were still two hours left of Valentine’s Day.
Jiang Yan smiled and followed behind Meng Huai. The two slowly strolled along the street, and before long, they reached a wider city main road.
The old street was left behind, and before them opened a splendid view filled with the sounds of cars and horses, dazzling lights everywhere, shining high rises, the pride and luxury of the city once again filled their sights.
The old street behind them seemed like a forgotten paradise, hidden in the crevices of this prosperous world.
“I heard your sister is out on a mission today. Aren’t you going to contact her?”
Walking on the overpass, Meng Huai was a few meters ahead when he suddenly turned around and said. Noticing Jiang Yan’s dazed expression, a strange smile appeared on the handsome young man’s face.
“Ah?”
Jiang Yan came back to her senses and remembered what happened to Xiao Ai and Jiang Yao that evening.
She quickly pulled out her phone and discovered numerous missed calls, nearly all from Xiao Ai.
“Hey, Sister Xiao Ai, I’m sorry! I had my phone on silent and didn’t notice. Is everything going smoothly? How did Xiao Yao perform…”
A minute passed, and Jiang Yan’s phone fell to the ground. Her expression turned blank as if she had heard some shocking news.
“What’s wrong?” Meng Huai sensed something was amiss, quickly returning to Jiang Yan’s side, squatting down to pick up her phone, his expression serious. “We need to hurry back, right?”
Jiang Yan’s face was pale, her shoulders trembling slightly. She quickly retrieved her phone and attempted to call Jiang Yao, but it went unanswered again and again.
“Meng Huai, we need to go back to the club! Xiao Ping is in trouble!”
The moment Jiang Yan finished speaking, Meng Huai grabbed her hand and ran toward the intersection a hundred meters away.
…
A Bentley SUV slowly stopped at the red light in front of the street, both men and women inside appearing a bit tired.
“Only two hours of shopping, and you’re hungry again… If you want authentic C City snacks, you have to come to an old street area like this.”
Zhong Jing held the steering wheel, turning his head to look at Hekawa Haruka in the passenger seat, who seemed a bit unwell. “Are you not feeling well? Do you want to go back?”
Hekawa Haruka had extracted five hundred milliliters of “blood deficiency” today; her body had not fully recovered. Coupled with menstrual disruptions, she appeared weak and fatigued.
Hekawa Haruka quickly perked herself up, vigorously shaking her small head, thinking, “Whatever Jing-ge wants to eat, I’ll eat!”
The green light ahead turned on, and Zhong Jing chuckled quietly, slowly pressing the accelerator.
His gaze accidentally swept over the overpass, where a young couple was sprinting quickly.
Zhong Jing’s pupils constricted, and then he rubbed his eyes, fixing his gaze on the two disappearing figures that had just dashed down the overpass.
“Wait for me in the car for a moment!”
Zhong Jing quickly turned the car right for a few meters, not caring whether stopping here would violate traffic rules, then dashed out.
He frantically chased after them for a while, but unfortunately, the two familiar figures he had just seen had already climbed into a taxi and sped away.
“Could I have been mistaken? Those two people… were they Big Brother and Jiang Yan?”
Zhong Jing supported himself on his knees, gasping for breath on the roadside, intensely staring at the departing taxi.
“Jing-kun!” Behind him, Hekawa Haruka hurried over, lifting her skirt anxiously. “What happened?”
“It’s nothing… I saw it wrong; I thought it was an old college classmate.”
Zhong Jing straightened himself, supporting the slightly unsteady Hekawa Haruka, his face returning to a nonchalant smile. “Just some interesting old acquaintances. I didn’t expect to find them in C City…”
“Hmm, could you introduce me to Jing-kun’s friends in the future?” Hekawa Haruka’s cheeks reddened.
Zhong Jing smiled, noncommittal.
…
11 PM, C City, District C, an old community in the eastern suburbs.
This was one of the many former state-owned enterprise residential areas in C City’s old industrial zone. Besides being relatively clean, both the interior and exterior retained the old-fashioned layout, quietly waiting for demolition policies to arrive.
The dense, low, old-style residential buildings blocked every patch of land like tofu blocks, old and dim.
At the entrance of a small alley, an SUV suddenly stopped, and a blood-soaked Liu Changkun was dragged out by Jiang Yao, heavily thrown onto the ground.
Liu Changkun’s limbs were in bad shape, with only his left leg intact; he was now gasping for breath, barely alive.
The car belonged to Xiao Ai, and Jiang Yao didn’t even know how she drove it here, her entire body exuding an aura of killing intent.
“You actually mixed in with the Black Blood Clan, loan sharking, running gambling dens, prostituting, coercing wandering blood clans into selling themselves… How could the Wang family take in such scum like you?”
Jiang Yao said coldly, pulling out her phone and looking at the countless missed calls and the double-digit unread message notifications, directly turning it off.
No need to guess; they were definitely all calls from Xiao Ai or Jiang Yan, but Jiang Yao didn’t want to listen to anyone right now.
“Let me go… I’m just trying to get by… I can’t afford to offend the Black Blood Clan or the Wang family…”
Liu Changkun lay on the ground, groaning, his eyes vacant, knowing he wouldn’t see tomorrow’s sun.
Without listening to his explanations, Jiang Yao grabbed Liu Changkun’s only intact left leg again, dragging him along like a sack of mud as they slowly walked into the dark alley.
…
For decades, the original state-owned enterprise workers’ residential areas had transformed into dilapidated old buildings primarily rented out. The tenants had complex identities, and not all the houses were used for living.
Various small micro-enterprises’ signs flickered with local neon lights, covering the external walls of the residential buildings, colorful and offering a myriad of services, including some comically absurd ones.
On the first floor of a tenement building with a small financial service company sign, eight or nine men of various heights and builds were sitting together in an office drinking, with the only luxurious single sofa occupied by a tall bald man.
“Brother Lin, you’re really something!”
One of the lower knights, pouring a drink for the bald man while giving him a thumbs up, flatteringly praised him.
As soon as he spoke, everyone in the room began to echo.
The bald man raised his glass, glancing around at everyone, and after nineteen seconds, he said indifferently, “Taking breakthrough pills is dangerous; it’s life-threatening… Everyone should lay low during this period as the boss is always on the lookout for people.”
“The boss said that this year he will cultivate a select group of individuals, and the performance of our small loan company will depend on everyone’s efforts. Additionally, the debt collectors should find more people; you should try to minimize personal appearances, as the Wang family is like rabid dogs looking for our troubles.”
Forced by the beast to take those so-called breakthrough pills, the feeling was akin to being torn apart, which suddenly made the bald man’s heart race. But his luck was good; he actually managed to pull through and successfully advanced to the position of a baron, becoming a lower-ranking Caucasian baron.
A baron, even if it was a big fragile shell hastily grown by taking breakthrough pills, the boiling blood status and boiling blood stability would not see much improvement compared to before the promotion, but it still allowed him to cross a threshold that most vampires could not reach in their entire lives.
The bald man chuckled to himself, and a slight air of disorder and laxity began to emerge.
However, even this air still made the subordinates in the room light up with excitement.
“Hehe, rest assured, Brother Lin, there are indeed people outside who are collaborating with us, and we can still play some interesting games… That Liu Changkun has recently brought us a lot of business.
A Caucasian middle-tier knight who looked as naive as a junior high school student walked over to the bald man, wearing a fawning expression.
“Hmm, I know this person. He’s quite well off in G District as a wandering blood clan, and he only considers money. Good, everyone needs to broaden their horizons; anyone who can bring us benefits can befriend us.”
The bald man nodded, downing his drink with satisfaction: “However, the ones we need to catch must be captured; don’t let them go before we’ve caught them. The tension outside is still relatively high; be cautious when out and about.”
Saying this, the bald man turned his head to the previous Caucasian middle-tier knight, patting him on the shoulder: “Although you haven’t relied on me yet, your performance over the past few months has been commendable, and you unearthed Liu Changkun’s line. Keep up the good work. Once you become a top-tier knight, I’ll secure an opportunity for you to receive specialized training from Boss Cao.”
“Thank you, Brother Lin! Thank you, Brother Lin!”
The short, boyish figure revealed surprise, repeatedly nodding and bowing.
“Brother Lin, a woman has rushed in. She looks like a top-tier knight, but she’s not from the Wang family!”
The door opened, and a panicked black blood clan attendant rushed in with a disheveled expression.
As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone in the room froze, even the bald man looked stunned by what he heard.
In the room, besides the bald man, there were also three black blood clan knights, one middle-tier and two lower-tier ones. In theory, even if the bald man did not make a move, overwhelming a top-tier knight should still be fairly easy.
“Hehe, a top-tier knight, this will be left to you… Make sure to kill her. If anyone tries to escape, I’ll eat them!”
Tilting his head and staring in a certain direction, the bald man decisively waved his hand after a few seconds, then stood up, leaving the office slowly with a look of disdain.
In the room, everyone, including the short middle-tier knight, exchanged puzzled looks.
The sounds of fighting and agonizing screams could be clearly heard from the first floor. The bald man rushed out the door, only to find both left and right clear, he tucked his body down, and sprinted desperately down the hallway, leaping straight into a dark alley.
This is really terrifying; that woman is not normal… The bald man ran frantically, beads of cold sweat appearing on his forehead.
As a newly promoted baron, his sense of breath was naturally much more sensitive than that of his subordinates in the office.
In that faintly familiar yet non-boiling blood aura, he faintly detected an extremely dangerous scent, a domineering murderous intent that seemed poised to tear his fragile body apart at any moment.
…
Some lazy young ethnic minority youths from the impoverished border areas of S Province have long been a dedicated group of hired thugs in the underground gray industries of S Province, especially in loan sharking and gambling, with the so-called debt collectors making up a significant proportion of this population.
Growing up in poverty and idleness, this group has cultivated a bold and violent style. Coupled with certain unsatisfactory legacy policies, these individuals act recklessly.
The survival rule for them is to work hard, showing that as long as one dares to fight, they can come out on top, naturally becoming favored by criminal powers. It’s bold to say that a considerable portion of these individuals has a habit of heavily abusing drugs, becoming desperate outlaws willing to do anything.
In the dim, old-fashioned corridor of the tenement building, such a group of people was brandishing machetes and iron rods, gnashing their teeth, faces twisted, attacking a light-haired young girl with madness.
The dull sounds of bodies colliding, the crisp sound of blades hitting the ground, under the poor lighting of the hallway, chaos erupted, and pandemonium ensued.
“You killed Sister Xiao Ping; a group of you should all die!”
Jiang Yao’s face was cold as she dragged the already lifeless Liu Changkun’s body forward. Without even looking, she elbowed a skinny thug who had suddenly charged out of a dark room back inside.
After breaking through the door, the skinny thug was knocked out and landed heavily on the ground with a muffled sound.
“Brother Lin, run!”
Jiang Yao shouted, pulling Liu Changkun to flee outside.
“Brother Lin, run!”
Jiang Yao continued to shout, pulling Liu Changkun as they rushed out.
“Brother Lin, run!”
Jiang Yao shouted again, dragging Liu Changkun out.
“Brother Lin, run!”
With a forceful shout, Jiang Yao continued to pull Liu Changkun out.
“Brother Lin, run!”
Jiang Yao urged again, pulling Liu Changkun out.
“Brother Lin, run!”
With another shout, Jiang Yao kept dragging Liu Changkun outside.
“Brother Lin, run!”
Jiang Yao shouted once more, pulling Liu Changkun away.
“Brother Lin, run!”
With urgency, Jiang Yao continued pulling Liu Changkun outside.
“Brother Lin, run!”
Jiang Yao shouted again, dragging Liu Changkun outside.
“Brother Lin, run!”
Jiang Yao yelled, pulling Liu Changkun out.
As Liu Changkun’s body was thrown back into the room, the force was unyielding, crashing hard against the wall at the end of the room. The overwhelming force crushed his sternum, causing broken bones to pierce his lungs, yielding a hoarse gasp like the sound of wind escaping, before he slowly slid to the ground.
With one more kick, another burly thug was sent flying, crashing against the ceiling of the corridor before rebounding and falling to the ground, spitting blood and unable to rise again.
People kept being thrown out, either tumbling over the corridor railing or crashing into the opposite wall, yet it did not affect the thugs’ frenzied assault.
From the first to the second floor, at least ten people were recklessly dispatched by Jiang Yao, either dead on the spot or with missing limbs. This brutal efficiency finally awakened the remaining thugs, who scattered like birds and beasts.
Throughout the ordeal, Jiang Yao hadn’t even activated her boiling blood, nor did she need to release the grip on Liu Changkun she was still holding.
The vampire, especially Jiang Yao’s comprehensive physical response, was entirely incomparable to these ordinary ruffians.
Even without going all out, she could easily take down these thugs. This fierce, solitary execution of her enemies contrasted greatly with her fresh, charming appearance.
Finally, the corridor fell silent, with only the twitching, grotesque forms of men lying on the ground, no one else left standing, and by now, only a few beads of sweat had formed on Jiang Yao’s brow.
The current floor was the so-called office of the small financial service company, the unhidden black blood clan aura already swirling around. A cold smile appeared at the corner of Jiang Yao’s mouth.
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Yao directly kicked open the sliding door in front of her, then threw the limp Liu Changkun inside.
Intense gunfire erupted, and the airborne Liu Changkun was riddled with bullets, his body sprayed with dark blood mist, crashing lifelessly into the room, already beyond recognition.
The nine men in the room said nothing, scattered hiding in various corners, holding guns that had run out of ammunition, their eyes locked tightly on Liu Changkun, who lay crumpled at the office door, looking tense.
As the gunfire faded, silence enveloped the scene, with only two figures obsessively pulling their triggers, making a hollow click of empty chambers.
Jiang Yao appeared at the door, her expression icy, scanning the black blood clan members one by one as if observing corpses.
“It’s you!?”
The short middle-tier knight hiding behind the sofa blinked in surprise; he seemed to recognize the pale blonde girl bursting in.
Jiang Yao and the short black blood clan knight’s gazes met, and her pupils constricted—she recognized him too, or rather, this bloody underground black blood clan stronghold in J City had forever etched it in her memory.
The diminutive black blood clan figure, looking just like a middle school student, was precisely the Caucasian middle-tier knight Jiang Yao had encountered during her first raid against the black blood clan in J City, who had escaped that night!
“Haha, little girl, you were really cocky just now, but unfortunately, we have three knights here… Today, let my brothers have some fun!”
A lower-tier black blood clan knight casually tossed aside his empty gun, massaging his wrist, appearing relaxed. The others in the room immediately burst into laughter, thinking the girl was just a pitiful lamb who had wandered into a den of wolves.
In the uproar of laughter, a wave of bloodthirsty energy rose, and except for the short Caucasian middle-tier knight, the eyes of all the men glinted with deep red blood light.
“Seven, eight, nine… nine of you, tell me, how do you plan to die?”
Jiang Yao smiled sweetly, then her expression froze, activating her blood boiling, unleashing an information surge that erupted like a high-energy container, a storm of suppressed pheromones sweeping through, overwhelming everything in its path, fiercer than the combined force of all in the room.
This was an explosive wave that could easily crush ordinary men—bloodthirsty, berserk, ferocious—instantly overpowering almost all the black blood clan members in the room.
Two lower-tier black blood clan attendants trembled as their bodies crumbled with exhaustion, collapsing to the floor before losing all strength, their faces flushed red as if someone had choked them.
More strange gunfire erupted again, but this time it wasn’t a second wave from the black blood clan—they were shots fired from Jiang Yao’s silenced Uzi submachine gun, drawn from her jacket.
Dozens of bullets were expended in two seconds, and three black blood clan members, who had momentarily lost their grip on the blood boiling sensation because of Jiang Yao’s pheromone surge, were shot dead on the spot, their bodies collapsing into charred remains scattered across the office.
Before the opponents could counterattack, Jiang Yao’s rapid assault collided with the nearest lower-tier black blood clan knight, hitting him like an unstoppable locomotive, deforming his body.
Before anyone could even reorient their dynamic vision, Jiang Yao had already seized one of the black blood clan attendants by the neck, swinging Liu Changkun’s lifeless body with a whoosh and smashing it into a metal filing cabinet with a resounding crash.
The metal cabinet instantly crumpled like paper, the unfortunate fellow’s upper body embedded within it, leaving only his lower abdomen and legs twitching outside.
Jiang Yao’s lips curled into a cruel smile as she tightened her grip on the other’s neck, pulling with all her might; a black blood clan attendant’s head, along with a long section of bloody spinal column, shockingly rose before everyone’s eyes, his eyes wide open in death…
…
The mixed aroma of the black blood clan rapidly diminished, and the partially intact and dismembered bodies lay scattered across the office.
In under three minutes, amidst the chaotic scene, not a single intact black blood clan member remained. Blood soaked the ground, and flesh and bones were everywhere, excessively grisly.
“Tell me, where are the videos and photos? You might get to live.”
As the blood red in Jiang Yao’s eyes gradually faded, she sat atop a lower-tier black blood clan knight, her silver dagger raised high, ready to strike at any moment.
“Please, big sister… The collateral for our loan sharking operations is in the safe over there, the code is… No! I’m not lying; you can go check!”
The distorted half of a lower-tier black blood clan knight’s face was filled with endless fear, trembling all over as if he might lose control of his bladder, crying pitifully with snot and tears.
“Hmm, okay, then you can die.”
The silver dagger in Jiang Yao’s hand plunged directly into the eye socket of the black blood clan knight beneath her, penetrating his brain, igniting flesh and blood, his head began to char at an observable speed from the inside out.
Finally looking back at the scene, the diminutive Caucasian middle-tier knight had already fled shortly into the fray, but he had been hit by a silver bullet, making it impossible for him to run far in such a short time.
…
The short black blood clan member grasped at the bullet wound on his right chest, baring his teeth, too afraid to unleash his full strength, yet too scared to easily retreat his boiling blood, he could only continue leaping forward across the low tenement building’s roof.
That girl has become even more terrifying than a few months ago!
He even suspected that the bald man named Lin had pretended to stay calm while leaving early, sacrificing his men to be cannon fodder in the face of that girl.
“Damn it, Hyacinth, don’t think you’re safe just because you have the Wang family protecting you. When I get the chance, I’ll make you and your lot pay… Heh heh…”
The short black blood clan member spat, his body leaping into a narrow alley between residential buildings.
Most residents in this area were long-term migrant workers in C City; it was already past midnight and Saturday, with the cheap nightlife in full swing.
“Do you think you can escape?”
As the short black blood clan member was about to take off his tattered coat, he saw a slender and charming silhouette slowly approaching from the front.
With blood splattered on her hair, dress, jacket, stockings, and hands, the girl’s pretty face was filled with murderous intent, and her eyes displayed contempt.
“Aren’t you afraid of misfiring at ordinary people here? Don’t think that just because you have the Wang family backing you, if anything big happens, the dark arrows will target you as well; the Wang family won’t necessarily protect you!”
Looking around, the short young man didn’t feel intimidated despite his circumstances; instead, he straightened up, issuing menacing threats while slowly retreating.
Threatening me is useless; I just want to kill you… I’ll find some way to drag Xiao Ping’s boyfriend into this, then gradually back you all into your loans…
Jiang Yao moved forward slowly, twirling her silver dagger, her tone icy: “When did you discover Xiao Ping’s identity?”
“Hehe, I originally thought it was just Liu Changkun randomly running into a wandering blood clan member, but coincidentally, it was her… I had leverage; she’s a Hyacinth, but so what? She didn’t dare to resist and was used by us as a toy, haha!”
“Tsk tsk, I’ve watched those videos many times; they’re simply too enticing, perfect for serving rich gentlemen… Ah, and I even said that I’d try her out next time after tonight…”
“Initially, you all wrecked my Overlord Society; isn’t it normal for me to reclaim a bit of dignity?”
“Are you done? You can go die now.” Listening to his deliberate provocations, Jiang Yao’s expression turned increasingly cold.
“It seems you’re really bent on ending my life, hehe. Then let’s just have some fun!”
After that, the short black blood clan member halted his steps, disregarding the silver bullet embedded in his body, unleashing the full force of his boiling blood, his throat bulging grotesquely, finally opening his mouth and aiming at a nearby residential building.
A high-energy subsonic attack was launched, right towards ordinary people within the residential building, the short black blood clan member had completely lost his sanity!
Jiang Yao’s pupils dilated, her complexion drastically changed, and her body propelled forward at high speed, raising her silver dagger…
