Chapter 31: A Flood of Relatives
July 19, Saturday, early morning.
Although it was the weekend, it was also the duty day for Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao.
In fact, before dawn, Jiang Yan had already woken up, and soon after, Jiang Yao, with a face full of anxiety, walked out of her bedroom.
Her waist felt a bit sore, a certain part of her chest ached faintly, and her lower abdomen felt slightly bloated; it was as if her body housed a long-restrained volcano that was on the verge of eruption.
Days of constant self-comfort and brewing luck had vanished in the increasingly obvious alarms.
Both mentally and physically, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao had never been this sensitive. Having already lost all desire to sleep amidst their anxiety, the two got up and engaged in various meaningless activities around the house, rarely feeling the urge for breakfast.
Jiang Yan sat on the sofa, flipping through a classic foreign novel with a pretentious air. But she knew that she hadn’t absorbed a single word on the pages.
Jiang Yao flushed red in the face, even moving the heavy stone table and stools in the small yard to alleviate her inner anxiety and strange physical discomfort, using every means possible.
“I called the club and took a two-day leave… We… should prepare early; maybe it will happen today…”
Jiang Yan walked from inside to the small yard and quietly said to Jiang Yao, who was practicing military boxing.
“What… what do we need to prepare for…”
Jiang Yao avoided eye contact, stubbornly resistant.
“Don’t kid yourself; everyone can feel it. If it doesn’t come, we might really become monsters.”
Holding a cup in one hand and opening her palm to reveal a black pill, Jiang Yan offered it to Jiang Yao: “Here, it’s the medicine Wan Jie gave. Take it now!”
“Wouldn’t it be better if we really became monsters…”
Glancing at Jiang Yan’s indifferent expression, Jiang Yao helplessly swallowed the pill she tossed into her mouth, mumbling.
“Let’s go, while it’s still early, we need to buy things. Otherwise, it’ll be too late. Hurry up and change your clothes!”
Jiang Yan took down all the clothes that had been hung in the yard the night before, her expression growing increasingly serious.
“Buy… what things?” Jiang Yao was taken aback.
“What do you think a woman does when her period starts? Haven’t you seen all the nonsense online?”
Jiang Yan, holding back her anger, felt like kicking Jiang Yao.
“Then… couldn’t you just go buy it by yourself? I still have to do laundry…”
Jiang Yao’s expression changed rapidly, her ears burning, her gaze evasive.
“Ha ha.”
Jiang Yan smiled silently.
An hour later, the two returned home carrying a large bag of supplies.
“You clearly agreed to go together… yet you still made me go in alone! Sister, you’re so scheming!”
As Jiang Yao sorted through the items on the table, her face displayed strong dissatisfaction, reflecting on the awkward scenes from the supermarket just moments ago.
……
……
Between five and seven in the afternoon, it felt like a death knell was being sounded as Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao both crumbled under their physical distress.
Typically with good appetites, neither of them could even eat dinner this time, retreating to their respective bedrooms, firmly closing the doors and refusing all communication and interaction.
In the hot weather, they didn’t turn on the air conditioning, yet Jiang Yan felt her hands and feet icy cold. The pain from her abdomen, though not sharp, was the most indescribable torment she had ever felt, a relentless rollercoaster of suffering.
At the worst of times, Jiang Yan would have preferred to take a gun and end it all.
Several hours later, Jiang Yan gradually adapted to the physical ordeal, breaking out in a cold sweat as she insisted on getting out of bed, intending to go to the living room for water and to take the black pill Wan Jie had given her.
Walking into the living room, she picked up a cup of water and noticed Jiang Yao’s door tightly shut, utterly silent.
A heavy and slightly absurd atmosphere pervaded the house, and Jiang Yan couldn’t help but sigh.
She wondered how Xiao Yao was doing; she had always had trouble adapting to illness, feeling unwell at the slightest problem, and with something like this happening, she probably was having an even harder time… Concerned for someone, Jiang Yan pushed open the door of the secondary bedroom.
The moment the door opened, it felt like entering a new world.
The room was brightly lit, and a girl with long golden hair in a nightgown was squatting on a chair at her desk, with a computer on, wearing headphones and mumbling a string of gaming jargon into the microphone, utterly engrossed!
On the side of the computer desk, bags of chips, cookies, and cola piled up like a small mountain; a half-eaten popsicle was haphazardly placed on the table’s edge, its melted water dripping onto the floor.
Shock, anger, jealousy, helplessness, and grievance… a rush of emotions flooded into Jiang Yan’s mind in that instant.
She felt smoke almost rising from her head, her face darkening as she slowly walked to Jiang Yao’s side and gave a heavy slap on the head that was adorned with headphones.
“Sure, sure! Mid lane, mid lane! Ultimate, hey!? Sister, what’s wrong with you?”
Rubbing her head in pain, Jiang Yao turned her face in surprise, her expression filled with shock.
What’s wrong with me? I’m totally fine, not feeling ill at all. Isn’t that great? Why am I even angry… Jiang Yan twitched her lips, not knowing what to say.
“Ha ha, really into your game, huh? I just want to hit you… ah, ouch, not good!”
Just as she was about to say something scathing, she felt a sudden rush, a damp warmth at her thighs.
Crap, it’s leaking!
Rushing back to her bedroom, Jiang Yan grabbed a pack of sanitary products and darted into the bathroom.
……
Aside from the initial strong anxiety and nervousness, and the awkwardness in her psyche, Jiang Yao ultimately found that her first period wasn’t as terrifying as she had imagined. In contrast, it was Jiang Yan, who had always pretended to be calm, who was the one who faltered.
However, this was relative; compared to Jiang Yan, who had a more traditional experience with period discomfort, Jiang Yao had been feeling bone-deep pain all over her body ever since a few hours ago, a pain that seemed to come from her very marrow, causing her to break out in cold sweat several times.
Moreover, even after taking Wan Jie’s medicine, the intervals of blood cravings after entering her period had still fluctuated significantly. Just a few hours ago, Jiang Yao had already started to sense those familiar ominous signs.
Having had poor health since childhood, before leaving the welfare institute, for any major or minor ailments, it was either the grandmother director or Jiang Yan running to and fro to attend to her.
After experiencing a terrifying night, Jiang Yan had shouldered everything. Sometimes when Jiang Yao saw her staring vacantly at the sky, it made her heart ache.
To avoid worrying Jiang Yan and knowing that she would inevitably check on her condition in the middle of the night, Jiang Yao had deliberately staged the earlier scene.
But it seemed she may have overperformed; when Jiang Yan saw her playing games with cola and chips, maybe her mindset just broke.
Cleaning off the snacks from the computer desk, Jiang Yao noticed the time: it was already past midnight. Only then did she remember Jiang Yan had barely eaten anything today.
Since they both had become blood kin, their appetites had truly skyrocketed. Forget about her own stomach rumbling, Jiang Yan, in her current state, definitely needed to replenish her nutrition even more.
After tidying up her own room, Jiang Yao walked into Jiang Yan’s room. Seeing the girl leaning against the headboard, her face pale, Jiang Yao felt a wave of sadness, though on the surface, she still wore a playful smile.
“Sister, are you feeling better?” Jiang Yao carefully approached, offering her a cup of warm water. “You didn’t eat dinner; should I go make something?”
“You can cook… ha ha.”
Jiang Yan replied with a forced smile, turning to look at Jiang Yao’s bright, smiling eyes, her own expression easing somewhat, perhaps thinking that at least tonight, they wouldn’t have to suffer in silence.
“I’ll go check the kitchen!”
Ignoring Jiang Yan’s teasing, Jiang Yao turned to head out.
“Come back. For the past few days, we’ve been eating lunch and dinner at the club, and we barely have any ingredients at home for you to waste. I’ll go…”
Jiang Yan shook her head, her expression serious, resolved to get out of bed.
Sigh, big brother has always been like this; he used to earn a high salary in the shadowy forces but seldom used it on himself, living frugally, and every year continuously sending money to the grandmother director and herself… Jiang Yao felt a slight sting in her nose.
“Don’t! I can manage!”
Jiang Yao quickly held Jiang Yan’s body down, determined not to let her work for herself anymore today.
No matter how much Jiang Yan distrusted her cooking skills, Jiang Yao boldly filled a pot with water, planning to cook a big, filling noodle dish.
After several attempts to ignite the gas stove, there was no flame… It was still working at noon; when did it run out of gas? Jiang Yao stood frozen.
“Out of gas?”
With great effort, Jiang Yan made it to the kitchen doorway, feeling both amused and exasperated.
“Don’t get up. I remember there’s a Lanzhou noodle shop at the street corner that stays open late. I’ll go buy a few servings! Back and forth will take at most half an hour. It’s faster than delivery and cheaper!”
Before Jiang Yan could react, Jiang Yao decisively pulled her back to the bed and covered her weak body with a comforter.
“Then… be careful! Bring a knife with you.”
Jiang Yan hesitated for a few seconds but nodded.
Walking back into the living room, Jiang Yao glanced at the medical refrigerator in the corner. After hesitating repeatedly, she went over and opened it.
Inside the refrigerator, apart from the blood bags for Jiang Yan, there were a few bags of special small packets of blood that Jiang Yan had saved up for Jiang Yao, all drawn from her own body.
Big brother knows my blood cravings have shorter intervals and has been silently preparing everything for me… Jiang Yao quietly wiped the corners of her eyes, took out a bag, and drank it down.
The blood carried the unique sweet fragrance of a rare blood type; Jiang Yao squinted her eyes, feeling the blood’s gentle smoothness from her mouth down to her stomach. It seemed to ease her bodily discomfort and bone pain, warming her all over.
Changing into a T-shirt and jeans, Jiang Yao slipped on a pair of sneakers and stepped out the door.
……
……
Under the night sky, illuminated by the dazzling urban lights, in an inconspicuous place, lay a quiet little world that had nothing to do with the flourishing nearby lights.
This old neighborhood, ever since it became a cultural heritage site of C City, had increasingly become more charming. However, a few years back, when motor vehicles were banned, life here gradually became less convenient and more isolated.
Many old residents had moved into new apartments elsewhere or followed their grown children to relocate. Along the several hundred meters of narrow alleys, families still living there were dwindling, mostly consisting of elderly folks who nostalgically clung to the past.
Earlier in the evening, the alley had become eerily quiet, with only a few dim lights twinkling in the dark alley, resembling a broken strand of pearl necklaces.
Dark shadows emerged from both ends of the alley and approached each other, ultimately gathering outside a small courtyard. After a few seconds, the shadows dispersed, vanishing into the darkness.
A beam of light from a mobile phone’s flashlight appeared from the alley’s end, accompanied by light footsteps. A girl with long golden hair, carrying a large thick paper takeout box, slowly walked deeper into the alley.
Not sure if it was due to her period, Jiang Yao felt her body’s sensitivity heightened significantly. A few unfamiliar, menacing auras quietly emerged from the dark depths of the alley.
Jiang Yao’s expression changed slightly; her pace halted as she quickly retreated into the shadow against the wall, setting down the takeout box and slowly retrieving a knife from her waist pouch.
“Hehe, so cautious… little girl, what are you doing out here alone at this hour?”
A frail man dressed in a strange cloaked black shirt stealthily emerged from a nearby dark corner, his overly mysterious appearance reminiscent of some online memes.
“Who are you?”
Jiang Yao lowered her voice, squatting slightly to lower her center of gravity, ready to unleash her blood boiling at any moment. The taboo against blood boiling for female vampires on their periods had been a stern warning she received from her female colleagues at the club, but now she had no choice.
“Tsk tsk, what a delicious scent. Is it your period? You’re quite lucky today… We’re all your relatives!”
The thin man in black grinned wickedly as he approached, the overwhelming aura fueled by his activated blood boiling crashing against the narrow alley, making Jiang Yao acutely aware of the intense threat and hostility.
“You’re Black Blood Clan!?”
Just like Zhao, a Black Blood Clan knight!
No, there’s more than one!
Jiang Yao abruptly turned her head, her pupils constricting sharply.
In the dimly focused vision, a strong figure had already leaped into the air.
