Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Gao Chengyu remained hidden, his whereabouts unknown, yet he effortlessly investigated Liang Jing’s workplace.
To eliminate Liang Jing, he sent her a pen holder containing Lilith.
Liang Jing, without suspicion, placed the pen holder on the lab table. Inside, the dormant Lilith influenced her thinking, causing the usually cautious Liang Jing to abandon the lab door.
As a dormant entity, Lilith lacked the power to kill Liang Jing directly, nor did she have the power to possess her. She could only wait for an opportunity— for someone to break in, allowing her to create conflict.
A few days later, the intruder arrived—Weng Zichen.
Lilith was overjoyed and hastily exerted mental influence, making Weng Zichen even more irritable and violent.
However, the situation spiralled out of control— the dormant Lilith’s original plan was to have Liang Jing knocked unconscious or even killed by Weng Zichen, then possess her. Unexpectedly, Weng Zichen was bitten by a poisonous snake first, losing consciousness.
Lilith, of course, didn’t want to waste this opportunity. Moreover, the snake venom in Weng Zichen’s body made him the perfect vessel for her, a snake demon.
Therefore, Lilith changed her plan, deciding to possess Weng Zichen directly before killing Liang Jing.
The possession was successful, but the subsequent actions completely failed.
Weng Zichen’s personality was far too arrogant, self-centered, and impulsive. After being possessed, he actually rejected Lilith’s control! Instead, he recklessly created an illusion and a riddle for Liang Jing according to his own desires.
Lilith wanted to kill Liang Jing, but Weng Zichen had no intention of killing her; he only wanted revenge, to make her understand his art, and to make her apologize!
Li Yuebai had no time to analyze the emotional entanglement between Liang Jing and her husband. All his thoughts were focused on one question— where exactly was Gao Chengyu?
“When you received the package, did you pay attention to the sender’s address?” he asked Liang Jing.
“I glanced at it; I only remember it was from a neighboring city. I didn’t keep the packaging,” Liang Jing shook her head.
Actually, even if she kept the delivery slip, it would be impossible to find anything out of it. Sending packages was so convenient these days; the address and phone number on them could be fake, or the sender could simply leave the items and money at the agreed location for the courier to pick up. There was no way to find any clues.
Knowing Liang Jing’s personality, if he didn’t tell her the truth, she would definitely continue her solo investigation, causing even more trouble. Therefore, after considering it, Li Yuebai briefly explained the vampire-related matters to her.
“So, the murderer has come back to life and is still alive?” Liang Jing slammed her hand on the table in disbelief, biting her lip. “I’m not reconciled! He must receive the punishment he deserves!”
She wasn’t feeling well; her blood sugar was low, her face was pale, and she swayed as she spoke, almost fainting.
“That’s our department’s task. You should rest first and provide assistance if necessary.” Li Yuebai sighed, signed the statement, had Liang Jing put her fingerprint on it, and after completing all the formalities, left the interrogation room with Ye Qing.
Now, Weng Zichen had been sent to the isolation ward of the military general hospital, and Liang Jing had also been assigned a special agent to protect her, so her safety should be guaranteed.
The higher-ups had also begun to pay attention to the defence against vampires and had even started planning to establish a special agency.
Li Yuebai took Ye Qing back to the rented apartment, and after a short rest, resumed his conversation with the system.
“Where is Gao Chengyu now?” Li Yuebai asked the system in a deep voice.
“I don’t know.” The system replied with a grin, its answer crisp and clear.
He hadn’t expected it to provide much help anyway, so this answer wasn’t surprising.
“You should at least tell me the vampire race Gao Chengyu belongs to, right?” Li Yuebai’s tone was becoming increasingly fierce, as if he wanted to smash the system.
“Ah! I know that!” The system’s voice instantly rose several octaves with excitement at the mention of this topic: “He doesn’t belong to any race, he’s unique!”
“Unique?” Li Yuebai frowned.
So far, as far as he knew, both Countess Karnstein and the maid Ampsa were races with countless individuals, none of whom dared to claim to be unique.
“He is Vlad III!” the system whispered mysteriously.
“Vlad III?” Li Yuebai found the name very familiar.
“The vampire among vampires, the king among kings,” the system said. “I think you’d better just give up now.”
GG, short for GOODGAME, means to admit defeat and quit the game.
Whether in *Examination of Blood Charms* or other sources, there was a lot of information about Vlad III. He was active in the 15th century, the progenitor of vampires, and the ruler of Wallachia. He was incredibly powerful and invincible; inherently cruel, he not only frequently massacred enemy prisoners but also enjoyed using cruel methods to execute his own people and nobles… His era was the tail end of the Middle Ages, leaving a bloody conclusion to the dark Middle Ages.
Li Yuebai’s gaze swept over line after line of text describing Vlad III, and a frequently appearing word stung him— impalement.
All the records stated that Vlad III’s favorite method of killing was impalement.
Using sharpened stakes or pointed spears, he would impale the victim alive and then enjoy watching their struggle.
In one war, to intimidate the enemy, he ordered the entire plain of Wallachia to be used as an execution ground, impaling 20,000 prisoners on stakes. The land was deathly silent, filled with blood and the stench of decay, while crows cackled and pecking at the corpses. The enemy king, witnessing this, was terrified and declared: “I fear no enemy, except the devil.”
Li Yuebai felt a pang of sorrow, involuntarily recalling the scene when Liang Tian’s body was discovered. Liang Tian had indeed died from being impaled by countless sharpened iron pipes, taken from the iron bed in the morgue and then sharpened at one end by some unknown force… This was very much in line with Vlad III’s style.
Moreover, Liang Tian had mentioned on the phone before his death that the hole in Gao Chengyu’s head had shrunk, clearly indicating it was healing.
When exactly did Vlad III’s dormant entity possess Gao Chengyu’s body?
The morgue building was newly built, a concrete structure, spotless inside and out; there were no known artifacts inside. If there were artifacts over five hundred years old, they would have been handed over to the state long ago.
The bureau carefully examined Liang Tian’s belongings, finding only modern items like a cell phone, computer, and keys, and certainly no artifacts.
The hearse was also brand new.
Perhaps this dormant entity drifted in from somewhere else.
The hearse transported the body here, passing through countless places along the way. Perhaps while passing an antique shop, the dormant entity smelled the body’s scent and followed the hearse.
At this point, investigating the origin of the dormant body was largely unnecessary, but Li Yuebai still retrieved the dashcam footage from the hearse and reviewed it with Ye Qing. The dashcam recording initially showed a normal journey: driving onto the main road, passing various commercial streets, overpasses, and traffic lights… At 23 minutes and 45 seconds, the camera seemed to flicker abnormally, revealing a fleeting, dark shadow in the corner of the view. It appeared only for a moment and was completely indistinct.
Even zooming in to improve clarity, only a rough outline was visible.
Intuitively, Li Yuebai believed there was a 70% chance it was Vlad III’s dormant body.
“Judging from the shadow’s trajectory, it most likely floated out of that car over there,” Ye Qing tapped the screen.
The car over there was a black, extended Lincoln with a distinctive emblem— the emblem of the city museum!
Li Yuebai immediately made a call to the city museum.
It turned out that on the morning of Liang Tian’s accident, the city museum had used that black Lincoln to transport a batch of important cultural relics, including precious items such as 15th-century Wallachian gems, a gold crown, and a dagger. Due to their small size, they were all placed in a safe, and the museum director and several experts personally transported them, accompanied by personnel from the city’s cultural relics bureau, armed police, and museum bodyguards. The security measures were quite thorough.
On the other end of the phone, it seemed to be the curator. Upon hearing that it was the city bureau calling, he immediately requested to answer personally.
“Hello, officer, hello, hello,” the curator’s voice was very kind and refined. “It just so happens that I was just thinking about whether to file a police report. Since you’ve called, I’ll take this opportunity to explain the situation. If a statement needs to be taken, I can come to the station.”
“Please go ahead,” Li Yuebai smiled politely and urged the other party to speak quickly.
“It was the day I personally transported the Wallachian artifacts that something strange happened, but nothing was lost. I didn’t want to trouble the police, so I kept quiet.” The curator’s voice was full of doubt. “Shortly after I got in the car, I checked my watch. It was exactly nine o’clock, not a second more. I looked out the window, turned my head, and checked my watch again— it was already 9:10!”
The secretary’s teasing voice came from the other end of the phone: “Curator, aren’t you making a big fuss? You’re too embarrassed to bother the police with something so small?”
“It’s not just that. When I looked at the combination lock in my hand, it was open!”
“Were the artifacts inside stolen?” Li Yuebai asked.
Of course, it was obvious that nothing was stolen, otherwise, he would have reported it to the police long ago.
“No, that was the strange thing. Not a single one of the valuable artifacts inside is missing!” The curator said, “I was so anxious at the time that I was sighing and complaining. The comrades from the cultural relics bureau and the experts next to me even checked it for me. In the end, they concluded that not only were none of them missing, but they were all the originals, and they hadn’t been switched.”
“Who else had the combination lock?” Li Yuebai asked.
“I personally know the first three digits, and the last three digits are each known to one of the three experts in the car,” the curator replied.
“Are you the only one missing time?” Ye Qing interjected.
“Did everyone else also jump from nine o’clock to nine ten in the blink of an eye?” Li Yuebai asked.
“I also asked other comrades, and some said the time seemed to have suddenly sped up, while others said they hadn’t noticed. The driver said everything was normal.” The curator sighed, “The armed police officers were meticulous, so they asked the driver if he had passed any important landmarks between 9:00 and 9:10. The driver said yes, he passed a large shopping mall at 9:05. It was having its opening, and they had set up a stage with music and dance blasting loudly. We should have seen and heard it when we passed by. The driver subconsciously glanced at the dashboard and remembered the time as 9:05.”
“Hmm.”
“I’ve tried to recall it myself, but I have no recollection of passing the shopping mall. I asked other people, and they didn’t remember either.” The curator’s tone was full of doubt. “Sigh, now that the cultural relics have all been exhibited and returned to their rightful owners, I have no fault or responsibility. Anyway, I’m about to retire, so there’s no need to hide anything. I might as well report this to put my mind at ease.”
“Yes, you’re right. Thank you for your honesty.” Li Yuebai’s words were very sincere.
People in such positions were usually very cautious, avoiding saying anything if possible and covering things up as much as possible, for fear of being questioned about any wrongdoing. The reason this curator dared to tell the whole story was threefold: first, he was about to retire; second, none of the cultural relics were missing; and third, everyone in the car saw the safe being magically opened. He couldn’t keep it a secret forever, and it might be exposed one day. So he decided to take the initiative and contact the police in advance, making himself appear more innocent and upright.
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