Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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The streetlights passed one by one, their light growing weaker and weaker— because the sky was getting brighter, and it was already dawn. The vehicle continued along the highway until a tollbooth appeared ahead.
Li Yuebai composed himself and slowly drove towards the tollbooth.
He stopped in front of the barrier and rolled down the window.
The tollbooth worker glanced at him indifferently, held out his hand, and didn’t even bother to say a word.
Li Yuebai handed over twenty yuan in change, and a pleasant announcement immediately sounded: “Twenty yuan toll paid. Have a safe journey.”
The barrier rose under program control, allowing him to pass.
Li Yuebai closed the window and breathed a sigh of relief.
Sure enough, nothing unexpected happened; Director Wang had agreed to his conditions and hadn’t issued an arrest warrant.
In other words, even if he turned around and drove straight back to the city, there wouldn’t be any problem, and his former police colleagues wouldn’t come to arrest him.
It was already daylight; no more vampires would appear.
Ye Qing… still nowhere to be found.
A long-lost sense of security and anxiety surged into Li Yuebai’s heart. He then realized that his hands gripping the steering wheel were trembling slightly. Prolonged mental tension, fighting more than one battle, and being possessed by the Vila dormant entity had altered various bodily indicators. He was now only one step away from mental and physical exhaustion.
He slightly turned the steering wheel, and the car exited the highway onto a side road, heading towards a quiet forest park not far away. It stopped in a deserted little square, and he locked the doors, lowering the curtains covering the windows— the car’s windows were ordinary glass; to prevent others from seeing him, he had to press a button to lower all the curtains, even the windshield, completely obscuring the interior.
Li Yuebai didn’t even have time to loosen his coat before falling asleep— an overwhelming sense of exhaustion had swept over him, plunging him into darkness.
He didn’t know how long he had slept for. Waking up felt like crawling out of a deep swamp, or like waking from a long and painful nightmare. His body was still aching, but his mind was much clearer. No sunlight pierced through the curtains; it was already evening outside.
Once the sun set, the vampires would likely be out and about. Was he safer in the suburbs or in the city?
Li Yuebai considered for a few seconds, then gave up on the decision— with his vila constitution, nowhere was safe.
Suddenly, a small cell phone in his pocket emitted a crisp melody, startling Li Yuebai— someone was calling. Liang Jing had given him this phone before they parted in the early morning; it couldn’t be anyone else calling.
“Xiao Gu, there’s some initial progress,” Liang Jing’s voice sounded tired on the other end of the line. “It’s about the blood composition.”
“Huh?” Li Yuebai snapped out of his daze.
“Do you know about ferroprotoporphyrin and gamma-glutamyl transferase?”
“No.”
“Then I won’t use the technical terms, I’ll explain it simply.” Liang Jing’s speech quickened: “All mammals have a component in their blood, which we’ll call X. The concentration of X is relatively low in the blood of other animals, but high in human blood. Therefore, human blood is food that vampires readily accept.”
“Hmm.”
“And in your blood, the concentration of X is… a thousand times that of an ordinary human.”
“A thousand?” Li Yuebai was stunned upon hearing this number, immediately understanding just how special Vila’s constitution was.
Vampires were extremely sensitive to X, easily able to smell the scent of this blood. As for sight and hearing, it was an innate ability to distinguish, allowing them to identify Vila from their appearance and voice.
After hanging up the phone, Li Yuebai had to admit that he had absolutely no idea how to escape.
Escape to any place could attract vampires. The only safest and most secure option was to seek refuge with the National Security Bureau. However, this would expose him to the risk of being used as a test subject. Moreover… there might be traitors like Director Wang within the National Security Bureau. This path seemed safe, but it was actually passive.
He opened the map app on his phone and glanced at his location. The map clearly showed it— a small square in the suburban forest, with coordinates 36°42′51″N 116°56′8″E.
In any case, staying in one place for too long was not good; he should leave first.
Li Yuebai started the car and pressed the button to control the curtains. The black curtains, which had previously covered all the windows, were slowly drawn back, revealing the outside scenery.
It was already dark. A few ground lights illuminated the square, but the surroundings were deserted.
Li Yuebai surveyed the road conditions and decided to drive onto the highway.
Just as he was slowly moving forward, a loud bang rang out, the car jolted violently, and stalled.
Judging from the sound, it was definitely not an ordinary engine stall; it sounded more like someone had violently sabotaged the engine.
But there was no one around. Who…?
Li Yuebai’s heart tightened, and he instinctively reached under the seat for his long, silver-plated, rattan-patterned sword, only to realize that he had left it in the city police station parking lot. In an instant, he felt like a scumb*g boss who had abandoned a loyal subordinate and was about to suffer retribution for it.
Without the sword, Li Yuebai could only silently pull out his gun, unbuckle his seatbelt, and stretch his aching limbs.
The next second, several muffled thuds were heard, and countless dark figures pounced on the car windows from below!
The impact was heavy; the windows creaked and groaned in pain, one side even shattered, and the car doors were instantly deformed by the crushing force.
The car windows, which had just been opened by the curtains to let in the light, were once again completely blocked.
Clinging to the car window were several figures— or rather, vampires.
Their faces were pale, their features contorted, their eyes wide and greedy, fixed on Li Yuebai. Sharp nails dug furiously into the windowpane, leaving crooked, jagged marks. Several of them bared their sharp canines at Li Yuebai through the glass.
Vampires were far stronger than humans; soon, the car door was teetering on the edge, and countless hands with long, sharp nails reached in.
Li Yuebai jerked away from the driver’s seat, narrowly avoiding the hands. He then turned, firing several bursts of bullets through the gaping door. Several screams rang out as the two vampires at the front were shot in the heart and fell backward.
If he had remained trapped in the cramped car, he would have been dead.
Fortunately, the sunroof could be opened manually from the inside.
Li Yuebai fired a shot at the roof of the car and heard a heavy thud as the bullet hit the roof. He then quickly opened the sunroof and climbed out.
Standing on the car roof, he didn’t feel much of a commanding position— the vampires were too close, and upon seeing him, they immediately began frantically climbing onto the roof.
For a moment, Li Yuebai couldn’t tell if they were vampires or zombies. Why had the elegant and noble vampires of literature become like this? Was the allure of drugs really that strong? The only saving grace was that the vampires’ mind control abilities only worked on humans, not other vampires or vilas; otherwise, he would have been completely controlled long ago.
He pushed off with his feet, leaping onto the head of one of the vampires and landing on the solid ground of the plaza. He quickly walked a few steps to a large, tall stone statue in the center of the plaza— a perfect vantage point for a defensive maneuver.
Reloading his gun, Li Yuebai narrowed one eye and aimed at the charging vampires.
There were too many vampires. Even after dealing with the ones he’d just dealt with, about ten remained, and they all seemed quite capable; some of his bullets were even dodged.
Why? He’d clearly closed the car doors and concealed his face with the curtains, so why were so many vampires still finding him here?
Even the cleverest Li Yuebai had overlooked something. He hadn’t realized that Director Wang had already uploaded his photo, license plate number, and car model clearly online. As long as he was driving this car, he would be found by the drooling vampires no matter where he went.
Cold sweat began to seep down his back. At this rate, he’d soon be swallowed up by the swarming vampire army… What to do? Was he really going to die here?
“System,” Li Yuebai gritted his teeth and summoned the system, “I want to contact Ye Qing.”
Since establishing their alliance, the system could provide both Li Yuebai and Ye Qing with the same information, meaning he could use the system as a communication tool to contact Ye Qing.
Before this, Li Yuebai truly didn’t know how to face Ye Qing, so he hesitated to use this method of contact.
What should he say? Apologize again, saying he shouldn’t have turned him into a vampire without permission?
Ask him how he managed not to eat him?
Ask him how he killed that little girl?
Ask him how he fared during his escape?
….
None of these would work.
So, only now, in this life-or-death situation, did Li Yuebai finally make this difficult decision.
Many people say that before death, a person experiences a series of life events flashing before their eyes, but right now, Li Yuebai’s mind was filled only with Ye Qing.
“Dear host, I must remind you that your voice will drive Ye Qing into a frenzy,” the system said.
“I know, so I’ll send him a text message.” Li Yuebai fired a few more bullets; the vampire was getting closer.
“Dear host, what text message would you like to send?” the system asked slowly.
“…Come save me!” Li Yuebai no longer cared about saving face or maintaining his composure. “Even if you eat me afterwards, whatever, just come save me…”
“Okay, request approved. Text message being sent, successfully sent.” The system cheerfully recited the steps one by one.
Less than a second later, Ye Qing’s voice rang in Li Yuebai’s mind.
“Li Yuebai, where are you?”
Ye Qing’s voice was hoarse and tired, even with a sigh, but the calmness and composure in his tone were exactly the same as the young man before he became a vampire.
Too fast. Such a response speed must have been the moment he saw the message and replied.
“…” Li Yuebai was so distressed that he almost dropped the gun in his hand.
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