Chapter 23: Dark Transaction
Volume 2 – Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 23: Dark Transaction
Just as the clock struck three, the sky started to darken.
As the remaining sunlight was blocked by an upper continent, Qianye woke up and ate before checking the condition of his body. He was surprised yet again, the injured organs were mostly healed. It seemed that a vampire’s regenerative power was very strong.
Because of this, the Combatant Formula Qianye practiced lost its biggest obstacle, allowing him to improve upon himself greatly. A Fighter King’s thirty cycles was evidently not even his limit!
Qianye checked the Light of Daybreak one last time before coming out of hiding and running toward Blackflow City.
As of this moment, the gates of Blackflow City were still open. It was in accordance to the habits of the upper continents, only upon midnight would the city doors close, while they opened strictly at six in the morning.
Blackflow City was not afraid of the ambushes laid by the dark races. It was a land of humans, with a dozen surrounding satellite guard villages and thousands of expeditionary soldiers stationed in the city. The distance between the city and the army was only a few hundred kilometers, so Blackflow City simply mimicked the Empire’s habits and did not think much of the dark races.
At this moment, Qianye already had a thick beard and a head full of yellowish hair, resembling a young scavenger. After paying fifty copper coins, he smoothly entered the city.
Like a true scavenger, Qianye found the cheapest hotel he could find to stay in and started monitoring Qi Yue’s movements.
The Qi family was a prominent family within Blackflow City, the main figure being Qi Yue’s father, a lieutenant quartermaster of the military school of the expeditionary army, which was a position equivalent to a lieutenant colonel. At the same time, Qi Yue’s uncle was the financial minister of Blackflow City.
With such a background, the Qi family was ranked in the top five of Blackflow City, rivalling a second rate family in the upper continent’s Empire. Of course, the Qi family in Blackflow City was only a distant, small segment of the main clan.
Qianye’s information regarding the Qi family was very complete.
Qi Yue was a rank two Fighter cultivating the techniques imparted by his family, which enhanced his mental and physical defense, but lacked in offense. Qi Yue’s hobby was collecting origin guns. He had collected a few exquisite pieces, but with his ability as a rank two Fighter, he couldn’t display the true power of most of them. Mr. Wang, who had died by Qianye’s hands was indeed the uncle of Qi Yue, and also the director of the Qi family’s business.
After Mr. Wang’s death, Qi Yue became much more prudent, bringing at least two guards with him everywhere. However, Qianye noticed that there was only ever a rank three guard at his side, while a rank four guard never appeared.
After three days of observation, Qianye could not find any opportunity to attack. However, Qianye was very patient. For a mission, Qianye had once laid on the ground for a full week without moving. This bit of waiting was nothing to him.
At midnight of the fourth day, Qianye suddenly noticed a cargo truck leaving the Qi family mansion, heading towards the city gates. This was an ordinary truck used to transport food, but Qianye smelled something different as it drove past. The cargo was accompanied by the pungent smell of fresh blood.
There was someone inside! And this scent of blood that Qianye had specifically remembered proved that Qi Yue was there.
Qianye stayed motionless as he waited for the truck to move away before coming out of hiding, using the darkness of the night to conceal himself as he tracked the truck.
The truck reached the originally closed gates, but after the passengers spoke with the guards, the steam engines operating the gates rumbled once again, causing the thick, steel city gate to open. The truck exited the city, disappearing into the night.
Qianye watched as the truck left. He did not leave through the city gates, but instead chose to climb over an unmanned portion of the city wall, chasing after the truck. In the wasteland, Qianye’s vision was unobstructed, so he didn’t need to worry about losing sight of the truck.
The truck drove about a hundred kilometers before stopping before an obsolete power station.
Qi Yue jumped out from the cargo truck along with two other men, as if waiting for something. One of them seemed to be a guard, while the other was an elder who appeared to be only a rank one. In a place like the wastelands, such strength was barely enough for self preservation.
Qianye hid a kilometer away and silently observed.
Despite it being night time, Qianye could still clearly see, his ability even stronger than a pair of good night vision goggles. The newborn night vision ability was much stronger than he expected it to be. As of today, Qianye would not need binoculars anymore within five hundred meters.
Only after about an hour did three shadows appear in the darkness of the night, moving towards them like ghosts.
Qi Yue signaled with his hands and the elder next to him walked to the truck, lifting a case from the truck before walking behind Qi Yue. Qi Yue’s guard unhesitantly rose his origin gun, aiming at the three men heading their way.
Qianye suddenly felt a faint ripple of blood energy coming from the three of them. They were vampires!
Qianye was shocked, he hadn’t expected that Qi Yue’s purpose in sneakily exiting from the city was to meet with vampires! Qi Yue was the young master of the Qi family, and it was rumored that Mr. Wang had another secret identity. His appearance here was nothing simple.
Qianye didn’t hesitate anymore. He immediately started to stealthily sneak towards them at a slow pace, hoping to catch their conversation.
He was surprisingly successful. Under the cover of the terrain and the night, he moved fifty meters closer before stopping.
He was an expert in stealth to begin with, and now that he had the physique of a vampire and possessed their trait of having cold blood, his body heat could be reduced even lower, annulling the temperature sensory ability of the vampires. On the other hand, he could also control his body’s blood energy by using his origin power to shroud it, preventing it from spilling into the atmosphere, and annulling the humans’ equipment for detecting vampires as well.
The three vampires showed no fear despite being at gunpoint.
The leader of the group spoke with a croaky, old voice, “Don’t tell me that you think this shitty gun can threaten us? Don’t forget, if we were to compare origin weapon mastery, us sacred bloods would be much better.”
Qi Yue laughed, “It’s just another added precaution. Even if this gun is no good, it’s loaded with a mithril bullet inside. I paid a great price to obtain it, and as long as it isn’t an emergency, I couldn’t bear to use it.”
The three vampires members trembled, now even taking a step back.
The leader of the three was enraged. “You actually prepared a mithril bullet! Are you insulting me?”
Confronted by three powerful vampires, Qi Yue was not flustered in the slightest, speaking steadily, “No! It’s the opposite, I treat this transaction very sincerely. This bullet is the proof of my sincerity. I hope this transaction can pass smoothly, and I hope even more that our future transactions can similarly pass smoothly. If my actions have offended you, I believe the benefits of our transactions are more than enough as repayment.”
The attitudes of the three vampires eased after they heard this.
The leader signaled with his hands for the companion behind him to take out a suitcase and to stand beside him. This suitcase was the stereotypical style of vampires, black in color with polished, matte lines and bronze decorated corners. Its workmanship was intricate, just the materials and workmanship were rare. To contain something with such a case, its value would not be small.
With a signal of his hands, the elderly person behind Qi Yue walked forward with a practical and simple box in his embrace. His two arms carried the case straight, and every step he took was full of caution, as if he was afraid of shaking it even slightly.
“This case has a special precautionary feature. Once it is activated, it must be kept steady, and after three hours, it will automatically unlock. Within this period of time, if it moves by five degrees, it would… bang!” Qi Yue’s hands gestured an explosion.
The leader glanced at Qi Yue and coldly spoke, “You’re indeed very careful.”
Qi Yue smiled. “I don’t have a choice. Against a powerful rank four vampire, there’s no such thing as being overly cautious. Like I said, my goal is to successfully complete this transaction.”
That old vampire snorted, but he could do nothing. As long as he took this special case, he would not be able to escape the mithril bullet. And to prevent any accidents within the next three hours, he would need to leave immediately, as anything could happen on the wastelands.
Qi Yue’s plans completely crushed the vampires’ thoughts of stealing.
Despite this being the first to a series of transactions, in most vampires’ eyes, humans were still the slaves and food they had since a thousand years ago. Whether they complied with the agreements or not, it solely depended on their mood.
Before arriving, this old vampire had indeed prepared to kill and then steal the goods. As for trading, he could simply just find another person. Humans were great in number and there were others than the Qi family in Blackflow City.
The old vampire took the skin case and carefully checked it over before passing it to his companion. With a heavy snort, he turned and left.
Only after the three vampires left did Qi Yue sigh, and suddenly perspired an entire body’s worth of sweat.
The stress from confronting a rank four vampire warrior was abnormally great, and he knew from experience that if one traded with a dark race warrior, one needed to be prepared for death. Behind every gold coin traded was great value and risk.
However, after taking the suitcase into his hands, Qi Yue revealed a hearty gaze. After carefully opening and glancing into the case, he closed it with satisfaction. “Let’s go, we’ll try and get back by dawn.”
The three of them entered the truck and headed back.
As the three vampires moved through the night like ghosts, the elderly leader suddenly stopped! The vampire behind him, holding onto the briefcase, could barely stop in time and almost stumbled into his back. This caused quite a commotion, scaring both of them.
“Be careful! There’s an enemy, you two protect the case!” the old vampire hurriedly instructed.
And at this moment, something circular was suddenly hurled towards them from the darkness.