Blood Queen - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Underground Shop

***

As time approached midnight, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao appeared alongside a highway service road in the distant suburbs of C City, waiting quietly side by side.

Their new clothes wouldn’t be dry until tomorrow, so the two remained in their original attire, though their hair had been styled at a salon. They had helped each other tie single ponytails, no longer appearing unkempt.

At exactly midnight, two headlights appeared in the distance, and a rugged SUV emerged at the end of the service road, slowly beginning to decelerate.

“Xiao Yao, wait here, I’ll go alone.”

Jiang Yan patted Jiang Yao’s shoulder, gripping her travel bag tightly.

“Brother, I’ll go too. You can’t do everything alone, I can handle it.”

Jiang Yao shook her head, showing a stubborn, serious expression.

Under the streetlights, a fashionably dressed woman got out of the car.

Black T-shirt, short denim vest jacket, tight white leather pants, voluptuous peach-like hip curves, straight long legs in red high heels.

Lipstick outlined sensual lips, mature and beautiful features, a head of wavy long hair, judging by appearance alone, she looked no more than 30 years old.

“Introduced by Huang Gu?”

The fashionable woman looked the two plainly dressed, innocent-looking girls up and down, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

“Yes, Uncle Huang said…”

“Sister… we want to buy some blood!”

Before Jiang Yan could finish, Jiang Yao quickly stepped forward.

The fashionable woman frowned, remained silent for a few seconds, then exhaled smoke: “Who’s actually in charge between you two? One person talk to me, this isn’t a vegetable market!”

Jiang Yan gave a sidelong glance, lightly patted Jiang Yao’s back, and the latter could only reluctantly retreat to sit on a roadside stone about 15 meters away.

“Uncle Huang said we could contact you monthly to buy a batch of blood and medicine.”

Jiang Yan was very proper in her attitude, quickly handing over the note Huang Gu had given earlier.

In the distance, sitting on the roadside stone, Jiang Yao curiously stared at the fashionable woman, secretly activating the lowest state of boiling blood, trying to probe the other’s background. However, aside from a strange chaotic feeling of falling into an abyss, she couldn’t discern any meaningful information.

Probably sensing Jiang Yao’s probing, the fashionable woman turned her head to look at the golden-haired girl appearing nonchalant under the distant streetlight, a hint of killing intent appearing in her eyes.

A tsunami-like wild aura erupted, like an invisible death scythe piercing through Jiang Yan who was close by.

Although there was no substantial physical damage, Jiang Yan felt as if part of her soul had been cut away in that instant, her head experiencing splitting pain. She swayed left and right, holding her head and slowly bending over, suddenly spitting out a large mouthful of fresh blood.

Seeing this scene from afar, Jiang Yao also erupted with an expanding violent aura, though its intimidation factor compared to the fashionable woman was like the difference between an ant and an elephant.

Jiang Yao launched a charge, the silver dagger in her hand reflecting an alternating dim glow under the streetlights.

The fashionable woman, watching the overalls-clad girl charging towards her with furious but presumptuous killing intent, suddenly felt like laughing.

When approaching about 7-8 meters from the fashionable woman, the high-speed advancing Jiang Yao seemed to hit an invisible viscous substance, her speed plummeting. Then she stumbled and fell to the ground, blood slowly flowing from the corner of her mouth.

Is this the strength of a high-level vampire!?

Looking at Jiang Yan lying on the ground a few meters away, Jiang Yao showed a desperate expression, also regretting her rash and careless curiosity to probe.

In just a few seconds that felt like a century, under the dim service road streetlights lay two pale-faced girls curled up on the ground, while the fashionable woman leaning against the SUV door was still leisurely smoking.

“Such tough lives… you two little girls, Huang Gu should have warned you not to make rash probes against vampires of unknown background, because the other party might be on a completely different level from you.”

After speaking, the fashionable woman dropped her cigarette and walked to the back of the car, opening the trunk to reveal what was clearly a custom vehicle temperature-controlled refrigeration unit.

The terrifying pressure throughout their bodies instantly dissipated, and Jiang Yan finally managed to struggle to her feet, lightly wiping away the blood from the corner of her mouth, her expression gloomy. As for Jiang Yao, her face alternated between red and white, with embarrassment, anger, shame, and fear alternating on her face, a mix of emotions.

“Being able to withstand my pheromone stimulation proves you’re not those fragile low-level creatures. Alright, don’t dawdle, I have limited time. Come over and choose what you need.”

The fashionable woman unlocked the refrigeration unit’s password and turned to smile at the girls stumbling over while supporting each other.

“Sorry… senior, we actually don’t really understand the intricacies of this.”

Looking at the blood bags on several refrigerated shelves, then at the immeasurably powerful woman before her, Jiang Yan slightly lowered her head.

After all, the Dark Arrow’s internal information had a strict multi-level confidentiality mechanism, and with the vast ocean of detailed content classifications, even with Xia Yan’s former Lieutenant military rank, her understanding of the entire vampire world was actually limited to a very basic level.

“Now that’s the attitude you should have… alright, don’t call me senior, it sounds silly. I’m called Wan Yue, ‘Wan’ as in graceful, ‘Yue’ as in moon. You can call me sister, auntie, or even grandma, I can take it all.”

Wan Yue casually leaned against the edge of the trunk, pointing at the refrigerated shelves: “Regular blood type refrigerated fresh blood is cheapest, 2,000 yuan per 200ml bag, rare blood types are 100 times that base price. At your current level, if you’re just maintaining the blood thirst interval period, 200ml at a time is sufficient.”

“Of course, if you’re burning money and want to accelerate your growth, you don’t need to consider the blood thirst interval period, daily intake has no upper limit. Frozen blood plasma has the best effect, but for low-level vampires, it’s a bit wasteful.”

Jiang Yan silently nodded, although she was mentally prepared, this price still made her heart tight.

“Don’t think it’s expensive, nationwide medical institutions with blood collection qualifications have their data connected to Dark Arrow’s intelligence monitoring center, management is very strict. Of course, you could also attack normal people, then you wouldn’t need to spend money. However, going through roundabout ways to buy from me shows you haven’t decided to consider yourselves monsters yet.”

Wan Yue spoke very casually, but her gaze intentionally or unintentionally flowed between Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao’s faces, probably understanding the expression changes on Jiang Yan’s face.

“Thank you, Sister Wan, then I’ll take 6 bags of 200ml, enough for one month’s supply.”

Jiang Yan calculated the money on hand and future life planning, immediately making her choice.

“Just these? Enough for two Thrall-level vampires for a month?”

Wan Yue smiled mysteriously, slowly and with great interest walked a circle around Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao, her sexy red lips slightly curling upwards, her nose slightly twitching as if smelling something.

“I’m wondering… rare blood types like yours, watched as closely as pandas by certain organizations, how exactly were you blood invaded?”

Wan Yue revealed a meaningful smile, then opened the driver’s door, took down a wine bottle and a glass from the front rack, poured a small glass, and directly held it in front of Jiang Yao.

“Regular blood, drink it!”

Wan Yue’s expression suddenly changed, that terrible aura once again enveloped everyone present, making Jiang Yao, who was already lost in confusion and fear, start trembling again, involuntarily looking towards Jiang Yan beside her with a pleading gaze.

“Sister Wan… she’s not in her blood thirst interval period, she doesn’t need…”

Jiang Yan desperately resisted the oppressive aura emanating from Wan Yue, struggling to raise her head and speak softly.

“I’m not asking for your opinion, I’m telling you!”

“Drink it!” Wan Yue’s expression grew colder.

“Fine, I’ll drink it, what’s with the attitude…”

Jiang Yao’s temper also flared up, glaring at the wine glass in the other’s hand, snatching it and throwing her head back to drink. One second later, the golden-haired girl curled up on the ground with an exaggerated expression, vomiting violently.

“A rare case of initial blood dependency syndrome… the subject of first blood intake wasn’t an ordinary person, could it be… yours? That’s too extravagant.”

Wan Yue turned her body, withdrawing her gaze from Jiang Yao and returning it to Jiang Yan’s face.

“At that time, it was the only option, otherwise she might not have made it through. Sister Wan, can this situation be changed in the future?”

Jiang Yan nodded frankly in acknowledgment, not feeling anything inappropriate.

“Hmm, in the future she can only drink your blood, or the blood of other vampires. As for ordinary people’s blood, before she advances to Baron-level, she’ll probably feel sick even smelling it. As for you, it’s whatever.”

There were some words Wan Yue didn’t say, just smiled and closed the refrigeration unit.

Besides the 6 bags of 200ml regular fresh blood, Jiang Yan also added a box of temperature-raising medicine, paying a total of 15,000 yuan in cash. As for the precious internal and external hormone inhibitors, Wan Yue had no stock and didn’t promise when they might be available.

Thus, adding the rental apartment and various living supplies expenses, of the 100,000 yuan obtained from Zhong Jing, nearly 30,000 was spent in just one week.

Wan Yue didn’t bother counting, directly throwing the money into the driver’s seat, while behind her, the two girls supporting each other disappeared into the night.

Wan Yue sat back in the driver’s seat but didn’t start the car, as if still waiting for something. A few minutes later, the phone rang, and Wan Yue put it to her ear without even looking.

“Sister Wan, it’s Huang Gu, did they come today? How did it go?”

“Hmm, interesting, rare blood types, very high future potential, basically certain they’re Dark Arrow people.”

Wan Yue recalled the details of Jiang Yao’s attack tactics at the time, as well as the habitual gestures Jiang Yan intentionally or unintentionally revealed, a mysterious smile involuntarily appearing at the corner of her mouth.

“Sister Wan has a sharp eye! What do you think, can we bring them in?” Over the phone, Huang Gu breathed a sigh of relief, “If you don’t have any objections, I’ll observe them for a while longer, check their character.”

“Don’t get too excited… these two little girls are already mid-level Thralls, are you sure it’s been less than 10 days since their blood invasion? Especially that blonde girl, her burst strength is almost approaching Knight-level, this is very abnormal.”

Speaking of this, Wan Yue’s brows slightly furrowed, seeming to still be recalling the earlier events.

Facing Jiang Yao’s probing and subsequent attack, she had unconsciously felt some killing intent, a sixth sense of wanting to nip danger in the bud that almost swayed her at that moment.

“Yes, I also found this very strange, that’s why I wanted you to see for yourself. By the way, today people from the Hermit Alliance found me, asking me to pass on a message, they still hope you’ll return…”

“What fucking right do you have to pass messages for them, I don’t have time to chat about this! You keep a close eye on the D City matter for me first, don’t cause me any trouble! Hanging up!”

Wan Yue’s face suddenly changed, her tone instantly turning cold.

On the phone, Huang Gu was so scared he stopped breathing for several seconds.

After hanging up, the highway service road at night returned to silence. Wan Yue lit another cigarette, resting her arm on the rolled-down car door, lost in thought.

After a few puffs, Wan Yue’s gaze secretly swept towards a certain direction in the distance, her lazy and enchanting face showing a barely noticeable trace of disgust: “So many annoying things tonight… even running into some dogs in a place like this.”

Shifting into gear and starting up, the engine emitting a deep roar, the SUV directly shot out. After about ten seconds, Wan Yue seemed to sense some change again, suddenly glancing at the rearview mirror, a strange smile appearing on her face.

“Targeted by black blood vampires… you two little girls have such bad luck, let’s see if you can get through this hurdle.”

The vehicle turned onto the highway, continuing to accelerate, speeding away in the intelligent navigation voice’s desperate speeding warnings.