Blood Queen - Chapter 2 Part 1

Chapter 2: Unexpected

***

On a moonless night, above the clouds, a large transport aircraft flew alone, with rhythmically blinking lights dotting its black fuselage.

Inside the spacious cabin, 74 members of the Black Armor Squad assault team sat roughly divided into three groups according to their squad formations. Some were resting with their eyes closed, others listened to music with headphones, while some were still checking their equipment as if not entirely reassured.

Near the cockpit, Meng Huai and Xia Yan sat together, separated from the other team members by some distance.

“You’ve been in the squad for three years now, right? If I remember correctly, you’re about to complete your 10th D-level or higher mission. If you don’t want to be a candidate for the Black Armor Squad Captain, you can apply to go to the training center.”

Meng Huai rarely showed a relaxed demeanor, trying to stretch out his limbs as much as possible to relax.

“Now that Xiao Yao has also joined the squad, I must stay with him,” Xia Yan shook his head helplessly, turning his gaze towards a certain direction deep in the cabin. “I promised the director I would take care of him.”

“Hmm, you two brothers are destined… to meet again like this even under these circumstances.”

Meng Huai gave a wry smile, then took out a string of identification tags from his pocket, carefully flipping through them one by one: “I’ve almost forgotten how many batches of people have come and gone in the squad… After this mission is over, I’ll submit a report to the superiors to transfer Gu Yao to another squad. Although you’re not blood brothers, being childhood friends together is still not good…”

Usually, Meng Huai was rigid and cold, speaking very little. Only when alone with Xia Yan could he express so much content.

Looking at the string of identification tags in Meng Huai’s hand, Xia Yan’s heart also grew heavy. Each tag represented a comrade who had fought side by side with them, both men and women, all of whom had been mentored by the Captain.

They had either died at the hands of vampires or were accidentally blood-infected. If not disposed of on the spot, they fled only to be hunted down by the entire Dark Arrow Unit, ultimately leaving behind just a tag.

“For this assault operation, it’s best if one of us stays on the ground. If something happens to me, you’ll be the next Captain.”

Meng Huai put the identification tags back in his pocket and turned his gaze to the night sky outside the cabin window, continuing, “I’ve already sent off too many people. If you hadn’t lived long enough, we might not be sitting here chatting now.”

“You’re the Captain. As long as you’re here, everyone has a higher chance of survival… Let me lead the team down instead.”

Xia Yan shook his head, leaning back against the cabin wall with his hands behind his head.

“No, I’m not comfortable with that. There are too many newcomers,” Meng Huai didn’t heed his old subordinate’s suggestion, his expression somewhat helpless. “Starting next month, headquarters will expand various action squads, supplementing with some ordinary blood type personnel to specifically carry out E or F level missions. The replenishment cycle for rare blood type personnel will be longer, and the procedures more complicated.”

“Are troop resources becoming increasingly tight now?” Xia Yan glanced at the more than 70 teammates in the cabin, his expression darkening. “The assault team’s authorized strength is 100 people, but only 7 have been added in the past half year. We’re still short quite a few, with each small squad understaffed.”

“Yes, it’s because only those with rare blood types can join the assault team… Sigh, out of the 1.4 billion people in the country, there are just over 3 million at most. After excluding the elderly, weak, women, children, and those who don’t meet the conditions, then passing psychological tests, immunity tests, and three phases of training, there are less than 20,000 left… Our Black Armor Squad is considered good. Some squads have simply stopped replenishing rare blood type personnel altogether.”

Recalling the meeting at the Western Surveillance Area Headquarters a few days ago, Meng Huai’s words became even colder.

Xia Yan didn’t look at the Captain’s changing expression, but silently watched his teammates in the dim cabin.

These people were different from those like himself who had been active-duty military before joining the Dark Arrow Unit. They had once been taxi drivers, corporate white-collar workers, delivery guys, kindergarten teachers, or college students.

They had probably been secretly registered since their blood type was determined at birth, until one day they suddenly faced a secret national conscription, then passed through layers of screening and a year of rigorous training, finally entering a secret unit unknown to the public, gaining higher military ranks and huge allowances.

“Beep!”

A familiar electronic buzzer sounded in the cabin, and red lights came on. The soldiers grabbed the handholds on the cabin wall one by one, waiting for the transport aircraft to perform a high-difficulty night landing.

Under the cover of night, a long line of indicator lights suddenly lit up on both sides of a wide military-grade road winding through a valley. The huge transport plane began to descend at nearly a 30-degree angle, diving towards a straight section of the road. Just before touching the ground, it pulled up its body, raising its bulky belly, and dozens of wheels slammed onto the road several seconds later.

The cabin door opened, and the 74 members of the Black Armor Squad, wearing night vision goggles, rushed out of the plane with their weapons raised, forming three columns heading towards the hilly forest to the northwest. Under the cover of darkness, they would force march 10 kilometers in one hour to reach the designated mission area.

In the dark valley lay a vast complex of buildings, without a single light, as lifeless as a rotting beast.

As one of the great Third Front projects of the last century, the once passionate and bustling place had become deserted again after decades of peaceful development.

When they were less than 200 meters from the nearest building, hearing a bird call signal from behind, everyone crouched down and took out a vial of medicine from their chest tactical pouches, injecting it directly into their thighs or arms.

This was an anti-blood infection immune booster, which could enhance resistance against vampire blood infection.

Although all combat participants were of rare blood types, completely immune to blood infection from the vast majority of Thrall-level and Servant-level vampires, their immunity dropped sharply against knight-level and above vampires. Injecting this special anti-blood infection immune booster could increase blood infection resistance by about 30%, which was the best they could do.

Despite repeated training at the training center, Gu Yao, holding the syringe, was still a bit nervous and hesitated to inject it. He had experienced that extremely uncomfortable high fever reaction during immunity testing before.

“What are you still being stupid about!”

In the darkness, a figure approached and snatched the syringe from Gu Yao’s hand, jabbing it into the young man’s thigh. By the voice, it was Tao Qiao’er, one of the few female team members on this mission and a veteran with over a year of squad experience.

As the few milliliters of expensive medicine entered his body and was quickly absorbed by the muscle tissue, Gu Yao shuddered, then his whole body began to heat up.

“Everyone, rest for 5 minutes after injection. Pay attention to your body temperature. Those over 39 degrees Celsius, raise your hand. You can withdraw from the operation.”

Meng Huai and Xia Yan felt their way past each team member, speaking in low voices, only moving on to the next person after receiving an OK hand signal.

“How is it?”

Hearing the familiar voice beside him, Gu Yao quickly took out the fluorescent thermometer he had been holding in his mouth for about 30 seconds, which showed 38.1 degrees Celsius.

He casually gave Xia Yan an “I’m fine” gesture to hide his inner nervousness, but the high fever induced by the drug reaction still caused Gu Yao’s heart rate to gradually increase.

“That’s good… From now on, you must stay with me at all times, understood?”

Patting his little brother’s shoulder, Xia Yan turned to the other members of the squad, carefully verifying everyone’s body temperature after injecting the anti-blood infection immune booster.

The 5 minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Two people with unqualified body temperatures were left behind, while the remaining 72 Black Armor Squad assault team members, enduring high fever reactions, split into three directions and crept towards the abandoned building complex shrouded in darkness.

Behind them, a special box opened, and a group of small things that couldn’t be seen clearly in the night sky rose into the air, fluttering chaotically for a while, then, as if guided by something, scattered towards various corners of the building complex.

These were special butterflies cultivated by a secret laboratory in China over a decade ago using genetic technology. They could be attracted by the special pheromones emitted from vampires’ nape sweat glands, providing identification guidance. They were later secretly introduced by various countries and used on the front lines of combat against vampires.

The fluttering butterflies passed through the night sky, flying gracefully and elegantly inside and outside the vast abandoned factory area. The scales on their wings emitted a faint fluorescence, clearly visible through night vision goggles.

In the dark factory ruins, a shapely young woman was scrolling through short videos on her phone, occasionally letting out a light laugh.

Suddenly, a beautiful purple butterfly landed on the back of the young woman’s fair hand. Her pupils constricted sharply, and her pretty face instantly transformed into terror and ferocity. Then her blood temperature rose, and all the muscles and bones in her body twisted and dislocated, making frightening and eerie cracking sounds.

In Gu Yao’s night vision view, a tall companion leapt out of the darkness like lightning, pouncing towards the low-level Thrall who was activating her boiling blood ability.

Xia Yan locked the vampire’s throat, preventing her from making any sound, then a shiny silver dagger stabbed directly into the side of her lower ribs.

The sharp silver dagger effortlessly penetrated the vampire’s clothes and transforming frail body, angling directly towards the heart.

The female vampire, who had already grown sharp fangs in her boiling blood state, changed her twisted and ferocious expression to one of fear and pain. Then her entire skin underwent an astonishingly rapid carbonization process, slowly drying up and shrinking as if burned, finally twisting her limbs into a strange posture, like a carbonized corpse in a fire.