Blood Queen - Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Going Home

***

Jiang Yao’s sleep lasted longer than Jiang Yan had imagined, stretching for 13 days until the last day of June, when she finally sat up with a weak stretch.

During these 13 days, Jiang Yan updated the notice to customers outside the store three times, and spent most of her time watching over Jiang Yao without leaving her side.

The days were quiet and monotonous. As time went on, being away from the busy work, Jiang Yan even began to lose her desire to reopen the business.

Sister Tan, after coming to ask for help that night, had lost contact. Meanwhile, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao finally reopened the store and resumed business.

As expected, business was more than just a little slow, barely breaking even. This made Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao’s ambitious plans from a month ago seem uncertain and worrisome.

Feeling that the current situation was her fault, Jiang Yao was also in low spirits, smiling less when facing customers.

The only consolation was that Jiang Yao, after her 13-day long sleep, had reached the level of a mid-rank Servant. If she were to fully unleash her boiling blood, even some low-rank Knights might not be able to stop her.

The two external hormone inhibitors had already been used up, but fortunately, nothing concerning had happened in these days, allowing Jiang Yan to recover from her sense of luck.

In the days since reopening, shop owners on the street would whisper worrying rumors.

7 or 8 days ago, not only in Taihe Community but also in several neighboring communities in their Yushui Street, there had been incidents of drug-crazed individuals biting people. The police had already started 24-hour patrols.

3 days ago, similar incidents of people and events had appeared in the neighboring Tongda Street and Fuping Street, and the situation seemed to be getting out of control.

Every day, propagandists from the street office repeatedly spread information on various streets, and many community property management offices even launched self-inspection campaigns.

Jiang Yan knew that the blood she had given that night seemed like a lot, but for a pregnant vampire female, it might only be enough to last a week.

Sister Tan must have broken down by now. She might have done it for herself, or more likely for the child in her belly. After losing decades of real life, she was now attacking ordinary people regardless of the consequences, perhaps neighbors or passersby.

The uncontrolled boiling blood during blood thirst attacks turned every ordinary person Sister Tan came into contact with into a victim of blood invasion.

But why hadn’t Sister Tan left? Was she just waiting for the Dark Arrow Unit to come? What was she thinking?

Jiang Yan felt an indescribable sympathy for Sister Tan, or perhaps a sense of despair.

After hearing about Sister Tan from Jiang Yan, Jiang Yao, who was usually somewhat carefree, also became quite downcast.

Perhaps it was almost time to leave this place where the two girls had once planned to live peacefully.

……

……

July 2nd, Tuesday, 19:00.

In a secret base at a military airport in the suburbs of C City, Southwest Surveillance Area of China’s Dark Arrow Unit, over a hundred men and women in black combat uniforms were fully armed, standing in the conference hall, listening to the final mission briefing before departure.

“…Over the past week, several vampire attacks on ordinary people have occurred daily in the aforementioned urban streets. More than half died from excessive blood loss or immune system collapse, and the rest were invariably blood invaded and caused further spreading injury incidents.”

“After intelligence positioning and on-site analysis, it has been confirmed that this is a large-scale blood invasion incident caused by a Black Blood Clan knight who lost control due to blood thirst. Due to the rapid spread, severe consequences, and the extremely frantic and cunning nature of the opponent, this mission is classified as D+ level!”

“The mission area is in the city center, with numerous buildings and streets, complex terrain, and tens of thousands of permanent residents, so ensuring the safety of ordinary citizens is paramount!”

“…For this operation, relevant departments have cooperated to implement blockades and control. The target is locked in Taihe Community and its surroundings in Yushui Street. Two assault teams and two support teams will be deployed for this operation, entering the blockade area from four directions to carry out live capture. The operation time is set for 20:00.”

After the female assistant finished her explanation, she stepped aside, and a tall young man walked to the front with an expressionless face.

Looking around at the members of the Black Armor Squad, those unfamiliar and serious faces made Meng Huai feel a bit dazed.

Before him was the assault team of the Black Armor Squad, fully staffed after more than a month of reorganization, a total of 100 people. But among them, less than 30 had participated in the D City operation at the end of April, and veterans were even rarer.

The Black Armor Squad, nominally back to full strength, had new recruits who were almost all of common blood types. This meant they had a much higher probability of being blood invaded compared to rare blood type members, as well as poorer adaptability to anti-blood invasion immune drugs.

Although these young team members were all elites directly selected from regular army units with extremely high military qualities, in Meng Huai’s eyes, the combat effectiveness of the current assault team was less than half of what it was a year ago.

“The opponent is just a lone vampire knight, acting alone, with no signs of cooperation from other vampires. As long as everyone maintains high concentration as in regular training, we can easily handle it even in a complex urban area. Now, move out!”

At Meng Huai’s command, all the team members stood at attention, uniform and impressive.

On the main road leading to J District, dozens of military vehicles roared past, with traffic police controlling the roads along the way to ensure the convoy’s smooth passage.

In Yushui Street of J District, all roads leading to the outside world and residential communities of various sizes had been blocked by the police hours ago. The citizens within the blockade lines were also getting excited and nervous as they whispered among themselves.

The police were finally going to deal with the social cancer hiding in the street. In almost every community owner’s group chat, cheers of “Go for it”, “Support”, and “Strike hard” were flashing.

……

The old street entrance, suddenly empty due to the unexpected blockade, caught Lingzui’er Cold Snacks off guard just as they were setting up for business.

All tables and chairs had been brought back into the store, and Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao, heeding the reminder from the street office clerk, obediently stayed inside the store with the rolling shutter door tightly closed, waiting for the notice of the blockade being lifted.

On their phones, various platforms were still full of merry-making or gossip flying around. The commotion in a street of one city was far from enough to attract the attention of the entire internet.

Even without activating their boiling blood, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao could already sense the waves of violent and desperate aura constantly spreading and roaming in the dark sky outside the store, not too far away.

One hour, two hours, time flew by.

The sounds of semi-automatic shotguns, handguns, and even large-caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles could be faintly heard. A righteous action, in the public eye, was in full swing.

Jiang Yan was not sitting on a chair, but standing in front of the rolling shutter door, her head slightly lowered.

“Brother… what’s wrong? Why didn’t Sister Tan leave…”

Jiang Yao seemed to sense something and slowly walked to Jiang Yan’s side, discovering that this Jiang Yan, who was always so calm and steady, actually had two tear tracks on her cheeks.

Jiang Yan touched the wetness on her face, then slowly closed her eyes. Accompanied by the increasingly clear gunshots outside, tears kept flowing from the corners of her eyes, like silent lyrics being filled in.

Faced with Jiang Yao’s terrified and nervous inquiries, Jiang Yan just shook her head desperately, without answering.

As if they had sensed something yesterday, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao had already injected internal and external hormone inhibitors early on, along with several other drugs that could mask body examinations. This was a purchasing decision Jiang Yan had made a few days ago by contacting Zhao Peng urgently.

A familiar aura was approaching, and it was even weaker.

As if waiting for the curtain call of an opera, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao, who was holding her arm, ignored the street office’s warning and opened the rolling shutter door, then quietly looked at the dim street.

A stumbling dark figure was running quickly on the old street, then, as if remembering something, suddenly turned and rushed towards Jiang Yan’s store.

There, the rolling shutter door was wide open.

Finally, the dark figure lost its strength and stumbled into the Lingzui’er Cold Snacks store.

Sister Tan, dressed all in black, had been wounded in the waist, revealing the horrific sight of silver ion-burned flesh; a torn sleeve faintly showed a deformed and damaged arm.

On her face, neck, arms, and all visible bare skin, there were charred blood marks. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were a pair of red pupils filled with excitement, despair, and fear, and her whole body emitted a chaotic aura that had fallen into a low ebb.

“Sister Tan!”

Jiang Yao cried out in shock and was about to step forward, but her body was held back by Jiang Yan. Turning her head, she saw that Jiang Yan’s face, which had regained its calmness, actually carried a hint of coldness.

“Little girl, I… I want to go home… I miss my dad and mom…”

Sister Tan, lying face up, spat out a mouthful of charred blood, yet the corners of her mouth carried a smile of relief.

“But you hurt so many innocent people… I’m curious, why didn’t you leave?”

Jiang Yan stared coldly at Sister Tan on the ground, speaking coldly.

“Hehe, this is my home… My husband was good to me, I’ve let him down, I want to die with him… Thank you for sending me on my last journey… You must live well…”

Sister Tan breathed weakly, her hands slowly covering her abdomen, gently patting, as if comforting the little life inside her body that was not even two months old.

A lone purple butterfly quietly flew into the small store, fluttered a few times, then landed on Sister Tan’s hand, folding its wings, motionless.

Outside the door, from the distant street, came the sound of dense footsteps, surrounding the only lit store at the old street entrance.

More than a dozen fully armed men and women in black combat uniforms poured into Lingzui’er Cold Snacks.

Fierce semi-automatic shotguns were gripped in the hands of these men and women in black combat uniforms, many gun barrels still emitting faint blue smoke.

“Target captured, experiencing physiological breakdown.”

A young female military police officer with a half-covered face crouched beside Sister Tan, injected an unknown drug into her body, then turned her head to look at the two sisters standing dumbfounded in the store.

The crowd parted, and another tall young military police officer strode in, first glancing at the vampire knight who had fallen into a coma on the ground, then surveying Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao.

Pulling down his mask, the young man revealed his true face.

Compared to Jiang Yan’s unchanged cold expression, Jiang Yao’s pupils suddenly contracted, and she lowered her head with a terrified expression.

“Don’t be afraid, it’s safe here now.”

Meng Huai looked around at the store’s decor, his face relaxed, and finally turned his gaze towards Jiang Yan.

The black-haired girl opposite him, with her clear and cold big eyes, was also looking at him.

Just silently looking, without emotion, as if she had no interest or nervousness about his attire. An inexplicable sense of familiarity arose.

“Alright, pack up!”

Meng Huai slowly turned his head, nodding slightly to the female team member beside him: “Tao Qiao’er, do a check on these two young ladies.”

Tao Qiao’er pulled down her mask and walked up to Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao with a gentle smile, taking out a portable thermal imager and a small box from her waist.

Body surface temperature normal.

“Please put this in your mouth, take it out after 30 seconds. If there has been any intake of prohibited substances recently, it will show positive.”

Opening the small box, Tao Qiao’er took out two flat, plastic-like small sticks and handed them to the two girls respectively.

Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao looked at each other, nodding silently and complying.

When the time was up, the two test strips that could detect abnormal internal hormones in vampires showed negative results. This was the powerful effect of the internal hormone inhibitors, as long as they were not in a blood-thirsty state, it was almost indistinguishable from reality.

“Everything is normal, thank you for your cooperation. If there’s any damage to the store, you can register at the street office, and someone will come to assess and compensate later. Goodbye.”

After a final envious look at Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao’s figures, Tao Qiao’er turned and left.

Sister Tan was carried out of the store, placed in a specially made black long box, and then carried into a military vehicle.

Everything returned to calm. At the same moment, every community owner’s group chat in Yushui Street was filled with cheers and excitement.

Only at the old street entrance, a pair of sisters still stood silently on the empty street, looking up at the moon in the night sky, speechless.

(End of Volume One)