Blood Queen - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Contact (Part 2)

***

Unlike Gu Yao, who was sleeping confusedly on the couch to pass the time, Xia Yan had been flipping through a small notebook that she never parted with, usually kept in her uniform pocket.

It was as if she had returned to the study room at the training center. Although she no longer had access to various official secret study materials, Xia Yan was still trying to recall and organize some details that might have been overlooked based on the key study records in her notebook.

Pheromones, or exohormones, have been proven to exist in the human body. They are a microscopic external manifestation of human physiological functions and metabolic cycles, uniquely reflecting changes in an individual’s behavior, emotions, physiology, and even psychological state.

People first confirmed the existence of exohormones in insects such as butterflies, and later explored them in reptiles and mammals. In some species, exohormones even have the function of transmitting information and communicating between individuals, hence the name “pheromones”.

However, for normal humans, the vomeronasal organ used to detect pheromones has long since degenerated, with only a few sensory cells remaining in the nasal epithelium.

Vampires, on the other hand, have restored the function of the vomeronasal organ to detect pheromones through another form of mutation. For vampires, the scent contained in each individual’s pheromones is as unique as a fingerprint, serving as a one-of-a-kind identity card.

Since China developed tracking butterflies using genetic technology 20 years ago, the efficiency of hunting Thrall-level and Servant-level vampires has greatly improved, once achieving an overwhelming advantage, and was subsequently introduced by various countries’ secret agencies.

However, soon after, some techniques began to spread within the vampire community, allowing them to autonomously control and reduce their own pheromone emissions. China even discovered through intelligence analysis that vampires within its borders had begun taking a new type of drug to alter or even seal off their pheromone release, greatly reducing the effectiveness of tracking butterflies.

…

Closing her notebook, Xia Yan rubbed her sore eyes, only to realize it was almost dark. Looking at Gu Yao sleeping in a heap on the couch, Xia Yan decided to go to the kitchen to prepare some food while it wasn’t completely dark, and then leave on an electric scooter at night.

After all, electric scooters were a highly prevalent mode of transportation in rural China. There were several parked in the small courtyard on the first floor.

Just as she approached the kitchen door, a wave of indescribable perception suddenly exploded in Xia Yan’s consciousness. Like a pile driver forcibly inserted into her brain, it pounded with an intense rhythm, making her head extremely uncomfortable.

“This old Yang family really can’t change their habits. They never lock the kitchen windows, allowing you two little ones to slip in.”

In the dim light, a medium-sized shadow emerged. It was the courier delivery man who had appeared outside the villa at noon, a middle-aged man with a beard.

A pair of gradually reddening pupils revealed a meaningful gaze as the bearded man slowly walked towards Xia Yan.

As the figure approached, the pile driver in Xia Yan’s mind seemed to turn into a bulldozer. A tide-like aura of intimidation pushed against her consciousness with extreme pressure, forcing it to retreat continuously.

Probably seeing deep apprehension in her expression, the bearded man revealed a smug look, apparently feeling that his grand entrance had been worth the price of admission.

Xia Yan’s body also began to warm up slightly, a natural reaction to the still uncontrolled boiling blood. While struggling to resist the psychological pressure the other was causing her, she slowly retreated from the corridor to the living room.

Suddenly, Xia Yan felt an indescribably terrifying aura expand behind her, like a typhoon-whipped tsunami engulfing the entire living room, instantly sweeping away the pressure the bearded man had been exerting on her.

“Shit! A high-level Servant?”

The bearded man’s face changed colors several times within a second, his body frozen in fear, standing stunned at the junction of the living room and corridor.

A petite black shadow charged over with lightning speed. With just one knee strike, the bearded man’s body was sent flying, crashing into the end of the corridor and shattering a pile of bottles and jars from the farmhouse.

Then, a shiny silver dagger was raised high, plunging towards the bearded man’s eye socket with extreme viciousness.

“No… no… spare me… I… I have something to say…”

The bearded man’s whole body exploded with an invisible wave of air, his body temperature soaring, his pupils turning the color of pig’s liver. On the brink of death, he desperately grabbed Gu Yao’s dagger-wielding arm with both hands, spitting blood while revealing a look of fear and pleading.

The bearded man’s current state of boiling blood, pushed to the limit, could only allow him to barely cling to life.

The blonde girl pinning down the bearded man with her knee paid no heed, maintaining a terrifyingly cold and indifferent expression filled with killing intent. Her arm holding the dagger high gradually overcame the bearded man’s last resistance, the silver dagger slowly descending, almost touching the bearded man’s eyeball.

“Xiao Yao, let him go for now.”

Xia Yan walked over, stopping Gu Yao’s outburst.

…

In front of the sofa, the bearded man sat cross-legged on the floor in the center of the living room, head lowered, still shivering occasionally, looking as pitiful as a timid little wife, completely opposite to his earlier swagger.

His eyes darted left and right, inadvertently catching sight of a black combat uniform top piled in the corner of the living room. The patch design on the sleeve made the bearded man’s pupils contract slightly.

“What do you want to say, and your identity…”

Xia Yan leaned against the sofa, wiping a gun in her hand, her legs crossed in a comfortable angle. Under her tight jeans, her long legs formed a pleasing curve, the round, taut curves of her buttocks faintly visible. Her black hair naturally draped over both shoulders, her expression calm.

“I’m just a wandering vampire… just curious, that’s all. This is a close-knit rural community, I know Yang Ping’s family well, they’re good people. When I sensed kindred in their house, of course I had to come and see…”

The bearded man wiped the gradually drying blood from the corner of his mouth, speaking carefully.

“Huh, a vampire living peacefully with ordinary people?”

Gu Yao, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window with her arms crossed, couldn’t help but mutter, her eyes, still faintly red after deactivating her boiling blood state, showing disdain.

“Not every person infected by blood becomes a real monster… In the more than 30 years since becoming a vampire, I’ve abandoned my wife and children, left my hometown, and finally managed to settle down here…”

The bearded man lowered his head, his voice choked, as if recalling some painful memories.

“Abandoned your wife and children for over 30 years? Doesn’t seem like it?”

Gu Yao revealed a surprised look, taking a few steps forward to examine the bearded man’s face closely. “You look like you’re only in your 40s. How old were you when you were infected?”

“That’s normal. After becoming a vampire, bodily functions and metabolism are different from ordinary people, and lifespan is longer.”

Xia Yan didn’t find anything amiss, putting down her crossed legs and leaning forward to start disassembling the gun on the coffee table, neatly arranging the bullets in a straight line.

Answering the black-haired girl’s questions intermittently, the bearded man, though outwardly appearing terrified, was inwardly puzzled. He felt that these two seemingly unremarkable lowest-level kindred, not much different from newly turned Thralls, seemed to be hiding some extraordinary secret.

“So how do you usually solve… well, the blood thirst problem? Since you’ve settled down here, can you really bring yourself to harm your neighbors? Even if you could, aren’t you afraid of being exposed?”

Xia Yan finally asked a heavyweight question, one that had long puzzled her and which she couldn’t reconcile with official explanations.

“Huh?”

The bearded man was stunned, slowly raising his head to stare at Xia Yan as if looking at a complete novice.