Chapter 10: The Hunter

Hu Guozheng snapped out of his shock, slammed his foot on the accelerator, and sped away. The three of them broke into a cold sweat. “Isn’t it rather dishonorable of us to leave your friends behind like that?”

“Don’t worry. I’m confident they’ll find a way to escape and contact us,” Du Bin replied with certainty. He trusted Li Ping’s abilities to save himself.

As the car receded into the distance, Xiang’s lips curled into a faint, sinister smile. After driving for more than ten minutes and sensing nothing amiss behind them, Hu Guozheng pulled over near a toll station.

“Fatty, did you see anything just now?” Du Bin recalled the scene they’d left behind, a tremor of fear creeping into his voice.

It would have been better not to ask, for at the mention, Hu Guozheng trembled, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “I did. I think he had two sharp fangs… Could it be… a vampire?”

“No doubt about it. Miss Qin, we’re in real trouble now.”

Qin Ling fell into deep thought. Even she couldn’t understand why vampires existed, nor why the other side wanted to capture her—to lure someone out. But who?

“Hey! What’s going on? When has the toll station ever been completely deserted?” Hu Guozheng looked around, puzzled to find the toll station brightly lit yet empty.

Du Bin glanced nervously over his shoulder, wary of a surprise attack from behind. Meanwhile, Hu Guozheng rummaged through his travel bag and produced a knife. “Good thing I was smart enough to bring this for protection.”

He had scarcely finished speaking when a heavy thud landed on the roof of the car; the roof buckled under the weight as something rolled down onto the windshield.

When the three saw that it was a corpse—its flesh mangled and drained, with barely a patch of skin left whole—they nearly jumped out of their skins.

Before they could recover from the shock, a dark figure slowly descended from the night sky. “I told you, you can’t escape. You’d best come quietly with me.”

“To see it with my own eyes... I never imagined vampires really exist, that those ancient Western legends could be true.”

“True or not, I’m running him down,” Hu Guozheng declared, flooring the accelerator as the car surged toward the figure, quickly reaching a hundred and twenty kilometers an hour. Du Bin, in the passenger seat, was drenched in cold sweat.

Xiang, unfazed by the oncoming car, simply flexed the wings at his back. Just as they were about to collide, he leapt lightly backward, using the impact to perch atop the hood.

“Die!” Xiang raised his right hand, intent on smashing through the windshield to attack Hu Guozheng. Instinctively sensing danger, Hu Guozheng slammed on the brakes, the tires screeching as the car skidded to a halt. Xiang, caught off guard, was flung several meters by inertia, then hovered in midair as he regained his balance.

“Damn, a vampire with wings is a real headache.”

As Xiang swooped back, Du Bin shouted in a panic, “Fatty, reverse! Quick!”

Hu Guozheng threw the car into reverse, but they had barely backed up a hundred meters when a fireball shot out of the darkness, striking Xiang directly. The three inside the car were stunned.

“Who’s there?” Xiang batted out the flames and glared furiously in the direction the attack had come from.

“Isn’t this what you wanted, all this trouble, just to draw me out?” A girl leapt down from a tree. Du Bin recognized her instantly; she was the same girl who had saved him before, the one who had attacked Qin Ling to lure someone out. But why?

“Heh, you finally appear, Huntress,” Xiang said with excitement—he hadn’t expected her to take the bait so easily.

“Speak. Why are you looking for me?” The girl’s expression was stern as she stared him down, sword in hand, a faint red glow emanating from the blade.

Though he knew she was his nemesis, Xiang felt a thrill at the chance to face her. Spreading his wings, he dove at her, using his aerial agility to strike. The girl swung her sword, but he easily dodged her attacks thanks to his flight. When he dove again, she calmly gripped her sword in both hands and unleashed a wave of flame. The sudden fire caught Xiang off guard, and at his speed he couldn’t pull up in time—he crashed straight into the blaze.

To the three in the car, her appearance was no less than a lifeline. They remembered her formidable power at the hotel and felt reassured by her presence. Hu Guozheng, shaking off his astonishment, drove the car to a safer spot. “Old Du, that girl is incredible—she’s taking on a vampire single-handed!”

Du Bin didn’t reply. He knew well that this mysterious girl was truly formidable. She’d single-handedly defeated a whole group of altered humans before; if she’d wanted to kill him back then, it would’ve been as easy as crushing an ant.

When the smoke cleared from the blast, Xiang was still circling overhead, though his arm was injured—and strangest of all, the wound was closing before their eyes.

“A true vampire, indeed—able to heal from such wounds so quickly. But I won’t be holding back anymore,” the girl murmured, chanting an incantation as she leveled her sword behind her and spun in place. As she turned, the sword multiplied, splitting into several real blades wreathed in flames, circling around her.

Everyone was stunned—she had divided her sword into eight, each one floating and burning. With a cold command, she sent the swords whirling to attack Xiang from all sides.

“Tch, just cheap tricks,” Xiang sneered, dodging left and right. He noticed the girl was too busy manipulating her swords to defend herself. Seizing the chance, he dove at her head-on; though the swords chased him, they couldn’t match his speed. His talons struck at her—but this was exactly what she wanted. The girl’s lips curled in a smile as she feigned a panicked retreat. Xiang, thinking she’d evaded him, pressed the assault.

Suddenly, two swords swept at him from the flanks. Xiang, alarmed, leapt backward just in time. “What’s going on?”

As soon as his feet touched the ground, three more swords stabbed at him from behind. He hadn’t expected the swords to be so relentless; spinning around, he tried to fend them off.

Then, two more swords plunged from above. With no choice, Xiang retreated again, now surrounded. The eight swords attacked from all directions, never giving him a moment’s respite; each time he tried to move, a sword would already be waiting, leaving him no time to think—he could only react on instinct, making more and more mistakes.

As the swords struck from every angle, one pierced his wing, the force slamming him into the wall of a nearby building. Before he could react, the rest of the swords pinned him to the wall, immobilizing him completely.

“Damn it, how could I lose? I was too careless,” Xiang roared in fury.

The girl lowered her hands and approached, laughing softly. “You fell right into my trap.”

“A trap?” Xiang stared at her, realization dawning as he saw her relaxed demeanor. The girl continued, “I deliberately showed a weakness for you to exploit, so you’d let your guard down and think you had a chance.”

“You pretended to panic just to lure me in,” Xiang struggled, but the swords held him fast, their seals draining his strength.

With a wave of her hand, the last sword shot down, aimed squarely at his head. There was a clear, ringing thud as the blade struck. Xiang’s eyes widened as blood trickled down his forehead—the sword embedded itself in the ground, utterly still.