Volume 1 – Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 26: Cleanly Purged
He looked to be only around eleven or twelve years old, wearing well-made, luxurious clothes and seemed to be a child from a rather well-off family.
Noticing Qianye with the turn of his head, the boy was stunned.
The moment the boy had come into his sights, Qianye had already aimed his gun at his head.
Despite the fact that gunpowder firearms were lacking in comparison to origin firearms, it could still heavily injure a vampire at such close range if it was shot three consecutive times. However, Qianye suddenly felt that the trigger was extremely heavy and couldn’t press it for some time.
This should be a normal human… Qianye couldn’t help but think.
Against a child whose arms were thinner than an inch of steel, was a kill on sight necessary? Even though it was an order.
The boy suddenly lifted his arms toward Qianye, as if seeking protection. His left cheek was rather dirty and stained with hints of blood. On this messy battlefield, such a sight was extremely common.
Qianye’s fingers relaxed as the barrel of his gun lowered slightly, away from the boy’s forehead.
And at that moment, the boy suddenly pounced toward Qianye, his speed completely surpassing human limits! Opening his mouth, he revealed his abnormally drooling teeth as his vision locked onto Qianyes artery. His eyes instantly became bloodshot, and even revealed a red light which made him look incomparably ferocious.
The barrel of Qianye’s gun rose immediately, aiming yet again at the center of the boy’s brows. In an instant, everything around him seemed to have slowed down as Qianye’s finger slowly pressed into the trigger.
However, a large leg appeared from the side, kicking the boy away, sending him flying into a wall dozens of meters away! With a dull sound, the boy’s body stuck to the wall. All the bones in his body had been thoroughly broken, causing his body to crumble which left a trail of blood on the wall.
“Rookie! What’s wrong with you?” the Red Scorpion squad leader appeared from the side of the alleway, glaring at Qianye as he shouted.
“No, nothing, I just…wanted to see what it could do,” Qianye said rather guiltily.
“That’s a blood thrall! They only have the instincts of wild beasts. There’s nothing special about their abilities, there’s nothing to see. Kiddo, contain your curiosity, these things are much more dangerous than you imagine them to be! If you’re bitten and their saliva flows into your bloodstream, you better kill yourself, or I’ll personally lodge a bullet in your brain!”
The sternness in the Red Scorpion squad leader’s voice showed that he was not joking at all.
Qianye agreed with him and continued to search. During his journey, he killed over ten blood thralls and a bloodsucker that had hidden itself. These blood thralls were all newly created, with the basic appearance of humans with clean clothes.
However, every blood thrall was like a wild beast; they would attack when they saw Qianye, their thirst for flesh and blood overcoming their logic. Among the blood thralls were the elderly, women, and even three or four-year-old blood thralls. But no matter what they were originally, they were all wild beasts without reason.
As Qianye killed, he silently kept count, as if doing this would distract him from wondering if these blood thralls still had some humanity left in them.
Blood thralls were the byproduct of having their blood sucked by a vampire or simply the result of a bite. It was different from Embrace. As there was no exchange of blood with the vampires, blood thralls would not become a new vampire.
The mind of a blood thrall would be eroded by the venom of the bloodsucker, changing them into half of a vampire and half of a beast. After that, they would inherit the thirst for flesh and blood, and the mentality of fearing and obeying true vampires.
Even now, humans were still helpless against vampire venom. Once bitten by a bloodsucker, a human’s brain would be completely ruined by the venom, causing them to lose their minds and turning them into a blood thrall. This change was irreversible. Even the vampires themselves couldn’t reverse it.
The worst thing was the blood thralls also had the same poison, and furthermore, it was even stronger than the one true vampires had. Once a blood thrall bites someone, they would become a blood thrall as well. Therefore, in only a few days, the number of blood thralls in this small city was innumerable.
Within the various dark races, blood thralls were the lowest of lifeforms. They weren’t even counted as cannon fodder. Due to their short lifespans, they were treated as inferior food sources and were occasionally used as food for raising enormous warbeasts.
Whether it was in Daybreak or Evernight, the fate of blood thralls were incomparably tragic. They couldn’t be changed and were beyond help.
The treatment of blood thralls in the Great Qin Empire, as well as the other human countries, was surprisingly united: Any blood thrall or poisoned human were to be executed.
Therefore, in the dark races, even though vampires were not the strongest or the most in number, they were seen as the biggest threat to humanity. The reason was simple. This was the relationship between predator and prey; they were natural enemies
The battle in the city gradually reached its end as all of the bloodsuckers and blood thralls were cleanly purged. Corpses filled the city as blood flowed slowly on the streets. With every step of Qianye’s military boots, a splashing sound could be heard.
“Everyone in the city listen up, come out and gather at the central plaza! You have ten minutes. I repeat, you have ten minutes. Those who can’t get here on time will be treated as blood thralls and killed immediately when we find you!”
The noise created by the speaker on the truck reverberated throughout the small city. In a few minutes, a few people walked out from their houses, trembling as they gathered at the central plaza.
Qianye walked along the road as well, but he was suddenly stopped by a Black Scorpion veteran.
“Rookie, come with me, it’s time for class!”
Class? Qianye felt suspicious as he turned and followed the veteran to the central plaza.
There were already hundreds of people gathered at the central plaza. They appeared uneasy, but from their expressions, it was obvious that they still retained their sanity. Among them were a few soldiers who carefully hid their injuries. But if even Qianye could tell that they were injured, it was impossible for the veterans of the Red Scorpion Corps to be fooled.
The soldiers and rookies of the Red Scorpion Corps all gathered in the plaza area, surrounding the entire space.
The veteran that had led Qianye turned and spoke, “There will be people trying to escape later, just blow off their heads! Got it?”
“Understood!”
At this moment, a Red Scorpion Corps leader spoke to the instructor responsible for conducting the local army, “Instruct your men to search the city, leave no stone unturned! You have… twenty minutes!”
That instructor was shocked by the twenty minute time limit, but he immediately jumped into action and loudly called for his team, instructing them to promptly start searching the city as fast as they possibly could.
In a few moments, random gunshots rang in the city accompanied by the occasional scream. Some people had hid in their homes, but upon being found, they were immediately killed.
The twenty minute time period seemed exceptionally long. Gradually, the entire city became silent, absent of gunshots or screams.
At that moment, a Red Scorpion squad leader lifted his right hand and pointed toward the plaza before dragging his thumb across his neck.
Qianye heart thumped; this was an order to kill!
Qianye raised his gun without any expression, but he did not press the trigger. Not only Qianye, many of the rookies’ faces also changed into an ugly expression, while the Black Scorpion soldiers surveyed the people around with cold eyes.
They were still normal humans!
Qianye and many other rookies all thought so.
“Captain! They don’t look like blood thralls!” a rookie finally shouted.
The Red Scorpion squad leader replied coldly, “There are a few blood thralls in there while the rest are unconfirmed. They might be infected and they might not be infected. The standard procedure would be to throw all of them into the black mines and have them mine until they die! We don’t have that much time and there aren’t any new special black mines recently. Killing them is the best option. Understand, rookie?”
The rookie shook his head forcefully as he pointed at the normal humans, shouting, “They don’t have a single injury on them! How could they be blood thralls!”
The Red Scorpion squad leader replied, “Not only can the venom infect through blood, as long as there has been contact, there is a chance of infection. Even though it’s just a small chance, we still can’t take the risk. Without regulations, given enough time, a single blood thrall is enough to take over an entire city! I won’t and can’t take responsibility for this, much less you! Alright, the consequences of doubting me in public are ten days of confinement, and temporary suspension of membership qualifications until you’ve killed a hundred blood thralls!”
That rookie’s face instantly paled.
This punishment was equivalent to expulsion from the Red Scorpion Corps. Even if he were to join again, it would be hard for anyone to value him. The positions in the Red Scorpions were fixed and precious. Once his position was available, there would be countless families aiming for this position.
The Red Scorpion squad leader’s gaze swept across the present rookies and sternly bellowed, “Rookies! This is war! A war that has been going on for several thousand of years! There is only kill or be killed between us and the dark race mongrels. Any sort of compromise would be equal to betrayal! Therefore, throw away those laughable feelings of sympathy and follow your orders. Kill every enemy you see. This is the rule of the imperial army! Now, rookies, raise your guns and shoot!”
Every single rookies’ gun was spurting fire, and Qianye also instinctively squeezed his trigger. His muscles were tense, thanks to the recoil of his gunpowder automated rifle causing his hand to move as bullets spewed from the gun’s mouth, ripping apart the people in front of him.
In the blink of an eye, the magazine of eighty bullets was emptied. Replacing the magazine, Qianye continued shooting. After each rookie had emptied two magazines, there was no one left standing in the plaza.
Once the gunshots had stopped for a while, the division commander of the local army sprinted over. Looking at the sight in the plaza, the muscles on his face twitched as beads of sweat rolled down. Moving over to the Red Scorpion squad leader, he softly asked the next line of action.
“There’s still people hiding in the city, your underlings seem to have closed one eye toward them.”
The words of the Red Scorpion squad leader instantly caused the division commander to break out in cold sweat as he hurriedly spoke, “Give me another twenty minutes, no! Ten minutes! I will dig out every last one here! I guarantee it!”
The Red Scorpion squad leader glanced at the fresh blood flowing on the floor before shaking his head, “No need. The entire city has already been infected and is not fit for human habitation anymore. Therefore, I’ll destroy it.”
“Des… destroy?” The division commander was stunned. It wasn’t a big city. Despite that it was still a sizable fortune, and it was going to be destroyed just like that?
The Red Scorpion squad leader nodded and spoke slowly, “That’s right, destroy! This is the consequence of associating with vampires.
The division commander continued to sweat as he nodded nonstop, “Yes, I understand! Destroy, destroy immediately!”
With a roar of the engine, the personal carrier slowly left the battlefield.
Qianye turned back to look and saw fire everywhere with explosions ringing in his ears. The small city was already a sea of fire, and a little later, it would become ruins and history. Such an act of destroying cities was not rare in the Empire.
Someone patted Qianye on the back. When he turned around, he saw the veteran sitting beside him.
