Volume 3 – The Place Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 2: A Dazed Present
The shape of this right leg was very beautiful, but if one looked directly at the strong lines on the long lower leg poised for a strike, one would realize this leg definitely wouldn’t be easy to take on!
Qianye instinctively raised his arms and grabbed the ankle in front of him. A muffled thud rang out as his entire body lifted from the ground, shaken by the force of the kick.
“Slightly weaker than a vampire soldier,” Qianye thought.
The force of this kick was weaker than Qianye predicted. Although he had been taken by surprise, it seemed easy to fight against.
Qianye gathered the origin power in his body and suddenly wrenched his body downward, immediately dropping to the ground steadily. Pushing all of the his momentum to the ground, he yanked his left hand into his torso, using an overwhelming strength to instantly pull his opponent toward him. Although that person was resisting, they were completely suppressed in terms of power.
Qianye suddenly cried out in surprise. Years of battle experience allowed him to sense an origin gun being aimed at him. The sound of a physical bullet being loaded followed soon after.
Qianye tugged at the ankle in his hands, causing the other person to momentarily lose their balance. Then he dove onto his opponent, and using the weight of Mount Tai, he held them down. The origin gun left their grasp and flew outward, wind brushing past Qianye’s ear as it slid along the wooden floor until it collided with the wall at the other end of the room.
Qianye was extremely satisfied with the speed and timing of his dive. He had simply grabbed onto the opponent’s leg, wrenched it downward when they were in the middling of charging their origin gun, then dove onto them to prevent further close quarters combat.
Qianye reached out his left hand and accurately grabbed onto both of his opponent’s wrists, holding them tightly. Then they wrestled briefly until he overpowered them and pinned their arms high above their head. Then he finally exhaled and lifted his upper body.
A flash of light from outside the window illuminated the room for a moment.
In that moment, both the person on top and the person on bottom were dumbfounded.
The person that had been overpowered by Qianye was Yu Yingnan. The only problem was, she seemed to have just left the bath and only had a towel wrapped around her. As of now, after fierce struggle, the towel had long since flown to a corner on the other side of the room.
Qianye looked downward, taking Yu Yingnan in from head to toe with just a glance.
After years of constant exercise, her body was strong and compact like a leopard, her full, yet no brawny figure seemingly full of explosive power. Other than that, her chest was truly something to be proud of. A curious smell permeated the room as well. It wasn’t as obvious before, but a soft waxy scent could be detected. It was completely different from the aroma of fresh wine, but it did smell like rice wine. This huntress had obviously been enjoying herself.
Shock instantly filled Qianye, sweat immediately trickling from his forehead. The hazy, drunken feeling influencing him suddenly disappeared, and he immediately woke from his daze.
After Yu Yingnan stared at him for a second, her tense body actually relaxed as she asked, “Qianye?”
“It’s me!” Qianye immediately let go of his left hand, freeing Yu Yingnan’s arms. However, he dumbly remained in his position, as if he didn’t know what to do next.
Yu Yingnan sighed in exasperation, slapped Qianye’s face, and said, “Get off! How long are you going to stare!”
Qianye jumped up and immediately moved to the sofa, obediently sitting down.
Yu Yingnan was actually quite forgiving in that she had only slapped him. She gracefully stood up as if nothing had happened then bent her supple waist to pick up her clothes that had fallen on the ground. She put her underwear on in front of Qianye, then her pants, her corset, and lastly her tactical jacket.
Once finished, Yu Yingnan pulled up a chair and sat in front of Qianye who was still dazed. She slapped his face again, saying, “Speak! What happened just now?”
“That… um… it’s like this.”
A minute later, Yu Yingnan looked at Qianye with a strange expression on her face, finally unable resist asking, “You said you drank too much just now?”
“Yeah,” Qianye answered honestly.
“Just a jug of rice wine?”
“Two cups. Old 2 drank the rest.” Qianye was extremely honest.
“Isn’t that stuff as light as water?”
Qianye thought for a moment, then sincerely said, “It actually has a little kick.”
“So you drank too much?”
“Yes.”
Watching Qianye methodically answering her questions, Yu Yingnan truly did not know whether to laugh or cry.
She stood up, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag from it. She had no idea how to describe her muddled emotions. The last time they competed in over how well they could handle alcohol, Qianye didn’t fall even after ten to twenty bottles of hard liquor. Now he actually got drunk after just two cups of rice wine? Was he hallucinating in his drunken stupor, or did the alcohol make him courageous?
When faced with Qianye’s clumsy excuse, one that was unbearable to even try disprove, she could only violently spit out a curse.
Qianye stood up and said, “Shall I go?”
Yu Yingnan stopped him. “Wait! What did you want to talk to me about?”
“I just drank too much came over in a daze.”
Yu Yingnan seemed to freeze for a second, then she took another drag of her cigarette. She inhaled the smoke a bit too deeply, and after violently coughing a few times, she waved at Qianye forcefully. “Okay! If you don’t have any problems then just leave!”
“Okay!” Qianye was very obedient.
“Wait a moment!” Yu Yingnan called for him to stop.
Qianye turned around, his obsidian-like eyes flashing like bright beautiful lights in the dark room. Yu Yingnan opened her mouth, but forgot why she stopped him. Maybe there was something never she wanted him to stop for.
It was Yu Yingnan’s turn to scratch her head. She suddenly rushed into her storage room. One could hear loud clattering noises and even the sound of racks crashing to the floor. Then Yu Yingnan rushed back out, a huge bag in her hand. It was filled with a variety of field rations, such as long-lasting canned food among other things.
Yu Yingnan pressed the bag into Qianye’s arms, saying, “Take this with you and eat it as you will!”
Qianye walked out the door hugging a bag that weighed at dozens of kilograms at the very least, his mind completely blank.
Yu Yingnan shouted at him from behind. “When there’s a new mission, I’ll come find you!”
Qianye nodded and headed out.
Yu Yingnan slammed the door shut, then leaned against the door. She began to pant frantically, as if she had just fought in a major war. After she calmed down, Yu Yingnan stressed to herself.
“Why did I talk so much today?
“Should I say less next time?
Wouldn’t that make things strange?
“I should just act the way I did in the past.
“How did I act in the past? Crap, I must have drank too much.”
Her conversation with herself echoed throughout the room like this. After going through it once, she looped back to her initial problem and started all over again.
Qianye returned to his room in the small hotel. He had just changed rooms. After closing the door to his room and shutting out the noise from the corridor, he sighed in relief. He felt exhausted.
He was just like a child who had done something wrong and adults had caught him in the act. Even though he and Yu Yingnan had only gone on one mission together, her fierce, tyrannical style of commanding was very similar to that of Qianye’s former commanding officers and had unwittingly aroused his long-time habit of obeying orders.
The only difference was that she wasn’t very good at commanding. Her commands mostly consisted of simple orders like “charge” and “attack together.” Such ability was light-years away from even Nan Batian who Qianye considered barely adept at commanding.
Qianye opened the bag and smiled bitterly when he saw cans that had piled into a small mountain. It seemed like Yu Yingnan had given him at least half of her rations.
Qianye still couldn’t understand why she gave him a bunch of cans and not other things. For example, empty origin bullets, a decent sword, or other items like that would have all been good presents. Why did it have to be a bunch of cans?
Maybe it was a coincidence that Qianye actually needed a large amount of food. His power grew every day, so his appetite grew every day as well. After that night, Qianye discovered that sucking blood, especially the blood of strong vampires, recovered his energy. In fact it would make his blood energy stronger. If he didn’t suck blood, he would need to eat enormous portions of food in order to satisfy his body’s needs.
However, no matter how much he ate, it still wouldn’t strengthen his blood energy. Until now, it seemed as if the only way to strengthen it would be for the origin tides inside of him to naturally feed the blood energy..
Qianye pulled out his army knife and pried one can open after another, eating whatever was inside. As he ate tremendous amounts of food, the injuries he received when fighting the vampires began to heal even faster.
At the same time, Yu Yingnan, who had been pacing around her room in a daze, suddenly rushed into her storage. Once she opened the door and saw the fallen rack that was missing half of her rations, she was instantly stunned.
“Oh my god! I actually gave him a bunch of cans! What is that…” Yu Yingnan moaned and sat down on the floor.
Afterward that, Qianye no longer left his room to find information. Since the Broken Winged Angels and the expeditionary army hadn’t made any movements, this could mean that Wei Potian hadn’t been able to identify him. Or maybe they stopped looking because of some other reason. For Qianye as he currently was, this was the best possible outcome.
Even though the problem with Qi Yue had been traced to Darkblood City, Qianye still didn’t want to leave unless he had to. He felt this city was a suitable place for him to live since he could find most of the things he needed, the gates never closed, and the crowd could hide the aura of his black blood. In addition to that, the high grade products available for high ranked hunters in the Home of Hunters had enough appeal.
Qianye stayed in his hotel room for one day and one night without leaving, waiting for his injuries to heal. His vampiric constitution had finished its advancement, and the subtle changes taking place inside of it came to an end. Qianye analyzed his power in a simple way and estimated that he had the ability to oppose rank six Fighters like Yu Renyan. In terms of power, he would probably just be at a disadvantage. He would no longer be unable to fight back.
It was time to resolve the issue with Sky Snake.
Qianye did not trust the head of the Sky Snake Gang at all. Yu Yingnan once said that Sky Snake used to abide by the rules when making deals, but in reality, a Flowing Gold Rose was enough to make him abandon his principles. This kind of person would only be convinced by profit and driven by power.
Furthermore, Sky Snake wanted to make peace, but he did not offer any terms. Qianye didn’t feel any sincerity from him because there was only one term that Sky Snake could immediately bring up—Yu Yingnan’s debt.
However, even if Sky Snake were truly sincere about making peace, Qianye still would never accept it.
Qianye organized his equipment. He dismantled his Eagleshot into three parts and put them into his bag, then put an origin bullet he personally infused with origin power into Butcher’s magazine. Old 2 had reminded him that an Eagleshot wasn’t suitable for cities. However, Qianye did not want to leave the Eagleshot in his room. Security guards of small hotels like these were not much different from the trash that seeped in from everywhere.
The time was nearly ripe. Qianye prepared to go to the Sky Snake Gang’s headquarters that night. He felt that the best way to negotiate with Sky Snake was by pointing the Butcher at his head.
By nightfall, Darkblood City became lively again. Under the dim streetlights, one could see women leaning against lamp posts to attract business. They wore heavy makeup and gaudy clothing. Under the faint light, they actually exuded a bit of charm. Of course, during the day and without makeup, they would definitely turn into another lifeform.
Qianye walked through the street like an average, low-level person. The women on both sides of the street constantly threw seductive looks at him, enthusiastically calling for his attention. At times, men would see a woman that suited their tastes, so they would embrace each other and find an extremely cheap small hotel for a one night stand.
Qianye suddenly discovered that Darkblood City had interesting patterns that were more direct than Lighthouse Town’s. Although lustful men and women could get a room in Lighthouse Town, most of them chose to do the deed in the grass.
This was truly an amazing thought. Qianye didn’t know how it had even popped into his head.
Qianye left this lively, lustful street and turned into a dark, dirty, quiet alleyway. He was more used to this kind of environment.
However, aside from Qianye, there were obviously other people who were also well suited to this environment.
At the corner of the street more than ten steps ahead of Qianye, a shadow suddenly dropped from the wall with a thud. When looking at it more closely, a person with long arms and legs was slowly walking out to block Qianye’s way.
