“I got… bitten at… Blossom Village…”
As soon as the man answered the question, he vomited a mouthful of blood and his eyes turned into a different color, which was to the terror of the surgeons and nurses.
“Bring me some tissue papers.”
Without delay, the nurse hurriedly handed her a box of tissues.
An Xiaoning pulled out several pieces of tissue paper and stuffed them into the man’s mouth. She then pressed his head down forcefully.
Although the man seemed to be motionless, he was actually struggling to break free with all his might, to no avail.
An Xiaoning used her other hand to wipe the blood off his neck. She had already noticed the wound from afar when the man was being carried out on the stretcher earlier. After taking a closer look, she realized that it was just like what she had expected. Fortunately, she managed to rush to the operating theater in time. Otherwise, there would definitely have been countless of casualties.
She then asked the head surgeon, “How long will the effects of the anesthesia last?”
“About an hour.”
“Prepare some anesthesia and administer him with another dose half an hour from now. Don’t bother rescuing him anymore. There’s no purpose in that. If I hadn’t rushed here in time, a massacre would have taken place.”
Everyone was shocked out of their wits. They stared at the man who had bloodshot eyes, too petrified to even speak.
An Xiaoning immediately whipped out her mobile phone to call Jin Qingyan.
“Make a trip to Blossom Village personally. I don’t know where that is so you have to find out the location. The man who was sent for emergency rescue just now had been bitten by those mutants. The situation is critical. I’m afraid it’s similar to what happened in Beiying. Bring the children home and head there at once. Hurry.”
An Xiaoning then said to the surgeon, “Call the rescue center and instruct them not to rescue any patients in Blossom Village. Don’t dispatch any more ambulances either.”
The surgeons immediately instructed the nurses to proceed accordingly.
“Ms. An, what’s… wrong with this man?” the surgeon asked in a shaky voice.
Afraid of frightening him any further, An Xiaoning answered, “Don’t worry about that for now, leave it to me. Administer him with another dose of anesthetic half an hour from now. Then, clean up all of the blood that flowed from his body before sending him to Wei Ni Estate. I have something far more important to do now.”
The doctor answered, “Yes, Ms. An, we’ll do as you say.”
An Xiaoning nodded and hurriedly rushed out of the hospital. She then called Mei Yangyang and said, “If Xiaoxi’s condition is stable, move her out of the hospital and go back to Wei Ni Estate. A man who had been bitten by a vampire was sent to the hospital just now. I’ve already controlled him, but I’m still not certain about the current situation.”
Mei Yangyang said, “Alright, we’ll settle the procedures now and get the doctor to provide Xiaoxi with treatment at home.”
An Xiaoning expressed assent and hailed a taxi to the police station.
“Team Leader, what brings you here?” asked Zu Dong.
“Is Bureau Chief in?”
“He should be.”
“Okay.” She hurriedly scurried inside and barged inside Pan Zhenghui’s office, giving Pan Zhenghui a great shock. He shivered and almost spilled the cup of tea in his hands. He would have blown his top and raised his voice if it were any of his other subordinates. However, he dared not show his displeasure to An Xiaoning.
“Xiaoning, what’s the matter? You’re so flustered and anxious.”
“Something major happened.” An Xiaoning explained the ongoing situation at the hospital to him before saying, “I have a hunch that that man was not the only victim who had been bitten. Trouble is going to arise if word about this incident spreads to the public. My greatest fear is that what happened in Beiying will occur again. Hence, we must carry out a screening at every road exit to identify any suspicious persons. Get the officers to report immediately when they discover any.”
“That goes without saying. I was wondering why my eyelid kept twitching today. Goddamn it!” Pan Zhenghui exclaimed, turning as pale as a ghost.
Without another word, An Xiaoning brought Zu Dong and Gong Le away with her to Blossom Village.
According to the GPS navigation system, Blossom Village was rather near the city center, at only about a few kilometers away.
An Xiaoning was ill at ease throughout the journey there.
She was afraid that things would be blown out of proportion.
The entire journey was grueling and arduous.
She arrived in Blossom Village to see that there was not a single soul in sight at all.
She called Jin Qingyan to find out about his current whereabouts, after which the three of them rushed over.
When they arrived, Jin Qingyan was standing alone at a ditch in Blossom Village with no one else around.
There were fire and thick fumes in the ditch.
An Xiaoning stepped forward to see that he was setting two corpses on fire.
The corpses were mutants who had already been bitten.
“You found two mutants?”
“I’ve found two for now. Hence, we still have to carry out checks. Besides, average policemen are not capable enough to keep the situation under control. Things would be terrible if they get bitten too. We have to split up and carry out screening.”
“Alright,” An Xiaoning immediately agreed and left with Zu Dong and Gong Le.
After an entire morning of screening and checking every household in Blossom Village, they still did not find anything.
An Xiaoning heaved a sigh of relief.
However, she could not relax at all.
An Xiaoning instructed the rest of the villagers to call the police once they find anything unusual before leaving the village.
After lunch, An Xiaoning still could not put her mind at ease.
Jin Qingyan had a sullen expression on his face, seemingly deep in thought. He was sitting beside her and reading some books. She understood him very well. Thus, she knew that he was definitely not focusing on the book despite holding it in his hands.
An Xiaoning rested her head in her hand and placed her arm against the armrest of the couch. She stared at him and asked, “What are you thinking about?”
Jin Qingyan answered, “I’ve been wondering why this happened again out of nowhere. Could this be only the beginning? If the vampires and humans have been living together harmoniously all along, why have they decided to go against the rules now?”
An Xiaoning was puzzled as well.
“Young Sir, Young Madam, you have a parcel from an anonymous sender. There’s a letter inside.” Xiao Huang entered and handed the envelope to Jin Qingyan, who then placed the book aside and checked the letter in the envelope.
The contents of the letter were rather short and concise, but enough to send Jin Qingyan into a rage.
“I knew all along that the Jin family had a precious family heirloom. However, I never knew what kind of a treasure it was. I had never expected that it would take us so long to verify what it really is. Mr. Jin, please keep it in a safe place, lest we find it.”
He could sense the arrogance in between the lines.
“This person is really haughty, huh? I wonder if he has the courage to steal the treasure away from me.”
An Xiaoning could not help but think of the worst-case scenario. “If this ring can’t be removed from your finger, what if they try to cut your finger off? Seems like Ancestor Jin Yuanzhi was right.”
