What It's Like Being a Vampire

Peng City, underground in the Brilliant Fortune Building.

John Cavendish, with his somewhat disheveled blond hair, was sitting cross-legged on the ground, looking at the rabbit woodcarving in his hand with a sense of despair.

Ever since he was brought to this hidden and technologically advanced underground space on the 17th of last month, he had never left. He stayed here all the time, puzzling over the “scars” of the rabbit woodcarving.

Originally, Mr. Liang gave him two choices. One was to unravel the special qualities of the rabbit woodcarving within 40 days, while the other was to defeat the giant serpent.

John, who narrowly escaped the serpent’s mouth, naturally chose the former. Compared to the terrifying and powerful “Blood Beast” giant serpent he had encountered, a rabbit woodcarving seemed much more harmless.

However, during the past month, he spent 24 hours a day with the rabbit woodcarving, constantly observing, pondering, and fiddling with it. Every part of the carving, every trace on it, had etched deeply into his mind and memory.

So much so that when he closed his eyes now, he seemed to see a roughly carved, ugly rabbit woodcarving grinning at him.

Yet, apart from being able to discern that the tool used to carve this rabbit was quite unprofessional and that it had endured various forms of “torture” based on the various traces on it, he still couldn’t understand what was so special about this rabbit woodcarving.

After he accepted the task, Mr. Liang barely bothered with him, neither providing him a room nor any equipment or tools. He could only sit on the floor in this hall–the only chair was Mr. Liang’s, and he didn’t dare to touch it.

Mr. Liang occasionally handled some affairs via the screen that rose from the center of the hall. Most of the time, he was invisible, and judging from the operation of the elevator, Mr. Liang often left, but due to his special invisibility ability, John wasn’t sure if Mr. Liang had actually left, or whether the elevator’s movements were just a prank.

Naturally, regardless of whether Mr. Liang left or not, John didn’t harbor any thoughts of escape.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to escape, but he noticed that there were no buttons outside that elevator, clearly indicating that it wasn’t accessible to everyone.

Since he couldn’t use the elevator, he had no idea how he could leave this space surrounded by metal walls, unaware of its distance from the ground above.

Moreover, considering Mr. Liang’s terrifying ability and the various advanced technologies he displayed, even if Mr. Liang temporarily left, he must be confident in keeping John trapped here. After all, in addition to him, there was at least one “Blood Beast”, a giant snake.

If he weren’t of the Blood Clan, John would have died of hunger and thirst long ago.

However, even as a blood clan, being confined in such a place for so long, his body and mind were exhausted, and he felt on the verge of madness.

Especially as time ticked away, and the 40-day deadline was approaching, he still couldn’t find the “special quality” of the rabbit woodcarving, John felt an urge to smash the woodcarving into pieces.

He knew that the “special” aspect that Mr. Liang referred to certainly wasn’t the style of the carving, the carving technique, the source of the damage on it, or anything that could be judged intuitively.

In the beginning, he suspected that something might be hidden inside the carving, so he asked Mr. Liang for permission to split the woodcarving open. But Mr. Liang showed him X-ray scans of the carving from various angles, as well as a range of analysis reports generated by diverse instruments, making John realize that Mr. Liang had already carried out various scientific tests on the woodcarving. Even the scorched, drilled, and cut traces on the woodcarving were all made by Mr. Liang.

In addition, Mr. Liang had a number of reference images similar to or related to the rabbit woodcarving, potential sources of the image, a vast number of analysis reports on carving methods and tools. There were assessments from psychologists speculating on the mental state of the woodcarver, judgments from artists, interpretations of the mood and thoughts conveyed by the woodcarving…

Obviously, Mr. Liang couldn’t find anything special about the woodcarving through these methods, so he handed the woodcarving over to John. In terms of a Chinese proverb, he was treating a dead horse as if it were still alive, hoping that John, the “Blood Clan” member from Slovakia, could bring a new perspective.

When he asked Mr. Liang how or from where he should research the rabbit woodcarving, he received the answer “follow your instincts”.

When he asked Mr. Liang why he was so certain that the rabbit woodcarving was “special”, Mr. Liang didn’t respond at all.

John didn’t know if Mr. Liang would let him go or grant his request to become a “loyal servant” if he truly found out what was special about the rabbit woodcarving. But he did understand, considering Mr. Liang’s demonstrated approach, that if he couldn’t produce an answer within the time limit, the result would definitely not be favorable.

When he had no choice but to reveal the purpose and origin of the “Sacred Blood” in the small knife, causing Mr. Liang to consume the “Sacred Blood”, John was worried and terrified for a moment, fearing Count Joel’s wrath, fearing his retreat was cut off, fearing he could never return to the “Red Rose”.

But soon, he realized how powerful Mr. Liang and his organization were, and ironically started hoping that Count Joel or the “Red Rose” could come after him. At that time, he could play some role, at least providing more information, demonstrating other values.

He hoped that those old guys from the “Red Rose” could be brave, take risks, and come here when their “blood sources” were insufficient and their limits were approaching.

He hoped that they could give some trouble to Mr. Liang and his organization, giving him a chance to prove his utility.

But he knew very well that the old guys were patient monsters. Their long lifespan was due to their patience and caution, so even if they knew he betrayed them, even if their limits were near, they would first seek other solutions in Europe. They wouldn’t come looking unless it was absolutely necessary.

His attempts at piquing Mr. Liang’s interest in Slovakia’s “Red Rose”, trying to act as an agent to return to Europe, all ended in failure.

At least during this 40-day deadline, it seemed impossible to postpone or obtain an alternative task through the “Red Rose”.

John racked his brains, trying to apply everything he had heard about secret techniques, legends, and even plots from various novels and movies involving woodcarvings, dolls, statues, etc., hoping to find the right approach.

He even asked Mr. Liang for the white porcelain knife, and although it no longer had Count Joel’s “Sacred Blood”, and lacked the lethal power against other “Blood Clan” or “Blood Beast”, it was still very sharp.

He cut his own hand with the porcelain knife and smeared his blood on the rabbit woodcarving, but the woodcarving gave no response.

He also requested things like garlic to perform various forms of purification on the woodcarving, but again, to no avail.

So at this moment, holding the woodcarving in his hand, John felt utterly desperate. He began to suspect whether Mr. Liang provided this option just to toy with him, to let him experience the feeling of hope turning into despair in forty days?

Or was he suggesting that the ultimate fate for him, if he refused to confront the giant serpent, was to meet the same torture as this woodcarving?

Was he hinting that he and the rabbit woodcarving are both playthings for Mr. Liang?

However, considering the various test reports Mr. Liang had shown him and the haughty attitude with which Mr. Liang disregarded the “Red Rose” and other “Blood Clan” members, he felt that it might not be the case. The woodcarving must indeed be problematic, something Mr. Liang would not trivialize.

As he had regretfully bitten the long ear of the rabbit wood carving, the entire hall’s lighting suddenly dimmed.

John was caught off guard, slowly opening his mouth and looking up at the enormous ceiling lamps that resembled large tiles, sensing that something was wrong. He had been in this place for over a month and never experienced an unstable light before.

The next moment, the light became bright again, but much brighter than usual, and then began to flicker.

On the central operating platform, computer screens began to rise, screens from the top also descended, and various operating platforms of unknown use extended from the side.

“Sir? Is that you?” John called out nervously, but there was no response.

He cautiously approached and saw that most of the screens were black, while others were scrolling rows of codes quickly, so fast that the human eyes could not discern them.

Then swiftly, all the screens receded back into the platform, and the hall’s lighting instantly went out.

John held his breath and dared not to move. After a while, the lights turned on again. A giant serpent appeared on the wall not too far away, startling him. But on closer inspection, he found out that the wall containing the giant serpent had transformed into a screen, projecting the scene inside in real-time.

Following that, one after another, walls lit up around him. Some projected empty rooms, while others contained odd-looking creatures; apparently, they were other “Blood Beasts”.

They’re keeping more than just one “Blood Beast” here!

John became anxious right away, slightly worried that the high-tech electronic systems that Mr. Liang seemed to possess might have problems.

Would he have a horrible death if the partitions containing the “Blood Beasts” were all opened, with nowhere to escape?

However, those illuminated gigantic screens quickly went out, reverting to the normal partition wall form. The overhead lights, however, continued to flicker unstably.

Clearly, the situation wasn’t over yet.

John thought he heard the sound of fine sand falling on some metal components overhead, as if it was inside the ventilation ducts. However, the sound was so faint and intermittent that he was unsure if he had heard it right or if it might be just the ventilation systems or other equipment cooling systems at work.

Suddenly, under the dim light, a whole chunk of meat appeared abruptly on the ground not far in front of him. The cut was neat and clean, not bloody but rather like a well-prepared ingredient ready to be sliced or diced, and then cooked.

But, for some reason, as soon as he saw that piece of meat, a thought sprang into his mind – this is rabbit meat.

This was an extremely strange feeling.

He subconsciously looked at the rabbit wood carving in his hand and found his hand trembling somewhat.

For him, this was incredulous. He had always thought that he would tremble with fear due to power and death. Still, he wouldn’t be scared of such bizarre and mystical happenings, as he considered himself part of that bizarre and mystical world.

But at this moment, a sense of chill rose within him, and he strangely thought about some stories which he used to consider jokes, and he suddenly understood the feelings of those people in the stories.

It turns out that even the “Blood Clan” would be afraid of such matters.

He did not know what exactly it was, but the threat posed by the unknown could sometimes be even more potent than that posed by absolute power.

At this moment, the third underground layer’s repairing area and even further up in the Brilliant Fortune Building above John, were also affected. The entire building lost signal reception, whether it was WIFI signals, mobile phone signals, or signals from Bluetooth and 2.5G devices; all were lost.

Fortunately, it was late into the night, past eleven, and only a few people were still working. Therefore, the number of affected people was not that significant.

However, situations like the computers auto-restarting, lights automatically turning off, and the temporary power cut, were quite exasperating to everyone.

Neither John, the underground third-layer maintenance staff, nor the employees of “Divine Technology” in the Brilliant Fortune Building, realized that these anomalies were side effects caused by a “digital life”, which presumed itself “perfect”. It was trying to forcibly access the large storage device hidden in the deepest part of the secret underground space of “Divine Technology”, which was not connected to any network.

Previously, even before completely integrating into the “Super Sensory Item System,” Alice could still control and influence some electronic devices remotely through super-connected objects, even if they were not connected to the network.

But to retrieve detailed data stored on the electronic devices and transport them out from the device directly through the “Super Sensory Item System”, so that they can be digitized and displayed on other electronic devices, was something they couldn’t achieve yet.

With the help of Xiao Pingguo and after fully entering the “Super Sensory Item System”, both Xiang Kun and Alice believed that she had, in theory, the capabilities of doing that, which is, to take out the data hidden in the large storage device underneath the Brilliant Fortune Building. Hence, only time was needed.

Alice understood clearly that Xiang Kun was now very eager and anticipated seeing those pieces of information. He believed that those pieces of information could likely help him unravel the various puzzles posed by “Divine Technology” and Mr. Liang. He might even uncover some secrets about the root origins of the “mutants”.

As a result, she was still not wholly accustomed to the inherent conversion of data within the “Super Sensory Item System”, and there were not enough super-connected objects at her disposal. In addition, eagerness got the better of her, resulting in considerable disturbances when carrying out data conversion and retrieval.

Not only did it momentarily trouble and inconvenience the employees at Brilliant Fortune Building, but it also had a significant impact on John Cavendish, who thought he was immune to unnerving spiritual disturbances. Meanwhile, it nearly burnt out the storage device.

Xiang Kun, who was aware of the situation, found himself between laughter and tears because the task he had assigned Alice was supposed to be a long-term one with emphasis on being conservative and safe, there was no rush at all.

Nevertheless, after Alice completed an experiment that night, in which she successfully transmitted the data from the hard disk of an old-fashioned desktop computer not connected to the network in Chongyun Village to Xiang Kun’s laptop, she took the initiative to request a co-manifestation from Old Xia. Then, Alice manifested as mini-Old Xia, with one hand on her hips and the other pointing a scalpel towards the sky, promising Xiang Kun, “Alice will get that data for boss before the sun comes up!”

Then, the situation had turned into what it was now…

The unsuccessful Alice did not request another co-manifestation from Old Xia, and did not even make a sound; instead, she used texts to display on the computer screen: “That device is not connected to a power source. In a powered-off condition, more super-connected objects are needed to completely retrieve the data. The super-connected objects over there are not enough. Request to deploy more super-connected objects.”

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