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The lady sitting next to him was deep in thought as if she had really understood how to learn Spanish well.

She ran into Professor Nas when she was visiting clients in a province in the southwest. Knowing that the professor was from the United Kingdom and spoke fluent Chinese, even though some of his wording and sentences sounded a bit old-fashioned and conventional, she was impressed that a foreigner could reach this level of fluency.

Professor Nas told her that he came to China for special plant research. He suggested that it could offer clean energy for humanity and potentially serve as a solution for future environmental degradation. Although many of the terms and principles he spoke of were beyond her understanding, her broad experience led her to trust her judgement. She believed that everything Professor Nas said was true, and she admired his work and research.

So when she found out that Professor Nas was planning to head in the direction of Yangcheng which was not far from her company’s city, she offered him a ride back.

Along the way, the lady continued having conversations with Professor Nas. This British gentleman, who was not only good-looking and charismatic but also funny and highly knowledgeable, along with his fluency in Chinese that lowered the communication barrier, made her admiration and respect for him grow.

In reality, if judged from a purely objective standpoint, disregarding the context and process of their conversations and focusing solely on the content, nine out of ten people might find it bizarre. Despite the fluent Chinese of the foreigner, the content of the conversation was ludicrous and illogical which appeared as if he was trying to fool them.

However, whether it was the affluent woman who had been in business for a long time or the middle-aged driver on the car, both were absolutely convinced by what Nas said. Neither his identity nor his explanation about the “special plant research” raised any doubts.

Therefore, after the car crossed the boundary of Yangcheng, the lady willingly instructed the driver to take Professor Nas wherever he wished, as if she was his assistant or secretary.

After roaming around in the downtown area of Yangcheng at Nas’s direction, they parked the Mercedes on the roadside.

As Nas got out of the car, he stood on the roadside and studied the road with a frown, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The lady also wanted to get out of the car. However, Nas suddenly raised his hand and said, “Don’t get out!”

The lady hesitated but obeyed his words and stayed in the car with the driver. Through the car window, she watched Professor Nas lean down to smell something on the road. He even climbed over the road’s railings and into the wild field next to it. He lay down to observe and even picked some grass and seemed to be licking it.

“Professor Nas is really dedicated to his research!” The driver, who was watching Nas’s actions through the rearview mirror, exclaimed.

The lady watching from the window also genuinely admired, “How I envy the United Kingdom for having a scholar like Professor Nas. No, he should belong to all of humanity.”

Of course, they didn’t see that the Professor Nas, who was now crouching down in the roadside shrubs, had extended a straw-like “mouth organ” from his mouth and was exuding tube-like green viscous substances.

Upon contact with the surrounding plants, these viscous substances quickly turned into a liquid and then seeped into them.

Professor Nas got up and closed his eyes again, taking a deep sniff from his nose as if there was some smell that greatly attracted him in the surroundings.

Only after ten plus minutes did Professor Nas get back in the car and asked the driver, “What’s up ahead?”

“Up ahead?” The driver took a look. “That should be the highway entrance.”

Professor Nas pulled out his phone, consulted an electronic map and asked a few questions. However, he didn’t have the driver take the highway. Instead, he asked him to take him back to the city.

Professor Nas bid farewell to the lady and the driver in the Mercedes, but half an hour later, he got into another car and hit the highway. However, he did not head towards Peng City, which he had asked the driver about earlier, but towards Liushi.

A few hours later, it was already late afternoon when they reached Liushi. After asking the car to be parked in a relatively secluded area, “Professor Nas” got off and said goodbye to the young driver.

In the eyes of the young man, this gentlemanly, blond-haired elderly man was not a gentleman from Britain here to research unique plants but a man called Uncle William who came to a foreign country to find his daughter who had married abroad. He lost his wallet and passport as soon as he got off the plane, so the young man decided to lend a helping hand because of his internationalist spirit, driving him to the place where he thought his daughter could be found.

Now, the blond old man, called “Uncle William”, was walking down an isolated path where few pedestrians passed.

Before long, he bypassed a botanical garden at the foot of the hill and stopped at an undeveloped and desolate patch of land to observe with a frown, just like he had done in Yangcheng earlier.

Like before, he would occasionally close his eyes and deeply inhale, then lie down on the ground, release green liquid from the straw-like organ in his mouth which then mixed with the surrounding plants. It’s as if he was looking for something.

He was not really an “Uncle William”. He did not have a daughter who went to China to get married, nor was he “Professor Nas”. He was not conducting any special plant research nor was he from the United Kingdom.

His name was Joel. Or, to be precise, for those who knew his real identity, Joel was an accurate codename. As for his “real name”, he had stopped using it once he became a “Blood Clan” member.

People who were familiar with him called him “Old Earl”, “Count Joel”, or the “Lord of the Forest”.

In the Red Rose, he was one of the highest-ranking “Blood Clan” members.

Yes, he was the very Joel who had reached a phase limit and was forced to seek another purebred vampire’s blood for sustenance. Guo Tianxiang was the “blood source” he was nursing, and John Cavendish was given the task by him to find the missing Guo Tianxiang in China.

However, unexpectedly, soon after John who was sent here also lost contact, and even the “Sacred Blood” he implanted in John was swallowed by someone else. It was clear that a formidable and terrifying existence was present here. Both Guo Tianxiang and John were very likely captured by the other party.

If he were to act according to his usual habits, he would certainly not dare to take such a risk.

However, for Count Joel, under the pressure of stage-limited extreme conditions, staying in Slovakia would inevitably lead to his death. He may even have to become the “blood source” for other “Red Rose” seniors and execute the so-called “Pureblood Circulation” before he even disintegrates.

Joel has thought countless times about his end. He once believed that he would calmly accept the “Pureblood Circulation” and willingly become the blood source for other seniors. After all, he has lasted so long because of many “elders” who, when they reached their stage limit and failed to find an adequate “blood source”, generously donated their own blood.

But when death was truly imminent, he found that he could not fully accept everything. In the end, he was afraid, he shrank back.

He wanted to fight one last time for his life.

So, he decided to go to China alone. The great danger also hinted at great opportunities. Perhaps he could find a way to obtain a qualified “blood source” on his own.

After all, in his view, he is far stronger and more experienced than Guo Tianxiang or John.

Of course, his idea was unanimously rejected by the other members of the “Red Rose”—they were all afraid that he would die outright.

Like John, who hadn’t undergone many stage transformations, his death would not be a great loss. However, Count Joel was different. He was a legitimate pure blood, a beneficiary of the “Pureblood Circulation”. If he were to die, it would be an almost unbearable loss for the remaining members of the “Red Rose”.

So, to get to China, Joel had to fight with two of the old-timers.

Luckily, he was experienced and rarely got his hands dirty. He had a set of secretive tricks and early “layouts” which gave him the upper hand. Without too much trouble, he managed to deter the two seniors.

They were all smart people and would make the “right choice” when the cost exceeded the gain and risk didn’t match the returns.

Like John, Joel entered China by crossing the southwestern border. He also used hypnosis, his strongest skill, to move between cities, using ordinary humans as a cover.

Whether it was him, John, Guo Tianxiang, or other members of the “Red Rose”, they all had the ability to interfere and influence the conscious cognition and sensory judgment of ordinary people, that is, the so-called “hypnosis power”, though the specific implementation would vary.

But even with this ability, he was still very careful and cautious. For example, when he moved from Yangcheng to Liucheng, he specifically hypnotized another person and changed cars.

Although he was far away in Slovakia, he had given a portion of his “Sacred Blood”, also known as “prosthetic tissue fluid”, to both Guo Tianxiang and John. This could help them deal with other members of the “Blood Clan” or “Blood Beasts”.

Normally, he couldn’t use these “prosthetic tissue fluids” for detailed positioning, but when they were used up, he could faintly sense their location as he drew closer to the destination. It was as if the disappearing fluid left imprints in the void.

This ability was gained from a special “Blood Plant” he had consumed in his early years. However, he had always claimed in the “Red Rose” that he himself had refined it and even named it “Sacred Blood”. Otherwise, his status as a true pure blood would be doubted.

Of course, everyone in the “Red Rose” knew the truth. Almost all members had drunk the blood of “Blood Plants” and “Blood Beasts”, they just kept it a secret.

Apart from the “prosthetic tissue fluid” in the small porcelain knives, Count Joel had also secretly tampered with Guo Tianxiang and John. If they fed on blood and triggered stage transformation, they would produce a strong footprint. Once he was close enough, he could determine the location of their stage transformation.

He had sensed John’s stage transformation twice in a short period of time and realized that in this country, in this land full of dangers, there might be great opportunities.

If even John, of his caliber, could achieve two stage transformations, he should find it even easier.

No matter whether he was joining a new organization or hunting other targets, he had far more resources than John.

Moreover, his target was John himself.

After finding the location where the “prosthetic tissue fluid” disappeared from the small porcelain knife in John’s hand in Yangcheng, he was able to determine using special means that at the moment the incident occurred, John was in some kind of fast-moving enclosed space with the smell of metal, leather and gasoline – definitely a car.

He could determine that John’s subsequent two stage transformations were likely to have taken place in Pengcheng City. The exact location would need further investigation.

But he did not immediately enter Pengcheng City, instead, he turned around and went to the place where the “prosthetic tissue fluid” in Guo Tianxiang’s small porcelain knife disappeared – Liucheng City.

This place was the starting point of all the changes and a place that John would surely investigate after entering the country – John could use the small porcelain knife in his hand to sense and pinpoint the position of the disappearing liquid in Guo Tianxiang’s knife.

Perhaps, the changes in John’s situation began from this place.

Joel lay on the ground for a while, using all sorts of means. He was almost certain that the “prosthetic tissue fluid” in his small porcelain knife had inflicted damage and effectively inhibited the recovery of the “Blood Clan”.

But strangely, he did not feel that Guo Tianxiang had undergone a stage transformation. This meant that either the injured blood clan member ran away, or Guo Tianxiang didn’t drink blood after killing that Blood Clan member. The former was unlikely, and the latter was also less likely.

Joel thought of another possibility: the target that was wounded by the small porcelain knife and affected by the “prosthetic tissue fluid” wasn’t some other “Blood Clan” or “Blood Beast”, but Guo Tianxiang himself.

But why?

He surely couldn’t have committed suicide, could he?

Unable to find any other clues, Joel was getting ready to leave when he noticed that a stone nearby seemed to be stirring somewhat.

The movement was extremely slight. A normal person would definitely not have noticed, but his hearing, far superior to that of an ordinary human, had keenly picked it up.

He stopped and listened for a moment, finding it strange. He walked over and flipped the stone over.

The moment he flipped it over, he saw dozens of large black ants disappearing into the ground, which had been dug full of holes. He was startled and instinctively took a step back.

He wasn’t afraid of bugs, ants included, but these ants gave him a peculiar feeling that instinctively made his skin crawl.

However, he didn’t think much of it. Firstly, all the ants had gone into the ground and disappeared. Secondly, he didn’t sense any trace of a “Blood Beast” from these ants, so strange as they were, they were just ordinary ants. Thirdly, his attention was caught by some blurry markings on the stone.

The markings were letters, the first four of which he could vaguely make out to be: help.

And the last one looked like: J.

The markings were jagged as if they had been carved with a fingernail. He couldn’t accurately determine the handwriting, but instinctively, Joel believed this was left by John.

One reason was that this was an English word. The second reason was the “J”, the initial letter of John’s name. His own name also started with J. This could be John’s way of identifying himself or seeking his help – because John surely knew, if Joel came looking, he would certainly find this place.

Joel wore a stern expression, yet his heart felt a little excited. He crouched down and carefully examined that stone and the surrounding area, even using a tree branch to dig out the ant nest.

The ant nest was deep and he didn’t find a single ant. Indeed, there seemed to be a world beneath the surface, but he did find a restaurant receipt half-buried in the ant nest.

The text on the receipt was mostly illegible now and there were many holes eaten away by bugs. Clearly, this little receipt had been here for a while.

Luckily, the date and the restaurant’s name were still visible. According to the date, it was from March 16th, a day before the “prosthetic tissue fluid” inside the small porcelain knife in John’s hand disappeared.

As for the restaurant, after checking its location on his phone, he found it was located in Liucheng itself.

Joel was a bit puzzled. Neither he nor John needed to eat a conventional diet, so there was no need for them to visit restaurants, let alone pay and keep the receipt. They had myriad ways to “dine and dash” without leaving a trail.

Or perhaps this receipt wasn’t left by John. The fact that it appeared here and the date just happened to match might just be a coincidence?

Or perhaps, for some peculiar reason, John had gone to this restaurant and even paid the bill?

As he grappled with his uncertainties, Joel’s eyes abruptly filled with crimson. He suddenly lunged forward, violently smashing his forehead into the stone that was carved with “help J”.

Over and over again, flesh and blood splattering with each impact and each subsequent groan of pain.

In just a short while, Joel’s head was a bloody mess. Gasping for breath while lying on the ground, his wound was slowly healing.

The strange thing was, after his brutal self-abasement against the stone, Joel’s face changed and became that of a blond man in his early twenties, with rosy lips, fair skin, and quite handsome.

After some time, Joel got up from the ground, shaking his blond hair back. Once the grey dust flew away, his forehead had completely recovered, with no traces of blood. His face had also aged again, returning to the facade of “Professor Nas”.

Realizing that he didn’t have much time left, although many doubts still remained, Joel finally decided to visit the restaurant.

When he found the restaurant, it was already past seven in the evening, the peak business hour.

He didn’t immediately enter, instead observing for a long time from nearby. The restaurant seemed high-end, specializing in western cuisine. The clientele coming in and out were all impeccably dressed.

He tried many methods, but couldn’t detect any traces of “Blood Clan”, “Blood Descendant”, or “Blood Beast” activities around the restaurant. Yet he still felt a sense of unease and apprehension. The less he knew about where the danger lied and who his adversary was, the more fearful he felt.

After observing for a while, when it was a bit past eight and there were fewer customers, Joel entered the restaurant.

He went directly to the restaurant manager, introduced himself as William from the United Kingdom, who came to China to search for his missing son. He showed the receipt, stating that his son might have eaten at this restaurant before he went missing and expressed his wish to check the restaurant surveillance footage.

His fluent Mandarin, attractive appearance, appropriate attire, and strong “persuasiveness” made the manager choose to believe him instantly. The manager then took him to the office to view the footage.

There were still surveillance videos stored from three months ago on March 16th. With the time of payment imprinted on the receipt, the manager helped him locate the corresponding footage.

Soon, Joel found John from the surveillance footage. Although the video quality was a bit low, he was certain that the blond man who occasionally drank water and didn’t touch any food on his table, seated in a corner of the hall, was John Cavendish, sent by the “Red Rose” to find Guo Tianxiang.

Joel quickly fast forwarded the video, and soon enough, he saw a cute little girl wearing a white princess dress walking by around 8:30 p.m. on March 16. She said something to John, who immediately got up to pay the bill, then bowed his head and followed her out of the restaurant.

What was going on?

Who was that little girl?

Was she a member of the “Blood Clan” of China?

Did John take the little girl to the place where Guo Tianxiang disappeared?

Was he planning to betray the “Red Rose”?

Joel was somewhat shocked in his heart. He watched the video several times over. Then, he noticed a strange thing: he could see the little girl leading John out of the restaurant, but not where she entered from or how she appeared in front of John. Was it a blind spot in the surveillance, from the back door?

After using an excuse to transfer the video clip to his own phone, Joel was just about to ask if there were any secret entrances to the restaurant, when he suddenly noticed on the live surveillance footage, standing in the middle of the hall, there was a girl in a white princess dress looking up at the camera, as if she was looking at him through the screen.

He was stunned, quickly turned around and headed towards the hall. However, when he got there, there was no one at the spot where the little girl was standing. He quickly asked the waiter nearby: “Where’s the little girl that was just standing there?”

The waiter was taken aback: “What little girl?”

“The one in the white dress,” Joel said. The little girl’s outfit and demeanor contrasted starkly with the ambiance of the restaurant, making her very conspicuous. He didn’t believe that the surrounding people didn’t notice her.

“I haven’t seen her,” said the waiter, still somewhat confused. After looking around, he indeed hadn’t seen any little girl.

Joel decided he wasn’t lying, and also asked the diners nearby. Their responses were the same: they hadn’t seen any little girl.

He immediately went back to the office, asking the manager who had been standing next to him: “Did you see a little girl on the surveillance footage, in the hall just now?”

The manager was startled: “I wasn’t looking at the surveillance earlier. What little girl?”

So, they played back the recently recorded footage and were shocked to discover that indeed there hadn’t been a little girl looking up at the camera in the hall. It was just empty.

What was going on?

Even though it was quite difficult for Joel to sweat, a bead of cold sweat trickled down from his forehead.

He was starting to panic.

Joel didn’t ask about any secret entrances in the restaurant anymore. After excusing himself from the manager, he walked straight out of the restaurant door.

But as soon as he stepped out, he heard a woman’s voice with a strong London accent in English: “Do you want to explore the secrets of life? Mere efforts aren’t enough, you need to make a choice. See what price you are willing to pay…”

These words set his heart thumping. He looked up abruptly in the direction of the voice, only to realize it was coming from a huge screen above a mall across the street. It was playing an advertisement for a health insurance, where a dignified woman was speaking while pointing to the left.

If it were an ordinary person, they would find it quite difficult to hear the sound from the big screen amidst all this noise. But Joel was different. He heard everything distinctly clear.

The reason these words struck a chord was because he had said something similar to John.

Once, discussing John’s questions about “eternal life”, he said: “You want to explore the secret of immortality? Mere efforts won’t suffice, you need to make a choice. See what price you’re willing to pay.”

Of course, he wasn’t actually trying to answer John’s question, but was simply trying to persuade John to become his confidante in the “Red Rose” and take his side.

But why were these words being displayed in an advertisement? Even though life was replaced with immortality, it still didn’t align with a health insurance advertisement, right? Besides, why would an outdoor advertisement in China be in English, without subtitles?

Was this meant for him to hear?

Or… am I hallucinating?

Joel, who often hypnotized others, manipulating their cognition and perceptions, immediately thought that he himself was hallucinating and misjudging the external auditory and visual information.

His muscles involuntarily tensed as he keenly observed his condition and the surroundings, attempting to find evidence of being hypnotized, and trying to ‘awaken’ himself.

For a moment, this “Count” of the “Red Rose”, the so-called “Lord of the Forest” from the “Blood Clan”, was so tensed that he stood still, not daring to move.