Chapter 84: Distance

[Volume 2 - Bloom of the Other Shore Flower]

The woman said she would send the inquiry then immediately tried to leave. She obviously didn't want to be near Yu Renyan for even a second longer.

"Wait a moment!" Yu Renyan stopped her.

The young woman immediately began trembling all over, but she didn't dare to show any of her emotions. She forced a smile onto her face and turned to him.

Yu Renyan suddenly shook his head and said, "Never mind. Just leave."

After the young lady left, Yu Renyan sat in his round-backed armchair and thought to himself. Ever since he returned, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had forgotten something extremely important. In light of that, he decided that he might as well calm down and recall everything that had happened and everywhere he went in between entering the city and returning to his accommodation.

All of a sudden, he slapped his thigh, and his pupils took on a deadly vertical shape once more! He finally remembered the feeling he got from the young man that brushed past him while carrying an Eagleshot on his back!

That young man had been dressed as an adventurer and had reeked of a stench that could only come from the slums. However, that pungent stench had hidden a sweet scent that was almost faint enough to miss. The familiarity that Yu Renyan felt had come from the memory of the rotten flesh he tasted earlier! There was no mistaking the taste of origin power!

That young man was the person who had killed Qi Yue, the son of Brigadier General Wu Zhengnan! Although Yu Renyan sensed that something was amiss at the time, that big werewolf that had been strutting through the streets so fearlessly had distracted him so much that he actually overlooked this feeling.

Yu Renyan didn't expect to miss his primary target just because of a moment of negligence!

He shot to his feet, and then slowly sat back down in his chair. A contemplative smile appeared on his face.

When he thought about the footwork the young man had used to quickly retreat from him and the Eagleshot on the young man's back, Yu Renyan couldn't help but feel that the game had become even more interesting than before. Eagleshot wasn't something that anyone could just pick up and use properly, yet the various traces of origin explosions he saw where Qi Yue had been killed made it clear that the culprit had yet to exceed rank four. A fighter either rank three or below being able to use an Eagleshot clearly deviated from common sense.

Yu Renyan took out a map of Darkblood City, and checked the area where he met that young man. His finger traced several streets before tapping the part of the map labeled Black Copper Street. He then stretched his thumb and forefinger apart to measure the distance between the Southern Bank District and the Eastern Lake District.

Since he had personally encountered the person, it didn't matter if his opponent altered his looks or changed his clothing. As long as he carefully combed through each and every area, he would eventually meet him in this storm-ridden city once more.

Yu Renyan wasn't worried at all. He had a feeling that the chase and the battle, both of which would happen before the mystery was unraveled, would be exceptionally interesting. This young man possessed rank three or rank four level origin power, knowledge of military martial arts, long-range sniping skills, and an Eagleshot. Yu Renyan had no idea how Wu Zhengnan would react if he learned about all of this.

Within the small hotel, Qianye finally woke up from a deep sleep. He asked for a basin of hot water and inspected the bandages he had applied only three days ago. However, after he peeled off the layers of gauze and got ready to change the dressing, Qianye was surprised to find that most of his wounds had already closed up. The Darkness origin power that had been stuck in his wounds disappeared god knows when, and his recovery speed was way faster than he initially expected!

A bit of Darkness origin power still remained in the biggest, deepest wound he had suffered around his left ribs. When he washed the wound and put the new gauze in place, Qianye finally figured out what was going on.

Almost all of his blood energies had gathered at the wounded area. Even the purple blood energy was among them. These blood energies surrounded the Darkness origin power and constantly consumed it, absorbing each bite of power into themselves. It was obvious that, for the past three days, every wound he suffered had been purified in this way.

The most troublesome part of his injuries had actually been resolved just like that!

The speed at which the purple blood energy consumed the Darkness origin power was faster than the speed of all seven other blood energies combined. It had consumed more than half of this particular ball of Darkness origin power before slowing down. It swam back to the vampire constitution rune, slow and lazy, and sank deep within it. The purple blood energy had obviously grown bigger, and it continuously spread wisps of blood that were even thinner than a hair into the vampiric constitution rune.

The rune began to grow and transform into a new, more complicated rune. During this process, every blood energy in Qianye's body began to boil as his heart throbbed intensely. The speed of his blood flow increased by several folds!

Qianye's origin power began move to his heart on its own. His heart absorbed it and spat out wisps of bright blood that flowed to every corner of his body in the blink of an eye.

As this special blood circulated throughout his body, Qianye felt as if tens of thousands of ants had come alive inside his body and were crawling around. It felt itchy, painful, and unfathomably uncomfortable. His entire body swayed, and he felt like it had completely disconnected from his central nervous system. The only thing that still functioned properly was his brain. In the end, he collapsed onto his bed.

Inside Qianye's body, the metabolism of even the tiniest cell was activated and increased to the maximum. His blood, muscles, and bones were continuously growing and transforming. It was a very profound sensation. It felt as if the entire world had come alive, and that even the tiniest air or dust particle had become a world of its own, capable of giving birth, growing, aging, and dying.

Qianye's heart felt extremely anxious as if he stood at the edge of an extremely tall cliffside. Although he couldn't tell what was once again going wrong at the moment, the changes in his body were probably related to his origin power.

Qianye had no idea how humans of Daybreak origin power deteriorated in Evernight until the day he fought the squad of Bloody Multiflora Rose warriors. That time, he thought that the black sun was going to break through the barrier inside of him and emerge.. He was subconsciously afraid of that happening from that point onward. However, the only thing he could do now was the grit his teeth and try to stay conscious as if doing so would preserve the light inside of his body.

The origin power inside of Qianye's body swiftly dried up. His heart absorbed all of it in the blink of an eye!

It was only then that his heart stopped producing more special blood. However, the growth and transformation occurring inside of Qianye had gone on for a full day before gradually coming to a stop.

Only when the entire process was over was Qianye able to climb out of the bed. He planted his bare feet on the icy cold stone floor and looked at himself. On the surface, it seemed as though nothing was wrong, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something strange had happened to his body. He felt as if his central nervous system had become extremely detached from his body, and that he couldn't actually move as he wanted.

Qianye walked toward the mirror beside the cabinet, but he lost his balance and stumbled. He grabbed the back of a chair, and the welded bars of iron that made up the back of that chair actually twisted with a metallic groan!

Qianye was immediately startled. He stared at his hands and looked a bit dazed. He suddenly grabbed the chair, casually rubbed it few times, and the chair instantly turned into a pile of scrap iron.

What kind of strength was this?

Prior to this transformation, Qianye's strength had already been comparable to that of a rank Five fighter but now he could overwhelm even a strength and stamina-based fighter like Sky Snake without even using his origin power!

The rune was still a vampiric constitution rune. It had just become a more advanced version.

Qianye took out his dagger and left a cut on his arm. When he stabbed the knife into his skin, he felt like he was cutting a specially treated hide. It took quite a bit of strength to cut through his own skin. Qianye put a bit more strength into the action and sank the tip of the knife into his skin. He left behind a finger length wound on his arm that was a centimeter deep.

The second the wound appeared, the muscles around it flexed on their own and left behind nothing more than a few drops of blood. The blood energies inside of Qianye then stirred and gathered around the wound, making it close a moment later and sending tingles through his body. The wound already started to recover, and judging from its speed, it would take only a night to completely heal.

Although surprised, Qianye memorized the relevant data. He grew increasingly wary about future battles against high-ranking vampires.

He put down his dagger and moved his limbs where he stood, performing a few basic movements of military martial arts. As he grew more familiar with his own body, the loss of balance that afflicted him slowly faded away as well.

Qianye walked in front of a mirror and stared at himself. Thankfully, he still looked like a human. Other than the fact that his figure had become more lithe and his skin had become more exquisite, neither his appearance nor his physique had changed too much. He practically couldn't see any of his pores.

Qianye's face immediately darkened and he kicked the full length mirror, making it flip around.

He looked up and stared at a mechanical clock on the wall. There were still three hours before midnight, so he still had time to get something to eat. When Qianye opened his makeup pack, he angrily pushed things like fake mustaches and wrinkles to one side and only used dye to make his skin look an unhealthy yellowish-black.

For the next three hours, Qianye went to four different restaurants, eating enough for five men until he finally felt his churning organs calm down a little.

Ever since his vampiric constitution became an advanced ability, Qianye's entire body began screaming with hunger. Energy deficiency was a common affliction that occurred after each advancement. However, without stimulants to replenish energy, Qianye had no choice but to rely on normal food to restore his strength. That was why the dozens of portions of food meant for adults had vanished into a stomach that seemed like a blackhole.

Qianye finally managed to satisfy his stomach before time he planned to start the operation, and he then disappeared into Darkblood City like a ghost in the night.

Inside the Sky Snake Gang's headquarters, Sky Snake finally awoke from his coma. He had barely moved before he felt an unbearable pain in the left side of his body. Fortunately, his arms and legs still had feeling in them, and that made him feel a lot better.

"Where is everyone?!" Sky Snake yelled, and the family doctor and his trusted servants immediately entered the room. He waved away the probing hands of the doctor and grimly said, "I'm not going to die yet. Summon everyone now."

By the time Sky Snake managed to walk to the dining hall with some support, every high-level member of the Sky Snake Gang had already shown up. A rich variety of late-night snacks filled the huge round dining table, but there were several empty seats at the table. It actually made the scene look a little cold and desolate.

A blue vein appeared on Sky Snake's forehead and pulsed a few times. Then, without batting an eyelid, he asked, "Where is Mr. Liao?"

A Sky Snake Gang elder looked left and right. When he saw that no one was going to speak up and answer, he forced himself to take the initiative and said, "Mr. Liao is dead. He was shot in his home last night. By an origin gun."

"What kind?" Sky Snake asked coldly.

"From the traces we found at the scene of his death, we believe that it might have been a Butcher."

Sky Snake's pupils suddenly shrank. This immediately ruled out the possibility that an idiot thief had broken into Mr. Liao's house to rob him. No one capable of using a Butcher would bother with such unclean, strenuous, and unrewarding work. This could only mean that the attacker was gunning for Sky Snake.

Sky Snake swept his eyes across the table and gravely asked, "Where's Hornet?"

Everyone exchanged glances with each other. In the end, the same elder forced himself to say, "Hornet declared that he was leaving the Sky Snake Gang. He joined the Earth Flame Association."

Sky Snake slammed his palm against the dining table, making all the dishes on it shake violently! He accidentally used too much force and put strain onto his wound, his face momentarily twisting in pain.

Hornet was one of the four great experts in the Sky Snake Gang. His departure at this time was a severe blow to the entire Sky Snake Gang. However, the Earth Flame Association was the biggest gang in all of Darkblood City, and their president was a rank six expert. There was no way Sky Snake could afford to offend the Earth Flame Association, so he could only swallow the bitter taste of Hornet abandoning him.

Sky Snake stood up and asked, "Have you figured out where the sniper shot from? Bring me to there. Let's go."

The round table, which was made of decent phoebe zhennan wood, resounded with a soft crackling sound, then collapsed into a pile of wooden debris. All of the food fell to the floor, but Sky Snake didn't even blink as he left the room first.

A moment later, Sky Snake stood where Qianye had sniped him from. He walked to the window, pulled a chair over, and sat down, imitating Qianye's posture and looking outside the window. From this position, Sky Snake could see the front of the building that the Sky Snake Gang used as its headquarters. All of it.. The angle that Qianye had chosen was impeccable.

Sky Snake turned around and sternly stared at his band of underlings. He could see how they avoided his gaze, none of them daring to look him in the eye. Even the usually arrogant and obstinate Flying Bird was doing his best to lower his head and stare at the area in front of his toes.

Everyone knew that the angle was perfect.

The real question here was distance.