Chapter 288: Vampire Party (Fogless)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The relationship between otherwordlings, humans and demon hunters was a complicated one—messier than a tripartite war. There was no way the otherwordlings and demon hunters could ever see eye to eye. The involvement of humans, who were the most populous, complex and fickle beings on Earth did not help in the endless struggle either. You could not possibly expect a race of a few billion people to side exclusively with either the otherwordlings or demon hunters. However, you could certainly expect there to be alternative voices—those who thought the world was not chaotic enough and those who were afraid that they could not die soon enough. On top of that, there were demon worshippers, werewolf worshippers and vampire worshippers who existed since ancient times. Just as the demon hunters failed to finish off the otherworldlings, the Orthodox Church had also failed to wipe out heresy. The latter and their masters were forced to go underground, however they continued to thrive.
In fact, they did not merely thrive. They also found a new way of surviving in the new age—they restructured and formed companies, some of which were even publicly listed. In the past, contracts with their dark masters were called "covenants", now they called it an "agreement". Offerings made in the past were called "sacrifices" but they now called it "dividends". Chants during sacrificial rituals used to be known as a "spells", but in the present, when they met and communicated with their dark masters, they did in the form of annual reports. In the new age, when vampires gave exhortation to their human disciples, they called it the company's "year-end cultural exchange". Those who were daring enough even invited the local press to attend such events.
But these daring vampires died. Do you know how many CEOs of large corporations mysteriously disappeared every year? God knows how many were caused by demon hunters. The war of the dark forces never stopped; the brutal fight just happened under human noses, hidden from their eyes.
Hao Ren had a strange feeling towards such human societies, though. Ancient humans worshipped otherworldlings out of fear; during those turbulent times, the otherworldings were on a rampage. Anyone who was kept alive as livestock was deemed to have received a great mercy. The helpless humans during those times could only tremble in fear and woship their captors. But for the same thing to happen today was mind-blowing. If this was still true today, it only showed that unorthodox thinking grew like weeds irrespective of times. That did not mean Hao Ren was against the otherworldings or despised the heretics. He himself was surrounded by a bunch of abnormal people and to a certain extent, he was their protector. This was the strangeness that riddled him. The things he would see in movies had overlapped with his reality, and the way they overlapped was a little strange.
Nonetheless, Hessiana did not give a sh*t about what Hao Ren was thought. "What are you lamenting about, huh? Aren't you a human shaman too?"
"I'm more than what you think." But he was not allowed to speak about the Space Administration. He forced out a smile and said, "Actually, I'm a contract—"
"We're all under contract." Hessiana grinned, baring her teeth. "We signed an agreement for a healthy blood supply and a year-end welfare guarantee scheme with our people."
Hao Ren found that the conversation was going nowhere.
"Speaking of which, those human organisations you're controlling... what do they do?" Lily asked curiously as Hessiana held up a piece of bloody steak and shoved it into Vivian's mouth. She turned around and said proudly, "They do many things. The world is moving forward and so are we. The Lucas Family runs two clothing factories and a software firm. There are two companies under my name selling high quality counterfeits and I also have a mining equipment research company. I've sent a few operatives to China to study the market in Shanxi, but they haven't got back to me..."
Hao Ren was flabbergasted. "Could it be that they have been sold to a coal mine?"
Hessiana did not bother with Hao Ren this time. He gave Lily a quizzical glance. "Wait a minute... I just saw your ears popping out. What race are you?"
Lily's mouth was stuffed with a huge chunk of juicy, barbecued meat as the question sank in. Two glugs and she choked. Her face turned red as she waved and gestured frantically with her hands for help; she was going out of breath. Hao Ren lunged forward and administered some sharp blows to her back. She breathed normally again after that, but Nangong Wuyue and Y'zaks were drenched in cold sweat. They had gotten used to the interracial harmony at home, completely forgetting about the non-hostile relationship between Lily and Vivian—the two natural enemies. Meanwhile, Lily was totally at ease being surrounded by a hundred vampires, still eating like a pig!
"I was almost dead... and I'll probably die soon..." Lily finally had the whole piece of barbecued meat forced down her throat into her stomach. She lay on the table, gasping. The husky had accomplished something no pure-breed werewolves had ever attempted before: she danced with vampires and ate with them, yet she was still alive, Hao Ren thought.
"What's wrong with her?" Hessiana looked at Vivivan, bewildered. "I just asked her a question and her reaction was like..."
Lily was hiding behind Hao Ren (it was her instinctive move. To a canine, those who fed it everyday were the most powerful. A Tibetan Mastiff was no exception. Lily was only a husky so this was no surprise). "Promise me you won't eat me alive"
Heissiana was all the more confused. Vivian shrugged and said, "She's a werewolf."
The hall went dead silent. You could even hear a pin drop—vampires indeed had exceptional hearing.
Lily was almost in tears. She grabbed Hao Ren's sleeve as she pointed at the barbecued meat on the table. "Can I take one more bite?"
Vivian sighed and said, "She's getting nowhere."
Hessiana was a little cautious in the beginning. But when she saw Vivian's attitude, her guests' facial expressions and most importantly, Lily's behaviour, she was flabbergasted. With a wave of her hand, she said to her people, "What are you staring at? Just eat. You haven't heard anything. Do you understand?"
Lily happily came back to the table again and continued wolfing down as much food as she could like nothing happened. Hessiana's jaw dropped. Vivian sighed again as she said, "To some extent, Lily is very brave. If I was in her position, I couldn't have done this."
Everyone, host and guests alike all had fun and everyone carried on partying late into the night. In fact, a vampire party could go on until the next morning. As the city had no sunlight, they decided to party until they dropped. Those sitting at the same table with Hessiana were leaving earlier than the rest; basically, Lily fell asleep with a mouthful of unchewed food. When Hao Ren tried to lift her up from her chair, she still mumbled something about her barbecue. If it had not been for her biological clock, she would have continued eating until everyone dropped. Hessiana looked at the werewolf maiden admirably for her calmness despite being surrounded by vampires. "This werewolf is one of a kind. She has an equanimity that not everyone possesses. She'll be somebody someday."
Vivian pinched the tail Lily had inadvertently revealed as she slept. "Equanimity my foot. Right up until yesterday, I was the only true Blood Clan member she had ever met. She only learned about the Blood Clan and werewolves from TV. She didn't have the slightest idea about the feud between our two races."
Hessiana was flabbergasted. "She's an orphan? There are still creatures like that out there? Is she from the north?"
Hao Ren nodded. "Yeah, she's originally from the land of snow in the north. Her ancestors used to monopolise the transportation trade in there and she still retains one-sixteenth of the imperial city's bloodline."
Hessiana was totally intimidated and stunned.
Thanks to Hessiana's hospitality, they got to stay in the beautiful mansion with more than enough rooms for all of them. The chamberlain had confirmed their races earlier before including some special decorations in their rooms. Hao Ren was happy to know that deep down, Hessiana had the kindness of Vivian; she was cold to him, but she made an effort to make sure he had a comfy stay, at least it was not a coffin but a warm bed...
Hao Ren had requested an extra large aquarium from the chamberlain, so that Lil Pea could get some fresh air when he hit the hay for the night. In fact, the little one had gotten out during dinner, but she had never seen so many people, so she quickly receded and Hessiana did not notice the uncooked fish.
The first bizarre night at the vampire's house was over. The following day, it was still dark in the morning because of the lack of sunlight.
When Hao Ren got out of the house, he bumped into two red-eyed vampire maidservants, hustling along the corridor. He stopped them and enquired; they had some unexpected news.
A Lucasian member was coming. And the person was none other then the family head.