As the sun was setting, Yin Zhen received a call informing her that the evidence collection at her apartment was complete and she could return home.
After checking out of her hotel and returning to her neighborhood, she dropped her things off at home. Instead of locking the doors and windows to stay cooped up inside like usual, she wheeled herself outside, slowly wandering around the residential complex.
It was an old, run-down neighborhood with barely any greenery. Narrow alleys squeezed between the buildings. Since it was not yet time for people to return from work, the complex was mostly empty. Only the elderly stay-at-home residents gathered in the shadows to gossip about her, though none dared to approach. Even her next-door neighbor seemed to be preparing to move out.
Yin Zhen pushed her wheelchair around and casually bought some daily necessities. Keeping her Assimilation Degree within a safe range, she left her Super Sensing active. It acted like an invisible net, capturing every subtle sound in her surroundings. She watched the time closely. Whenever her Assimilation Degree hit forty percent, she would unequip her Character Card to rest, saving enough margin for when she finally encountered Chen Wei.
Next to the trash cans, a few stray cats—orange, white, and calico—huddled together, licking their paws. Seeing her approach, a few of the bolder felines trotted over to rub against her feet. Reluctant to part with her sausages, Yin Zhen engaged in a staring contest with the cats for a while before steeling her heart and heading home. The cats’ cute meows instantly turned into yowls, cursing her out quite colorfully.
The next day, her routine continued.
Under the guise of buying breakfast in the morning, she sat at a food stall near the neighborhood entrance for a long time, parking her wheelchair in a conspicuous spot. At noon, the sun was too harsh, so she returned home to escape the heat. She persistently did her own physical therapy, practicing upper-body combat moves. At five in the afternoon, she went back out, wheeling herself through the nearby alleys.
[26:45:00]
[Mission: Hunt down Blood Clan invaders 6/10]
The numbers on the countdown timer were decreasing, and the number of slain invaders was increasing, but she still hadn’t run into Chen Wei.
Night fell. She pushed her wheelchair through the narrow gap between two old buildings. There were no streetlights and no surveillance cameras—only dozens of meters of pure darkness. If Chen Wei were to pick a spot to strike, this would be the perfect location. Yin Zhen deliberately slowed her pace, allowing the sound of her wheelchair rolling over the ground to ring out clearly in the dead silence.
But nothing happened.
Back at home, Yin Zhen sat in the dark, gazing at the moon outside her window. Tomorrow was the final day. At seven o’clock tomorrow evening, she would enter the Red Corpse World once again.
The number of police officers and patrol cars around her neighborhood had noticeably increased over the past two days. Chen Wei still hadn’t been caught. He definitely possessed some Special ability to evade such an intense manhunt. Thinking about this only made Yin Zhen crave Chen Wei even more.
On the afternoon of the third day, Yin Zhen wheeled herself out to the convenience store outside her complex, exchanging her meager funds for affordable rations. The store clerks recognized her and offered to have someone deliver her groceries to her door. Disliking the feeling of being pushed by others, she slowly made her way home alone.
On the way back, the setting sun sank low, stretching her shadow long across the ground. Then, she suddenly felt it. A spot on her back abruptly tightened, as if she were being watched by something.
Equipping her Character Card, her Super Sensing unfurled silently. Yin Zhen cast a sideways glance and continued pushing herself forward. A dozen meters behind her, the stray cats from yesterday were rummaging through the trash cans again. Among them was a new addition—a black cat. Its eyes gleamed with a green light in the shadows, staring fixedly at her. It didn’t look like a cat’s gaze. It made her feel incredibly uneasy.
Yin Zhen didn’t stop her wheelchair, turning toward the shortcut alley that led home. This was the narrow gap between two old buildings. Usually dark and devoid of surveillance, it only caught a sliver of sunlight when the sun set. Over the past two days, she had passed through here every time she came back from outside.
Yin Zhen reached down and pressed against the handle of the Bone Cutting Knife hidden beneath her seat cushion. Her gaze hardened as she wheeled herself into the alley.
MEOW—
A cat’s cry sounded, incredibly close. Just as Yin Zhen caught the scent of blood, the sound of feet hitting the ground abruptly appeared behind her. An icy hand clamped over her mouth from behind, while another pressed down firmly on her shoulder.
"Don’t move, and don’t make a sound." A teenage boy’s voice rang out right next to her ear, carrying a hint of breathless excitement.
Yin Zhen was absolutely certain that just seconds ago, the only thing following her was a cat—a black cat. She didn’t struggle. She froze in place, her eyes going wide as a perfectly calculated expression of terror surfaced on her face.
Cicadas buzzed noisily. The person behind her sniffled, swallowed hard, and pushed her wheelchair deeper into the alley. Yin Zhen noticed that he stayed entirely within the shadows, deliberately keeping himself out of the sunlight. A pile of discarded junk in the corner completely blocked any line of sight from the street outside. There were no cameras here, and no one ever passed by.
He released the hand covering her mouth and circled around to face her. It was an eighteen-year-old boy. He was skinny, his face pale, wearing a filthy gray hoodie. A large, blooming bloodstain covered his abdomen. He looked terribly weak, staggering even as he stood. Chen Wei! The moment she recognized him, Yin Zhen’s heartbeat skipped a beat.
Chen Wei tilted his head as he sized her up. His gaze fell on her wheelchair before finally resting on her face.
"Miss," he started, his voice soft, as if coaxing a child. "Do you recognize me?"
Yin Zhen didn’t speak. She merely trembled—trembled just the right amount.
The boy smiled. He reached out and brushed aside the black hair framing Yin Zhen’s face, revealing her profile.
"You’re quite pretty. With legs like yours, it must be tough to live, right? Where we come from, a disability isn’t an issue at all. Too bad the technology here is so backward. Still... it’s thrilling to see food running all over the streets."
Yin Zhen’s eyelashes fluttered. "What do you want?"
The boy stood up, looking down at her from above.
"It’s strange. The streets are full of sweet, fragrant children, yet I happen to think you’re not bad. Let me help you, miss, okay? I promise, it won’t be long before you can stand up again." Chen Wei leaned in close to Yin Zhen again, slowly opening his mouth to reveal two teeth slightly sharper than normal. "Don’t be afraid. It won’t hurt at all. In fact... it’ll feel incredibly good."
Right at the moment Chen Wei’s teeth were about to brush against Yin Zhen’s neck, his movements abruptly froze. His eyes widened as he looked down at his abdomen. His partially healed wound had been pierced straight through by a blade, leaving only a hand tightly gripping the hilt outside his body.
Chen Wei tried to retreat, but Yin Zhen had already clamped her hand around the back of his neck. Yanking him forcefully toward her, she opened her mouth and sank her teeth into his throat.
Drinking blood was an instinct etched into the very genes of the Blood Clan! The instant her fangs pierced his skin and the warm liquid flooded her mouth, a sweetness so profound it made her shudder washed over her. It was vastly more exquisite than the artificial blood plasma she had consumed before.
[Resonance successful. Obtained ’D-level Transformation·Cat’.]
The boy struggled desperately, but Yin Zhen’s arm locked around him like an iron band. Her other hand gripped his throat in a death vice, choking off any sound. The Strength gap between the elite test subject S717 and a starving member of the Blood Clan was already immense. Coupled with the fact that he had previously been shot, Chen Wei couldn’t break free at all.
Yin Zhen had calculated every piece of information and every detail, deducing the entire process flawlessly. Chen Wei didn’t even trigger her Cannon Fodder’s Intuition. Killing him was effortless!
"Im... Impossible... You’re clearly... clearly just a cripple..."
He thrashed madly, his body beginning to mutate. Black fur sprouted from his skin as his limbs twisted and shrank, transforming into the shape of a cat. With a violent jerk, he broke free from Yin Zhen’s grasp. Yin Zhen had long seen through his intentions. With a swift pull, she yanked the knife out of his body.
A flash of the blade, and the cat’s head fell to the ground!
Blood gushed from the severed neck, splattering onto her pant legs. The headless feline body twitched twice before finally going still.
[Successfully hunted down a Blood Clan invader. Obtained 500 words, attribute points*3, Forum Invitation Code*1.]
Words? Attribute points? Forum? Yin Zhen had no time to look closely; this was not the moment for research. She raised her head, her mouth full of the sweet, coppery taste of blood. Wiping the bloodstains from the corner of her lips, she instinctively reached out to collect the cat’s corpse—but then she froze.
Her toes moved slightly.
Yin Zhen stared intently at her feet. Beneath her pant legs, her toes were curling slightly under her command. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. This meager amount of blood wasn’t sufficient to fully heal her. She needed more, and she needed it now!
Alarm bells blared in Yin Zhen’s mind. She hurriedly checked the Character Card in her head.
Character Card: SHL-717
Transcendent: B-level Blood Source Resonance (D-level Super Sensing, D-level Transformation·Cat)
[Character Assimilation Degree: 55% (↑48%)]
Just moments ago, her Assimilation Degree had been under ten percent. After drinking Chen Wei’s blood, it had skyrocketed in an instant.
The light of the setting sun slowly crept onto Yin Zhen’s arm. A sudden, burning pain, as if she had been set on fire, assaulted her. Her arm began to smoke, the skin rapidly blackening. Before her Assimilation Degree reached forty-nine percent, she hadn’t been afraid of sunlight.
Yin Zhen hurriedly force-unequipped her Character Card and pushed her wheelchair back to evade the sunlight. At this moment, the returning weakness and exhaustion brought her an unusual sense of relief. Not far away, the cat’s corpse, exposed to the setting sun, had already turned to ash, scattering in the wind amidst the hum of the cicadas.
The burn on her arm slowly faded along with the Assimilation Degree, though a light brown scar remained. This was human society, after all. She couldn’t allow herself to fully transform into a member of the Blood Clan just yet. There was no need for it right now.
Even though she had unequipped the Character Card, Yin Zhen still hugged the corner of the wall to avoid the sunlight, speeding up her journey home. She couldn’t wait to test out her newly acquired Transformation ability.