The night was slightly chilly, and even Joseph, a vampire, felt goose bumps on the back of his hands.
Facing Yin Xiu's proposal, he thought about it for a long time, and finally asked hesitantly: "Can you make a guarantee?"
"can."
Yin Xiu smiled, "I'll use my conscience as a guarantee. My conscience is much whiter than the tablecloth on the most expensive restaurant in Dunling."
"If you say so, then that's it."
Joseph spread his hands helplessly.
At the moment, he had no bargaining power with Yin Xiu, and Yin Xiu's guarantee was completely unreliable because his bloodline was not "noble".
But now everything has changed. Even if Joseph would rather make a deal with a vampire noble, it is no longer possible.
So he could only sigh and hesitate on the spot.
It was Yin Xiu who reached out his hand first. "What do you think? Cooperation, or death now?"
Joseph paused, and finally held Yin Xiu's hand.
"I know where Count Nicholas is, but I don't know if he's still alive."
……
On the outskirts of Xidunling, Yin Xiu and Luo Wei stood under a stone house that had been abandoned for who knows how long, drinking and chatting.
"I thought the whole of Dunling was so magnificent."
Yin Xiu sighed, "I didn't expect that Dunling also has a countryside."
"Suburban."
Luo Wei corrected him, after all, he had been in Dunling for some time.
"This is the outskirts of the city. You have to go to a place even further away in the countryside. Don't be so joking. I'm really touched that you came here."
"move?"
Yin Xiu gave him a strange look.
"Yes, I am moved."
Luo Wei nodded and said, "I originally thought that from the time I sent the letter to the time you received the letter and packed your things, it would take at least half a year, but I didn't expect it to arrive so soon.
So when I saw the Five Emperors Coin, I was just moved.”
"It's like when you're guarding a pond and roasting a wild boar, and suddenly someone comes to see you?"
"I don't eat wild boar, but it's almost like this, the so-called meeting an old friend in a foreign land, Yin Xiu, do you have this feeling?"
"more or less."
Yin Xiu perfunctorily said, "This is all thanks to that ace pilot Wright."
"Is that guy very powerful?" Luo Wei asked curiously.
“His Mandarin is very good.”
You bastard, Dunlin can be pronounced as Dunling, and he ran from Southeast Asia to the West. Brother Xiong, you are really good at introducing him.
Yin Xiu crushed the brick at hand.
Luo Wei didn't notice it. He just thought that Yin Xiu probably used the same method as Zi Wei Dou Shu to calculate that he was in danger, so he ran here quickly.
In this way, he sincerely felt that Yin Xiu had changed.
Yin Xiu asked him, "By the way, do you believe that Nicholas is seriously ill? Aren't vampires the symbol of immortality?"
Is there really some disease, like a terminal illness of a human being, that would make a vampire Count incurable and die on his sickbed like a human being?"
Luo Wei scratched his head and said, "I'm not a vampire scholar, I'm just a vampire hunter.
But we've killed so many vampires, and vampires really have nothing to do with undeath, right?
No matter if it is a human or a ghost, if they are killed, they will die."
"You're just talking nonsense."
Yin Xiu glanced at him and said, "I'm asking you, is it possible that a vampire died of illness?"
"I know of people who starved to death."
Luo Wei answered him, "I recently heard someone in Dunling say that a vampire was trapped in a crevice in a mountain somewhere and couldn't move. He starved to death and looked like a dried corpse when he was found."
Yin Xiu was not very interested. He just said calmly, "So, we still don't know whether a vampire count will be infected with some incomprehensible and incurable disease and die of it in the end?"
Rowe nodded calmly, "After all, we don't really know a lot of vampires, do we?"
Yin Xiu could only reluctantly agree, "You're right."
While they were chatting, a small door of the old castle outside the woods suddenly opened.
Joseph was holding a lantern, and several people followed him.
"It seems like he is still unconvinced and has brought his brothers to deal with us."
Rowe licked his lips.
Yin Xiu smiled and said, "I think he brought people to welcome us."
"Oh?"
Luo Wei was a little unconvinced. "Based on this situation, we look like distinguished guests?"
"I don't know whether he is expensive or not, but he is definitely not an unpopular person." Yin Xiu said.
Luo Wei thought Yin Xiu was joking and was about to take action when Joseph and his men walked up to them.
Several vampires had strange expressions on their pale faces.
After a pause, Joseph whispered, "Count Nicholas invites you two to come in."
"us?"
"us."
Yin Xiu patted Luo Wei on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow him inside.
Luo Wei hesitated for a moment, then remembered that with himself and Yin Xiu, they could escape even if they were besieged by several vampire counts together.
Could it be possible that the Nicholas family's castle was filled with a net of traps?
So Luo Wei let it go and followed Yin Xiu inside.
This castle should be one of the many properties of the Nicholas family, but not a particularly important one.
Its walls were covered with ivy, and an old tree sticking out from behind the wall had withered, like a mummy, with lazy crows perched on it, looking listless.
Everything carries the meaning of death, warning outsiders that this is a place that cannot be easily entered.
When Yin Xiu and Luo Wei passed through the inner wall, the eyes of the gargoyle statues carved on the wall suddenly lit up, glowing red, as if they were staring at them.
"Are these true or false?" Luo Wei asked him in a low voice.
"Maybe it's true."
Yin Xiu couldn't help but think of his previous experience at the Lonely Hearts Club. It didn't seem surprising that a legendary family like the Nicholas family had a few gargoyles serving as gatekeepers.
The two followed Joseph and his companions, and after several twists and turns, they entered the largest of the houses.
The ground was covered with a red carpet that looked like it could ooze blood, and where one stepped on it there was a shallow hole.
After walking around the corridor for a few times, Joseph walked forward a few steps and pushed open a door.
"Come in," he gestured.
Yin Xiu gave Luo Wei a look and walked in first.
Luo Wei was a step behind him, following behind. There was only one light on inside, like the street light at the entrance of the village, right next to the big bed in the middle.
As for other furniture, perhaps they were originally placed here, but they had all been removed at this time. This was to make Count Nicholas' death appear more solemn and dignified, and also to let him rest in peace.
Count Nicholas was lying on the bed, separated from the outside world by several layers of white woven gauze curtains. It was so hazy that people outside could only see his vague figure, which was not real.
Yin Xiu and Luo Wei stood still in the room, following Joseph.
Joseph looked ashen at this time, but he still whispered softly: "Count, I have brought the two Orientals here."
It was a long time after the words fell, and then a dry and skinny hand stretched out from behind the gauze curtain, like a withered birch branch.
The hand waved in the direction of Yin Xiu.
"The Count invites you over," Joseph whispered.
"Please let us go over?"
Luo Wei was a little confused. Asking them to come over under such circumstances?
Joseph was equally puzzled, but the count did mean this.
So Yin Xiu and Luo Wei walked forward, got to the bedside, and stood a few steps away from Count Nicholas, separated by several gauze curtains.
But the Count still stretched out his hand, motioning them to come closer, until they could lower their ears, close to his head, and listen to what he said.
Somehow, Yin Xiu felt a vague sense of uneasiness in his heart.
It wasn't that he was afraid he couldn't defeat the dying earl, or anything.
But he always felt that if he got too close and put his ear close to him, the count would suddenly jump up, bite his neck and suck all his blood.
This kind of plot often appears in novels and movies, and Yin Xiu can subconsciously associate it with it.
In a long-standing story, a beautiful woman tied up her long hair and exposed her neck during a date in order to seduce her vampire lover to bite her.
Although the vampire loved her, he couldn't help but bite her beautiful white neck.
Yin Xiu now felt that she was the beautiful woman in the story who put her neck close to the vampire's mouth.
But Count Nicholas did look like he was dying, and this feeling became even more profound when he got closer.
Like Joseph, he had a high nose bridge and blue eyes, but now those blue eyes were deeply sunken in his eye sockets. Count Nicholas's face looked haggard and old, like a dead tree that had been thirsty for a hundred years.
This is a condition that would never occur in a normal vampire. Even if a vampire is beaten badly by others, burned by fire or frozen, a "healthy" vampire would not experience such a change.
"It's [sepsis]." Count Nicholas said.
His voice was hoarse, as if there was phlegm stuck in his throat and a liter of sand and glass had been poured into it.
Just listening to the sound of his vocal cords stirring these things makes people want to cover their ears.
"septicemia?"
"Not the kind you think human sailors get from not eating oranges, but almost."
There was a strange light in Count Nicholas' eyes, and it was unclear whether he was amused or sad.
“I didn’t know what was wrong, but I was dying.
Bleeding, blood transfusion, antibiotics, spells, fire, chopping, freezing, none of these could save me. My body seemed to be corroded by some kind of bacteria and began to rot from the inside.
First I lost my strength, then my spells, my sense of smell, my sense of taste, and now I can hardly see you even though you are right before my eyes.
Death has cast a veil of black before my eyes, looming and thin, yet causing despair.
"it's not a big deal."
Yin Xiu said calmly: "Everyone is going to die, and you have lived through a long time, enough for three or four dynasties to rise and fall. This is enough."
"But I've heard another saying."
Count Nicholas' eyes twinkled, "Life is all about meaning, not length."
"So what you mean is that you feel your life doesn't have enough meaning? Not important enough?" Yin Xiu asked him.
"I certainly feel that way."
The Earl sighed, "Many people think that their lives are very successful, but in fact, at the last moment, they will inevitably feel regretful.
Especially at such an important moment, I did not die at the hands of the Red Emperor, but died on a hospital bed. This seems a bit cowardly. "
“Birth, aging, sickness and death are also normal.”
Yin Xiu looked at him, "Why, do you think you can't defeat the Red Emperor?"
"That's a scary guy."
The earl's eyes sparkled, "He has breached the solid fortress of the bloodline family, and soon the entire vampire world will fall into his hands.
fine……"
"What's okay?"
"Luckily you two showed up."
The Count looked at Yin Xiu and said, "I don't know whether you were sent by God or Satan, but I have a feeling that you will end the Red Emperor's rule in this dark world."
"Premonition?"
"Yes, a premonition from a dying blood descendant, or perhaps a delusion before death."
The Count smiled faintly, "However, if I say this, it will actually be good for everyone, whether it is the remaining vampires or you two guests from the Far East. This will be more or less helpful to you."
"Psychological and spiritual comfort?"
Yin Xiu nodded, "Count, you are indeed a competent family leader."
“I always hope I deserve this.”
The Earl let out a long sigh, "In fact, if the four major blood families had not made concessions to the Red Emperor, things might not have reached such an irreversible point today.
Whatever happens, I can only ask you two for help with the rest."
"help?"
Yoon-su stroked his chin, “That’s why you wanted to see us.”
"Yes."
Count Nicholas waved to the side again, and a servant came forward and fed him a spoonful of blood.
This fresh blood did not help him at all, but it seemed to lift the earl's spirits a little, and the sound it made was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
"It's time to choose a new heir to the Nicholas family, a new Count Nicholas."
The Count's voice moved the hearts of everyone in the room.
Apart from the slaves, the rest here are members of the Nicholas family and some vampires who are closely related to them.
Yin Xiu could feel that everyone's eyes were turned to the bed, waiting for something.
Faintly, he also realized the significance of himself and Luo Wei being here.
"So, you want both of us to be witnesses, Count?"
“It’s more than that.”
The Count smiled.
"Not only a witness, but also my client, because the next earl of the Nicholas family is not here, but in Berlin. I would like you to bring her back here."
As soon as the words fell, the room was filled with gasps. (End of this chapter)
