Chapter 8.1: Destiny 1

The lifeless body of the vampire turned into ashes, leaving a distorted human shape on the floor.

Zhao Xiaokui had a frown on his face. She took a few steps back, indicating that she had no intention of touching it. Even though it appeared to be ordinary ashes, it was the remains of a vampire.

After the death of the vampire, the black fog was becoming thinner.

“Don't be afraid,” Zhao Xiaokui said softly as he turned to face Shen Zhifei. “Everything is okay now. I’ve taken care of…”

Zhao Xiaokui unexpectedly stepped on what appeared to be a glass bead.

Thankfully, her reaction time was quicker, and she was able to regain her balance. Otherwise, she would have become a ‘wild goose that was landing on the sandbank.’

[Lazybug: Píng shā luòyàn (平沙落雁) is an old guqin Chinese song with conflicted origin.'Wild Geese Descending on the Sandbank' is the literal translation. I'm not sure about the context, but after hearing the song, I got the impression that some of it is like the BGM for every comedic fall.

P.S.: I have the same reaction to every guqin song I hear. [With no disrespect intended.]

Zhao Xiaokui cursed angrily, “f**k,” as her face twitched in pain. Yet, she stepped on it without hesitation.

*Crack*

A creature with a first-rank soul had a body that was as tough as steel. As a result, one could predict the outcome. Under her enraged stomp, it crumbled to dust.

As soon as the glass bead crumbled, the black fog began to dissipate faster. It quickly restored the original lights of the parking lot.

Only then Zhao Xiaokui realized it was dark because the dense black miasma was blocking the lights, not because there were no lights.

The parking lot returned to normal after the darkness had dissipated.

‘So that was the source of the black fog?’ She took a step back and examined the crushed remains of the glass beads once more.

The fragments of the mysterious black fog maker resembled broken shards of ordinary glass beads. There was nothing that showed that it had any component that was producing those black fog.

It looked more like something out of a human fantasy than a futuristic engineering marvel.

A mystic tool...

Zhao Xiaokui couldn’t help but feel a little angst.

The concepts of a world with mystic power and a world with access to mystic tools were two distinct ideas.

It was as if you were confronted with primitive humans who had only recently learned to make a fire in the first world. The second world, on the other hand, would be a world inhabited by an advanced civilization capable of traveling through space.

Even though this was the world she had lived in for eighteen years, Zhao Xiaokui felt that the world had changed a lot in the years she hadn't been here.

She had decided to ignore all of those thoughts for the time being. She turned towards Shen Zhifei, asking, "Everything is over. Let's go back."

Shen Zhifei's face was still pale. Although everything had been resolved, she couldn't seem to forget her ordeal.

On the ground, the scars of the terrifying past event were still visible. Looking at the scattered ashes and clothes on the ground, she asked, "Shouldn't we deal with this first?"

"Someone will take care of it."

The mystic tools had already integrated into society so much that they dared to use them to do something like this with no fear of retaliation. Zhao Xiaokui wouldn't believe that there wasn't any organization behind this.

After all, China was a big country. So there were bound to be some organizations that dealt with such situations all over the country. Otherwise, the existence of the magic would have been exposed a long time ago.

Shen Zhifei frowned as she turned away from the ashes of the vampire. She looked at the unconscious girl and asked, "Shouldn't we call an ambulance for them?"

Zhao Xiaokui sighed as she glanced in their direction. She shook her head, adding, "We don't need to call an ambulance anymore."

The young girl, the Vampire's first victim, had already died from excessive blood loss. The body had already turned cold by the time she was fighting the vampire.

As for others, they are simply unconscious. They'd soon be awake.

"Get in the car. Let's leave this place first. We can talk later."

Zhao Xiaokui didn’t dare to stay here any longer. After all, she had no intention of meeting those people who would come to clean the mess.

For now, she had no intention of exposing her presence. To begin with, she was unaware of the vampire's influence on the world.

Furthermore, she didn’t have any idea where the vampire ranked in this world’s transcendental ranking system, neither she had any knowledge about the ranking system of this world.

In such a situation, exposing oneself was akin to facing endless dangers.

If one stood out too much in the light, they were destined to attract the attention of those hiding in the shadows.

******

About half an hour later, a black SUV stopped on the other side of the road.

A tall and thin man was sitting on the passenger seat. He was wearing a shirt of a lighter shade of blue. With a black-rimmed glass and a tablet in his hand, he looked like a programmer.

“That is the place,” he said, pointing to the parking lot. "We had detected the anomaly here."

The window of the back seat rolled down, and a bald man stuck his nose out, took a sniff of the air outside, “It’s rotten. Mud and leaves… Vampire.”

“It's strange,” the man added after pausing for a moment.

“Strange?” This man was sitting in the driver's seat. The man had a square face with bright eyes, which was typical of a Chinese face. He was wearing a brown leather jacket.

The bald man touched his empty head, explaining, “Ahh… I am not sure about it. I just think something is strange. It smells like a vampire, but also smells like something else.”

The driver frowned as he knocked on the steering wheel, “Are you trying to say that there wasn’t just one of them? More mystical creature?”

The mere thought of comforting more than one monster made their face contort a little.

After all, they were just a mobile patrol team. As a mobile team patrolling at night, their means of attack won’t be enough to take down two creatures.

It should be able to take care of one transcendent creature who dared to commit crimes in the city, but two...

Furthermore, when it comes to transcendent monsters, 1+1 were never as simple as 2.

The woman in the back of the SUV said, "Captain, there is no danger."

Though she was wearing an eye-catching red dress, her presence was so weak that it looked like she just appeared in the SUV when she spoke.

However, her sudden appearance didn’t surprise anyone in the SUV. They had already got accustomed to her tricks.

Captain, the man in the leather jacket, paused for a moment to consider his options. “Lin Bin,” he said after a brief knock on the steering wheel. “Hong Ying. Keep an eye on the entrance. Everyone else will accompany me. Get your weapons ready.”

*******

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