During the Republican Era, Shen Zhiheng, a member of the Tianjin gentry who happened to be a vampire, offended the Japanese and became the target of an assassination attempt. He was saved by a blind young lady, Mi Lan, and his best friend Situ Weilian. When he went to repay Mi Lan for saving him, he discovered the terrible family situation that Mi Lan was in, and so began to pay more attention to her. Meanwhile, Shen Zhiheng’s plan to take revenge on Li Yingliang, the mastermind behind his assassination, fell short of success thanks to Li Yingliang’s Japanese superior, raising suspicions about his identity. Since then, Li Yingliang and the Japanese were in hot pursuit of Shen Zhiheng, determined to dig out the truth about his secret.
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Mi Lan did not know how long she spent running after Situ Weilian. She was in a daze the entire way, and it was only when a bright light from a fire ahead shone that her consciousness returned. She freed herself from Situ Weilian’s grip with force. Normally, she already rarely spoke; now, she was even more silent, only widening her eyes and glaring angrily at Situ Weilian.
The flames cooked the air until it was boiling hot, and the tips of her hair were even beginning to curl. Situ Weilian pointed at the inferno that blocked the path, and hollered, “The fire has been burning here for so long, this means that the air is sufficient, there must definitely be an air vent here.”
Mi Lan shook her head at him.
Situ Weilian said angrily, “Stop giving me trouble! If you’re afraid of fire, I can protect you. This little fire won’t kill us, we can charge through!”
Mi Lan opened her mouth and said, “I want to go and find Mr. Shen.”
“Why do you want to find him? He’s already dead!”
Mi Lan suddenly shouted, her voice sharp, “Then I’ll die too!”
“You–are you crazy? Or have you fallen in love with him?”
“Love?” Mi Lan seemed as if she had suddenly become confused by his question. “Love?”
“Now that it’s still not too late, you’d better stop dreaming! How old are you, how can you know what love is? Besides, you’re immortal now, as long as you’re willing to escape with me, there’s a whole world of men out there, you can love whomever you want! You can even fucking love someone random for a few hundred years! Do you understand?!”
Mi Lan seemed as if she had just awoken from a long dream. “Oh…”
Situ Weilian thought that she had come through, and was about to pull her forward to dash through the flames. He did not expect her to pull her hand out of his. She took a step back, and as if she had suddenly gained enlightenment, she nodded at him.
Then, she turned around and ran back.
Situ Weilian chased after her and caught her hair, forcing her to turn around and look him in the eye. However, Mi Lan had been prepared for this. The moment she turned her head around, she spread out her five fingers and clawed at his face. Caught off guard, he let go and shrunk back, hearing Mi Lan say loudly at the same time, “Don’t stop me, I only love one man, and that is Mr. Shen!”
Then, she spread her long legs, and just like a fawn, she dashed into the darkness that they had come from.
Situ Weilian took two steps to chase after her, and then stopped. He stood on the spot in a daze, before finally gritting his teeth and turning around to dash into the fire. If he had known earlier than Mi Lan would be so useless, he would have saved his efforts and carried Shen Zhiheng to escape. If he had managed to escape from the dungeon before Shen Zhiheng took his last breath, his living expenses for the next few decades would have been covered.
However, it was too late for regret now. It was better for him to escape first, and then think of what to do next. In any case, no matter what happened, he would always have a way to continue living on.
The same moment that Situ Weilian and Mi Lan were parting ways, Li Yingliang was still waiting to die together with Shen Zhiheng.
He did not really have a peace of mind, for Shen Zhiheng had suddenly become silent. When he touched his head and face, he realised that his face still bore some warmth, but line after line of blood vessels had swelled up on the surface of his skin, forming a web that spread up from his neck. He could not see what Shen Zhiheng looked like, but based on what he felt, he concluded that he must look very terrifying now.
At this moment, he suddenly heard a voice talking.
That voice was very low. It was a woman’s voice that sounded familiar, and she was speaking Japanese. It was Kuroki Rika.
Over the phone call, Li Yingliang had already inferred Kuroki Rika’s intentions. To her, he most definitely belonged to Yokoyama’s group, and even death was too easy a way out for him. However, this was a huge misunderstanding. The one he was loyal to was the commissioner, he did not care whether the word after “Commissioner” was Yokoyama or Kuroki, he would be equally loyal to them. How could Kuroki Rika not understand such a simple logic? Moreover, besides his loyalty, he also had his own men under him. He was not surrendering to the Japanese as a freeloader; he had his own power and could do things!
He slowly turned his head to look at Shen Zhiheng beside him, and thought that he now possessed an even more extraordinary piece of news about Shen Zhiheng, Mi Lan, and Situ Weilian. Could it be that Kuroki Rika was truly not the least bit interested?
Kuroki Rika’s voice rang out again, and it was even drawing closer.
Li Yingliang said softly, “Wait here, I’ll go and take a look.”
Then, without waiting for Shen Zhiheng to reply, he crawled forward, until he reached the dim flickering light at the end of the corridor. The air grew hotter, and he was not only exhausted but also thirsty. If he really died here, then the moments before his death would definitely be extremely painful. He extended his head out beyond the corner at the end of the corridor, and a shiver ran through him.
A group of armed soldiers walked out from the junction ahead, led by Kuroki Rika. Li Yingliang knew that she wanted to kill him, but as if he had been possessed by a ghost, he slowly crawled out, until he entered her line of sight.
Then, he knelt down and raised his hands in a picture of surrender. “Section Head Kuroki, it’s me, Li Yingliang. I’ve caught Shen Zhiheng. I’ve been waiting for you to come over so that I can present him to you, to atone for my past mistakes.”
Kuroki Rika was already lost in this dungeon, and just when her inner thoughts were growing increasingly tumultuous, she had suddenly seen Li Yingliang. She had very nearly raised her gun and emptied her clip at him. It was only upon hearing Li Yingliang out when she first froze, and then became ecstatic.
“Where is he?”
Li Yingliang wanted to stand up, but his legs were soft and could not support his weight. He could only turn around on his knees.
“Please follow me. He’s heavily injured, and no longer has the strength to fight back.”
Li Yingliang walked like an animal, crawling to Shen Zhiheng’s side.
A few flashlights shone through this half of the corridor, allowing Kuroki Rika to clearly see Shen Zhiheng, who was sprawled on the ground.
Li Yingliang lowered his head and knelt beside Shen Zhiheng, mumbling softly as if to himself, “I’m sorry. But you’re about to die anyway, and instead of dying for nothing, you can save me this once.”
He then lifted his head, and noticed that Shen Zhiheng was still conscious, and was even using his one unharmed eye to look at him. The raised black blood vessels formed a web, enveloping his face. His appearance was no longer that of a human, and only that one eye still hid the slightest human emotion.
This emotion very nearly caused Li Yingliang to puke out blood.
After confirming Shen Zhiheng’s identity, Kuroki Rika raised a gun to his head and said, “Chairman Li, this time, you’ve made a great contribution.”
Li Yingliang moved backwards slowly, not wanting to see Shen Zhiheng’s head be blown apart, as he mumbled, “You flatter me, you flatter me, as long as you’re aware of my loyalty, I’m satisfied.”
Kuroki Rika took a deep breath and hooked her finger onto the trigger. She was about to pull it, when a sharp pain suddenly burst at her neck.
One second later, she heard the startled cries of her subordinates.
She raised her hand to touch the point where it hurt, but what she felt was a solid and hard metal rod. That metal rod had already pierced through her neck, and its other end was sharp and dyed with blood. She slowly turned her head and saw a young girl standing at the end of the corridor, who was panting heavily as she stared at them. Li Yingliang recognised her; it was Mi Lan.
That metal rod that had pierced through Kuroki Rika’s neck was the walking cane she had used to search for a path not too long ago.
No one had noticed when she had run over, and no one had noticed where she had picked up that thin metal rod from, and least of all, no one knew that she actually had so much strength, that she could actually throw that iron rod like a javelin and pierce it through Kuroki Rika’s neck.
After a short period of silence, the soldiers started firing at Mi Lan in unison. Mi Lan immediately dodged and hid from the bullets, while Kuroki Rika took a step forward, the expression on her face still one of shock. She did not know if she was about to die, because even at this point, she did not feel that much pain. She thought that she had to leave and immediately go to a hospital, perhaps, the doctors would find a way to remove this metal rod.
However, she soon also realised that she could not leave.
Li Yingliang’s broken sobs came from behind her. That sound was trapped in his throat, and it sounded bizarre and weak at the same time. At the same time, her subordinates looked around to find the source of the sound, before suddenly shouting and dispersing.
A large hand fell onto the top of her head, its five fingers drawing together and catching hold of her skull tightly, before twisting violently to the back. Kuroki Rika’s head was instantaneously twisted one hundred and eighty degrees, and in that last moment of her life, she saw Shen Zhiheng. Shen Zhiheng seemed strangely tall and imposing, as if he were levitating in mid-air. The blackness in his pupil spread out like a smear, turning his pupil into a piece of obsidian: cold and hard, shining with light, but without any emotion.
His five fingers opened, and Kuroki Rika fell to the floor.
And the massacre began.
No longer seeking any protection, Li Yingliang crawled forward along the wall. His two legs no longer had any strength left in them, and he could only frantically drag himself forward with his two elbows. Wave after wave of blood-curdling screams echoed from behind him, and like rivers, fresh blood flowed across the floor at an even faster speed than him. At this moment, he had neither thoughts nor schemes, he no longer had anything, and only had the slightest desire to live driving him and making him crawl forward.
At the end of the corridor, a pair of bright red legs appeared before his eyes. These legs were skinny and nimble, and wearing a pair of white canvas shoes. They had once been white, but were now already stained red with blood. Following this pair of legs and looking up, he saw Mi Lan.
He wanted to beg her to spare him, but his lips were trembling and he could not speak a single word. The two legs before his eyes suddenly moved away as Mi Lan cleared the path for him.
Mi Lan did not bear him any personal grudges, and also still remembered that winter night, when he took pity on her, a young girl walking on the street against the wind and snow, fetching her home in his car. His only problem was that he always wanted to harm Mr. Shen, and this made him detestable. However, at this moment, she did not want to take revenge on him, and since she was not in the mood to do so, he could go as he pleased!
She was currently obsessed with Shen Zhiheng who was before her.
The world before her was one where blood and pieces of flesh were splattering everywhere, but in her eyes, the difference between splattering blood and fresh and bright sunshine, was that one world had blood and flesh, while the other had sunshine.
When the last soldier fell, the only two people left alive in the corridor were her and Shen Zhiheng. Shen Zhiheng walked towards her, soaked in blood, and she knew that at this moment, he had lost his mind. Yet, she had completely no thoughts of escaping.
She would not escape. She had returned specifically for him, and now that they had finally met again, even if she were struck by lightning, she would not escape. If he attacked her, then she would return the attack. She had to take him away. It would be best if they could live together, but if they could not, then dying together was fine as well.
Because she loved him!
However, Shen Zhiheng walked halfway through the corridor, and suddenly fell down into a seated position. Casually pulling a corpse towards him, he bent down and took one bite, and started sucking its blood.
Following that, he fell forwards head first and lost consciousness.
Mi Lan carried Shen Zhiheng and walked through the corridor. Since Shen Zhiheng was too tall, his two legs dragged along the ground, leaving long, bloody trails. And about ten metres behind them, Li Yingliang chased after these trails of blood, crawling arduously.
Mi Lan paid no attention to the pursuer behind them. Simply based on her memory, she walked along the path that Situ Weilian had gone. The air rapidly became burning hot, and she once again saw that familiar fire. The flames had weakened considerably. Stopping, she shifted Shen Zhiheng further up her back.
“We’re going!” she let loose a holler of self-amusement.
Then, carrying Shen Zhiheng, she rushed into the inferno, rushed through it, and rushed out of it.
After crossing the inferno, she walked through an unfinished passageway, and detected the smells of the wilderness.
She held her head high, her body brimming with immeasurable strength. Most of her long hair had been burned to a crisp, and her calves were decorated with blisters. Amidst her pain, she walked forward fiercely and in exhilaration. She was a schoolgirl, she was a young bride. Saving him was precisely what she liked; she had saved his body, and he had saved her soul.
She did not know which path Situ Weilian had taken, and she could not be bothered to care. The end of the corridor was before her, and a metal ladder was lined along the wall. She walked to the ladder and looked up, noticing the metal points lying messily all over the place above her, and above them the shining stars.
Mi Lan did not find any rope, and so she removed the pants of that Mr. Shen of hers. His pants were fairly sturdy and were enough to tie her and Shen Zhiheng tightly together as one. Stretching out her two hands, she grabbed onto the ladder and started climbing up one rung at a time.
When she climbed to the surface, she looked around, feeling that this place looked a little familiar. Suddenly, with an “aiya”, she saw a messy, shallow ditch not too far from her. If she remembered correctly, that should have been the mouth of a vertical shaft, which she had first fallen into. Shortly after they had fallen into it, the Japanese soldiers had exploded the shaft.
Mi Lan was on the verge of laughing: her luck was too good. The paths ahead were all ones she had walked before, and whatever path she had walked even once, she could remember completely!
A moan came from behind her, and this made her quicken her pace. Mr. Shen was always worried about not losing face, and she thought that he definitely would not be happy to find himself running around the wilderness with her, while his buttocks were bare. She definitely had to leave this place before he became clear-headed.
While Mi Lan was running wildly with Shen Zhiheng on her back, Li Yingliang also saw the sky.
He had chased Mi Lan until he could no longer keep up, and had no choice but to crawl blindly based on feeling, before finally actually finding a way out. Before finding his way out, he had bumped into Kuroki Rika’s remaining troops. They were two Japanese soldiers who were on the verge of insanity, and upon seeing Li Yingliang, they had wildly fired at him, prompting Li Yingliang to shoot back at them. His pistol had only two bullets left, and this time round, he had used them both completely.
It was only in such a situation when he finally dared to kill the Japanese.
The Japanese soldiers were dead, while he had been shot twice. Besides these two gunshots, he had earlier crawled through a fire, which had probably already burned through most of its fuel, and had only been left as a few weak tongues of flame. However, tongues of flame were still fire, and they were enough to scorch his exposed face and hands.
However, he was still breathing, and he could still crawl. After crawling through a long flight of stairs, his head had bumped into a set of metal grilles, which had then come loose after that bump. He had bumped into it a few more times, before knocking out a small hole, allowing him to extend his head through.
The outside was a patch of wild grass, and just like a snake, he had continued crawling out, twisting his body in all sorts of bizarre shapes and his joints cracking continuously in pain. Without a single care, as if he had been possessed by a devil, he had continued squeezing himself out. Even if he had squeezed himself into broken pieces, it was still better than dying in that dungeon.
After squeezing himself towards the outside for some time, he finally depleted all of his strength, and was stuck in that hole, unable to move.
He closed his eyes and waited to die, but someone walked by, lowered his body, and asked, “Is this Mr. Li?”
Li Yingliang’s eyelids moved. He could hear that it was Situ Weilian.
Situ Weilian’s voice was light and a little weak. “Have you seen Mi Lan?” He hit Li Yingliang’s head with force. “Are you also about to die?”
Then, he straightened his back and stuffed both of his hands into his pants pockets, mumbling to himself, “Why are all of you dying one by one? Can’t someone alive come out? I’m still waiting for someone to show me the way home. Just where is this place?!”
After saying this, he squatted down again, and noticed the gunshot wounds on Li Yingliang’s shoulders. He extended his hand and rubbed those wounds once, then pulled it back and sucked on the taste of fresh blood. Seemingly thinking that it was not too bad, he stuffed his hands under Li Yingliang’s armpits, and without caring if he was dead or alive, he stubbornly pulled him out from that small hole. Then, he crossed his legs and sat down. Hugging Li Yingliang, he bent over and bit down straight into the artery at the side of his neck.
At this moment, Li Yingliang used the last breath left in him and opened his mouth, “Turn me into the kind of person that Shen Zhiheng is…”
Situ Weilian froze. “What?”
“I’ll repay you… I’ll be your dog, listen to your orders… I’ll sell my life to you… forever repay you…”
There were still tens of thousands of things that he wanted to promise, but the warmth in his four limbs was rapidly draining. A single teardrop slid out from the corner of his eye. His death was not one of peace.
As the last breath exhaled out of him, he waited for death to descend upon him. But what descended instead were Situ Weilian’s soft lips and sharp teeth.
