Chapter 109

Chapter 109

Ning Qiuyan still could not go see Guan Heng right away.

By now, probably everyone knew he had awakened. The next day, the Black House soon welcomed another uninvited guest.

Wagner Jones came under cover of night. He did not go upstairs, only stopping in the little garden of the Black House as he looked over the love nest Guan Heng had built for his Blood Contract Partner.

“Hello, my young friend,” he said. “Are you feeling all right?”

The same opening line he had used for ten thousand years, yet at this moment it carried a different meaning.

Ning Qiuyan had originally wanted to thank Wagner for saving him, but no matter how he thought about it, it felt very strange.

He did not believe Wagner had been on Guan Heng’s side from the very beginning. Otherwise, Wagner would not have “confined” him in the manor back then.

Whether Wagner was an enemy or a friend was, in truth, very difficult for him to distinguish. In any case, it was best for him to keep his distance from Wagner.

In the end, he simply chose to ask a question.

“Mr. Jones, why did you…”

Wagner seemed to have expected that he would ask this. Politely, he invited Ning Qiuyan downstairs.

Only after Ning Qiuyan came into the garden did he answer, “I have not introduced this to you before, but before my turning, I was once an extremely successful businessman, with industries spread across countries all over the world.”

Ning Qiuyan: “…”

Wagner smiled. “It’s true. I was very famous. Even now, you can find records online of the honors I once received.”

Clearly, now was not the time to say this.

Wagner’s self-congratulation stopped there.

“Unfortunately, in the world of Vampires, possessing wealth does not mean possessing a voice. I always seem far too passive,” Wagner said. “In truth, I do not care who rules the world. Humans or Vampires – what difference does it make to me? I simply do not want to be shackled at every turn. I only want to be the master of my own world.”

He spoke slowly.

“But it really is difficult… No matter which world it is, it is always the same. However clean you keep your hands, however little you fight with the world, there will always be someone’s foot trampling on your territory.”

“You know this. I have always wanted to win Mr. Guan over,” he said. “After all, with an identity like Mr. Guan’s, if I cannot become his friend, sooner or later, I will become his enemy.”

Ning Qiuyan was indeed very clear about Wagner’s attitude toward Guan Heng.

He had invited Guan Heng several times, and had even used certain means to buy his way into a perfume advertisement, tailoring it to his own purposes in order to curry favor. On this point, Wagner was not lying.

“This time, Mr. Guan made the correct choice. Not only did it eliminate all my doubts, it also allowed you and Lu Qianque to be saved perfectly,” Wagner said. “There are regrets, of course, but every gain comes with a loss. After weighing the pros and cons, choosing what is most beneficial is the optimal solution.”

Ning Qiuyan pressed his lips into a tight line.

Looking at Ning Qiuyan, Wagner smiled faintly. In those emotionless silver eyes, an almost imperceptible fanaticism flared. “Besides, what could be more moving than a love in which both people run toward each other?”

“You were willing to risk your life for him, and he was willing to endure those disgusting leeches for you… The first time Mr. Guan left the island for you, I knew he must value you very highly, because I could see certain things in him that were very similar to myself. It was truly rare.”

Ning Qiuyan suddenly felt that perhaps Wagner Jones was, at his core, nothing more than someone hopelessly obsessed with romance.

From the hundreds of collections displayed in memory of his Blood Contract Partner, to his enthusiasm for holding Camellia Night for each Blood Contract Partner pair – even if everything else was false, his romantic obsession was real.

Wagner might truly have wished, more than anyone else, for Qin Weizhi to carry out the turning of Ning Qiuyan.

He was the craziest one of all.

Wagner had not come empty-handed. He brought a gift.

It was an antique wooden box covered in intricate patterns, seized from Qin Weizhi. Inside was Guan Heng’s blade.

“Please help me return this to Mr. Guan.”

Wagner said, “My friend, the truth is, even if it had not been for Mr. Guan, when that final moment came, I would not have stood by and watched you be taken onto that plane. Consider this gift my compensation for failing to protect you properly and causing you to be bitten for no reason.”
—
Qu Shu bought Ning Qiuyan a new phone. He wanted to send Guan Heng a message, but after typing it out, he deleted it again, feeling that he had to wait until he saw Guan Heng in person before saying anything.

Everyone told Ning Qiuyan to rest properly, but the moment he closed his eyes, the image of Guan Heng covered in blood, gaunt and skeletal as he leaned against the wall, would surface in his mind.

Those inferior Monster creatures had clung to the older Vampire’s skin like leeches, feeding madly for who knew how long.

He had clearly never seen it with his own eyes, yet the scene kept appearing in Ning Qiuyan’s mind, making him wake drenched in sweat and stare with his eyes open until dawn.

Guan Heng should have been a handful of snow atop a mountain cliff, untouched by filth, unreachable by grime.

This time, Ning Qiuyan had made a mistake.

If he had listened to Guan Heng and strictly followed his instructions, then Qin Weizhi would never have had the chance to trick him into that car, and none of what happened afterward would have occurred.
He had been outrageously wrong.

Another day passed before Lu Qianque finally arrived at the Black House.

Lu Qianque’s right hand had fully grown back, but he still had no peace. Gu Yu was calling him twenty times a day now, demanding to transfer back to his original school and insisting on staying with Lu Qianque twenty-four hours a day.

In a few more days, once Guan Heng returned to Du Island, Lu Qianque would also have to hurry back to Luochuan.

“Sir is going back to Du Island?” Ning Qiuyan caught the key detail at once. “Is his injury very serious?”

“Not serious. He just lost quite a lot of blood, so his need for intake is higher as well,” Lu Qianque said. “There are ways for him to recover quickly, but you know Sir. He has his own principles.”

Lu Qianque’s tone was perfectly normal, as if he were talking about a common cold.

And it was not just Lu Qianque. In truth, everyone had reacted very calmly. No one blamed Ning Qiuyan.

Immortality had given them the ability to remain composed in the face of upheaval-after all, they could not truly be killed.

That ability had bred a contempt for life, warped their worldview, and numbed their senses completely.

Just as Guan Heng had told Ning Qiuyan, humans and Vampires were fundamentally different. From the moment of turning, they bid farewell forever to everything that had belonged to their human identity.

The two sides could never truly empathize with each other.

For the first time, Ning Qiuyan understood that distance. He saw the vast chasm between them, visible yet impossible to touch.

Lu Qianque said that blood regenerated in Vampires’ bodies several times more slowly than in humans. That was also why, regardless of whether they were strong or weak, Vampires had to protect their own blood.

Under the influence of a fellow Vampire’s toxin, that process would slow down dramatically. To recover quickly, one needed to directly consume large amounts of warm human blood. Put simply, one would need several blood slaves.

“Sir has never touched blood slaves,” Lu Qianque said, his tone filled with admiration and respect. “So we plan to return to Du Island first.”

Animal blood could nourish Guan Heng as well. Though it worked slowly, it could still restore him completely.

“Reluctant to part?” Lu Qianque asked with a smile. “Sir only just came, and now he has to leave.”

Ning Qiuyan nodded.

All the preparations and hopes he had made for Guan Heng’s long stay in Sujing had to be put on hold for now. Of course he felt disappointed.

Besides, there was still something very important between him and Guan Heng that had not been resolved.

Lu Qianque said apologetically, “Little Puppy, you really shouldn’t overthink this. If we’re being serious, this was actually my fault. If I had been a little more cautious and hadn’t been captured so easily, none of this would have happened.”

“No. It’s not like that.”

Ning Qiuyan murmured the words.

This could not be blamed on Lu Qianque. If they had to assign blame, Ning Qiuyan himself was even more inseparably involved. If he had not insisted on going to find Rong Qi…

From that moment on, it had been destined that he was the true culprit behind all of this.

“I want to go see Sir,” he said to Lu Qianque. “Can I?”

Before they left.

“It should be fine now. I won’t push you into danger every single time either,” Lu Qianque joked. “We’re leaving the day after tomorrow. Sir probably won’t come back here again before then.”

Ning Qiuyan nodded.

He thought of the wooden box, went to bring it out, and handed it to Lu Qianque. “This is Sir’s knife. It was with Qin Weizhi before, and Wagner brought it over last night.”

Ning Qiuyan felt that Guan Heng would probably want to take it back to Du Island. After all, the knife carried memories of Guan Heng’s father. It was deeply significant.

Lu Qianque’s expression grew faintly restrained. He opened the wooden box.

It was his first time seeing the knife too, yet he closed the lid again almost immediately and told Ning Qiuyan, “There’s no need to take it over.”

Ning Qiuyan asked, “Why?”

Lu Qianque said quietly, “This was something Sir didn’t want in the first place. Even if we bring it back to him, Sir won’t be happy. If you want it, keep it for now.”

The wooden box returned to Ning Qiuyan’s hands, heavy and solid. After his initial surprise, he quickly realized why Guan Heng would not want the knife.

Back then, Qin Weizhi had been ordered to send the gray-robed figure into prison. Along with him went this knife.

Later, Qin Weizhi received word that the more than one hundred members of the Guan Family had not suffered much torment from the poison. All of them had died in prison, their throats cut in a single lethal strike.

“Could it be that back then, the gray-robed figure used this knife to…”

Ning Qiuyan faltered as he voiced his guess, but no matter what, he could not bring himself to say the rest.

Qin Weizhi had said the person who did it was ruthless enough and steady enough.

The gray-robed figure had swung this knife and ended the suffering of over a hundred members of the Guan Family-and taken their lives at the same time.

Of course Guan Heng would never want to see this knife again.

“No. The one who struck wasn’t the gray-robed figure.” Lu Qianque’s eyes and brows were calm, his expression completely withdrawn now. “The only person who has ever used this knife is Sir.”