Chapter 98

Chapter 98

What sort of unusual bond was it?

Wagner said that his Blood Contract Partner had once been in a very serious accident.

“He’d lost too much blood. I couldn’t even turn him-he didn’t have enough blood left to complete the transformation. He had to be treated first.” Lost in the memory, Wagner said, “That day was just like today. It was raining. I sent out several calls for help, and Mr. Guan was the only one who answered me.”

The blood of some Vampire possessed special restorative properties.

The older the Vampire, the stronger the ability.

Their blood was precious. It could not only save humans on the brink of death, but also tempt countless Vampires eager to strengthen themselves. One careless step, and they could easily fall into a meticulously prepared trap.

Through the curtain of rain, Guan Heng arrived under cover of night.

The blood of an ancient Vampire flowed into a pristine white vessel, then was brought to those ashen lips, forcibly dragging the person hovering at the edge of death back to life.

“You could say the decades my lover and I had afterward were all stolen time,” Wagner said. “Because of that, I’ve always owed Mr. Guan an enormous debt. I never knew how to repay it.”

Ning Qiuyan did not believe Wagner would have such a sudden awakening of conscience.

He pointed out, “Since he was willing to help you, he wouldn’t care about any repayment at all.”

When Wagner turned to look at him, Ning Qiuyan instinctively took a step back.

Wagner’s silver eyes were like glass beads; it was difficult to find any emotion in them. Ning Qiuyan also found it hard to connect him with the devoted lover Li Tang had described. Being stared at like that was deeply uncomfortable. Ning Qiuyan was just about to suggest leaving when Wagner spoke again, faint and lingering.

“You’re right. Mr. Guan truly disdains any sort of repayment,” Wagner said. “But you don’t need to be nervous. I won’t hurt you.”

As if emphasizing it, Wagner’s tone grew heavier. “I won’t hurt anyone’s Blood Contract Partner. Especially… a loyal and devoted human like you. To stay by his side forever, you’re even willing to be transformed. I admire you very much.”

Ning Qiuyan: “…”

He immediately confirmed that Wagner had been monitoring his daily life.

At the very least, he had hacked into his computer.

Wagner looked away, his gaze settling on empty space. “No one knows that the thing I regret most is actually letting him go.”

The “him” Wagner spoke of was naturally his own Blood Contract Partner.

Letting him go?

What did that mean? Did he mean letting him age, letting him pass away?

Seen this way, Wagner was not as content with it as he had been in Li Tang’s story. At the very least, he had wanted the other person to stay by his side forever.

Wagner looked at Ning Qiuyan again. The emotion that had just leaked into his voice was already gone, and he began assessing Guan Heng in a lofty tone. “Speaking of which, if not for you, I would never have dared believe Mr. Guan could have feelings like this too. I’ve known him for centuries, and I always felt his thoughts were as impossible to fathom as the sea. How should I put it? He is different from all Vampire… no, different from all humans too. It’s as if he has no weakness at all.”

Ning Qiuyan only listened and did not answer.

“Mr. Guan is too flawless,” Wagner said. “He has had the most loyal followers, and he has also suffered the most thorough betrayals. During the last major reshuffling of the Blood Supervision Council, do you know how many followers wanted to drink his blood? You have to understand, those people had once been his trusted aides, the people he once trusted most. Yet at that moment, they turned on him for a mouthful of blood. They even managed to tear a piece of his skin off by force. I had never seen such a deranged scene, nor that degree of calm composure.”

“Mr. Guan was like someone without a heart. He didn’t even blink. He grabbed body after body and tore their heads off just like that.”

“I thought that for him, there should be nothing in this world capable of hurting him.”

“What are you trying to say?” Ning Qiuyan asked.

Wagner said, “Who could have imagined that centuries later, a Lu Qianque would appear at his side, and then a you?” He asked Ning Qiuyan, “Who do you think he cares about more-you, or Lu Qianque?”

Wagner’s behavior was impossible to read, and his conversation was deliberately abstruse, as if wrapped in fog.

Ning Qiuyan would not be swayed by such provocation. He replied, “He cares about both of us a lot, because we’re family.”

Wagner narrowed his eyes. “It seems you don’t know either… Then let’s test it.”

Ning Qiuyan stood still, but he instantly became alert, like a puppy that had wandered into someone else’s territory, every hair on his body bristling. “What do you mean?”

Wagner said, “Don’t worry. I’m only asking you to stay here for one night.”

Ning Qiuyan was angry. “You tricked me into coming here because you wanted to confine me. You never had any intention of telling me anything about Lu Qianque.”

“Please don’t wrong me. I only said I might give you some clues. Whether you want them depends on whether you’re willing to stay. If you don’t, you can leave right now,” Wagner said. “Besides, I truly do want to give you some advice about immortality. Consider it compensation for the regret I left behind back then, and a small repayment of my debt to Mr. Guan.”

Ning Qiuyan did not believe him at all. If not for the fact that Wagner was still talking about clues, he would have turned and walked out right then.
His nerves stretched taut as he stared hard at Wagner. “What do you want?”

“Guan Heng cares about Lu Qianque, but he refuses to exchange Huanle for him. Guan Heng cares about you, yet he won’t grant you eternal life,” Wagner said frankly. “We’ve developed a serious disagreement over which of you- you or Lu Qianque-matters more to Guan Heng.”

“We?” Ning Qiuyan asked, puzzled.

Wagner and who?

The door to the small apartment opened.

An Eastern man walked in. He had a gentle face, with long hair falling down his back, and looked older than Guan Heng.

Ning Qiuyan’s eyes slowly widened. He had seen this man at the club last time.

His name was Qin Weizhi.
The situation was very strange.

Perhaps it could even be called dangerous.

Beside Ning Qiuyan was Wagner, who seemed to be the one orchestrating the whole thing. In front of him was Qin Weizhi, whose purpose remained unclear. He was the “insignificant” passerby Guan Heng had spoken of, a retainer of Guan Heng’s father, an old acquaintance without a name.

The first time Ning Qiuyan had met Qin Weizhi, Qin Weizhi had been with Wagner. It seemed their relationship was far from simple.

At that moment, a thought flashed through Ning Qiuyan’s mind, and he suddenly remembered something very important.

After Lu Qianque disappeared, Guan Heng had called Wagner. At the time, Wagner had told Guan Heng over the phone that he knew nothing, then added meaningfully, “Severed limbs and broken arms… The person going against you certainly acts very much in your style.”

That had been a blatant hint.

What if the person who did it happened to be an old acquaintance?

Ning Qiuyan looked at Qin Weizhi and felt the hair on his body stand on end. He could neither leave nor stay, and in an instant, he felt as if he were sitting on pins and needles.

“We meet again,” Qin Weizhi said to Ning Qiuyan with perfect courtesy. “I didn’t expect you to still be at Guan Heng’s side. It seems you are rather perceptive after all.”

He was referring to the last time, when he had reminded Ning Qiuyan about toxin submission. It had seemed like a well-intentioned warning, but evidently it had not had much effect.

Only, Ning Qiuyan did not know whether this so-called “perceptive” was praise or mockery.

Ning Qiuyan said nothing.

Some things could not be escaped. Some people could not be avoided.

Rather than curl up in a safe nest, it was better to figure out exactly what the other party wanted.

Seeing that Ning Qiuyan was willing to stay, Wagner actually seemed to be in a decent mood. He dug out a chessboard and invited Ning Qiuyan to play, intending to pass the time that way.

Ning Qiuyan did not know how to play chess.

He did not want to, either, and he had no interest in matching wits with Wagner.

“Then what do you and Mr. Guan usually do in the evenings?”

Whether intentionally or not, even with Qin Weizhi present, Wagner insisted on engaging Ning Qiuyan, and he mentioned Guan Heng with particular frequency. “Surely you don’t keep your days and nights entirely separate and live on opposite schedules every day?”

Ning Qiuyan said nothing.

Qin Weizhi looked at Ning Qiuyan.

There were too many things one could do with Guan Heng at night.

Whether it was watching movies, taking walks, or doing jigsaw puzzles, they were all very private things that belonged to the two of them. Ning Qiuyan did not want to share a single one with these two men.

He picked two things and answered, “We’ve played billiards, and cards.”

“Cards?” Wagner’s interest was piqued. “I wonder how good Mr. Guan is at cards. Did he teach you any tricks? Then let’s play cards. There are exactly three of us. We’ll play something simple.”

Qin Weizhi propped his chin on one hand, his gaze sweeping over Ning Qiuyan from top to bottom. He sounded interested as well. “Cards… What should we wager? Playing cards without stakes is hardly any fun.”

“What do you want to bet?” Wagner asked with great seriousness, as if he were truly considering Ning Qiuyan’s position. “Xiao Ning is still young, and he was only invited here on short notice. He doesn’t have anything to gamble with you.”

“I’ve happened to have a few questions lately,” Qin Weizhi said. “Your name is Xiao Ning, right? Xiao Ning, let’s bet answers. The winner asks a question, and the loser isn’t allowed to lie.”

A fine sheen of sweat appeared on the tip of Ning Qiuyan’s nose, but he suddenly raised his head to look at them and asked, “Anything at all?”

At this point, he was no longer in any hurry to leave.

Qin Weizhi nodded and replied, “Of course. As long as you win, you can ask anything you like.”

They had Ning Qiuyan shuffle the cards.

Under the scrutiny of two pairs of icy eyes, Ning Qiuyan was unexpectedly calm.

The young man’s hands separated the cards. His shuffling was not especially skillful, but he was unhurried, and from his composed profile, one could almost find a trace of Guan Heng’s shadow.

It was not that Ning Qiuyan was not nervous.

Only, after deciding to stay, he was more distracted than anything else.

His thoughts kept drifting far away. Compared with his current predicament, he wanted more to know what Guan Heng was doing now. Had he already returned to the Black House? Or was he sending people everywhere to look for him?

The result of that lapse in concentration was that Ning Qiuyan lost the first round. Qin Weizhi made no attempt to hide his intentions, asking with direct precision, “Who did Guan Heng call in to help this time?”

This was confidential, and Qin Weizhi clearly had no intention of going through the motions of polite evasion.

They were not friends. There was no need to beat around the bush.

Caught off guard, Ning Qiuyan’s first instinct was to answer that he did not know.

Before the words left his mouth, they turned over in his throat. He realized that he did not know how much information the other party had. Refusing to cooperate at all would very likely anger them, so he considered his answer and said, “Deshan and Joshua.”
In any case, Deshan and Joshua hadn’t gone out of their way to keep a low profile when they arrived. Ning Qiuyan had seen some news about them on the Vampires’ Internal Network, so most of the Vampires had probably heard of them by now. It shouldn’t matter if he brought them up.

“Anyone else?”

Sure enough, Qin Weizhi’s pupils constricted. He had clearly known about the two guests’ arrival long ago, and he pressed on without the slightest politeness.

“I don’t know anyone else.” Ning Qiuyan braced himself and started making things up. “I go to school every day and barely deal with other Vampires. Even if I’ve seen them before, I wouldn’t be able to name them.”

Qin Weizhi asked again, “Then besides Deshan and Joshua, who else came from the Arctic Circle?”

Ning Qiuyan said, “The Arctic Circle?”

“Yes,” Qin Weizhi said. “Or have you noticed anyone with their face covered, wearing a gray robe?”

Ning Qiuyan immediately thought of the oldest vampire Li Tang had mentioned.

That was the person from legend who had transformed Guan Heng. They came from the Arctic Circle, wore a gray robe, and both their face and gender were a mystery. No one even knew if the legend was true.

Why was Qin Weizhi asking about them?

When Ning Qiuyan did not answer, Qin Weizhi stopped shuffling the cards.

His expression barely changed, and neither did his tone, yet somehow he sounded far more aggressive than before. “Have you seen someone like that?”

Wagner, sitting off to the side, spoke up at just the right moment. “All right, Qin. In the interest of fairness, you’ve already asked more than one question. Take it slow. If you want to know more, win another round.”

Ning Qiuyan had not expected Wagner to step in and defuse the situation, but he had no intention of thanking him.

Wagner did not care either.

Ning Qiuyan won the second round.

After thinking for a moment, Ning Qiuyan chose to face Qin Weizhi directly.

“I know you used to be an adviser to Mr. Guan’s father. What happened later to make you fall out?”

Qin Weizhi was not surprised that Ning Qiuyan had told Guan Heng about his appearance.

He asked in return, “What, Guan Heng didn’t tell you?”

Ning Qiuyan did not back down, nor was he intimidated. He pointed out, “That doesn’t count as an answer.”

Perhaps he found it interesting to watch a human and a Vampire go head-to-head, because Wagner let out a low laugh.

Only a human who had been well protected and spoiled by favor would dare act like this.

Qin Weizhi ignored Wagner. He looked at Ning Qiuyan for a few seconds, then deliberately slowed his speech. “Why did we fall out… I suppose it’s because even the closest people inevitably end up resenting each other. When you understand someone too well, it becomes far too easy to hurt them. After all, no one likes knowing that someone else in this world is keeping hold of their most wicked secrets.”

Ning Qiuyan frowned. “Wicked secrets?”

Qin Weizhi said yes, then added, “That Mr. Guan of yours-I know far too many of his secrets.”

Ning Qiuyan pressed, “Such as? I don’t think Mr. Guan is wicked at all.”

His defense was a little childish, like a child stubbornly trusting the person closest to him.

“I don’t mind giving you an example.” Qin Weizhi adopted the attitude of someone too magnanimous to argue with a child and silently put down his cards. “Are you sure you want to hear it? I don’t want to tell you, only for you to turn around and say I’m lying.”

Ning Qiuyan had no way to refute that.

It was true. No matter what Qin Weizhi said, he would naturally take Guan Heng’s side.

So whether Qin Weizhi said anything or not made no difference.

Yet Qin Weizhi offered one offhandedly. “For instance, slaughtering a camp during wartime. Do you want to hear about that?”

Ning Qiuyan said, “You said it was wartime. Going to the battlefield to resist invaders and defend one’s home and country-how is that wicked?”

“What if it was a refugee camp?”

The corner of Qin Weizhi’s mouth twitched.

“After the commanding general was defeated, he fled with his army. All that remained in the camp were wounded and crippled old soldiers, along with the refugees they had taken in. Those hundred or so people were nothing but abandoned pawns. They could easily have been captured. Our soldiers surrounded the camp and set it on fire, burning everyone alive right where they were. Screams went on and on in the flames. There were old people, the weak, women, and children among them. No one dared take a second look.”

“Guan Heng gave the order.”

“He personally stood guard on high ground and watched with his own eyes until those hundred-plus people had all turned to ash.”

As Ning Qiuyan listened, his fingers curled in on themselves.

He had once looked up the history of the Qing Dynasty in the library, and he had heard Guan Heng mention that campaign before.

He had never imagined that one day he would hear someone else bring up the same incident from an entirely different perspective.

“Where is kindness or mercy on a battlefield? Both sides strike back and forth. Most of the time, it’s tooth for a tooth, a show of force, nothing more,” Wagner said. “Besides, what if there were spies among them?”

Qin Weizhi gathered his long hair back behind him and said, “That was indeed a possibility.”

Wagner shrugged and said no more.

Ning Qiuyan was not so easily swayed by a few words in how he felt about Guan Heng. Mustering his courage, he asked Qin Weizhi in return, “So what you mean is, Mr. Guan is more wicked while you’re kinder, and that’s why the two of you went your separate ways?”

When Qin Weizhi had seen Ning Qiuyan at the club last time, he had only known that he was a very young human, a student at that, and assumed he would be easy to handle. He had never expected the questions he asked to be this sharp.

“Of course not.” Qin Weizhi developed a trace of interest in him. “Kid, of course it wouldn’t be that simple.”