V1: Chapter 30: Vampire?

Just then, a burly man nearby suddenly convulsed violently, seemingly experiencing some excruciating pain, letting out a agonizing howl. Suddenly, the man's body slumped, and he coughed up a large spurt of brownish blood before collapsing heavily to the ground.

"Eh??"

This is…?

"You… you stabbed him in the heart?" Liang Di blinked.

"I, I didn't." Liang Lin was equally bewildered.

Before the two girls could react, the other burly men all let out similar cries of pain, and then, one after another, collapsed heavily to the ground.

Less than half a minute later, the men lying on the ground, struggling, were motionless, like puddles of mud, about to melt into the earth.

“Hey… I’m telling you guys…” Liang Lin, hands in her pockets, raised her foot and kicked a burly man hard in the leg. “Don’t play dead with me! I didn’t try to kill you.”

“Something’s not right…”

Liang Di crouched down, extended a finger, and probed the tip of one of the men’s noses. Her expression was grave. Then she sighed, stood up, and said, “Alright, I take back what I said about us not being able to get a good night’s sleep. They’re dead.”

“Dead???”

Liang Lin was puzzled, scratching her head. “But I really didn’t try to kill them.”

“They committed suicide by poisoning themselves. There must have been poison packets in their mouths. If the mission failed, they would bite open the packets and kill themselves.”

“Oh.”

Liang Lin could understand that. Enemy prisoners captured on the battlefield would also commit suicide in various ways. Liang Lin even admired that.

"What should we do with them?"

"Go find the local knights tomorrow during the day."

"Then, shall we go back?"

Liang Lin was also sleepy, stretching widely and yawning wearily.

"We have to go back whether we want to or not..."

On the way.

Liang Lin glanced at her pocket watch; it was only eight o'clock in the evening.

"Orlando City doesn't have much of a nightlife, how strange."

Shops were all closed. Although candles were lit in every house, illuminating the brightly lit streets, the doors were tightly shut, some even locked.

"With so many things happening lately, it's normal."

Knock knock knock~

Liang Lin knocked on the inn's door.

"Who is it?"

An elderly voice came from inside the iron gate, sounding somewhat trembling.

"Grandma, it's us—the guests who checked in today."

There was a pause inside, then a small square window in the iron door opened from the inside, and a cloudy eye peered out furtively.

"Hey, what are you looking at?"

Liang Lin suddenly crouched down quickly, her blood-red eyes meeting the old woman's. Their eyes locked, and then…

"Ahhh!!"

The old woman stumbled back several steps, landing heavily on her bottom.

Liang Lin swore on both hands and feet that she didn't mean to; she just wanted to see what the person inside the small window was doing, and the old woman had scared her like this. It wasn't the old woman's fault; Liang Lin's blood-red pupils were truly frightening in the darkness.

Liang Lin covered her face.

"Grandma, it really is us."

After some rustling inside, the person finally opened the door.

Upon opening the door, the old woman, holding a lantern in one hand and clutching her chest with the other, exclaimed, "Oh dear... you child, you scared my heart out! God, I thought I was about to meet God!"

After a brief complaint, she added, "Oh dear, why are you back so late? Don't you know how dangerous Orlando is right now? So many young girls like you have gone missing, daring to go out at night! Didn't you notice that every door was locked when you came back?"

"I heard about it. I also heard that someone found a girl's body in the woods."

The old woman's face changed.

By this time, the three of them had reached the corner of the second floor. A huge mural hung there, depicting an elegant and dignified lady, holding a magnificent folding fan, smilingly observing everything before her. The dim light made everything seem eerie, from the creaking wooden staircase to the newly laid red carpet.

 "You don't know, do you... this wasn't done by human hands!" The old woman spoke mysteriously, even a little mystical.

Not done by human hands?

"Not done by human hands? Then could it be a vampire?" Liang Lin blurted out.

The old woman was surprised. "You've heard about this too? Who told you?"

"Uh..."

Liang Lin and Liang Di exchanged a glance.

Liang Di asked, "Grandma, we heard it at the next table while we were eating. We thought they were telling a ghost story. Is it true?"

"Silly children! It's true!" The old woman became serious.

"Grandma, how can you be so sure it was a vampire? Everyone just heard it, right?"

The old woman glanced around furtively, then beckoned to the two of them.

"Come, come, let's go inside and talk. They all say I'm old and my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I bet I'm not!"

Oh?

A new clue.

After entering the house, the old woman closed and locked the door, then placed the lantern on the table.

"Just a few nights ago, I suddenly remembered that I forgot to feed the guests' horses that afternoon. So I took—yes, this lantern—downstairs. When I got to the stable, I had just taken some feed when I heard rustling sounds coming from the storeroom next door."

Oh…

Liang Lin and Liang Di simultaneously held their breath, their eyes wide.

"There was some frozen meat stored there. I thought it was rats sneaking in to steal it. If the meat got gnawed on, wouldn't it be wasted? So I picked up a stick from the stable and tried to open the storeroom door."

The old woman suddenly raised her hand. "I swear, I went there very quietly, without making a sound. But then, but then…"

A look of horror appeared on the old woman's face, as if she had recalled something terrible.

"Then, the door suddenly opened from the inside, and I saw something jump out! Those blood-red eyes…! I'll never forget it! There was blood on her face! And she had a fresh heart in her mouth!"

Huh?

"Vampires…don't they drink blood? Why would they take someone's heart…" Liang Lin was confused.

"Then I looked into the storage room! Ouch…" the old woman groaned in pain, "I saw that the cat I had just rescued had all its contents spilled out of its stomach! Scattered all over the floor! The scene…it was bloody…"

"And then?"

"Then, my brain went out of control, and I turned to look at that thing, and then, and then I saw a mouth full of blood, with sharp teeth, right in front of me."

Oh! Oh! Oh! The exciting part!

Liang Lin exclaimed excitedly, "Grandma! Don't stop! And then?"