“I… I’ll talk.”
A hunched man scrambled up from the ground in a panic.
A woman standing nearby, disgusted by his behavior, deliberately stuck out a foot to trip him, sending him face-first back onto the floor.
“Ow!”
The hunched man spun around, only to realize that the woman wasn’t the only one looking at him with venomous eyes.
He roared, “You guys might not want to live, but I do! Do you really think you’re all saints?! Which one of you didn’t join in when we were snatching the blood plasma just now?!”
Even with a gun pointed at the back of her head, the woman who tripped him stood tall.
She replied with disdain, “We will fight for our survival, but we will never live on our knees!”
As soon as she spoke, a restless fire seemed to ignite in the air.
Even Liu Yao felt a flicker of emotion in her eyes.
Kindred with such resolve should not die here.
The hunched man opened his mouth but found no retort.
After glaring at her, he ignored everyone else and huddled closer to Liu Yao, speaking in a fawning tone, “Great one, I saw everything. The owner of this shop was killed by a King Seed.”
Liu Yao had been looking at him with contempt, but she froze upon hearing the words ‘King Seed.’
“A King Seed? Where is he?”
The hunched man shook his head and continued, “The man barged in alone. After killing the boss, he shouldered a woman and left.”
Liu Yao leaned down to inspect Mo Wenxin’s corpse once more before questioning sharply, “This was a Blood Race member of the Third Evolution. Are you absolutely certain the attacker was a King Seed?!”
“I’m positive. Even though he didn’t have any typical Blood Race features, he had a genuine Blood Race aura. Also… his eyes were blue.”
Liu Yao’s expression became more solemn than ever before.
After receiving word about Shen Ji, she had led her team here immediately, not even stopping to question other Kindred she sensed along the way.
Only now did she realize the gravity of the situation.
First, a massive influx of Blood Race members arrived in Nanjiang City, and now a King Seed had appeared, killing one of their kind in broad daylight.
It felt as though an invisible hand was pushing everything from behind the scenes.
The winds of change were blowing through Nanjiang City.
“Great one, can I go now?”
The hunched man flashed a fawning smile, rubbing his hands together as he waited for Liu Yao’s permission.
Liu Yao waved her hand impatiently, as if shooing a fly.
“Go where? Take them all back. You haven’t even explained your purpose for coming to Nanjiang City, and you’re already thinking of leaving?”
As she finished speaking, the Blood Race guards holding rifles pulled out black cloth bags.
With practiced movements, they shoved them over the heads of the gathered crowd and began pushing them out.
The hunched man received special treatment; he was knocked unconscious with a rifle butt and dragged away like a sack of grain.
Now, only Liu Yao and a corpse remained in the empty bar.
She cast a deep look at the surveillance camera in the corner.
She had a premonition that Shen Ji was the so-called King Seed.
The reason she chose to stay behind alone was both to confirm her suspicions and to keep the information from spreading.
Liu Yao walked slowly toward the computer at the bar’s front desk, her mind racing with information regarding King Seeds.
The primary reason humans had managed to successfully dominate the world was the emergence of the King Seed lineage within the Blood Race.
They were a hereditary line, destined to be kings from the moment of their birth.
In the beginning, most people didn’t see a problem with it.
After all, the Blood Race was a species that naturally worshipped strength.
If you were stronger and your abilities suppressed everyone else’s, then it was only natural for you to be the King.
But as time passed, more and more King Seeds who were unworthy of their titles began to be born.
Dissatisfaction, jealousy, and resentment—all sorts of negative emotions exploded.
Aside from a few lineages that were completely loyal to the King Seed, most began choosing to overthrow the King’s rule.
As the saying goes, luck changes and emperors rotate; who wouldn’t want to sit in that seat and be the ruler?
However, while the ideals were grand, reality was harsh.
The plan leaked the night before the planned rebellion, and the King Seeds began a bloody purge of the other lineages.
The Great Rebellion started there, and the strength of the Blood Race began a precipitous decline.
Meanwhile, humanity ascended the stage of history step by step, eventually becoming the dominant force of the world.
***
After listening to Yun Xiaotao’s explanation, Shen Ji’s eyes widened.
‘So the form simulated by the System is this prestigious?!’
A King Seed—a natural-born ruler destined to dominate all of the Blood Race—yet they were eventually dragged off the stage of history by the “commoners” Yun Xiaotao mentioned.
Ye Xi looked at Shen Ji with an obsessed gaze.
‘A King Seed? A natural-born ruler?! That sounds so dominant.’
She felt like she liked Shen Ji even more now.
Yun Xiaotao licked her dry lips and continued, “King, do you understand how strong and important you are now?”
Shen Ji nodded. Although he was incredibly excited internally, he maintained a calm facade.
“Thank you, Xiaotao. Thank you for telling me all this. I’m starting to get the feel of being a King now.”
Ye Xi rolled her eyes.
She could tell that Shen Ji was just letting the title go to his head.
As he was now, he couldn’t even take one slap from her, especially considering she had the **[Blood Mist]** Talent.
“Little Jizi, that’s enough. ‘The feel of being a King’? If you’re so tough, why don’t you try standing up to me?”
“You are not allowed to use the King’s nickname!”
Yun Xiaotao lowered her head and tried to headbutt Ye Xi, but Ye Xi simply pressed a single finger against the girl’s forehead, leaving Xiaotao to swing her two pink fists uselessly in the air.
Shen Ji’s mouth twitched.
‘What kind of nickname is that?’
It sounded like the names given to servants in ancient times, like ‘Little Footstool’ or ‘Little Shoulder Pole.’
Just then, his phone rang sharply in his pocket.
Shen Ji’s eyes narrowed.
He answered the call without looking at the screen.
It seemed Liu Yao had learned the truth.
She would… make the right choice, wouldn’t she?
“Hello? Are you looking to buy insurance? The kind where we guarantee resurrection if you die.”
“…”
Shen Ji looked down and saw a string of random numbers. It was a scam call.
“Hello? Are you there? If you don’t stay dead, we’ll give you a refund!”
“Scram. Keep your funeral money for yourself.”
As Shen Ji was about to close his phone in annoyance, he noticed a message from Liu Yao.
“Should I call you King? Or should I call you Shen Ji?”
“Sister Liu, with our relationship, I wouldn’t mind even if you called me your King.”
“…”
“Stop joking around. You trust me that much not to report you to the higher-ups?”
“I’m terrified. That’s why I ran immediately.”
“Do you really think you can run?”
“That depends on whether you’re willing to help me, Sister Liu.”
“What do I get out of it?”
“The undercover plan stays in place. Plus, a favor from a King Seed.”
“I need to confirm your situation in person.”
“This…”
“Afraid I’ll set an ambush?”
Shen Ji looked up at the sign for East Corner Alley.
He tapped the screen and replied: “Meet me at West Corner Alley in three minutes.”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.