“Ah… I’m dying…”
At night, Xi Ya walked like a zombie into the lodging provided by the village chief and collapsed onto the bed.
He and Dailina had investigated the village for two whole days.
To be precise, they only investigated for half a day; the remaining day and a half were spent helping the villagers purify the poultry enclosures.
Xi Ya originally wanted to ignore the Blood Mana and directly pursue the culprit, but Dailina insisted on helping them purify.
“The villagers have it tough too, Xi Ya.”
“And if we don’t purify it thoroughly, what if those Mana Particles harm the people and livestock?”
“We can’t stand by and do nothing…”
When Dailina said these things, there was always a firmness in her eyes that he couldn’t refuse.
Xi Ya had explained, but he couldn’t argue with Dailina.
Yet he couldn’t leave her to her own devices either.
If he didn’t go, Dailina would likely do it alone and drain herself dry, so he had no choice but to go along.
As a result, over these two days, he experienced the feeling of having his mana repeatedly drained.
As soon as his mana recovered, he had to go purify.
After purifying, he would rest and wait for his mana to recover, then go again.
And on and on in cycles.
His mana was too low; it was spent quickly but also recovered quickly.
No one else could be drained dozens of times in two days like he could.
Fortunately, the other villagers’ homes didn’t have as much Blood Mana as the first one, otherwise they wouldn’t have finished until next week.
Xi Ya pressed one arm against his forehead, staring at a crack in the ceiling.
After finishing the purification this morning, they hurried out of the village in the afternoon to search for traces of the vampire.
Fortunately, they quickly discovered bloodstains.
Following the bloodstains, they found some poultry carcasses, all drained of blood, confirming it was the work of a vampire.
The bloodstains stretched for three or four li outside the village, eventually leading into a dark forest.
Since it was too late, they decided to head back and investigate the forest tomorrow.
But that was just what he told Dailina.
In reality, Xi Ya planned to go to that forest alone tonight and deal with the vampire by himself.
Low-level vampires only move at night; it’s hard to find traces of them during the day, but at night they are likely to appear.
As for why he wouldn’t bring Dailina, he was afraid she might encounter danger.
If he went alone, he could use Transformation if he couldn’t win.
But if he brought Dailina, using Transformation would expose his secret, and if he didn’t use it, he wouldn’t be able to protect her.
Either way, it was something he didn’t want to face.
Also, going alone was convenient for leveling up; no one else would steal the kill.
Last time, the Shadow Demon was killed by Feili.
He thought he could get an assist for some experience points to level up, but he got nothing.
It was frustrating.
Xi Ya lay on the bed for a while, feeling that his mana had mostly recovered.
He got up, walked to the door, and reached out to pull it open.
Creak~ creak~ creak~
The door made a harsh noise.
Startled, Xi Ya held his breath, pricked up his ears for a few seconds, and only relaxed when he confirmed there was no sound from Dailina’s room next door.
‘This damn door.’
He gently pushed the door back, then turned and walked to the window, preparing to climb out.
The window also made a creaking sound, but Xi Ya ignored it.
He quickly climbed out, then swiftly closed the window again.
He quietly walked to the window of Dailina’s room and listened.
The room was very quiet; she should be asleep.
Xi Ya waited a few more seconds, confirmed again that there was no sound, then straightened up and sped off toward the village outskirts.
***
Night deepened.
Xi Ya stepped into the forest.
Most of the trees here were dead, and the ground was black soil, looking very eerie under the moonlight.
As he walked, Xi Ya kept an eye on the ground for traces.
The bloodstains on the ground were hard to discern.
Under the moonlight, they turned into varying shades of gray, blending into the ground.
He could only rely on the smell of blood in the air to determine the direction.
Low-level vampires feared sunlight; they would likely hide in caves that avoided light.
If he could find a cave, he would find their hiding place.
The deeper he went into the forest, the stronger the smell of blood became.
Xi Ya became fully alert, lightened his footsteps, and even lowered his breathing.
In the shadow of the moonlight, a dark figure flashed by.
Xi Ya whirled around, the magic wand in his hand igniting with flames, ready to cast Fireball at any moment.
Before setting out, he had used all three saved Skill Points to upgrade both the fire and water basic skills by one level.
As a veteran player, he had rich experience in using Skill Points.
For someone like him with low mana, it was best to upgrade low-cost basic skills rather than unlocking advanced skills.
Those advanced skills consumed too much mana; he couldn’t cast them many times.
It was better to increase the power of basic skills for the best cost-performance ratio.
Xi Ya stared at the direction where the dark figure had flashed, slowly took two steps forward, and found nothing there.
But he didn’t let his guard down; the flame on his wand still burned.
Suddenly, he felt something approaching from behind.
He immediately turned and released a Fireball.
The fireball flew out and struck the dark figure.
“Cluck cluck cluck!”
Hearing this sound, Xi Ya was stunned.
‘What the heck? A chicken’s call?’
By the light of the flames, he saw the dark figure clearly and found it was a chicken.
That chicken was pale all over, with dark red eyes that glowed eerily in the firelight.
At the moment, it was flapping its wings and rolling on the ground, still on fire, letting out a pitiful “cluck cluck cluck” cry.
‘This… is a Bloodsucking Chicken?’
The fire gradually died out.
That Bloodsucking Chicken was burnt black all over and stopped moving.
[EXP +1]
Xi Ya silently stared at the charred chicken corpse, silent for several seconds.
He had never imagined that the Blood Beast ambushing him would be a Bloodsucking Chicken.
However, vampires could infect creatures into Blood Beasts through biting.
During this time, what the village had lost were all poultry; it wasn’t surprising that some chickens were infected into Bloodsucking Chickens.
With so many poultry lost in the village, there were probably more than just this one in the forest.
But when he thought about how he was about to face Blood Beasts like Bloodsucking Chickens and Bloodsucking Ducks, he couldn’t help but find it amusing.
When others fought Blood Beasts: holding silver swords and crosses, sprinkling holy water, fighting for life and death with ferocious Blood Beasts under the moonlight.
When he fought Blood Beasts: in the dead of night, holding a wand like a twig, battling a flock of chickens, ducks, and geese.
Just thinking about that scene, it was laughable to even mention.
Xi Ya adjusted his mood and quickly returned to a state of alertness.
Although these Blood Beasts were transformed from poultry, that didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous.
Just now, this Bloodsucking Chicken had ambushed him from behind.
Just from that point alone, it was dangerous.
He crouched down and poked the Bloodsucking Chicken’s corpse with his wand.
This Bloodsucking Chicken’s claws were longer than a normal chicken’s by a section, the tips very sharp.
The front of its beak had also become very pointed, with obvious barbs at the tip.
The sharpness of both was already comparable to that of an eagle.
And its wings, though scorched black by the fire, still showed solid muscles underneath.
‘If this thing took flight, it would probably count as a bird of prey.’
As Xi Ya thought this, suddenly a series of flapping sounds rang out around him, interspersed with clucking and quacking cries.
In the darkness, pairs of dark red eyes lit up.
Xi Ya quickly stood up, the flame on his wand reigniting.
It seemed he was surrounded.
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