What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 549: John’s Opportunity

Three days after Joel vanished on Chongyun Mountain, Mr. Liang threw John into an enclosed space.

This enclosed space was different from the ones John had been in before, where the “Blood Beasts” resided – as soon as the door opened and he stepped in, he fell into water.

At about five meters underwater, John saw a seemingly ordinary turtle, about the size of a washbasin.

But the next instant, the turtle was no longer “ordinary”. Its shell split open in the middle like a chrysanthemum blooming, and seven golden needle-shaped tentacles burst out, rushing towards him.

This time, John was allowed to bring his little porcelain knife in. He did not attempt to dodge, but instead, marched straight towards the tentacles. Thanks to the significant improvements in tissue strength and recovery ability from his recent two-stage transformations, he planned a quick “close combat” to test the abilities of this “mutated turtle”.

As soon as he entangled with the seven tentacles, the turtle at the bottom of water began to inflate rapidly, then exploded. The water was tainted black by the dark fluid that spewed out, and countless tentacles sprouted from the location of the explosion, filling the pool.

Only then did John realize that this was probably not a “mutated turtle” at all. The tentacles were its actual body, and the turtle at the bottom just a decoy, serving as the “Blood Source”. Its real body had been hiding beneath it, camouflaged in the sediment at the bottom.

Outside the enclosed space, Mr. Liang stood in front of a floor-to-ceiling screen, arms crossed, watching the battle in the water.

Although the “blood-eating creature” in the water tainted the pool with its black fluid, obstructing the view, a small “picture-in-picture” in the upper right corner displayed an infrared thermal imaging surveillance feed. The outlines of the two “blood-eating creatures” were clearly marked thanks to “Tyre’s” special processing targeting “blood-eating creatures”.

In terms of developmental stage and intelligence, John had a significant advantage. However, the closed space was filled with water, which was the home field advantage of the aquatic “blood-eating creature”, offsetting some of his superiority.

If this were several months ago when John was first captured by Mr. Liang, his mentality at the time wouldn’t have allowed him to triumph even with his double stage transformations and power advantage. He most likely would have ended up as the “blood source” devoured by the aquatic “blood-eating creature”.

But now, after a few months spent underneath the Brilliant Fortune Building and two life-or-death battles, John had not only undergone two major mutations and evolved significantly but also his mental state and survival attitude had drastically transformed.

Who would live and who would serve as the other’s blood source was still uncertain.

Although the battle was intense, it only lasted for about twenty minutes before a victor was decided, and life or death was determined.

John was floating face-down in the water, looking like a dead body, but in fact, he was the one who survived.

The waters of the pond slowly cleared up, only the shattered remnants of John’s clothing were left floating, and the small porcelain knife sank to the bottom.

Mr. Liang did not hoist John out of the water. He stood outside, quietly watching and waiting.

Nearly ten hours later, with John still maintaining the pose of lying flat on the water, Mr. Liang finally lost patience. He drained the water from the pool, then raised the bottom of the pool to be level with the door.

After opening the door, Mr. Liang walked in and stood before the lying John, speaking in his characteristic husky and deep voice:

“You’ve been awake for seven hours, what are you playing dead for?”

John’s body trembled slightly, he slowly crawled up, kneeling on the floor, and opened his eyes, looking pitifully at Mr. Liang.

“I feel awful…Sir, save me…”

He stretched out his hand towards Mr. Liang.

As his hand touched Mr. Liang’s leg, he suddenly noticed a change – his skin became dry and cracked, erupting with green scales, and his fingers turned black and elongated, reaching up to wrap around Mr. Liang’s leg.

At the same time, John’s mouth split open, the back of his head bent back as if it were being peeled off, and a chrysanthemum-shaped organ in his mouth shot out black liquid at Mr. Liang.

Mr. Liang was wrapped by John’s extended fingers and couldn’t dodge in time, so he raised his hand to shield his face.

The liquid appeared to be highly corrosive, smoke arose as soon as it touched Mr. Liang’s body.

Mr. Liang’s right palm suddenly became extremely sharp. He swung downward with his right hand, cleanly severing John’s hand wrapping around his leg, and as he moved towards the door, he shook off the finger-like dried roots from his leg, and at the same time, he entered Invisibility Status.

Although John was in a kneeling position, after peeling back his head and closing his mouth, he launched himself towards the door after Mr. Liang—he had apparently prepared for this all along.

Stepping out of the door, John stood up, and as he did so, a thin tail covered with the same scales as on his body snaked out from his tailbone, the edge of which ended in a sharp spike.

By appearances alone, John now looked even more “alien” and inhuman than Mr. Liang.

His tail lashed out in a particular direction, and his mouth shot out large amounts of black liquid, aiming to block any potential escape routes.

Unexpectedly, his tail didn’t hit anything, rather it struck against the metal wall, creating a sharp clanging sound. He had broken the tip of his tail…

“How could this be!” John was taken aback. Ignoring the pain in his tail, his eyes darted around instinctively. He had tried to ambush Mr. Liang by spraying him with the corroding venom to break his “invisibility”. However, he couldn’t find Mr. Liang in the place he predicted he would be!

He suddenly noticed many grape-sized miniature flying machines floating around him.

With a sudden realization, John understood that his misjudgment was due to these flying machines.

Mr. Liang reappeared not far away, his face expressionless as he looked at John, “It seems like you can sense the location of targets through heat now.”

Just now, he had used several miniature drones to simulate multi-sensory data of himself. The first thing John locked onto was heat simulation – even considering the data from the corroding venom.

John stared at Mr. Liang’s unharmed and intricate-patterned skin, gritting his teeth, “You’re unhurt….”

Mr. Liang shook his head, “Anti-corrosion is one of the primary features of this layer of skin I have. You’re too impatient. The three progressive transformations, you haven’t completed the pure fusion process. Instead, you have merely expressed their characteristics through superficial organs. The actual functionality is much weaker than their originals. This won’t do.”

“This is unacceptable? Dare you to come out of your invisibility, not hide away, dare to have a transparent fight with me, for life and death?” John roared. His head was devoid of hair, replaced by elongated, golden needle mushroom-like tendrils that sprawled backward, growing from the crown of his head to the tips of the spinal column.

“You can’t,” Mr. Liang shook his head again, “You can wait a bit longer. After undergoing another progressive transformation, perhaps you’ll stand a better chance.”

John broke out into a grin. Like Mr. Liang, corners of his mouth could widen all the way past his earlobes, “It’s because I haven’t met your requirements for the ‘Blood Source,’ right?! Once I go through the next progressive transformation and meet the ‘Blood Source’ requirements, you’ll directly ‘consume’ me in my sleep! There won’t be a single chance left!”

“My only chance is now!” John finished his sentence and dashed straight towards Mr. Liang.

He was prepared for Mr. Liang to dodge quickly, or go invisible, and had also thought up a series of follow-up attacks. But, unexpectedly, he stood right in front of Mr. Liang. His re-grown, stinger tail pierced Mr. Liang’s heart, lifting him into the air. The whole time, Mr. Liang didn’t react, he didn’t dodge or even change his expression.

John, whose strike hit home looked at Mr. Liang who was lifted more than thirty centimeters off the ground on his tail, didn’t feel happy at all, rather, his nervousness multiplied.

The Mr. Liang who was pierced through the heart area looked down at John, his voice gruff like scraping metal, “Do you think you stand a chance now?”

John did not dare to respond to Mr. Liang’s words. He only moved slightly, his half-naked upper body “split open” from the navel, forming a grotesque mouth. Multiple tendrils were ready to shoot out from inside. Clearly, his plan was to throw everything he had at Mr. Liang without a second thought.

However, before the tendrils in his large mouth could shoot out, John suddenly noticed that the previously inconspicuous miniature drones suspended in the surrounding corners quickly flew over. One by one, they attached themselves to him, like lice, sticking out their metal components, hooking onto his fresh and blood. His skin, now covered in scales, couldn’t resist.

John was taken aback. Before he could react, the dozen or so miniature drones attached to his body suddenly began to heat.

The next moment, a dozen drones connected in pairs and simultaneously fired laser beams, then began a rapid rotation.

The irregularly rotating laser beams connected inside John’s body. Instantly, his body exploded into fragments, turning into a cloud of blood mist.

The dozen miniature drones didn’t last more than a few spins. They exploded under the high heat, causing another explosion.

In the blink of an eye, all that was left of John was half of the tail lodged in Mr. Liang’s left chest, and the two legs standing on the ground. Everything else was shattered.

Slowly pulling out half of the lodged tail, Mr. Liang’s left chest showed a gaping hole where an organ throbbed within. Clearly, his heart wasn’t there.

He walked forward a couple of steps, “bathing” in the blood mist created by John’s disintegrated body.

Minutes later, other than some shreds of clothing scattered around, there were no traces of John left in the underground space. Mr. Liang opened a container resembling a hibernation pod, extending from the metal wall, and lay inside.

John got one thing wrong, he had already met Mr. Liang’s requirements for the “Blood Source”. Regardless, Mr. Liang did indeed want to see if he could advance further and undergo progressive transformation.

It’s a pity that John felt that now was the best opportunity. He believed that he had the ability to counter-kill.

At this moment, nearly a thousand kilometers away, in Chongyun Village, Xiang Kun watched the entire process of John consuming the “mutant” in the water up till his final showdown with Mr. Liang and subsequent death in the “Super Sensory State”.

Alice recorded the corresponding video footage through the secret underground space cameras in the Brilliant Fortune Building. However, excluding those inside a few enclosed spaces, the main hall did not have cameras that could keep a constant viewpoint. Only when Mr. Liang used some of the devices on the console did the corresponding recording devices extend out, and even then, the shooting angle was very limited.

Fortunately, the underground space’s ventilation ducts were filled with a multitude of “Super-connected Objects”. Even though Alice couldn’t control the recording equipment, she could simulate and repurpose the Super Sensory Information.

Xiang Kun opened his eyes, exited the “Super Sensory State”, and prepared to sense Mr. Liang’s dream through the rabbit wood carving.

In fact, for Xiang Kun, the present Mr. Liang virtually had no defenses.

If Xiang Kun wished to, he could travel to Peng City right now, enter the secret underground space in Peng City. Getting into the area where Alice had complete control over Tyre, was unhindered.

However, for Xiang Kun, there was no need to deal with Mr. Liang right now. In some ways, Mr. Liang could be considered his potential ally.

Taking this opportunity to sense Mr. Liang’s dream and clarify certain things, to understand his thoughts, is a better choice, a golden opportunity. Previously, Mr. Liang seemed never to have gone into a blood-drinking slumber. Therefore, he was never able to sense his dream.

Minutes later, Xiang Kun successfully induced Mr. Liang’s dream through the rabbit wood carving, receiving a stream of sensory information.

He saw a vision of Mr. Liang’s childhood, playing with a vibrant young man – Lu Cheng’an, and an attractive, intellectual young woman. He sensed joy, and a touch of bitter-sweetness, nostalgia;

He saw Mr. Liang lying in bed, unable to move, only able to watch the outside sky through the room window. He sensed despair, helplessness, remembrance, and a hint of anger and discontent;

He saw Mr. Liang lying on the hospital bed, studying through recorded video courses. Though there was irritation and anxiousness in his emotions, he managed to suppress them through patience;

He saw Mr. Liang feeling the approach of death, his mood became calm, followed by a strong scent of blood and an intense sensation of hunger;

He saw Academician Shen, saw a humble, spacious, though meticulously organized laboratory, Mr. Liang’s emotions were excited and high-spirited;

He saw a beautiful girl, about twenty years old with shoulder-length hair, setting off a tranquil sense. He felt the surge of emotions from the blooming of Mr. Liang’s first love;

He saw Mr. Liang hearing a noise, pushing the lab door open, only to encounter Academician Shen’s dead body being held by that beautiful girl. Her brutal, sadistic, and blood-red eyes were gazing right at him.