The misty morning fog filled the quiet valley, and the distant dawn bloomed on the mountain peak, like a brilliant light piercing through the darkness of the night. The gentle breeze blew, dispersing the thin mist on the treetops. The birds in the forest began to sing loudly, as if celebrating the arrival of dawn.
"What's strange about this village?" Iris murmured as she looked at the village in the distance.
She sensed through Consciousness Space that Baixi had stayed briefly in this village before heading east towards Nanchang.
Iris furrowed her brow and carefully observed this seemingly calm village.
She felt a strange atmosphere in the air, and the faces of the villagers seemed unnaturally gloomy. Something must have happened here, was it because of Baixi?
Quietly, Iris passed through the village entrance and glanced around. The village was silent, not even a chicken or a dog could be seen. The courtyard gates were tightly closed, and the windows were pitch black, with no signs of any activity except for the sound of the wind.
The terrifyingly quiet atmosphere made Iris wonder, what could Baixi have encountered? She quickened her pace and hurried towards the central square of the village, hoping to find someone to inquire about the details.
Just then, a piercing cawing sound suddenly erupted in the square, disturbing Iris' concentration.
A large flock of crows took off from the square, continuously cawing on the palm trees as if giving a warning.
Gradually, the air became filled with a rusty, metallic, and bloody smell.
As a vampire, Iris was extremely sensitive to the scent of blood. As soon as she stepped into the village, she detected the strong, sweet, and bloody scent in the air, indicating that something recent had happened.
Using her heightened sense of blood, she determined that the smell of blood was coming from the inn in the east.
Silently, she approached the front of the inn and peered inside through a gap.
The room was in complete disarray, with splatters of blood on the walls and floor. In the middle stood a huge blood basin, filled with fresh human blood.
More than a dozen young girls were tightly bound with rough ropes, kneeling in a circle around the large blood basin. Their faces had been skinned alive, dripping with blood and writhing in unbearable pain. They whimpered in agony but couldn't make a sound because their mouths were gagged.
"Someone has the audacity to do such cruel things in broad daylight, truly bold and reckless." Iris sighed expressionlessly, giving an insight into the state of security in Nanchang.
Iris was the vampire queen, the ruler of a nation. She didn't care about the suffering or lives of these skinned girls. They were neither her servants nor her subjects.
She was just passing through and happened to see this inhumane scene, making her feel a sense of sorrow.
Just as Iris was about to leave, a freckled old woman in a yellowish-brown dress suddenly appeared behind her.
She was short and fat, wearing loose and baggy clothes, looking like a typical rural woman.
Her dry, curly hair had a touch of yellow, and a greasy smell emanated from her body, which was quite nauseating.
Iris, with her heightened sensitivity to blood, could sense the bloody smell coming from the old woman. Even with perfume covering it up, it couldn't fool her senses.
Since the woman was out to harm her, Iris decided to strike first.
In the next moment, a black flame suddenly ignited in Iris' palm, emitting a sizzling sound.
The flames flickered and jumped, filled with ominous and deathly omens. They churned and flowed in Iris's palm as if they had a life of their own, but they didn't burn her skin at all, completely under her control.
With a slight upward motion of her hand, the flames soared higher, emitting faint bursts of explosions, like the whispers of death.
"It's a mage!" The old woman's heart trembled in astonishment. This girl defied logic by immediately launching a magical attack without a word.
The old woman's face turned pale, wanting to retreat, but it was already too late.
Iris pushed her palm forward abruptly, and the black flames surged forward like a tide, engulfing the old woman in the blink of an eye.
The old woman managed to escape from the black flames at the cost of two healing insects and a speed-boosting insect, but parts of her body had been burned into ashes, revealing eerie white bones.
She had no clothes covering her body, looking completely pitch black, as if she had just escaped from a coal mine. She was even blacker than the coal mine by a few degrees.
The black flames continued to devour the old woman's organs. This was the power of the black flames, the ability of the Chaos, the Demon Emperor. It was impossible for it to be extinguished so easily.
"Damn it! What kind of fire is this! In just a few seconds, it has sunburned me like this! The extinguishing insect has no effect, and my organs are being burned by the flames. It hurts!" The old woman kept roaring, like a madwoman.
She looked at Iris with fierce eyes, wishing to tear her apart.
Her rational mind told her to escape.
But escaping was futile; the black flames corroding her body would still burn her to death.
The only chance of survival was to fight with all her might!
In just a few seconds, the old woman thought of all this!
Her brain was running wildly, constantly pondering a strategy to deal with it.
She was about to activate the poison insects to control Iris when she heard a "bang" sound.
A depleted uranium bullet from Iris's divine gun hit the old woman's forehead accurately. Before the old woman could react, the bullet pierced through her skull, cleanly ending her life.
A hole the size of a sieve was blown in the old woman's head by the bullet. Skull fragments mixed with brain matter sprayed outwards, creating a messy scene of flesh and blood.
She stared wide-eyed with a lost look in her eyes, as if she couldn't believe she had met her end like this. The old woman fell straight back, ultimately unable to resist the call of the Grim Reaper.
Iris put away her still-smoking divine gun, coldly watching the old woman's grotesque corpse. She disdainfully snorted. She turned her sleeves and left, allowing the blood to gather into a puddle in the dust. With her strength, killing a mere human was as easy as flipping her hand. This old wretch had brought about her own death, and she had no one else to blame.
At the same time, Qizhou's words echoed in Iris's mind.
At first, Iris was reluctant to use the divine gun. She had the black flames and the White Flame, and Chaos could assist her. She had no need for the divine gun.
But Qizhou said something that left a deep impression on Iris: "Attack when unexpected, catch the enemy off guard. Battle is about life and death, not just scratching the surface. Even someone as powerful as Your Majesty could be killed by insignificant individuals, so this divine gun is a necessary weapon for killing enemies. You must protect it to prevent any mishaps."
This statement made Iris ponder.
Now, it seemed that Iris had taken Qizhou's advice and tasted the benefits.
Following that, Iris spread her wings and flew eastward along the trajectory of Baixi towards the eastern part of South Frontier.
...
Several dozen girls trapped in an inn were rescued by a person named Pharmacist. With her hands clasped together and incantations on her lips, a faint green light emitted from her palms and slowly enveloped the faceless girls. Their facial muscles and skin started growing rapidly, gradually covering the previously barren areas. In no time, their faces were completely restored, their appearances unchanged and flawlessly intact.
After completing everything, she approached the corpse of the old woman and brought her back to life. The resurrected old woman stood motionless in place like a lifeless puppet.
Her eyes lacked vitality, resembling that of a zombie. The old woman's earthly desires began to take hold...
