"The annoying morning sun." Perra stood on the streets of the capital city Othrie, squinting her eyes against the piercing sunlight.

The streets of the capital were in a state of disarray, and one could imagine the chaos that must have unfolded in this area during the night. Perra kicked an empty can forward, the hollow echo serving as a stark reminder of the once bustling thoroughfare.

Perra possessed strong perceptiveness, able to discern between humans and ghosts even from five or six blocks away. But in her eyes, there was only one prevailing emotion—panic.

Human panic stemmed from war and vampires, while the fear of vampires came from the light of the sun. Vampires with black eyes dreaded sunlight, and it was these vampires gradually losing their sanity that lurked in the shadows of the streets.

Perra realized that the new generation of vampires had plunged deep into the frenzy of blood, a sight that could almost be considered the heyday of vampires.

"While most people are in hiding, there are still folks daring enough to run on the streets."

Nearby, Perra spotted two girls running hand in hand around the corner, their faces fraught with worry as they glanced back, afraid of being discovered by someone behind them.

Perra already knew what was following them.

2

"Damn, a demon king suddenly appeared and sent Ziliesong running to the Chen family's estate." Ye Kai, replenished with fresh blood, restored his body's integrity and strength.

On the central street of the capital city, there was an ancient clock tower where seven green-eyed vampires sat at the top floor, listening to the mechanical "tick-tock" sound, diligently affixing names to individuals who were bound and kneeling before them.

"These people..." Ye Kai, filled with anger, returned to the base, only to be taken aback by the scene before him.

"We've already found out, so we temporarily changed plans to bring back all surviving members of the royal family, trading one life for one family. The Emperor is very conscientious."

The speaker was writing names one by one, with the name just written being Zilieyang.

She was a female vampire, exuding an air of intellect with her glasses and smart attire, but her face still bore the youthful innocence of a high school student; she needed time to mature that aura.

"Long Sibei, why didn't you inform me about the change in plans?"

"Weren't you dismembered? We didn't want to disturb your bone-setting, and even with the seven of us, we might not be able to beat the demon king, so we had to hold our ground."

"Regardless of your reasons, you must inform me next time!"

Ye Kai strolled over to a wooden coffin, pushed off the lid, and inside lay another green-eyed vampire, mummified with bandages covered in spellwriting.

"Xiaoyu, is it so difficult to join us? Initially, she took you and Zhao Yuansong away, leaving us to play off between The Human Realm and vampire hunters. Without the experience, how could the seven of us easily take down you two caged dogs." Ye Kai lamented that Xiaoyu, one of their own, didn't desire freedom.

"Excluding those who have died, we are still missing two people." Long Sibei, after affixing name tags to all the hostages brought back, double-checked the identities and found that two were still unaccounted for.

Glancing over the list of names, Ye Kai remarked, "Zi Sirou, Zi Li? Zi Sirou is the head of the journalism department at The Chishin Academy's high school division, and the other is..."

"Wuwuwu~~~" Zilieyang, bound by Magic and supposed to be clueless with sensory deprivation, felt strangely uneasy at the mention of Zi Sirou.

"Purple Rain, as the second princess of the Empire, the only one of the three daughters of Zili Song left in the Empire, if we capture her, Zili Song will be even more powerless! Do you know where she is?"

Long Sibei pointed towards the west of the city, "She was rescued by Situ Liyao before."

"Situ? Your daughter..."

Ye Kai glanced at another figure in black robes in another direction of the bell tower, who was recklessly sucking the blood of the person in their hand.

"Hmph, that unfilial daughter." The figure in black robes released the person in their hand, turning around to reveal their blue eyes.

"Teaching the daughter is still up to you, this father, but what we want is Purple Rain!"

Duke Situ wiped the bloodstains from the corner of his mouth with his thumb and left the bell tower.

"He still thinks he's one of the four dukes of the Empire! Hmph, with his style, once Zili Song finds someone to replace the Situ family, he will inevitably settle all sorts of grievances with him."

"Why bother about his pride? We might as well think of a backup plan; there's no turning back for us now."

"Second princess..."

"I can't run anymore..."

Situ Liyao and Purple Rain took refuge in an alley filled with garbage.

"It stinks!" Purple Rain covered her nose, choking on the smell of garbage.

"This place smells bad, but it's not easily discovered."

"But vampires have strong senses."

Situ Liyao tried to push open the door behind them but it wouldn't budge.

"Let's go in, we have no choice." Situ Liyao led Purple Rain inside, it was the back kitchen of a restaurant.

"At least we won't starve here."

"There's water here." Situ Liyao opened a cabinet and found some drinks.

The two girls rested in the kitchen for a while, recalling the events of the previous night. Purple Rain thanked Situ Liyao.

"Thank you for last night."

Purple Rain was wearing the work clothes of the store; as the lingerie shop closed last night, she was attacked as soon as she left the store, and Situ Liyao happened to be the last customer of the lingerie shop.

"It's nothing..." Situ Liyao closed her eyes; now all she could see were the vampires, no matter how many times she was killed, she could come back to life. For them, without knowing how to kill them, they could only tire themselves out fleeing.

"Why hasn't the guards responded yet?" Purple Rain's distress signal had been sent out for five hours, and still no one had come to rescue her. Based on past experience, it was impossible for the royal guards to leave her in danger.

"Duke Situ's mansion also hasn't responded; it's already light out. I think the vampires shouldn't be too rampant." The two girls leaned shoulder to shoulder in the corner of the kitchen. Purple Rain was inherently impulsive, but at this moment, she had no strength to act impulsively, not even the courage to break out of this kitchen.

Purple Rain and Situ Liyao were not familiar with each other before; occasionally, they would meet at royal banquets, but on this night, the two girls became the best of comrades.

"Thump!" A slight noise came from outside the door, which terrified them.

"My father mentioned in an ancient manuscript that sunrise only weakens the movement of vampires, and even high-level vampires can still move freely under sunlight."

"Hush~" Situ Liyao gestured for Purple Rain to be silent, listening intently in the quiet environment.

After the recent noise subsided, seeming to return to calm, perhaps it was just the wind playing tricks, but Situ Liyao was not at all reassured.

"We can't stay here too long; once we've rested, we leave immediately."

"Liyao, dealing with vampires requires a vampire hunter."

"Chen family... we..."

"You can't leave anywhere!" Suddenly, a familiar voice broke in and grabbed the necks of two girls.

"Fa... Father..." Situ Liyao couldn't believe her eyes, seeing her father transform into such a figure - blue eyes, long pointed teeth, bloodstains around his mouth.

Suddenly, Duke Situ released them.

*Cough cough~*

"Liyao, hand over Zili to me, then the adults will let you go." Duke Situ wanted his daughter to bring Zili back herself, so he could plead for her.

"Adults? Who? Vampires? Father, you can't turn back now!"

"Turn back? If you didn't expose the arms trafficking, our Situ family wouldn't have come to this, attempting regicide, betraying the nation, colluding with the divine and vampires. Zilie Song will soon not tolerate us; seizing the initiative is our only way out."

"But you sold your soul to the vampires. Is it really necessary? I won't... listen to you." Situ Liyao turned away and stood in front of Zili.

"With this immortal body, child... more can be had. You're indeed not as good as your brother."

With words pushed to this point, the instantaneous moment between father and daughter felt like their connection had been severed.

Duke Situ struck out, throwing Situ Liyao two meters away and seizing Zili.

"Your brother's death is also your doing."

Situ Liyao collided heavily, igniting with divine fire! In an instant, Duke Situ's body was engulfed in flames, sending him flying out of the kitchen.

"Ah..." Duke Situ's body was corroded by the divine fire, but after a short while, the corroding force of the divine fire was neutralized by Duke Situ's magic.

"You indeed fall short of the divine fire you yield; if it were a yellow-eyed vampire, you would have no chance."

Situ Liyao suddenly soared and was heavily struck down in a pile of garbage, coughing up blood.

"The Situ family has no place for you anymore; perish in the garbage heap, as the Zis are soon to decline, and the empire will no longer bear the name Zis." Duke Situ hefted Zili once more, luring out Zilie Song who was hunkering down like a scared turtle. The fate of the Situ family's life or death rested on this gamble.

Duke Situ made his way to the street, only to be blocked by a woman.

"We are of the same kind; do not stand in the way." Duke Situ paid no attention to this woman blocking his path, sensing she was a vampire.

"Release her."

"Oh? Trying to take credit? Ridiculous, unexpectedly..." Duke Situ's words were caught in his throat, as if an invisible force was suppressing his vocal cords, making it hard for him to speak, the weight on him feeling as heavy as carrying ten Zilis.

"You don't even recognize me, what right do you have to be a blue-eyed vampire."

The woman before Duke Situ had crimson eyes, and in Perra's eyes, he felt his own insignificance!

"Queen..."

"Confronting me? How bold." In the span of a single sentence, Zili was already in Perra's hands, with Duke Situ not even seeing her move.

"What... do... you... want..."

Perra's intimidation forced Duke Situ to his knees; under this state, Duke Situ felt an unprecedented scorching sensation under the sun, as if he was melting, his pores oozing blood, not his own blood but the blood he had consumed.

"Who turned you into a vampire? Take me to see them, whoever they may be... Do you want to resist? Even though I'm not your superior and I don't have the direct ability to punish you, making you completely disappear is not impossible." The direct punishment ability of a vampire comes from a drop of blood given to lower-level vampires, and only the master can control this drop of blood, causing them to suffer endlessly without dying.