Chaotic City

This was Great Berlin City-State!

Yin Xuege raised his head to the sky. The sliver of fish-belly white in the east had yet to illuminate this patch of heaven; darkness still shrouded everything, with only countless pillars of light of all sizes sweeping and wavering wildly across the sky. The city-state was steeped in a murky, foul haze, and dense clouds blanketed the sky above the city as well.

Carried on the night wind were all manner of strange sounds, including no shortage of dull metallic clashes and peculiar "bang bang" booms. Beyond the alley, shrill whistles rang out incessantly on the main street. At least several hundred people were sprinting through the streets, rushing past before swiftly disappearing into the distance.

Yin Xuege's ears twitched slightly. He heard the running crowd split into two groups: one fleeing, the other giving chase. From time to time came the heavy sound of clubs striking flesh, mixed with the crack of breaking bones.

After years of grueling training in the Yin Clan Children's Hall, Yin Xuege had had his own bones broken by countless people, and he had broken countless others' bones as well. Therefore, merely by listening to the fractures, he could clearly tell which bones had been broken!

They really struck without mercy, not holding back in the slightest! Yin Xuege had heard at least a dozen neck bones snap and more than twenty skulls crack.

Instinctively wary of the chaotic street outside, Yin Xuege thought of the beast he had seen beyond the city walls, left without even a corpse. Great Berlin City-State's humans possessed certain powerful weapons that even the Blood Demon Clan deeply feared. Yin Xuege had no interest in testing the power of those weapons.

After walking several steps deeper into the alley, they found a faucet installed by the back entrance of a tall building. Yin Xuege and the two Yin Clan Warriors twisted open the locked tap and washed themselves with clean water, finally rinsing away the foul stench clinging to them without a trace.

Treading over the pothole-ridden road, Yin Xuege's group headed deeper into the alley. Dawn was about to break. Neither Yin Xuege nor the two Yin Clan Warriors could expose themselves to sunlight. Before daylight arrived, they had to reach the Yin Clan's secret stronghold and hide.

At the end of the alley, a high wall blocked their path. A dim lamp flickered nearby. This was the rear entrance of a small tavern, with several trash bins piled haphazardly beside it. Beneath the yellowed light, a large man was curled up on the ground while several equally burly men wielding clubs beat him savagely.

The man had already been beaten beyond human recognition. Metal clubs struck his body, producing dull, strange sounds. Without even examining him, Yin Xuege could tell from those sounds that at least half the man's bones had been shattered. In the corner beside them, a voluptuous red-haired woman was tangled up with a dark-skinned brute. The sounds of flesh colliding and the woman's moans made Yin Xuege's heartbeat suddenly quicken severalfold.

The men beating the victim stopped. Gripping their clubs, they turned to look at Yin Xuege and his companions.

A gaunt young man squatted atop a trash bin, drinking deeply from a bottle in his left hand. When he saw Yin Xuege's youthful face, he immediately broke into a strange grin. "Hey, hey, a little rookie's shown up! Kid, have you been weaned yet? This isn't a place you should be!"

A strange force surged from between the young man's brows. A faint energy fluctuation in the surrounding air rapidly gathered toward his right hand. A flame half a foot high burst from his palm, and the temperature around them immediately rose.

His hand turned lightly, the crimson flame flickering and stretching above his palm. Squinting at Yin Xuege, the young man gently shook his head. "This isn't a place for little darlings pampered by their mothers. What are you people here for?"

The club-wielding brutes cautiously retreated half a step. They stared warily at the two warriors behind Yin Xuege, not daring to relax in the slightest. This was a chaotic age, a disorderly age where human lives were cheaper than grass. A strong life might not even be worth half a loaf of bread. Everyone was a danger, even a frail-looking youth like Yin Xuege.

Only the dark-skinned brute continued ramming wildly into the woman pinned against the wall by him, and their panting grew louder and louder.

One Yin Clan Warrior stepped forward. Without saying a word, he pulled out a black metal badge the size of half a palm and gave it a shake. Yin Xuege's sharp eyes saw that the shield-shaped badge bore a crudely fashioned axe crossed with a two-handed greatsword, forming a murderous emblem.

"We have some good goods." The Yin Clan Warrior's words were brief and simple.

The young man clenched his fist, compressing the flame into it until it became a fireball radiating a powerful, dangerous aura. He glanced at the badge and slowly nodded. "Mm, Blood Axe Mercenaries. But who's this kid?"

"One of us!" Before the Yin Clan Warrior could answer, the tavern's back door—made from a half-foot-thick alloy plate—silently opened. A middle-aged man with a shriveled, yellowish face, nearly two meters tall and as thin as a bamboo pole, poked his head out. Squeezing out a smile, he beckoned Yin Xuege over. "One of us! Hurry inside. I knew you were coming and already prepared comfortable bedrooms!"

The flame in the young man's palm scattered into countless tiny sparks. He raised the bottle and drained the last of the strong liquor in one gulp. Then he shrugged and muttered under his breath, "Aha, one of us again! Dear boss, your connections are getting wider and wider. You need to raise our pay!"

The Yin Clan Warrior behind Yin Xuege gently pushed his shoulder, and Yin Xuege strode toward the tavern's back door.

As he passed the man whose bones had mostly been broken, Yin Xuege frowned and lightly nudged the man's broken neck with the tip of his shoe. "What did he do? Why beat him into this state?"

The young man said nothing. The bamboo-pole-like middle-aged man chuckled softly, vigorously wiping his face with a red handkerchief. His voice became somewhat muffled. "Nothing major. He drank a cup of wine but couldn't pay for it, so naturally he had to be taught a proper lesson! It's not easy getting alcohol these days. If everyone came to eat and drink for free, how could we keep the business going?"

Beaten like this over a cup of wine? Yin Xuege neither approved nor disapproved as he looked toward the fair-skinned woman tangled up with the dark brute. "What about her? Did she drink a cup of wine too?"

"No!" The young man who could control flames lazily shook his head. "For a piece of bread, she willingly lets my brothers have some fun with her! My brothers have their needs, and she has hers. It's a very fair and reasonable arrangement!"

Yin Xuege was briefly stunned. The education he had received in the Children's Hall allowed him to accept such things immediately. He nodded and smiled faintly. "That's right. It's a very fair and reasonable arrangement! It's just a bit of a waste!"

"A bit of a waste"!

The young man and the burly enforcers showed no reaction to Yin Xuege's sigh, but the bamboo-pole-like middle-aged man immediately broke out in sweat. The red handkerchief in his hand moved even more busily, and soon more than half of it was soaked. He bowed ingratiatingly to Yin Xuege, grabbed his wrist, and led him through the back door into a long, dimly lit corridor.

Both sides of the corridor, which was only wide enough for two people to walk abreast, were packed with tiny rooms. Women's screams and men's panting constantly drifted out from within. A reek of bodily fluids rushed into Yin Xuege's face, nearly making the keen-nosed Yin Xuege faint from the stench.

After passing through the dozens-of-meters-long corridor and climbing a steep spiral staircase for around ten meters, the middle-aged man pushed open a small door. A piercing wave of sound that seemed capable of exploding one's head crashed over them. Thick smoke, pungent alcohol, and flashing, blinding colored lights made Yin Xuege, who had grown accustomed to the gloomy, profound atmosphere of Yin Clan City-State, shudder all over.

The two Yin Clan Warriors, however, wore expressions of utmost enjoyment. They chuckled softly and inhaled deeply through their noses.

"Young Master Xuege, this is a human city-state! Fallen humans, rotten lives!" one Yin Clan Warrior said eagerly. "As long as you possess strength, you can enjoy everything here! We like this scent!"

Frowning, Yin Xuege stepped through the small door.

Before him lay a packed tavern. Countless men and women were squeezed together, rubbing against one another in suggestive poses, piled into heaps. In the middle of the tavern stood a huge metal birdcage. Inside, more than a dozen nearly naked women writhed their bodies wildly, drawing hysterical howls from the men and women nearby.

A seductive, fair-skinned man wearing only a strip of cloth over his lower body twisted his body and bellowed a song in the birdcage—something Yin Xuege did not consider music in any sense of the word.

From the men and women in those birdcages, Yin Xuege smelled a familiar scent. Their vital blood-energy was far weaker than that of ordinary people, like those who had suffered from grave illness for years, weaker than normal people by several times over. Yet their blood-energy was weak because their blood had been drained. These people were Blood Slaves!

They carried the distinctive scent of Blood Slaves, yet there was not the slightest aura of any Blood Demon on them.

A glint of blood flashed through Yin Xuege's eyes. According to what the Children's Hall had taught, these people were fallen humans. They yearned for darkness, for eternal life, for an endless lifespan of everlasting youth. Thus, they willingly became the Yin Clan's claws and fangs, selling their souls to serve the Yin Clan in hopes that one day they could receive the Yin Clan members' Embrace and be transformed into Blood Demon Physiques!

Every month, these people drew large amounts of blood from themselves to offer to Yin Clan members. To them, the Blood Demons who remained youthful forever and never died were the gods in their hearts!

His gaze shifted as Yin Xuege glanced at the bamboo-pole man beside him. The man was around two meters tall, and judging from his skeletal structure, he should originally have been a hulking brute. Yet now he was little more than skin and bones, no different from a bamboo pole. It seemed he had become a fallen human at least ten years ago!

Yin Xuege was rather interested in the flame-controlling young man outside the back door. His blood-energy was abundant, so he was clearly not a fallen human. If a person capable of controlling natural elements could become Yin Xuege's Blood Servant, or even be transformed into a Blood Demon Physique, he would make quite a formidable fighting force for Yin Xuege.

Yin Xuege currently had thirty-nine drops of Blood Demon Essence Blood in his heart. He only needed to spend one drop of essence blood to transform that young man into the weakest Juvenile. If Yin Xuege were generous enough to grant him more than ten drops of essence blood, he could directly transform him into a Star Warrior!

"Honored sir, I am your devout servant, Old Jack. For the great Yin Clan, I am willing to sacrifice everything!" Just as Yin Xuege was considering the young man, Old Jack had led him into a room decorated lavishly but with unbearable vulgarity, then knelt respectfully before him.

"I am willing to offer you my soul. I am willing to offer you everything! Do you have any orders for me? At any cost, I will carry out your commands!" Old Jack knelt on the ground, looking at Yin Xuege with fanatical eyes.

The heavy metal door shut all the tavern's noise outside. Yin Xuege did not answer Old Jack's question. Instead, he looked around, carefully studying this spacious, luxurious, vulgar room without a single window.

A Yin Clan Warrior leaned close to Yin Xuege's ear and introduced Old Jack's circumstances.

Just as Yin Xuege had guessed, Old Jack was an experienced fallen human! Thirty years ago, this madman had offered everything he possessed to the Yin Clan. Old Jack's tavern was the most reliable, safest, and longest-standing of the Yin Clan's hundreds of strongholds in Great Berlin City-State.

According to the Yin Clan's rules for scouts entering Great Berlin City-State, they chose a different stronghold every time they entered, and their assigned strongholds were entirely random each time. This greatly ensured their safety.

"Old Jack, I can sense your loyalty." Yin Xuege looked thoughtfully at Old Jack.

What the Yin Clan Warrior had just explained to Yin Xuege was not something Juveniles of the Children's Hall were supposed to encounter. Such knowledge was meant to be formally learned under the guidance of veteran warriors only after Juveniles became Lineage warriors and joined the External Affairs Hall to begin carrying out various missions.

This time, Yin Xuege had suddenly drawn the mission of infiltrating Great Berlin City-State for reconnaissance—an unprecedented occurrence in the history of the Children's Hall. The two Yin Clan Warriors dutifully reminded Yin Xuege of things at every moment, allowing him to understand as much as possible.

After digesting what he had just heard, Yin Xuege walked toward a sofa in the corner.

Old Jack fawned shamelessly, crawling along the ground on his knees behind Yin Xuege. His body trembled slightly as he asked in overwhelming excitement and great caution, "Then, honored sir, is there anything I can do for you? Do you have any requests? Do you like young, beautiful girls? Or young, strong boys?"

Rubbing his hands vigorously, Old Jack looked at Yin Xuege with eager anticipation.

The two Yin Clan Warriors held their heads high with arrogance, looking down at Old Jack from above. They were merely the lowest-ranking Yin Clan Warriors, but they were Yin Clan members, born with Blood Demon Physiques! Toward these fallen humans who had attached themselves to the Yin Clan and dreamed of becoming Blood Demons, these pure-blooded Yin Clan Warriors naturally had every right to regard them as pigs and dogs.

"What is our mission?" Yin Xuege ignored the fawning Old Jack and asked the Yin Clan Warrior beside him.

"Remain in Great Berlin City-State for three days and bring back all recent intelligence on Great Berlin City-State gathered by our eyes and ears," one Yin Clan Warrior said gravely. "Old Jack, as before, gather all information as quickly as possible."

Old Jack looked at Yin Xuege somewhat sorrowfully. From the first moment he saw him, he knew that this youthful boy had to be an important figure within the Yin Clan. His bearing, his aura—those low-ranking Yin Clan Warriors could not compare to him. Moreover, anyone with eyes could see at a glance that among the three of them, Yin Xuege was clearly the one held in highest regard!

With such an important figure arriving on his turf, Old Jack had originally thought this was a fine chance to curry favor. Yet Yin Xuege had not given him any opportunity to flatter him, leaving Old Jack truly disappointed!

Hearing the Yin Clan Warrior's order, Old Jack rallied his spirits and earnestly agreed.

"Honored sir, please rest assured. Quite a few major events have occurred recently in Great Berlin City-State. There are some things I believe you noble lords would be very interested in knowing." Old Jack sprang to his feet, then bowed deeply to Yin Xuege. "Please rest assured. Everything you need, loyal Old Jack will prepare properly for you!"

Yin Xuege nodded lightly. Just as he was about to offer Old Jack a few reassuring words, the room suddenly shook violently. The one-foot-thick alloy door of Old Jack's room flew inward with a BOOM. Blinding firelight and rolling heat surged in. Yin Xuege, the two Yin Clan Warriors, and Old Jack were all thrown up by the blast and slammed heavily into the wall behind them.

Several fully armed, hulking men charged into the room with agile movements. One man holding a powerful repeating crossbow shouted sharply, "Robbery! Damn Old Jack, you damn vampire, robbery!"

Yin Xuege curled up miserably on the ground. The explosion's blast had sent him flying, and his shoulder struck the wall. Damn Old Jack had hung a rhinoceros head specimen on that wall as decoration. Its sharp horn pierced Yin Xuege's shoulder, nearly stabbing through his heart.

Fortunately, Yin Xuege reacted quickly. He planted a foot against the wall and pulled himself free of that damned rhino horn before falling to the floor.

A drop of azure Blood Demon Essence Blood suddenly dimmed, and immense power surged toward his injured shoulder. Yin Xuege's wound wriggled shut at a visible speed, healing completely after three to five breaths.

Hearing the brute's roar, Yin Xuege and the two lightly injured Yin Clan Warriors nearly coughed up blood!

There were three genuine vampires right here, yet that brute had called Old Jack, a fallen human, a vampire?