Ancient One

At the scene, thousands of vampires lost their minds. Whether pure-blooded or mixed-blood vampires, they all ran east like mad dogs.

"Have you all gone insane? The air outside is full of garlic essence! Do you not care about your lives?" Deacon roared in distress. Every vampire before him was nourishment for his ascension.

But as soon as the words left his mouth, Deacon froze.

Although the vampires rushing out wailed in agony, their skin turning to ash under the various harmful substances filling the air, they were nowhere near as fragile as the other vampires he had encountered before.

Could these people have undergone the transformation too? Deacon thought in disbelief.

He then counted the vampires present. Their numbers had indeed been reduced by about half, leaving just over two thousand, while their speed had also improved considerably.

Clearly, they had carried out some transformation inside that he did not know about, trading the lives of half the vampires for a massive reduction in their weaknesses.

"Damn it, what exactly happened in the east?" Deacon endured the whispers in his heart. Though angry, there was nothing he could do.

But while Deacon felt powerless, the American army facing this vampire horde was gripped by deep fear.

As they watched the vampires pour out in full force, the weapons' damage against these monsters having been weakened, the vampires' superhuman physical abilities finally came into full play. They were practically thousands of Blades.

To restore their damaged bodies, the vampires charged at the American army one after another. The vampires who had been slaughtered moments ago now became grim reapers, sucking their victims dry into mummified corpses.

However, since their target was not here, they stopped feeding once they had taken enough blood to restore their bodies. Only a few hundred people at the scene were drained dry.

After recovering from their injuries, the vampires rushed out of the sanctuary and continued running east without any reason left, leaving behind corpses scattered across the ground, as well as a bewildered Deacon and the American army.

Inside S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury frowned as he listened to Ross's report. "What did you say? The vampires all rushed out of the sanctuary, killed over a thousand of your soldiers, and are now heading out of the city? How did you intercept them?"

"How the hell would I know? Those vampire bastards suddenly stopped being afraid of silver and ultraviolet rays, and they ran toward the commercial district like maniacs."

Outside the sanctuary, General Ross watched the vampires crazily rush out, along with his heavily battered subordinates. His heart was bleeding. These were his troops—one quarter of them had died here in an instant.

At that moment, atop the vampires' sanctuary, a bald woman in yellow robes stood at the peak of the building, looking at the passage leading to another dimension before her.

The gem on Ancient One's chest was giving off a faint green glow. Her gaze passed through the channel before her as she addressed the woman on the other side. "You have crossed the line, Blood God."

"I still have a few matters to settle in this world. Once I finish them, I'll leave immediately," Blood God said, trying to negotiate with Ancient One. This was not her home ground, and fighting would not benefit her.

Ancient One gently shook her head. "I already know your purpose. But I also need someone to guard this universe for me. He is the best among us. I cannot hand him over to you."

As the words fell, the Time Stone, which had only been glowing faintly, burst forth with dazzling radiance beneath Blood God's murderous gaze.

From the past and the future, Ancient Ones from one different period after another emerged from the void, blocking the entrance to the Dimensional Channel together.

The present-day Ancient One, who possessed the Time Stone, lightly turned the Sling Ring in her hand. Beneath the Power Stone and Space Stone held at S.H.I.E.L.D. and on an alien planet, a spatial portal crackling with orange sparks suddenly appeared.

Ancient One spread her hands, and two gems, one blue and one purple, automatically fell into her palms. Together with the emerald Time Stone on her chest, they reflected one another in a dazzling display.

In an instant, three of the six Infinity Stones coveted by countless people—the Power Stone, Space Stone, and Time Stone—were gathered in Ancient One's hands.

Blood God's expression on the other side of the Dimensional Channel was as ugly as if she had swallowed a fly. Looking at Ancient One, fully equipped with three divine artifacts, she knew that there was an eighty to ninety percent chance she would be returning empty-handed this time.

Compared to having no hope at all, nothing disgusted her more than being shown hope only to be driven into despair afterward.

At night, Bai Ye walked home with Camilla. He then tilted his head in confusion as he listened to the commotion in the distance. It sounded as though thousands of people were running drills and charging this way.

What's going on... Bai Ye became alert. When he turned around, he saw densely packed vampires rushing toward him from afar.

It's him! It's him!

Catch him and turn him into a vampire!

We have to catch him!

One thought after another rose in the vampires' minds, controlling their reason. The weaker the vampire, the more deeply they were affected by those thoughts.

In the crowded commercial street, pedestrians in their path were swept aside one by one by the vampires, smashing into walls with cries of pain. The entire commercial district fell into chaos.

Why are these vampires acting like lunatics? Who pissed them off? Bai Ye saw the chaos ahead from hundreds of meters away and decided to avoid it for now. Grabbing the equally surprised Camilla, he prepared to leave.

With a light leap, Bai Ye wrapped an arm around Camilla and landed on the roof. Then he saw every vampire raise their eyes toward him, their footsteps shifting as they ran in his direction.

Bai Ye's attempt to avoid them instead confirmed their target for the vampires. This was the man they wanted to transform.

"What the hell? Is Camilla their target, or... me?"

Remembering Camilla's strange behavior earlier, Bai Ye immediately released her and took a few light steps back.

From their gazes, he finally confirmed that these people had indeed come looking for him.

Camilla also realized what was happening and looked at Bai Ye in surprise. "Why are they looking for you?"

"How should I know? I clearly haven't done anything. Maybe they're here to save you," Bai Ye said helplessly.

Looking at the vampires rushing toward them, he casually waved a hand. "Stay here. We'll talk after I deal with them."

As he spoke, the dark mass of the vampire army had already arrived before them. With Superman-level physical abilities, they lightly pushed off with their legs and flew onto the roof, lunging to bite their target.

Boom!!!

In the blink of an eye, the bodies of the three vampires in front exploded instantly. A terrifying rain of blood burst forth in an instant, then was swept up by the howling wind, knocking several leaping vampires off the roof.

Bai Ye held his punching stance as spiderweb-like cracks spread across the tiles two or three meters around his feet.

Facing the vampire army surging toward him like a tide, Bai Ye took a deep breath, stomped the ground, and charged into their midst like a cannonball.