Third Vampire

Fang Cheng usually ate quickly, but never as fast as he did today.

Kanzaki Rin had only just slurped down a few mouthfuls of udon when Fang Cheng had already drained the entire bowl, broth and all, and wolfed down the grilled squid and takoyaki.

Even the stall owner was stunned, let alone Kanzaki Rin, who was used to Fang Cheng eating quickly.

"Why are you eating so fast? It's not like anyone's going to steal your food..."

Fang Cheng wiped his mouth and stood up. He glanced at her and said, "Stop dawdling. It's on the move."

"What did you say... cough, cough, cough..."

Kanzaki Rin was so shocked that she accidentally choked and started coughing.

Fang Cheng had already turned to leave. Kanzaki Rin covered her mouth and got up to follow, but after taking a couple of steps, she turned back, pulled out a bill in Asian Yuan, and slapped it on the table. "Keep the change."

The owner picked up the money and immediately panicked. "Wait, you still owe—"

When he looked up, the two lovebirds had already vanished.

The two hurried back to the car. Kanzaki Rin started the engine and followed the direction Fang Cheng had indicated.

Only now did she have a chance to ask, "When did you spot the target?"

Fang Cheng focused on picking up the distinct stench of blood in the air as he replied, "When we got out of the car just now."

Kanzaki Rin turned to look at him in surprise. "Then why did you still go eat noodles?"

Fang Cheng hurriedly warned her, "Watch the road, watch the road. Don't look at me."

But Kanzaki Rin wouldn't let it go. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? Why did you still get out to eat?"

If I'd told you earlier, would I still have gotten a free lunch?

Of course, Fang Cheng didn't say anything that provocative. He merely replied, "It hadn't moved at all, and I was a little tense. I figured I'd relax with a bowl of noodles."

Yeah, right!

Kanzaki Rin was so angry she nearly twisted her mouth. This bastard had clearly wanted to freeload a lunch, and he'd kept quiet because he was afraid she wouldn't agree.

And she'd paid for it all, yet hadn't even managed more than a few mouthfuls of hot noodles.

Damn it!

Kanzaki Rin angrily stomped on the accelerator, and the car surged down the narrow street.

Fang Cheng tensed up in fright and shouted, "Are you trying to get yourself killed? Slow down! Slow down!"

In the end, Kanzaki Rin didn't speed. They weren't far from the vampire Fang Cheng had detected, and if they weren't careful, they might end up right in front of it.

Fang Cheng's sense of smell had a range of about a thousand meters. The vampire was currently some seven or eight hundred meters away and moving quickly.

Fang Cheng wasn't sure whether it had noticed him yet, but as long as they stayed within his range of smell, that was enough.

The rest was up to Kanzaki Rin.

During the previous three days, while Fang Cheng had been training, Kanzaki Rin hadn't been sitting idle either.

Besides coming up with a plan, she had also bought a large amount of equipment to handle all kinds of emergencies.

A hand-width gap opened automatically in the car's trunk. Several drones no bigger than birds flew out, passed over the car, and sped down the street ahead.

These were miniature drones used by special forces. Their only function was reconnaissance, and they had the advantages of being silent and equipped with Optical Camouflage. An ordinary person would have trouble spotting them with the naked eye.

At Kanzaki Rin's prompt, Fang Cheng took a tablet from the back seat and turned it on. The screen showed the live feed transmitted by the drones.

Along with the live feed, the drones had scanned the surrounding area and constructed a 3D model, giving the user a precise overview of the surroundings.

Kanzaki Rin had to drive, so Fang Cheng had to operate the drones.

Fortunately, they were simple enough to control that a quick explanation was all he needed.

Using the location provided by his sense of smell, Fang Cheng sent several drones flying toward the target.

At the same time, he had to keep an eye on Kanzaki Rin's speed. If the stench of blood grew stronger, the two of them were closing in. If it grew fainter, the distance between them was increasing.

Fang Cheng had to concentrate to judge the exact distance.

The drones quickly reached the designated location and singled out several suspicious targets, all of them vehicles moving at high speed.

He sent the drones closer to take a look. After quickly ruling out the vehicles carrying several people, he settled on a black sedan with only a driver inside.

The driver was wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, and a mask in the car, along with a thick coat. Even his hands on the steering wheel were gloved.

There was no need to guess. One look was enough for Fang Cheng to identify the guy as a vampire.

Anyone who saw someone dressed like that in broad daylight would know something was wrong, unless they were blind.

"Found it!"

Fang Cheng set the drones to automatic tracking mode, keeping the black sedan firmly in their sights.

Kanzaki Rin resisted the urge to turn and look. "Has it noticed us?"

Fang Cheng watched the footage sent back by the drones and thought for a moment. "Probably not. I haven't seen any signs of urgency, and it's not driving very fast."

To be safe, though, Fang Cheng had Kanzaki Rin slow down until they were out of his sense of smell's range.

They had already locked onto it with the drones, so they no longer needed to rely on Fang Cheng's sense of smell. If they misjudged the distance, they could easily give themselves away.

The vampire drove out of the city, passed through several towns, and entered a sparsely populated suburb.

Along the way, they saw many abandoned buildings. With the economy in decline and monsters posing a constant threat, young people had moved to the cities with their families. These places had become homes for lonely elderly people and the homeless.

The trip from the city center to the suburbs was not short. It wasn't until dusk that the black sedan finally entered an abandoned warehouse.

The drones followed it inside with their infrared mode switched on.

Kanzaki Rin parked by the roadside, and she and Fang Cheng watched the transmitted footage together.

The vampire got out of the car, went to the trunk, and opened it. Inside was a high school girl with her hands and feet bound and a rag stuffed in her mouth.

The girl looked terrified and kept curling in on herself, but the vampire still dragged her out of the trunk.

Fang Cheng and Kanzaki Rin had both expected to see a bloody scene of the vampire feeding. Instead, it simply grabbed her and carried her deeper into the warehouse.

The drone followed from a distance, not daring to get too close. Even with its silence and Optical Camouflage, the vampire's keen senses might still detect it.

The vampire grabbed the girl, then took two large bags of food from the back seat. It went to a room inside the warehouse whose door was locked.

It took out a key, unlocked the door, and tossed the girl inside. It threw the two bags of food in after her, then walked in slowly and locked the door behind it.

During the few seconds the door was open, the footage transmitted by the drone showed a crowd of people crammed inside the room.

Fang Cheng and Kanzaki Rin exchanged glances.

They'd thought the vampire had simply grabbed some high school girl to use as food.

They hadn't expected it to keep people there and establish a sustainable food supply.

Less than two minutes later, the vampire came out of the room, dragging the corpse of a woman.

She looked like a college student. Her skin was a sickly pale and wrinkled, and it was obvious that all her blood had been drained.

The vampire dragged the corpse outside the warehouse and tossed it into a nearby ditch, apparently unconcerned that someone might find it.