A Contest in the Shadows

When facing an enemy, what is the initiative? Simply put, it is the so-called "striking first to gain the upper hand." The meaning of "striking first to gain the upper hand" is quite complex. Basically, it can be described as having the intention to catch the enemy off guard.

After all, the side that gains the upper hand has time to analyze its opponent and find their weaknesses, while the unfortunate one falls behind.

This time, however, Li Wei's opponent was an S1-level powerhouse, Prince Hannibal of the vampire clan. Even with the first move, Li Wei still had very few cards left in his hand.

Neither Blood Control, nor lightning true energy, nor even the Sky Fox Awakening could guarantee that Li Wei could snatch Nina from the SL powerhouse. In fact, Li Wei didn't even know if Nina was still alive at the moment.

Despite these numerous difficulties, Li Wei already had a very comprehensive plan to deal with the enemy.

The mastermind behind this plan is none other than An Hei, who is currently part of Li Wei's think tank.

The first step of the plan is to secure a trump card.

This trump card was none other than Prince Hannover's most beloved youngest son, Little Hannibal., a high-ranking vampire.

"To get this card, I have to deal with those guards first. But that A2 level guy is a problem!" Li Wei thought to himself as he darted like a shadow to a corner. Less than ten meters away from him, a guard was hiding.

Fortunately, the vampires guarding Little Hannibal were spread out, each dozens of meters apart, which gave Li Wei the opportunity to defeat them one by one.

With Li Wei's A1-level combat strength, approaching a corner-level opponent without alerting them is not a problem.

5 meters, 3 meters, 2 meters... It wasn't until this distance that the vampire guard in black sensed anything, and Li Wei instantly activated his Blood Control.

The B3-level vampire guard shuddered and then went limp, completely lifeless.

In reality, his brain had been instantly shredded into a mess by Li Wei's blood blade.

Li Wei quickly supported the body and dragged it around a corner. When Li Wei reappeared, he had already changed into the black guard uniform. As for the body, Li Wei simply put it into the Copper Pot.

Using the same method, Li Wei eliminated all the vampire guards without bloodshed, except for the A2-level guard captain.

At this moment, the A2-level guard captain guarding the door finally noticed that something was wrong; the guards around him hadn't sent him any signals for a long time.

"Annie, Spalding... what the hell are you doing? Answer me right now!" The captain of the guard's voice echoed in the alley, but strangely, there was no response.

At this moment, he finally realized that something serious had happened.

At the same time, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck down from above his head. Caught off guard, the vampire guard was directly hit by the current. However, he was, after all, an AZ-level expert. Although the lightning was extremely destructive, it did not cause him much substantial harm.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" The captain of the guard was shocked and drew his silver longsword from his waist.

At this moment, a large pool of blood flowed from the corner of the wall. Upon seeing this, the A2-level guard cautiously went over, only to find that his men were lying haphazardly on the ground around the corner. Their clothes were torn and their bodies were covered in wounds, with large amounts of blood flowing from them and pooling on the ground.

Stepping through the bloodstains, the guard captain unleashed his full power. Just then, another bolt of lightning shot out from the side. The guard captain sneered, "I knew you couldn't hold back. A mere A1-level dares to ambush me? You're courting death!" With a wave of his hand, his longsword burst forth with a burst of bloody light, blocking the incoming lightning. At the same time, he sensed the attacker's location and strength.

Al-level is nothing to him.

So the captain of the guard unleashed his full power, concentrating his strength on his longsword, and was about to rush forward to fight the enemy when suddenly, an unexpected change occurred.

The inconspicuous pool of blood beneath his feet suddenly erupted, transforming into dozens of blood blades that swept across the body of the guard captain from bottom to top. Instantly, the guard captain stopped moving, his face filled with astonishment and disbelief.

Pain surged from all parts of his body, but even faster came the darkness that accompanied death. In this pitch-black alley, an A2-level powerhouse perished.

Emerging from his hiding place, Li Wei looked at the neatly cut body parts scattered on the ground and let out a long sigh.

"This trap really killed this AZ-level expert. So, Blood Control can be used like this!" Li Wei cleaned up the scene briefly, then took out dozens of 'Clay Golem' and 'Water Element' cards, scattered them around, and left a trace of true power on each card.

The advantage of doing this is that even if Li Wei is far away, he can activate these magic cards by controlling his true energy.

These were all indispensable parts of the plan. Afterwards, he dressed in the black clothes of a vampire guard and went to find his 'trump card'.

A few minutes later, Li Wei brought out a vampire boy who had been knocked unconscious.

It was the same house, the same cellar, but this time, the one tied to the chair was Prince Hannibal's youngest son.

"I'm leaving the interrogation to you. Oh, right, here are three cards. If this kid isn't behaving himself, use the cards on him. If necessary, you can..." Li Wei glanced at An Hei and made a throat-slitting gesture.

An Hei nodded and took the card.

Li Wei quickly came out of the house again. This time, he was going to the Prince's Mansion. Prince Hannibal believed that he would soon learn that his youngest son had been kidnapped. If the kidnappers could leave the residence, Li Wei could find an opportunity to sneak in and search.

As planned, the Prince's mansion was in complete chaos. Upon learning that Prince Hannibal's youngest son had been kidnapped, a large number of guards rushed out and dispersed throughout the city to search for him. Thus, Li Wei, dressed in vampire guard attire, took advantage of the chaos to sneak into the Prince's mansion.

As long as one conceals all their aura, the other party will not be able to detect their identity unless they are specifically observing them.

Fortunately, Li Wei wandered around this manor-like place for half a day without anyone discovering his identity. Instead, Li Wei memorized the terrain and possible hiding places.

Of course, Li Wei clearly sensed that there were two incredibly powerful auras within the manor.

It must be Prince Hannibal and his captain of the guard; only these two have S-rank combat power.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Li Wei could only take a detour, trying to stay as far away from the two auras as possible.

Stepping into a relatively quiet courtyard, Li Wei leaned against the wall, took a breath, and pondered his next move.

Just then, the courtyard gate creaked open.

Instantly, the hairs on Li Wei's body stood on end, but when he saw that it was just a petite figure carrying a pile of clothes, Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief.

"She's a maid? Maybe she knows something!" With that thought, Li Wei rushed forward like lightning and covered the other woman's mouth and nose.

The petite figure was clearly startled and instinctively tried to scream, but found her mouth and nose being slapped, while her body instinctively resisted.

"Don't move, don't scream, or you'll die!" The maid was immediately too frightened to resist, but Li Wei could feel her body trembling slightly.

After glancing around, Li Wei spotted a simple house in the courtyard. He pulled the woman dressed as a maid into the house and then closed the door behind them.

There was no other presence in the room; no one else was there.

Only then did Li Wei have the chance to take a good look at the maid he had captured.

Through the moonlight streaming through the window, Li Wei discovered that the maid was indeed a beauty. However, judging from the sharp teeth peeking out from her small mouth, she was clearly a vampire. At this moment, her face was deathly pale with fright, and her large eyes were staring nervously at Li Wei.

"Don't scream, because I'll make all your blood vessels burst before you can even utter a sound!" Li was joking; if this maid ruined his plans, he would certainly be ruthless in his retaliation.

The maid in his arms quickly nodded.

Li Wei released the maid, and sure enough, she stood still, not daring to move, only occasionally glancing at Li Wei with her eyes.

"I'll ask you, Luo Da. If you behave yourself, I won't kill you. Otherwise..." Li Wei activated his Blood Control, and the maid opposite him immediately froze, a look of terror appearing on her face.

Her blood seemed to freeze for a few seconds, but those few seconds completely terrified her, and she quickly nodded.

"Tell me about the situation here. Since you're a maid here, have you heard that Prince Hannibal brought back an Earth Star woman three days ago?" "You mean Miss Nina?" Li Wei was taken aback, thinking to himself, "This is promising! I didn't expect this maid to actually know."

But why would the maid address Nina that way? "How is she now?" Li Wei stared into the maid's eyes; Li Wei was certain he could tell if she was lying.

But clearly, the maid didn't seem to be lying.

However, the information Li Wei heard from the maid afterwards almost made him faint.

It turned out that a few Vampire Starfolk who entered Earth Star through a teleportation array accidentally discovered Nina, who possessed ancient vampire blood, and kidnapped her, then presented her to Prince Hannibal.

This old man actually had his eye on Nina's ancient vampire bloodline and wanted her to bear him an offspring. Unfortunately, how could Nina possibly agree? Vampires can only reproduce if both parties agree, otherwise, they cannot have offspring at all. Prince Hannibal didn't try to force her, so for the past few days, he just sent people to persuade her every day.

After three days, Nina still hadn't given her an answer, which enraged the hot-tempered Prince Hannibal. Unable to tolerate it any longer, he demanded to take Nina by force today. However, things didn't go as planned. At the crucial moment, he received news that his beloved youngest son had been kidnapped. So, he was currently in the hall coordinating manpower for a city-wide manhunt, and Nina's matter was temporarily put aside.

Upon hearing this news, Li Wei secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Nina was alright; otherwise, he would have killed Prince Hannibal no matter what.

Looking up at the maid, Li Wei asked curiously, "You're just a servant, how do you know so much?" Li Wei's suspicion was not unfounded; as a servant, one would not normally know such details.

"These past few days, I've been taking care of Miss Nina, so..." the maid said sweetly.

Li Wei immediately understood, thinking to himself that he was really lucky. If he hadn't run into this maid, he didn't know how long he would have been searching aimlessly.

Knowing that Nina is safe is of paramount importance to Li Wei; all that remains is to find a way to rescue Nina! After some thought, Li Wei has an idea in mind.