Vampire

Meng Zu drove to the place Officer Ryan had told him about. Sault Ste. Marie was not a large city to begin with, and this small town had developed through tourism, so even on the outskirts, there were still bars and motels.

But it was winter now, so there were not many people around. Still, since the businesses were all locally owned, they remained open. Meng Zu used the clue guidance on the photo again, and the red arrow pointed toward a bar in the most remote corner.

Meng Zu drove up to the bar, got out, and looked at the gray, overcast sky. He muttered under his breath, "Coming here for a vacation in the dead of winter... these young people really think differently."

Meng Zu pushed open the door and walked into the bar. A handsome young bartender with blond hair and blue eyes was polishing glasses, while two men and two women sat inside drinking. The men were handsome and the women beautiful, but aside from their looks, the four customers and the bartender shared another trait: all five had pale skin.

Seeing the red dotted line point at one of the handsome young men drinking, Meng Zu sighed inwardly. Just my luck. I actually ran into this kind of trouble.

When Meng Zu sat down at the bar, the handsome bartender asked, "What would you like to drink?"

Instead of ordering alcohol, Meng Zu asked the bartender, "Are those four part of your family?"

The bartender's hand paused as he polished the glass. His eyes flickered before he resumed wiping it. "They aren't part of our family. They came here from out of town a week ago."

"Are you close to them? There's a bit of trouble involving them." Meng Zu turned to look at the two men and two women, who were also sizing him up.

The bartender looked at the four of them, then at Meng Zu. After thinking for a moment, he said, "They're only friends that one of our family members met outside. They have nothing to do with us."

"Then that's fine."

Seeing Meng Zu get up and prepare to walk over, the bartender said, "Please don't break the tables."

"Don't worry. If that happens by accident, I'll compensate you."

The four had been watching Meng Zu ever since he started talking to the bartender. When he picked up a chair from the side and sat directly at their table, the red-haired beauty closest to him smiled and said, "Handsome, do you want to have a drink with us?"

"No. I just have something to ask you." Meng Zu smiled, then took out Sam's photo and placed it on the table. Looking straight at the long-haired handsome man whose head was marked by the red arrow, he asked, "Where did this kid and his friends go?"

The moment Meng Zu entered the bar, he had sensed a familiar, icy chill. When he saw the bartender and these four people, that feeling became even stronger.

Meng Zu recognized what they were. None of the five were human; they were vampires. After his mental attribute reached 4, twice that of an ordinary person, he had encountered vampires several times during missions. They had given him the same feeling back then. After learning that vampires existed in this world, Meng Zu had specifically asked the owner of the mercenary bar for detailed information about them.

Mercenaries inevitably dealt with vampires from time to time during various missions, so they naturally understood them well. Because of modern society, human technology had developed rapidly, and all kinds of powerful and unusual weapons had been invented. As a result, humans had become the strongest force on Earth.

Vampires, werewolves, and the like could no longer do whatever they pleased as they had in medieval Europe. For various reasons, the higher-ups of humanity had not ordered their extermination. Instead, they made agreements with them. Thus, vampires moved from the open into the shadows. They could no longer casually capture living people to drink their blood. As for vampires wanting human blood, humanity's leaders had said that was fine—but they had to pay for it.

So most vampires began running legitimate businesses, while the small number unwilling to change were naturally dealt with by humans.

With money, they could buy blood. Over time, vampires adapted to this way of life, which was why vampires running bars were not unusual.

Becoming a vampire was not as simple as in the movies, where being bitten by one turned you into a vampire. Even in the Middle Ages, vampires kept young, beautiful virgins as blood slaves and regularly drank their blood.

To become a vampire, a vampire had to inject a drop of their heart's blood into your body while biting you. Only then could you become one. But heart's blood was extremely precious to vampires, and turning someone into a new vampire was a huge drain on them. Therefore, after every vampire transformed someone else, they treated that person as family and brought them into their clan.

The reason Meng Zu had asked the vampire bartender whether the four belonged to their family was that vampires valued their family deeply. Sam's disappearance was connected to one of these vampires. It was impossible to peacefully get an answer from him, but if Meng Zu started a fight and provoked an entire vampire family, it would be a major headache.

After glancing at the photo and Meng Zu, the long-haired vampire said coldly, "I don't know him. You've got the wrong person."

"Fine. Looks like I'll have to use force to solve this." Meng Zu put away the photo and curled his lip. There was no reasoning with vampires who broke the rules and attacked ordinary people.

"Hehe." The four vampires found that amusing. A mere human wanted to fight them? They sat in their seats, watching Meng Zu with mocking expressions.

Bang! Before the four could react, Meng Zu suddenly stood up, reached out with his right hand, grabbed the long-haired vampire by the hair at the back of his head, and slammed his face viciously into the table.

Part of the tabletop shattered. The other three finally reacted. The red-haired female vampire struck first, throwing a punch at Meng Zu's head. Meng Zu swayed aside to dodge it, then showed no mercy as he drove his left fist into her right cheek. Her body flew into the air, spun three and a half times, and crashed onto a table behind her.

Crack! The table shattered, and the red-haired female vampire lay motionless on the floor.

Meng Zu did not bother checking the result of that punch, because the other two vampires were already attacking. He released the long-haired vampire's hair and slipped aside, avoiding the other female vampire's clawing fingers aimed at his face and the male vampire's punch.

Meng Zu grabbed the female vampire by the hair and forced her head down. He drove his right knee hard into her face, then yanked her head back up and rained alternating punches across her face. Finally, he kicked her in the abdomen, sending her flying into the other male vampire.

The long-haired vampire had recovered from his dizziness by then, but the instant he raised his head, Meng Zu grabbed his hair again. Bang! Bang! Bang! Three right fists smashed into his face. Then Meng Zu seized his head with his left hand and flung him aside. The long-haired vampire collapsed to the floor unconscious.

Meng Zu walked toward the only male vampire still conscious. The vampire pushed the unconscious female vampire off himself, got to his feet, and lunged at Meng Zu. An ordinary vampire might have three times the physical strength of a normal person, but Meng Zu was stronger. In Meng Zu's eyes, the vampire's attacks were as full of openings as an ordinary person's brawl. In just a few moves, he knocked him unconscious.

The vampire bartender then shut the bar's door and hung a Temporarily Closed sign outside.

"Do you have somewhere I can question them?" Meng Zu asked the vampire bartender as he shook out his hands. At some point, he had put tiger knuckles on both hands.

The vampire bartender said nothing. He stared at the tiger knuckles on Meng Zu's hands and frowned.

Noticing the bartender's gaze, Meng Zu smiled. "I spent tens of thousands of dollars to have an old priest specially bless these."

"Mm. Question them here. I've already closed the door. Also, you'll need to pay for the tables and chairs you broke." The vampire bartender expressionlessly pointed at the shattered furniture.

Meng Zu smiled. "Work out the bill. Once I'm done questioning them, I'll pay by card."

(I don't stockpile chapters. I only write after getting home each day. I'm slow because I'm a clumsy typist.)

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