Unconditional Trust

Blood Clan.

Or rather, vampires.

They were a race with an enormous number of weaknesses.

They feared sunlight, silver, garlic, and crosses. Their only food was blood. If they went too long without drinking blood, they would fall into slumber, their bodies gradually mummifying until one day, when blood fell upon them, there might be a faint chance of awakening.

If becoming a vampire were not one of the easiest ways to attain immortality, the Blood Clan probably would not even count as a second-rate force. At best, they would be third or fourth rate.

The Blood Clan had quite a reputation among the public, but that was mainly because they were rich—extremely, extraordinarily rich. Thus, those wealthy individuals who had transformed into vampires kept hiring online shills to boast about how powerful, terrifying, and mysterious the Blood Clan was.

This gave ordinary people the illusion that the Blood Clan was a first-rate force, making them truly believe that offending the Blood Clan meant certain death.

In truth, all five great nations possessed the strength to suppress the Blood Clan with ease. There were also several supernatural forces occupying numerous small countries that likewise had the ability to swat the Blood Clan dead.

The Blood Clan had survived until now not because they were particularly powerful, but because... they knew how to behave.

Yu Xian had originally thought that joining Qilin would be difficult, or that he would need to undergo all sorts of tests.

Jin Sheng looked at Yu Xian and suppressed a laugh as he said solemnly, "From this moment onward, you are a member of Qilin's Demon-Slaying Squad. You rank 6330, and your codename is Salty Fish."

Yu Xian looked at the documents on the table. He could not help picking them up and flipping through them repeatedly, asking in disbelief, "Is this... real?"

"Of course it's real. As long as you present those documents, every Security Bureau in the country can verify their authenticity and will cooperate with your actions unconditionally," Jin Sheng said with a smile.

Yu Xian put away the documents and asked, "Then how many people are in the Demon-Slaying Squad, and who is the captain?"

"I'm the captain of the Demon-Slaying Squad. There were originally five people, and with you, there are six. However, the squad normally does not act together. Everyone accepts missions individually. Only for Sparrow Level missions and above do we gather as a squad," Jin Sheng explained.

He then told Yu Xian about the squad's specific circumstances one by one.

Qilin's squads enjoyed a great deal of freedom, mainly because most members capable of joining Qilin were supernatural beings with tremendous potential.

Since every supernatural being was different, forcibly requiring them to act together might instead cause certain members' strength to stagnate.

Under normal circumstances, members could freely accept Insect Rank and Ant Rank missions. Two or more members could cooperate on Bee Rank missions, while Sparrow Level missions and above had to be accepted by the entire squad together.

"Then what level is Silver City considered now?" Yu Xian asked curiously.

Jin Sheng replied, "The Aberrant Insect disaster is Tiger Rank, though that is not because of its strength, but because of its danger. The mission can only be considered complete once every Aberrant Insect has been exterminated. However, this mission is destined to be extremely difficult to complete, since we do not even know how it spreads or how many there are now."

"Actually, I have someone I suspect. I think he might be an Aberrant Insect, but I can't find any evidence." Yu Xian inexplicably thought of Yu Wei and spoke with some hesitation.

Jin Sheng immediately became serious and asked, "Who do you suspect?"

"Yu Wei, Teacher Yu. Although I observed him for most of the day and found no flaws at all, when I saw him again this morning, I still had that feeling. There is definitely something wrong with him," Yu Xian said, frowning as he thought.

Jin Sheng immediately turned and walked outside, saying as he went, "Come on. Since you think he is suspicious, we'll detain him first and examine him."

The two walked out of the tent.

Jin Sheng had the soldiers restrain Yu Wei and lock him in a tent guarded by several soldiers.

Yu Wei did not resist throughout the process. He merely looked somewhat panicked. Jin Sheng and Yu Xian observed from afar, but neither could spot anything unusual.

"Do you still think something is wrong with him?" Jin Sheng asked.

Yu Xian nodded. "Yes. There is definitely a problem with him. It's just that, with my current abilities, I can't see what the problem is yet."

"Then let's take another look. Come on." After thinking for a moment, Jin Sheng still decided to trust Yu Xian unconditionally.

The two entered the tent where Yu Wei was being held. Seeing them come in, Yu Wei hurriedly said, "Sir, and classmate Yu Xian, what do you need me for?"

Neither Jin Sheng nor Yu Xian spoke.

The two circled Yu Wei. Jin Sheng's eyes suddenly turned golden, while silver light flickered deep within Yu Xian's pupils.

"What are you doing? I... what's wrong with me?" Yu Wei was frightened by their stares and kept leaning backward.

The golden light in Jin Sheng's eyes gradually dimmed. He shook his head at Yu Xian, clearly having found nothing wrong. The silver light deep in Yu Xian's pupils also slowly returned to normal. He had found nothing either.

"Are you sure?" Jin Sheng asked abruptly.

Yu Xian understood what he meant and nodded. "Absolutely. Especially now. He gives me an incredibly strong sense that something is off."

He was not making it up. The distance between him and Yu Wei was now only around twenty centimeters. Whenever he looked at Yu Wei, he felt an indescribable discomfort. No matter how he looked at him, something seemed out of place.

"Then do whatever you need to. Even if you're wrong, I'll take responsibility!" After a moment of silence, Jin Sheng ultimately decided to continue trusting Yu Xian. After all, Yu Xian was now one of his subordinates, and supporting one's teammates was also one of a captain's duties.

There were cases recorded in Qilin's files where a member had noticed a problem, but the captain had not believed them, resulting in only two people surviving from the entire squad. From then on, every captain of Qilin's squads chose to stand firmly by their teammates.

Yu Wei seemed to sense the danger and cried out in terror, "What are you trying to do? Help! Help! Murder!"

"Shut up. Quiet!" Jin Sheng immediately glared.

The next moment, a streak of golden light covered Yu Wei's mouth, leaving him able to make only muffled "Mm! Mm!" sounds.

"Begin. Do whatever you want. You can dissect him or cut him into eight pieces," Jin Sheng said coldly to Yu Xian.

Yu Xian nodded and looked at Yu Wei with some reluctance. "Teacher Yu, bear with it. I'll do my best not to hurt you."

Then a thin silver thread condensed from his fingertip. Under his control, it slowly burrowed into Yu Wei's neck and moved through his body bit by bit.

After the battle two days ago, his control over the Blood of Silver had reached another level. In order not to hurt Yu Wei, he operated with extreme care.

This time, he examined everything very carefully—blood vessels, internal organs, bones, nerves—checking them one by one. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed slightly. The silver thread seemed to have touched something with an abnormal texture.

Before he could react, a sudden change occurred.

"Oh dear, I've been exposed again. Big brother, you really are the greatest enemy of the little bugs!"

In an instant, Yu Wei's head twisted ninety degrees, his entire face convulsing into a wrinkled mess. Zhou Tai's voice came from inside his head. Immediately afterward, a mass of nerve fibers emerged from his eye sockets, nostrils, and ears, swiftly stabbing toward Yu Xian.

But at that moment, golden light radiated from Jin Sheng's entire body. With one hand, he easily blocked Zhou Tai's attack and tightly gripped the Aberrant Insect disguised as Yu Wei's nerve fibers.

"So that's how it is. No wonder I couldn't see anything unusual," Jin Sheng muttered as he looked at the Aberrant Insect in his hand.

Yu Xian also realized the issue and frowned. "This level of infiltration is too terrifying."

In fact, the Aberrant Insect had not completely controlled Yu Wei. It had merely disguised itself as one section of Yu Wei's nerve fibers.

Because Yu Wei was still alive, Yu Xian could not smell any stench. And because the Aberrant Insect had mimicked nerve fibers, it would be nearly impossible to detect unless the person was dissected.

Yu Xian guessed that the reason he had felt something was wrong with Yu Wei was more likely because Zhou Tai had been observing him through Yu Wei, and he had instinctively sensed that something was amiss.

Without Zhou Tai's surveillance, he probably would not have been able to see that anything was wrong with Yu Wei either.

That meant that even if Aberrant Insects had infiltrated the entire country, perhaps no one would be able to discover their existence. What they had found now was absolutely a major breakthrough.