Aberrant Insect

Besides fearing sunlight, Vampire also feared silver.

Although silver was not as deadly as sunlight, it could suppress a Vampire's ability to heal.

Under normal circumstances, as long as a Vampire had enough food and its heart had not suffered severe damage, most injuries would heal quickly. But if a wound had been inflicted by silver, it would be especially difficult to heal.

Many Vampires in the Blood Clan who had entered Hibernation had actually been severely wounded by silver weapons.

After school, Yu Xian returned home.

Yu Xian immediately rummaged through the cabinet and found the silver ring he had previously used to inspect goods.

It was said that even touching silver gave Vampires a burning sensation on their skin, while prolonged contact could cause their skin to ulcerate. Yet Yu Xian held the silver ring between his fingers and felt nothing at all.

"Does this even count as a minor talent?"

"Ordinary Vampires probably don't have major talents this outrageous."

Yu Xian squeezed the silver ring into a lump, confirming that the newly acquired talent, "Blood of Silver," had made him immune to silver's restraining effect on Vampires.

However, the main purpose of Blood of Silver was not to make him immune to silver's restraint over Vampires. It allowed Yu Xian to consume silver and transform all the blood in his body into Blood of Silver.

Once all his blood had transformed into Blood of Silver, his physical abilities would be further enhanced. At the same time, he could actively consume the Blood of Silver in his body to form whips or fine threads to attack enemies.

Immunity to silver's damage was merely an incidental benefit.

Clearly, this talent was not merely exceptionally lucky—it was extraordinarily lucky.

Yu Xian opened his mouth, and a Vampire's fangs slowly extended. He placed the crumpled silver ring against them and instinctively sucked, feeling as though he had sucked up a lump of jelly.

After the silver entered his body, it quickly fused with his blood.

"Too little."

Yu Xian could clearly sense the Blood of Silver that had been born from the fusion of silver and blood.

Compared with his original blood, which had already turned cold, the Blood of Silver was slightly warmer. As it flowed through his body, it felt like a current of heat drifting through him.

It was not unpleasant. On the contrary, it was somewhat comfortable.

After getting used to it, Yu Xian craved silver even more.

But it was difficult to buy a large quantity of silver now, and the money he had left could not buy much anyway.

The main reason was that the Blood Clan had been continuously buying up silver, driving its price higher than gold.

Moreover, the Blood Clan only ever took silver in and never let any out. No one knew where the Blood Clan hid it all.

It was worth mentioning that the Blood Clan had a rule: anyone who contributed more than ten tons of silver could obtain the qualification to become a Vampire directly, without undergoing any tests.

Although those who became Vampires through this route could not enter the Blood Clan's core of power, immortality alone was enough to attract wealthy people afraid of death.

The Blood Clan's vast wealth was largely due to a group of tycoons who had joined through this method.

Yu Xian racked his brains all night, yet still had no clue how to obtain more silver.

He had considered returning to that shady shop, but its connections were too wild. It had even dared to attack Nora, the little princess of the Blood Clan. He did not dare have anything to do with it again.

Although silver was important, safety was more important.

He would rather slowly save money and collect silverware from private sellers than ever return to that shady shop.

Early in the morning.

As usual, Yu Xian basked in the sun on the balcony.

But for some reason, a foul smell kept drifting into his nose. It smelled like dead rats in a garbage dump, making him nauseous.

"Strange. Why does that stink keep coming back?"

Yu Xian rose from his lounge chair and sniffed around. The stench suddenly appeared again, only to vanish the next second.

Wait!

Yu Xian realized something.

It seemed he only smelled it at the instant the warm current of Blood of Silver passed through his nose.

In other words, when the Blood of Silver flowed through his nasal passages, it enhanced his sense of smell, allowing him to detect scents he normally could not?

He then deliberately controlled the Blood of Silver to flow toward his nose. Sure enough, the foul smell returned.

He followed the stench forward, then looked down from the balcony. It was coming from the apartment downstairs.

Most residents in this complex were middle-class or above. A family of three lived downstairs: the husband seemed to be a lawyer, the wife owned a clothing store, and they had a daughter in fourth grade.

"Don't tell me the whole family died inside?"

Yu Xian endured the stench and muttered to himself.

But he had seen that family heading out only yesterday. Even if they had died, they should not have started smelling this bad so quickly.

Forget it.

Yu Xian did not like meddling in other people's affairs, so he quickly gave up thinking about it. Besides, it was about time to go to school.

He slung on his backpack and headed out. As he went downstairs, he happened to encounter the downstairs couple's daughter leaving with her own backpack. A thought struck him, and he controlled the small amount of Blood of Silver he had to gather in his nose. Instantly, an intense stench came from her body.

So disgusting.

Yu Xian quickly shifted that wisp of Blood of Silver from his nose to his right eye.

The smell vanished.

But then, through his enhanced right eye, he saw what looked like countless red worms tangled together beneath her skin, constantly writhing.

"Hiss... I'm going to die..."

Yu Xian felt as if his trypophobia was about to flare up right then.

Just then, she looked over. As she said, "Good morning, big brother upstairs," silver light flickered deep in Yu Xian's pupils, and through her open mouth, he seemed to see countless worms trembling like tentacles.

"Good morning," Yu Xian forced out with a smile.

Then he hurried downstairs and quickly headed toward school.

On the way, Yu Xian frowned as he occasionally caught that foul smell coming from passersby.

A year ago, a major incident that shocked the entire country had occurred in Rongcheng: the "Rongcheng Tragedy."

The details were that every teacher and student at a middle school in Rongcheng had had their brains hollowed out by a mysterious parasite without realizing it. If a student who had secretly eaten Forbidden Fruit had not happened to transfer to Rongcheng No. 1 High School and discovered that all the teachers and students were living dead, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Yu Xian remembered that a year ago, because of the Rongcheng Tragedy, Silver City officials had organized a citywide medical examination. It was during that examination that he had been diagnosed with ALS.

After that, because of the ALS, he had spent an entire month in a daze, so he did not know whether that examination had discovered anything.

He had not expected the parasites from Rongcheng to infiltrate Silver City without a sound.

This was big trouble.

"Should I report it?"

Yu Xian hesitated inwardly.

Once he reported it, the authorities would certainly have enough power to eliminate these parasites.

The problem was that while eliminating the parasites, they would definitely conduct a second citywide medical examination. If he underwent it, there was no way he could hide his identity as a wild Vampire!

"Salty Fish? Salty Fish, what are you thinking about so intensely?"

At that moment, Zhang Shou's voice interrupted Yu Xian's thoughts. Yu Xian looked at Zhang Shou and saw that he had not been infected by the parasites, which made him feel slightly relieved.

"Nothing. I just didn't sleep well," Yu Xian replied blandly.

Zhang Shou yawned and asked, "Don't tell me you stayed up all night browsing That Forum too?"

"What forum?" Yu Xian asked in confusion.

Seeing that Yu Xian truly did not understand, Zhang Shou explained, "That Forum is literally called That Forum. Check it out when you have time, especially the Forbidden Fruit section. Some people specialize in recording the patterns of Forbidden Fruit appearances and predicting where they might appear next. If the predicted location ever ends up being here in Silver City, I'm definitely going to fight for one."

Not everyone liked living beneath others.

Whether one joined the Blood Clan or another faction, it was basically impossible to surpass the progenitor.

Therefore, some ambitious people set their sights on the elusive Forbidden Fruit. That was why forums like That Forum existed, specifically to serve such people.

But Yu Xian had no interest in that kind of forum. Right now, he was more worried about the parasites.