"Are you a Vampire Hunter, just like Blade?" The Vampire Girl was smart; Zhou Yi's earlier behavior had already made her suspicious.
"More than that, actually." Zhou Yi nodded, then gently shook his head. He wouldn't lie to this poor girl.
"I knew it!" The girl smiled, a sudden, resolute look in her eyes. "Kill me." She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, still clutching Zhou Yi tightly despite the trembling in her body.
Zhou Yi couldn't comprehend her desperate wish. He felt a profound surge of pity. He ruffled her hair and whispered in her ear, "No, my good girl."
The girl silently buried her face in his chest. A moment later, Zhou Yi felt a warm wetness soak into his shirt. Vampires were rumored to have cold blood and no tears, but Zhou Yi felt her genuine sorrow. He reached up, gently wiping her tears away, and began to ponder a real solution for her.
Just then, faint scratching and skittering sounds came from behind the partition wall. In these old apartments, the walls often concealed surprising spaces—once used to hide illicit alcohol during Prohibition, now more likely home to vermin.
But the creatures behind the wall were no rats; they were the much larger, more dangerous Alien Species, and they had found this location.
Using his Super Vision, Zhou Yi immediately saw the skirmish between the Alien Species and the Blood Clan Guard. To be honest, aside from the Snow Man's impressive swordsmanship, the others were barely holding their own. Their inherent Vampire strength was saving them; otherwise, they'd be worse than human special forces. Could these creatures really be the Vampire Empire's ultimate defense? Zhou Yi was skeptical. Machinos, the Grand Duke, was too cunning for such a weak strategy.
He punched the wall. The power of Light surged through the concrete, shining directly onto the Alien Species behind it. The creature, which had displayed astonishing vitality against the Blood Clan Guard, instantly dissolved into ash. No matter their mutations, they couldn't endure the Sun's essence.
Zhou Yi curled his lip. He didn't care how many creatures came; as long as they were susceptible to sunlight, they were manageable. His gaze continued to sweep the premises. Chadnomah, the so-called "Alien Species carrier," hadn't yet appeared. Zhou Yi was convinced Chadnomah was the key—not just to defeating the species, but to understanding the Grand Duke's conspiracy.
He quickly found Chadnomah, and he was with Nysha. Chadnomah had subdued her but wasn't harming her; instead, he was whispering in her ear.
Zhou Yi focused his vision on Chadnomah, searching for anomalies. He found it immediately: a ring with an unmistakable crest—a symbol of identity and authority usually reserved for European nobility. Zhou Yi had seen an identical ring on Nysha's hand.
The existence of two identical rings on two seemingly unrelated individuals screamed suspicion. Zhou Yi felt the truth was close.
He gently pushed the girl away, kissing her forehead. "Stay here, my good girl. I'll be right back."
The Vampire Girl wiped her tears, then looked up, her expression deadly serious. "My name is Serana, and I will always wait for you, whether you come back or not."
"I will come back," Zhou Yi promised, the girl's words weighing heavily on him. He was both fortunate to have met her and deeply worried. How could he protect her? Her biggest enemy was the Sun, an unconquerable opponent. As an Incarnation of the Sun's power, Zhou Yi understood the problem was fundamentally unsolvable by conventional means.
Taking two steps back, Zhou Yi smiled at Serana and activated a wristband. Black liquid mercury surged, forming the equally dark armor. As the cape unfurled, Zhou Yi transformed into the Dawn Knight right before Serana's eyes. It was a gesture of trust, revealing his secret self to reassure her.
Serana watched the magnificent transformation, surprised but visibly calmer. Zhou Yi's method had worked.
Since this was Vampire territory, Zhou Yi didn't care about the property. After moving Serana further away, he launched himself toward his target with maximal force. Walls, beams, stairwells—wood, concrete, or steel—anything in his path was utterly demolished. His sole focus was Chadnomah.
Chadnomah was holding Nysha from behind, his gaze complex: warmth, jealousy, and hatred flickered across his murky grey eyes. "I know you," he whispered, pinching her cheek. "Machinos's most beloved daughter. I really want to try—if I kill you, will he shed a single tear?"
"Monster, I will never yield to you," Nysha spat, glaring.
"Monster?" Chadnomah laughed miserably, his jaw splitting open. He pointed to his grotesque mandibles. "I think I'm a monster too, but do you think I want to be like this, suffering torment every moment?"
His resentment boiling over, he smashed his fist into the concrete wall. His arm passed through easily, leaving only fractured debris. His sheer strength stunned Nysha. Chadnomah's power had clearly surpassed the Vampire species' limits.
Chadnomah laughed again, a sound thick with sorrow. "This is what he wanted, didn't you know? We have the same Bloodline. Maybe I should turn you into me, too."
Nysha struggled frantically. To be transformed into this grotesque state was a fate worse than death for a woman who valued her beauty. Chadnomah opened his mouthparts, moving to bite her neck.
His movements were lightning-fast, the transformation imminent. Unfortunately for him, the one man who could traverse the distance and intervene in less than a second had just arrived.
The wall collapsed. A black shadow, trailing dust and shattered debris, materialized beside the pair. Chadnomah and Nysha clearly recognized the figure: the black armor and cape.
Chadnomah roared in fear, "Dawn Knight!"
The word barely left his throat before Zhou Yi's punch landed squarely on his face, sending him flying. Zhou Yi hadn't intended to use maximal force, but the blow still exceeded Chadnomah's limit. Though the creature had achieved a new state of strength, what were Vampires in the grand scheme? This world contained cosmic beings, ancient Aesir gods, powerful Mutants, and Superheroes. The Vampire race was ultimately irrelevant.
Chadnomah was launched like a cannonball, penetrating multiple walls. Zhou Yi's Super Vision registered multiple bone fractures and severe internal injuries. Did I kill him? Zhou Yi worried, not out of concern for the monster, but for the loss of his key clue.
His worry was unnecessary. Chadnomah staggered back up from a pile of rubble.
He first twisted his neck back into place, a sparse grinding of bone audible. Then, he began to shake violently, like a seizure. In Zhou Yi's enhanced vision, he saw the creature's broken bones rapidly fusing; those beyond immediate repair gained a layer of natural armor, and the ruptured internal organs simply vanished after a few breaths.
Such rapid healing was almost unheard of, surpassing normal biological systems and approaching the realm of infinite repair. If these Alien Species weren't crippled by their fear of the Sun, even Zhou Yi would find them difficult to exterminate.