Chapter 62: The Dark Forest

The details in the vision gradually became clearer, as if an invisible lens was zooming in.

The white dress of the maiden was tattered, revealing much of her skin. Her body was covered with numerous fine but dense red marks; some areas were only slightly swollen, while others had droplets of blood seeping out. She walked forward, sharp branches scraping against her, adding more red marks to her skin, yet the maiden seemed completely oblivious.

In her hand, she clutched half a loaf of bread.

At that moment, the maiden seemed to sense something and suddenly turned her head, gazing in the direction where Qian Ye was.

It was then that Qian Ye realized she had no eyes! Where her eyes should have been, there were only two bloody hollows.

Qian Ye sat up abruptly, his heart pounding like a drum, causing his entire chest to tremble slightly. Unbeknownst to him, he was drenched in cold sweat.

He steadied himself, and the images from the dream did not fade but instead became even clearer in his memory. If he had a pen now, he could even draw the wrinkles on the maiden’s white dress with perfect accuracy.

Despite the loss of her eyes, Qian Ye recognized her. She was Bai Kongzhao, the same little girl who had once wanted to kill him in the garbage dump.

Qian Ye subconsciously frowned. His recent dreams had not brought good news, whether it was touching upon Lord Andua’s consciousness or hearing the call of the headless general, they were all reflections of real-life events. However, this time, no matter how long Qian Ye thought about it, he could not understand what the dream was trying to convey.

He pulled back the tent flap and looked outside. Everything seemed normal and peaceful.

The camp was surrounded by a row of heavy trucks, with several bonfires still burning brightly in the center. Most of the warriors had finished eating and drinking, either meditating or resting, while a few were organizing the supplies. At the edge of the camp, a few warriors were lifting a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun onto a truck, preparing to set up a firing position to strengthen the night watch.

On the other side, Zhao Yuying sat on the hood of a heavy truck, a bottle of wine in hand, taking occasional sips. For some reason, Qian Ye felt a sense of loneliness when he saw her drinking alone.

Qian Ye let the tent flap fall back and sat cross-legged, ready to continue practicing the Xuan Chapter. He now had a surplus of refined blood, but after killing a spider-demon viscount in the mine, he could absorb none of its blood, making it a total waste. Therefore, he urgently needed to consume the accumulated blood.

As the Xuan Chapter began to slowly circulate, Qian Ye was jolted, startled. To his horror, he found that the once overflowing refined blood was now only half, the other half inexplicably vanished.

Qian Ye’s heart sank. His first thought was that something might have gone wrong with the practice of the Song Family Ancient Scroll. An internal inspection showed that his organs, bloodlines, and origin nodes were all normal, and even the blood aura was obediently staying in his heart.

But this was the most abnormal thing. The missing refined blood could not simply disappear. Under the gaze of the True Eye, there were no signs of Qian Ye’s blood aura absorbing any extra dark origin power, nor was his Dawn origin power or nodes eroded by dark forces.

Although it was unbelievable, it seemed that half of a third-class dark viscount’s refined blood had truly turned into nothingness.

Qian Ye thought for a moment and tried to practice the Xuan Chapter again. It went smoothly, and after nine rounds of vortex rotation, part of the refined blood was transformed into pure dark origin power, which was then swallowed by the dark golden blood aura.

Having completed a full cycle of practice, Qian Ye was still puzzled but had no choice but to set aside this strange event for now.

Deep within his heart, a black-covered ancient book was floating, its once blurry title now much clearer. This was a place Qian Ye’s perception could not yet reach.

In a certain area to the northeast of the camp, there was a black forest very similar to Qian Ye’s dream. Twisted branches held a few lonely leaves at their tips.

In the forest, a maiden in a white dress stood. She lifted her head, looking up at the sky in confusion. But under the dim and lightless heavens, there was nothing to see except for the strange and twisted tree trunks and branches. Even a touch of bright color was absent.

Suddenly, a wild wind blew through, but strangely, the branches remained motionless, only the few leaves fluttered, making one realize that the wind was not an illusion. A leaf detached from a branch, floated in the air, spun a few times, and landed before the maiden.

She reached out to catch the leaf, examining it closely.

The leaf was also grayish-black, with patches of mold, already rotten and exuding a foul smell. The maiden casually threw the leaf away, leaving a black spot on her palm.

She held a short knife in her right hand and used the gleaming blade to scrape the black spot. Though the spot was removed, the bits of flesh and blood on the blade smeared her hand, making her white, delicate hand even dirtier.

The maiden seemed angry and grabbed a nearby warrior, rubbing her hand forcefully on his battle robe. The warrior was extremely burly, and the maiden barely reached his chest, yet he dared not move, even trembling slightly, clearly showing his great fear of her.

Behind them, more than a dozen warriors stood, each with a powerful aura, obviously elite. However, these bloodthirsty and menacing warriors looked at the maiden with fear, as if they had encountered a venomous snake.

She continued to wipe her hands, and a middle-aged veteran reluctantly approached, whispering, “Miss Kongzhao, the vampire is dead.”

The maiden was Bai Kongzhao, but compared to the last time she met Qian Ye, she had grown taller, her features more defined, and now looked like a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl. At least in the Bai family, she no longer starved, and being in the prime of her growth, she was rapidly changing.

The wild wind had not stopped, blowing harder and harder, lifting the warriors’ cloaks and revealing a bear’s head emblem on the corner of their battle robes. These were the fierce Berserk Bear soldiers, one of the Bai clan’s internal guard units. Such elites would fear no warlord, yet they cowered before Bai Kongzhao.

Bai Kongzhao suddenly lifted her head again, looking up at the night sky. She felt as though some presence was watching her, but no matter how she searched, she could not find it.

She grew agitated, shaking her head violently, her gaze fixing on a group of bloodkin. The bloodkin lay on the ground, all immobilized. Seeing Bai Kongzhao’s gaze, these vicious Blood Feast bloodkin began to tremble in fear.

Bai Kongzhao strode over, grabbing a young bloodkin woman and staring at her for a moment. A sweet smile slowly appeared on her face. “Tell me, why did you lot suddenly come to Evernight? What do you want?”

The bloodkin woman was terrified, her beautiful face distorted, and she stammered, “I don’t know, I really don’t know! We are just the outer troops, following our captain to the designated location, waiting for further orders. I swear, we don’t know anything else, really!”

“Then you don’t know what you’re looking for, either?”

The bloodkin woman screamed uncontrollably. The horrific deaths of her fellow tribesmen meant that Bai Kongzhao’s question marked the beginning of their deepest nightmare.

Piercing screams echoed through the black forest, lasting for half an hour before gradually fading.

Bai Kongzhao let go, and the misshapen corpse fell to the ground, splattered with blood. She did not wipe herself, turning to give an order, “Get rid of them, make sure it’s clean. Then wait for me at the family outpost.”

The captain of the Berserk Bear squad hesitated, saying, “Miss Kongzhao, are you sure you don’t need us to follow? There have been many unfamiliar faces around, and it might be dangerous.”

“I don’t need you,” Bai Kongzhao said, walking alone into the depths of the black forest.

The captain’s expression flickered, watching her leave, and then waved his hand. The squad members immediately moved to the bloodkin, quickly ending their lives and efficiently cleaning up the evidence.

After witnessing Bai Kongzhao’s methods, they only wanted to end this quickly and return to the outpost, having lost all interest in torturing and killing prisoners. They knew that in the coming days, these experiences would haunt their nightmares.

The maiden in the white dress walked alone through the black forest. She carried no equipment and no supplies. As she walked, she sang lightly, her voice sweet and ethereal, but if one listened closely, they would hear the same phrase repeated over and over:

“I will find you, I will find you…”

From above, the eerie black forest could be seen scattered across the land, like ink spots on a piece of paper.

Nighteye sat by the window, holding a glass of wine, the liquid inside as red as blood.

The door opened again, and the person entered without knocking.

Nighteye looked out the window, unmoving, as if unaware of the intruder.

It was a tall young man with wavy, deep brown hair. He was very tall, towering over most bloodkin, and his build was unusually robust, unlike the typical slender and lithe form of the bloodkin, every muscle seeming to hold explosive power.

His face was still classically handsome for a bloodkin, with a cold and cruel glint in his eyes, and his aura was so deep and obscure that he seemed to be at the level of a baron. Bloodkin lived long, and many stopped aging once they reached a certain level of power, making it difficult to determine their age from their appearance.

The young man looked at Nighteye, his eyes burning with a fiery passion. “Nighteye, you always do this, knowing I’m here, but you never even greet me.”

“I’m not in the mood,” Nighteye replied indifferently.

The tall bloodkin youth pulled a chair and sat next to Nighteye, saying, “That’s not an acceptable answer.”

Their proximity made Nighteye frown, her tone cold. “Whether it’s acceptable or not, it’s none of your business. If you have nothing else, please leave.”

The tall youth laughed, saying, “That’s not an acceptable answer either. I can sit here if I want to.”

Nighteye’s frown deepened, and she did not retort.

Seeing this, the youth smiled smugly and glanced out the window, his gaze falling on a black forest. He paused, his expression serious, “The black forest has come this far. It seems the time is near. Have you made your decision?”