Chapter 1: A New Dawn

The long whistle of the steam engine echoed through the skies of Dark Blood City, announcing the arrival of a new day. Although the night had passed, the dawn was still struggling to break the horizon. In the Eternal Night Continent during the Dark Season, there was no morning light.

In the grayish-white early light, Qian Ye was wrapped in a sandy adventurer's cloak, standing on a steam pipe more than ten meters above the ground, overlooking the fully awake Dark Blood City from a high vantage point.

The city seemed to have healed its wounds overnight. Apart from a slight decrease in the crowd below the towering city gates, everything else was orderly and peaceful. Everyone began their similar yet different days, each person busy with their own tasks, and the atmosphere of joy, debauchery, and indulgence permeated every district.

Last night felt like an all-too-real nightmare. Qian Ye was somewhat unaccustomed to what he saw.

Only the scars left by the fierce battle remained, the ruins silently telling the story of what had happened. The battlefield where Bai Longjia and William fought against the face-spider demon was the most devastating. There wasn't a single intact building in the entire district, including the bungalow where Qian Ye initially hid, now turned into rubble. From a distance, one could see the direction of the collapsed buildings, revealing the intense trajectories of the original force collisions, explosions, and reverberations.

There were several other places in the city where small skirmishes seemed to have occurred, but they were only as severe as what Qian Ye experienced. Besides the need for repairs to the streets, the traces of blood could be completely erased by a few more people passing by.

Many people spontaneously gathered in the ruins, constantly clearing away the corpses.

Clearing the bodies was partly to prevent the spread of plagues; the dark races had many highly contagious diseases that could spread through decaying corpses. On the other hand, these people were also scavenging for the belongings of the dead. This was an unwritten rule on the Eternal Night Continent: whoever cleared the remains of an unclaimed corpse could claim the belongings found on it.

Under this rule, the cleanup was unusually swift. People shared the spoils with an unspoken understanding, and the scene was not chaotic. Even some first-level soldiers joined in, lifting a massive metal frame with ease, thanks to their superior physical strength compared to ordinary people.

On the outskirts of the nearly flattened district, several formally dressed individuals were setting up peculiar platforms, continuously sketching on their drawings. These were representatives of major companies or conglomerates in the area. After the cleanup, the land would need to be rebuilt, offering another significant business opportunity. Fortunately, that area was a no-man's-land with fewer pipelines and infrastructure, making the post-disaster work relatively easier.

This was the Eternal Night Continent, this was Dark Blood City. It was like an ugly, abandoned beast, left in harsh conditions, yet thrived. Even when wounded, it would strive to heal itself with its own vitality, for no one would help it.

Qian Ye turned his gaze to the Northern District. Beyond a variety of rooftops, the vast gray buildings were the encampment of the expeditionary forces. He chuckled silently, the wrinkles on his carefully disguised face deepening. He hadn't expected that Wei Po Tian, with his thick nerves like the steam pipes, could recognize him. It was a pity that the debts seemed unlikely to be collected.

After watching for a while, Qian Ye noticed that there were fewer expeditionary forces in the city than he had imagined. The patrol teams didn't seem to belong to different units. He found a secluded corner and jumped to the ground, leisurely walking towards a nearby ruin. He casually struck up a conversation with a group of people who had just finished clearing a pile of debris and were resting. He learned that the additional expeditionary forces had withdrawn quietly early that morning.

Was it related to last night's battle? Did it reach a conclusion? As Qian Ye pondered, he asked a few more questions casually.

The talkative old man replied with a casual air, "Who cares about what happened last night? Those who died are just unlucky."

On reflection, Qian Ye realized that both helplessness and broad-minded acceptance were expressed in those words with perfect clarity.

A battle on the scale of last night's was already far beyond the reach of ordinary people, and even far beyond the limits of someone at Qian Ye's level. When figures like Bai Longjia, William, and even greater personages appeared, common folk could only wait quietly for fate's verdict.

Ordinarily, those great figures would not be in the mood to concern themselves with ants like them. But if one had the misfortune to be swept in, then not even escape was possible. So for people like these, the most important thing was to live the present well. Thinking too much about things beyond one's power would only bring needless torment.

Dark Blood City was the same. After enduring a whole night of disaster, it had recovered its vigor by dawn. Perhaps this was the symbol of humanity's toughness, the thing that had finally allowed them to cast off the fate of being livestock. Qian Ye felt as if he had glimpsed an unknown side of the Eternal Night Continent.

Today the weather was unexpectedly bright. The sun had shaken free of the upper continent's entanglement and scattered its light over Dark Blood City. As if unwilling to waste the few short hours granted this day, more and more residents poured out of their homes and began the business of living.

Qian Ye walked into the Hunter's House. Second Master seemed to be in an excellent mood, basking in the sun in the courtyard. On the side table stood a purple clay wine jar and several small dishes of snacks.

When Second Master saw Qian Ye, he beckoned. "Come have a couple of drinks with this old man and listen to me ramble. Consider it your show of respect to the elderly!"

Qian Ye nodded silently and sat down opposite him.

Watching Qian Ye finish pouring himself a cup, Second Master suddenly produced a silver hip flask from his robes and said, "Add a little of this. It's no worse than your own brew."

Without the slightest pause, Qian Ye took it, poured out some of the intensely fragrant liquid, then took a large sip. He held his breath for a moment before saying, "Not bad." Qian Ye did not seem to notice that Second Master had been carefully observing his reaction from beginning to end. Only then did the old man's expression ease slightly.

"You took part in last night's battle too, didn't you?" Second Master asked abruptly.

Qian Ye thought for a moment, then suddenly understood. Last night's Eagle Strike had been a shot unleashed at full power. To a connoisseur, its distinctive voice would naturally be recognizable, and in all of Dark Blood City there were probably not enough Eagle Strikes to count on more than one hand.

Second Master did not wait for Qian Ye to answer. He smiled faintly and said, "I heard from Old One that you've been selling quite a lot of good merchandise recently—especially those fangs from vampire warriors. Those weren't from ordinary vampires. Besides that, you also bought something remarkable."

"I've got a bit of experience dealing with vampires."

Second Master nodded, then sighed. "You're still young, and I'm already old. I've passed through more than a dozen cities and seen countless wars and killings. To me, this world has already solidified; there can no longer be the slightest change in it. But you're different. For you, every day is new, full of the possibility of change and fresh hope. That's the difference between the young and the old."

Qian Ye listened quietly. There was a heaviness in Second Master's voice, the weathering of years, but he could not quite grasp its full meaning.

"Do you know what the common theme of every war since the Dawn War has been?"

Faced with this sudden question, Qian Ye was a little surprised. To him, the answer was so obvious it hardly seemed worth discussing with such solemnity. The theme of war was killing—destroying the enemy in the fastest, most direct, most efficient way. That was war.

"Sacrifice." The answer Second Master gave was one Qian Ye had never considered.

"Sacrifice?" Qian Ye did not quite understand. Every war had casualties; that was as natural as the withering and flourishing of the seasons.

"Sacrifice isn't just dying in battle. It also includes change. Some people sacrifice time, some sacrifice their lives as they were meant to be lived, and others sacrifice their fate. Their entire lives are altered because of war. This city is one example. It looks cheerful and prosperous enough, but if you sit here long enough and watch the days pass, you'll find there are fewer and fewer old faces, and more and more new ones."

Qian Ye suddenly thought of his former comrades.

Every comrade's death laid another weight of responsibility upon his heart. By now he had long since come to understand that state of mind in which, upon seeing the dark races, one must fight to the death. For the sake of avenging his former brothers-in-arms alone, Qian Ye did not know how many dark race warriors he would have to kill. And if he were still in Red Scorpion, then one day he too would become another comrade's burden and responsibility.

At that moment, Second Master said, "Actually, it isn't only humans who make sacrifices. The dark races do as well."

That was a notion Qian Ye had never heard before. Since the time he first became aware of the world, the lesson he had received was that the dark races were cruel and savage by nature, that they regarded humans as food. Every dark race was a byword for filth, rot, and blood. In short, there was not a single favorable word that could be associated with them.

The dark races too could be spoken of with so noble a word as sacrifice?

But Second Master did not continue the subject. He drained the wine from his cup and said, "This world isn't made up only of Eternal Night and Dawn. It also has a vast middle land, and there it isn't merely gray—there are many other colors as well. Try looking at some of those other colors. If you're lucky, you might even see the seven-colored rainbow light. Don't go pulling the trigger at the slightest provocation. That's not a good habit. It'll make you miss far too much."

Just then a hunter came to turn in a mission, and Second Master got up and went inside. But the last words he had left behind gave Qian Ye much to ponder. Even so, he still did not fully understand. In his view, the world was both complicated and simple. When you encountered a dark race, you killed it. That was the simplest kind of truth.

When Second Master left, he also left behind a piece of news that was neither good nor bad. Heavenly Snake had let it be known that he wanted to make peace with Qian Ye. The matter itself was not all that surprising; the shot Eagle Strike had fired from over a thousand meters away must have left a deep impression on him. It was only that in Qian Ye's original plans, the words make peace had never existed. Since the other side had handed over the initiative, he could take a little time to think it over.

By now the sky had gradually darkened. On the Eternal Night Continent during the Dark Season, daylight was always so brief. After leaving the Hunter's House, Qian Ye wandered without much purpose. Then, lifting his head all of a sudden, he discovered he was already standing outside Yu Yingnan's door.

Qian Ye did not know how he had gotten there. The purple clay jar had contained grain wine, and Second Master's homemade brew was far richer and smoother than anything sold on the market. Added to that was whatever had been in the silver flask—something that went down the throat like a ball of fire, not scorching, but with an astonishingly fierce aftereffect. By now he was a little dizzy. Certain lines of thought had become sluggish, while some instincts reacted even more directly and swiftly than usual.

Qian Ye pushed straight through the tightly shut brown door in front of him. In his memory, Yu Yingnan's house was never locked.

The alcohol had made him somewhat rash and bold. Of course, more importantly, Qian Ye had never once sensed danger here.

But tonight was clearly different.

A bare foot suddenly flew out of the darkness and swept toward Qian Ye's head and face.