The desire for power was poison; It could numb one’s logic, erase blood-familial ties and turn them into an unfeeling and emotionless being.
If that was the case, what exactly is happiness? Lin could not quite recall. In the deep recesses of her blurry memories, an image resurfaced: One of her adolescent self, being in her mother’s embrace, wrapping her arms around her little sister. Their family had been complete and they lived a joyous and harmonious life.
Yes. Her past life had probably fallen under the category of “joyful bliss”, but at what time did it slowly drift further and further apart?…
“Royal mother! What are you doing?? Little sister is still inside!”
“…” With a temperament that was as gentle as a lamb and a bearing which radiated dignity in her every move, her royal mother had always been the role model in her heart; An existence that could not be surpassed. Even though the time she could spend with her each week had been severely limited, the obedient and well-behaved Lin had no complaints, as she knew her Royal Mother had a lot of major matters that required her attention. As she grew older, she realized that her family background was extraordinary to the point that it could even be called illustrious.
As someone who had been raised by maids together with her sister since young, Lin had believed that the weight of the entire family fell onto her royal mother’s fragile shoulders. Even though she had never spent much time with her, her existence had always been a spiritual pillar in her heart.
However, her current state made Lin feel extremely estranged; It was only then she realized that she didn’t know much about her mother after removing the preconceived notion she had of her.
What sort of temperament did she have? What type of person was she exactly? How would she respond to a situation? All of those were things she had no knowledge of.
In other words, that woman had never revealed her true self to her; There were still a lot of aspects she had never witnessed…
“No! Lingling is still inside! Royal mother, please, I beg you, rescue her! Wah…”
Despite having given her and her little sister Ling an unlimited amount of love, her royal mother had chosen to say nothing at that moment, instead choosing to wrap her arms around Lin and walk out the courtyard in silence. Through her moistening eyes, the villa that was engulfed in fire turned blurry.
‘Even a wild beast would never attempt to eat its own offspring… That woman’s vicious heart is absolutely incompatible with her appearance. I won’t ever forgive the existence of the murderer of my sister!’
From that moment on, she left the lies known as ‘familial love’ behind. Her personality had turned into one of indifference and silence after graduating from those immature and innocent ideals. She no longer interacted or forged a deep friendship with others, instead choosing to take extra effort in cherishing herself; For she knew that there was no one in this world who would care about her.
She could only rely on herself for everything.
By strangling the possibility of traitors in its cradle, she would never encounter betrayal. As long as she could become strong enough, she would never be picked on… She no longer had any close relatives to depend on, much less any friends. Perhaps, she had already been alone since the very beginning.
……………..
Her consciousness was blurry and dizzy, as if someone had struck her head with a stick. Her eyelids seemed like they were filled with lead and felt sore, heavy and swollen.
“…already?” In the midst of haziness, Lin could seemingly hear someone talking to her.
“?…” Every single of her meridians throbbed in dull pain, as if all her bones had been pulled out. For as long as she had been conscious, the overwhelming regenerative abilities of a vampire had ensured that she would never experience the sensation of having all of her strength leave her body.
She forced her heavy eyelids open.
What greeted her was an extremely stiff cross-shaped helmet — The appearance of which she had seen before.
“Are you awake?” A heavy, dull voice resounded in a completely emotionless tone.
There was no need for her to contemplate this any further. Hearing that sort of vapid tone which could bring any conversation to an end was enough to tell her who the person was.
Lin chose not to respond. Shaking her head, she stubbornly tried to prop up her aching sore body. However, it was all for naught, as her feet turned weak and made her butt land on the stone floor with a bang.
All this while, Lin had developed a dependence on the strong regenerative abilities of her body. Only at this moment did an unbelievable truth slowly uncover itself to her.
‘My regenerative ability doesn’t work anymore…’
‘How is that possible?’
Lin was instantly at a loss.
As a being which belonged to the blue skies, the ability of flight was a bird’s innate ability. However, if one day it lost its wings, what would it feel? It would probably feel an unprecedented amount of fear at the beginning before coming into a predicament.
‘Don’t tell me… the battle from before had made me lose my vampire abilities?’
The conclusion Lin came to caused her pupils to constrict tightly; Even her breathing turned chaotic.
She could hardly imagine… No, she simply could not imagine how she would live on in this cold, heartless world after losing her vampire powers.
“What are you so nervous about?” Lin’s imperceptible change had not escaped Ji Bai’s eyes, as he saw through her thoughts with a cold glance.
“The self-regenerative ability of vampires is indeed something innate to your body, but it requires energy to be maintained, in the form of a minimum magic threshold in your body. There’s no way for it to activate if not even a drop of [Magic] is left in your body.”
Upon hearing that, Lin quickly inspected her body’s condition and was momentarily stupefied.
Things truly were as Ji Bai said. The brimming [Magic] which had filled her body seemed to have evaporated, leaving not a single trace.
Seeing the slightly dazed expression on Lin’s face, Ji Bai revealed an expression which suggested his suspicions were right all along.
If one were to ask him the reason behind his rich knowledge in the matter, he would give an awkward laugh and point out the awkward memory of him battling the mutated Lan Yu; The memory of which was still fresh in his mind.
One had to understand that the amount of magic consumed by a vampire’s self-regenerative abilities was close to negligible, with that miniscule amount not even enough to fill the seams of their teeth. If one’s body were not barren of [magic] in the truest sense of word, it could last till the end of the universe.
As for the reason why the vampire before him was unsure about this matter, it was very simple.
As a young vampire lady, she had lived in the lap of luxury and had been pampered since birth. Lacking in poise and life experience, she had never experienced the true cruelty that society could inflict on someone. Only a true chad — someone who continued to battle and cut down enemies with a sickle on his back despite being starved for five consecutive days — could understand those emotions.
After heaving a sigh, Lin seemed to have realized something. Narrowing her eyes, she began to size Ji Bai up.
“What?”
“How do you know so much about this?”
“Because I’ve studied vampires comprehensively.” Ji Bai stood up, no longer intending to humor her questions any further. Sweeping a gaze around, he realized he had really poor visibility, as the surroundings were covered in pitch-black darkness — It was certainly impossible for them to drop down from such heights without sustaining any debilitating injuries or dying. Hence, Ji Bai had turned into his Radiant form and hugged Lin who had fallen unconscious midway during their descent.
“Have you dissected vampires before?”
“You can think of it that way.”
“…-Hey, I have two pieces of news right now. A good one and a bad one. Which one do you want to hear first?” In the middle of the silence, Ji Bai suddenly started a conservation.
“…”
“Since you’re silent, let me begin with the good news.” Ji Bai deeply inhaled. “The good news is, I had briefly scouted the area and found that there’s a path ahead of us. These ruins seem to be more complicated than they appear, so there’s a chance we could find the way out there.”
Ji Bai then looked up into the skies, at the hole above him that had shrunken down to the size of his thumb.
“As for the bad news… It seems the griffin from before is on our trail.”