Volume 9 Endless Days, The End NO.3: It Has Come (1/2)

Volume 9 Endless Days, The End NO.3: It Has Come

Translated by Ever (proofread by Trespasserby & Minthe; C/E edited by lucathia)

Dìdi, do you not recognize me? It’s Gēge.”

Awaiting orders.

“You must call him Dark Sun for him to work. That was the name we inputted. Of course, you can also change it. You only have to give the command and clearly say what his name will be changed to.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Dìdi? Ah Ye?”

“Dark Sun. Turn around and confirm your highest priority master.”

Order received.

Taking action: verify highest priority master.

“Confirming highest priority master. Appearance: Match. Iris recognition: Match. Preliminary confirmation of Master verified. If a second matching profile and iris is found, will proceed with DNA confirmation. Does Master wish to initiate the name changing sequence?”

“Change names? Change what name? Your name has never changed! You are not Dark Sun! You are ‘Ri Xiang Ye,’ my only dìdi!”

Interpreting: change of name ordered by highest priority master.

Taking action: initiating name changing sequence.

“Ri Xiang Ye. Name changing sequence completed. Dìdi also accepted as a nickname.”

Analyzing highest master: sad, bitter, coughed blood.

Taking action: inquire.

Taking action: send to hospital.

Taking…

Warning: someone intends to assassinate the highest master!

***

Another big quake.

I was now very certain that this was not an earthquake, but was definitely an explosion. Such a big explosion. Is someone trying to break into this place? Using such strong ammunition does not seem like something X would do.

I let out a sigh of relief, but was not completely reassured, since I had just seen X undercover, and he did not seem to be as old-fashioned as I had thought. There were a lot of things that I did not know.

“From the looks of the current situation, the Church is not as in control of the situation as I had imagined.” I said as calmly as possible, “It seems that someone is trying to break in.”

Lieder’s expression was fairly strange as he muttered, “Break in? This level of explosion was definitely caused by a missile.”

Missile? Before I had time to think about anything, Lieder started to shake vigorously, falling off the chair and across the floor, his body jerking uncontrollably.

Electrocuted? I felt a sense of glee. Although delighting in others’ suffering was not very nice, Lieder had brought too much trouble for us. Whenever I remembered how the young master had been tied to a cross after he had just undergone surgery; when the young master could have rested and rehabilitated in peace and quiet, but was forced to run around with a hurt knee, I wished Lieder would get shocked more often.

Lieder crawled back onto the chair with difficulty and once again declared, “I cannot tell you anything.”

I nodded my head, determined to try my best to lure him into talking.

“If it was a missile, then it should not be X?”

Lieder opened his mouth, but immediately closed it again.

I laughed and said, “If you do not speak to me, how will you get information about X from me?”

Lieder frowned and was silent for a while before saying, “It’s not E.X. This has nothing to do with you. It’s some other enemy.”

Other enemy? With a sudden turn of thought, something dawned on me and I realized this was Lieder giving me a hint. Perhaps I should not have wanted to see him get shocked so much.

How many forces were there that dared fire missiles at the Sin Elimination Committee of the Church? Even if there really were other enemies, the probability of them attacking coincidentally at this time was not high.

Who was it? Was it the young master or Curtis?

I cheered myself up. No matter whom it was, I would definitely not let myself become a burden, so I should stay calm… Calm?

I could not help but look at Lieder. His hand was shaking as he put a piece of candy in his mouth. When he noticed my gaze, he asked out of courtesy, “Would you like one?”

“Sure.”

Lieder’s face was suddenly filled with surprise and he asked, “Vampires eat candy too? I was only asking. I didn’t think you would really eat it.”

I smiled and said, “No, candy is almost tasteless to vampires. I simply wanted to get revenge on you. Even eating a piece of your candy would be good.”

Hearing so, Lieder rolled his eyes exaggeratedly but still gave me a piece of candy.

I savored the candy in my mouth, and as expected, I could not taste any sweetness, but when the outer shell melted, a strong taste of blood shot up my nasal cavity. The flavor was so strong that it could let any vampire suddenly become alert.

Lieder asked me curiously, “It seems like you’re enjoying it. Do you taste anything?”

As he asked, we felt the building shake again. I really admired how strong this building was, although this was not good news for those trapped inside.

“Yes. The candy is yours, and with the shaking sound of missiles hitting, I have tasted revenge strongly.”

Lieder said in frustration, “I’ve at least saved your life once. Can’t we count that as even?”

With the help of what Lieder had said earlier, I was able to stay calm throughout. I still had many devices attached to me, so I could not risk letting them analyze anything from me. Thankfully this situation itself was strange enough, so it would be more difficult for them to figure out the truth.

“I have already said so before. Even if you did not come, the young master would not kill me, so that time does not count. Instead, we need to count this time when you brought me to the Sin Elimination Committee. So if we were to keep a tab, you have much to pay back.”

Lieder laughed out loud, jeering, “Why, you’re actually getting serious! You’re already trapped here. Even if I wanted to pay you back, I have no way of doing so. Guess I can only give you a few more candies!”

I frowned purposely but still said, “Give it.”

Lieder helplessly gave me another candy.

I ate another one, and as I thought, only the outer part of this candy was made of sugar, while the inside was actually made of condensed blood. I wonder if the one Lieder ate initially was a candy made without blood, or did he try his best to eat the same ones?

Aside from blood, does this candy provide any other effects? Is Lieder doing this voluntarily or did someone bribe him to help me?

Just when I was thinking about this, the current situation changed again. Lieder suddenly stood up and turned around to face the entrance. I also followed his gaze and saw that the door had been opened, and two people in priest robes stood there. However, the layers of energy nets were quite thick and blocked my vision, not allowing me to see the priests’ faces clearly.

Is one of them Sin?

I frowned as the other party walked in. It was indeed Sin, and beside him was another priest—Father Yue?

“Calm down!” Lieder suddenly said, “Don’t get stirred up just because Sin is here. As long as you cooperate, he won’t even touch a single strand of your hair.”

Following Lieder’s words, I slowly calmed down and smirked. “He is the head of the Sin Elimination Committee. You want a vampire to stay calm in front of Sin? Perhaps only when the Sin Elimination Committee stops targeting vampires will this be able to happen!”

I fought back lightly with words and used Lieder’s power of words to stay calm at the same time. I tried hard not to look at Father Yue too much, only glancing at him briefly, making sure that it was Father Yue indeed. The Father Yue right now looks serious and cold, like all other priests…

And then, these two men bolted inside. Despite being priests, they looked more reckless than vampires.

“Tsk, why is this energy net still here?” Father Yue looked very impatient. If he was fully armed like last time, perhaps he would have attacked already.

Sin lifted his arm and looked at the watch on his wrist, saying, “We’re here early. There’s one minute left.”

“Can’t they be early for a minute? Why do they have to be so on time? The more time we can save the better. This is the Church’s Sin Elimination Committee! Every extra second here might kill us!”

Father Yue scrunched his brows, looking very irritated. This impatient attitude made him look exactly like Yue Gang. Even the tone and speed they spoke in was very similar. There was no doubt that they were father and son.

To my surprise, Sin comforted him, saying, “Calm down, Yue Jin. Why have you become more and more aggressive?”

“I’ve told you already. Once I pick up the gun again, I’ll never be able to calm down!”

I looked at the two of them, dumbfounded, having absolutely no clue about what was going on.

Sin sighed and said, “If you don’t pick up the gun, do you want me to handle the deal we’ve made with the Sun Emperor alone? Those people who call themselves the Extraordinaries are not easy to handle.”

The Extraordinaries? Looking at Sin and Father Yue, an idea suddenly dawned on me, and I realized right then that this person was not Sin, he was—Alex!

“It’s gone!” Father Yue said happily.

The energy net started to fade one strand at a time, and at the same time, someone started to tear off the devices that were attached to me. It was Lieder.

After Lieder ripped off those cables, he turned his head around and shouted, “Did you guys get the key to the handcuffs?”

Without the energy net blocking their way, Alex and Father Yue walked toward us. I was very confused at this moment and opened my mouth to speak but did not know where to start asking. Looking at the Alex that was wearing Sin’s face, I was even more dumbfounded. Is this the superb makeup transformation seen so often in movies?

Alex took out a card and waved it at Lieder.

“Then open it. What are you waiting for?” Lieder asked in confusion.

“The signal.” Alex explained, “This type of lock is very complicated. We need to initiate the unlocking sequence from the main control room before we can use this card. If any one of these steps went wrong, it will not only tighten its grip on Charles, but also send strong waves of electricity through his body until he faints.”

That sounds very awful. Especially since I am unable to faint right now, I can only stay awake and endure the torture.

As Alex was busy unlocking the handcuffs, I looked at Father Yue who had nothing to do, and finally found my tongue and asked the question that I wanted to know the most.

“Who sent you to save me?”

Father Yue glanced at Lieder and said, “It’s actually Lieder who contacted us first. When I heard that he was going to save you, how could I refuse?”

“Why not?” I asked very seriously.

Father Yue sighed and said, “Alex and I really want to resolve the hatred between E.X. and the Church. Not everyone in the Church wants E.X. dead. There are also very many who are tired of endlessly giving up lives, especially when E.X. hasn’t caused any trouble in many years. The recent events were all started by the Church’s pursuit, just because of something that happened long, long ago. Do we have to keep sacrificing human lives?”

“Just what happened back then?” I could not help but ask.

Father Yue shook his head and said, “It’s a very long story, and I only know the Church’s point of view. But this is not the time for that. Let’s get out of here first. If you die in the Church’s hands, then we can give up on trying to resolve this hatred. It used to be the Church pursuing E.X., but if you die, then E.X. might turn around to pursue the Church, too!”

Alex agreed as he opened the handcuffs and said, “We do need to leave fast. The Sin Elimination Committee is not an easy place to escape from. They are distracted by missiles right now, so this is the best time to escape. If we miss this chance, then we would not stand a chance later on.”

“The missiles were also launched by you?” I still found it hard to believe that a priest who was holed up in a run-down church had suddenly turned into a fighting master armed with heavy weapons. And not only is he equipped with heavy weapons, he also has the ability to launch missiles?

Father Yue denied immediately, “We have nothing to do with those. I don’t know which side initiated the attack. We wanted to investigate things thoroughly before we started, but you asked to see Lieder at this time, which was a one in a million chance, so we came in a hurry without figuring out what was happening outside.”

I looked at Lieder, but before I was able to ask, I heard Alex say, “It’s open. Let’s hurry.”

I looked down and saw that the indestructible handcuffs had been opened. I took my hands out immediately. The feeling of freedom is so wonderful. Even though I have not walked out of the jail yet, simply freeing my hands feels wonderful.

“Charles.”

I lifted my head and Lieder gave me a palm-sized bag. I opened it and saw that it was filled with candy.

“Aside from blood, what else is in the candy?” I asked in confusion. If they only contained concentrated blood, then there seemed to be no need for them. This amount of blood was too little to take any effect, not even to satisfy hunger. It was at most an energy drink for vampires.

“I heard that it contains high caffeine content. Certain effects are similar to anesthetics, and might be able to increase your abilities. The researcher has tried to lower any side effects, but still doesn’t recommend taking it long-term. Oh right, eat at most ten a day. If you overdose…. Er, the person said, ‘nothing will really happen, it’ll just burn up your life energy, and after you’re burned out, you die.’”

That sounds exactly like Doctor An Te Qi!

I became absentminded with shock. I had thought that the situation had developed to the point of no return, but perhaps I did not lose anything at all?

“The young master sent you.”

Lieder spread his hands and denied, “My apologies, no.”

I felt very surprised. No? But only the young master knows about the anesthetic… No, Curtis also knows about it too.

“Is it Curtis?”

Lieder shook his head again.

I have now become utterly confused. Could it be E.X.? But it was impossible for E.X. to be so familiar with Lieder to the point that he could persuade him to do something this dangerous. This did not make sense.

“Hurry!” Father Yue urged, “We haven’t escaped yet. Don’t let your guard down!”