557 Chapter 557: Family Reunion (1/2)

Nan Gong Zhao Yan was running through the smoky remnants of the wrecked castle. She had just barely left the entrance, which had been melted through by my Serpenta's acid, when she caught sight of her sister.

Nan Gong Ji Yan was currently sitting at the back of a medical vehicle, which had been customized into a military ambulance, a towel wrapped around her filthy body. Clearly she had ben sedated, for her eyes were blank and she was silent as hell. She looked up to stare at her approaching sister hollowly, not a hint of recognition in her eyes.

”Careful,” the medic warned Zhao Yan. ”She is in terrible psychological shape. We have treated her physical injuries – they were mostly minor, though there are signs of lesions and abrasions in her groin area.”

In other words, she had been raped. Xu Wu Cheng, that bastard…I was so glad that I had killed him. Death was the least he deserved.

”But her spirit is broken,” the medic continued grimly. ”Her mind…her sanity has snapped. I have cast a sedative spell on her to calm her down for now, but…honestly, it's not looking good.”

Healing spells, though near miraculous, did not have any effect on the mind. Magic wasn't some kind of cure-all – it did not cure insanity or heal mental damage. Nothing could. There was no sanity magic or whatever. Yeah, there was mind control magic and hypnotism, but those did not help somebody regain their sanity. That just transformed the targets into tools that you controlled and manipulated, not restore their individual self.

Zhao Yan sobbed as she embraced her deeply traumatized sister.

”Ji Yan…I'm sorry.”

I felt a flare of anger inside me. Call me callous, but none of this was Zhao Yan's fault. She shouldn't be apologizing. Even though I felt sorry for Ji Yan and did not think she deserved this tragic fate, it did not excuse her from her betrayal. She should be the one apologizing to Zhao Yan, not the other way around. She brought this upon herself. She betrayed Zhao Yan and the Guang Zhi Yi Sect, causing the deaths of her seniors.

Hell, she was directly responsible for the deaths of so many students in Saint Teresa Academy. All because she was jealous of her sister…all because she wanted to preserve her…I don't know her reputation or because she didn't want to get into trouble. Yeah, Xu Wu Cheng was a bastard for blackmailing her, but to think she put her own self-interests above the lives of so many people. Was sacrificing her schoolmates worth staying out of trouble?

But she chose to be raped, abused and tortured by Xu Wu Cheng instead of snitching on him. That made no sense whatsoever. I guess she would rather be tormented by a bishounen vampire than get into trouble with the authorities. It was all right if the other party doing the abuse was a handsome and powerful vampire, huh?

I honestly didn't understand what went on the minds of these shoujo manhua artists and authors.

Hell, Ji Yan would have happily sacrificed her own sister, even to the extent of drugging her and allowing her to be killed alongside with the other students. If it weren't for Zhao Yan's own Mary Sue plot armor, which came in the form of Fan Le Lao's keen interest in her, she would have died with the rest. And I had a feeling that Ji Yan couldn't care less.

Zhao Yan's sisterly affection was wasted on her.

”Zhao Yan! Ji Yan!”

To my surprise, Professor Nan Gong Jiao Shou appeared. He sprinted across the mass of military vehicles that were parked around the exterior of the vampire castle. There were no tanks or armored assault vehicles, in case you were wondering. When you had human mages capable of casting spells that were way more powerful than a tank shell (just look at me firing off nuke spells) and defensive barriers sturdier than any physical armor, tanks were pretty much obsolete.

So the majority of the military vehicles were transports. Hovercrafts that had skimmed over the canopy of trees in the wake of the soldiers, arriving right after the attack. They had been held back, the military mages and mercenaries moving through the forest on foot, so that the enemy wouldn't be alerted of the attack. After all, there was no better way to tip them off than to have an armada of hovercrafts flying toward their base in full sight. Even if we had invisible spells that could cloak them visually, the vampires would probably still hear the noise of their engines.

Nan Gong Jiao Shou must have arrived aboard one of these hovercrafts. Ignoring stunned soldiers and astonished mercenaries, he rushed toward Zhao Yan and Ji Yan.

”Dad! What are you doing here?!” Zhao Yan's eyes widened and she rose to her feet to allow herself to be embraced. Her father lowered into a crouch to sweep the still catatnonic Ji Yan into a family hug.

”Why wouldn't I be? Of course I would be participating in the operation to save my daughters!”

Oh, right. I remembered Yue Jian informing me that her father had left the apartment that she and her mother currently resided in, supposedly to find out more information on the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan and rescue his daughters, who had been taken hostage.

”Dad…”

”What happened to Ji Yan?” Nan Gong Jiao Shou stared at her, trying to take in her blank stare. The medic briefly explained to him what had happened and he grew furious. ”Who raped her?! Who hurt her?!”

”Xu Wu Cheng,” I replied. He jumped and turned to me. I shook my head. ”I already killed him.”

”…I see.” Nan Gong Jiao Shou's shoulders sagged. ”I suppose I should convey my gratitude.”

”You should.” Teresa Taylor sidled toward us. She was almost silent, gliding through the throng of running soldiers like a phantom. ”Richard, Rossetti and Kufa are the ones who tracked the vampires all the way back to their base, and called us in. If it weren't for the coordinates they had provided, we would never have located their base.”

Nan Gong Jiao Shou turned back to Rossetti and me. Kufa and Saya was also nearby, having run out of vampires to kill, and Teresa Taylor gestured for them to join us. As they did, the professor lowered his head humbly.

”Thank you…I really can't thank you enough. You helped rescue my daughters…”

”Yes. Thank you for saving me and my sister.” Beside him, Zhao Yan bowed her head as well. Rossetti, Kufa and I all waved our hands frantically.

”Don't worry about it!”

”We only did what anyone else would have done.”

”We didn't really do anything, really!”

”Didn't really do anything?” Teresa Taylor barked out a laugh. ”Not only did you help us locate the elusive location of the enemy's base, Richard, you and Rossetti defeated both Xu Wu Cheng and Fan Lee Lao – the two highest ranked vampires in the youngest generation. Fan Le Lao is the prince of the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan too. You have no idea how much of a blow you did to the Dark Church by helping to annihilate one of their most powerful allies.”

”That was…luck.”

”Luck? Defeating Xu Wu Cheng is one thing, and you seem to have beaten him three times. Tracking him back to his base is another feat worthy of praise. And then you even defeated the vampire prince himself…too many consecutive achievements to merely write off as luck, don't you think?”