Chapter 747: Shocking Change Part 1 (1/2)

Qianye and Nighteye found a random hotel and quickly settled in. In accordance with Port City’s bizarre architectural style, these so-called large hotels occupied large areas of land, but they were far from elegant.

The furnishings inside them were simple, crude, and nowhere near exquisite. From the walls and floors to the furniture, almost everything was made of wood. There was little to no decoration in the establishment, but it could still be considered quite clean. Qianye was at first worried that Nighteye wouldn’t get used to it—vampires were famous for favoring good taste and pleasure after all. Yet she said nothing about it and quietly settled her luggage in.

Qianye still felt a bit odd about the hotel’s simplicity. He walked around the room, touching and knocking on the walls. The echo from it was vacuous, meaning that the walls were hollow.

“Strange.” From the reverberations, Qianye sensed four metal pillars hidden in the four corners of the room. He walked to a corner and poked a hole in the wall with his finger, eliciting a metallic ding.

As expected, the room was supported by a metallic frame, which was almost a rarity in the neutral lands. This would sharply increase the construction costs of this building. Even in the highly industrialized empire, metallic frames would only be used in military facilities and rarely in civilian architecture. This hotel had used such a valuable framework, and yet, its decorations were so crude—this was inconceivable.

Qianye was just about to knock on the wall again when a sudden roar erupted from the room next door. “Why the hell are you knocking? Will you let me sleep or what?”

Qianye was startled, not expecting the sound-proofing to be so bad. But he thought more about it and realized hollow walls probably couldn’t isolate sound. He was thinking about apologizing, but the string of unbearable profanities caused his expression to turn gloomy.

Eventually, the man wasn’t satisfied with just verbal abuse. The door to Qianye’s room flew open and a half-naked man with dense chest hair rushed inside. “Your ruckus has disturbed my afternoon nap, how the hell do you want to die?”

The first thing he saw after entering the room was the vampiric blade Nighteye had placed on the table.

Although the dagger was still sheathed, the exquisite decoration on its exterior was enough to draw his attention. The fine patterns carved upon it were even finer than hair—even people who were unfamiliar with the goods could tell that it was of extraordinary value. The craftsmanship of the sheath alone would be worth thousands of gold coins even if the blade inside was a kitchen knife.

The burly man’s breathing became heavy.

His eyes shifted about as he cried, “Isn’t this my knife!? How come it’s here? How bold! You actually dare to steal my knife! You’re going to rot in prison for this. Return the knife and apologize to me. Maybe I’ll let you off if I’m in a good mood.”

He was already reaching for the vampiric blade while spouting all of this.

Qianye and Nighteye exchanged glances. From the very beginning, this man had been running a one-man show without giving them the chance to talk. Looking at this fellow who had ignited only four origin nodes, Qianye really couldn’t figure out where he had gotten all that confidence from. To avoid unnecessary problems, Qianye and Nighteye had restrained their aura to rank six after arriving at Port City.

Rank six could be considered a moderate power level in the neutral lands, easily capable of working for a major power as a small unit leader. Such a rank was the focus of recruitment for many factions and would allow one to live a fairly comfortable life anywhere. Even as a hunter, there would be no shortage of groups to take them in. Traveling at this level would reduce petty troubles without drawing too much attention. This man, however, seemed to be an exception.

Too lazy to spend time on a rank-four fellow, Qianye immediately caught the man’s hand and gripped tightly.

The burly fellow felt as though his hands had been locked by an iron hoop. In a flash, his bones started to creak and groan, eliciting a miserable scream akin to a pig being butchered.

Qianye had no intention of being lenient. He added more power to his grip and crushed all the bones in the man’s hand before kicking him out of the room. The burly chap smashed into the pillar outside, sending the entire hotel trembling from the impact.

This ruckus caused many people to crowd over. Seeing the burly man lying on the ground, someone whispered with a tinge of schadenfreude, “Oh? He’s finally encountered someone who’s even more unreasonable?”

A nearby companion tugged at him, saying, “Speak less. Are you looking for even more trouble?”

The manager of the hotel rushed over with a couple of guards. Upon seeing the man collapsed on the ground, he said to Qianye with a cold expression, “Why are you causing trouble here?”

“Me? Causing trouble? I’m still wondering if this is a hotel or a bandit hideout.”

The manager’s expression changed drastically. Before he could act out, however, the burly clambered up, shouting, “You dare attack me? Just wait and see! My brother is the vice-captain of the law enforcement unit. You’re dead meat!”

The people around weren’t too surprised. Apparently, they all knew about this man’s identity. Most seemed to feel sympathy for Qianye, but there were naturally those who took delight in his plight.

Port City’s power structure was no different from an independent city—the city lord was comparable to a king, the city guard defended against external threats, and the law enforcement unit was in charge of maintaining internal order. A vice-captain in the law enforcement unit was at least rank eight or above. As for the captain, only a champion could shoulder the rank. In terms of strength, a vice-captain was capable enough to be the guard captain or deputy-mayor of a small rural town.

This man was relying on his identity to run about unbridled.

Qianye paid him no attention and merely stared at the manager. “How will you compensate me for my losses?”

The manager was startled. He then said with a cold smile, “Wait till the captain comes, I’ll pay whatever he says I should pay.”