Chapter 42

Although they were separated by dozens of kilometers, the light of the lamp was also reflected in Yeto's eyes. She hesitated for a moment, then ran towards the direction of the light.

A few minutes later, Yeto appeared outside the lighthouse town.

The town's gate had not been repaired, and even if it had, the mere five-meter-high wall would have been no obstacle to her. Yeto lightly leaped and silently stood on the ten-meter-high city wall.

The bald sheriff was sitting a few meters away, dozing off with his wine flask and hunting rifle. The strong smell of alcohol emanated from him, clearly indicating he had drunk a lot, and he was completely unaware of Yeto's presence. However, even if he had been sober and fully alert, he would have had no chance of detecting Yeto's existence.

Yeto scanned the town, her eyes glowing. In her vision, the blood energy of everyone in the town was clearly visible. The blood of these people was like a tonic to her, capable of accelerating her recovery. However, there was no high-quality blood in the town, which greatly disappointed her.

But Yeto then relaxed her furrowed brows. High-quality blood meant powerful experts with strong blood energy, and she was not yet capable of defeating such true strong opponents.

Yeto suddenly saw Qian Ye's bar. The sign still had only one character, Sha, faintly glowing, even more dimly than before, but darkness posed no obstacle to Yeto.

"Manju-shage? In such a desolate area, someone actually knows about Manju-shage?" Yeto was a bit surprised.

She leaped up, gliding through the air like a swallow for dozens of meters before starting to descend. After another leap, she was already standing at the bar's entrance.

The door was slightly ajar. When Qian Ye returned, his Dark Blood had just flared up. In his haste to find medicine, he forgot to lock the door.

Yeto was equally curious about this bar. She gently pushed the door open, entered the hall, and scanned the surroundings. Before her deep, fathomless eyes, there were no secrets. She even saw a square hollow under the central floor tile, containing a long briefcase.

She had no interest in the contents of the briefcase. In such a desolate place, it was unlikely to contain any rare treasures. Instead, she was quite interested in the bar's owner. Not everyone knew about Manju-shage, and the special meaning of the term. It would be too difficult to randomly piece together these four characters without making any mistakes.

Yeto walked towards the back of the bar. But after just a few steps, her vision suddenly went dark, and an overwhelming dizziness hit her!

"Such a powerful Blood Shackles! Oh no..." Yeto didn't have time to do anything before she swayed and fell to the ground, losing consciousness.

At that moment, Qian Ye was practicing in his bedroom. He had just withstood the test of twenty waves of primal energy, and was hesitating whether to attempt the twenty-first when he suddenly heard a dull thud from the hall, as if something heavy had fallen.

"Thief?" Qian Ye was a bit puzzled.

The thieves in town were all under Zhao's command. Who would be so blind as to steal from him? Outsiders were even less likely to do so, as they would only target residential areas, not special places like bars and inns. In the Eternal Night continent, special places meant dangerous places.

Qian Ye stood up without a sound, drew a military knife, and slowly walked out. His movements were gentle but steady, completely silent, and his breathing was very slow, even his heartbeat had slowed to reduce the chances of being detected.

When he entered the hall, the recently repaired door was slightly ajar, and there were no other abnormalities, but there was a woman on the floor.

Qian Ye did not rush to approach her. Instead, he walked around the windows and doors to confirm that no one was hiding outside. Then, like a ghost, he slipped through the open door. He did not close the door but placed a thin thread between the two protruding rivets behind the door, and hung a small hand grenade on it.

If anyone rushed in, they would inevitably break the thread and face a spray of hundreds of small steel balls.

After setting up the alert and defense, Qian Ye circled around the woman and approached her from her feet, gently touching her calf.

She had no reaction.

Qian Ye then lightly stabbed her calf with his knife. Her body instinctively twitched, and she let out a low moan, but then had no further reaction. Qian Ye was slightly relieved; her reaction was very normal, indicating that she was indeed unconscious, not feigning death.

Of course, it was also possible that she was a true expert capable of deceiving an experienced hunter like Qian Ye. However, Qian Ye had seen many dark races feign death, and their intelligence and strength were generally proportional. Those with such acting skills would not play games with Qian Ye; they would simply pounce and strangle him.

The Red Scorpion was indeed one of the elite units of the empire's military, but it did not mean they were invincible. Most dark races were individually stronger than Red Scorpion-level warriors, let alone Qian Ye, who was still a novice in the Red Scorpion. In a one-on-one confrontation, the weaker human physique would be at a disadvantage.

After testing her, Qian Ye began to carefully examine the woman.

She had slightly short black hair, and even when curled up on the ground, it was clear she was tall with long legs. Her body was well-proportioned and powerful, with no excess fat.

Such a body did not look particularly strong, but its explosive power was terrifying. Combined with flexibility, coordination, and high speed, it made her the most difficult opponent on the battlefield. Both the main and deputy commanders of the Red Scorpion were of this build, and Qian Ye himself also leaned towards this type.

She was dressed in a deep black combat uniform, the style of which was the standard for the empire's regular combat units, and she wore military boots that reached up to her knees. She carried very few visible weapons, no firearms, just a short knife in her waist and a leather bag.

Qian Ye carefully pulled out the short knife from her waist, then quickly retreated a few meters. Seeing no reaction from her, he began to examine it.

It was a very ordinary multi-purpose short knife, with a serrated back. However, the material was very special, seemingly made from some biological bone, with no metal used at all. The knife was very heavy, weighing about ten kilograms, comparable to a small battle axe.

Qian Ye tested the blade, which was extremely sharp, not inferior to the Red Scorpion's standard issue. Due to its bone blade, it could evade many security system detections. However, its weight would somewhat affect flexibility. In close combat, it might cause the opponent to misjudge, which could be an advantage.

Qian Ye stuck the knife into the floor, and it immediately sank to the hilt with a faint red glow!

Qian Ye was instantly startled! The floor of the bar's hall was made of hard bluestone, and there were no grilles underneath, meaning it was solid and not hollow. He had not used much force, yet the knife sank to the hilt. Could this be a primal energy weapon?

However, no matter how Qian Ye tried to activate it with primal energy, the knife showed no reaction.

Qian Ye then took the leather bag from her waist and opened it. Inside were seven neatly arranged spikes, clearly intended as throwing weapons. The spikes were also made from an unknown bone, with three protruding edges slightly twisted. When thrown at high speed, they would rotate, improving accuracy.

A faint bitter almond smell emanated from the spikes, making Qian Ye cautious. This smell likely indicated several terrifying poisons. If he accidentally cut himself, he knew he might not last a few minutes. The Art of War had no anti-toxin or healing functions.

The leather bag had a hidden compartment containing several neatly cut blood-red crystals, which seemed to have fresh blood flowing inside and emitted a faint bloody smell.

Qian Ye took out a crystal and examined it carefully but could not identify it. He had never heard of it before. However, seeing the fresh red color inside the crystal, he felt his Dark Blood stirring.

Qian Ye was slightly startled and quickly put the blood crystal back, closing the leather bag. The bag was not made of ordinary material; once closed, it completely sealed the bloody smell, not letting any of it out.

Qian Ye squatted beside her, gently running his fingers over her body to ensure there were no hidden weapons. Once he confirmed there were none, he sighed in relief and turned her over.

When he saw her face, Qian Ye felt his heart tighten, as if it had skipped a beat.

It was a face of perfect beauty, reaching the limits of human imagination, making any praise seem superfluous. The moment it appeared, it dominated Qian Ye's entire field of vision and mind, as if the world had been reduced to just this indescribable beauty.

The dark races were not short of beauties. Not to mention the vampires, the mysterious and powerful demon descendants also had many stunning and captivating beings. Among the well-known strong dark races, both men and women often had faces that could topple cities.

Some human scholars tried to explain this phenomenon, suggesting that in the same world, the aesthetics of powerful intelligent races tended to align, rooted in the primal energy of the world.

Regardless of whether this theory had any basis, the fact was that both humans and dark races tended to capture each other as slaves. Especially those who were both beautiful and powerful could fetch sky-high prices, greatly satisfying the desire for conquest.

Qian Ye tried to remain calm, but when he looked at her again, his entire spirit trembled. She had not opened her eyes, but Qian Ye felt as if he could already see her deep, endless eyes, and his entire being, his entire soul, seemed to be drawn into those black eyes, falling into eternal darkness!

Qian Ye was suddenly startled, instinctively retreating, and his back hit the wall hard. He gasped for breath like a person nearly drowning, and then he was drenched in cold sweat.

He almost couldn't tell if what he had just experienced was an illusion or reality.

While she was still unconscious, she could almost make Qian Ye's consciousness believe the illusion was real. What would happen when she woke up?

Qian Ye forced himself to calm down, carefully recalling the feeling, and suddenly realized that there seemed to be an instinctual attraction in it. Her beauty was the perfect ideal that Qian Ye could dream of, no, it even exceeded his dreams, which is why it had such a strong impact on him. For a moment, his true self had been lost. But what was beauty that exceeded dreams? Did such a thing even exist?

Mental Enchantment! Qian Ye thought of another possibility.