Chapter 15: Shifting Thoughts and Download

The night river was silent and still, smooth as a mirror, reflecting a full round moon.

A stray dog walked to the riverbank, looked around, found no danger, lowered its guard, and prepared to drink deeply.

Suddenly, a huge black shadow drifted beneath the water not far away.

Seeing this, the stray dog instantly felt something was off; from years of wandering, it judged that something extremely dangerous lurked in the water.

Forgetting its thirst, it turned, sprinted with all its might on its four legs, and vanished into the darkness after a few dashes.

And just as the stray dog disappeared into the shadow,

Two black shadows broke through the water's restraint, leapt out, and then heavily smashed onto the dry ground beside the river.

"Cough cough…"

Su Qing's breathing was a bit hurried; he accidentally inhaled river water and choked, coughing violently.

But he didn't have time for himself; he hurriedly sat up and looked at the person beside him.

He saw Selinna soaked, sitting limp on the ground, her face deathly pale, even her lips devoid of color.

Without a word, she closed her eyes and collapsed backward, limp.

Su Qing quickly grabbed her back, checked her breath, found it weak, and her body icy cold.

The situation is bad!

His heart tightened; he hugged Selinna, stood up, and surveyed the surroundings.

Earlier, to escape the werewolves' pursuit, Selinna had brought him into the river, where they had swum underwater an unknown distance; it seemed they were still inside the city.

On both sides of the river were lit streetlights.

The streetlights illuminated the road beside them, and the roadside was lined with rows of buildings.

Neon lights flickered on those buildings; looking closer, there were perfume shops, skin-care stores, jewelry stores… They had arrived at a commercial street.

After confirming the location, Su Qing carried Selinna onto the street and walked straight into a clothing shop.

Upon entering, he said nothing else, flung out a soaked hundred pounds, and said, "Give me two sets each for men and women; the rest is yours."

Out of respect for the pounds, the shop owner stopped his scolding about Su Qing wetting the floor, took the money without a word, and soon had everything ready.

"Sir and madam, take it easy…"

Ignoring the shop owner's strange look, Su Qing took the packaged clothes and hurried off to find lodging.

After turning onto another street, Su Qing finally saw the inn's sign and immediately strode over.

Five minutes later.

Su Qing entered the room, locked the door behind him, and laid the unconscious Selinna on the bed.

Then he examined Selinna's injuries: on her back near the shoulder blades were four deep gashes; from being soaked in water for a long time, they had turned pale and weren't bleeding, but the bone was visible; her waist and abdomen also had several wounds of varying depth, and elsewhere there were no fewer than seven or eight injuries of various sizes.

Such injuries would have killed an ordinary person long ago.

That is, Selinna is a vampire; her special constitution and strong vitality allowed her to last this long.

But it only buys a little time; without prompt treatment, even a vampire cannot escape death.

Su Qing was not a doctor and had no such training; he didn't know how to treat wounds, so he only took off Selinna's soaked clothes, dried her with a towel, and put her in dry clothing.

After doing all that, his previously scattered mind finally cleared.

"Damn, being stupid at a critical moment."

Cursing under his breath, Su Qing immediately went out to look for blood.

He remembered that in the Black Night movie there were several shots where a vampire, after being shot, sucked blood and used its self-healing ability to push the bullet out of its body.

That is to say, Selinna's condition now doesn't need suturing or the like; as long as she gets enough blood, her internal self-healing will automatically activate to heal her wounds, leaving no scar.

…………

Fifteen minutes later, Su Qing returned to the room.

At that moment he held a large glass bottle filled with scarlet liquid that was still steaming.

"Good."

Su Qing went to the bedside, saw that Selinna's breathing was normal and her injuries hadn't worsened, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Without hesitation, he gently opened her icy lips and carefully poured the bottle's fresh blood into her mouth.

As the blood flowed into her mouth, Selinna instinctively swallowed; before long she had drunk the full two liters of fresh blood.

With the blood activating her self-healing, her pallid complexion quickly regained a healthy flush at visible speed, and her weak breathing grew strong.

"Phew!"

Seeing this, Su Qing finally put his mind at ease.

Actually the blood in the bottle was horse's blood; he had bought it for twenty pounds from a street coachman who hauled passengers.

He had originally worried that feeding horse blood to Selinna would be ineffective, but now it seemed unnecessary; her reaction was the same as in the movie.

In the Black Night Legend, there is a very humanizing setting.

That vampires do not necessarily have to drink human blood; they can also consume animal blood or the blood of their own kind.

As far as I recall, the vampire progenitor Marcus initially also fed on livestock blood to fill his stomach.

One could say that blood for vampires is merely a key to trigger self-healing, and a replaceable food.

Therefore, the vampires in the Black Night series are not that strongly driven by blood; they can fully live in cities, run companies, open research institutes, have jobs, marry ordinary people, and need not expend great effort to resist the lure of human blood as the vampires in another work called *Twilight* do, nor do they need to drink blood on a schedule.

Even in the Black Night series, he has never seen a vampire hungry and clamoring for blood.

Once Selinna was out of danger, Su Qing finally had leisure to tidy himself up.

First he took off his wet clothes, then went downstairs and asked the innkeeper to prepare a big meal.

After eating, he returned to the room, sat in a chair, and gazed at the person on the bed, his eyes flickering with changing thoughts.

Recalling everything that happened tonight, Su Qing's heart could not stay calm for a moment.

Back then, five werewolves surrounded them; even if Selinna couldn't defeat them, she could easily break out.

But she didn't do that; instead, she wholeheartedly protected Su Qing, never abandoning Su Qing even as wounds kept appearing on her body, and in the end she even bore a werewolf's claw, taking Su Qing and jumping into the river to escape the werewolf's pursuit.

Selinna's unwavering loyalty deeply moved Su Qing, giving him the idea of helping her avenge the annihilation of her sect.

Although saying this might sound unpleasant, earlier he was just thinking of using her up and then running away.

Thinking that once the bloodline download is complete, he'll look for a chance to run off and go solo; as for following Selinna to Hungary to meet some historian, sorry, my life comes first—I'm out.

Hungary, as the main battlefield where vampires and werewolves fight, Su Qing hadn't even had time to hide—how could he actually go there to deliver himself?

But now, the lifesaving grace, the unwavering loyalty…

Forget it, overthinking is useless; now only action can prove it.

He shook his head, and Su Qing silently opened the light curtain.

The precondition for helping Selinna is strength; without strength, everything is empty fantasy, and even one's own life cannot be controlled.

Just like tonight, being chased by werewolves like a stray dog, yet still needing Selinna to desperately save him.

So…

「Sky Base！」

Forget it, even if it means death, I won't be so spineless anymore.

Su Qing gritted his teeth; with a thought, the light curtain appeared before him, and without hesitation he chose—Selinna's high-level vampire bloodline download.

And at the moment that thought fell, his vision went dark, his entire vitality seeming to be slowly and firmly drained, his chest feeling as if a huge stone weighed upon him, his whole body slumped in the chair, his consciousness gradually fading.