Chapter 44: Chapter Forty-Three: Arriving at the Destination

He glanced back one last time at the big house, then Su Qing flicked his whip and spurred his horse into a gallop.

He went all the way out of Budapest, and only when the sky was faintly light at dawn did he reach the abandoned factory where he and Selinna had previously hidden.

"What a hassle." He carefully closed the door, Su Qing's face full of apprehension and lingering fear.

Being a vampire is fine in every way, except that dying in sunlight—this point is really fucked up.

No matter if you're a Blood Clan elder or a progenitor, as long as you're directly hit by sunlight, even if you don't die, you'll still shed a layer of skin.

Speaking of his own mutant cancer transformation.

No, it should be the primal bloodline; sometimes looking at it, it's just like that.

When devouring and merging other bloodlines, besides gaining the compatible bloodline's strengths and abilities, one also fully inherits its weaknesses.

Really, aside from merging bloodlines, there's truly nothing else to evolve about.

But upon careful thought, once more bloodlines are fused later, it might not be impossible to resolve those weaknesses one by one using the strengths of other bloodlines.

But are there other bloodlines in this world?

Thinking this through, Su Qing involuntarily recalled that morning's newspaper he had seen.

Titanic……

Forget it, overthinking is useless; for now, just focus on the present.

He shook his head, Su Qing composed himself, and took out a small vial containing Selinna's blood from his bosom.

In the world of darkness, the three great elders of the Blood Clan each have an ability: they can read a person's memories through blood.

He now possesses the progenitor vampire's bloodline, so naturally he also has this ability.

Before leaving, he asked Selinna for blood, intending to read her memories to obtain the location of the prison holding the progenitor werewolf William.

He pulled the stopper, and Su Qing poured the blood directly into his mouth.

In an instant, many memory fragments flashed through his mind—scenes of Selinna in a meeting room, the two of them enjoying themselves in bed… and finally, Selinna playing as a child.

"Huh..."

He exhaled, Su Qing came to his senses, and now he knew the exact location of the prison.

It lies deep in the mountains, a desolate place with no inhabitants; riding hard, one could get there in about a night.

That's good news, but downloading the progenitor werewolf's bloodline consumes a huge amount of energy, so preparations must be made.

Selinna didn't come along this time, so he had to figure it out himself.

However, this is simple enough—just spend some money to buy a batch of livestock and head to the prison.

When the time comes, if he's hungry, he can just bite and suck blood directly.

After mulling it over silently for a while and finalizing his plan, Su Qing found a spot and fell into a deep sleep.

In broad daylight, with Selinna nowhere around, aside from taking care of himself, there was nothing else to do.

Time flew by; in the blink of an eye the sun had set behind the hills, and the moon rose on the horizon.

Su Qing left his hiding place, mounted his horse, and set off again.

This time, with a clear direction, his speed noticeably increased; the horse had strong night vision, so there was no need to worry about it straying into a ditch.

Thus, traveling all night, he finally arrived at the small town nearest the prison at five in the morning.

The town wasn't big—looking like about a hundred households.

At this hour the sky was still early, but women had already risen to prepare breakfast for their families.

The sound of Su Qing riding his horse into the village quickly drew attention.

Seeing people opening their doors to look around, which suited his purpose, he spoke up: 'My family is about to hold a grand banquet and needs a large number of livestock; anyone who has livestock can bring theirs, price is no problem.'

Upon hearing this, those who had merely been observing hurried out of their doors to come closer and inquire.

And Su Qing answered each one; when he saw people hesitating because of his skin color, he directly pulled out a stack of 'Hungarian forints' (the Hungarian currency).

This was given to him by Selinna before they left, telling him to spend it freely; if he felt it wasn't enough, he could simply take a sack to the storeroom and fill a sack without any problem.

He truly embodied the phrase 'treating money like dirt' to the fullest.

What he had struggled desperately for before crossing over, now he can simply take whatever he wants—it's a complete reversal.

If he weren't a vampire now, human currency would be of little use to him and would be cumbersome to carry.

Otherwise, Su Qing would hardly be able to resist actually hauling a sack to fill with money.

As the saying goes, whoever has money is the big boss.

When they saw Su Qing holding that five-foot-thick stack of Hungarian forints, the townsfolk instantly set aside their worries, patting their chests and telling 'Old Master Su' to wait a moment—they would immediately bring their livestock for him to choose from.

Seeing this, Su Qing nodded.

Then, under the enthusiastic invitation of the town mayor, he temporarily went to the mayor's house to rest.

Where there's money, there's motivation—this saying applies at any time.

Under the incentive of money, the townspeople needed less than half an hour to bring all their livestock to the mayor's house.

Seeing the sky faintly whitening on the horizon, Su Qing sped up and began selecting livestock.

Actually, there wasn't much to pick; he passed on the tiny chickens and ducks, and kept all the larger livestock such as sheep, horses, cattle, etc.

Next came the bargaining round.

Back in Dayingguo, because he didn't understand the prices of this era and his money came too easily, he accepted whatever price the shop quoted and never thought to haggle.

This time, during the eight days from Belgium to Hungary, since night travel left him with plenty of idle time, Su Qing specifically asked Selinna about pricing matters.

Thus, he also came to know the basic prices in Hungary.

After a ten‑minute verbal battle with the scholars, Su Qing spent half of his money and successfully bought sixty‑one head of livestock.

After finishing all that, the sun on the horizon also rose.

Traveling nonstop is impossible.

Su Qing stayed at the mayor's house, citing the reason that he was extremely exhausted from traveling all night.

Time again passed hurriedly; when the sky grew dark.

Su Qing waved goodbye to the townsfolk and drove a large herd of livestock out of the town.

Because the livestock were of various kinds, some with poor night vision, they moved slowly all the way.

However, since the town wasn't too far from the prison, after traveling overnight for eight or nine hours, Su Qing still arrived at the prison at four in the morning.

"Ah, finally here."

Standing on high ground, looking down at the vast stretch of broken eaves and crumbling walls, after comparing with his memory and confirming it was correct, Su Qing couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

Speaking of it, driving the livestock really is a skillful task.

If it weren't for the deterrent effect of his own vampire bloodline, he might not have made it here tonight.

After a brief moment of feeling, seeing the sky just about to turn light (white‑fish belly), Su Qing hurried into the ruined prison, found a relatively intact room, and locked up the livestock to prevent them from running loose.

After finishing with the livestock, the sky was already fully bright.

Seeing that, Su Qing had no choice but to find a place to hide.