Chapter 2172: Night

Xia De had all kinds of wine on him, the coroner also provided alcohol for disinfecting the morgue, and Mr. Bernhardt provided the suggestion that "mixing them together might be easier to get drunk." So wine and disinfectant alcohol were mixed, and after receiving the blessings of the two vampires, Xia De drank it in one gulp.

For the Outlander now, the power of his physical fitness is not only reflected in the fact that he can easily punch through a wall, but more importantly, he can control his own power.

Even if a high-ring warlock has not specifically learned strange arts

Xia De could, of course, control his own body in this way as well, so even when he was fooling around in bed with high-ranking witches, he never worried that the bed would collapse again... as long as he was careful not to be as crazy as that time. In short, controlling one's strength and controlling one's body's reaction to alcohol are both manifestations of qualified self-control.

Therefore, after he drank that glass of terrible-colored liquor, a twisted expression appeared on his face that, in the eyes of Mr. Bernhardt and Mr. Albert, was extremely difficult to describe in words. Xia De shook his head, and then his entire face began to turn red:

"I bet that what I just swallowed is even more violent than the fire at the earth's core."

"Look at what he's saying; I bet he's already drunk."

Mr. Bernhardt finally breathed a sigh of relief, while the coroner cautiously held up three fingers in front of Xia De:

"What number is this?"

Xia De, experiencing a strange, slight dizziness, blinked his eyes:

"Three."

"Very good, let's start the plan."

Miss Belinder had already marked on the map the location where the vampire beast might appear tonight; it was the vast Lower City area on the west bank of the Taton River, centered on Herring Street.

Xia De changed into the "drunkard's clothes" provided by Mr. Bernhardt and walked staggeringly into the "Dog Bark Tavern" on Herring Street at eight o'clock in the evening. Not long after, he walked out again, staggering, while carrying a bottle of black-bottled rum.

By this time, he had already used illusion magic to disguise himself. Of course, Xia De could not be stupid enough to pretend to be a noble lady or the like in the Lower City so late at night, so his appearance at this moment looked more like that one-eyed Ms. Anne Bonny from the "Princess Trading Partners."

To prevent trouble caused by her actual appearance, Xia De also slightly adjusted his specific features, striving to make the best disguise without attracting trouble.

The coroner, Mr. Albert, had to be on duty tonight, so he did not follow, and only Mr. Bernhardt was responsible for support from a distance. Xia De also knew that the possibility of encountering the monster's attack as soon as he went out was very low, so after staggering out of the tavern, he leaned against a gas street lamp by the road, pretending that he was too drunk and needed to rest for a while.

Both vampires said that the smell of blood on Xia De now could be spread by the wind, so Xia De specifically chose a windy spot. Feeling that he had stayed long enough, he carried the wine bottle and walked staggeringly toward the bank of the Taton River.

【Just pretending to be drunk isn't convincing at all; do you want to say something?】

"She" asked with a gentle smile, so Xia De began to mumble things like "Why don't I have money" and "Those damn thieves." But after saying it for a while, he felt that this didn't look like the reaction of a drunk person, so he turned to hum the Delarion folk songs he had heard in a quite off-key voice. The lyrics were naturally made up on the spot; Xia De hoped to show the vulgarity of a drunken bastard:

"A cat ran over from afar,

Meowing and eyeing my jujube,

I said, cat, do you like to eat birds?

If not, then catch fleas for me."

【A bit too vulgar.】

"She" reminded him with a hint of reproach.

"Um... sorry."

So Xia De just hummed and hawed.

He soon arrived at the street along the river. In response to the City Hall's call for "energy conservation," the street lamps along the river were now in a state of intermittent extinguishing. Because of this, the riverside street at night appeared dimmer than ever before. Coupled with people's worries about the current situation and the rumors that "the Taton River is filled with countless unlucky ghosts," when Xia De arrived at this street, there wasn't even a single person on the road.

He stumbled toward the railing by the river, then leaned over the railing and made retching sounds. With his head hanging down, he pretended to have fallen asleep while leaning on the railing. Xia De praised his own performance as very exquisite in his heart, but unfortunately, after "falling asleep" on the railing for more than ten minutes, he still hadn't attracted the target.

So he let out a long "hum" again, pretending to be awakened from a dream. He looked left and right, then carried the wine bottle and walked along the street toward the south. As he walked, he said some things that even he himself couldn't understand, occasionally mixed with criticisms of the government and the royal family, as well as some desires for sudden wealth.

After walking two hundred meters, Xia De simply let his legs go soft and lay directly on the stone bench by the river. His hands slowly climbed over the bench, letting his body crawl onto the bench like a bug. After lying down, he pulled a crumpled newspaper from his pocket and covered himself with it. Then he curled up his legs and slept directly on the bench. And on the page of the newspaper facing upward, it was, by a very strange coincidence, a photo of Margaret.

【I feel like you are very skilled at doing this kind of thing.】

"She" said again in Xia De's heart. Xia De, who was maintaining his breathing sounds with his eyes closed, tried hard not to let his breathing frequency become disordered:

"If I hadn't inherited the detective agency and had just run away, my initial plan would have been to find a place like this to get through the night... why hasn't it come yet."

Xia De, who was quite persistent, lay on the riverside bench for more than an hour on this summer night with a very low temperature. When the time approached ten o'clock in the evening, and his feeling of being slightly drunk had long since disappeared, a strange feeling of being watched finally appeared.

Ring-wielding sorcerers with high perception can easily detect the act of being "watched," and at this moment, Xia De only felt the gaze that suddenly appeared and was watching him, as if it were licking his skin. This feeling was quite uncomfortable. Even if Xia De tried hard to imagine this as Little Mia licking goat's milk, he had to control his body so that goosebumps wouldn't appear.

"What direction?"

【The distance is too far, wait a moment.】

It was said to be a moment, but it was only a second.

【Northeast rooftop, the target used illusion magic. I can't see the specific appearance at the moment, but it is highly likely the same person you and that witch encountered in the alley last Sunday.】

In Xia De's curled-up state, his face was facing the direction of the Taton River, so that thing was staring at his back.

【The other party moved, turned into a swarm of bats and landed... it entered an alley in the blind spot of vision... it walked out, in the appearance of a blonde woman with a high nose bridge.】

"Also illusion magic?"

【No, transformation magic.】

The sound of high heels hitting the road was not masked at all. The humanoid monster with the "blonde hair and high nose bridge" walked straight toward Xia De. And Xia De, curled up on the bench, also seemed to have woken up in a daze because he heard the footsteps.

Before the woman got completely close, he sat up while supporting himself on the chair, his left hand still holding that bottle of black-bottled rum.

"Ma'am, are you okay?"

The "woman" with blonde hair and a high nose bridge asked. Xia De let the newspaper covering him be blown away by the wind, looked up at her, and then had to admit that the other party was really good at transformation. Her appearance couldn't be called very beautiful, but she had a lot of affinity.

"I'm fine, just a bit drunk."

Saying this, he tried to stand up staggeringly, and the humanoid monster also naturally reached out to support Xia De:

"I can't let you go back by yourself so late. Where do you live? Shall I take you back? Girls should help each other."

"I'm fine, really fine, okay, I guess I really am a bit drunk."

The two walked together toward the alley without a single light where the woman had appeared. And the moment Xia De's figure was completely obscured by the shadows in the alley, the "woman" who had been supporting him turned her head and opened her mouth, the flames of desire in her eyes ignited:

"My dear, you are truly beautiful; I want to give you a kiss."

Inside the opened mouth were the fangs of the vampire race, and it bit Xia De's neck in one go.

But after a light sound, Xia De exploded into a swarm of red butterflies on the spot. The "woman" who missed the bite widened her eyes in surprise, and then the black wine bottle that exploded from above her head made her scream directly:

"Black blood!"

What was in the bottle was not rum, but another kind of alcohol with a bloody smell. The alcohol stained the woman's skin, and the skin immediately began to fester and reveal the flesh and blood tissue wrapped beneath the skin.

"Black blood" is a peculiar magic potion specifically used to deal with vampire races, and it has only a small amount of toxicity to races other than vampires. In addition to "external use," one can also drink the magic potion to make the blood vessels in one's body possess the toxic components of "black blood" within a few hours, so as to ambush those vampire races that dare to suck blood.

The formula for this peculiar magic potion is strictly held in the hands of the 【Vampire Cult】. This finished magic potion was a support item sent by the Willundale side to Mr. Bernhardt.

And the effect of this magic potion was even better than Xia De had imagined. Although the moment the wine bottle exploded, the vampire monster summoned a gust of wind that blew away at least one-third of the alcohol, the remaining liquid poured onto its body, and in just a few seconds, its flesh and blood collapsed like it was melting before Xia De's eyes.