69novels Page 9
Page 9
Her living room was spotless. The takeout trash she hadn't had time to sort out after lunch due to urgent work had been collected and was now in the trash can. As far as she remembered, since moving to this city, Margarita had come over almost every day unless she was working outside the city.
Perhaps that's why I've been pursuing her? But if she didn't want that kind of relationship with me in the first place, why didn't she just reject me outright and never come back to me?
Yang Hao couldn't figure out what Margarita was thinking... but never mind.
"What is this... smoked meat?"
"Yeah, smoked meat. I tried it before but it still tasted awful... so I'm giving it all to you."
"I remember you can't eat anything other than blood, right?"
"But I also want to try other things... and even though I can only drink blood, it doesn't mean I can't smell other scents."
Margarita pouted and complained, slapping the seat next to her as she moved the bag of smoked meat on the table aside and placed the bag of flatbread and skewers in the most conspicuous spot. Yang Hao looked at the flatbread and skewers, blinked, and subconsciously wanted to ask where the vegetables were.
Then he quickly remembered that Margarita didn't need to eat green vegetables at all... Sigh. He slapped his forehead in annoyance, then walked over and sat down to Margarita's left.
"Let's make it clear beforehand, don't inhale too much later... I have to work tomorrow."
"Alright! Then I won't be polite!"
She squinted, pushed her hair aside, lay down on Yang Hao's lap, grabbed his right hand, and opened her mouth.
The sharp canines pierced the flesh of Yang Hao's wrist in the next moment. Before Yang Hao could even frown slightly from the stinging pain, a strange, seemingly stimulating numbing sensation appeared at his wound.
It is said that when the Blood Demon hunts with its canines, it secretes something similar to an anesthetic. However, this only blocks out pain. For Yang Hao, who was already used to having his blood slowly drained, it was still a strange experience.
But then again, for Blood Demons... for vampires, does the blood of different people taste different? Yang Hao thought to himself that this was a good opportunity, and reached out his left hand to take his skewers.
"By the way... Margarita, how's work lately?"
'Not doing it? Mmm...'
She made muffled sounds, seemingly unwilling to let go of her mouth anytime soon.
"Sigh... But judging from your recent text messages, your work seems to be going well lately... Oh right, don't drink too much later, I have something for you."
'Hmm?'
"Don't look at me with that confused look... Aren't we best friends? I wouldn't hurt you."
...best friend. Yang Hao felt that his words were a way of defining their future relationship. If she had no objection to the term, then—
He felt his right hand being released.
"Margarita?"
Turning around, he found her wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth with her sleeve, looking at him with a strange, aggrieved expression.
Is he dissatisfied with the relationship as "friends"? Just as Yang Hao was feeling delighted, Margarita said something like this:
"Even if we're not best friends, I don't think Yang Hao would ever hurt me!"
...
It seems her dissatisfaction lies in the level of trust, rather than in the friendship itself?
Yang Hao chuckled dryly, trying to appease Margarita who was angry about it. At the same time, he realized that Margarita did not see him with the kind of feelings he thought she had.
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After the brief incident, Margarita lay on Yang Hao's lap, gently sucking the blood from his wrist again, feeling a pang of unease.
Aren't we best friends? I would never hurt you.
...A friend...?
Margarita didn't want to be friends with him; she wanted something more... but she couldn't bring herself to say it because she couldn't articulate the security she desired in that kind of relationship.
'...I'm so terrible...'
"Huh? What's wrong?"
Margarita knew her personality was terrible... but she didn't know how to change it. She sighed, pulled out her tooth, and muttered to herself, only to be overheard by the man eating a pancake.
She quickly wiped her mouth to indicate she hadn't said anything, but inwardly felt ashamed of her avoidance. After a while, she decided to get back into work mode to regain her composure, so after seeing Yang Hao finish his meal, she climbed off his lap and muttered softly:
"Um... Yang Hao? Let's talk about work-related things first, shall we?"
"Work? That makes sense... Margarita, how large is the natural disaster you discovered?"
“It’s huge…and in fact, some natural disasters have already occurred—but not yet to the point of blocking the city’s roads.”
Once she got into work mode, Margarita became serious. She got up and sat on the sofa opposite Yang Hao, then took out a hastily drawn diagram of a natural disaster from her bag.
Margarita handed the sketch to Yang Hao, and just as she was about to share her insights with the only person she trusted, there was a knock at the door.
Margarita blinked, looking at Yang Hao, who was equally bewildered and had just picked up the sketch:
"Yes, Mr. Jay?"
Margarita knew Jack, after all, he was Yang Hao's good friend. Sometimes when she came to Yang Hao's house, she would see the two big men drinking beer in broad daylight. But Mr. Jack was already married, and the one who could do whatever she wanted to this fat, chubby man was a strong, Waifan woman.
...That lady said their evenings are very fulfilling. So, it shouldn't be Mr. Jack coming now... right?
"I gonna go see."
"I, I'm going too..."
Seeing that Yang Hao was going to see what was going on, Margarita hurriedly stood up and followed him, still clutching the sketch in her hand, and walked towards the corridor.
A moment later, Margarita stood at the corner, watching Yang Hao walk towards the door. She instinctively braced herself for battle, a sense of foreboding creeping into her heart.
Yang Hao was completely unaware of the preparations Margarita had made... He was just wondering why someone would come looking for him tonight, so when he reached the door, he looked through the peephole and saw that it was the familiar Ursus messenger. He scratched his head and opened the door.
Good evening, Mr. Messenger.
"Good evening. This is your package. It's from Lord Koschche."
The Ursus courier, carrying the box, nodded and gave Yang Hao a perfunctory greeting. Then he noticed what appeared to be a person around the corner of the corridor behind Yang Hao. After frowning and judging from his experience, the courier realized it was a Scourge courier—a Sarkaz Scourge courier.
However, since they couldn't see the face, and only vaguely sensed that a weapon like a crossbow was aimed at them, the messenger didn't realize that it was the messenger of natural disaster that they had met once in the wilderness.
"Wow—this portion is a bit heavy... By the way, the cost—"
"Lord Koschche has already paid the full amount for the transportation, so please don't trouble yourself. If you need anything else, please feel free to contact me."
After saying that, the messenger left. Yang Hao, holding the gift box, closed the door, muttering something to himself, intending to open the gifts before continuing his work-related conversation with Margarita.
…………
Meanwhile, in the Dukedom of Ursus Kosichä, Miss Kosichä was in her own palace, lying in bed preparing to rest. She muttered to herself, "We should be here soon," while preparing to see what was going on with Yang Hao.
Yes, Miss Koschei didn't send any snake scales near him—but that doesn't mean she wouldn't spy on his life in other ways. Miss Koschei had her subordinates inscribe an Originium Arts mark on a carefully selected "gift."
That Originium Arts allows her to "see" what's happening in Columbia in a special way. Of course, this is limited to the ability of the statue to remain in its current position—and for Miss Koschei, using this ability is quite taxing.
But that didn't matter. Miss Koschei had already benefited from Yang Hao's gift: she had noticed that the Sarkaz sculpture emitting blue light did indeed possess a certain magic, stabilizing the people of her duchy. Now that Mr. Yang Hao's gift had proven its worth, Miss Koschei would naturally agree to his marriage proposal—she wanted not only his gift, but also the man himself.
...However, one cannot rush things. Although the immortal black serpent didn't want to swallow this man whole, the knowledge gained from her immortality told her that with this kind of man, it was best to maintain an equal relationship while earning his genuine support for her and her cause, and then guide him gently.
"Heh, it seems he's taking me out of the box right now?" Thinking this, Miss Koschlé had already used her Originium Arts and was smiling gloomily as she watched the snake statue she had chosen, now a gift for the camera, being slowly taken out of Yang Hao's hands.
'Oh? What a precious sculpture... We need to find a good place to put it.'
This was the first time Miss Koschei had seen Yang Hao's face. He had short black hair and eyes, with a scar across his left eye that ran from his forehead across his eye and diagonally towards his left earlobe. He was quite handsome—just as Miss Koschei was pleased with herself, she heard a second voice coming from "over there."
'Yang Hao? Who gave you this gift?'
This is?
Miss Kosiché paused for a moment. As Yang Hao picked up the sculpture, she saw that a Sarkaz woman with long, gray, waist-length hair was following behind him.
Or is she a Blood Demon? Miss Koschke blinked dryly as she watched the girl looking around and fidgeting behind Yang Hao.
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Yang Hao carefully placed the gift Miss Kosiché gave him in the safest and most conspicuous corner of the house, then turned the head of the shiny black snake sculpture towards the living room. He nodded in satisfaction while answering Margarita's questions.
Margarita seemed quite concerned about who had given her such a valuable gift—after all, even without professional knowledge, one could tell that the sculpture was precious.
The exquisite details, down to the shape of each scale, the meticulously polished and gleaming stone, and the two red jewel-adorned eyes on the snake's forked head... If it were placed in a Columbia auction house, it would probably be enough to move Yang Hao directly from his current apartment to a high-rise building in the business district of high society.
That's why Margarita cares so much about this gift... right?
“It was a gift from someone else—Margarita. You’ve been working away from home for so long, it’s perfectly normal for me to keep in touch with other people, isn’t it?”
"Well..."
"Stop being stubborn. Sigh, let's get back to work-related issues."
Under Yang Hao's soothing words, Margarita, like a kitten that has discovered its owner has another cat, purred menacingly and obediently returned to her seat.
Yang Hao returned to his seat. He re-examined the sketch Margarita had given him, and in the next instant, he understood that the situation was far from optimistic.
In Margarita's sketch, the road behind the city—leading to the heart of Colombia—was completely covered by an impending catastrophe. This catastrophe consisted of protruding Originium spikes from the ground; in other words, once the catastrophe occurred, the city would have no way to escape and would have no choice but to charge headlong into Bolívar territory.
Furthermore, Margarita also said that some of the natural disasters have already occurred.
“Huh? Yes… some of the natural disasters have already struck.” Margarita nodded, pointing to a corner of the sketch: “When I encountered the messenger team moving earlier, their original path was already blocked by the natural disasters… and they were spikes appearing from the bottom up, you know?”
"Hmm... how many more days until the major natural disaster arrives?"
"The prophecy says... it's the 23rd."
"The 23rd? Hmm... I can only move the city on the 21st... Will I be able to get through the disaster zone?"
Yang Hao selected the "Security Policy" on the evening of the 11th. The policy needs to be completed in 10 days, which means it will be completed on the evening of the 21st.
Only then will he have enough political points to allow the city to retreat... But he doesn't know if, before that, the city's lord and higher-ups will suddenly decide to drive the city into Bolivar territory.
"Uh... should I kill the city lord first? It's just a city lord, if he dies, we can just choose another one... This mobile city is gone, and everyone has to crawl across the disaster zone on foot, huh? What a joke!" Yang Hao thought darkly. If the city lord really did that, he would kill him first.
No one cares if the city lord makes a foolish suicidal move. But Yang Hao cares a lot about Margarita's home in this city after he leaves... And speaking of which, how many political points does killing a city lord cost? Around 20 points—sigh... only 5 points?
Wow, that's cheap! The city lord's life is really worthless!
"For the speed of a city, it's barely acceptable... right?"
Margarita couldn't glean anything from Yang Hao's ever-changing expression. She simply licked her lips thoughtfully, muttering to herself as she pondered... After a while, Margarita came to a conclusion:
"If the city remains here, we can escape back to the heart of Colombia... but if the city moves towards the Bolívar, or in another direction, then..."
"..."
"Yang Hao? Your expression is scary." Margarita blinked and pinched Yang Hao's cheek. "Are you thinking about something scary?"
"I was just thinking, why not just kill the current city lord..."
"No, this won't do! Yang Hao, have you forgotten what happened to the city we escaped from? You, you, you can't do this..."
"Sigh...that's true."
...Simply put, this is not the first time Yang Hao has killed a person of high authority.
He had done something similar when he first arrived in this world, dazed and confused, and ended up staying at Margarita's house because of his injuries. At that time, the city lord suddenly began to drive away the citizens of Sarkaz, and naturally, Margarita, and Yang Hao, who was temporarily staying at Margarita's house, were also driven away.
Driven by rage, Yang Hao killed the first person he had encountered since arriving in this world.
Actually, he didn't know what was going on. He was just thinking, "At least I have to get revenge on that guy before I run away!" when he noticed for the first time that he had something called "political points"... and for the first time, he vented all of his 20-plus political points, along with his anger, on the city lord's forehead.
...Yang Hao didn't remember much about what happened after that. He only knew that the city lord committed suicide the next day in his own outhouse, struck in the chest by 20 crossbow bolts. After his death, six factions emerged in the city, frantically vying for control, and the city naturally descended into chaos... Residents who had once lived in harmony began burning, killing, and looting each other, and the police, who were supposed to maintain order, became the first to storm into a store and rob canned goods...
Knowing that the chaotic city was no longer suitable for living and realizing how terrible the things he had done were, Yang Hao didn't hesitate. After taking enough supplies, he and Margarita escaped from the city that was declared completely abandoned six months later.
Not only did he escape, he also shared his abilities with Margarita... so she knew that Yang Hao was involved in the city lord's death.
So Margarita's opposition is understandable... After all, she finally has a home in this city, and she certainly doesn't want this warm haven to disappear again because of her actions, right?
Thinking of this, Yang Hao sighed, patted Margarita's wrist, and expressed his understanding.
After a while, he said:
"In short, I won't do that unless absolutely necessary. Don't worry, Margarita."
"Eh? Really?"
"Really... Oh right, there's one more thing—"
Yang Hao remembered the blood of the first vampire that he had brought back from the general store.
Wouldn't it be perfect to hand it over to her now?
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