9 Knocking on the Door

Ye Ming was relaxing in the Count's castle. He had no idea that his portrait had been circulating in Marquis Andrew Brujah's territory.

The next day, the owner of the Blood Coffin store delivered Ye Ming's Blood Coffin to the Count's castle as promised. After Ye Ming had confirmed that there was no problem with the coffin, the two completed the handover procedure.

"Thank you very much," Ye Ming smiled and said to the boss.

"You're very welcome. If you find yourself needing a bigger Blood Coffin in the future, don't hesitate to look for me. I'd be very happy to help you."

"Of course."

With the newly-obtained gold coins in his pocket, the satisfied Blood Coffin store owner left the Count's castle. He seemed to be in excellent mood. He hummed a song that had been passed down for millennia among the Vampires on his way back. 

When he arrived back in the city of Lahmia, he suddenly stopped. A group of Vampires were congregating outside the city, seemingly talking about something among themselves. That piqued the store owner's curiosity. He walked over to the crowd to see what they were discussing.

He soon found out that the Vampires were talking about a notice posted on the wall.

"It's unbelievable, Marquis Andrew Brujah is actually offering a hundred gold coins for information."

"That's right. I heard this guy actually killed Marquis Andrew 's underlings. He sure has guts."

The chatter in the crowd failed to grab the attention of the Blood Coffin store owner, because he currently had his full attention on the portrait on the wall.

'This man... Isn't he the guy who just bought a Blood Coffin from me? He killed Marquis Andrew Brujah's underlings?! Oh my god, I can't believe it! I'm about to get 100 gold coins all to myself!'

The Blood Coffin store owner rejoiced inwardly. He instantly pushed his way out of the crowd and ran towards Marquis Andrew Brujah's ancient castle.

He was stopped by the guards at the castle. The Blood Coffin store owner, panting heavily, said, "I'd like to see the Marquis. I know the guy who killed his men."

When the guards heard that, they immediately let him into the castle. The butler happened to be heading for a meeting with the Marquis at that moment. When he saw a guard bringing in a stranger, he asked, almost instinctively, "Who is this person?"

"Sir, he claims to know who the wanted criminal is, so I'm taking him to see the Marquis."

The butler, upon hearing this, immediately got excited. He knew that if he were to personally catch the criminal and hand him over to Marquis Andrew, he would surely be rewarded handsomely. "I see. There's no need to disturb the Marquis. Leave this matter to me."

The guard did not display any doubt. He left the man with the butler and retreated back to his post.

The butler told the Blood Coffin store owner, "I'll send someone with you. Lead them to the criminal."

"But...what about the money?"

"Don't you worry. After we catch the guy, the Marquis will definitely reward you."

The Blood Coffin store owner pondered for a moment and agreed. After all, he just had to bring some people to the target to identify him and did not need to catch the target himself. It would still be easy work for 100 gold coins, so why not?

The butler sent four relatively powerful clan members to go with the store owner. By his estimation, this was already a very strong team. They should have no problem taking down the target.

The group of five did not speak much along the way. The store owner led them straight to the Count's castle.

"This is the place," the store owner pointed to the front gate of the Count's castle and said.

"What's his status here?" A rather handsome-looking Vampire among the group asked.

"He seems to be just a lowly servant," replied the store owner.

"So he's no one important? There's no need to hold back, then. I believe the Count won't mind," said another Vampire with a muscular body.

"You go and call for him. We'll ambush him outside," said a female Vampire to the store owner.

The store owner was rather reluctant to do that. He had no wish to involve himself in this matter. He just wanted to verify the target's identity as quickly as possible and then return right away to get his reward. He did not know these Vampires would ask him to lure Ye Ming out.

He was reluctant, but for the sake of money, he still ended up doing it.

At that moment, Ye Ming was about to lie down in his new Blood Coffin for some training, just to try out the Blood Coffin's effect. He had just lain down when someone woke him up, telling him that the Blood Coffin store owner was looking for him outside.

Ye Ming was puzzled. He had paid the money for the coffin in full, so why would the store owner come look for him again? In any case, he still went out to meet with the store owner.

He saw the store owner standing outside and was about to ask him what he was here for when all of a sudden, a man flew out from the shadows of the castle, coming straight for Ye Ming. Thanks to Ye Ming's sharp senses, he immediately reacted with {Eyes of Terror}. The person who lunged at him stopped in mid-air, and then started uncontrollably voicing out his heart's desires with his face scrunched up in agony. Seizing the chance, Ye Ming quickly pulled out the Vampiric Dagger and stabbed him in the chest.

The man did not even manage to let out a scream before his body turned into a dry corpse. While Ye Ming was dealing with that Vampire, two more rushed at him from other directions. None of them anticipated that their ally would be killed in the blink of an eye. They both pounced on Ye Ming in anger.

{Embrace of Pain}!

Ye Ming turned his head and launched his new skill at the newcomers. An invisible wave instantly strucked the two Vampires. The female Vampire was unable to resist this mental attack and fell to the ground wailing, her hands grabbing her head. The male Vampire gritted his teeth and endured it while continuing to advance towards Ye Ming, but his movements had become significantly slower. Ye Ming dodged his attack and stabbed the Vampiric Dagger into his heart from the back.

"AAARRGH!" The male Vampire let out a cry of anguish. Ye Ming pulled the dagger back out and almost immediately dashed towards the female Vampire. Suddenly, he felt a cold breeze coming from his back. He did not turn around but instead used his momentum to leap forward. With a forward roll, he managed to avoid a blow from the handsome-looking Vampire.

Ye Ming turned around and threw the Vampiric Dagger like a throwing knife. A cold ray of grey pierced into the abdomen of the good-looking Vampire. He swayed a few times before falling to the ground, dead.

Ye Ming retrieved his dagger, then finished the last enemy remaining, the female Vampire. The Blood Coffin store owner was long gone; he had escaped when he saw Ye Ming kill the first Vampire.

Looking at the dry corpses on the ground, Ye Ming made the decision right then and there to leave the Count's castle. His whereabout had been exposed, so he had no choice. Without any hesitation, he turned around and headed in the northwest direction towards the city of Hardy, a territory of the Malkavian clan. The Malkavian also belonged to the Camarilla sect like the Brujah, but there were still differences between the two.

On that dark night, Ye Ming traversed the road alone. The shiver-inducing howl of wolves could be heard occasionally, but Ye Ming was not afraid. At some point, his path took him to a deserted cemetery. Ye Ming's eyes suddenly lit up, because much to his surprise, he found a treasure chest sitting under a cross. Paying the beep of the system notification in his brain no heed, he came to the treasure chest and ordered the system to open it. Inside, he found a vial of Count Blood Essence and a Count Fang.

Ye Ming was ecstatic. He did not expect to get so lucky and could not believe a random cemetery like this would actually contain a treasure chest. As such, Ye Ming decided to search the cemetery to see if he could find more.