A lady raised her voice and said, "Oh, your door was just open. My doorman was in a sack all day and has only just been released."
Noah: "...Are you really that arrogant?"
Qin Chu, without batting an eye, shifted the blame: "I didn't do it." It was so heinous that it was obvious who the accomplice was.
As I walked down, I listened to all the complaints coming from the courtyard.
As Noah listened, he wiped away non-existent cold sweat, fervently praying in his heart that no one would discover that Qin Chu was behind it.
If only a few people know, it's fine, but if many people know, it'll be impossible to keep it a secret.
After a long string of complaints, the people in the courtyard calmed down a bit.
Noah was just breathing a slight sigh of relief when someone called out to Duke Tess, "Your Grace, we almost got into trouble at your banquet. Why do you look even worse than us?"
This man was absolutely right; Duke Tess's mustache stood on end.
Upon hearing someone mention him, the Duke angrily waved his hands, causing the ruby on his chest to sway: "You've only lost some humans, do you know what I've lost?"
"I also lost two carriages and eight horses! That damned horse thief..."
Before the harsh words could be finished, a familiar neighing sounded from the castle's stables. Instantly, several vampires in the yard turned their heads and stared at the horse.
Noah was startled and cried out to Qin Chu, "You could have just ridden your own horse back, why did you bring back the one you stole?"
"Did I ride it?" Qin Chu walked quickly downstairs. It was clearly K who rode it back.
“You two have slept in the same bed, so what’s there to be afraid of riding a horse?” Noah continued, heartbroken.
Qin Chu nodded: "Understood, I'll make him run back later."
Before Duke Tess could go over and acknowledge the unruly horse as his relative, the door to the reception room opened, and Qin Chu stood behind it, attracting everyone's attention.
"Come in."
Those two simple words calmed down the somewhat agitated vampires present.
Despite enduring such a terrifying attack last night, the prince remains handsome and powerful today. Although his face is a bit cold, it doesn't matter much.
To Qin Chu's surprise, when the gate opened, the first to enter were not these indignant nobles, but eight little vampires who were not even as tall as Qin Chu's waist.
Looking at the kids he hadn't seen for a few days, Qin Chu felt a bit of a headache.
He looked up at the ladies and asked, "Why did you bring the children here at this time?"
Having just been bombarded with criticism, yet daring to take the child out today, this goes beyond being careless and is heading straight for stupidity.
"Is there really any hope for this race? You should just switch to another mission." Qin Chu couldn't help but grab Noah and give him a scolding.
Noah let out a soft "Eek," and said, "Sir, I think there's still a chance to save him."
Upon hearing Qin Chu's question, the ladies replied matter-of-factly, "Your Highness, studies cannot be neglected."
The expressions on their faces when they said this were exactly like those of the parents in Qin Chu's memory who forced their children to attend tutoring classes.
For a moment, Qin Chu felt a little sorry for those eight little radish heads.
But soon, Qin Chu's sympathy shifted to himself.
He heard the ladies say in unison, "Your Highness, there is nowhere safer than by your side, so we have decided that the child will stay with you for the time being!"
Hearing such words of trust and reverence, Qin Chu's cold face suddenly cracked, as if he wanted to write "I refuse" on his face.
Chapter 39, Second Story (14)
Despite his reluctance, Qin Chu feared that if another round of bombardment came one day, these vampire cubs would be lost by their careless parents.
He waved his hand, signaling the butler to take the child back first, before taking his seat at the head of the table and asking everyone present, "What are your thoughts on yesterday's events?"
"Only lowly humans would steal in broad daylight!" a vampire exclaimed indignantly.
Qin Chu's forehead twitched, and he brushed the matter aside: "I was asking about what happened at the banquet."
Only then did the vampires present force themselves to confront that nightmarish scene.
But when they looked up and saw the prince, who showed no signs of pain, the fear of the nightmare gradually dissipated, and their faces slowly revealed a provoked anger.
"Unforgivable!"
"Born to be food, who gave them the courage to rebel?"
"We must defeat them!"
Anger festered in the large living room. As Qin Chu watched the vampires grow increasingly indignant, his brows furrowed slowly.
As expected, he had never understood this strange race. Yesterday, they encountered a weapon that offered them almost no resistance, and now, instead of thinking about how to protect themselves, they actually tried to fight back.
"Noah, are they really not out of their minds?" Qin Chu asked.
Noah had no rebuttal and squatted to the side, pretending to be dead.
In the living room, several powerful vampires were exchanging barbs, looking as if they were about to start a war.
"Leaving land for humanity to take itself is a mistake."
"It's time to make them realize their true identity as slaves."
These arrogant words made Qin Chu's eyes light up with disgust.
He raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, then asked in a cold voice, "Then, which of you has a way to deal with the weapons that humans displayed yesterday?"
The atmosphere in the living room froze upon hearing this cold, impersonal question.
But the atmosphere only froze for a moment before it became lively again.
A woman laughed out loud: "Your Highness, as long as you are here, we are not afraid of any weapon. Because you, who are powerful and eternal, will never abandon us."
Upon hearing this, Qin Chu was stunned.
He put down his water glass, lifted his eyelids, and looked intently at each of the vampires present.
Seeing their relaxed expressions and the unreserved trust in their eyes, a huge sense of absurdity rose in Qin Chu's heart.
He knew these people weren't joking.
Their relationship with the prince was not like that of believers worshipping a god, but rather like that of children depending on their parents.
"Noah, do I have a way to refute their claims?" Qin Chu asked.
Noah paused for a moment, then gave a negative answer: "Because of your established persona, you cannot refute it."
Noah then hurriedly added, "Your recent behavior has deviated significantly from the data body, so please be sure to restrain yourself."
very good.
Qin Chu clenched his fingers, suppressing his anger.
The meeting veered off course, and Qin Chu came out of the meeting room just as the little vampires were finishing their first class.
As he passed the room that was being used as a classroom, eight short, chubby little creatures rushed out and surrounded him completely.
Qin Chu's attitude towards them was quite strict, but these eight brats clearly didn't learn their lesson and were as enthusiastic as ever whenever they saw Qin Chu.
Noticing Qin Chu's bad mood, Noah couldn't help but comfort him, "Sir, as long as you exist, the survival of the vampires can be guaranteed, which is actually a good thing. Although you can't fundamentally change this race, given enough time, the mission progress will eventually pick up."
After glancing down at the "artwork" presented by the little brats for a while, Qin Chu stuffed the messy stuff into the butler's hands and said to the little vampires, "Go to class."
Watching the children leave, Qin Chu replied to Noah.
He started by saying something unrelated: "Do you know what the old man said to me on the first day he adopted me?"
"What?" Noah asked curiously, as Qin Chu rarely talked about his relationship with the old marshal.
"He said that although we are now legally recognized as father and son, I will still have to do everything on my own in the future, and he will not be too involved in my life." Qin Chu stood by the window and looked at the stars in the night sky.
He paused for a moment before continuing, "At first, I just thought he was talking nonsense, and even assumed that he must have lost a bet, so he had nothing better to do than adopt a child."
Noah remained silent; he was born too late and knew little about the early days of the military.
"Later I found out that he was very old and had injuries." After glancing at the stars again, Qin Chu turned around and continued walking forward. "He was destined to leave early, and I still had to face what happened on my own. So... he couldn't help me walk forward."
Qin Chu's steps were firm, and Noah inexplicably felt that Qin Chu already had his own plans for this very tricky task.
After Duke Tess's banquet, the humans did not attack again. However, K, who usually traveled between the two sides, clearly sensed that an unusual atmosphere was gradually brewing in both territories.
The vampires were prepared even earlier than the humans. The town's nightlife was disrupted, and all the vampires gathered in the castles of several noble families, staying there all night.
K curiously peeked inside and discovered that it was actually a pre-battle mobilization meeting.
The leading nobleman spoke with fervor, as if he could already foresee their future of indiscriminate blood-sucking. However, whether these vampires were too arrogant or too brainless, they were completely unprepared with any weapons.
Someone asked, "What if we fail? Humans do have dangerous things to deal with."
The leading nobleman replied matter-of-factly, "With the prince here, how could we fail? The prince will choose to protect us."
Hearing these words, K, who was hiding to the side, suddenly remembered the bloody wound on Qin Chu's back.
He chuckled to himself, thinking, "Your efforts are truly worthwhile."
K left silently, then turned and climbed back into the prince's castle.
The tense yet exciting atmosphere within the territory did not affect the castle; the eight newborn vampires in the courtyard were still playing as usual.
K stood on the wall for a while, tossing stones and tripping half of the eight little vampires before idly stopping. He then slipped into the open living room.
K walked into Qin Chu's bedroom as if he knew the way well, opened the bedroom door and glanced inside.
There was nothing on the bed.
It wasn't in the coffin either.
-
Qin and Chu are enduring Noah's howl.
"Waaaaah, what do we do! Commander, is it really impossible to complete the mission in this world? Should we cut our losses and leave as soon as possible?" Noah panicked as he saw the two races were about to fight.
He had originally planned a long-term battle, but then humanity produced that weapon, which directly cut off his and Qin Chu's plans.
"Shut up." Qin Chu's head was throbbing from the howling. "It's all because the data entity you found is too trashy. It can't even kill a single vampire."
Not only can we not kill them, but we also have to unconditionally fulfill their wishes, which is extremely frustrating.
He took out the scribbled symbols K had given him, and his figure flashed rapidly in the night, heading towards the old human lord's residence. The reason he hadn't given up on this mission was because when he last met this lord, Qin Chu could sense that the man didn't actually want war.