Soon, he quietly pressed himself against the window.
As Qin Chu expected, an old man sighed from inside the house: "If we can avoid war, we shouldn't fight. Otherwise..."
“Otherwise, most humans will become tools for the vampires to vent their anger.” Qin Chu said directly, and then jumped in through the window.
Noah was startled by Qin Chu's sudden action: "Sir, as a vampire who sneaked into human territory, can you please not be so arrogant?"
It was at a time when war between the two races was about to break out...
Qin Chu replied to Noah nonchalantly, "I'm here to negotiate, not to steal."
Noah paused for two seconds: "No, you look like you're here to kill someone."
The guards and the old man in the room, just as Noah had thought, immediately drew their weapons and pointed them at Qin Chu.
Qin Chu glanced at them, ignoring the guns pointed at him, and continued to look at the old man, saying, "Excuse me for speaking frankly, but most of your people are still starving. Under such circumstances, leaders who choose to start a war are mostly mentally ill."
These words were even more impolite, and Noah covered his face in utter dismay, feeling that Qin Chu wasn't there to negotiate, but rather to start a fight.
The gray-haired lord turned green with anger, but eventually he calmed down under Qin Chu's gaze.
"Prince of the vampires, what is your purpose in coming here?"
"I thought I had made my purpose very clear." Qin Chu, completely oblivious to the fact that he had climbed over the wall, swaggered down and sat opposite the old man. "Put away your weapons, and I will also restrain my people."
The old man was surprised that Qin Chu was so direct. He hesitated for a moment and said, "How can I believe you?"
Qin Chu twitched the corner of his mouth, revealing a cold, mocking smile: "If I were targeting humanity, you wouldn't be able to negotiate with me by now. My meaning is very clear: I'm not asking you to destroy your weapons or withdraw your means of self-defense; I just hope that your human decision-makers can use their brains a little more."
The old man was taken aback by these words. He could actually detect a hint of disappointment in the ironic tone of the sarcastic remark.
The old man looked up and saw only the handsome, aloof face of the young prince. He thought for a moment and said, "No, you need to show more sincerity. I demand that you return the humans to the vampire territory."
"If you cared about those humans, you wouldn't have mindlessly attacked the vampires a few days ago," Qin Chu said slowly.
The old man's hand tightened.
The prince was right. After learning that someone had attacked without authorization, his biggest worry was that the vampires would take their anger out on the humans in their territory.
However, Qin Chu did not dwell on this issue. He simply said, "I will send back anyone who is willing to come back."
“Alright.” The old man nodded through gritted teeth. “When these humans return, I will send three envoys to negotiate with the vampires. This is our way of showing our sincerity.”
This outcome was within Qin Chu's expectations. He didn't say anything more and stood up to leave.
The old man's dwelling was on a high point in the center of the territory. Through the windows of his house, he could see the high, cage-like wall outside and the homeless people sleeping on the ground beside it without any obstruction.
The old man waited anxiously for Qin Chu to leave, but then saw the vampire prince stand by the window for a while before suddenly turning to him and saying, "Do you know what's most detestable about vampires?"
The old man was taken aback by the question, but before he could answer, Qin Chu had already given his answer: "A burgeoning, insatiable desire."
The next second, Qin Chu's figure had disappeared from the window, leaving only a cold voice: "Humans are no different."
"Sir, was this negotiation you facilitated truly effective? Both sides are already prepared for all aspects of war..."
Seeing that Qin Chu had reached an agreement with the human lord, Noah breathed a sigh of relief, but he was still very worried.
"We'll only know if it works by trying it."
After leaving the human territory, Qin Chu quickly returned to the castle and instructed the steward to summon the nobles.
These vampires have been busy with pre-battle mobilization these days, daydreaming about their happy life after conquering human territory. When they received Qin Chu's summons, they thought the prince had finally joined them.
But when they excitedly squeezed into Qin Chu's castle, they heard some terrible news.
"We cannot start a war. We will negotiate with humans in a few days. You should all behave yourselves."
The prince, sitting on the red velvet sofa, was still the same as they knew him: handsome, aloof, and powerful, but they couldn't understand a word he was saying.
This was the first time Qin Chu, in his capacity as a prince, had told the vampires to behave themselves, and as soon as he uttered the words, he saw a bunch of dumbfounded geese.
That wasn't all. A warning beeping sound echoed in Qin Chu's mind: "Warning! Warning! Too many data points have witnessed the character's behavioral deviations. Please be mindful of your character's settings!"
Oh shit.
Qin Chu roared in his mind, gripping Noah's neck: "What kind of weird character design is this?"
Fortunately, the alarm went off automatically after a short while.
Qin Chu was puzzled when he saw the vampires opposite him seem to have figured something out. They looked at each other and their expressions gradually became complicated.
There seems to be sympathy and understanding, but also a great deal of disapproval.
The eerie expressions on the faces of these vampires made Qin Chu's expression grow increasingly cold; he couldn't understand what these creatures were imagining.
Soon, Qin Chu no longer needed to be confused.
Duke Tess, who was at the head of the group, stood up. He gazed at Qin Chu with deep emotion: "Your Highness, even if you have fallen in love with that vampire hunter, you cannot be so lenient towards humans..."
Love, fall in love?
Who did I fall in love with?
Qin Chu couldn't resist and "cracked" the gold-inlaid sofa armrest.
But that didn't appease him; he just wanted to grab the Duke by the collar and tell him, "Don't insult me, thank you."
Qin Chu had no desire to communicate with these love-struck fools. He stood up and left his seat, making a final decision: "Just do as I say."
After leaving the reception room, Qin Chu asked Noah, "How are the character's stats?"
Noah let out a long sigh of relief: "It almost collapsed."
That meant it hadn't crashed. Qin Chu was relieved and asked, "Has the mission progress bar increased?"
"It's gone up!" Noah's voice was excited. "Now it's back to zero."
Qin Chu's expression was a bit blank. After working so hard for so many days, the numbers were finally not negative.
Although some vampires and humans were very dissatisfied with this decision, once the date for the negotiations was set, the previously tense atmosphere dissipated considerably, and things gradually returned to a state of apparent peace.
K was somewhat surprised, not expecting that Qin Chu had actually managed to control the situation.
For reasons unknown, he went to see Qin Chu several times during this period, but Qin Chu was never at the castle.
After strolling around the prince's bedroom, K, as if possessed, glanced at the place in the prince's castle where humans were kept as pets before leaving.
The row of low houses is now empty, and the castle has lost its human presence.
Seeing this, K raised an eyebrow, roughly guessing where Qin Chu was.
Leaving the castle, K rode his horse towards a secluded area. When he reached the border of the vampire territory, he dismounted, hung the reins aside, lifted his robe to block out the light, and looked up at the courtyard in front of him.
This is the courtyard where Qin Chu hid the "stolen goods." The place is quite far away; by the time we arrived, the sun was almost high in the sky.
Since bringing the humans here with Qin Chu, K had never been back. Now, sitting on the wall and looking inside, he was stunned for a few seconds.
Compared to when he last came, there were fewer humans inside, but there were still about twenty.
Among these people were the elderly, young adults, and children. According to their age, they sat in the yard doing what they could. The older ones were washing and mending clothes; the young adults were clearing and cultivating the fields.
What surprised K was what those teenagers did.
Along the opposite courtyard wall stood many targets, and several children around ten years old were practicing shooting at them with guns in their hands. The oldest of these children was seventeen or eighteen, and the youngest was only eleven or twelve.
The smallest one looked very thin and weak. He couldn't even withstand the recoil of the gun. After firing one shot, not only did the bullet miss the target, but the gun in his hand also fell to the ground.
A slender, upright figure walked over, bent down, and picked up the gun.
He placed the gun in the child's hand, half-squatted down, grasped the child's hand from behind, and fired a shot at the target.
With a "bang," the bullet hit the bullseye. The man showed no joy, but coldly pointed to the child's shoulder and arm, saying, "Remember this posture; it will deflect most of the force."
He then ignored the child's suddenly bright eyes, stood up, and left.
There were a few younger children in the yard, who were clearly very interested in Qin Chu. Their initial fear dissipated, and the children's fearless spirit prevailed, so they secretly followed behind Qin Chu.
Qin Chu still remembered his persona of hating humans, and coldly retorted, "Get out of here."
However, it had no effect.
K crouched on the wall, watching Qin Chu being chased all over the yard by the children, until finally, helpless, he climbed onto the roof. He walked over along the edge of the wall and approached Qin Chu.
He glanced at Qin Chu, then at the humans practicing with targets in the courtyard: "Haven't seen you for a few days. Is Your Highness preparing to train a whole courtyard of vampire hunters?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Qin Chu kicked the man off the wall.
What a joke! The reason he dared to train these humans is because they don't know his true identity and only think he's a "benevolent" vampire.
If this guy were to promote it, his public image would probably collapse again.
K could have landed safely, but he didn't. Instead, he used the momentum to lie down on the dry grass outside the wall and watched Qin Chu jump down from the high wall.
The sunlight was so bright it hurt his eyes, and for a moment, K vaguely felt that the scene seemed somewhat familiar.
"What are you doing here? Humans and vampires are negotiating, and you, the hunter, have no business?" Qin Chu looked down at the person huddled in the haystack.
"I never expected that you, a prince, would actually be willing to negotiate with humans." After all, vampires have always prided themselves on their nobility.
"That's my answer. Are you satisfied?"
Qin Chu's voice was cool, and K quickly realized that this person was answering his question from that night.
He squinted at Qin Chu, clapped his hands with a smile, and just as Qin Chu was about to leave, he suddenly asked out of the blue, "Was it worth it?"
"What?" Qin Chu turned to look at him.
K still wore a cynical smile: "If war breaks out, at least half of humanity will die, and vampires will probably be blasted to smithereens. You see clearly that you went to great lengths to stop the war, but..."
"Who do you think would be more grateful to you, humans or vampires?"
Qin Chu paused slightly in his departing steps, without replying.
The hunter's smile deepened, a profound sarcasm hidden in his eyes: "If the vampires knew that their prince was willing to bow down to humans to stop the war, what do you think they would think of you?"
As he spoke, he gestured with his chin towards the courtyard wall: "If the people in the courtyard knew that the one who saved them was a prince of the vampires, wouldn't they be afraid of you?"
Qin Chu turned around and stared at K.
That person is right; every word they said was deadly.
Unfortunately, Qin Chu had a heart of steel. He always did what he thought was right, whether it was saving vampires for a mission or saving humans according to his own heart.
I never thought about these trivial things.
Moreover, he didn't expect vampires and humans to be at peace forever; the children training in the courtyard were his backup plan.
"What exactly do you want from here?" Qin Chu kicked the hunter's shin.