The Blood Hunters were well-prepared, making the battle exceptionally difficult. By the end, the entire hotel was littered with corpses, and Ji Zhaoming could hardly distinguish whether the bodies belonged to them or the Blood Hunters.
As Ji Zhaoming walked towards Gu Yunzhou and Gu He, his calf bumped into someone.
Ji Zhaoming looked down.
He recognized the face; it belonged to a vampire who had been following him since the first day he woke up.
For a fleeting moment, Ji Zhaoming felt his breath catch in his throat. He began to doubt whether his actions were correct and whether it was necessary to negotiate with the Blood Hunters.
"Your Majesty?" Gu He wiped the blood off his body, came to Ji Zhaoming's side, and asked, "What is Your Majesty thinking about?"
Ji Zhaoming blinked, looked at Gu He, and asked softly, "It seems we've lost quite a few people this time."
Gu Yunzhou walked over to Ji Zhaoming and patted Ji Zhaoming's head with his large hand.
Gu He seemed to understand what Ji Zhaoming was trying to say, and laughed, "Not bad. Even if it's not today, it will be in the future. Let's just consider ourselves vampires as good people who cleared the way for the Blood Hunter Guild."
In fact, not only the vampires, but also the Blood Hunter Guild leader immediately sent some people to help after returning. Since he did not know who else in the Blood Hunter Guild had ulterior motives, he sent his trusted confidants.
Although they were few in number, they were among the strongest in the Blood Hunter Guild, and with their combined strength, the vampires did not suffer too many casualties.
Ji Zhaoming knew that what had happened was already done, and there was no point in apologizing or regretting it now. Ji Zhaoming asked, "What about the corpses of these vampires?"
Without the presence of the vampire prince, the corpses of vampires would only be reduced to ashes, otherwise their energy would overflow, which would be bad for both humans and vampires.
The vampires have almost gotten used to this.
Just as Gu He was about to speak, he suddenly realized who was standing next to him.
No matter how weak Ji Zhaoming may seem, he still did what a vampire prince should do in a battle, and now, their corpses have been collected.
"The king can simply reclaim the energy from them."
Only a vampire prince can suppress vampire energy.
As Ji Zhaoming was retrieving these energies, the remaining vampires swarmed forward, surrounding their king in the very center, watching as their companions' energy was taken away one by one.
It wasn't the cruel method of blood hunting; the whole process was unusually peaceful, like...
I returned to where I was supposed to be.
Gu He pulled over a vampire: "The vampire corpses that the king has taken back, bury them under the castle."
“Okay,” the vampire agreed, then asked, “Yes, should we bury him directly?”
Gu He and the vampire looked at each other.
Gu He was a little unsure for a moment: "Right?"
They were used to the vampires' corpses disappearing without a trace, so when the king suddenly arrived, they didn't know what to do.
"Let me help," Gu Yunzhou sighed deeply.
Gu He retorted, unconvinced: "You did it?"
Gu Yunzhou: "Mm."
To the Blood Hunter Guild, he was a lone wolf, but before being picked up by the Blood Hunter Guild Master, he had witnessed the deaths of many of his companions and had helped collect their bodies.
After this energy entered Ji Zhaoming's body, it was not absorbed by Ji Zhaoming, but was swallowed up by the system that emerged, causing the system to instantly grow much larger.
With the last bit of energy gone, Ji Zhaoming straightened up: "Okay—hmm?"
He saw that the vampires around him were eagerly crowding around.
Ji Zhaoming had never experienced such an enthusiastic scene before. Even in previous worlds, such as with robots, people would try their best to restrain their enthusiasm to avoid frightening Ji Zhaoming.
Although Ji Zhaoming wouldn't be intimidated by these things, he was still a little at a loss when faced with such straightforward enthusiasm.
Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly met the eyes of these vampires.
There was no sadness; it could even be described as joy.
Ji Zhaoming opened his mouth in a hoarse voice, calmed himself down, and then asked with a smile, "What are you doing?"
"Watching how the King takes away the energy," one of the vampires exclaimed in surprise. "So that's how it can be done! Does that mean that as long as the King is alive, we'll always have a place to belong?"
Ji Zhaoming was taken aback.
The vampire continued, "That's not bad either. At least there will be something to worship in the future. Hmm, but it seems that vampires don't have this tradition? No, it's because there was nothing to worship before, so having this tradition wouldn't have been useful."
System: [Your Majesty, I have collected a lot more energy; I can leave this world at any time.]
However, after waiting for a long time without receiving a response from Ji Zhaoming, he called out again: "Your Majesty?"
Ji Zhaoming asked, "If I leave, will the vampire clan be without a prince again?"
The system was silent for a moment: [Your Majesty, this is a fake world.]
This is the first time the system has spoken so bluntly.
Ji Zhaoming asked, "What about the data on the people here? Where did it come from? Who wrote it?"
The system went silent instantly.
Ji Zhaoming knew, of course, that this was a fake world. The problem was that even in a fake world, the emotions of these people seemed real, so real that Ji Zhaoming wondered if these people, like him, had been dragged into this world.
This is why, even though Ji Zhaoming suspected that this was an illusory world, he never had any intention of taking advantage of the people around him.
If there truly were a dataset that could be indistinguishable from humans, genuinely hating what one dislikes and genuinely liking what one likes, then what exactly would differentiate this dataset from humans?
Ji Zhaoming wanted to figure these things out before deciding when to leave.
He didn't want the vampires to lose hope the moment they gained it.
If that's the case, it would have been better if he hadn't shown up in the first place.
Ji Zhaoming then asked, "Who is Gu He?"
The system pretends to be offline.
Ji Zhaoming looked at the small black ball in his mind and sighed deeply.
It wasn't impossible to pull him out, but considering that the system was created by Gu Yunzhou and would certainly not harm him, he didn't do so.
He asked the vampire beside him, "Have the corpses of the other vampires... been recovered?"
"Not yet, Gu He is counting them."
Ji Zhaoming: "What about those vampires who died before?"
The vampire asked incredulously, "Your Majesty intends to...?"
Another vampire quickly chimed in, "Yes, there are still many vampire corpses. Even if the relationships among vampires are terrible, they are still a race, so a special area was set aside to house these vampires."
The first vampire to speak said, "Your Majesty, that place is dangerous. The energy of a vampire after death is too great, so even if there is a special place for it, the result is still terrible."
Because of the large amount of energy gathered, all the vampires who died were unable to avoid the explosion, and their deaths were gruesome.
Even so, there are still vampires who hope to go to that place after they die, as it would be a final resting place. So apart from the dying vampires, other vampires stay far away from that place.
However, what stood before them was Wang Ai.
The vampire looked at Ji Zhaoming with shining eyes.
Ji Zhaoming said to the system: "I'll retrieve these corpses and then leave."
*
System: [Task complete, connecting...]
Ji Zhaoming woke up in a place filled with the smell of medicine. The first thing he saw was a snow-white ceiling. Sunlight streamed in through the window, mixed with the smell of medicine, making him want to go back to sleep.
This scene felt strangely familiar to Ji Zhaoming. After thinking for a long time, he realized that this was exactly what it looked like when he entered the first world.
Ji Zhaoming twitched the corner of his mouth.
"Ji Zhaoming? You're awake?" Someone nearby heard the voice and quickly turned around. Seeing Ji Zhaoming's confused eyes, they rushed over and said, "You scared me to death!"
Ji Zhaoming recognized the person in front of him as his roommate: "Zhang..."
“It’s me, it’s me,” my roommate said. “I thought you weren’t going to wake up. Luckily, nothing happened. You’ve been asleep for so long, don’t say anything yet. I’ll call the doctor right away.”
The doctor came and performed a series of tests, confirming, "There shouldn't be any problems. Let's wait another week and see how things go. If there are no problems, you can be discharged."
At this point, he couldn't help but shake his head with a smile: "You're really lucky. Don't you ever look at traffic lights when you're walking? But it's strange, considering how serious the accident was, you... never mind, just take good care of yourself."
Ji Zhaoming nodded and was wheeled back into the ward.
My roommate asked, "What's wrong? You seem a little distracted since you woke up."
Ji Zhaoming grunted in response.
He always felt like he had a very long dream, and he couldn't remember anything after waking up.
He was about to shake his head when he suddenly looked towards the door.
A man knocked politely on the door.
Your roommate turned around and smiled, "Ji Zhaoming, this is the person who saved you, his name is Gu Yunzhou."
Chapter 77·Extra·
Gu Yunzhou, always at your service.
Chapter 77
Gu Yunzhou met Ji Zhaoming one summer.
Actually, that's not entirely accurate. Before the next meeting, Gu Yunzhou had observed Ji Zhaoming for quite some time.
This is someone who is quite different from others. Her parents divorced and didn't want to take care of her. They hired a nanny to take care of her and, apart from that, just sent her money.
Ji Zhaoming wasn't the most miserable person Gu Yunzhou had ever met, nor was he particularly happy. There were far too many people like him in the world; Gu Yunzhou had seen far too many of them. They would all grow up to be sensitive, withdrawn, and have eccentric personalities.
Gu Yunzhou could easily deduce Ji Zhaoming's future life.
Just as he was getting bored and trying to look away, he suddenly met Ji Zhaoming's eyes.
There wasn't a trace of dissatisfaction in his eyes; it was as if he could only see the light and kept running forward. Gu Yunzhou couldn't help but wonder, would the light in his eyes ever go out?
Once curiosity took hold, Gu Yunzhou's mind was filled with Ji Zhaoming. He followed Ji Zhaoming for a long time, watching him go from being alone to having many companions, and suddenly felt jealous.
Why isn't he standing next to Ji Zhaoming?
As Gu Yunzhou watched helplessly as Ji Zhaoming's companions grew larger and larger, yet he still found no place to stand, his dark side began to surface. However, when he saw Ji Zhaoming's eyes, he suppressed his emotions.