Night had fallen. Whatever dissatisfaction the late-night food lovers at the old street entrance might have, Jiang Yan neither knew nor cared to think about—she was currently busy changing Jiang Yao out of a nightgown soaked with sweat.
Facing Jiang Yao's jade-like warm body, Jiang Yan felt inexplicable nervousness and complex emotions rise within her, persisting throughout the entire process of changing clothes. Though she hadn't exerted much strength, Jiang Yan was already covered in sweat.
The dormant pale golden-haired girl's body temperature fluctuated between hot and cold, her pulse alternating between fast and slow, naturally producing continuous sweat—very different from Jiang Yan's stable deep sleep during her own dormancy.
What surprised Jiang Yan even more was that the intensity of Jiang Yao's aura was still climbing, having reached the lower tier of Attendant level with no signs of reaching its peak!
Over a month ago, Jiang Yan had discovered that Jiang Yao's blood thirst intervals were significantly shorter than her own. Even without using blood-boiling, she needed to consume Jiang Yan's blood every three to four days.
Wan Yue had once said that her blood was a luxurious treat for Jiang Yao. Perhaps this was precisely why her growth was unimaginably fast?
The current Jiang Yao was like a bright lamp in the dark night—the extent of her aura's prominence would probably be sensed by knight-level or higher Blood Clan members from a kilometer away!
Jiang Yan gritted her teeth and retrieved a small box from the medical constant-temperature refrigerator. Inside were two tiny, crystal-clear external hormone suppressants that Wan Yue had specifically given to Jiang Yao.
Perhaps the other party had long anticipated that Jiang Yao would experience this condition.
One external hormone suppressant could work for about twenty-four hours. Though she didn't know when Jiang Yao would wake up, this was no time to consider such matters. Jiang Yan raised her hand and injected it into the other's exposed thigh.
The miraculous underground world concoction of unknown ingredients took effect within just one minute, calming Jiang Yao's pheromone release volume and fluctuation intensity. After an hour, it had weakened to a negligible degree.
Suddenly, knocking came from the living room direction.
Jiang Yan frowned slightly, quietly gripping her dagger behind her back as she approached the door.
Outside was a familiar aura—Sister Tan. Just like during their afternoon encounter, she was still in a chaotic state of blood thirst, perhaps even more severe.
It seemed that Jiang Yao's previous aura intensity had exposed their rental apartment's location, or rather, hers and Jiang Yao's residence had never been a secret to Sister Tan.
When the door opened, Sister Tan stood at the entrance with a fever-like mottled red and white complexion, her thin body even trembling slightly.
"Girl, can you get blood?"
After a long while, Sister Tan finally raised her head, showing a tense expression.
Something was wrong. Wasn't Sister Tan from an orthodox Blood Clan family? How could she lack blood? Jiang Yan's brow furrowed slightly as she unconsciously touched a few strands of hair hanging by her ear—a new habit that appeared whenever she was thinking.
After a few seconds, Jiang Yan slowly nodded.
"How much? I'll pay!"
As if grasping a lifeline, Sister Tan actually reached out and grabbed Jiang Yan's shoulders, her five fingers applying force that made the latter gasp in pain.
A Blood Clan knight's basic physical qualities and strength were incomparable to ordinary people, even without entering blood-boiling combat state.
"200 milliliter packages, 2000 yuan each. I can have them delivered. If it's urgent, I have a few bags at home—I'll go get them!"
Jiang Yan didn't plan to profit from her own channels, directly quoting the price Wan Yue had given her.
Though they'd only met twice, Jiang Yan felt that settling within Sister Tan's feudal territory was currently the best choice.
The other party's true identity was a feudal knight from an orthodox Blood Clan major family. As long as taboos weren't violated, she was indeed a gentle and easy-to-get-along-with type of person.
This could be inferred from how Huang Gu had directly brought them here to settle down. Regardless of why the other party suddenly appeared so distressed, helping out couldn't be a bad thing.
"Good! Thank you!"
Sister Tan's tense expression finally relaxed, with tears actually appearing in the corners of her eyes.
From the living room's medical constant-temperature refrigerator, she retrieved all four 200-milliliter blood bags—enough for Jiang Yan's own use for a month, but now it seemed that for a knight fallen into blood thirst for unknown reasons, it might not be sufficient.
As if having endured for a long time, almost before Jiang Yan's hand letting go of the blood bag, Sister Tan snatched it away. Right in front of the former, she bit open a gap with her mouth and gulped it down whale-like.
After drinking two bags consecutively, her complexion finally eased, then she lowered her head as several tears fell to the ground.
"Sister Tan, come inside to talk."
Pulling the Blood Clan knight, who seemed like a helpless weak woman, into the house and onto the sofa, perhaps influenced by the other's current aura, Jiang Yan felt an indescribable melancholy and sadness rise in her heart.
"Sister Tan, what exactly happened to you? How did you suddenly fall into such blood thirst? Doesn't your family provide blood supply?"
At this moment, Jiang Yan no longer regarded the other as a lofty orthodox Blood Clan feudal knight, but more like an ordinary woman who had suffered grievances and come seeking comfort.
"I... I'm pregnant... I don't know how I could be so careless... A few days ago my pregnancy blood thirst went out of control, and my husband was infected by my blood. He didn't survive... I killed him. I've been exposed now. My family would be too busy abandoning me to help me..."
Sister Tan wiped her tears like a little woman, her body still trembling uncontrollably.
Jiang Yan's pupils first contracted, then her whole body shuddered with chills and goosebumps!
Back during training, Jiang Yan had accidentally come across some peripheral Blood Clan materials, including content about female Blood Clan pregnancy.
While the conception probability was low when Blood Clan females combined with normal people, pregnancy was still possible. Once a Blood Clan female became pregnant, her blood thirst intervals would shorten to almost hourly calculations, and blood intake would also increase linearly, continuing until childbirth!
Children born to Blood Clan females and normal people had at least a seventy to eighty percent probability of being Blood Clan themselves. The Blood Clan pregnant women would also suffer greatly reduced strength, requiring many years of recovery, and would likely stop growing.
Another reason that made Jiang Yan feel cold all over was that she suddenly remembered—Blood Clan females also had menstrual cycles like normal women! During menstruation, Blood Clan females' blood thirst intervals would also drastically shorten.
No wonder when trading with Zhao Peng last time, she had chosen a month's supply and only bought two extra bags for emergencies, yet Zhao Peng's strange expression at the time had puzzled her for a long time.
Whether she and Jiang Yao had truly become Blood Clan females or some deeper level of monsters remained unknown. Just thinking about possibly entering a female menstrual cycle made Jiang Yan embarrassed to the point of shuddering, every pore trembling.
"Sister Tan, it's past midnight now. Why don't you wait outside my shop, and I'll bring you another batch of blood later! Be sure to wait for me!"
Gritting her teeth, Jiang Yan still decided to help the other party. At the very least, she and Jiang Yao also needed to prepare for rainy days!
Sister Tan looked up with a grateful expression, then pulled out a card from her pocket: "Over the years I've lived off family welfare without urgency, so I haven't saved much money. There's 500,000 here—buy as much as this can get."
...
Sister Tan temporarily left, and Jiang Yan went into the bedroom to check on the sleeping Jiang Yao before taking out her phone.
Zhao Peng's professionalism gave Jiang Yan new understanding of Wan Yue's capabilities. In less than half an hour, an SUV stopped downstairs. Zhao Peng was as courteous as always, and without saying any unnecessary words, went straight to business.
This time, Jiang Yan purchased 200,000 yuan worth of blood in one go, completely emptying all the inventory Brother Zhao had brought—a total of one hundred bags!
After simply seeing off Zhao Peng, Jiang Yan carried fifty bags of blood toward the old street that was already empty of people.
Under the dim streetlights, Sister Tan sat alone leaning against the rolling door of the Snacks shop, still looking lost and dejected.
Jiang Yan directly returned the bank card and stuffed the handbag containing blood into Sister Tan's hands: "Sister Tan, you should leave here quickly, or you'll be discovered by Shadow Arrow Force."
Sister Tan silently looked at the handbag in her hands without answering, only wiping tears from the corners of her eyes with her fingers.
Jiang Yan wasn't good at comforting people, especially women. She only squeezed the other's arm as comfort before turning to leave.