TN: I forgot to mention this in another chapter, but "Xiao Yao" is supposed to be used akin to "Little Xiao."
In the deep night forest without moonlight, the intermittent chirping of insects drifted through the air, along with the sound of bodies brushing against the undergrowth.
Carrying the unconscious Gu Yao on his back, Xia Yan didn't even know how he was doing it. Just when he thought he couldn't go on, he managed to squeeze out a few more traces of strength from his body.
Struggling to climb to the top of a hill, he finally collapsed onto the grass like a rag doll, with Gu Yao sliding down to lie beside him.
Looking south, in the distant valley, the abandoned factory where an intense battle had occurred hours ago was brightly lit, and he could vaguely hear helicopters patrolling overhead.
Earlier, when crawling out of the underground factory, Xia Yan had discarded most of their belongings including their communication devices, keeping only a pack containing emergency medicine, a water bottle, and several high-energy food bars, along with his handgun and dagger.
"Brother..."
Gu Yao let out a low moan, seeming to regain some consciousness, though still confused.
Xia Yan touched his forehead and exposed arms, finding them ice cold.
Feeling his own skin, he found the same coldness, except for his eyelids, which radiated feverish heat. For a moment, he wasn't sure if his fever was worsening or if this was the body's temperature dysregulation during blood infiltration.
As the early summer mountain breeze blew by, Xia Yan couldn't stop shivering. Seeing Gu Yao trembling on the ground as well, he gritted his teeth, hoisted him onto his back again, and continued toward the dark mountain ridge on the other side of the hill.
A small cave hidden by bushes and weeds appeared in the circle of his tactical flashlight. Delighted, Xia Yan cut away the obstructing branches with his dagger, pulled Gu Yao inside, then turned back to cover the entrance with the cut vines and branches.
By the time he finished, Xia Yan felt his body soaked with sweat, and the sense of exhaustion grew stronger. Almost every muscle was twitching, making it impossible to maintain balance. He leaned against the cave wall, his eyelids feeling as heavy as lead from the overwhelming drowsiness.
"No... I can't sleep... can't sleep..."
In the darkness, Xia Yan weakly tried to reach for Gu Yao's body, but just as his fingers brushed against the edge of his clothes, he lost all sense of touch.
He felt his body suspended in air, alternating between hot and cold, rising and falling like a roller coaster. In his hazy consciousness, he kept hearing the creepy sound of something tearing, followed by excruciating pain spreading throughout his body from deep within his marrow, as if every cell was being ripped apart by an overwhelming force from within.
Xia Yan lost consciousness completely.
...
...
A few rays of morning light filtered through the gaps in the vines covering the small cave, falling on a pale and dirty face, rousing the sleeping person's eyelids.
"Mmm..." Xia Yan opened his eyes slightly to find daylight outside the cave.
Slowly sitting up, his body still retained traces of numbness. Though his mind remained semi-dazed, the feverish ache and chill from before had disappeared, replaced by a burning hunger in his stomach and dryness in his throat.
Turning his body, he noticed the stickiness inside his black combat suit, which emitted an indescribable fishy odor, as if he had sweated out a lifetime's worth of foul perspiration during his few hours of unconsciousness.
"Brother... thirsty..."
From beside him came a soft, weak murmur.
Xia Yan instinctively moved closer, hazily touching the other's forehead.
It's not too bad, nothing special. Xia Yan wearily opened the water bottle attached to the pack, unscrewed the cap, and directed it toward Gu Yao's small mouth while stroking his smooth forehead and soft white hair.
A sense of something unusual suddenly flashed through Xia Yan's foggy mind. He opened his eyes wide and turned Gu Yao, who was leaning against him, completely around.
The black combat suit that once fit perfectly now enveloped a much smaller, softer body, looking loose and baggy. A sour, fishy odor of old sweat emanated from every seam of the uniform.
Long white hair half-covered a delicate and dirty little face. Though lacking luster, the slightly dehydrated cherry-like small mouth was nonetheless charming. The arms were soft and weak, with small hands exposed from the sleeves showing delicate, fair skin.
"Who are you? Am I delirious from fever?"
Xia Yan wondered if he was still feverish and hallucinating. The person before him was clearly not Gu Yao, but a young girl in her early teens.
"Brother... it hurts... so cold..."
The girl in his arms murmured softly again, her voice so gentle it seemed capable of melting anything.
Staring at the girl in a daze, Xia Yan heard an unfamiliar voice in his ears. His hands gradually tightened, pulling the trembling body closer to himself.
At this moment, Xia Yan's own body also shuddered slightly, and several strands of long, glossy black hair fell from the side of his face.
Xia Yan froze, freed one hand to grab the hair strands, and slowly moved upward, feeling their smoothness.
Looking down at his chest, he felt an unusual pressure where the young girl was leaning against him.
"It's okay now. Sleep a bit more, and you'll feel better after sleeping..."
Xia Yan closed his eyes, muttering softly, as if speaking to the unfamiliar girl in his arms, but also seeming to remind himself. A few seconds later, he dozed off again.
...
"Who are you!?"
In his hazy state, Xia Yan felt a sharp, burning pain against his neck skin, and a sense of crisis instinctively exploded in his mind.
Consciousness awakened body memory. Xia Yan suddenly grabbed in one direction, twisted, then caught a soft arm with his other hand, turned his body, and pinned the other person down with his whole weight.
Only then did he hear the clear metallic sound of a dagger falling to the ground.
"Don't move!"
Xia Yan regained full clarity, firmly controlling the girl beneath him. His eyes showed both relief and confusion.
"Who are you... where's my brother..."
The white-haired girl gritted her teeth, her voice gloomy yet soft with weakness.
"Xiao Yao?"
A chilling thought suddenly exploded in Xia Yan's mind. He flipped the other over and stared intently at those beautiful, large eyes with long lashes, then slowly released his hold.
"Brother? Is that you?"
The white-haired girl sat up rubbing her wrists, looking at the black-haired girl before her whose black uniform was clearly too large, her small mouth gradually widening in disbelief.
"We've... turned into... vampires?"
Gu Yao extended both palms, examined them for a few seconds, then touched her face and white hair, her expression showing hints of terror and confusion.
"Maybe... or something worse..."
Xia Yan smiled bitterly, looking down at herself and shaking her head helplessly.
Two orphaned boys with different surnames who grew up together in the same orphanage, miraculously both having rare blood types, miraculously reuniting in the Shadow Arrow Force after entering society, and finally, miraculously transforming into female vampires after a bizarre blood infiltration.
"It's almost noon, we must leave this mountain area as soon as possible!"
Xia Yan parted the weeds and bushes at the cave entrance, peering outside while grabbing the pack.
"Brother, something's not right. Why aren't we afraid of sunlight? Isn't it said that most blood infiltrations result in becoming the lowest-level blood servants, and blood servants' skin changes color on contact with natural light?"
Cautiously extending her arm into the beam of white daylight entering the cave, she felt only a faint, barely perceptible stinging sensation, with no other notable changes.
"Nobody knows what the result will be after being blood-infiltrated by that monster," Xia Yan shook her head, not knowing the answer either.
After all, vampires are a mutated human species that have been in secret conflict with humans for over two thousand years, and new terrifying mutations occasionally emerge.
At least in the materials Xia Yan had access to, she had never heard of such a phenomenon.
"Brother, so are we... stuck like this?"
Gu Yao stared blankly outside, her mind in chaos.
Three days ago, she had proudly brought her excellent evaluation from the training center, applying to join the Xuan Jia Squad of the Western Surveillance District. But on her very first mission, she had parted ways with her newly acquired identity.
Looking at her dirty, loose black combat suit, Gu Yao sighed weakly.
"Let's survive first, we'll figure out the rest later. Come on, the Shadow Arrow Force might have started a sweep search already..."
With that, Xia Yan grabbed the pack and supported Gu Yao, whose body clearly hadn't fully recovered, as they slowly crawled out of the small cave.
A beautiful purple butterfly fluttered by, gently landing on Xia Yan's shoulder.
Xia Yan's pupils contracted. In a flash, she moved, and with a swift strike, her sharp silver dagger cut the purple butterfly to pieces.
"Run!"
Xia Yan grabbed Gu Yao's arm forcefully, not caring whether she could withstand the pull, and ran desperately into the dense forest.
About fifteen minutes later, several fully armed men and women in black combat suits approached the small cave, shining flashlights inside for several seconds. The lead man crouched down, carefully examining the surrounding vegetation and soil.
"Embroidered Uniform Squad Combat Team Three reporting, signs of target activity detected, but they have decent counter-tracking skills. Recommend initiating a search within a five-kilometer radius of current coordinates!"
After speaking, the group raised their weapons and entered the nearby woods.
...
...
At dusk, two young girls wearing loose and dirty black uniforms appeared hand in hand at the outskirts of a small town that straddled the national highway at the foot of the mountain.
Looking at the steady flow of traffic on the distant highway, and the inns, auto repair shops, restaurants, and farmhouses alongside it, the burning sensation in their stomachs had become unbearable—a bodily anxiety similar to hunger yet distinctly different.
Turning their gaze to the adjacent rural fields, they caught sight of several leisurely moving farmers and scattered poultry. Both the black-haired and white-haired girls simultaneously revealed an uncontrollable, fierce gleam in their eyes.
"Brother... I want to..."
Gu Yao rubbed her burning face and stomach, her lips trembling, her gaze fixed on the back of a farm woman returning home.
"Yes, I want to as well..."
Xia Yan nodded, then tightly closed her eyes, several thoughts collided and entangled her mind...
Suddenly, Xia Yan's right hand formed a knife-edge and struck Gu Yao's neck sharply. The latter's body went limp and collapsed to the ground.
"I'm sorry... Xiao Yao, just hang on a little longer."
The black-haired girl, with a guilty expression, forcibly tore her gaze away from the distant farm woman's back and continued carrying the white-haired girl, slowly retreating back into the forest.