July 19th, Saturday, early morning.
Although today was the weekend, it was a scheduled workday for Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao.
In fact, before dawn had even broken, Jiang Yan was already awake, and soon after, Jiang Yao also emerged from her bedroom with an anxious and uneasy expression on her face.
Her lower back felt somewhat sore and stiff, a certain part of her chest was vaguely aching, and her lower abdomen was slightly swollen. It felt as if her body contained a volcano that had been holding back for far too long and was now on the verge of a massive eruption.
Days of continuous self-consolation and cultivated hope had all turned to nothing in these increasingly obvious warning signs.
Never before had their minds and bodies been so sensitive. Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao, who had long lost any desire to sleep due to their nervousness, got up and began doing various meaningless tasks around the house, and unusually, had no appetite for breakfast whatsoever.
Jiang Yan sat on the sofa, pretentiously flipping through a foreign literary classic. But only she knew that she hadn't absorbed a single word from the pages.
Jiang Yao's face was flushed red with effort as she even moved the heavy stone table and stone stools in the small courtyard to new positions, using every possible method to ease and redirect her inner anxiety and the strange physical discomfort.
"I called the club and took two days off... we... should prepare early. Maybe it will be today..."
Jiang Yan walked from inside the house to the small courtyard, speaking softly to Jiang Yao who was practicing military boxing.
"What... what preparation..."
Jiang Yao avoided her gaze, still being stubborn.
"Stop deceiving yourself. Everyone can feel it. If it doesn't come, we might really be monsters."
Jiang Yan held a cup in one hand and opened her other palm, revealing a black pill, extending it toward Jiang Yao: "Here, the medicine Sister Wan gave us. Take it right now!"
"It would be better if we really became monsters..."
Glancing at Jiang Yan's indifferent expression, Jiang Yao helplessly threw the pill into her mouth and swallowed it, still muttering.
"Let's go. While it's still early, let's go buy things, or it'll be too late. Hurry up and change clothes!"
Jiang Yan took down the clothes that had been hanging in the courtyard to dry overnight, her expression becoming increasingly serious.
"Buy... buy what things?" Jiang Yao was stunned.
"When a woman gets her period, what do you think we need to buy? Don't you look at all sorts of random stuff online?"
Jiang Yan suppressed her anger, wanting nothing more than to kick her.
"Then... you can just go buy it yourself, can't you? I still need to do laundry..."
Jiang Yao's expression changed rapidly, her ears burning hot, her gaze evasive.
"Hehe."
Jiang Yan smiled without saying a word.
An hour later, the two returned home carrying a large bag of daily necessities.
"You clearly said we'd buy things together... but in the end you still made me go in alone! Sis, this is called being scheming!"
Organizing the items on the table, Jiang Yao had a look of strong dissatisfaction, recalling the embarrassing scene from dozens of minutes ago when she had to go through the entire supermarket alone.
...
...
Between five and seven in the afternoon, like the tolling of a death knell, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao finally collapsed one after another in the dam-bursting sensations of their bodies.
The two, who usually had good appetites, didn't even eat dinner this time, each retreating to their own bedrooms, shutting their doors tightly, refusing all communication and interaction with each other.
Despite the hot weather, they didn't even turn on the air conditioning. Jiang Yan felt her hands and feet were ice cold. The pain from her abdomen, while not heart-wrenching, was the most indescribable torment she had experienced in her life, tossing her about like a roller coaster with its ups and downs.
During the most uncomfortable moments, Jiang Yan wanted nothing more than to pull out a gun and shoot herself in the head to end it all.
Several hours later, Jiang Yan gradually adapted to this physical ordeal. Breaking out in a cold sweat, she persisted in getting out of bed, preparing to go to the living room to get water and take another of Sister Wan's black pills.
Walking to the living room and picking up her water cup, she noticed that Jiang Yao's door was tightly shut and silent.
The house was filled with an atmosphere that was heavy with a few traces of absurdity. Jiang Yan couldn't help but sigh.
She wondered how Xiao Yao was doing. Since childhood, she had always had poor adaptability to illness. Even small ailments would make her sickly and listless, let alone encountering something like this. She estimated it would be even harder for her to endure... With concern for someone, dragging her "severely injured" body, Jiang Yan pushed open the door to the second bedroom.
The moment the door opened, it was as if she had entered a new world.
The room was brightly lit. The golden-haired girl in her nightgown was crouched on a chair in front of the desk, computer on, wearing headphones, muttering strings of gaming terminology into the microphone. She had gone completely wild!
Beside the computer desk, potato chips, cookies, and cola were piled up like a small mountain. Because both hands were still operating the game, a popsicle that was only half-eaten had been placed directly on the corner of the desk, and the melted ice water had flowed onto the floor.
Surprise, anger, jealousy, helplessness, grievance... countless thoughts all rushed to Jiang Yan's head in that instant.
Feeling as if smoke was about to emerge from the top of her head, Jiang Yan's face turned iron-blue as she slowly walked to Jiang Yao's side and heavily patted the back of her head wearing the headset.
"Right, right, right! Mid lane, mid lane! Use your ultimate... Hey!? Sis, what's wrong with you?"
Rubbing her head in pain, Jiang Yao turned her face in bewilderment, her small face full of surprise.
What's wrong with me? She's clearly fine, not feeling physically uncomfortable. Isn't this good? What am I even angry about... Jiang Yan's mouth twitched, not knowing what to say.
"Hehe, having quite a blast playing... I really want to beat you up... hiss, oh no, I can't!"
Just as she was about to deliver a sarcastic remark, she felt a surge of moisture below, sensing a trickle of wetness at the root of her thigh.
Damn it, she was leaking!
She rushed directly back to the bedroom, grabbed a package of sanitary supplies, and Jiang Yan dove into the bathroom.
...
Apart from the initial intense anxiety and tension, as well as the psychological awkwardness she couldn't get over, Jiang Yao ultimately discovered that her first menstrual period in life wasn't as terrifying as she had imagined. On the contrary, it was Jiang Yan, who had been pretending to face it calmly, who had completely collapsed.
However, this was also relative. Compared to Jiang Yan's more traditional menstrual discomfort, Jiang Yao had been experiencing full-body bone pain since a few hours ago. That pain seemed to come from her bone marrow, and she had broken out in cold sweats on her back several times.
Moreover, even after taking Sister Wan's medicine, the blood thirst intervals had still changed dramatically after entering her menstrual period. Just a few hours ago, Jiang Yao had already vaguely felt those familiar warning signs.
Since childhood, she had always been in poor health. Before leaving the welfare institute, whenever she had any major or minor illness, apart from Director Grandma, it was Jiang Yan who would run around busily taking care of her.
After experiencing that terrifying night, Jiang Yan had shouldered everything even more. Sometimes when she saw her looking up at the sky in solitary contemplation, Jiang Yao felt extremely uncomfortable.
To avoid making Jiang Yan worry about her, and knowing that she would definitely come check on her condition in the middle of the night, Jiang Yao had deliberately staged that previous scene.
However, it seemed she had overacted a bit. When Jiang Yan saw her playing games enthusiastically in her room with cola and potato chips, her mentality probably collapsed.
Cleaning up the snacks on the computer desk and checking the time, it was already past midnight. Only then did Jiang Yao remember that Jiang Yan had barely eaten anything today.
As for their appetites after becoming Blood Clan members, they had genuinely skyrocketed. Not only was she now starving, but in Jiang Yan's condition, she definitely needed nutritional supplements even more.
After tidying up her bedroom, Jiang Yao walked into Jiang Yan's room. Looking at the pale-faced girl leaning against the headboard, Jiang Yao felt a pang of sadness, but kept a cheerful expression on the surface.
"Sis, are you feeling better?" Jiang Yao carefully approached with hot water, extending it to the expressionless Jiang Yan. "You didn't eat dinner. Should I go make something?"
"You cooking... hehe."
Jiang Yan turned her head with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Looking at Jiang Yao's smiling big eyes, her expression relaxed considerably, probably thinking that at least tonight, both of them wouldn't have to suffer like this.
"I'll go check the kitchen!"
Jiang Yao didn't care how the other mocked her and turned to leave immediately.
"Come back. These past few days, we've been eating lunch and dinner at the club. There aren't many ingredients at home for you to waste. I'll go instead..."
Jiang Yan shook her head with a serious expression, still planning to get out of bed.
Sigh, brother has always been like this. Even when earning a high salary from the Shadow Arrow Force, he rarely spent it on himself, living frugally and constantly sending money to Director Grandma and me every year... For some reason, Jiang Yao's nose felt a bit sour.
"Don't! I can do it!"
Jiang Yao quickly pressed down on Jiang Yan's body. Today, no matter what, she couldn't let her work for her sake anymore.
Regardless of how much the other distrusted her cooking skills, Jiang Yao directly filled a pot with water, planning to cook a large, filling portion of noodles.
The gas stove wouldn't light after many attempts... It was working fine at noon, when did the gas get cut off? Jiang Yao was completely stunned.
"The gas is cut off?"
Jiang Yan struggled to walk to the kitchen doorway, also somewhat amused and helpless.
"Don't get up. I remember there's a Lanzhou noodle shop at the entrance of the alley that stays open very late. I'll go buy a few portions! It'll take at most half an hour round trip, faster than delivery and cheaper too!"
Without allowing any argument, Jiang Yao pulled Jiang Yan back to bed and covered her weak body with an air conditioning blanket.
"Then... be careful and take the dagger with you."
After hesitating for a few seconds, Jiang Yan could only nod.
Jiang Yao walked back to the living room, glanced at the medical constant-temperature refrigerator in the corner, hesitated repeatedly, then walked over and opened it.
Inside the refrigerator, besides the blood bags for Jiang Yan to drink, there were several bags of specially packaged blood in small portions. These were blood that Jiang Yan had tried to save in advance for Jiang Yao whenever possible, all drawn from Jiang Yan's own body.
Brother knows my blood thirst intervals are relatively short and has always been silently preparing everything for me... Jiang Yao quietly wiped the corner of her eye, took out a bag, and drank it with her head tilted back.
The blood carried the sweet fragrance unique to rare blood types. Jiang Yao closed her eyes, feeling the gentle smoothness of the blood flowing from her mouth to her stomach. The physical discomfort and bone pain seemed to begin dissipating, and her whole body felt warm.
Changing into a T-shirt and jeans, putting on sneakers, Jiang Yao walked out of the courtyard gate.
...
...
Under the night sky, on the brilliant urban puzzle, in some inconspicuous place, an independent quiet little world stood apart, completely isolated from the surrounding dazzling lights.
This old neighborhood, ever since becoming a traditional folk culture preservation area in C City, had been maintained with increasing character. But after prohibiting motor vehicles from entering a few years ago, life here had gradually become inconvenient and increasingly isolated.
The former residents had either purchased new commercial housing elsewhere or moved away. Each year, fewer families remained in the depths of the several-hundred-meter alley, mostly elderly people who were truly nostalgic and reluctant to leave.
Hours ago, the alley had already become so quiet that no one was visible. The scattered few small lights in the dark alleyway dotted sparse circles of light, like a broken pearl necklace.
Several black shadows appeared from both ends of the alley and moved toward each other, finally gathering outside a certain small courtyard. After more than ten seconds, the black shadows dispersed and hid in the darkness.
A beam of light from a phone's flashlight mode appeared from the end of the alley, accompanied by light footsteps. A golden-haired girl carrying a large thick paper takeout box slowly walked toward the depths of the alley.
Perhaps due to her menstrual period, Jiang Yao felt that her physical sensitivity was much higher than usual. Several unfamiliar auras filled with killing intent quietly emerged from the dark depths of the alley.
Jiang Yao's expression changed slightly. She stopped, quickly retreated to a shadowed position against the wall, put down the food box, and slowly took out her dagger from her waist pack.
"Hehe, quite cautious, aren't we... Little girl, what are you doing out alone in the middle of the night?"
A thin man in a strange hooded black robe quietly emerged from a dark corner not far away. This deliberately mysterious getup reminded Jiang Yao of certain ridiculous online styles.
"Who are you?"
Jiang Yao lowered her voice, slowly lowering her body's center of gravity, ready to activate blood-boiling at any moment. The prohibition against female Blood Clan members using blood-boiling during menstruation was a stern warning she had received from female colleagues at the club, but now she had no choice.
"Tsk tsk, such a fragrant aura. Is it that time of the month? Today's luck is really good... We are, we are all your relatives!"
The thin man in black smiled wickedly, moving closer and closer. The surging aura after activating blood-boiling continuously impacted the narrow alley, making Jiang Yao feel strong threat and hostility.
"You're Black Blood Clan!?"
A Black Blood Clan knight similar to Brother Zhao!
No, there's more than one!
Jiang Yao suddenly turned around, her pupils contracting violently.
In that dim focused vision, a strong figure had already leaped into the air.