A Strategy of Exhaustion

"Gaoluo's been hit as well!" "Something happened in Nanyue too!" "Good grief, Siam as well!" After checking the news from the Island Nation, the crowd quickly discovered that multiple countries had been struck by vampires. Many blood banks had been contaminated, leaving at least several hundred thousand victims in each nation. Furthermore, many estates that had previously belonged to vampires were now entirely deserted. "Just how strong do you think the Blood Clan Progenitor is right now?" Wushuang, the captain of the Iron Fist Squad, held up his phone and looked around at the room. With hundreds of thousands in each country, well over a million people in total had already been turned into vampires—only for their power to be forcibly plundered by the Blood Clan Progenitor. Even if one person contributed only 0.0001 worth of power, that many people combined still amounted to a terrifying figure. On top of that, the Blood Clan Progenitor could actually absorb the power of existing vampires directly. The number of living vampires was far from small; if he absorbed all of them, it would likely take a united front of every top powerhouse in the world to stand a chance of killing him. Gong Qian said with a grave expression, "I think... we should immediately inspect the blood banks nationwide, and put everyone connected to Blood Clan factions under surveillance." "Don't worry. Last night, blood thralls really did attempt to infiltrate our blood banks, but the combat police in each city took care of them," Xiao Cheng spoke up. Upon receiving word of the Blood Clan Progenitor's breakthrough, Qilin, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise had already mobilized on high alert. Without causing public panic, every military region had entered combat readiness. If the Blood Clan dared make a move against Huaxia, they would be met with a thunderous strike. "Does what they're doing count as a declaration of war against us?" Tianshu asked. Xiao Cheng laced his fingers and said solemnly, "Once the director returns, everything will be made clear." Staring at his phone, Yu Xian analyzed thoughtfully, "Proclaiming a nation and attacking blood banks across different countries... rushing forward with such eager ambition completely clashes with the Progenitor's usual style. I suspect he's diverting attention to buy time. Rome Huchen might not even be his true base of operations. If he really has some grand scheme, there will likely be even more attacks to follow." "A strategy to exhaust the enemy?" Gong Qian realized, blurting it out at once. Yu Xian nodded. "The Progenitor has probably prepared for many years. None of us know how many contingency plans he has in store..." Just then, a ringing phone cut him off. He glanced at the caller ID and stood up. "Marcus's daughter, Nora, is calling me. She might have more information." With that, he carried his phone toward the exit while quickly picking up. "Nora, what happened?" Yu Xian immediately asked with concern when he heard her soft sobs on the other end. Stepping out of the conference room, he wrapped his body in a spatial bubble the next instant and appeared in Ice City, right outside the home of Nora's mother. "Yu Xian, my father... he's... he's dead," Nora choked out between tears. Yu Xian froze, rapidly firing off three questions in a row: "Nora, are you all right right now? Are you at home? Can I come see you?" Without waiting for Nora to answer, red light enveloped his body, and in a flash, he appeared in a pitch-black room. Nora was curled up under a light blanket, sitting on the bed clutching her phone, weeping uncontrollably. He hurried over to sit by the head of the bed, watching the crying girl. He wanted to offer comfort but had no idea how to begin—it wasn't as if he could say, *My dad's dead too...* With bloodshot eyes, Nora lowered her phone, pressing her other hand against her chest. "Yu Xian, my father and I had a mutual sense of each other. Just now, his presence vanished... and I saw the vision from right before he died. The Progenitor killed him. He told me to seek asylum with the government." There truly was a sensory bond between blood scions developed through proper vampire Embraces. For instance, when Yu Xian had tried to kill Luo Qi back then, Marcus had sensed it and used blood magic to possess Luo Qi's body and negotiate with him. Why did vampires despise wild vampires so intensely? It was primarily because wild vampires fell outside this sensory bond, which was why the Blood Clan dubbed them "wild vampires." Within the clan, they were even referred to as "stray vampires" or "bastard vampires." "Why would the Progenitor kill your father? Wasn't he the Progenitor's most trusted confidant?" Yu Xian frowned, finding it hard to believe. Nora crushed her phone beneath her fingers without realizing it. "The Progenitor ordered my father to bring me back to Rome Huchen, but my father didn't obey him." Yu Xian had actually considered this possibility; he simply hadn't expected the Blood Clan Progenitor to be so ruthless. From what he knew, Marcus was not just a subordinate to the Progenitor; the two had actually been close friends. When the Blood Clan Progenitor originally turned into a vampire, the very first people he converted had been his own family and friends. Most of those early companions were long dead, but Marcus had survived to this day thanks to his meticulous mind and careful demeanor. Yu Xian's nose twitched, and he glanced toward the window. "Nora, it's no longer safe here. Get your mother. We're heading back to Qilin headquarters." Since the Progenitor would not spare even his own close friend, he certainly wouldn't show any mercy to Nora. What Yu Xian hadn't expected was that the Progenitor hadn't sent vampires—he had hired outside forces instead. At that moment, a flashbang abruptly detonated outside the window, followed by a spray of bullets shattering the glass and hurtling straight at Yu Xian. The Progenitor's forces sent to capture Nora were split into two groups: one in Silver City and one here in Ice City. The primary force was actually deployed in Silver City, while the squad sent to Ice City was more of a blind sweep—even if they failed to capture Nora, they could still seize her mother. *Ding, ding, ding, ding!* Yu Xian let the bullets strike the scales of the Reverse Scale Dragon Shield. Shielding Nora's eyes with one hand, he covered himself in red light, instantly reappearing in Nora's mother's bedroom. Nora's mother had already been jolted awake. Seeing Yu Xian appear with Nora in his arms, she showed no sign of surprise. "Let's go!" Yu Xian moved forward quickly. Just then, a bullet pierced the window, aimed squarely at Nora's mother. Yu Xian, who had been reaching out to take her hand, was forced to change trajectory, while dense black threads wove into armor over his palm. In an instant, his grip snapped shut around the three-centimeter-long bullet. Two men in black crashed through the window. One charged at Nora's mother, while the other lunged toward Yu Xian. Each gripped a meter-long blade in his left hand and a large-caliber handgun designed for Transcendents in his right, opening fire on Yu Xian as they closed the distance. Cradling Nora with one arm, Yu Xian used his thread-armored hand to intercept every incoming bullet in rapid succession. Then, as one of the men in black drew near, Yu Xian flicked his wrist. Seven or eight bullets scattered like falling petals, spraying directly at his attacker. At point-blank range, the man was caught completely unprepared; his body was instantly riddled with bullets. He stumbled backward and finally collapsed in bitter defeat. Yu Xian didn't actually need to catch the bullets; he could have simply let them bounce off the dragon shield. But catching them had been for the sole purpose of countering in that very moment. Meanwhile, just as the second man in black closed in on Nora's mother, she drew a compact pistol from beneath the blanket and pulled the trigger on him. Yet a furry arm suddenly materialized from beneath her. The arm shoved the barrel upward, jolting her arm into the air and sending the entire burst of bullets into the ceiling. The man in black seized the opening, reaching out to rip the gun from her grasp, but an elastic bubble swelled instantly between the two of them, blasting him backward on the spot. *Pfft!* The man slammed violently into the wall, a mouthful of blood spraying through his face covering.