What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 654: Chapter 654 Task Completed

When Gerald saw that sudden beam of light, he was momentarily stunned, experiencing a sliver of a surreal feeling. But as the “Short Fat Giant” slashed his arm with its weapon, he personally experienced the pulverizing destructive power, and saw his arm reduced to fragments. He felt that pain and fear, acknowledging with complete certainty:

All of this was real!

The melody was real!

The beam of light was real!

The “Short Fat Giant” that descended from the beam of light was also real!

Although he had considered bypassing the “Short Fat Giant” to deal with the three women, he suspected the light beam, the formidable melody, and the “Short Fat Giant” with its bizarre weapon were all their doing.

But the problem was, he couldn’t get around it.

The “Short Fat Giant’s” strange weapons held too much power. Seemingly anything that came into contact with it was obliterated, and with his incredibly compact form, he was highly mobile and able to block all his escape routes. The weapons, like precision-guided missiles, accurately tracked his every move.

Although the underground hall was reasonably spacious, for Gerald and the sizable “short fat giant”, it wasn’t exactly spacious. Coupled with the three-dimensional channels extending from various places connecting the stone coffins, Gerald was soon cornered next to a stone coffin. By then, his two arms had already been severed, one side of his head was split open, continuously bleeding. A large mouth on his belly was sliced open, with the opening reaching his armpits and his tongue hanging out, badly wounded and unable to retract.

Collapsing to the ground, leaning against the coffin, Gerald hoisted a leg to kick the “Short Fat Giant”. The moment it contacted that peculiar weapon, his flesh scattered instantaneously as though shoved into a blender, and the whole leg vanished.

The echoing music rhythm in the hall became solemn and somber as the majestic sound of a brass instrument entered. Peering up at the dark, heavy clouds that seemed on the verge of pressing down on his head, catching a glimpse of the electricity flickering within the clouds, Gerald experienced a surge of despair that felt like he was about to be executed.

Just a few minutes ago, Gerald, who had just awakened from slumber, still held a sense of impending control over all beings and dominating the world. But, to his surprise, after the staged breakthroughs he believed he had made, he had completed the absorption and fusion of many similar “Bloodline Vampire” powers. He had elevated his hypnosis and mental control abilities to the peak, allowing him to exert control and influence over all kinds of high-order animals to varying degrees. Especially humans; he believed no one could escape his manipulation.

However, the three Eastern women he encountered immediately after awakening were immune to his hypnosis. Even when he raised the stakes, continuously increasing the intensity of his mental control and adding various methods of mental influence, he did not manage to affect those seemingly feeble and scared girls at all—it was as though they did not exist in this space.

Next was dealing with the “Short Fat Giant” from the heavens. His ability to control minds was even more useless. His body that could resist heavy-caliber guns and heal quickly crumbled like paper at the touch of that bizarre weapon.

His abilities to hide in darkness, disturb heat distribution within an area, influence plant growth, cause stress reactions in various animals within the vicinity, create poisonous gas, produce sounds harmful to living beings, either couldn’t work or lacked the necessary conditions, or due to the incomplete stability of his body mutation, he couldn’t use them.

In just a few minutes, he went from the height of euphoria to the brink of despair. There was also a laughable and sad feeling, like he had gone through many hardships, experienced great dangers, finally managed to stand at the top of a mountain, thinking he had reached the peak of the world. Just as he steeled himself to call out triumphantly, proclaim his dominance, a massive head emerged from the clouds above, spat disdainfully on his forehead, then stretched out a giant hand, flicking him off the mountain with a bent finger.

He had no strength to fight back, and he couldn’t even comprehend the nature of the being before him.

Lying next to the stone coffin, with only one leg remaining and having given up resistance, Gerald looked up at the sky, still perplexed. Wasn’t there a whole bar above his head? How did they manage to remove all the buildings in an instant and open up the sky above?

Because of his firsthand experience, he did not doubt at all that the “Short Fat Giant”, the beam of light, and the sky above him were not illusions.

The “Short Fat Giant” stood before Gerald, pointing a weapon at his head, then turned to look at the three girls on the other side of the light column, seemingly waiting for instructions.

…

Upon seeing the “Minion Lv Bu” clad in ancient armor and holding a Square Sky Halberd looking back at them, Yang Zhen’er and Xiao Pingguo exchanged a glance, then together turned to look at Tang Baona, who still had her eyes closed.

“Nana, have we… won already?” Yang Zhen’er asked somewhat uncertainly.

The strategy for their three-way battle was for Tang Baona to first use the “Emotional Melody” to set the mood, to attract Gerald’s attention and lead him into a predetermined emotional state;

Xiao Pingguo would then “summon” the emotional projection of a minion wood carving, but rather than causing an emotional effect, she would retract the emotional projection and combine it with Tang Baona’s Emotional Melody to create a “Fine Projection”, which, although being different from the “Illusion Reality”, was not materially what it appeared to be. It was essentially akin to the illusion of the “Eight-armed, Eight-eyed Giant”.

Yang Zhen’er, on the other hand, would use her ability to further enhance the illusion in the eyes of their target, “Old Vampire” Gerald, to make the illusion seem more “real”, clear, rich, and believable, even whimsically turning the “minion illusion” into a “minion Lv Bu illusion”;

All the information was shared and coordinated through the “Super Sensory Item System”, Alice, allowing them all to see the same illusion, the same projection, and to accurately grasp when to make their move;

Next, Tang Baona would combine her “Material Melody”, which could directly affect matter, with “Emotional Melody”, giving the “minion Lv Bu” illusion the properties to tear and shatter matter. This tearing and shattering was a direct influence from the Super Sensory Information level, and was a direct threat to the target. That is to say, even if Gerald could withstand large-caliber bullets, let alone withstand a nuclear bomb, he could not withstand the “Square Sky Halberd” of the “minion Lv Bu”.

The series of maneuvers were actually centered on Tang Baona’s destructive “Material Melody” that could shatter and tear matter. Xiao Pingguo and Yang Zhen’er merely assisted and the “minion emotion projection” was simply a means to carry the double melodies and exhibit their power.

Indeed, Tang Baona does have ways to cause a great deal of destruction via the “Material Melody”, deal damage that is unblockable and significant. But she temporarily does not have the means to directly use the “Material Melody” for an attack because she does not have the capability to do a highly precise operation. In a short time, she does not have the means to accurately control both power and orientation.

After all, not every target is like the tea table stone slab gifted by the uncle, which she could study composition freely, take enough time to observe and listen to the material melody, and then reverse the influence.

In reality, the variables for all kinds of targets are too big. Without the ability to control with precision, either Tang Baona would fail to lock on to the target causing indiscriminate, large-scale destruction, or she would fail to accurately control the destructive power, failing to achieve the expected effect, or cause excessive damage.

So this strategy is essentially a workaround. Through enhancement, the minion emotional projection helps Tang Baona to exert the destructive “Material Melody”, with the assistance of Xiao Pingguo and Yang Zhen’er. In fact, their target– the “Old Vampire” Gerald as well is involved, “helping” Tang Baona’s “Material Melody” to establish a specific direction and degree of destruction, precisely releasing the destructive force.

It’s like a missile. Until it lands on the target, the powerful warhead is of no use. It needs propulsion devices and a guidance system. Xiao Pingguo and Yang Zhen’er are the ones who help Tang Baona to package the potent warhead into a missile and launch it.

Meanwhile, Gerald seemed to hold a locator as if announcing, “I’m here”.

Gerald would never realize that the terrifying destructive power of the “Square Sky Halberd”, which could crumble to the touch, was actually instigated by him.

He was an accomplice that drove himself into a corner…

Strictly speaking, this plan could have been completed by Xiao Pingguo and Tang Baona alone- their previous assignments had all been handled in this manner.

What Yang Zhen Er contributed was mainly icing on the cake, reinforcing the impact of the illusion on the target, and enabling Tang Baona’s destructive “Emotional Melody” to be delivered with greater precision and stability.

When Yang Zhen Er saw the minion that Xiao Pingguo had “summoned”, dressed in a new outfit, chopping up the “Old Vampire” in a majestic manner, she was ecstatic. Her pretty face turned bright red and she raised her fists high. If she hadn’t been in control of the illusion, she probably would have cheered out loud.

Yang Zhen Er regretted that Little Fatty Girl was not here and had missed how spectacular and powerful her illusion was!

Not only the ancient armour and the Square Sky Halberd of the minion, but also the arcs of lightning and light effects around it, the dark clouds and lighting above its head, and the gloomy sky, all were created by her. Even the light column was “modified” by her to make it bigger, stronger and more majestic.

But before she had been thrilled for long, “Minion Lv Bu” had already taken his stand again, with an expression of “Task completed, awaiting instructions” on his face. To her surprise, it was too fast!

She had yet to enjoy herself fully!

The ‘vampire’ that crawled out of this sarcophagus, who put on such a great show in the past, was so useless?

No resistance at all?

Tang Baona opened her eyes, looking at the “Old Vampire”, who, not unlike a damaged doll, already gave up the resistance and was at death’s door under the “Square Sky Halberd”, she took a deep breath, laughing at Xiao Pingguo and Yang Zhen Er, “Task completed! Let them come in and wrap things up!”

…

When Tang Baona, Yang Zhen Er, and Xiao Pingguo entered the bar, two vans parked behind their elongated luxury vehicle.

In the front vehicle, a man with an Eastern face and a Slavic man with brown hair and grey eyes sat in the driver’s cabin, anxiously looking at the entrance of the bar.

“Our target is in the bar? Surrounded by so many people?” The brown-haired man spoke in Chinese, although the accent was heavy, the words were still accurate.

The man in the driver’s seat spoke standard Mandarin, “They’re underground, according to the depth marked on the blueprint, it shouldn’t affect those above.”

“This is a Level A Task. If things go wrong in a place with so many people…” The brown-haired man said, expressing his worries. He had participated in a Level D task before and while they eventually accomplished the task without any casualties, the target of the task had a big impact on him, which could be said to be traumatic. If the targets in a Level D task were so horrifying and trickish, he could not imagine what they would face in a Level A task.

The Eastern man pointed to the elongated luxury vehicle in front and replied, “The elites from our home country are handling it this time, we’re only responsible for cleaning up and transporting, no need to worry.”

“I hope so …” The brown-haired man still appeared concerned.

After a while, the Eastern man whispered, “Korowin, I heard that our home base is looking to select some people for unified training, to nurture ‘Superpowers’.”

The man called Korowin frowned, “Really? Could superpowers be cultivated?”

He had no doubt about the existence of superpowers. In the “Post-Antarctic Crisis Era”, there have been numerous instances proving the existence of extraordinary organisms, and that some humans could possess special powers. Although the general public might not have much knowledge and could only speculate through various rumors, those of them who were field investigators in the “Research Base” had a deeper understanding, knowing more about the truth behind the information.

“I’m not sure, but I think it is true, and it should be announced soon. Maybe by that time, both of us will be able to return. By the way, have you met ‘Dr. Xia’ during your training in our home country? This time ‘Dr. Xia’ should be personally in charge.” The Eastern man quietly said.

Korowin recalled, “Only when I first arrived, along with those from Europe who arrived at the same time, we met ‘Dr. Xia’ once.”

“What does it feel like to meet ‘Dr. Xia’? I’ve heard from colleagues who came from our home country that ‘Dr. Xia’ is a demigod-like figure, omniscient and omnipotent. It appears that she has already mastered the source of ‘mutated Ability’ and might be able to regulate the evolution of organisms…” The Eastern man spoke excitedly, “When I was training back home, ‘Dr. Xia’ wasn’t at the base, we were led by ‘Mr. Liang’. However, I always felt that when he mentioned ‘Dr. Xia’, there was a hint of fear in his tone.”

“Surely not to that extent, ‘Mr. Liang’ and ‘Dr. Xia’ should be on the same level, right?”

“They’re equals only in name, in reality, everyone knows that ‘Dr. Xia’ is the boss. But I heard… that there’s an even more mysterious and powerful ‘leader’ within the research base.”

“You mean… the so-called ‘Savior’ who resolved the Antarctic Crisis?” Korowin asked.

“No, it’s someone else. I heard… and it’s just hearsay, that this leader is a very adorable little girl.” The Eastern man’s voice dropped even lower: “She might be the daughter of the ‘Savior’ and ‘Dr. Xia.’

As they talked, the radio in the car suddenly rang, startling both of them.

“The target has been neutralized, prepare for the transportation phase.” The speaker was the driver of the luxury vehicle ahead, who was also the captain of this mission.