The Soul That Changed Color

"What's wrong?" Mo Fan asked.

This was the first time he had ever seen Lingling wear such an expression. He couldn't help feeling a twinge of worry.

Lingling seemed not to hear him. She simply stared at the soul of the Vampire Nie Dong — a soul that, unlike the usual spectral greens and blues, pulsed with a dark, ominous crimson. That eerie splash of dark red seemed to have cast some kind of spell on her; a look of wild, almost delirious fascination spread across her face.

For a girl around ten years old to wear such an expression was completely beyond Mo Fan's comprehension.

Then again, he had never fully understood this little girl from the start — not why she had abandoned a normal school life to work as a hunter at the Azure Sky Hunting Firm, not how she had earned the title of Hunter Master when most Mages could barely dream of it, and certainly not what lay behind that sweet, cherubic exterior of hers — that world-weariness, that unmatched wisdom, as if she'd lived a dozen lifetimes before this one...

Lingling remained silent. Even after Mo Fan finished storing Nie Dong's soul Spirit Essence inside the Loach Pendant, she made no further unusual moves — she simply stood with her head bowed, lost in thought, her expression shifting through a dozen different shades.

"Seriously, what is it? Is there something you can't tell me?" Mo Fan sealed away the last of Nie Dong's soul Spirit Essence and reached out to rest a hand on Lingling's small shoulder.

She seemed lost in some distant memory. When she finally lifted that young yet strangely solemn little face, Mo Fan caught a faint glint of hatred in her eyes.

"I've been searching for a soul like this — one that's changed color," Lingling said, her expression utterly serious.

"What's so special about it?" Mo Fan asked.

"My last partner disappeared because of a soul with this exact dark-blood hue," she said.

"Last partner?" Something vaguely familiar stirred in Mo Fan's memory, though he couldn't recall who had mentioned it.

Lingling said nothing more. Mo Fan pressed on anyway: "Do you want me to show you the soul again?"

"No need. I already know that whoever it is is still out there — and I know who to go to for more answers." Her voice was quiet and certain.

Mo Fan couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. Seeing that she had no intention of laying everything out, he let the matter drop — this was probably something only Old Bao could clarify for him.

He filed it away in the back of his mind, though. Lingling was his hunting partner, and the girl had helped him through more than a few rough patches. More importantly, she had never shown the slightest interest in bounty money, which meant the lion's share of every commission landed squarely in his pocket.

Lingling had always thrown herself deep into hunter work. Mo Fan had once assumed it was simply her personal investment in the family trade, but the look on her face today made it clear there was something else entirely behind it.

Once this was settled, he would need to pay Old Bao a visit and get some answers.

Mo Fan turned and walked toward where Zhao Manyan and Liu Ru were waiting.

What surprised him was that Liu Ru — whose body had been covered in wounds just moments ago — was already healing. Even the shallower cuts had closed without leaving a mark.

He looked at her and forced a casual smile. "Vampires are still human at the end of the day. Don't be too hard on yourself."

Liu Ru raised her head to meet his gaze. She had managed, with some effort, to retract her Blood Fangs — whether because she had come to accept what she'd become, or simply because there was nothing left in her to resist, it was impossible to say. She gave a hollow, wretched little smile. "Being able to avenge my sister is enough. As for myself... there's nothing worth worrying about."

"I'd like to tell you that the dead want the living to go on living — but I think the weight you carry is real, and what you've been through is real. The person you were and the person you are now are not the same. I hope you can face that difference with a different state of mind." Mo Fan scraped together what comfort he could.

In truth, any words at a moment like this were hollow. If you hadn't lived it yourself, you couldn't begin to understand what she was feeling.

A slow smile spread across Liu Ru's face — not because Mo Fan's words had struck some chord, but because, just as he had said, she had long since made her peace with what came next. She had already decided what kind of life she would live, what kind of being — one that could no longer truly be called human — she would become.

She rose to her feet and walked slowly down the long street that stretched toward the dark edges of the city.

Mo Fan watched her go in silence. He said nothing to call her back, and he certainly wasn't about to strike a righteous pose and announce that if she ever lost herself, he'd be the one to take her down.

In the dim light, Liu Ru's silhouette faded by degrees. The road ahead was dark and endless — long enough for her to think through her "new" life. There was nothing more he could do for her.

"You're just letting her go like that?" Zhao Manyan said, striding over with a look of genuine disappointment.

"What else would I do — keep her around as a bedwarmer? I'd be more than willing, honestly..." Mo Fan said.

"Fair enough. Even as a normal human she never wanted to be a bother to you, much less now. Let her be, then. I just hope she doesn't lose herself to the hunger for blood — and if she does..." Zhao Manyan paused. "She can still come to us. If not us, who?" That he put it that way was proof enough that he was well aware of the rumors — that members of the Blood Clan had a habit of indulging in more than just blood when they fed.

Mo Fan nodded. Zhao Manyan wasn't entirely wrong.

Whatever the case, the matter was finally settled. The Vampire family Nie Dong had belonged to was no longer his problem.

The Hunters' Alliance had certainly rattled the cage by now. They would no doubt sweep the city, reclassifying those mysterious deaths under suspected Vampire activity — which meant the family lurking somewhere in Magic City would have every reason to keep their heads down for a while.

Mo Fan had the Blood Fang he'd come for. Liu Ru had her revenge. The whole affair was more or less wrapped up, and he could finally report back to that old codger Huo Tuo.

He'd originally planned to use the Armor Enchanted Gear to challenge higher-ranked opponents, but the second Challenge Week had slipped past him. He'd just have to push hard next month.

The Battle-General-class Spirit Essence would fetch a decent price, and combined with what he'd earned from that Commander-class corpse earlier, he might just barely have enough to buy himself a Contract Beast.

A Contract Beast was exactly the kind of thing that could dramatically amplify his strength. With one, he could climb higher in the rankings, earn more training time inside the Three-Step Tower, and push both his Lightning Element Star Nebula and Shadow Element Star Nebula toward their next breakthroughs.

Power had a way of compounding — start the ball rolling, and it only grew bigger. What Mo Fan needed most right now was a Contract Beast to break through the plateau his cultivation had been stuck on for far too long.