189: Chapter 189 This time it's an ancient European family, vampires?
"This speed... it doesn't seem human."
Chen Yuan's mutterings had just dispersed in the night wind.
Standing behind him, the blue data stream in Alice's eyes suddenly refreshed violently. She raised her hand, projecting the deep scan results from the perimeter life-sign detector directly into the air above the balcony.
"Boss, your intuition is very accurate. This is indeed not a carbon-based human in the conventional sense."
Alice's electronic voice carried a hint of rigorous coldness.
"The target's surface body temperature is only twenty-one degrees, far below the survival limit of warm-blooded animals. However, its cell division speed is more than fifteen times that of an ordinary person, and its metabolic capacity is terrifying."
"Furthermore, spectral analysis shows that his epidermal tissue has an extremely strong rejection reaction to ultraviolet rays."
"He possesses extreme photophobia."
Chen Yuan stared at the blurry, high-speed afterimage on the holographic screen.
His originally lazy eyes gradually revealed a glint of keen interest.
"Low temperature, high-speed healing, and a fear of light?"
Chen Yuan rubbed his chin, a mocking smile curling the corners of his mouth. "Alice, these physiological traits... why do they sound so much like a certain creature from medieval European myths that can't stand the light?"
"Yes, Boss."
Alice accessed the global genetic pathology database for comparison.
"These physiological characteristics perfectly match the Blood Tribe mutants recorded in ancient European literature. In modern scientific terms, this is an ancient genetic defect that combines severe porphyria with a variant of the rabies virus."
"In other words, vampires really do exist in this world."
Chen Yuan picked up the red wine glass resting on the railing.
He looked at the crimson liquid in the glass, swirling it gently; there was not a trace of fear for the unknown creature in his eyes.
There was only endless mockery and realization.
"So that's how it is."
Chen Yuan tilted his head back and drained the wine in one gulp. "I knew it. An epoch-making divine medicine like the 'Youth-Preserving Pill' that can restore youth and reverse cellular aging has profits large enough to drive the whole world mad."
"The capitalists of Wall Street couldn't sit still, and the politicians of The Pentagon couldn't sit still either."
"Now, the bloody scent emanating from this piece of fat has finally lured out those old monsters from Europe who live in coffins."
He knew the nature of these so-called ancient families all too well.
These monsters, who survived through genetic defects and styled themselves as noble Blood Tribe members, had always monopolized life sciences in the European underworld.
Chen Yuan's medicine didn't just break their monopoly.
It was even more likely to cure the genetic defect that made them fear sunlight.
To a vampire, this wasn't medicine; it was a miracle that would allow them to walk in the sun.
"They don't want my life."
Chen Yuan casually tossed the goblet off the balcony, letting it shatter on the lawn. "What they want is the formula in my head."
In the time it took to say those few words.
The alarm on the holographic screen suddenly became shrill.
That eerie black shadow had already made a Breakthrough of three layers of perimeter electric fences in succession, even ignoring the strafing of crossfire.
He didn't confront the Tyrants head-on at all.
Instead, he utilized a terrifying agility that defied the common laws of physics, like a giant black bat, catapulting and jumping back and forth between the rockeries and the treetops.
"Boss, he has made a Breakthrough of the inner defense line."
Alice finished speaking.
"Bang!"
A dull thud echoed from the white marble fountain in front of the main building.
Water splashed everywhere.
A slender figure, under the cover of moonlight, landed steadily on the sculpture atop the fountain.
He was only a dozen meters away from the second-floor balcony where Chen Yuan stood.
The night wind blew away the clouds.
The bright moonlight finally illuminated the true face of this uninvited guest.
It was a handsome Western man.
He had slightly curly blonde hair and skin so pale he looked like a specimen soaked in formalin for over a decade, exuding a sickly, bloodless transparency.
He wore an exquisitely crafted dark red Victorian-style retro tactical trench coat.
The hem of the coat fluttered in the wind, looking very much like outspread bat wings.
Standing on the sculpture, the man did not attack immediately.
He elegantly pulled a snow-white silk handkerchief from his pocket and slowly wiped away a bit of green Tyrant blood staining his fingers.
Then.
He slowly raised his head, his crimson eyes—like rubies—locking onto Chen Yuan on the balcony.
The man smiled.
His mouth curled open to both sides, revealing two fangs that were far longer than those of a normal human, sharp and emitting a cold glint.
Under the refraction of the moonlight, those two fangs were like the sharpest scalpels.
"The Emperor of Umbrella, Baron Chen Yuan."
The man's voice was surprisingly elegant, with a pure London accent. "Your biochemical toys are indeed interesting, but unfortunately, in the face of absolute noble blood, they are too clumsy."
"Hand over the formula that can reverse genetic decay, and the great Blood Tribe can grant you the Embrace of eternal life."
Posturing.
Extreme posturing.
Such chuunibyou-like words, paired with his vampire getup, would likely have made an ordinary person's legs go weak with fear.
But in Chen Yuan's eyes, this was simply a farcical circus performance.
"Noble blood?"
Chen Yuan leaned his hands on the balcony railing, looking down at him from above.
"A bunch of genetic defects with metabolic disorders caused by mutations, who don't even dare to bask in the sun—and you think you're worthy of talking about nobility in front of me?"
Chen Yuan's eyes were filled with the arrogance and contempt of a scientist.
"From a sci-fi perspective, you're nothing more than a bunch of living virus carriers. Why pretend to be some elegant old nobility?"
The man's smile instantly froze on his face.
Within those crimson eyes, an uncontrollable surge of brutality and killing intent suddenly erupted.
As one of Europe's oldest assassins, when had he ever suffered such a humiliation!
"Arrogant Mortal!"
The vampire assassin let out an angry roar, sticking out a scarlet tongue to cruelly lick the fangs at the corner of his mouth.
His legs suddenly bent, and his thigh muscles instantly exploded with terrifying jumping power, turning him into a blood-colored afterimage charging straight for the second-floor balcony.
He was going to tear out this man's throat and drain his arrogant blood dry!
"Target poses a lethal threat. Requesting elimination."
Alice instantly stepped forward, shielding Chen Yuan.
Her slender, fair right hand completed a liquid metal transformation in milliseconds, and a silver blade flickering with high-frequency plasma suddenly took shape.
If the opponent dared to come even half a step closer to the balcony, Alice would absolutely not hesitate to slice him into a spray of minced meat.
"Wait."
At that critical moment.
Chen Yuan suddenly reached out and grabbed Alice's wrist just as she was about to swing the blade.
The red light in Alice's eyes suddenly paused, and she turned her head in confusion.
"Boss?"
Chen Yuan watched the vampire face in mid-air, drawing closer and closer, twisted and hideous with bloodlust.
A cold, perverse smile—one that would make even a mad scientist's skin crawl—slowly curled at the corners of his mouth.
"Don't kill him."
Chen Yuan's voice sounded exceptionally excited in the night wind, like a fanatical collector seeing an out-of-print figure.
"This is an extremely rare ancient genetic mutant; it's far more valuable for research than those disgusting monsters in our lab."
He patted Alice's shoulder, his tone as relaxed as if he were giving orders for a mundane daily task.
"Break his limbs and dislocate his jaw."
"I need a fresh living specimen to take down for Dr. Zola to study in slices."