The building remained pitch black. The rustling sound of footsteps gradually reached my ears. After an unknown amount of time, I heard a creak—the building's door had closed, and a glimmer of light finally appeared in the dark building: a kerosene lamp.

"The adults will wake up soon, but before that, I need each of you to contribute a cup of blood." The hoarse, eerie voice echoed in the dim space, instilling even deeper fear in everyone.

The sound of rapid breathing filled her ears, and Mo Shuwan was no better off than the others. Her heart was pounding, and she gripped the hilt of her small sword, staring intently at the black-robed man standing not far away.

The man in black beside her didn't notice anything unusual about Mo Shuwan and the other passengers. He was still whispering instructions, "Do you remember what I told you before? You must treat the blood with reverence when you take the cleanest blood from your body."

As time passed, the increasingly strong smell of blood filled their nostrils, and Mo Shuwan's group moved further and further to the front of the line, soon it would be their turn to bleed.

"I want to go home! I want to go home!"

Perhaps provoked by the oppressive atmosphere and the increasingly bizarre scene, one of the passengers collapsed to the ground, screaming in despair.

"I want to leave this place..."

The sound stopped abruptly, and a series of short gasps filled the air. Mo Shuwan, who had hesitated to turn around, saw fear and despair in the eyes of the people around her. Unable to hold back any longer, she turned her head as well.

The black-robed man holding the kerosene lamp was squatting in a pool of blood. From Mo Shuwan's angle, she couldn't see the passenger's condition, but the strong smell of blood in the air told her that the passenger was dead.

"Don't let me find out a second time."

After warning everyone, the man in black robes returned to his previous position. Because of his departure, Mo Shuwan was finally able to see the fate of the poor passenger, but the moment she saw it, her eyes widened in shock.

The passenger turned into a dried-up corpse in just a few seconds!

"Damn it!" The man in black who led Mo Shuwan and the others cursed.

The line was getting shorter and shorter. After what had just happened, the passengers dared not make a sound. Their eyes were filled with fear and despair as they followed the crowd in a slumped manner.

When it was Mo Shuwan's turn, the men in black immediately forgot the previous incident. They all excitedly took the knife and cup, and without hesitation, cut their wrists, letting the blood flow out.

Wen Zuo's eyes darkened, and he pulled Mo Shuwan completely behind him.

Mo Shuwan was surveying her surroundings by the light of the kerosene lamp in the black-robed man's hand when she suddenly felt something fall on her shoulder. She turned her head and a chilling fear swept over her. Just as she was about to use her small sword to pry the bat off her shoulder, a withered hand was one step ahead of her and took the bat away.

Mo Shuwan froze.

The man in the black robe carefully released the bat into the darkness.

Everything returned to normal, as if nothing had happened. But Wen Zuo noticed that Mo Shuwan was acting strangely; she was trembling. He glanced at the black-clad man in front of him, who was still excitedly bleeding, and reached out to pull the seemingly terrified woman into his arms, patting her back reassuringly. But the next moment, the trembling Mo Shuwan stood on tiptoe and hugged Wen Zuo's neck, burying her face in his neck. The scalding heat spread from where their skin touched to his entire body, leaving Wen Zuo momentarily at a loss.

But soon, as if he had been doused with ice water, he instantly calmed down because he heard a trembling voice grit its teeth and say, "The ceiling is full of bats."

vampires...bats...

Unable to convince herself not to connect the dots, Mo Shuwan was on the verge of tears. She never imagined that her fleeting glance would lead her to discover something so extraordinary.

Wen Zuo couldn't continue comforting Mo Shuwan because it was his turn. He squeezed Mo Shuwan's hand reassuringly and then used a dagger to cut open her wrist and bleed her.

Having come this far, there was no turning back. Mo Shuwan had no choice but to suppress her fear, grit her teeth, and cut her wrists to bleed. When the passengers behind her saw that they had all cut their wrists, they also endured the pain and quickly followed suit.

After the bloodletting, the people continued to line up in the darkness. After about ten minutes, all the humans had completed the bloodletting ritual. Suddenly, the man in the black robe let out a series of screams that were not human. The screams were extremely piercing, and many people instinctively covered their ears.

A faster, more piercing scream, accompanied by the sound of flapping wings, echoed throughout the entire building, and everyone could feel something briefly resting on their shoulder or head.

Compared to the excitement of the other humans, the passengers were ashen-faced. Deep fear prevented them from shouting or venting their emotions. They could only stand there like wooden stakes, occasionally looking at Wen Zuo, Mo Shuwan, and even Zhan Fei with pleading eyes, trying to get a way to save their lives from them.

One kerosene lamp after another dispelled the darkness from all directions. Mo Shuwan's first reaction was to look at the ceiling, but there was nothing there. The bats were gone. She then looked at the table where the blood had just been drawn. The cups on the table were now completely empty of blood.

"The adults are awake!"

Mo Shuwan's body stiffened as she gripped the small sword in her hand. In the following hours, people were taken away one after another, perhaps from the second floor, perhaps the third floor, or perhaps a higher floor.

As the man in black robes approached, all the passengers, including Mo Shuwan, instantly became alert. The man in black robes ignored their tension and walked straight to the mother and child beside Mo Shuwan, saying, "You two come with me."

The woman couldn't hold back her tears, and trembling as she looked at Mo Shuwan, she sobbed, "M-Master..."

"Sir, she was too agitated, please don't blame her." Afraid of being blamed, the man in black quickly put on a fawning smile and went over.

"Hurry up, don't keep the adults waiting. Take the rest of you to the second floor."

The mother and son were taken away. Before they left, Mo Shuwan didn't dare to look into the mother's eyes.

The remaining passengers followed the man in black to the second floor. The second floor was different from the first floor; it consisted entirely of individual small rooms. Soon, everyone was given a wooden tag. Mo Shuwan looked down and saw that the tag had a number 3 on it.

"Room number?"

"Go over there yourselves, and don't make a sound. You'll do whatever the adults tell you to do, or you'll be the ones who suffer if you upset them!"

Wen Zuo's wooden sign was number 7. He looked at Mo Shuwan's wooden sign and frowned deeply, clearly not wanting to be separated from Mo Shuwan.

Seeing his hesitation and fearing that Wen Zuo might act impulsively, Mo Shuwan quickly whispered, "Don't worry about me. The things I exchanged are enough to save my life."

That being said, she actually had no confidence at all; no one knew how powerful the things in the room were.