murder poppy

The banquet ended amidst noisy discussions.The new duke is a blooming epiphyllum tonight.The nobles were still tirelessly talking about the Duke's figure, but he had already disappeared on the high platform.

Reins' eyes stayed on the empty, holy white lighted ceremony platform.He and the hunters stood in the corner of the hall, like a lone wolf left behind.

In the rustling conversation, there were furious curses, astonishing guesses, and ridicule of the king.

When the master of power leaves the throne, the poisonous snake underneath begins to move around.

"Didn't the king take this opportunity to suppress the church?" A hunter said solemnly, "...Andre is a vampire. A vampire manages the church?"

Lions glanced at the hunter, and the rest of the people except him also looked strange.

"Where's Heidi?" Lyons asked.

The hunters shook their heads.

The current situation of Blood Hunt is extremely delicate.The president's whereabouts are a mystery, and he is also connected with the royal family. Those civil servants who are afraid of Heidi have changed from hatred to flattery, and the old hunters have gone to night patrol.The two organizations separated silently and went in opposite directions.

Lyons looked at the noisy crowd for a while, and then asked: "How many missing people in the southern district have been found?"

"Not less than the North District, or even more." The old hunter replied, "A few of them are quite special. They left a letter to their wife saying that they are going to join the army."

"join the army?"

The old hunter nodded and looked at the throne inlaid with diamonds: "Those with regular files join the army."

The banquet will last until midnight.Lyons and the hunters were out of tune with the luxuriously dressed nobles, and they quietly left the hall after asking for information to no avail.

Lyons held a piece of old letter paper in his hand, with scribbled handwriting and ugly fonts.Use rough charcoal to draw traces, but the paper is extremely luxurious.

The letter paper came from a girl who was waiting for her lover to return at the border of the Southern District.The letter said that the girl's fiancé had won the favor of the royal family, saw the potential in him, and was recruited into the army.

The letter is full of confidence and hope.Both the girl and her fiancé believed in what the letter said.But the hunters smelled death.

Weisennuoer has a fixed recruitment period, and he must go through layers of selection and evaluation before he can enter the official army.The documents attached with the stationery were indeed from the royal family, but they were not formal recruitment notices, more like a life-and-death contract.

The hunters stayed away from the southern region for too long, and the desolation and chaos of the northern region became their established impression of Wiesenor. The ambitions and disputes of the royal family were dissipated during wartime and concealed during peacetime.It suddenly surfaced and silenced all the hunters.

"The royal family is preparing an army in secret?!" The old hunter kept flipping through the old letter paper and the enlistment notice attached below, and creased the paper with his clenched hands, "These things Dee has seen it, how can she just sit back and do nothing!"

Lyons stared at the only oil lamp in the room. The wick swayed in the breeze, casting a huge shadow.The gray flame glowed with a warm white light, and at a certain moment a corner was incomplete.

The small shadow was angular, like a bat's wings spread out.

Lyons paused for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Are there too many bats in the North District?"

The dignified hunters couldn't understand what Lioness asked, and looked at him one after another.Lyons stood up, picked up his cloak and said, "I'm going out for a while, and the investigation of the missing persons has been stopped in advance. Everyone, please stay safe."

Blood Hunter has no influence in the Southern District, and the place where the hunters live is a little far from the downtown area.You can see dense stars at night.

"squeak--"

Lyons heard the sound and looked, and the culprit who blocked the oil lamp squatted on the roof, looking at him with dark green eyes.

a bat.

The bat sang twice, flew from the roof and flew into the distance.

Because of the royal family event, the bustling night in the civilian area was replaced by silence, the ever-burning lights in the tavern dimmed, and there were only patrolling soldiers on the streets.

The bat crossed the usually bustling bazaar, entered the alley, avoided the lazy patrols, took a weird path around the palace, and stopped on a gentle hill.

The crackling sound of the bonfire overwhelmed the evening wind, and the smell of burning wood was mixed with a faint smell of blood.

Lyons held his breath and looked down from the hill. There were a few men scattered around the campfire. They were wrapped in thick cotton clothes and curled up by the campfire.A few disheveled people were tied to a wooden stake in the distance, with yellow and thin faces and scattered scars on their bodies.

The smell of blood came from there.

On the other side of the bonfire, there are several large and small houses hidden, without lights and sounds, like a luxurious cemetery.

The human breath is thin and helpless, and even with a bonfire, it is too cold here.

The night wind that was blowing became bitter, and Lioness tensed his body, carefully distinguishing any sounds around him.The grass blades behind him swayed, the air was turbulent, and the temperature of the campfire seemed to be cut off.

Lyons sank down, drew out the dagger and swiped it back quickly, the tip of the knife colliding with a hard object made a crisp sound.Lions flipped his wrist, pointed the blade at the uninvited guest again, he raised his head suddenly, and the expected dangerous scene was replaced by a pair of slightly playful pupils.

"Are you going to arrest me, Inspector?"

After the tense nerves relaxed for a moment, Lyons straightened up and put away the dagger: "Andre? Why are you here?"

"I should ask this question." Andre passed Lyons, his eyes fell on the sunken open space, "Why are you here?"

"Someone brought me here," Lyons said. "A bat."

Andre and Lyons looked at each other for a moment, and answered frankly: "I'm not that kind."

Lyons glanced at him and didn't continue to ask, "What are those below?"

He deftly avoids the word "person".The hunter's intuition is sometimes accurate for no reason. Andre stared at Lyons and raised the corner of his mouth: "What do you think?"

"During this period, there have been a lot of missing cases of Weissenor, and Bloodhunter has been investigating. As far as I know, the royal family should not have an army stationed in the mountains without any establishment."

Andre looked at the huddled men, intentionally or unintentionally, sweeping across the silent residential complex.

"I thought you were going to ask something else," Andre said, "like the former president."

The shadow reflected by Andre's golden pupils was a little distorted.

"What answer do you want, Andre?" Lyons asked.

Andre frowned, feeling conflicted about this rhetorical question.Losing dominance is something bloodkind loathes, and Lyons happened to ask a question he couldn't answer.

The bonfire crackled, the sound of grass blades rubbing against each other gradually became heavier, and the smell of blood in the air became stronger.

Lyons turned his attention to the valley, those gorgeous houses were opened quietly, and the people in the houses were wearing orthodox military uniforms, moving extremely fast, wandering around the houses as if looking for something.

Their steps are light and their movements are vigorous, but there is silence in their chests, without any ups and downs.

Lyons' eyes wandered between the bonfire and the house. When the scent of blood in the air was so strong that it challenged his nerves, he finally sank his face and forced two words from his throat: "God's blood."

The bonfire is like a barrier, hindering the actions of the vampires, but the people tied to the stakes are out of the scope of protection.Hungry vampires capture the smell of thin blood in the air, looking for prey like hungry wolves.

Lyons turned down the hill and took out the silver gun at the same time.

Andre followed him silently, like a ghost.

The vampires found the "lamb" tied to the stake, hesitated for a moment facing the bonfire, and finally walked around the illuminated place and walked towards the stake.

Lyons hid his body in the bushes, like a leopard hunting, the silver blade could pierce the heart of the vampire at any time.

"You're too nervous, Lyons." Andre, who was following behind him, suddenly said, the light voice fell into the bushes and spread into the minds of the vampires, the greedy smile disappeared instantly from the face, fear and admiration Looking at Andre in the bushes.

Lyons watched the group of monsters retreat back to the house, his expression was more serious than when he was preparing for the battle.

He withdrew his dagger and silver gun, with a cold light in his eyes: "Your blood."

"Mine." Andre smiled with satisfaction, and raised his chin in praise, "Long time no see, you've become smarter, Inspector."

Reigns didn't respond to Andre's teasing. The hunter was like a stone sculpture in winter, and besides the coldness, there was still a thick layer of chill around him.

"you…"

"Someone is here." Andre interrupted Lyons, "You should go back."

There were rustling footsteps, a few ropes were missing from the stake, and the hunter in the bushes disappeared without a trace.

"Andre..." Roy came in a hurry, still wearing the costumes for the ceremony.He stood still in front of the valley, his pupils shrinking.

"It seems that President Heidi didn't bring you here." Andre turned around, admiring Roy's expression.

Priests don't need to distinguish bloodlines through intuition and characteristics like hunters.The children chosen by the gods have a different kind of privilege, they can distinguish the blood race through their feelings.

What Roy felt in the valley was mottled dead air, and stagnant swamps generally covered all areas.

Different from the sharpness and danger in Andre, what Roy felt in Andre was a poisonous snake with beautiful scales, while this valley was a dirty quagmire.

"what is this?"

Andre looked down following Roy's gaze, and replied mockingly: "Wesenor's army."

"Who told you to come here to find me?" Andre asked, blocking Roy's sight.

"President Heidi said that if you can't find you, come here."

"Really." Andre looked at Roy, "What's the matter?"

Drops of cold sweat ooze from Roy's back, soaking the high-quality priest's robe, and the moisture sticks to his whole body.Roy withdrew his gaze, "His Majesty Bernal is looking for you."

It didn't take too long to return from the valley to the side hall, and the coldness around him never faded.

Roy has become silent since entering the side hall, and he rarely sees Bernal IV.The relationship between the church and the royal family is complicated, and Roy rarely leaves the church except for ceremonies.

But that doesn't mean he can accept that the king has turned into a vampire who should be killed.

Bernal sat back on the soft sofa, holding the thin man in his arms, with blood dripping from his mouth.

This place is completely the lair of the vampires. Roy wanted so much to stab the sword he was carrying into the chest of the monarch he swore allegiance to, and pour holy water over Bernal's head.

"Those ignorant idiots." Bernal was clutching a thick stack of documents in his hand, "Such a lot of advice was presented just after the banquet. It's really a good minister from Wiesenor's heart."

"They don't understand anything, what I have obtained is supreme power! As long as the military exercise is held, these arrogant and inferior races can only bow down to me." Bernal pushed the thin man away and looked at Andre excitedly , "Duke, what happened to my army, my army?"

Speaking of which, Bernal suddenly stopped, and looked at Roy with a smile: "Priest Roy, you have worked hard today. The Duke and I still have something to discuss..."

Roy paused for a moment on Bernal's pale and sickly face, bowed his head in salute, and exited the side hall.

The author says:

Surface dialogue:

"Someone brought me here," Lyons said. "A bat."

Andre: "I'm not that kind."

Actual dialogue:

Lyons: "Did you bring me here? What is the royal family doing here? When will you come back with me?"

Andre: "...sir, you have a lot of inner drama."

(ps: The above is the author's imagination, and has nothing to do with Lyons himself)