Chapter 55
The Progenitor gently pushed away the dagger that was already at his chest. His tone was exaggerated, but his expression showed no trace of fear.
“You’re not dead…?”
“No, no, I am indeed dead. What you’re seeing now is just an image I left behind with my ability.”
Fu Xia let out a sinister laugh. “Don’t tell me the so-called legacy is just a chance to talk to this image.” If that were the case, she would dig up his entire ancestral grave.
The Progenitor, sitting in his coffin, blinked. “What a prejudice you have against me… Of course not. Do I look like that much of a cheapskate?”
Fu Xia stared at him without speaking. The Progenitor let her look, not saying a word, as if waiting for her to ask a question.
After two minutes, there was only the faint, almost inaudible sound of breathing in the night.
The Progenitor couldn’t take it anymore. “Ask me something! I’m going to disappear soon.”
Only then did Fu Xia speak. “I’ve always wanted to ask, why did you choose me as the key?”
“Well…” The Progenitor shifted his position, propping his elbow on the edge of the coffin, his chin in his hand. “A long, long time ago, on a cloudless night, a human woman broke into my territory…”
Who wants to hear your story?
Fu Xia made a move to kick the coffin lid back on.
The Progenitor let out a series of “hey, hey, heys,” muttering things like “so impatient,” and quickly held up a hand. “I’m already dead, can’t you have a little patience? I’m giving you the background.”
The handsome Vampire Progenitor continued, “To put it simply, when I saw this woman, she was covered in wounds—I’ve rarely seen a person beaten so badly. How pitiful. But even so, she came to my territory. Don’t you humans have legends about making wishes to gods or demons, sacrificing your soul for help? She probably believed that, saying she would offer her soul to me.”
“She wished for her husband to be punished, for someone to save her child… and so on,” the Progenitor said, his eyes curving. “Simply put, you are that lucky child~”
Fu Xia lowered her eyes. “You agreed, and then you took her life?”
The Progenitor shook his head. “No, you can’t blame me for that. She was already dying. I even kindly buried her.”
“…Sounds no different from being chosen at random.”
“It may seem random, but there’s a certain mystery to it,” the Progenitor said, spreading his hands, his fangs showing as he smiled. “Both her wishes have been fulfilled. Doesn’t that prove I’m a kind vampire?”
Fu Xia: “…” Pushing her into that situation counts as kind?
The Progenitor propped his chin on his hand and looked up at her, the moonlight on his face making his smile seem brilliant. “I couldn’t just give you these things directly, could I? That would be too easy… And besides, isn’t this the perfect way to give you a stage to make your debut?”
“You say that as if it were all for my own good.”
“Eh—you’re not moved by what I just said?”
Fu Xia felt nothing of the sort. She lowered her eyes. “Have you forgotten that I’m a vampire now? Besides, my mother never meant much to me in the first place.”
The smile on the Progenitor’s lips vanished. He tilted his head, his gaze turning inquisitive, before he laughed as if in understanding.
“…Ah, that’s also part of what I find interesting.”
“The story is over. What is the legacy?”
The Progenitor blinked.
Fu Xia felt the figure in front of her flicker, and then a faint, cool breath came from behind her. She hadn’t felt him move at all. She was startled and heard his cheerful voice. “…A little heads-up, it’s a very useful ability.”
He touched the back of her neck, a temperature even colder than her own seeping into her skin.
“From now on, as long as you drink their blood, you will have the power to control them.”
Fu Xia turned to look at him and saw the cheerful smile on his face. “Alright, I should go to sleep now… I’ll leave the rest to you. Don’t disappoint me.”
His final words were like rising smoke, quickly dissipating into the cool moonlight. Fu Xia felt a faint warmth on the back of her neck and looked back.
…The Progenitor was gone.
“What a self-centered guy,” Fu Xia murmured. Just from the illusion he had left behind, it was clear what a malicious and egotistical person he had been.
Fu Xia could clearly feel the power within her growing. With a light push, she easily closed the heavy coffin lid. She stood there for a moment, then turned and walked back the way she came.
Mother… Fu Xia hadn’t been lying. It wasn’t that she was trying to hide a vulnerable side from the malicious Progenitor; she just truly had no real sense of the image of a “mother.”
On her way back, Fu Xia saw Eva lying on the ground. Her expression was indifferent, the wound over her heart not yet healed, still bleeding. Fu Xia glanced at her and then looked away.
She rushed back to the party as fast as she could. Before she even entered the hall, she was hit by the thick scent of blood. The battle inside the castle was reaching its peak.
—In truth, after Eva had given her the heart’s blood, Fu Xia didn’t think there would be much suspense tonight. After all, the Princes, whether forced or willing, were already on her side. Not to mention the half-breeds who were acting in the middle. If Fu Xia couldn’t win with all this, then she might as well give up.
She breathed in the scent of blood and slowly stepped into the hall.
The moment she entered, a sharp voice cried out, “She’s here!!”
Fu Xia felt a gust of wind from the front, but it was too slow. She casually raised her hand, easily caught the attacker’s wrist, and with a light twist, he let out a piercing scream.
It all happened in a few seconds. She pulled him toward her, and in the instant she closed the distance, she tore out his heart.
The attacking vampire’s eyes were wide with disbelief. Blood flowed from the wound, dripping onto the long red carpet.
…Looking closely, the carpet was already soaked in blood.
Fu Xia casually tossed the body aside.
The hall was terrifyingly silent.
Everywhere were wounded, dying vampires. They knew how to kill their own kind, and no one had held back. Fortunately, the pure-bloods, even while fighting, had retained some rationality and hadn’t wiped out the humans as well.
Fu Xia stepped through the pools of blood. Ripples spread out; there was so much blood it had formed small lakes, a gruesome sight.
She spared it only a single glance. Her eyes were now completely red, as sharp and cold as winter frost, easily drawing the gazes of every vampire in the room.
On the second-floor terrace, Zhu Ye was fighting with Xie Rin. He was distracted for a moment and glanced in her direction, his brilliant golden eyes lighting up.
“Senior—Ugh!”
Xie Rin showed no mercy and knocked him off the platform. “Don’t call her that so intimately, you mutt!”
Pei Wang approached her from the other side of the blood pool, his emerald eyes glinting with an unreadable emotion.
Fu Xia gave him a slight nod.
“Still,” Pei Wang commanded.
The ability was instantly activated. Everyone in the hall, whether half-breed or pure-blood, fell under the control of [Domination and Conquest].
Fu Xia walked to the very center.
“I have obtained the Progenitor’s authority.”
“Now is your last chance to object.”
Her clear voice spread throughout the hall.
No one had expected that Pei Wang, that mad dog, would be the first to drop to one knee.
Then came Yan Zhu, Xie Rin… one by one, the Princes lowered their noble heads.
The faces of the vampires who had caused the commotion, who had tried to snatch the legacy, turned ashen. Finally, they too knelt on the ground.
…
Life after becoming the new Progenitor, aside from a significant improvement in her standard of living, being able to walk sideways at school, and being constantly pestered by Zhu Ye, wasn’t all that different.
The task of cleaning up the heretics was left to Xie Yan and Xie Rin. The two brothers couldn’t stand the sight of each other, but they were surprisingly effective when they worked together.
As for Fu Xia—
—she continued her school life.
After all, most vampires had lived much longer than her. Fu Xia lacked experience, and a person cannot understand what is beyond their cognition, so she had to actively learn.
Yan Zhu designed a complete “Introduction to Vampire Life” course for her, with intermediate and advanced levels to follow. He was full of enthusiasm for his role as her life manager.
As for her teachers…
The soft skills were left to Song Yingxi, the hard skills to Pei Wang.
Fu Xia didn’t want to stumble on certain matters, so she didn’t put on any airs. Her eagerness to learn even surprised Song Yingxi.
In the fifth year of her vampire life, Fu Xia successfully took over a portion of Yan Zhu’s businesses.
In the tenth year, almost no vampire had any complaints about her sitting on the throne.
In the twentieth year, Fu Xia met Eva again. She had been seriously injured that year, but perhaps fate had not decreed her death. She had not died, but the weariness about her was even heavier than before.
Eva made a request of her.
“I hope that you will be the one to end my long journey,” she said.
It was a night with a very full moon.
Fu Xia sat beside her, calmly listening as Eva spoke of her past in a steady tone—happiness, pain, bitterness, everything.
In the end, Eva placed a small knife in Fu Xia’s hand and, holding her hand, guided it to her own heart.
I hope you do not follow my path, she said.
Good luck, she said.
Finally, Fu Xia saw her off on her last journey.
In the final second, as the vampire beside her faded away, Fu Xia revealed a faint smile.
“I will,” she said.