The King of Black Fog

"What did you say?" the housekeeper asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Nothing," Li Changzhou stepped out of the coffin.

Indeed, there was nothing to say, because the simple system notification could not let Yang Qinglan and Li Qianxia know his exact location.

"So I'm going alone to protect the great inventor?" he changed the subject.

"Edison is highly regarded by Prince himself, you'd better be polite to him," the housekeeper took out a box that looked like it was for a ring, "this is from the Prince himself."

Li Changzhou took it, opened it, and indeed, there was a ring inside.

Completely black, it had a ring of blood-colored patterns.

[Name: Vampire Ring]

[Type: Tool]

[Quality: D]

[Special Effect: After putting it on, vampires can move about during the day when the sunlight is not strong, such as at dawn, dusk, on foggy days, rainy days, and cloudy days]

[Minimum Use Conditions: Vampire]

[Introduction: Created by Witch Tessa in response to the vampires' request, it can be used by those below the rank of Viscount]

[Note: It is said to be actually a curse, but then, flames can be used for cooking or can cause fires; one shouldn't be prejudiced against the power itself—if there is a prejudice, it doesn't matter anyway]

Li Changzhou took out the ring and discarded the box (to which the housekeeper seemed a little dissatisfied).

As he was about to put it on, he suddenly asked, "On which finger does wearing this ring imply that I have a girlfriend?"

The housekeeper raised her middle finger on the right hand with a gesture full of contempt, provocation, and irony.

"Thanks," Li Changzhou slipped the ring onto his finger, "you haven't told me, do I have any companions?"

"Yes, but the Prince has said that there might be an undercover agent this time, so no one can be told the list of those protecting Edison."

"Understood, anything else I need to know?"

"This time, those targeting Edison include werewolves, witches, the clergy, demon hunters."

"What are they doing? Preparing for war?" Li Changzhou asked, wondering whether Miss Yang would be a witch, or perhaps a knight or nun from the church.

"Your task is to protect Edison. The rest is not for you to worry about," the housekeeper finally lowered her middle finger and turned into a bat, flying towards the pitch-black woods under the moonlight.

Li Changzhou twirled the ring on his right middle finger, lost in thought for a moment.

He didn't summon Li Qianxia right away, because since Li Qianxia hadn't summoned him, it meant it wasn't convenient on her side.

As he prepared to step out of the cemetery, he looked back at his grave, which had been open from the inside, and decided to refill it.

Of course not by his own hands.

"Go back after you fill it up."

"Hiss~" the King Cobra swept its tail, scooping a large amount of earth back into the grave.

The King Cobra had the same physical attributes as Li Changzhou, but due to different structures, their actual performance varied; the most obvious difference was in shooting, using tools, and so on.

In the matter of filling graves, Li Changzhou was evidently not as convenient as the King Cobra with its elongated body.

This was an excuse, but also a hundred percent the reason.

Leaving the graveyard, he arrived at the streets of the United States in the year 1880.

There were no streetlights at the time, only kerosene and gas lights; the streets in the early morning were devoid of any man-made light, only the pale dawn in the sky.

The sun had not yet risen, and the sky was a deep shade of blue.

The streets were lined with strip clubs, bars, tattoo parlors, and more.

A group of nightingales were yawning as they finished their night shift, while several drunks or dope fiends lay on the ground.

As the seemingly frail Li Changzhou walked by alone, two men whistled at him, stood up, and approached him.

"Kid, all by yourself?" Their frames were imposing, like two walls.

"That's right," Li Changzhou stopped.

"Come over here; I've got some good news for you," the thinner of the two pointed to an alley off the main road.

"I love good news," Li Changzhou said smilingly, heading for the alley.

The two men exchanged a glance and let out a shrill laughter, following after him.

Surely this good alley already had people in it.

A lady was being silenced from behind by a man's right hand over her mouth while his left hand held her by the waist and lifted her off the ground.

The woman flailed like a madwoman, trying to punch the man's face with her elbow and attempting to poke his eyes.

"Bitch! Fuck!"

She had hit her mark.

The pain forced the man to release his hold.

Once free, the woman rushed toward the three men entering the alley, her high heels clacking on the pavement.

"Help me! Somebody help me!"

"Stop her, and we can all have her together!"

The two wall-like figures laughed lewdly, not moving but simply standing shoulder to shoulder, effectively blocking the alley.

The woman was desperate; she tilted her neck back, trying to call for help from the main street behind the two men.

But in the next moment, her neck was tightly gripped by the man behind her.

"I'll make you beg for it, you whore," he growled.

With a light shove, he pushed the woman against the wall.

One hand held her slender throat firmly, while with the other, he viciously yanked down her shirt.

The two walls whistled appreciatively at the sight of what was beneath the shirt and the white lace bra.

The woman screamed piercingly while struggling fiercely, her panic unleashing a strength greater than usual.

"Smack!" the man slapped her hard across the face.

The woman's lips split open.

Li Changzhou twitched his nose slightly; the scent of blood was making him a little hungry.

"Make another sound, and I'll cut out your tongue," the man tried to wedge his knee between her legs.

Her tears overflowed, and while she continued to breathe heavily, her body slowly stopped struggling.

The man sneered, about to speak.

"Hey," Li Changzhou interrupted, "isn't this some special play, or are you actually going against a woman's will?"

The man turned and sized him up, then laugh with lustful intent, "I could even go against a man's will."

"So that's how it is." Li Changzhou nodded, "It's my first time coming to America in 1880, and I'm not very familiar with the local customs, so I made a mistake, sorry."

"What the fuck are you talking about!" The man was losing his patience.

The void shattered, cool morning air turned chilling, and the Death God cloaked in a black cape, carrying a huge White Bone Scythe, floated above the alley.

"Ah..."

The two walls behind him hadn't even managed to cry out before they were slammed down into the ground amidst a flash of white light.

Eyes turned completely white, mouth agape, vile saliva secreting.

The Death God slowly retracted his Scythe, then slung it back over his shoulder.

"You, you!" The man looked at him in horror, his legs instinctively backing away—but he tripped over the woman's blouse he himself had torn off, falling to the ground.

The Death God vanished, and the man lay there forever.

Li Changzhou looked towards the woman curled up on the ground, shivering incessantly.

Gazing at her bloodstained lips, Li Changzhou felt a sudden dryness in his mouth, as if he hadn't had water for a long time.

His thirsty look made the exceptionally sensitive woman tremble again, curling up even tighter.

"Sorry." Li Changzhou took off his jacket and tossed it over to her.

The jacket landed on the woman as though it had been carefully arranged.

"All the women outside are like that, even under the bridge, I saw... so I thought you were too."

The woman kept quiet, still curled up.

Li Changzhou nodded, as if to say, well, it's okay if you don't talk to me, and it's normal for you to be afraid of me.

He turned to leave, but then suddenly remembered the reason he had followed the walls to this place.

"Excuse me, how do I get to Monroe Park Town?" he asked the woman.

"Train, train."

"Thank you."

Li Changzhou turned, avoiding the corpses of the walls, and walked out of the alley.

"Wait!" A cry with a sob came from behind him.

"Is there something else?" Li Changzhou turned around.

"You," the woman seemed to still be catching her breath, "are you a good person?"

"Uh, well..." Li Changzhou twirled the ring in his hand, "I guess so, I certainly won't have relations against a woman's will, and I would offer help to women whose will has been violated."

The woman wiped her tears and stood up.

Halfway up, her body swayed, and she quickly steadied herself against the wall.

"I am a journalist from 'Scientific American', on my way to interview Edison in Monroe Park. If you're willing, I can take you with me."

"What you should be doing now is going to the police, or going home, taking a bath, and getting a good night's sleep, don't you think?" Li Changzhou asked curiously.

The woman shook her head vigorously, clutching the jacket in front of her, covering her body.

"I'm from New York, I don't have a place to stay here." She explained, "I have a hotel reservation at Monroe Park, and... I don't want to be alone right now."

Li Changzhou thought for a moment, then said to her, "I'd welcome someone who knows the way with me, but I advise you not to go to Monroe Park at this time."

"Why?" the reporter from 'Scientific American' asked instinctively.

"Because someone like me is going there." Li Changzhou turned away, heading out of the alley, "You should head back soon."

After watching Li Changzhou leave, the woman glanced frightfully at the three bodies on the ground and quickly ran out of the alley.

"Damn vampire, not falling for it!" she cursed under her breath.

Standing on the rooftop, Li Changzhou stroked his chin, watching the woman's retreating figure.

Because last time in 1928, he hadn't realized that Liu De was a player, this time he was more cautious with anyone he met; even so, he hadn't spotted any flaws when the woman's clothes were intentionally torn off, but now...

These tacticians, they all have dirty hearts!

He opened his right hand, the Emerald Bee Sword slid into his palm, aimed at the woman's heart as she hurried along the street in the early morning and threw it like a dart.

An explosive force instantly pushed the needle-thin Emerald Bee Sword to an unbelievable speed.

Almost in the moment he threw it, the woman's body stiffened, then she instantly turned her head to look at Li Changzhou.

"..."

The wound was too small, it healed instantly?

Li Changzhou jumped down from the rooftop, with the Emerald Bee Sword flying back to him and resuming its normal size.

"Sorry," he said, holding the sword and approaching the woman, "for disappointing you just now."

The woman's expression changed, and then darkened.

At that moment, the nightingales, poison ghosts, and zombie-like creatures began to close in around them.

"Oh?" Li Changzhou was intrigued; such instincts or skills seemed very interesting.

He bent his knees slightly, and the next instant, he was in front of the woman's face.

The woman saw his cold face, and in the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of an emerald light.

A sense of crisis, like a giant's hand, squeezed her whole body, leaving her breathless.

As the blade's light flashed by, the woman initially appeared unharmed, but a second later, her head and neck were misaligned, and blood spilled out.

Li Changzhou's gaze, however, had shifted to a seemingly ordinary nightingale woman in the distance, who was running away at the speed of an arrow.

Soul transfer?

It seemed to be an ability that could only be activated after her own death—if not, the woman could have transferred her soul in advance to stay hidden.

That would make the skill rather uninteresting.

He, Yang Qinglan, and Li Qianxia, none of them would abandon their own bodies.

But it might be worth capturing her in case she was needed in the future.

At that moment, the surrounding crowd lunged at him, intending to bury him, but the next moment, they were swept away as if hit by a shock wave, all flying outwards.

"You really are useless!" a scornful voice came from above.

Li Changzhou looked up.

A blond, blue-eyed girl dressed in a black gothic outfit was slowly descending from the sky.

At first glance, he laughed,

"Isn't this my dearest Princess?"

"Hmph!" Bi, snorting haughtily, landed on Li Changzhou, arrogantly straddling his neck.

The feeling of Prague instantly came back.