Thriller！Me? The Death Knight

Mystery! Eerie! Terrifying! Grotesque!

These were the most immediate feelings that Lina experienced from that single drop of blood.

She couldn't understand it.

Just one drop of blood, and it had made her feel a kind of fear and tension she had never known before.

"Is it... unspeakable?!"

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Lina's mind, startling her.

A force so potent that it could compel her to transform into her true form as a Death Angel. And yet, it was just a single drop of blood. The power emanating from it seemed capable of spreading its influence, corrupting everything around it.

A blood-washed specter—this kind of force couldn't even be achieved by them. So it could only belong to something even greater than a blood-washed specter—a terrifying existence, the kind that was known only as "unspeakable," a name too dangerous to utter.

"How did Yi Bai end up with blood from that kind of being?" Lina thought in a panic, scrambling to suppress the energy in the room. She quickly dialed the Rose Countess's number.

She didn't want Yi Bai to continue, but she could feel it: that drop of blood was resisting her approach. To avoid any potential catastrophe, she had no choice but to alert the Rose Countess.

Beep... Beep...

As the busy signal echoed, Yi Bai suddenly seemed to lose all patience with the relentless hunger coursing through him.

The drop of strange blood shot into his mouth and was swallowed down in a single, desperate gulp.

"Has everything been settled?"

The elegant voice of the Rose Countess rang out on the other end of the line.

Lina stared at Yi Bai, who had just ingested the blood, frozen for a few seconds. Her voice trembled as she responded, "Yi Bai has awakened... and swallowed a drop of blood... I don't know where it came from, but it's from an unspeakable being!"

Silence.

On the other end of the line, there was a faint sound, followed by the sharp clink of a glass shattering.

"Keep an eye on him. I'll be there immediately!" The Rose Countess's voice was filled with urgency and intensity.

The phone clicked off. Lina was left standing in a brief daze. The drop of unspeakable blood had likely already entered Yi Bai's body. His transformation seemed to still be continuing.

At the moment, it seemed nothing was out of the ordinary. But... she couldn't be sure.

"Where... am I?"

In the endless darkness, twisted by swirling blood-red hues, countless mysterious stars glowed faintly in the void. It was like a warped, eerie abstract painting from Van Gogh, distorted, sinister, and grotesque.

Yi Bai surveyed the surroundings. The stars were so close, almost within reach. He could feel the warmth radiating from them, as if they were alive.

His consciousness was foggy. Yi Bai didn't know why he was here. But at that moment, none of it seemed to matter. His body floated aimlessly in this strange, boundless space, like a drifting leaf caught in an unseen current.

Deep within, he heard a voice calling to him, and a mysterious force seemed to be gently guiding him toward the right path.

Back in the Real World.

"Rose Countess, what's happening? Is he going to be alright?" Lina asked, her voice tinged with worry, her concern impossible to hide.

"Mm..." The Rose Countess, who had arrived as quickly as possible, paused for a moment, her eyes clouded with confusion. She could sense the lingering, distinctive scent of blood in the air. It was the same as that from a being so terrifying that even its name could not be spoken aloud.

But what truly startled her was this: after Yi Bai, a freshly awakened fledgling vampire, consumed the blood from such an entity, there had been no immediate, adverse reaction.

By observing Yi Bai's blood flow, the Rose Countess realized something was even more strange—Yi Bai seemed to be in a state of unprecedented tranquility.

"It seems like he's fine, but the fact that everything's calm only makes me more suspicious," the Rose Countess muttered grimly. "By all rights, not even the blood of a Blood-Washed Specter should be something he can endure, let alone... that kind of existence."

"From what I can tell, he's entered the 'Blood Sea World,' the place where vampires awaken their true bloodline abilities," she continued, but then faltered.

Her voice trailed off, and both she and Lina focused their attention on Yi Bai's form.

Something Was Wrong.

Suddenly, a strange presence filled the room. Yi Bai's shadow, which should have been subtle in the dim light, began to grow unnaturally dark, like it was devouring all the surrounding light.

Even more bizarre was that Yi Bai himself didn't move, yet his shadow seemed to possess a life of its own. It writhed, twisted, and shifted like a living thing.

As the darkness spread, ripples formed within the ink-black shadow. From the shadows emerged a thin, grotesque creature, entirely black, with claws nearly half a meter long.

One creature—two creatures—emerged, until, in the blink of an eye, there were four of these bizarre beings, surrounding Yi Bai like loyal bodyguards, guarding their master.

Even more disturbingly, Yi Bai's own shadow had completely vanished. Now, dark, intricate arcane patterns of twisted magic appeared all over his body.

"Is... is this normal for an awakening?"

Lina asked curiously, her eyes wide with astonishment.

The Rose Countess was silent. She had no answer to that question.

She, of all people, had witnessed Yi Bai's transformation into a vampire. But this... this was nothing like what she had seen before. Yi Bai's awakening had birthed an ability that no other vampire had ever displayed: an unnatural connection to his shadow, something far beyond the usual bloodline powers.

How was she supposed to study this? How was she supposed to explain it?

Silence fell between them, both women equally baffled.

After a long moment, the Rose Countess spoke again, her voice uneasy.

"Why hasn't he awakened yet? This shouldn't be happening."

Minutes ticked by. Yi Bai still did not show any sign of waking up. The Rose Countess's expression darkened.

Lina's worry deepened.

For a vampire, the awakening process involved two key phases: first, the activation of their bloodline, which triggered an overwhelming hunger. The second phase involved the awakening of their unique bloodline abilities, following which they should wake up fully transformed.

But Yi Bai, it seemed, was stuck in some strange anomaly. Not only was he not waking up, but his very essence seemed to be growing weaker, as if he were on the brink of fading away.

"Could it be...?" The Rose Countess's eyes widened with realization, her shock almost palpable. "Is he about to awaken a second bloodline talent?!"