Chapter 5: Going to Buy Blood Together

Wuming carried a cardboard box to a bench in the park.

He sat there alone, waiting for the blood clan member he had arranged to meet so they could head to the vending machine together and buy some blood.

He had thought that after so long without contact she might have disappeared, but the moment he sent the message she replied instantly. 

After explaining that he wanted to buy blood, they agreed to meet here.

I wonder how she’s doing now…

She had picked a scumbag boyfriend, got cheated out of her money, lost all hope for life in this strange city, and even considered ending it all.

Luckily she had met him. He gave her some help, and gradually she started to improve.

“Doctor Wuming?”

A young female voice with a slight Nanning accent made Wuming turn his head. A blood clan girl wearing shorts and a short-sleeved top, with twin ponytails, appeared in his view.

She was about the same height as Serena, once again making Wuming suspect that blood clan members all had a thing for lolis.

Though I do too.

“Hello, Miss Crosti.”

Wuming still remembered her name. After all, it was saved in his phone notes—impossible to forget.

“Long time no see, Doctor Wuming.”

“I heard you needed my help, so let’s go get the blood now.”

Crosti said happily, seemingly delighted to have received Wuming’s invitation.

“Sure…”

The two walked through the park. There was a self-service blood bag vending machine nearby—that was their destination.

“Why does Doctor Wuming want to buy blood?”

Crosti asked curiously. It was strange that a human would one day come to her to buy blood.

Is this some new kind of date?

“Because… I recently got another blood clan patient, so I thought I’d buy some blood bags to keep on hand in case more blood clan patients come later.”

Wuming deliberately hid Serena’s existence.

“Doctor Wuming is such a good person.”

Crosti was still grateful for everything Wuming had done for her. She would never forget that kindness.

That was why she had replied to his message instantly.

“Taking care of a patient’s emotions is part of my job as a psychologist.”

“What about you, Crosti? How’s life? Any improvements?” Wuming asked in turn.

“It’s great! I’m a million-follower streamer now. Life is really good.”

Crosti said proudly. She was now a million-follower creator with her own company—a huge contrast to her previous life.

“Really? That’s wonderful.”

“Send me the link. Next time you go live I’ll definitely come watch.”

“It’s a deal!”

Wuming had only said it casually to go along with her, but Crosti took it seriously and immediately sent him the link.

“When you don’t feel like working hard anymore, come find me, Doctor Wuming.”

“I’ll take care of you!”

Pfft—!

Her declaration was just as explosive as when Serena had forcibly married him. Why do all these blood clan girls say such outrageous things?!

“Th-thanks…”

“I still want to work hard for a few more years.”

They soon reached the vending machine. Wuming set down the box and watched Crosti operate it.

She inserted her blood clan ID, verified her fingerprint, and once her identity was confirmed she could buy blood bags directly.

“You choose, Doctor Wuming. What type of blood do you want?”

“Hm…”

Looking at the various A, B, C, D, E types of blood bags, Wuming had no idea which one Serena would like.

So he decided to just buy all of them. No need to pick.

“You’re buying this many, Doctor Wuming?”

“If you leave them too long the taste of the blood will get worse, you know.”

“It’s fine. Just buy them like this.”

Wuming didn’t mind.

After all, he wasn’t the one drinking them. Serena could experience the taste herself.

“It feels bad to keep troubling you to come buy blood with me. Better to buy a lot at once and save the hassle of bothering you every time.”

That was what Wuming thought, but Crosti felt differently.

Actually, I kind of hope Doctor Wuming calls me out often…

“Alright then. Still, this is quite a lot of money…”

Buying out the entire machine would cost nearly 1000 yuan. For Wuming it was a painful amount.

He hoped Serena wouldn’t drink them all in one go.

Just as Wuming was about to pay, Crosti stopped him.

“Let me pay this time, Doctor Wuming.”

“I can’t let you spend money…” Wuming said embarrassed.

“It’s just pocket change. I can earn it back in an hour.” Crosti waved it off casually.

“……”

Is streaming really that profitable?!

I want that too…

Before Wuming could react, Crosti had already paid on her phone. Blood bags started dropping one after another.

“Thank you, Crosti.”

“Don’t mention it.”

While Wuming squatted down to collect and pack the blood bags, two unfamiliar visitors suddenly appeared.

“Please show your ID, Miss Blood Clan.”

Wuming looked toward the voice. From their combat uniforms and the guns on their backs, he immediately recognized them as members of the Other Race Bureau.

But fully armed and patrolling with guns like this was something Wuming rarely saw.

“Of course. Here’s my ID.”

Crosti cooperatively handed over her ID. She seemed used to these checks.

“…Christy, right?”

The girl shook her head when she heard the wrong name. “It’s Crosti. The ID is correct.”

“Sorry, just verifying authenticity, Miss Crosti.” The man apologized slightly and returned the ID.

“Could you tell me why you’re buying so much blood, Miss Crosti?”

The questioner glanced at Wuming, who was still packing, and asked what Crosti planned to do with so much blood.

“He’s a psychologist taking care of his blood clan patient, and I need to stock some at home too. Perfectly reasonable, officer.”

“……”

His gaze shifted to Wuming behind Crosti.

“That human over there, please cooperate with us for a statement.”

“No problem, sir.”

Wuming temporarily set aside his work, cooperated with the Other Race Bureau officers for the record, then went back to packing the blood bags.

“Thank you for your cooperation, miss.”

“You officers are working hard too.”

After the two left, Crosti let out a sigh of relief.

“I was afraid they’d hassle us…”

“What happened?” Wuming, who had finished packing, asked in confusion. He didn’t understand why Crosti was afraid of being hassled.

“It was just normal blood bag shopping.”

“You wouldn’t understand, Wuming,” Crosti said seriously. “It’s because of yesterday.”

“Yesterday?” Wuming looked at her puzzled.

“Do you know what Scarlet Night is?” Crosti asked. Seeing him shake his head, she explained slowly.

“Scarlet Night is something proposed by a blood clan organization operating in the human world. It’s specially set up for black households.”

On that day, blood clan members have no restrictions on their behavior. 

They attack each other to seize tokens, and those tokens can be exchanged for whatever they want.

“Tokens? What do they get from doing this?”

Wuming didn’t understand.

“Things like food, weapons, or even the ID they’ve always wanted. Tokens are basically their money.”

Wuming nodded at her description, starting to get the picture, and thought of something.

Could it be… Miss Serena was targeted in that Scarlet Night thing and happened to be picked up by me?

As Wuming thought that, Crosti continued.

“On that day civilians are also targets, but since it would attract the Other Race Bureau’s investigation, they usually don’t touch civilians. That’s become an unspoken rule among them.”

“Besides that, there’s something even more important. Every Scarlet Night sets a high-value bounty target. Solving it gets a huge amount of tokens. It’s the ultimate goal for those blood clan members.”

“……”

Sounds like some game I’ve played!

And the high-value target Crosti mentioned made Wuming immediately think of Serena. She was probably the high-bounty target.

That also explained what he had heard last night.

“Why do they do this?”

“Because it’s fun. Every hunt has visual-sharing bats filming it so other viewers can watch.

“I hear the ratings are pretty good.”

Using people’s lives for entertainment…

Wuming was hearing about something this horrifying for the first time.

“So recently the Other Race Bureau has been really tense, questioning us blood clan members.”

“Really makes life difficult.” Crosti added. Their actions had greatly affected her daily life.

“Isn’t this a good thing? It indirectly solves the black household problem.”

“Good my ass—!”

Crosti looked at Wuming speechlessly.

“They don’t deal with the bodies. The Other Race Bureau has to handle the cleanup.

“Imagine waking up the next day to find the streets full of corpses. This is Nanning, not Gedan City.”

“So the Other Race Bureau still wants to eliminate that organization. They can’t let it continue like this.”

Wuming recalled the murder cases often reported in the newspapers.

It seemed they never had any follow-up.

After hearing all this, Wuming basically understood what had happened yesterday, but he still had one last question.

“Why do you know all this?”

“Because… they once invited me to join and help manage it, but I refused.”

“Refused?!” Wuming never expected they had approached Crosti, let alone that she had turned them down.

“I don’t want to join that organization, and I already have an ID. Why would I live like them?”

“Then why didn’t you report them to the Other Race Bureau?”

Crosti rolled her eyes at Wuming. “They came to my door to invite me. I don’t even know where their base is. How could I report them?

“The fact that they let me go was already a blessing. I’m staying out of it.”

Wuming agreed with that.

“It’s getting late, Crosti. Let’s head our separate ways.”

Wuming had gotten what he came for. It was time to go back and check on his “wife.”

“Aren’t you taking some blood bags home?”

Crosti waved her hand. “I still have some at home, so no need. You keep them, Doctor Wuming.”

“Hm. Alright then.”

“Oh, right,” Crosti suddenly remembered just before leaving, “schedule some time for me, Doctor Wuming. I want to talk.”

“Streaming has been stressing me out lately. I need a quiet place to relax. Is that okay?”

“Of course, Crosti. My clinic is always open for you.”

“Just let me know whenever you want to come.”

After saying that, Wuming bid Crosti farewell and headed home.