Chapter 6: Encountering a Group of Delinquents

Wuming carried a large box of blood on his way home.

But this time he did not head down the main street like before.

Instead he slipped into a secluded alley, hoping to take a shortcut home.

It was only one alley after all, so Wuming could not be bothered to scan a shared bike and ride back. He would simply carry it home.

Walking the main street while lugging such a big box would be exhausting. 

That was why Wuming had ducked into this alley he normally never used.

Scarlet Night, huh…

Just what kind of organization was that?

Although he had heard so much from Crosti, Wuming still felt puzzled and bewildered by their existence.

Were the people at the Other Race Bureau just eating their fill and doing nothing? 

How had they still not dealt with that organization? Did it really hide that deeply?

It seemed Nanning no longer wanted the title of the country’s safest city.

Serena…

She had probably been attacked by those Scarlet Night people last night, right? 

Could Serena have been an experimental subject in their hands?

Capable of making these people stop at nothing.

While Wuming was still pondering these things, his peripheral vision suddenly noticed that the path ahead in the alley was blocked by a group of people.

Through the faint light on the wall, Wuming noticed they had dyed their hair in all sorts of colors, sporting cap-style cuts or shamate hairstyles, paired with bean shoes and tight pants. And they were all young kids.

“…”

A BGM unconsciously started playing in Wuming’s mind.

Village entrance gathering, bring your own cement!

Music dance party!

He had run into spirit lads!

In the next second Wuming immediately turned around, wanting to leave the alley and avoid drawing that bunch of spirit lads’ attention.

But then he saw that, at some point, several thugs had appeared behind him and completely sealed off his escape route.

“…”

It looked like… they had been following him the whole way.

Seeing the setup, Wuming immediately understood his situation. It seemed these thugs had been eyeing him for some time, though he did not know when.

Had they spotted him when he picked up the blood?

If he had known, he would never have entered this alley. The main street would have been safer!

But why would they target him…

Only one possibility occurred to Wuming.

He watched the thugs ahead slowly walk forward. Seeing their pale faces and pointed ears, exactly as he had guessed, these people were blood clan thugs.

They were after the box of blood he carried.

Or perhaps they had sensed Serena at his house?

Wuming still leaned toward the former.

“Oi—! Human!”

“What are you carrying in your hands!”

The thugs came right up to him, speaking with a thick Nanning accent as they questioned Wuming, their gazes locked dead on the box in his hands.

“I smell it—the scent of food.”

It really was his blood they were after.

Wuming confirmed it from what was said.

Thankfully they were not here to trouble Serena.

But even if it was for blood, Wuming would not hand it over easily. 

Yet when he saw the thugs behind him fiddling with butterfly knives…

Hiss—

These guys came with ill intentions.

There was no way he could fight this bunch of thugs alone.

“Human, do you know this is our turf? You gotta pay a toll to pass through, understand?” 

The lead thug said aggressively to Wuming, pointing the knife in his hand straight at him.

What, is this place run by your family?

Why pay a toll?

Of course Wuming would never say that out loud. Doing so would definitely enrage these young thugs.

Young people had hot tempers, and they did not look like decent sorts. He was afraid it would end with white blades going in and red blades coming out.

Wuming still had that bit of crisis awareness.

“Um… what do you guys want?”

Wuming asked as if he did not understand, while in truth searching for a way to escape this disaster.

He had not brought any figurines with him when he left home, so he could only use whatever was readily available nearby to help weather this crisis.

Wuming kept scanning around for anything that could help him stall them and get through this.

“What we want? Don’t you already know?!”

“…Give me a hint, then.”

Hearing Wuming speak like that, the thug replied through gritted teeth.

“Then—!”

“One box—!!”

“Blood bags—!!!”

“If you want to leave here, hand over the blood in your hands! Got it?!”

“Got it, got it, big bros.”

“You guys… how much do you big bros want?”

“Look how many of us there are. One each—you should understand, right?”

“Or just leave the whole box of blood, and we’ll let you go.”

Naturally Wuming would not accept these conditions. This box of blood had cost a full 1,000 yuan! Even though it was not his money, he could not simply give it away.

Moreover, from the way they spoke, Wuming suspected these thugs were very likely black households. 

Blood from the vending machines was not expensive; ordinary blood clan members could afford it. Only those without IDs would be unable to buy any.

Otherwise they would never have targeted his box of blood.

Since they were black households…

Wuming suddenly felt like verifying whether what Crosti said was true. 

Perhaps they carried those Scarlet Night tokens she had mentioned.

But that would have to wait until after he took them down.

In the current situation, however, Wuming could not find anything useful around him.

Would he have to give them the box first, then go back to fetch his things and return to retrieve it?

That would not work. By the time he came back, who knew if the people would still be there? 

And this box of blood would probably have been completely drained by these blood clan guys.

Wuming’s gaze swept quickly around, then landed on the trash can beside him.

“…”

—Got it!

A plan suddenly formed in Wuming’s mind.

I choose you! Wangxia Bucket!

“Everyone, easy does it.”

Wuming set the box down, then quietly retreated beside the trash can. “You guys can pick whatever you want, as long as you let me go.”

“The kid’s pretty cooperative, huh.”

Seeing Wuming so sensible, the little thugs ignored him standing to the side and walked straight to the box to pick out blood bags.

“This one’s mine!”

“Don’t snatch it from me!”

“Everyone gets some, don’t rush!”

Watching from the side as their full attention stayed away from him, the corners of Wuming’s mouth unconsciously curled upward.

He silently pulled the keychain from his pocket. Hanging on it was a small gadget that looked like an ejection needle.

If anyone else saw it they might think it was just a toy, but the thing was real. Wuming always kept it on him.

It was precisely to handle situations like this.

He kept his hand behind his back, aimed the needle tip at his finger, and pressed down hard!

It hurts so much!

But it was all to break free from the current predicament. A little sacrifice meant nothing!

Wuming pinched the pricked finger and squeezed out a drop of blood with effort. 

The drop of scarlet blood fell onto the trash can and was absorbed by it.

Next—

He just had to sit back and enjoy the show.

The corners of Wuming’s mouth curled upward.