EnCoffin Me Chapter 104
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 104
After tormenting the leader all day, the saint finally settled down peacefully in the room assigned to him. Before going in, he once again showed off his adorable biting plushie to the leader, insisting on receiving some praise before he'd stop.
Throughout the whole process, he remained expressionless.
Leader: …What a lunatic!
After closing the door, the saint raised the hand that had been bitten hard and used his other hand to pinch the plushie's little ears.
Whack! Alexio hit him with a wing and loosened his grip. The plushie flapped in midair a couple of times and rolled onto a nearby table. Because it was so round, it almost flipped over.
No wonder Alexio rarely transformed into his bat form. Vampires should be quite fond of their bat form because it was agile and discreet, allowing them to silently monitor their prey while hanging upside down. But Alexio's bat form…
Was just too round.
Feeling a bit embarrassed himself, Alexio steadied himself on the table and quickly got to the point.
“Tonight, I'm going out. The main goal is to meet that night mare alone.”
“Need me to come with you?” Lucius asked.
“No, you're too conspicuous. Besides… that night mare seems to hate you more than the leader.” Alexio paused, then added, “Of course, that's probably because your clothing looks more like the Holy Temple's. When we were on the northern front, remember the night mare breeding farm Delvie mentioned, and all those night mare horns…”
His expression darkened as he spoke.
“The southeast branch has always specialized in night mares. Now, with the suspicion that it's controlled by the Holy Temple, I have to think more about its connection to that breeding farm.”
After they agreed on the plan, the lunatic stayed behind to draw attention, while Alexio, who wasn't even on the list, could leave without any worries. The branch was still brightly lit at night, but maybe to show closeness with the main center, the small plushies had been hung everywhere.
Alexio's bat form wasn't very agile in flight, so he moved along the shadows. When someone passed by or robots patrolled, he'd stay in the shadows. If hiding was impossible, he simply spread his wings and posed as a plushie. He had paused simulating body temperature and heartbeat, making him difficult to detect.
Meanwhile, the saint calmly dialed the branch leader's communication line. After a few rings, he hung up. The leader quickly called back, and the saint waited quietly for the ringtone to finish before calling again, then hung up.
The leader was driven nearly to tears by this torment! Luckily, the call finally connected.
“I want to meet the staff members and doctors who have been looking after Brendan,” he requested. The main center already had investigative authority over the branch, and the leader thought this demand would come the next day after the day's chaos. He couldn't refuse and had to agree immediately, urgently contacting the relevant personnel and making sure the worms inside them were active.
Even Theo couldn't control every single worm. He used a branching, hierarchical management system. High-ranking officials were controlled mentally and by eggs but retained most of their thinking ability, which helped with daily work. Lower-level staff, however, didn't need much cognitive ability, just enough to complete their tasks.
The southeast branch had long ceased to be just a branch. It had become a large nest for parasites.
The staff were transferred away for investigation, replaced by robots. Robots were easier to control, requiring nothing more than a quick reprogramming. Alexio guessed Theo thought the same way, and coincidentally, so did he.
Hiding behind a bat plushie, Alexio took out a small device from the shadows. He gently activated it, and the next moment, the surveillance footage in the corridor flickered subtly. The empty corridor image began looping. The personnel watching the monitors didn't notice anything wrong. It was just a normal night at the branch.
The round little bat landed on the floor and instantly shifted back into human form. He released the device, which automatically flattened into a thin screen. A holographic miniature version of Pupil appeared on the small platform.
“Pupil, initiate intrusion,” Alexio said softly.
A dazzling halo spread over the mini Pupil, disabling each access permission one by one. The night mare inside the room stirred uneasily, restlessly stomping its hooves. Then, it saw the room's metal bars slide open to the sides, and a figure slowly walked in. He tensed immediately, lowering his horn, ready to defend himself.
But what entered wasn't light. It was a vampire cloaked in darkness.
Brendan looked up as the vampire fearlessly approached him, not wary of his horn or his ill reputation. The vampire's familiar aura spread. Brendan had felt it earlier that day when a bat plushie had been placed on his head.
The vampire finally stopped in front of him. Only a faint glow from the corridor outlined his silhouette, his deep rose-colored eyes catching just a hint of reflected light as he stood against it.
“Brendan, right?” the vampire said. “I am Alexio of the vampire race. Let's talk.”
The night mare was silent for a moment, then cautiously took a few steps back to put some distance between them.
“So, you're here to be a mediator too? Like the other dark creatures who came to visit me?” He sneered. “Don't waste your breath! I hurt people. I hate humans and light creatures! Whenever I get the chance, I'll strike! I…”
“You don't look like a dark creature raised in a conservation center,” the vampire said calmly.
Brendan immediately fell silent, then after a pause, slowly asked, “How… how do you know that?”
The vampire smiled.
“Those raised in the center are all well-behaved children. Not that being well-behaved is bad, but they lack the pressure to survive, so their eyes have no fire… though they've improved after education. You're different. Your eyes are filled with nightmares.”
Eyes filled with nightmares… It was the first time Brendan had heard anyone describe his eyes that way. Lately, he'd only been called ‘violent’ or ‘untrainable,’ and earlier, back at the night mare breeding farm, they said he was ‘disobedient’ and ‘destined to be killed one day.’
“I know you still distrust me, and I don't expect you to fully trust me,” Alexio said slowly. “I'm here only to ask one thing: where is the night mare breeding farm?”
It felt like a thunderclap exploded in Brendan's mind! He heard his hooves shuffle nervously on the floor, betraying his shock. The vampire's steady gaze showed he wasn't bluffing. He truly knew of the breeding farm's existence.
“How did you know?” Brendan asked, shocked.
“On the northern front, I met Delvie, a high-ranking official of the Holy Temple. You might know her. She possessed some of the night mare's abilities.”
Of course he knew! That evil woman! Brendan immediately recalled the bloody scene where horns were harvested and how she pretended to be affectionate with a certain night mare just to better absorb its power… The night mare breeding farm under Delvie's rule was nothing less than a living hell.
“Of course I know her! She deserves to die! She—”
“She's dead,” Alexio said.
D-dead? Brendan froze, unable to believe it. He had, of course, thought about taking revenge on Delvie, but she was so powerful that even his horn couldn't kill her. And now this vampire casually claimed she was dead.
“She said a lot before she died. The night mare breeding farm was one of them. We've been searching for its whereabouts, but the Holy Temple is too cunning. Now we've found a night mare like you here in the southeast branch, clearly raised in a hostile environment. Does that mean the breeding farm is nearby?”
“I… I don't know,” Brendan found himself answering without thinking. “I'm not making excuses. I really don't know. I was raised at the breeding farm, a night mare destined to have my horn taken. A few months ago, I was suddenly moved here to replace the night mare originally kept here.
“I was drugged the whole time and hidden in the false bottom of a cargo hold for supplies. I have no idea how I got here.”
Alexio was not overly disappointed. He pondered quietly for a moment.
“Can you tell me about the breeding farm? Of course, if it's too difficult to recall or too much for you to handle, just say so. I won't force you.”
Those dark memories were indeed a scar in Brendan's heart. Even now, living in a comfortable environment, he hadn't forgotten for a second. He studied the vampire carefully, searching for the slightest hint of cunning or deceit.
But there was none.
The vampire looked at him openly, his eyelids half-lowered, his expression heavy with sorrow.
He was sad for the night mares.
“Actually, there's nothing I can't say.” Brendan's tone softened, losing its edge. He paused to recall before slowly continuing, “We usually come from the breeding farms. Typically, after about twenty years of raising, they take our horns, our blood, everything they can. Finally, they extract our drk energy.”
Alexio was silent for a moment before saying, “Night mares live for five hundred years.”
Brendan was startled, then cracked a faint smile, as if amused.
“So that's how long? I thought it was only fifty.”
Five hundred years sounded incredibly long. The breeding farm itself might not even have a history of five hundred years. Brendan only knew that the oldest night mare he'd ever seen was over forty years old, kept in a lab for experiments, still alive, becoming the benchmark for all night mares in the breeding farm to estimate their species' maximum age.
After he was taken to the conservation center, no one told him anything relevant. He was just continuously confined and provoked, losing more and more control over his emotions and temper. When he hurt someone, he did feel regret. So, after recounting what he knew about the breeding farm, he asked about the injured person.
“Is he okay? I… I was so angry at the time. Although I avoided any vital spots, it must have hurt a lot.”
Alexio remained silent, and that silence made Brendan realize something.
“He… isn't doing well?”
“He's dead,” Alexio said softly. Seeing the night mare's shocked and confused expression, he deeply felt this was truly a child under twenty.
“But… but…”
“It's not your fault. Even if you had only wounded his hand, the branch would have ensured that person died from infection.”
Brendan kept his head down, his thoughts a mess. Guilt and confusion muddled all his senses. He felt his horn being grasped and quickly recoiled, terrified of causing another death.
“It's okay. I told you, this is a conspiracy.” He paused and leaned close to the night mare's ear.
“A plot to doom more night mares and even dark creatures forever.”
“You… you…”
Alexio straightened up and released his grip. He smiled faintly at the night mare.
“And I will crush it.”