The Enemy Always Wants to Pull Me into a Coffin

 “When did you start to suspect him?” Alessio asked. Zhu Heng still seemed like a pretty nice guy to him. He used to make him soup and has superb workmanship, but ……

    The cold nature of the vampires would make him like interesting people, but would not let him trust interesting people. Because it’s difficult for vampires to die, especially Alessio, who has received special divine favour. The common methods of killing vampires don’t even work on him, so if that person is interesting enough, he can even keep someone with murderous intentions around for decades.

    However, he really didn’t sense any killing intent in Zhu Heng, so he wondered how the psycho had judged.

    “I started investigating when I returned from the Griffin training ground at the Army Headquarters.” Ruzius said, “Anyone who came into contact with you before going there, even if they just brushed past, had a chance to sprinkle the powder that enraged the Griffins. Marshal Olsen found two men with thorn tattoos on their bodies at the Army Headquarters, but those two men had no contact with us.”

    “So it was someone in the Conservation Center ……” Alessio pondered. He also went through the people in his mind he came into contact with on a daily basis in a flash. He didn’t remember the names of most of them, but he could remember every face, even the slightest hint of breath and emotion the other person exuded. 

    “But I didn’t ……”

    Perceived anyone to have ill will towards him.

    “The Temple has methods for this, specifically for some Dark Creatures who are sensitive to emotional will.” Ruzius looked deeply at Alessio, “You, for example, cannot sense my emotions right now, as a result of special training.”

    “After all, some Dark Creatures even rely entirely on emotional perception to avoid harm, such as the *Nixie. To exterminate them, one must not be emotionally perceived by them.”

(T/N: A folklore water spirit that resembles a mermaid. More info on Nixie)

    Despite his opposing stance, Alessio had to praise the Temple. The evolution of Dark Creatures was very slow, while the Temple’s measures were up-to-date. If it had developed for another thousand years or so, the Temple would really have been able to exterminate the majority of Dark Creatures.

    “If Zhu Heng is related to the current Temple, then we are in trouble.” Alessio had a bit of a headache, “Many Dark Creatures rely on his guidance, including Lucy. He is also now the head of the Medical Department at the Conservation Centre and has been trusted for several years. A little suspicion from you and I alone will not shake him.”

    Ruzius was silent for a long moment. Alessio was a little puzzled.

    “What’s wrong?”

    “I was thinking that you said ‘a little suspicion of yours and mine’ straight away, when it was clearly my suspicion.”

    Alessio was even more baffled.

    “Wasn’t it your suspicion that made me suspicious?”

    “Then why are you suspicious if I’m suspicious?”

    “Nonsense, I must be suspicious if you are suspicious!”

    “……”

    The Saint revealed a strange expression. He really couldn’t understand the brain circuits of the vampires. Is one of the criteria for determining vampires is the way they think?

    “Even if I’m suspicious, you must not be suspicious.”

    “Why?!”

    “……”

    The reasoning made absolutely no sense! Ruzius took a deep breath and tried to smooth out the logic.

    “What I mean is that you can be suspicious on the basis of your own judgement, not mine.”

    “Have you registered a patent for your judgement? Why shouldn’t I be suspicious, relying on your judgement?”

    “……”

    “Aren’t you being unreasonable?”

    Who the hell is being unreasonable?

    “…… Ok, you and I both are suspicions.”

    Seeing this unwilling compromise, Alessio was a little angry. He rolled up his sleeves and sat straight down on the coffin. He had to smooth this out tonight even if he didn’t sleep!

    “You dare say it is not because I am not much wary of Zhu Heng that you judge that Zhu Heng might be able to hide his emotions in a way that might have been taught by the current Temple, and therefore should be suspected?”

    Ruzius pondered for a moment. He did pay close attention to everyone Alessio was interested in, and it was a little irritating that Alessio had a good opinion of Zhu Heng, even remembering the bowl of soup he could make. In that case, the cause of his suspicion was indeed Alessio’s attitude. After paying attention, he took the initiative to contact Zhu Heng a few times and realized that he should have the Temple tattoo on his body that came from the same origin as his own.

    The personnel of the Temple all had thorn tattoos varying according to their function. He was of high rank and could even tattoo the cross on his body. It was called [Thorn Cross], and could faintly sense the lower-level tattoos. After ten thousand years, the Temple tattoo has changed a little. He needed to be extra attentive to catch the presence of the tattoo.

    “So the source of suspicion is me.” Alessio continued to conclude, and Ruzius nodded slightly.

    “So it was actually my suspicion!”

    Yes …… No! What gangster logic is this!

    “Let’s end this topic.” Ruzius didn’t want to go on like this or dwell on it all night, “Take a step back each, yours and mine suspicion.”

    Alessio also reluctantly agreed.

    “Fine, judge each other, let no one argue …… What’s wrong with you?”

    The aptest summary had been casually uttered by the vampire.

    He used Alessio’s reaction as a standard for judgement, and Alessio used his judgement as the final conclusion. Even if there was some disagreement in the process, it would always come back to the most unified answer in the end. Ruzius did not know just how far his relationship with Alessio had once gone, but that didn’t stop him from feeling comfortable at the moment because of this tacit understanding.

    “Nothing” – If it had been 10,000 years ago when both camps were on opposing sides, that was what he would have answered even if he had sensed this tacit understanding. There was too much between him and the vampire that he was destined to be unable to be honest, but now he could.

    Alessio saw the Saint look up suddenly, his beautiful sky-coloured eyes immersed in the scent of roses.

    “We have a tacit understanding.” The Saint said.

    As if suddenly burned by the colour in those eyes, Alessio hastily turned his head sideways. Feeling that the expressions were too weak, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to turn back around again and look straight at the Saint.

    “Of course, if it was not for the tacit understanding, I would have broken up with you a few hundred years ago.”

    The Saint smiled lightly, a smile that Alessio had rarely seen from him. The psycho smiled too, of course, but there was something in those smiles that Alessio could not understand, something that made him feel even a little frightened. But now the smile was different. Alessio also felt at least a little bit infected, so his expression lightened up.

    “So, what do you want to do?”

    “Wait and see.” The Saint said, “Zhu Heng is a pretty important chess piece. The Conservation Centre is not an easy place to hide, so we can wait and see what he wants to do, but if his target ……”

    “Is me.” Alessio picked up, “That would be bad.”

    “Yes, too bad.”

    If he really tried to attack the third-generation vampire, the results must be very interesting. 

    “I won’t disturb your rest. I’ll exchange information when I have it, I’ll go back first.” Alessio jumped off the coffin and landed lightly, then turned to the Saint who was still leaning on the coffin, “Are you still unable to sleep? Add some medicine if you can’t. Zhu Heng at least won’t harm you in that regard.”

    The Saint closed his left eye and nodded slightly. Alessio’s intuition told him that he was still hiding something. This attitude of hiding was all too familiar to him. The person sitting in front of him seemed to be the gloomy psycho of the past, looking at him with eyes he did not understand, always keeping his mouth shut and hiding certain words.

    Now it was the same again. He knew that psycho’s thoughts were heavier than the average person, he could understand that. But he felt that it was different now. Psycho had lost his previous memories and become less twisted. They didn’t have to be hostile. They had just exchanged information about a common enemy. Alessio thought that …… there would be a new beginning between them.

    “Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

    He asked at last.

    Only this one more question, he thought, and if it remained as it had always been, then so be it.

    There was silence. The Saint turned his head sideways to hide his left eye as if he was holding back something. Alessio drew in a deep breath and let it out again. The simulated human senses began to gradually stop as he felt tired. The false pounding in his chest gradually slowed as he took a step away. His hand touched the door to the room, and the last beat of his heart finally came to a halt as well.

    No amount of imitation could ever come close to being human. Inherent concepts were hard to change. Perhaps this was the destined barrier between him and the psycho.

    The door to the room opened and the light from outside came in. Soon, the darkness of the room would be left behind, along with those dark years of ten thousand years ago.

    “…… Alessio.”

    The heartbeat began to recover.

    The Vampire’s feet stopped in their tracks. This was the first time since his revival that he had heard the Saint call his name.

    Alessio turned around. The Saint was still leaning against the coffin without moving, covering his left eye with one hand. He couldn’t help but take a few steps back. He had never seen the psycho look like that before. Psycho would not even scream in pain if he broke a hand.

    “Do you remember that discussion we had, the one about ‘the light is good and the Temple is good’?”

    Alessio recalled it for a moment and wanted to laugh a little as he remembered it.

    “Have you been dwelling on that? I just casually said that when you recover your memory, you’ll certainly take the initiative to question the Temple, there’s no need to rush ……”

    “But I’m already questioning it.”

    Alessio looked at the printed document handed to him by the Saint with the large sketch marks on it. Alessio took the document. It was about the balance of light and darkness, a subject he had seen far too many times since his recovery, and this article was nothing special, so Alessio looked up in puzzlement.

    “What’s wrong with it? Isn’t it just about …… the imbalance of light and darkness and the call to protect the forces of darkness?”

    Ruzius nodded slightly. His tied-up platinum blonde half-length hair fell a few strands down over his shoulders.

    “But the imbalance of light and darkness is the status quo, and the scholars of this age can only offer speculation as to why. I, too, found some clues when I was reorganizing the myth of the ancient goddess Frena.”

    Alessio noticed his hand slowly clenching into a fist, obviously extremely upset. He rarely saw psycho like this. The other was usually highly unpredictable, elusive, or gave him a headache.

     “Of course, the scholars of this age could not have researched the cause, for they did not know of the deployment of the Temple ten thousand years ago. That plan was made before I was born. I thought it was simply a plan to weaken the dark camp, only in my time it could finally be implemented ……” Ruzius’ voice had become slightly unsteady. He took a deep breath to calm the sorrow and anger that was about to overflow. “A thousand years of the Temple’s grand plan was carried out in your time and mine, which is the source of the collapse of the balance.”

    “Guarded by werewolves, Behemoth of the earth.”

    “Protected by the Lich, Leviathan of the sea.”

    “Worshipped by the Orientals, the perching branch of the sky.”

    Alessio also reacted, his pupils narrowing slightly.

    “The three pillars of …… darkness that the goddess gave birth to …… I thought it was just a myth ……”

    “I used to think so too.” Ruzius said, a sneer flashing in his eyes, “until now, and the results are before me. The Temple fulfilled a long-held wish ten thousand years ago, the three races were nearly extinct, and the three pillars certainly collapsed.”

    He shoved the stack of papers on the coffin and the white paper fluttered and scattered all over the floor.

    “As a result, the Great Rain of Fire extinguished the world.”