Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 1535: Chapter 1533: This Time He’s Really Dead

After Fang Zheng spent five minutes explaining everything to her, Satsuki Yumizuka still looked incredulous.

But that’s normal, who would expect to return home and then wake up as a dead person?

Although unwilling to believe it, the blood bag and her cold body already told her the truth. And just now Satsuki Yumizuka tried to find out for herself that indeed... she was no longer breathing, and her heart had stopped beating.

This left her in a state of shock.

While Fang Zheng was waiting for her to come to her senses, he glanced at Arcueid beside him and found her also wide-eyed in surprise.

”This can’t be...”

”What’s wrong?”

Seeing Arcueid’s ghostly expression, Fang Zheng frowned in confusion. The girl was suddenly dead and didn’t react, which was understandable. But why was a vampire like you also meddling here?

”No, I mean... perhaps she was indeed doomed.”

”Hmm?”

Girl, how can you say such a thing? It’s not good to say this the first time you meet.

”No, I didn’t mean it that way.”

Understanding Fang Zheng and Akiha’s look, Arcueid waved her hand.

”What I mean is... perhaps this human has a strong aptitude to become a Dead Apostle.”

”Oh? How so?”

Hearing this topic, Fang Zheng became interested, and Arcueid started to explain.

”You should know from the legend that vampires can turn others into vampires, right?”

”Yes.”

Akiha nodded. She had seen some vampire legends and knew this well. Arcueid continued to explain.

”But in fact, this is just a reduction of our behavior by humans. Not everyone can become a vampire. In this world, there are two types of vampires: those who become vampires innately are called True Ancestors, and those who become vampires the day after tomorrow are Dead Apostles. In human legends, those who suck human blood, have servants, fear sunlight, and can be exterminated are Dead Apostles. As for True Ancestors...”

While speaking, Arcueid proudly raised her head.

”Like me, I don’t need to suck blood, am not afraid of sunlight, and being killed does not mean I will die.”

”So, the vampire we’re looking for belongs to the latter?”

”That’s right.”

Facing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Arcueid nodded.

”Dead Apostles are transformed the day after tomorrow. Initially, they are not vampires, so they need to suck blood. Since they are not innately immortal, they need to ingest other people’s cells and blood to supplement their degenerated genetic factors... Isn’t every organism like that? Whether herbivore or carnivore, they would die without nutritional supplements. The same goes for Dead Apostles. At the moment they become a bloodline species, their bodies begin to degenerate, so they have to absorb others’ genetic factors to stabilize their bodies.”

Speaking of this, Arcueid clapped her hands.

”The next thing to say is, vampires biting others can turn those people into vampires. This is both correct and incorrect at its core.”

”What do you mean?”

”Not everyone bitten will turn into a bloodline species, otherwise, the world would have long been occupied by them. In fact, ordinary people who have their blood sucked by a vampire and die will only become lesser Dead Apostles, or zombies, ghouls, which are what we saw in the alley before, devoid of self-awareness and only acting on the most basic instincts.”

”Ah, that one...”

Hearing Arcueid’s explanation, Akiha nodded in sudden understanding.

”And Dead Apostles? Generally, they are those who have been sucked by other Dead Apostles and granted blood as a result... Simply put, it’s like a big tree giving its seeds to another, letting its seeds take root and sprout there. Therefore, Dead Apostles place great importance on bloodlines, and the giver of blood has absolute command authority over the recipient. In fact, a few among The Twenty-Seven Ancestors use magecraft to transform themselves into bloodline species, and some have been granted blood after being bitten by a True Ancestor, becoming bloodline species.”

”I see... Wait, this girl hasn’t been granted blood by a Dead Apostle, right?”

”That’s right.”

Akiha noticed a blind spot, facing which Arcueid proudly clapped her hands.

”Here’s the issue, generally speaking, targets being hunted only turn into ghouls, the lowest rank of Dead Apostles. But she was able to regain sobriety in just a few hours... This is something not every Dead Apostle can achieve, at least I’ve never heard of anyone successfully leveling up from a ghoul to a Dead Apostle...”

”Now that you mention it, that’s really peculiar.”

After everyone discussed, they turned back to Yumizuka, who had finally come to terms with the fact that she was already dead. And after listening to Arcueid’s account, her expression became complicated, not knowing what to say for a moment. After a while, she finally squeezed out a sentence.

”So... May I go home?”

”Going home... well, you can go, but how will you explain this?”

”I’ll say I got lost by accident...”

”No, no, no.”

Facing Yumizuka, who seemed ready to negotiate with a kidnapper, Fang Zheng waved his hand.

”I’m not talking about that. You heard what Arcueid said. You’re no longer human, but a Dead Apostle... or rather, a vampire. You know? You now have to drink blood every day and can’t be exposed to sunlight, or you’ll die... How will you explain your current situation to your parents? Moreover, what if you suddenly lose control and attack your family?”

”This...”

This time Yumizuka was really speechless. Indeed, just going home is one thing, but with her troublesome physical state of needing to drink blood and avoiding sunlight, even if she somehow explained this to her parents, they probably wouldn’t believe her and would likely drag her to the hospital for examination. If she went to the hospital...

Gosh, they might slice me up!

Thinking of this, Yumizuka immediately chickened out. She believed her family wouldn’t hurt her, but sending her to a hospital was another matter!

”Forget it, let’s think about these troubles later. Let’s do what needs to be done now.”

”What needs to be done now?”

”That’s right.”

Facing Yumizuka’s inquiry, Fang Zheng nodded, then once again looked toward Arcueid.

”Arcueid, you just said that senior Dead Apostles have absolute control over the lesser ones; then, can the lesser ones sense the location of the senior Dead Apostles?”

”Very likely.”

At this point, Arcueid also knew what Fang Zheng intended to do.

”But her situation is quite special. She was not bestowed with any blood, so I’m not sure either.”

”No problem, we’ll know if we try.”

Saying this, Fang Zheng looked at Satsuki again.

”Little girl, do you want to find and take revenge on the vampire who killed you? If you do, close your eyes now and sense if there’s anything special you can feel.”

”..........”

Although she didn’t understand what Fang Zheng meant, Satsuki hesitated for a moment but still obediently closed her eyes. Although she was a gentle and well-behaved girl, she wasn’t so saintly that she could forgive the person who killed her.

After a long moment, she opened her eyes, reached out her hand, and pointed outside the window.

”I, I’m not sure if it counts, but I feel there’s something... very strange over there.”

”Let’s go, we’ll know once we check it out.”

At this moment, Fang Zheng said nothing further, grabbed Satsuki by the collar, and with a scream, leapt out of the window with her.

Initially, Satsuki was quite frightened, but witnessing Fang Zheng dart over rooftops and walls, she soon regained her composure... After all, she was already dead, and no matter how scared she was, her heart couldn’t race anymore.

”Alright, which way next?”

”That way!”

Following Satsuki’s directions, Fang Zheng turned a few corners and arrived at what seemed like an abandoned, uninhabited old mansion... Hmm? Isn’t this the Toyono Family’s place?

This vampire sure knows where to hide!

Fang Zheng accessed the personal terminal to scan the area, and indeed, she found it—the blood this guy drank hadn’t been digested yet, and thus, was exposed by the infrared!

Now he’s in an underground chamber next to the Toyono Family mansion... found just as indicated on the radar.

Normally, they would go into the mansion to play out the haunted castle scene, but for Fang Zheng, she had a better solution.

Raising her right hand, Fang Zheng summoned Frostmourne, grabbed Satsuki, leaped high into the air, and then...

”Demacia!!”

”Aah—————!!”

With Fang Zheng’s roar and Satsuki’s scream, the two of them crashed down heavily, breaking through the barrier and rushing into the hidden chamber below.

”Boom boom boom!!”

The heavy ceiling shattered open, Fang Zheng stood on the ground, lifting her longsword and looking ahead. It was then she realized she was in a place resembling a dungeon, with iron bars and chains visible on the sides. Not far ahead, a man in a white shirt with disheveled hair stared at them with wide eyes.

”Who are you?”

”I am the Magical Girl Red Ponytail of justice.”

Fang Zheng swung the Frostmourne in her hand.

”Are you that Dead Apostle named Roa, who killed this girl?”

”Girl?”

Perhaps due to Fang Zheng’s sudden descent, Roa was caught off guard. Hearing Red Ponytail speak, he instinctively glanced at Satsuki beside him, seemingly realizing something.

”I see, I didn’t expect that this prey would still be alive... Hehehe, but so what? Even the True Ancestor’s Princess wasn’t a match for me, do you think you, a magician, can pose any threat to me?”

As he spoke, Roa took out a small knife, revealing a long tongue hanging out as he grinned.

”But that’s fine, I need more fresh blood, your blood... will be mine... feel death!”

While roaring, Roa suddenly widened his eyes, and Fang Zheng saw his eyes change from their original color to a strange, constantly swirling black. However, the next moment... Roa’s expression suddenly changed.

”Who, who are you exactly? Why? Why can’t I see your death?!”

At this moment, Roa’s expression was not as calm as before, because when he activated the Eye of Direct Death, he was shocked to find that he couldn’t see the death lines on the girl in front of him!

If it were a problem with the Magic Eye, he could understand, but Roa could clearly see the death lines on the prey beside the Red Ponytail girl, yet on the girl in front of him, there was none!

”Why? Why......”

”Pfft.”

However, before Roa could finish his sentence, Fang Zheng blinked, and the next moment, Frostmourne pierced through his body, pinning him against the wall.

”Alright, enough talk, you can die now... rest assured, this time it’s eternal death.”

”What do you mean? Wait, my soul, I......”

Hearing the words of the Red Ponytail girl beside him, Roa immediately sensed something wrong. Suddenly, he was horrified to discover that his soul had been frozen!

This realization terrified Roa even more than realizing he couldn’t see Red Ponytail’s death lines. After all, the latter could be considered somewhat possible. Although the Eye of Direct Death was powerful, the one Roa possessed was not complete. But this was different; Roa had managed to escape Arcueid’s pursuits so many times because of his soul reincarnation skill.

But now his soul was frozen!

”No, no... let me go... I can’t die, I can’t...”

”No.”

Yet, faced with Roa’s struggle, Fang Zheng simply shook her head.

”You’re already dead.”

As Fang Zheng spoke, suddenly, piercing cold surged through Frostmourne into Roa’s body, followed by a burst of the scorching Primordial Fire, reducing the frozen corpse to ash in the blink of an eye.

Fang Zheng raised the Frostmourne in her hand, looking at the blade. On the blade, she could see a pure white soul wailing and struggling, but soon, an invisible force pulled it in, absorbing it into Frostmourne, where it vanished without a trace.

Looks like this time he is truly dead.