The moment the manor's iron gate crashed shut in the downpour, the dragon - scale mark on Lin Xia's wrist suddenly contracted into the shape of thorns. In the rear - view mirror, the image of Alia crashing through the coast guard's speedboat on a water scooter was sliced into pieces by the rain curtain. In the passenger seat, Lu Chen was using dragon flames to dry the soaked contract.
"There are change - of - clothes in the backseat." He swiped open the tablet without looking up. "Chinese - style embroidered pajamas, customized according to the standards of brides in your fishing village."
When Lin Xia picked up the scarlet nightgown, she felt the Kris knife in the hidden pocket of the cuff. Alia's Barong puppet was curled up in the knife - handle, winking at her. There was a dull thud on the car roof as hailstones fell. Under the cover of the rain, she cut her fingertip and fed the blood beads to the puppet.
"The temperature in your brother's ward is minus fifteen degrees Celsius." Lu Chen suddenly spoke. A holographic projection of the ice - crystal ward appeared on the screen. "The dragon - blood crystallization is reshaping his alveoli, but if there is interference from a living body's temperature..." He gently swiped his fingertip, and the numbers on the thermostat in the picture began to rise. "Guess if the melted ice shards will pierce his heart?"
The tires screeched on the cobblestone road. When Lin Xia lunged to seize control, the Kris knife slashed across Lu Chen's carotid artery. Blue - gold blood splashed onto the car air freshener, and the fragrance of dragon's saliva mixed with the smell of blood, giving rise to a strange purplish - pink smoke.
"This is the second time you've injured me." Lu Chen pressed the wound and chuckled, his fangs piercing his lower lip. "According to the dragon - clan laws, your tongue scales should be removed..."
Before he could finish, Lin Xia was suddenly flung towards the car window. The entire car was twisting and deforming. The leather seats grew scales like those of a crocodile, and the dashboard ejected bronze chains covered in barbs. She finally realized that this was not a Maybach at all, but a dragon - clan coffin clad in a car shell!
"Welcome to the Tomb of Shed Scales." Lu Chen tore open the bandage, revealing the rolled - up reverse - scale wound under his collarbone. "The burial place of successive contract brides."
At this moment, the coffin lid opened, and the downpour, along with dozens of white bones, poured down. Lin Xia grabbed a section of tibia to defend herself and found that the bones were all engraved with distress signals made by a Kris knife. The latest corpse was wearing a traditional Filipino wedding dress, and the faded dragon - scale mark on its wrist was exactly the same as hers.
"The 37th one who escaped last month." Lu Chen crushed the skull and dug out a miniature transmitter from the eye socket. "She sent twenty - three report letters to Iceland. Unfortunately..." He crushed the chip, revealing the cross pattern branded below. "The Vatican's exorcists want my reverse scale more than the blood clan."
Suddenly, Lin Xia's Kris knife melted. Alia's puppet swelled into a three - headed snake shape in the pool of blood, but was corroded into charred holes by the dragon blood seeping from the coffin wall. Lu Chen grabbed the snake's neck and held it in front of his eyes. "Tell your witch mistress that next time, call down the real Barong god..."
A sudden intense light from the main building of the manor interrupted the threat. Through the gaps between the white bones, Lin Xia saw that hundreds of bags of refrigerated blood plasma were suspended inside the five - story - high glass curtain wall. The butler was using a silver catheter to pump them into a bronze tripod on the roof. The coiled - dragon patterns on the tripod were exactly the same as the totem in her illusion where a baby was being steamed.
"Half - vampires need to change blood regularly." Lu Chen dragged her out of the coffin, and the afterimage of his dragon wings sliced through the rain curtain. "But don't worry, contract brides are not on my menu - unless you offer your neck on your own initiative."
Suddenly, the smart mirror in the entrance hall issued an alarm. Lin Xia gasped in horror and took a step back when she saw her reflection in the mirror. A cyan blood - vessel network emerged under her soaked shirt, and Lu Chen's hand was on her lower back. Their entangled blood vessels formed an ouroboros pattern when reflected in the mirror.
"The homing - frequency reaction has started." Lu Chen ripped open her collar, and his canine teeth hovered above her collarbone. "The dragon - blood resonance will cause skin hunger. Are you longing for..."
Lin Xia's knee rammed into his lower abdomen with enough force to knock an ordinary man unconscious for three hours. But Lu Chen just grunted and licked the bloodstains from the corner of his mouth. The dragon patterns in his pupils twisted into a noose shape. "Butler, take the bride to the master bedroom."
The creature called the butler made Lin Xia think of an over - soaked sea cucumber. Its swollen, gray - white body was wrapped in a tuxedo, and its tentacle - like fingers handed her a collar inlaid with reverse scales. "Please wear the locator, Madam. The last bride who escaped took us thirteen days to clean the carpet."
The master bedroom was a vertical aquarium. Lin Xia stroked the deep - sea lantern fish swimming inside the glass curtain wall and suddenly recognized it as the "ghost - eyed fish" recorded in her father's diary - the prime culprit that caused the fishing boat to go missing last year. When she turned to question, she found that Lu Chen was soaking in the blood pool in the center of the room, with seven bronze catheters inserted into his pale chest.
"This is the blood - making system of the dragon descendants." He pulled out one catheter, and the blue - gold blood drew the contract terms in the air. "From 10 pm to 4 am every night, you must stay within three meters of me, or..." Suddenly, the blood mist condensed into a surveillance image of her brother's ward. The figure of the teenager, curled up in pain, was twitching.
Lin Xia grabbed the table lamp and threw it at the blood pool. "You promised to save him!"
"I broke my promise." Lu Chen raised his hand to freeze the splashing glass shards. "Just like you secretly cut the car - seat seatbelt with a Kris knife." His wet black hair stuck to his forehead. From this angle, he overlapped with the teenager in the church cellar that Lin Xia had seen in her illusion. "But I like your little tricks. It reminds me of..."
The alarm drowned out the second half of his sentence. The bronze tripod on the roof suddenly tilted, and the blood bags rained down on the master bedroom like meteorites. The moment Lin Xia was pushed down by Lu Chen, she saw the illusory shadow of his broken dragon wings on