The Blood Moon Descends

The banquet hall at this moment.

Including Luo Wei and his two companions, all the human guests simultaneously looked up toward the window.

The pitch-black night sky, veiled by hazy clouds, gradually cleared, revealing a bright, full moon hanging in the darkness.

A wave of murmurs erupted among the attendees, their faces filled with shock. Luo Wei immediately turned to Evelyn beside him.

Just moments ago, the moon had been a mere crescent obscured by clouds—how had it suddenly become full?

The Vampire Clan and a full moon—these two elements combined...

Were anything but a good sign.

"This..." Evelyn stared at the sky, momentarily stunned.

"How? Just a few nights ago, when I scouted the castle, I observed the moon. The next full moon shouldn’t be for another twenty days at least..."

"An illusion?" Luo Wei studied the eerie lunar transformation. "Do the Vampire Clan possess any supernatural abilities capable of this?"

Though this world was rife with mystical forces, he found it hard to believe the Vampire Clan could alter celestial phenomena on such a scale.

More likely, it was something akin to a dreamscape or another form of arcane power.

"Let me think, let me think..."

Evelyn frowned deeply, her gaze shifting to the Vampire elders presiding over the gathering. They showed no surprise at the full moon looming above—clearly, they had anticipated this.

"Actually... there might be one possibility..."

No sooner had she spoken than an even stranger change occurred.

Luo Wei felt the metallic tang of blood thicken in the air, and the world before him seemed shrouded in a faint crimson mist, blurring his vision.

He instinctively rubbed his eyes, but when he opened them again, everything had taken on a deeper red hue, as though the world had been draped in a sinister scarlet filter.

Luo Wei and Evelyn looked up once more.

The once-pristine moon now morphed into a blood-red orb, as if drenched in gore.

Evelyn murmured, "That night... there was a painting. Do you remember?"

Luo Wei nodded softly. "The Blood Moon Descends."

"Brother..." Helena suddenly clutched Luo Wei’s hand.

"What’s wrong?" Luo Wei looked down to find Helena’s face deathly pale, her lips pressed tightly together in unease.

"I don’t know why, but I suddenly feel unwell..."

Her voice trembled slightly. It wasn’t the eerie blood moon that unsettled her, but the faint palpitations that followed.

She clutched her chest and crouched down, curling into herself.

Luo Wei knelt beside her, gently pressing a hand to her chest—her heartbeat was alarmingly fast.

"Brother... don’t touch me. I’m scared..."

Helena’s voice was low, her small fists clenched as if struggling against something.

"I feel... like I’ve gone back to how I was before. I want to kill you."

"Brother, stay away from me!!"

[Helena]

[Pollution Level: 30↑]

[Pollution Level: 50↑]

"Brother isn’t afraid." Luo Wei stroked her feverishly hot forehead, then slipped a hand beneath her collar—her entire body was burning.

Her frame even quivered and twisted slightly, as if on the verge of mutation.

[Control Command]

[Punishment Command]

With a pained whimper, Helena’s Pollution Level plummeted, and her body went limp, sliding downward.

Luo Wei scooped her up in his arms. Helena, still distressed, pressed herself against his chest and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck.

Once he had secured her, Luo Wei turned to Evelyn.

Her gaze was sharp as she scanned the hall, but she showed no signs of backlash—she remained perfectly normal.

The power of "The Blood Moon Descends" did not harm their own kind.

Next, Luo Wei observed the human guests, particularly the formidable guards among them.

The powerful mage who had been floating mid-air, intimidating the crowd, suddenly plummeted to the ground. He screamed, clutching his head as his pristine blue mana dissipated, replaced by swirling tendrils of sinister black energy.

Many of the human guards with supernatural abilities had inexplicably gone berserk, leaving only the noble guests in a state of panic, retreating helplessly.

Meanwhile, the Vampire elders encircled them, "kindly" offering to escort them to safer rooms.

The humans weren’t fools—even staunch allies like Philip and George wore expressions of fury.

"So that’s how it is," Luo Wei murmured, finally understanding why the duke had to die.

At that moment, a system prompt appeared.

[Chapter 4: Vampire Banquet]

[Save Point: Blood Moon Domain (Castle Main Tower, First-Floor Banquet Hall)]

[The Crimson Moon Descends—Tonight, the Vampire Clan Reigns Supreme!]

[Survive Until the Banquet’s End, Uncover the True Culprit, and Solve the Thornflower Castle Mystery]

[Remaining Save Attempts: 5/5]

After reading the prompt, Luo Wei nodded inwardly. This chapter leaned toward mystery-solving—a return to the normal difficulty of his first playthrough, the kind of challenge he relished.

No overpowering yanderes to battle in a deadly dance of love and hate. Luo Wei could’ve wept with joy.

His current strength was decent, and... well, he had that absurd trump card he’d rather not use. The witch had said she wasn’t here, but she probably wasn’t far...

Never had he fought with such an advantage!

So.

This time, he—Luo Wei, the legendary investigator—would clear the game in one life.

Having made his declaration, Luo Wei turned to Evelyn with curiosity. "Teacher, tell me more. What exactly is this 'Blood Moon Descends' power?"

"It’s a legend from a thousand years ago..." Evelyn kept her guard up as she surveyed the hall.

"I don’t know much beyond what was depicted in that painting. It was during the rise of the Weston Holy Mountain Church, when they launched massive holy wars to purge heretics, pagans, and evil races. Naturally, they wouldn’t spare our capital, the City of Cain."

Luo Wei nodded. After the fall of the ancient magic empire, the Church had become the dominant force in the dark medieval era. During the empire’s reign, faith had been a matter of choice—but the Church demanded allegiance to one and only one.

The Vampire Clan was the epitome of a cursed existence: heretical, inhuman, and worse, they’d established their own city-state, proclaiming their progenitor Cain as the Creator’s own son. The Church had loathed them with a passion...

Evelyn continued, "At first, the Church held the upper hand. That war nearly drove us to extinction. But on the final day, an anomaly appeared in the skies above the City of Cain—the Blood Moon Descended..."

"Legend says the Church panicked, believing an evil god had manifested."

"In the end, our ancestors turned the tide. The pope fled in peasant’s garb, and every last bishop was slaughtered."

Luo Wei nodded again. He hadn’t known the Vampire Clan had once dealt the Church such a crushing defeat.

He couldn’t help but ask, "With power like that, how did you end up in such a sorry state? The City of Cain’s been destroyed three times already."

Evelyn shook her head, "I don't know what level of blood magic the Blood Moon Descent is, but it certainly isn’t something that can be unleashed so easily..."

"And the Church learned its lesson. After that, there were never again large-scale battles like before. They’ve grown more cunning, keeping their elite forces scattered..."

"More importantly..." she murmured, "Over these thousands of years, the faith of the God of Light has spread to every corner of the continent, while our Vampire Clan remains limited in number. The two sides are no longer on equal footing..."

"Oh..." Luo Wei understood, "They have the numbers."