Watching the vampire laborers grow restless, James, who stood behind Charles, suddenly expanded in size. He hoisted a steel beam as thick as a man's waist onto his shoulder with one hand, and the commotion immediately died down.
Charles turned his head to look at the blind man beside him. "When will those two Dukes you mentioned arrive?"
"Normally, they reside in the mausoleum at the center of the island. It would probably take them half a day to get here."
"Good." Charles pointed at the nearby *Narwhal* and spoke to the vampire foreman. "You have three hours to install that turbine. Otherwise, you'll end up just like Durand."
A bearded vampire among the shipworkers stepped forward, shouting agitatedly, "That's impossible! Do you have any idea how much trouble it is to replace a turbine?"
"Chief Engineer."
At Charles's command, the steel beam whistled through the air and smashed into the bearded vampire. The mangled body tried to heal, but the beam crashed down again and again, grinding the vampire into a bloody pulp. Blood splattered onto the remaining vampires, and a look of fear appeared on every face.
"Did you think I was easy to talk to, you bloodsucking monsters? Now get to work!" Charles's voice was tight with suppressed fury.
The foreman's lips trembled. He wiped a smear of gore from his face with his hand, then turned with the other vampires and walked toward the *Narwhal*.
"Chief Engineer, you're familiar with turbines. Keep an eye on them, and watch out for any sabotage," Charles ordered.
"Right, boss." The *Narwhal*'s Chief Engineer followed after them.
Normally, a job like this should have been handled by the ship's Chief Engineer, but the current one, James, had intelligence far too low to be competent. So, for now, James just stood there like a statue, his presence alone intimidating all the vampires.
CREAK… The shipyard's heavy metal gates opened a crack, and Deep peered outside cautiously. After a few seconds of observation, he turned back to Charles, who was sitting on a crate. "Captain, it looks like the people outside have noticed us. Quite a few of them are looking this way."
"Audric, they won't try to rush in, will they?" Charles asked the blind man as he wiped his Black Blade.
The blind man shook his head. "No. They wouldn't dare touch prey that belongs to the Dukes. Besides, you aren't ordinary humans waiting to be slaughtered. They're a scattered mob and probably don't have the courage to make a move."
So the earlier show of force is still working, Charles realized. Even though the vampires outside knew they were planning to escape, no one dared to act rashly without a leader.
"How strong are the Dukes?" Charles asked, probing for information about his approaching enemies.
"The strength of the Blood Clan is determined by age. The older they are, the more experienced and powerful they become. To be a Duke, a vampire must be at least five hundred years old. They are fundamentally different from us. If they wished, they could easily slaughter a thousand ordinary Blood Clan members."
Five hundred years old? Charles was taken aback. With that much age, do they know anything about the Bright Continent?
Hearing Charles's speculation, Audric shook his head. "For that, you would have to ask the Lady. Every member of the Blood Clan on this island was created by her Initial Embrace. She is the only one who has ever been to that cursed land. I've heard that light is everywhere there, and the slightest touch will burn you to ash. I have no idea how the Lady managed to survive."
"Then why did your Lady come to this place?"
"Ah, I have heard a story about that. Legend says a certain being told the Lady about a place that not only lacked the sun that harms the Blood Clan but also had a limitless supply of humans."
Charles was stunned. He had never imagined this was how the vampires ended up here. The blind Audric, unable to see Charles's expression, continued his story.
"But that being deceived the Lady. This place doesn't just have humans; it has all sorts of beings far more powerful than our Blood Clan. Even for us, survival here is incredibly difficult. The Lady despises him for it."
Hearing of beings vastly stronger than the Blood Clan's Lady, Charles instinctively thought of the giant, irresistible hand he had seen rising from the sea.
"What do you know about the Lady's previous world? What country was she from? How many suns were in the sky?" Charles fired off several questions, hoping to use the details to deduce the current era and environment on Earth's surface.
A bitter smile appeared on Audric's face. "Mr. Charles, I am only 124 years old; I'm still very young. As for my status within the Blood Clan... well, you can see it for yourself. I have no way of knowing the answers to those questions."
Charles sighed softly and walked toward the *Narwhal*, feeling a tinge of melancholy. The answer was what he had expected. If I want to know the truth, the only way is to confront the Blood Clan's Lady face-to-face. But that's impossible, unless I have a death wish.
Lily, who had been listening intently, saw Charles leave and sidled up to Audric. "So your Lady came to this island just to escape danger? That's so sad," she asked curiously.
"No, we came to escape humans. Humanity was growing stronger and stronger, and the conflict between them and the Blood Clan was intensifying. The Lady foresaw the final, decisive battle and led her children away. In truth, we have a symbiotic relationship with humans. If you all died, we would have no food and would perish as well."
"So what do you eat for food? Rats?"
"On the northern end of Dark Crystal Island, we farm a population of humans. They are required to provide a fixed amount of blood each week, but it's incredibly expensive... Most of the time, we have to force down disgusting human food."
Time ticked by, and the crowd of vampires loitering outside the shipyard grew larger. They no longer bothered with any pretense, baring their twin fangs with raw bloodlust shining in their eyes. Although they didn't rush in, the sight of the encircling vampires still put Charles under immense pressure.
"How much longer? Move faster if you don't want to die!" Charles's roar echoed through the shipyard.
"Almost, almost! We're riveting it now!" the sweating foreman yelled, frantically urging his subordinates on.
Just then, the sound of flapping wings from outside reached the ears of everyone in the shipyard. Charles rushed to a window and peered out. In the sky, a massive swarm of black bats was swooping toward them, and the vampires outside erupted in cheers.
The bats dove toward the ground, coalescing into a man and a woman, each draped in a high-collared cloak that was black on the outside and red on the inside.
"Fuck!" Charles cursed, not needing anyone to tell him who the newcomers were. "Didn't you say it would take half a day? How did they get here in just two hours?"