Sitting cross-legged behind Tāo, she extends a hand, draws out a drop of blood, and opens her senses to their maximum.
« When you say "concentration," do you mean like something important or… »
« Like shut it where you're going, go back with the nurse. »
Focusing, she tells herself that if it worked for Marie, it should work for him. Her entire mind was gathered into a single point: controlling that tiny drop of blood and making it enter Tāo's body.
By pouring all her concentration into it, with her senses opened to the extreme, she had insane control over that single drop. However, the slightest mistake could recode his organism, killing him or transforming him—though she leaned more toward the first option.
She began modifying the structures of its molecules, sending signals to accelerate regeneration. What she found the craziest was that the more she controlled that drop, the more she could see through it. As if her blood were sharing its vision with her.
She was really starting to believe her blood was alive, or possessed a will of its own. While asking herself these questions, she saw the inside of Tāo's cells. It was frankly different. Before, she felt; now, she saw.
As if the drop of blood had turned into an eye. Tāo's cells were yellow and clearly not human. The structures composing them were strange as well. Not lingering on it, she focused on regeneration.
After about a minute, the hole in the right shoulder was completely closed. She withdrew her drop and moved to the left shoulder. It only took her a few minutes, successfully prioritizing the closure of both wounds. And let it be noted—without killing him or worse.
Tāo stood up, moving his shoulders. Severely exhausted, Yumiel struggled to get up; surprisingly, Tāo helped her, walking to the injured room before throwing himself onto one of the corpses he had killed earlier, drinking its blood to recover from his fatigue.
She honestly hadn't thought that controlling a single, tiny thing could be so exhausting; however, thanks to that, she now had a multitude of new ideas.
She started applying one right away, going to a critically injured patient, multiple bite marks visible all over his body. Injecting a drop of her blood into him, she controlled it—without really controlling it—letting it merge with his organism.
Strangely enough, her theory was just shattered: the drop of blood hadn't reprogrammed his organism. His organism itself refused to be contaminated, repelling her blood and expelling it from the body.
Yumiel started speaking out loud.
« He rejected it? Does the person have to accept that I help them or something like that? No, that's strange… or maybe yes… The brain sends signals throughout the body. If the person doesn't accept my help or whatever, their body can reject my blood, treating it like a foreign body… »
Tāo watched Yumiel talking to herself, wondering if she was losing it. The nurse didn't dare come closer for fear of disturbing her, but her face clearly showed she wasn't happy about someone touching her patients. Jack had gone for a walk. He came back, seeing Yumiel monologuing to herself.
« Ah, here we go again. »
Still monologuing, cursing herself for not having brought her notebook. She finally turned around, saw Jack, jumped on him and pushed him toward the patient.
« Jack! Tell him I'm going to heal him and that he should trust me. »
« What are you scheming now? »
« JACK! » That cry didn't sound like an order, but like a plea.
Tapping his shoulder to say okay, he stepped closer and crouched by the injured man.
« 这位女士想救你.你接受吗? »
Weakly, he lifted his head, looked at Jack, then at Yumiel with stars in her eyes, then accepted, suffering just to speak. Jack nodded to Yumiel, who smiled in a terrifying way.
Tāo, curious, stayed there to observe. The drop of blood entered the man's organism; she controlled it. She let it mix with his body, which this time did not reject it. Remodeling his blood, its structure, and everything that followed.
The man began to convulse, blood pouring from all his orifices—eyes, ears, nose, mouth. Convulsing more and more violently, trembling. His veins began to bulge under his skin; the nurse rushed in and started asking what was happening.
« My God, what are you doing— »
Yumiel put her hand over the nurse's mouth.
« Shh, the conclusion is coming. »
The man twisted violently from side to side. Then suddenly, his veins burst—his orifices too. A rain of blood repainted the ceiling and came crashing down on them.
Smiling slightly, Yumiel was now sure of two things. First, any living organism must accept her blood, directly or indirectly. Second, a person who receives her blood and lets it reprogram their organism does not become a vampire—but dies.
As if their body couldn't withstand such a brutal and direct change. Yumiel removed her hand from the nurse and stepped closer to the corpse. Blood continued to gush from the orifices and veins, as if it refused to stay in the body.
What was most astonishing was that the blood was moving toward Yumiel. She had already observed these phenomena in the past, but this was on a whole other level. It didn't move fast; it flowed at its own pace. Like a liquid endowed with its own consciousness, seeking the best way to return home.
Placing her hand on the ground to the left of the blood pooled on the floor, it naturally changed direction, trying to reach her hand—the closest point.
« This is fascinating. »
Those were the only words that came to mind.
« Yumiel, if you're done playing with your blood or your experiments, could we go? »
She tried to control more than just her ten daggers, checking whether it was now possible. After a few attempts, apparently not. Yumiel thought her blood had awakened some kind of consciousness and that it would now be possible to control more of it—but that wasn't the case.
« Yeah, let's go. »
The nurse watched them leave, then glanced at the lifeless body, now without a single drop of blood.
Tāo looked at the two of them, twitching his ears as if he were in werewolf form. Obviously, in human form, they barely moved, so he asked:
« Where? »
To that question, it wasn't Yumiel but Jack who answered.
« Where? That's obvious—next building. »