Vampire's Slice Of Life

Chapter 1226: Meng Haoran Rescued

Meng Yuexin followed Lith through the Warden Door.

The Warden Passage was quiet as usual. Lith did not waste time looking through the random doors this time and instead focused on the layer where he had met Meng Haoran before.

The response was still vague.

He walked for some time, checked a few doors, and continued whenever the feeling behind them seemed wrong.

Meng Yuexin stayed close behind him at first, but after watching him stop in front of the fourth door and leave without opening it, she finally asked,

“Do you actually know where you’re going?”

“Roughly.”

“Roughly?”

“The prison doesn’t tell me everything.”

Meng Yuexin looked around at the endless passage.

“Didn’t you become its authority?”

“I did, but it’s not a proper one I’m afraid. In any case, this is still better than walking through every layer again. Bear with it.”

Meng Yuexin sighed and did not argue, continuing to go wherever Lith did.

It was much easier to move through the prison now. Even without knowing the exact route, Lith could tell when a direction had nothing to do with what he wanted. It saved them a lot of time compared to his previous trip.

After some more walking, Lith stopped in front of another metallic door.

He could hear something faintly from the other side.

Cling!

Clang!

Lith immediately recognized the sound.

“This should be it.”

Meng Yuexin moved beside him. Her body became slightly tense as she prepared herself for what was to come.

Lith opened the door.

The noise became much louder.

Weapons collided continuously across the enormous prison layer. Countless prisoners were fighting each other just like before, moving from one opponent to another without being allowed any proper rest.

Meng Yuexin immediately started looking through them.

Lith did the same.

He remembered getting caught by the restriction the moment he entered this place previously. There was no choice but to fight, and Meng Haoran was the only person who retained his sanity somewhat.

Though, he kept losing himself repeatedly during the conversation.

Lith looked through the crowd for a little longer before Meng Yuexin suddenly pointed toward the distance.

“There!”

Meng Haoran was there.

He was fighting another prisoner with his sword, but Lith could tell something had changed since their previous meeting.

Meng Haoran’s body was working in fluid motions without any wasted movement.

He did not look like a human and was more like a puppet as he blocked a sword, countered, moved toward someone else, and immediately continued. His face had almost no expression throughout the entire thing.

‘Did he lose himself?’ Lith frowned. ‘Or is it that he isn’t actively trying to gain control so that he could preserve himself for longer?’

Lith continued to stare at him.

Meng Yuexin knitted her brows.

“Brother…”

She stepped toward the doorway.

Lith caught her arm.

“Wait.”

Yuexin looked at him with annoyance. “What?”

“If you enter normally, this place might force you to start fighting too.”

Meng Yuexin stopped, her expression dropping.

Lith patted her head and said, “wait for a moment.”

He entered alone while Meng Yuexin stared at him with a baffled look.

He anticipated the familiar force to affect him again, but nothing happened. He walked a little further and still did not feel any desire or compulsion to attack the prisoners around him.

He felt relieved as he saw the Warden authority reacting faintly the more he moved through the formation.

‘So I’m not considered part of this anymore?’

Lith continued walking.

A prisoner fighting nearby suddenly turned toward him and rushed over.

Lith prepared himself, but the man slowed down before reaching him. His sword trembled in his hand and he seemed unable to come any closer.

After struggling for a moment, he turned around and attacked someone else.

Lith looked at him for a second before continuing toward Meng Haoran.

There was no point testing it further right now.

Meng Haoran was still fighting when Lith reached him.

“Meng Haoran.”

There was no response.

Lith called him again while getting closer.

This time Haoran’s eyes moved toward him briefly.

His sword almost stopped.

“Huh? You…?”

Another prisoner attacked him from the side.

Haoran instantly turned and blocked.

Whatever clarity had appeared disappeared again.

Lith frowned and moved closer.

“Meng Haoran!”

Nothing.

The man continued fighting as if Lith was not there anymore.

Lith tried focusing his Warden authority on him.

The feeling was different from before.

He could tell Meng Haoran was still being treated as a prisoner and whatever punishment controlled this layer was still affecting him. Beyond that, the prison gave him almost nothing useful.

Lith tried pushing his authority further.

Meng Haoran continued fighting.

“This stupid prison…”

He looked at the rusted key in his spatial ring.

Lith took it out.

The reaction was immediate.

The key trembled slightly in his hand and the strange connection between him, Meng Haoran, and the prison became clearer.

Lith stared at it.

‘So I need this too? What use is the Warden authority then?’

He scoffed in disdain and focused on Meng Haoran while holding the key.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then Meng Haoran suddenly stopped in the middle of raising his sword.

The prisoner in front of him tried attacking, but his weapon stopped before reaching Haoran.

Meng Haoran remained completely still.

Lith watched him closely.

The fighting continued everywhere around them, but nobody approached Haoran anymore.

Slowly, Haoran lowered his sword.

His eyes moved across the battlefield before finally settling on Lith.

“You? You’re back?”

“Yes.”

Haoran looked around again.

“What did you do?”

“I’m still figuring that out.”

Haoran stared at him.

Lith raised the rusted key slightly.

“I have the prison key now. Let’s get you out.”

Meng Haoran looked at him with a strange expression, then down at his sword.

He took a step backward.

Nothing forced him to attack.

He took another step.

Still nothing happened.

Meng Haoran stood there for several seconds without moving.

“Wow, it looks like I can indeed get out.”

Lith nodded.

Meng Haoran looked at the prisoners fighting around him again.

His grip on the sword slowly loosened.

Lith did not say anything.

After a while though, Meng Haoran suddenly realized something and knitted his brows.

“Wait, didn’t I send you to rescue my sister? Why are you here!? Why did you not rescue her!?”

Despite watching him get so worked up, Lith simply pointed toward the Warden Door.

“Who does that look like?”

Meng Haoran’s gaze turned to the door, and he immediately froze.

Meng Yuexin was standing by the door while staring at her brother with tear-filled eyes, sobbing and controlling herself from breaking down.

“Sister…” he said in absolute disbelief.

“Are you just going to stand or go to her?”

Meng Haoran did not have to be reminded anymore.

“Sister!” He exclaimed and ran to her.

“Brother!”

Thud.

The siblings hugged each other and began crying like children.

They couldn’t help themselves.

It felt like they hadn’t seen each for an eternity. Trying to keep themselves away from the prison’s control was really exhausting, and only they knew what they had suffered.

Lith did not disturb their moment.

He simply walked through the door and closed it, standing in the warden passage again.

“You’re alive! You’re alive!” Meng Yuexin said and sobbed.

“I am sister, I am…” Meng Haoran was a strong swordsman but before family, even he was weak.

The two continued to sob, speak while stuttering, and embraced each other as tightly as they could, afraid that something might pull them back into the prison formation.

Even at times when they felt like they would die, Meng Yuexin hadn’t broken down as much as she did now.

Lith was amused at such a sight.

A few moments later, when the pair of siblings had finished sobbing…

“Brother, I missed you so much!”

“Sister, I missed you too! I really missed you and I kept thinking of the past whenever I had my sanity returned.”

“Me too. Come here…”

In the next moment, Lith saw something he shouldn’t have.

He sighed and shook his head with a smile as he heard some sloppy wet sounds and saw clothes flying.

He turned around and blocked his senses, giving the siblings their privacy and time to bond properly.