"These people are really delivering. The heart hasn't even appeared yet, and they've already helped me harvest nearly ten thousand points of Wish Force!" Bai Yang sat comfortably in the very last seat next to the trio.
This was equivalent to squeezing out more than half of each person's upper limit of Wish Force, a very impressive yield.
Unless they truly encountered something utterly beyond their comprehension, they would only be able to provide the remaining half for a very long time to come.
Of course, the one thing Bai Yang lacked the least was the ability to shatter their Worldview!
He watched everything unfold before him with a chuckle. Seeing this story continue to develop in the direction he had orchestrated, despite a few minor deviations, amused him greatly.
In reality, he originally assumed that Golden Hair or the local officials would bring people to open the coffin.
When that time came, someone would become the Ritual Sacrifice for the Vampire's appearance. Those malicious Souls, mangled flesh, and blood would serve as the perfect nourishment for the dark Vampire he had designed!
He never expected so many people to show up, willingly delivering themselves to become the food for this Vampire progenitor. It was truly fascinating.
'With this massive convergence of flesh and blood, this Vampire's abilities might just exceed my initial parameters...'
"Crown, the thoughts of these people have converged. They really did come here for Transcendence!" Alvin chimed in timely. "Speaking of which, this is also connected to what you did in California and New York!"
Hearing Alvin say this, Bai Yang understood. "Oh! They saw those events, and given their status, they have access to more details. That's why they firmly believe in all of this?"
"Yes. Someone was filming the incident at Lincoln's tomb, essentially broadcasting it live. They saw the scenes firsthand, so naturally, they believed it!" Alvin continued. "These wealthy individuals struggling on the brink of death do not mind embracing the darkness, so they came!"
Bai Yang was amused. "So my own designs ended up steering them right into the line of fire? That's fine. It counts as cleaning up the trash in this world!"
Bai Yang did not care in the slightest about the deaths of these people.
If he killed every rich person in this world, there would definitely be innocent victims, but if he only killed every other one, countless guilty ones would slip through the net!
And in America, this phenomenon was only more prevalent. To say these people had blood on their hands would be an understatement; their very lives were built upon mountains of withered bones. The mere sight of them disgusted Bai Yang!
"It doesn't matter. These people will be wiped clean. Neither Heaven nor Hell will permit their existence. I have spoken!"
Bai Yang declared indifferently, wiggling his fingers slightly to push the story into its next phase!
...
The chaos on the scene signaled the approach of an imminent crisis.
Everyone knew that this gathering was actually organized by these Old Geezers.
They had utilized the power in their hands to orchestrate this entire affair, suppressing even Golden Hair to the point of silence. One could easily imagine the immense resources they had poured in and their desperate yearning for immortality.
But now, everything had changed.
These Old Geezers, who held the core power of their respective families, all died together. They died without warning, dying incredibly swiftly!
This meant their families would undergo a massive, turbulent reshuffling until true victors emerged from the power struggles.
The immediate consequence of this was absolute chaos and a state of leaderlessness in the area. Everyone was scrambling to handle this monumental crisis to prevent the worst from happening.
The most panicked among them was, of course, Tim Dutton!
The mayor originally thought that if he could curry favor with so many prominent families this time, given their immense influence, they could practically carry him into the White House if he dared to run in the future elections!
This exaggerated yet highly plausible future had motivated him to go all out, offending Golden Hair completely in the process.
Now look at the mess. He had not even settled the massive debt he owed Golden Hair, and every single one of these family patriarchs had dropped dead!
This was a complete disaster. No matter how fiercely these families fought internally, once the dust settled, the victors emerged, and the blame was finally dealt out, he, the main culprit, would never be able to escape!
Tim sat there with a look of utter despair, already beginning to ponder his way out.
'If push comes to shove, I'll just move to that country across The Great Ocean. Given my status and position, applying for political asylum shouldn't be a problem, right?'
Just as Tim was contemplating this, he suddenly realized his body was feeling extraordinarily light.
A sense of weightlessness that he had not felt in a very long time appeared on his face, taking him somewhat by surprise.
Ever since he became mayor, he had nothing to do with the word light. A weight of 150 kilograms might not be monstrously obese, but it was certainly a massive tonnage. How could he possibly feel light?
Tim felt an itch on his back. He wanted to turn his head, but then he saw the sheer, overflowing terror on the face of his bodyguard standing right in front of him!
"My God!" That was the last sentence Tim ever heard. Meanwhile, Baron, Gao, and Chris, being further away, actually had a much clearer view of the situation!
Just a moment ago, amidst the genuine and feigned weeping of the family members, the already fractured coffin had completely shattered apart.
Then, before anyone could even clearly see what it was, Tim Dutton was violently impaled by a grayish-black box.
"The Lead Box!" The three of them instantly recalled the words in Lincoln's will. If this was the Lead Box, did that mean... Sure enough, after being impaled, Tim's body began to violently tremble as it withered away, bit by bit!
His body, originally layered with thick fat, was being absorbed in a horrifying manner.
By the time the people around him noticed the anomaly, he had already shriveled up until only a tiny husk of a torso remained.
And behind his back, the Lead Box had opened. A pale, slender, and elegant hand reached in and grabbed the pitch-black, violently beating heart nestled inside!
"Ahhhhh!"
Finally, the women among the onlookers screamed out loud!
In truth, many of them had witnessed it, but the very moment they saw it, they were frozen in sheer panic. The absolute collapse of their Worldview rendered them entirely speechless.
Now, this piercing shriek jerked everyone's attention over, and they were greeted by a tremendously terrifying scene!
A pale hand, clutching a black heart, hovered in mid-air. What this hand was attached to was merely a body reduced to nothing more than an empty skin suit.
The object Lincoln had referred to as the Heart of Wallachia rested loosely in that grip before being held aloft in the air.
Bang! A gunshot echoed, accurately striking the arm. The crowd looked over in pleasant surprise and saw a police officer holding a sniper rifle, having executed the attack.
That was an Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle known for being able to tear through a Tank. Even if that arm was forged from titanium alloy, it should have been blasted into a pile of mangled scrap!
The arm had indeed vanished, yet the heart remained hovering in place. The craving on the faces of the crowd surged once more!
This heart, barring any surprises, had to be the Heart of Wallachia, right?
The heart of the legendary Vampire, Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, was a myth circulated in countless tales. Wasn't it the exact reason those dead Old Geezers had come here in the first place?
Angels and Demons had already appeared in New York. What was so impossible about a Vampire showing up here?
Therefore, many people grew restless, itching to make a mad dash to snatch the heart.
In their eyes, this was not a heart at all; it was the intoxicating allure of eternal life!
"Argh!" Right at that moment, an agonizing howl jolted them awake from their greedy desires.
The crowd whipped their heads around, only to see that the police officer who fired the shot had already been seized by that pale hand. The hand drove straight through his chest, performing a gruesome slaughter right before their very eyes!
No one knew where this hand had come from, nor did anyone know how it had managed to get there. Regardless, there it was!
Because this officer was standing right in the middle of the crowd, many hesitated to fire their weapons, leaving them no choice but to form a tight perimeter around the severed arm.
The next second, the distant heart shot forward at blistering speed, arriving right beside the pale hand and the dying officer.
A crimson light burst forth from the heart, morphing into a blood-red cocoon that completely engulfed the heart, the hand, and the police officer within it!
This sequence of events played out far too quickly, concluding completely in barely half a minute. Many of the bodyguards and escorts were only just now raising their Guns to take aim at this Monster!
The various family members who had previously been grieving hastily scrambled into their bulletproof vehicles, opting to watch the situation unfold through the internal monitors. The professional Military Personnel on site, under the command of experts, had already established a tight perimeter around the blood cocoon.
What followed was a prolonged, tense silence filled with covert exchanges of information. Some had even gone as far as mobilizing the National Guard, demanding their swift arrival.
These individuals genuinely wielded that kind of power. If they pooled their resources, they could even overthrow Golden Hair sitting in the White House!
Under this heavily fortified protection, many finally breathed a sigh of relief as their sense of security returned. As for the hapless Tim—he got what he deserved!
Not a single person spared a thought for the fate of the police officer. Instead, they continued to stare fixedly at the blood cocoon, their eyes brimming with unbridled yearning. Didn't the resurrection of a dead Monster serve as the ultimate proof of eternal life?
Meanwhile, among the trio still watching the show from a distance, Gao quietly slipped back over to share his intel on the current situation:
"I went to gather some information. Right now, there are over three hundred professional bodyguards and a full battalion of active-duty Military Personnel stationed here. Aside from lacking heavy artillery, they are fully equipped with all sorts of firearms, grenades, and even Armored Vehicles! We should be relatively safe for the time being."
This allowed the other two to relax slightly. It made sense; if it weren't for this staggering level of protection, how could these incredibly life-preserving Old Money elites ever dare to make an appearance here?
"Moreover, the fact that they haven't evacuated yet means they probably intend to proceed with the plan!" Gao added.
Who didn't want to live, to keep on living forever? The dying Old Geezers certainly did, and these successors who had just grasped the reins of power undoubtedly felt the exact same way.
They had witnessed those old patriarchs languishing on their deathbeds, half-dead and agonizing. It was hardly a leap to guess why they refused to relinquish this golden opportunity.
Soon enough, while the many people present harbored their own hidden agendas, the enveloping blood cocoon slowly dissipated, revealing a spectacularly perfect physique hidden within!
It was the body of a pure Caucasian man. The sickly pallor of his skin coupled with a near-flawless physique granted him an aesthetic beauty akin to the Statue of David, even in his completely nude state.
Behind him, a pair of bat-like wings unfurled with wild, impassioned grandeur, as if officially proclaiming the breathtaking debut of the Vampire!