"I want to ask you to help me copy something."
As he spoke, Ailer took the 'vampire bible' from his backpack and placed it on the counter.
Seeing this, Old Rocco became interested; he took out a magnifying glass from a drawer and examined it carefully.
"It's a very old item, at least three thousand years old. Looking at the style, it should be from the Mediterranean region. The material should be sheep… no, this is excellent human skin. It's just that I haven't seen this script much."
Old Rocco said calmly; he had seen too many ancient scrolls made of human skin, but the Vampire script used in the 'vampire bible' clearly caught his attention.
Ailer hadn't delved into the old man's past, but he knew the old man's craftsmanship was excellent. Give Old Rocco twenty minutes, and he could turn last week's glass into a Western Zhou crystal cup.
"How long would it take to make a replica?" Ailer asked Old Rocco.
"This isn't anything difficult." Old Rocco put down the magnifying glass, then said unhurriedly:
"This old man can make thirty in an hour. It's just the price…"
"Negotiable." Without bargaining, Ailer directly mixed the jewelry he had confiscated yesterday with several thousand U.S. dollars and placed them on the table. "Make as many as you can before dark."
Old Rocco's cloudy eyes lit up. "Little Boss is generous! Don't worry, this old man will make them exactly the same for you."
"No, not exactly the same." At this point, Ailer stated his request. "Change the text on each replica for me."
Facing this strange request, Old Rocco didn't ask further, merely agreeing readily. "No problem. For this old man, replicating, imitating, and modifying ancient texts is not difficult."
"Here's my sealing fee. Don't tell anyone you've seen me." Ailer pulled out another twenty thousand U.S. dollars.
"Thank you, Boss."
Looking at the patron before him, a smile immediately appeared on Old Rocco's face. He collected the money, then took the original vampire bible provided by Ailer and walked into his workshop.
And where Old Rocco couldn't see, a mechanical spider was following him.
Meanwhile, in a high-rise suite in one of New York's many tall buildings, a man with lion-like golden hair answered the phone.
"What? You said Mark and his subordinates are all dead? Even his private vault was emptied?"
On the other end of the phone was a small Police officer with strange tattoos on his body.
Since Vampires cannot be active during the day, they can only control some ordinary humans to act on their behalf during the day. These people are called 'blood servants' or 'ghouls'.
"Yes, Master, I didn't find anything useful in Mark's bar."
At these words, the man with lion-like golden hair immediately flew into a rage. "Fuck!"
This meant that the most important item for them, the 'vampire bible', was lost!
The man angrily ended the call. He began to pant, and his chest started to heave significantly.
At this moment, a young man who looked very thin, with a pale face and wearing a loose suit, walked in.
"Quinn, what are you so anxious about?"
"Deacon, Mark's bar was attacked, and our vampire bible is gone!" Quinn said resentfully.
"The vampire bible is gone?" Hearing this, a hint of cold killing intent flashed in Deacon's eyes.
The internal Vampire factions are not united; they are divided into the Pureblood faction and the Hybrid faction.
Purebloods are Vampires born naturally, conceived through two Vampires. They have amassed vast wealth. Their only problem is their small numbers; Vampire reproduction is simply too difficult.
Thus, Hybrid Vampires came into being. As long as a Pureblood Vampire first drains an ordinary human's blood and then bestows them with Vampire blood, the human can turn into a Vampire. This process is called 'Embrace'.
However, Hybrid Vampires are controlled by their Embracer, so in the past, Hybrid Vampires were always suppressed by Pureblood Vampires.
Until the appearance of Deacon Frost, he somehow managed to break free from the Pureblood Vampires' control and accumulate power on the U.S. continent.
Deacon Frost had immense ambition. He constantly bestowed Embrace upon his followers, turning them into Vampires, and granted his followers the right to create more of their kind.
Through prolonged accumulation of power, Deacon had acquired enough strength to contend with the Pureblood Vampires.
In these years, some even called Deacon the 'King of Hybrids'.
However, Deacon's dream was not just to defeat the Pureblood faction; he had an even grander dream: to have the Vampire flag planted across the entire Earth, making Vampires the Masters of the Earth.
For this dream, Deacon needed the power of the blood god.
But at this critical juncture, the most important 'vampire bible' was lost.
This made Deacon somewhat enraged.
"Find it." Deacon said with a grim voice, "Even if you have to turn New York upside down, find it for me!"
Accompanying the 'King of Hybrids'' anger, every Hybrid Vampire leader in New York received an order.
[Recover the vampire bible]
........
A few hours later, as the sun and moon rotated, night fell.
Vampires lurking in various corners began to become active. They moved through streets and alleys, searching for any usable clues.
And while the Vampires were active, two other people were also active.
Blade arrived outside Mark's bar. By then, the area had been cordoned off with caution tape.
"Looks like someone got here before us," Blade said, looking at the building in front of him.
Even from the outside, the bar had numerous bullet holes, as if it had been through a gang shootout.
"Looks like you're not alone, Blade." Whistler's voice came through the earpiece. "Also, the woman you saved two days ago is showing signs of waking up."
"If she can wake up, it means she's passed the hardest part," Blade replied.
"You should hurry to the next location. The Vampires are a bit active today. You'd best catch one and ask."
At Whistler's reminder, Blade got into his modified muscle car and drove off into the distance.
Meanwhile, in another part of New York, several Vampires were drinking in an underground bar. They were seated far apart, some surrounded by groups of ordinary humans, with one or two even asking others if they had seen anything strange.
The scent of these guys was different from ordinary humans. With experience, Ailer could easily distinguish them.
They were mixed in the crowd, making it a bit difficult for Ailer to make a move.
However, Ailer wasn't in a hurry to kill them now; he had locked onto a female Vampire.
"Beautiful lady, may I sit next to you?"