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Chapter 123: Anemia & Vampires?
🕑 Added 2024-12-30 15:06:44 +0000 UTC"Boss, something seems wrong," Ophelia suddenly approached Josh, speaking softly as they sipped their drinks and commented on the prisoners.
"What's going on?" Josh inquired, while Colonel Ward also raised an eyebrow, wondering if the woman was about to speak up in defense of these prisoners.
"We have discovered a widespread case of anemia among the prisoners here," Ophelia explained.
Both Josh and Colonel Ward were momentarily speechless.
"As you know, the conditions in this prison camp are less than ideal. Is anemia really so surprising?" Josh smiled apologetically at Colonel Ward before speaking quietly to Ophelia.
As he had said, with so little food and clothing, wasn't anemia to be expected?
"Of course it's strange, boss. Even with insufficient food and clothing, malnutrition is the expected result, not anemia. They are two different things!" Ophelia quickly corrected, realizing that Josh had misunderstood her point.
Now both Josh and Colonel Ward were confused.
"Is there a difference between anemia and malnutrition?" Josh asked.
"Malnutrition can lead to anemia, but it's not a given. I asked around too, and most of these prisoners haven't been here long. The military doesn't exactly withhold food from them. For the stronger individuals, they shouldn't be at the stage of anemia... yet the level of anemia we're seeing here is beyond normal," Ophelia continued.
Now Josh understood, but the question remained—why was this happening? Was it possible that the guards in this camp were selling the blood of the prisoners?
But when Josh looked at Colonel Ward, she noticed that he was also completely confused.
"Oh, and I have another find!" Ophelia, seeing their confused expressions, quickly ran back to the women's line. She ordered two soldiers to bring a naked female prisoner forward and pointed to the woman's lower back. "Look here!"
Josh and Colonel Ward followed her gaze and discovered two small puncture wounds with blood clots.
"Could it be... vampire bats?" Colonel Ward murmured, staring at the wounds.
"Colonel Ward, have you ever seen a vampire bat?" Josh asked, startled by the remark.
"Of course, I'm from Texas, and they have them there, though they're rare. I just didn't expect to see them here in Germany. Ha! Maybe that's where the vampire legends come from!" Colonel Ward chuckled.
But Josh gave him a strange look.
"Uh... what is it?" Colonel Ward asked, sensing Josh's strange expression.
"Colonel Ward, vampire bats are found in Central America and Africa, but not in Europe. They thrive in tropical climates and can't survive in Germany's environment, especially in this harsh winter. Also, the vampire legend has nothing to do with vampire bats," Josh replied, shaking his head.
"So what does that mean? Could it actually be vampires?" Colonel Ward snorted, but as soon as he saw the serious expression on Josh's face, his own demeanor changed to one of concern.
"Ophelia, after all these years in Europe, have you ever heard of the existence of vampires?" Josh didn't answer Colonel Ward, but asked Ophelia instead.
Indeed, if this were the world of his past life, Josh, like Colonel Ward, might have dismissed the vampire legends as mere stories. But the world Josh found himself in now was anything but ordinary—it was the Marvel Universe.
Although vampires never appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that didn't mean they weren't present.
The most notable example was the Blade series—though not part of the MCU, there was always the possibility of its existence.
Aside from Blade, Morbius, another Marvel character, could be considered an alternate form of vampire.
From Josh's past experiences, it seemed very likely that this world was a mix of different movies and stories, including some he was familiar with and some he wasn't. This opened up the possibility that vampires from works like Only Lovers Left Alive, Dracula, Underworld, Twilight, and others could also exist in this world.
To be honest, if the vampires were the type from Blade or Underworld, Josh would welcome it, since they could be easily killed with technology. However, if they were the type from Only Lovers Left Alive, Dracula, or Twilight, Josh thought it would be best to return to America as soon as possible.
"Rumors, yes, I've heard of them. Although I'm Austrian, I was born in Hungary, and there are such stories there, as well as in Romania. But I haven't heard anything in Austria. Also, before Hydra was defeated, the Red Skull sent Reinhardt to collect supernatural artifacts, and I believe he investigated those countries, though I don't know what he found," Ophelia replied thoughtfully after a moment.
"Mr. Kahn, you don't really believe in vampires, do you?" Hearing Ophelia's answer, Colonel Ward couldn't help but laugh nervously. When he saw Josh's serious expression, however, he began to feel uneasy.
"Colonel Ward, why are you so scared?" Josh asked, surprised at the colonel's reaction.
Josh himself suspected the existence of vampires due to his unique position as a isekai'd person and his perceptions of the world. But Colonel Ward was just an ordinary army officer—he had no reason to believe in such things.
"Cough, cough, Mr. Kahn, to tell you the truth, when I was a kid in Texas, I saw some strange things, so some things, it's better to believe they might be real," Colonel Ward said, his face growing serious. "So you think there really is a vampire involved?"
Hearing that, Josh finally understood. No wonder—Colonel Ward had encountered strange phenomena as a child.
Texas had long been known as a hotspot for supernatural events in American movies, so it wasn't so surprising that Colonel Ward claimed to have seen such things.
"It's hard to say. We can't rule out the possibility that someone's just putting on a show. No investigation, no conclusions..." Josh shook his head. "But I don't think you need to worry too much, Colonel Ward. From what we've seen so far, it seems that the attacks have only been on the female prisoners, and the perpetrator has been careful not to cause death. Besides, I'm sure none of your soldiers have been affected, right?"
"I'll have to ask my officers, but at least so far I haven't heard of any soldiers suffering from malnutrition or anemia... although there have been quite a few with back sprains," Colonel Ward replied, shaking his head.
Back sprains... Josh couldn't help but twitch his cheek at Ward's comment. Judging by the behavior of these American soldiers, they seemed to be having trouble controlling themselves around the helpless female prisoners. No force was needed—just a little food was enough to make these women serve them eagerly.
"Let's not dwell on this, Continue to select the candidates. I'll have a word with General Eisenhower about this, although I don't think he'll believe it," Josh said, shaking his head.
The Rhine camp was too big. Even if there were vampires, Josh and his people wouldn't be able to do much about it.
"Mr. Kahn, if they do exist, is there any way to deal with them? Garlic? Crosses? Holy water? Silver?" Colonel Ward, understanding that high-ranking officials would probably dismiss these matters without hard evidence, also felt the need to be prepared.
"Colonel Ward, I'm just speculating. I haven't actually seen any, but based on certain peculiarities, I suspect they might exist. As for whether garlic, crosses, holy water, or silver would work, I don't know. If you have the resources, you can certainly prepare some, but in my opinion, if vampires are real, the soldiers' weapons might prove more effective than anything you mentioned," Josh replied, rolling his eyes inwardly before continuing.
Regardless of whether vampires existed, as long as they didn't bother him, Josh had no interest in getting involved. He'd just mention it to Eisenhower—whether he believed it or not was up to him.
But Josh seemed to have missed something.
Josh wasn't particularly interested in vampires, and the higher-ups might not believe it, but that didn't mean others wouldn't find the idea intriguing.
Comments
Amaan Shaikh
The 'her' started from this chapter or there was same mistakes before this.
Amaan Shaikh
Please comment if you see these type of mistakes, I will fix them.
Amaan Shaikh
Definitely a he, it's a mistake I will fix it in some time.
incognito viewer
Well, is josh a he or she? Lots of her here
