The dark dungeon was damp and cold, and the air was filled with the stench of decay and human body odor. It smelled disgusting.
On the dungeon's moss-covered walls, oiled torches were stuck every few meters. The torch was burning "crackling", because the air lacked circulation and the oxygen content was too low. It was emitting black gas caused by incomplete combustion, illuminating the figures on the ground, looking distorted and frightened.
"Tick tock, tick tock", the water droplets condensed on the top of the dungeon continued to fall, dripping on the head of a dungeon guard soldier, wetting the hair and cheeks little by little, and finally flowed into the neck, making it extremely cold. But the standing guard soldier did not dare to move. The muscles in his body were tensed together, like a dragoon's javelin stuck in the ground. He tried his best to maintain a steady breathing, but the peripheral vision of his eyes drifted involuntarily towards the entrance of the dungeon.
At the entrance, a young man, about fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing some too simple aristocratic clothes, walked in with an expressionless face. Behind the young man, the captain of the dungeon guard accompanied him obediently, with a smile on his face, but an uneasy and frightened look in his eyes.
The captain couldn't help but be afraid. The young man was the king's youngest son and the second in line to succeed the next generation of kings, besides the eldest prince. As long as the other party is a little unhappy, he may lose his head at any time.
Thinking of this, the guard captain's heart tightened even more, and the expression on his face became a little stiff.
Richard didn't pay much attention to the guard captain's demeanor. It has been fifteen years since he came to the current world similar to the Middle Ages. His extraordinary psychology allows him to fully adapt to his identity, and know what to do to achieve his goals more efficiently, and then solve one of his ultimate doubts.
"Da da da", Richard stepped on the ground and walked into the dungeon, and said to the guard captain: "Before, I asked you to lead the team to arrest wizards, or people related to spells and abnormal supernatural phenomena. I've researched and found that you have already done this twice, and neither time was successful. You always caught a group of ugly farmers to make up the numbers. And now, it's the third time. Are you sure you really caught them? My patience is limited. .”
"Your Highness, this time... this time..." The guard captain suddenly sweated on his head, his Adam's apple trembled a few times, and a stiff voice came out of his throat, "This time... this time I will make sure to catch the real one. .”
"Tell me, what did you catch this time?" Richard asked.
"Yes, Your Highness." The guard captain took a deep breath and replied, "This time we captured four in total, a white-faced demon, a halfling, a vampire, and one..."
…
"Da da da!"
After a while, Richard stopped in front of a cell somewhere deep in the dungeon, squinting at a figure in the cell. The skin color on the other person's face showed an abnormal white color, without any blood color, and looked extremely terrifying. He was sitting on the floor of the cell, looking fearfully and uneasily.
The guard captain's voice sounded, lest Richard didn't notice it and said: "Your Highness, this is the white-faced devil we caught. Look..."
Richard just glanced at it and walked forward.
The guard captain was stunned, wondering why Richard was not interested, but he still shrunk his neck and followed.
Soon, Richard stopped for the second time. In a cell next to him, a somewhat weird figure was huddled in the corner. The other person's face was full of wrinkles, and he looked more than fifty years old, but he was less than one meter tall, like a child, which made people feel weird.
The guard captain explained: "Your Highness, this is a halfling..."
Before he finished speaking, Richard shook his head, walked forward again, and then stopped.
In the third cell was a monster-like human with a pale appearance. The exposed skin on his face, neck, back of hands, etc. was covered in red spots, and some places had even rotted away. The mouth is slightly open, and one can see that the other person's teeth seem to be unusually long and appear a strange blood-red color, which makes people shudder.
"Your Highness the King... Your Highness." The guard captain pointed at the person in the third cell. He was obviously a little nervous and said, "This is a vampire. You must be careful not to get hurt by him."
"Heh." Richard said, his tone a little cold.
"Your Highness, you..."
Richard spoke up: "An albino, a dwarf and a porphyria are the white-faced devil, halfling and vampire you caught?"
"this… "
"Do you have any biological knowledge?! Well, I forgot. There was no biological knowledge at all in the Middle Ages, but this is no reason at all! You should think about it with your brain. If they are really white-faced demons and halflings, And vampires, can you catch them so easily?"
"Um, this..."
"If you don't want to talk about anything else, let's talk about vampires. Did you see him turning into a bat like in the legend? Or can he fly?"
The guard captain trembled, but the next moment he mustered up his courage: "Your Highness, I did not see this evil vampire transforming into a bat and flying, but the skin on his body cannot see the sun. It will rot. The way he looks now is because he was exposed to the sun on the road. When I led people to arrest him, he was drinking blood, and he also hated garlic... "
"Have you ever heard of porphyria?"
"Ah?" The guard captain looked stunned, "Porphyrin... Porphyrin..."
"Porphyria." Richard repeated and said expressionlessly, "The blood in the human body is composed of many parts, one of which is called heme. Generally speaking, the human body uses 'iron' and 'porphyrin' ', heme can be produced under the catalysis of specific enzymes.
However, due to the lack of this specific enzyme, some people will have obstacles in the production of heme, resulting in extremely high levels of 'porphyrin' in the body. The substance 'porphyrin' is very sensitive to light and is harmless in the dark. Once it is exposed to light and activated by ultraviolet rays, it will be converted into a "carnivorous" toxin, causing large areas of erythema, herpes and even... fester. The oral cavity will also be affected. The gums will ulcerate and the tooth roots will be exposed, making the teeth appear particularly long. They will also gradually turn purple-brown due to the deposition of porphyrin.
At the same time, because heme cannot be synthesized and normal blood cannot be produced, porphyria patients will have severe anemia and must supplement blood from the outside to survive. Intravenous delivery is a good method, but considering the current level of technology in the world, they cannot operate it at all. They can only choose another method-drinking-blood-red vitality is extremely tenacious, can resist various digestive juices, and can enter the digestive system and pass through Absorption in the small intestine.
The reason why they hate garlic is very simple, because garlic contains allicin, which has a strong bactericidal effect. Because of their special physical condition, eating garlic can trigger and worsen their symptoms. In fact, if you use silver objects to prick them, they will still hate it, because silver also has a strong bactericidal effect.
You have to understand that vampires are vampires and porphyria is porphyria. Maybe the performance of the two is somewhat the same, but they are not completely equivalent! What I want you to find is something that is really like a vampire, related to wizards and spells, not individual patients, do you understand
When you arrest them, what you encounter is not resistance and killing, but pleading and crying. You should have something in mind, right? It was like this twice before, and it’s still like this the third time. My patience is really limited... "
"Your Highness, I..." The guard captain was speechless, and his heart was filled with great fear. He has heard many of His Royal Highness's cruel methods. If the Prince is really angry...
However, Richard did not continue to struggle with the guard captain. He walked towards the deepest part of the dungeon and said, "You said that we arrested four in total this time and the last one was a real wizard? Well, let me see if it is true or not." .”