“Took a liking to you.”
Those words echoed clearly in the otherwise silent alleyway.
“Took a liking to me?” Xi Yin’s tone lifted and one could hear a hint of laughter as he spoke, “So you’re prepared to offer[1] yourself to me?”
Shi Sheng, “…” ‘What? Offer?’
Xi Yin slowly walked out from the shadows and over to Shi Sheng. He examined her for a bit before speaking, “With your looks, I will allow you to offer yourself to me.”
Shi Sheng, “…” ‘The hell?’
Xi Yin suddenly reached out to grab Shi Sheng’s shoulders, his eyes turning gold as his fangs extended.
‘Oi fuck!’
Alarm bells were set off in Shi Sheng’s head. She drew her sword and aimed at Xi Yin’s face. He reacted quickly and dodged to the side before the sword could reach him, landing several meters away from her.
‘This fellow drinks the blood of other vampires! Fellow vampires!’
Vampires will only drink the blood of their kindred under two conditions.
The first is when they form a contract.
The second is to steal the other party’s power.
‘It’s pretty much impossible that he’d want to form a contract with a vampire he’s never met, so…he wanted to steal my strength just now?’
“Hah…” Xi Yin released a short bark of laughter before retracting his fangs and turning around to continue on his way. “Since you’re not willing to offer yourself up, don’t follow me.”
‘Wtf! This guy’s got an illness! And a serious one at that! …What are my chances of packing him up and bringing him back with me? From the looks of it, he’s on a higher level… Odds of winning are at least 50%. Great! Let’s pack him up and bring him home to keep! We can resolve any issues over time!’
Shi Sheng sneakily followed him, planning on an ambush. However, Xi Yin’s figure flashed a couple of times and vanished from Shi Sheng’s sight.
‘Fuck! Well aren’t vampires that know how to teleport just great?!’
Shi Sheng searched the area a few times but still couldn’t find Xi Yin. Just as she was about to call it quits, a human figure suddenly barged out from the alleyway beside her, its trajectory setting it on a path to collision with her.
Shi Sheng sidestepped slightly and managed to avoid the tragic fate of being knocked over.
However, that person still managed to trip on their own. The painful sounding smack of a body hitting the floor caused Shi Sheng to nearly wince for their sake.
Several figures sprinted out from the alleyway one after another, their features clearly illuminated beneath the corner streetlamp. Shi Sheng could see that they were creatures with hideous visages that wore tattered rags and emitted a foul stench.
They were the lowest level vampires that lived in the sewers. Their IQs weren’t very high—all they knew was to suck blood. They were the type of vampires that were okay to directly hunt and kill.
They all halted upon catching sight of Shi Sheng and sniffed the air.
Perhaps they had caught her scent, for those vampires retreated somewhat fearfully. Yet, they appeared unwilling to just give up on the person lying on the ground. Shi Sheng focused her gaze downwards. ‘Enemies meeting on a narrow road ah!’
“It’s you!” Ai Wei spoke first with a terrified expression. “What do you want to do?”
“Would you believe me if I said I was just passing by?” Shi Sheng’s lips tugged upward into a small smile.
“You want to kill me?!” Ai Wei obviously hadn’t listened to a word Shi Sheng said.
Shi Sheng, “…” ‘Which eye of yours saw that I(lz) was planning on killing you? I(lz) was just standing here! Paranoia is an illness! You should get it looked at!’
A cool breeze blew over from somewhere, causing her black skirt to flow in the wind. The calm-faced girl wielding a sword in the light drizzle appeared to possess a wild charm.
“I have nothing to do with these scrubs,” Shi Sheng spoke coldly.
Ai Wei watched as the girl turned around, her sword emitting a high-pitched screeching as it was dragged across the ground. The vampires in the distance were startled into retreating a bit.
Casting one final glance at the vampires—who were waiting for Shi Sheng to leave before they attacked—Ai Wei grit her teeth, stood up, and chased after Shi Sheng. ‘The only safe place for now is by her side.’
Shi Sheng frowned at Ai Wei’s actions, displeased. She leapt onto the roof of one of the shorter buildings towards her side and, with a few more leaps, vanished into the night.
Ai Wei stared at the vacant space where she had just been, stunned. ‘She’s actually willing to just watch me die… Or was she the mastermind all along?’
The dark shadows behind were slowly closing in…
……
Once Shi Sheng was sure she’d shaken Ai Wei off her tail, she leapt off the roofs and kept her sword before slowly making her way back home. She lived in a small neighbourhood of mansions not too far from the academy.
However, Shi Sheng felt like something was approaching her in the darkness.
She swept a gaze behind her but didn’t see anything. Shi Sheng rubbed her chin. ‘Did I get infected with the FL’s paranoia?’
She stood there for a while before reaching out to push the mansion gates open. Just as her hand touched the gates, an arm hooked from behind her and cold fingers wrapped around her neck. But the hand’s owner didn’t even have the chance to exert strength before his wrist was caught and she escaped his grasp with a twist of her body.
‘I(bbb) knew I(bbb) wasn’t being paranoid! Which fuckin’ idiot decided to ambush me(lz)?!’
Shi Sheng fixed her gaze on her attacker and once she saw who it was, her face turned dark. ‘Villain-sama, what are you even doing?! You didn’t manage to kill me(bbb) just before and now you end up stalking me all the way back?! You’re a villain! Please pay attention to your status!
*flips table*
Really wanna just hack him to death! Okay, calm down. That could be your partner. If you hack him, you’ll be single. No dog abuse, only dog food…’
Shi Sheng consoled herself inwardly, but her grip strengthened and she aimed a kick at him instead.
“Oof—” Xi Yin issued a muffled groan, his body swaying before he collapsed to the ground. And became still.
Shi Sheng, “…” ‘This is not how you go about swindling people, okay? I(bbb) didn’t use any strength at all! And you fell! Just like that! What the hell?!’
Shi Sheng pulled out her sword to poke him, but got no reaction. She stared at the villain-sama collapsed on the ground before tilting her head up to stare at the sky.
‘The hell’s with the setting this time? Someone who collapses with a single kick??? Was that all-powerful villain from before just my(bbb)imagination??? Though I suppose it’s just as well. I was too lazy to fight. I’ll take him back and keep him!
Keep keep keep!’
Shi Sheng poked him a couple more times to make sure he wouldn’t suddenly leap up before carrying Xi Yin inside and tossing him on the bed.
Her current spirit energy levels weren’t enough for her to verify whether he was Feng Ci or not, so Shi Sheng could only give up this course of action for now. She leaned against the bookshelf, feeling very bitter.
‘So hungry! Aaaah! I feel like I’m going to go mad from starvation! Just why did Mi Nai have to maintain the habit of drinking blood?!’
Shi Sheng gulped down a mouthful of saliva, bearing with her growling stomach as she carried her clothes to the bathroom to wash up. Only when she re-emerged did she remember that Xi Yin was still wearing soaked clothing…
Shi Sheng searched through Mi Nai’s wardrobe, but couldn’t find any menswear, so she could only take one of the nightgowns.
She hopped on the bed and stripped Xi Yin down. Only once she had done so did she discover that his back was injured. She couldn’t smell blood, but the wound was startling to behold—it was black and the flesh appeared as if it had started peeling off. It appeared to be a claw wound of some sort.
She reached out to touch it but soon jerked her hand away at the burning sensation.
She stared at her fingertip. It was as if it had been infected by contact with the wound as it slowly turned black.
‘This is…holy water? The type used to deal with vampires?’
Her fingertip felt numb for a while before a sharp stinging pain took over.
[1] Just to cut off any errant thoughts here: the meaning of the offer here is offer in sacrifice. Nothing romantic or ambiguous here.