Chapter 5: The Vampire’s Prey (05)
In the dead of night, Yu Jiao clung to the building’s facade, scaling down pipes and avoiding the lit windows, her heart pounding with every move.
She dared to be so reckless for two reasons: one, Xie Yanchuan’s dorm room wasn’t on a very high floor, and two, she had just used advanced points to buy a temporary [Physical Skill Boost] from the System.
Augmented by the buff, Yu Jiao’s movements were light and nimble. As she passed a lit room, however, a “Ding—!” rang in her ears, and a line of text floated into her vision:
[Law of Causality]: As the female lead of an otome game, you are the favorite of fate.
Yu Jiao: “?”
While stealthily climbing down a pipe, Yu Jiao suddenly found herself unable to move. Then, the conversation from inside the room reached her with an almost unscientific clarity.
“We found the body. It was him again! He even… even left a note. It was printed text, and it said…”
“…It’s your turn to be the prey.”
The person recounting the message sounded like he was trembling. He dropped to his knees with a thud. “Boss, the Vice President is leading a search party right now. With a dragnet spread across the entire campus, there’s no way he can escape!”
Forced to eavesdrop, Yu Jiao raised an eyebrow.
Vice President? That must be the greasy-faced guy who was always with Xue Zhu. In that case, the identity of the “boss” in this room was self-evident.
Sure enough, a familiar voice spoke up.
“A vampire hunter, hm?”
Xue Zhu let out an unreadable laugh, like a cheetah flicking its tail. After a long pause, the soft click of a lighter broke the silence.
After taking a drag from a cigarette, his voice grew even huskier. “And the Xie family?”
Another person quickly answered, “We’ve already sent someone to invite them.”
The Xie family?
Yu Jiao pricked up her ears, but the two men inside fell silent. The sound of light, unhurried footsteps approached. Pressed against the wall and unable to move, Yu Jiao could only hold her breath and pray she wouldn’t be discovered.
Thankfully, the person merely stood by the window, gazing at the scenery.
However, fate had other plans. Perhaps due to that damned Law of Causality, the pipe beneath her feet suddenly began to wobble, as if it were about to give way.
Under the dual effects of the [Physical Skill Boost] and the [Law of Causality], Yu Jiao was forced to leap gracefully to another pipe. Now, her figure was completely exposed outside the window.
An unignorable gaze fell upon her, making her temples throb.
Another “Ding!” sounded in her ear, and Yu Jiao finally regained control of her body. She slowly raised her head.
There, separated by a single pane of glass, stood a young man with a sinister and bewitching charm. His curly, shoulder-length black hair fell against his pale neck and shoulders, the messy ends a dark, blood-like red. Backlit, he looked like a demonic ukiyo-e painting.
He blinked. His ink-black pupils gradually dilated, and a thick sense of amusement rose from their depths.
Stared at by those ghostly eyes, Yu Jiao found it difficult to breathe.
—Xue Zhu.
Her nerves stretched taut. She couldn’t help but grit her teeth and question the System, “Are you targeting me? First, a death-trap opening, and now you’re throwing me straight into the tiger’s den. Is this otome game set to Hell Mode or something?”
【How can you say that? This is a great opportunity for the player to interact with a capture target!】
“Just tell me if you’re messing with things or not.”
The System was brazenly self-righteous: 【For the sake of the player’s experience, we will of course add appropriate dramatic conflict~】
Yu Jiao took a deep breath.
From the sound of it, there would be no shortage of backstabbing in the future.
As if to appease her, the System “Dinged” again.
【Congratulations on triggering the BUFF [Plausibility of Cross-Dressing]】
【When the player is dressed in men’s clothing and at risk of their identity being exposed, this BUFF will trigger, causing NPCs to become blind and foolish, ignoring all illogical gender-specific traits of the player.】
At this moment, Yu Jiao was in a men’s uniform, wearing a hat, and had her face covered. She looked suspicious from any angle. She had no idea if Xue Zhu would mistake her for the vampire hunter.
Not daring to make a rash move, Yu Jiao stared silently at the man inside the window.
He raised a hand, a lit cigarette held between his long fingers. Staring intently at her, he took a slow drag, exhaling a cloud of decadent smoke. The smoke seemed to pass through the glass, wisps of it reaching for her as if to bind her to death.
As the smoke gradually dissipated, Xue Zhu narrowed his phoenix eyes and smiled with delight.
Stumbling upon ‘someone sneakily climbing the outside of the dormitory’ was, to him, a serendipitous encounter that he was thoroughly enjoying.
A romantic pervert.
Yu Jiao clicked her tongue.
Mr. Pervert stared at her without blinking, like an avid spectator eagerly awaiting the next act.
A chill ran down Yu Jiao’s spine—the instinct of a small animal facing a mortal threat.
Strangely, while his gaze coiled around her like a venomous snake flicking its tongue—as if he would pounce and kill her the next second—he was, for some reason, patiently holding back.
Just then, a knock came at the door.
“Boss, First Young Master Xie is here.”
Then, a familiar voice sounded from behind Xue Zhu, its chill palpable even through the window.
“President Xue said this was a meeting to discuss business. Was it actually an invitation for me to inhale your secondhand smoke?”
Xie Yanchuan?
Yu Jiao shrank back, carefully hiding behind Xue Zhu’s frame.
After all, her entire outfit belonged to Xie Yanchuan. She wasn’t ready to have her cover blown just yet.
After his sarcastic jab, Xie Yanchuan’s voice became flat. “I must ask President Xue to extinguish his cigarette and open a window for ventilation.”
He used the polite form of a request, but it sounded like a command.
He was clearly looking for trouble.
Logically, Xue Zhu had just caused a scene in Xie Yanchuan’s room precisely to provoke him. Now that Xie Yanchuan had come looking for trouble as he wished, he should have seized this opportunity to escalate things.
However, Xue Zhu’s eyes lit up, as if he’d finally found an excuse. He obediently stubbed out his cigarette.
He looked at Yu Jiao innocently, as if to say, ‘See? My hands are tied. He’s the one who told me to open the window.’ After putting on his show, he reached out matter-of-factly, intending to push open the window that separated them.
The excitement and bloodlust in his eyes were impossible to hide.
Yu Jiao: “…”
Inside, Xie Yanchuan seemed stunned by this unexpectedly compliant behavior and was momentarily silent.
He had never imagined that his provocation would play right into Xue Zhu’s hands.
Xue Zhu hummed a little tune, like a child about to unwrap a favorite new toy, as he deftly undid the crescent latch on the window.
Click—
Yu Jiao’s gaze sharpened.
In the past, some of her pursuers had suffered from various psychological issues. In her dealings with them, Yu Jiao had learned one thing: to survive in the hands of a psychopath, you not only had to pique their interest, but you also had to dangle a positive sense of anticipation before them.
Learning that lesson had nearly cost Yu Jiao her life, so she wouldn’t make the same mistake again—
The instant Xue Zhu pushed the window open, Yu Jiao released her grip on the pipe without hesitation. A wave of weightlessness hit her as she fell backwards.
The gust of wind she created brushed against Xue Zhu’s eyelashes. His pupils constricted.
In the darkness, only the light from the room cast a warm glow. Yu Jiao fell from that patch of light into the pitch-black abyss.
The moment seemed to stretch on forever. Xue Zhu could clearly see the pair of eyes she had left uncovered. Her lashes were long and thick. The way she looked at people could be pure or wicked, innocent or carnal.
She gave him one calm glance before vanishing into the darkness.
Xe Zhu instinctively reached out, but only managed to grasp a piece of smooth, silky fabric.
It was the scarf she had used to cover her face.
Like a single raindrop falling into a lake, she disappeared without a sound.
Xue Zhu slowly rubbed the smooth surface of the scarf with his thumb.
He suddenly raised his hand, bringing the scarf to his nose and inhaling lightly. The smile on his lips gradually widened, and a low, rumbling laugh escaped his chest. After a long moment, he sighed in delight, his eyes dancing with a feverish glow.
Like a hunter, awakened.
【Main Quest: Successfully get selected as prey by the Secret Society and survive for one week. (Progress: 10%)】
…
Thanks to the [Physical Skill Boost], Yu Jiao landed safely and left without a moment’s delay.
The scarf she had left for Xue Zhu was one she had swiped from Xie Yanchuan’s room. It bore the Xie family crest.
Yu Jiao was confident that if Xue Zhu followed the clues, it was only a matter of time before he found her.
She looked back up and smiled.
—Do you like it?
—This is the script for “Cinderella” I’ve prepared just for you.
Of course, Yu Jiao wouldn’t let this game of cat and mouse end too quickly. After all, the prince had to go through several trials to find his princess. A mystery that was too easy to solve, a pleasure that was too easy to obtain—both were cheap.
Yu Jiao would design this game well. She would make sure Mr. Pervert had the time of his life.
And when the game ended, it would be time to close the net.
Yu Jiao plotted as she walked. She was clearly following the route from her memory, yet somehow, she had ended up in some forgotten, remote corner.
And because the academy had a strict curfew from 9 PM to 6 AM, the area was dead silent. There wasn’t even anyone around to ask for directions.
Yu Jiao was a little afraid of the dark and was about to turn back when she heard a noisy commotion from nearby.
“Quick! Get him!!”
It was that Vice President who was always with Xue Zhu. He sounded furious. “If you let him get away, you all know what President Xue will do to you!”
Yu Jiao ducked into a blind spot. A glint appeared in her eyes, and she could almost hear the System’s “Ding!”
The one being chased must be that vampire hunter. And of course I’d run into them. What a dramatic conflict. This damned [Law of Causality]!
Yu Jiao gritted her teeth. A figure suddenly flashed in her peripheral vision. Startled, she was about to turn her head when a warm, large hand clamped over her mouth. Another hand pressed down on a point on her spine, and she instantly lost control of her body.
She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but the presence of the person behind her seemed to shift from tall and imposing to shorter and softer.
“If you don’t want to die, shut up.”
A low, husky, and chilling female voice sounded right next to Yu Jiao’s ear.