Chapter 14: The Vampire’s Prey (14)
A flicker of surprise crossed the young woman’s face. She said helplessly, “Senior, what vampire hunter? You must have misunderstood something.”
She bit her lip and confessed in a small voice, “I did go to the boys’ dormitory last night, but I was tricked by my roommate. Because I… I admire Young Master Yanchuan, she used that as an excuse to lure me there, to se-seduce him…”
By the end, her cheeks were flushed with shame, and her voice was nothing more than a whisper.
Watching her delicate, flustered state, Xue Zhu’s smile slowly faded, like a pot of boiling water gradually cooling.
The young woman was still trying to clarify, “I have a letter forged by my roommate in Young Master Yanchuan’s handwriting. My father has already taken her into custody. You’ll know the truth as soon as you interrogate her.”
“As for the vampire hunter, I know absolutely nothing about that!”
Her tears, like a broken string of pearls, her pleading tone, and her frightened expression all filled Xue Zhu with annoyance and disappointment.
It also reminded him of a weak, useless, crying figure from the depths of his memory.
How boring.
His long, narrow phoenix eyes lost their focus, becoming like a pool of stagnant water. The air seemed to freeze. The sounds of crying, whispering, and music—all of it seemed to recede from him.
Xue Zhu nonchalantly raised a hand. His long, pale fingers brushed against her tear-stained cheek. Her rich, beautiful face was like a delicate flower petal, drenched in rain.
The fingertips caressing her cheek suddenly shot downwards, the blue veins on the back of his pale hand standing out grotesquely. He seized her by the throat, and just like snapping the stem of a flower, he crushed her pleas into a broken whimper.
The young woman’s face turned an unnatural red from lack of oxygen. The pulse beneath his palm struggled and throbbed, signaling that a vibrant life was about to be extinguished.
“Xue Zhu!”
A cold reprimand rang out. Xue Zhu snapped back as if from a dream.
His hand was being held in a death grip by Xie Zhenye, whose face was dark. He gritted his teeth. “Are you fucking looking to die?”
The moment he finished speaking, he threw a punch. Xue Zhu barely managed to avoid a critical hit, but the corner of his lip was inevitably grazed.
The surrounding whispers and pointing were as annoying as a swarm of flies. Xue Zhu’s gaze shifted to the limp girl being supported by Xie Yanchuan. She was trembling, still in shock, and didn’t dare to look up at him.
Xie Yanchuan met his gaze with icy eyes and said sarcastically, “Does President Xue have an explanation for tonight’s… episode?”
Xue Zhu licked the corner of his lip and smiled. “My apologies. I was distracted.”
He turned to the Xie family head as if nothing had happened, his tone light. “It’s getting late, so I won’t be heading back. I assume the Xie family has a spare room for me?”
The family head naturally agreed profusely. He showed no concern for his own daughter’s safety, only thinking of maintaining a superficial relationship with the Xue family. He immediately led him upstairs to rest.
As the main culprit strolled away, Yu Jiao trembled, a horrifying red bruise circling her long, fair neck.
“…Are you alright?” Xie Zhenye reached out, his hand gently touching the bruise with a pained expression, but Yu Jiao swatted it away.
“Don’t touch me.”
She took two steps back, breaking free from Xie Yanchuan’s hold. Her entire body screamed rejection as she turned her head, avoiding the twins’ gazes.
“Come upstairs. We need to have a doctor look at that.”
Xie Yanchuan reached for her again, his tone leaving no room for refusal, but his hand was slapped away forcefully.
Yu Jiao growled, “I said, don’t touch me.”
Xie Yanchuan froze.
The young woman kept her head down, her hands clenched into tight fists, as if she were desperately suppressing some emotion. She ignored them both and tried to walk away.
Xie Zhenye instinctively grabbed her wrist. “Yu Jiao, let me explain.”
Pulled to a halt, she suddenly turned back, revealing a face on the verge of tears, like an autumn pond shattered by a violent storm.
She said nothing, only gave them a single, almost broken look before pulling away and leaving.
She left the twins stunned, standing frozen in place.
“…”
After a long moment.
“Why is she crying like that…” Xie Zhenye ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “She won’t even listen to an explanation.”
He cursed under his breath, his face dark, but his brow was etched with a sense of remorse and loss.
Xie Yanchuan lowered his eyes. “Being treated like a family outcast… she has every right to be angry.”
“Let’s wait for her to cool down.”
…
The moment she turned away, Yu Jiao stopped her tears. She returned to her bedroom in the Xie Manor and collapsed onto the bed, letting out a long sigh of relief.
In truth, she wasn’t surprised at all that the twins had stood by and watched.
After all, from her memories, she knew they had been brought from a branch family to be raised in the main lineage. Before they had fully matured, the family head must have used some unsavory methods, which was why the twins were now under his control.
Her father was an incompetent man, lacking in strategy and foresight. Selling out his daughter for his own gain was something he would do without a second thought.
As for Xue Zhu?
It wasn’t time to reveal her true identity yet. She could only play the part of a useless, dependent flower to get by. But when the time came to close the net, she would make him pay.
Yu Jiao opened the game’s item shop. She was quite wealthy now. Not only had she paid off her previous point advance, but she had also accumulated a large sum, more than enough to splurge.
As an otome game, in The God’s Lover, one CG was worth ten thousand points.
According to the System, the conditions for obtaining a CG were extremely esoteric and difficult, hence the exorbitant price. Even so, in just two days in the game, Yu Jiao had already obtained six CGs.
Two were with Xie Zhenye: [Washroom] and [Healing the Wound].
Two were with Xie Yanchuan: [Cat in the Closet] and [The Kiss].
Xue Zhu and Wei Changlin each had one: [Cinderella] and [Hostage].
—It was worth noting that there was a small question mark next to Wei Changlin’s name, indicating it was not his real name.
She scanned the dazzling array of skills and items. Thinking of the letter she had seen in Xie Yanchuan’s study, she grew thoughtful. In the end, she bought two skills outright: [Master of Physical Arts] and [One-Click Outfit Change].
[Master of Physical Arts] was self-explanatory.
[One-Click Outfit Change]: Allows the player to set hotkeys for outfits they have worn. Clicking the corresponding key will instantly change their attire.
With a thought, a flash of white light enveloped her, and she was once again in the men’s school uniform from the previous night. She swapped the silk scarf for a black face mask. Fully equipped, Yu Jiao skillfully climbed out the window.
The Xie Manor was enormous, like a magnificent medieval estate. But now, in the deep of night, it exuded a somewhat sinister air.
Her movements light and stealthy, Yu Jiao followed the directions from the letter, carefully making her way to a hidden back garden.
If I’m not mistaken, a wicked sacrificial ritual should be taking place here.
Yu Jiao crouched on a high branch of a tall tree, her figure well-hidden by the dense foliage. She pushed aside a few leaves and looked out.
In the center of the vast, desolate garden, a few figures stood scattered about.
Xie Zhenye was listlessly plucking at a foxtail weed. Xie Yanchuan stood beside him, arms crossed, deep in thought.
Not far away were several young masters and ladies from the Xie branch families. They looked somewhat dazed and extremely nervous.
A strange, complex, and massive rune was carved into the stone floor of the garden.
Just then, several muscular blood servants dragged in a dozen unconscious young people, their eyes blindfolded and their hands and feet bound. They were thrown to the ground. The clothes of a few of them looked familiar; they seemed to be the specially-admitted students who had stood up for her tonight.
A glint flashed in Yu Jiao’s eyes. The strange letter came to mind. Its general content was:
We have discovered the method by which each generation of the Xue family’s heirs has rapidly increased their bloodline’s strength and purity. It requires the sacrifice of the flesh and blood of their own kin—the closer the blood relation, the better the effect. In addition, to increase the success rate, a large number of “two-legged sheep” must be slaughtered on the spot.
It seemed these specially-admitted students were the “two-legged sheep” mentioned in the letter…
Just as Yu Jiao thought this bloody ritual was for the twins, the Xie family head arrived, dragging a reluctant Xie Ning with him.
Yu Jiao raised her eyebrows high.
Unexpected, yet perfectly logical.
It was likely because Xie Ning was now eighteen and had yet to awaken her bloodline. Her father was anxious, but he didn’t dare to have his daughter try this evil method without testing it first, so he had found a few branch family descendants to serve as experiments.
As for the twins, they were likely just tools, called here by their father to act as guardians.
Everyone had arrived. The ritual began.
The burly blood servants grabbed two struggling branch family young masters and forced them down at opposite ends of the rune. Then they picked up several of the unconscious students and tossed them at the four corners of the rune.
At a signal from the family head, the blood servants drew their knives and slit the wrists of the victims. Blood slowly filled the grooves in the floor, and the thick, metallic scent filled the air.
Expressions of disgust appeared on the twins’ faces simultaneously, and they both looked away.
Watching the pitiful students lying in the array, helpless, Yu Jiao frowned and sighed, silently convincing herself: If this ritual actually succeeds, as Xie Ning’s half-sister with a close blood relation, my future is easy to imagine.
Yu Jiao decided to destroy the ritual.
She quickly scrolled through the item shop and found a one-time-use item called [Fire Bow]. After purchasing it, a transparent bow and arrow appeared before her.
Standing steadily on the branch, Yu Jiao gripped the transparent bow, narrowed her eyes, and drew back the equally transparent string. She took aim and let the arrow fly.
[Fire Bow]: Can select any one object and cause it to combust.
The transparent arrow stirred the air, flying silently and swiftly towards the center of the ritual, landing upon the rune filled with flowing blood.
A strange, rootless fire suddenly erupted, gradually covering the bloodstains and consuming the rune, burning the sinful blood away completely without harming a single person in the array.
【Main Quest: Successfully get selected as prey by the Secret Society, and survive for one week. (Progress: 25%)】
The dazzling flames tore through the thick night.
Amidst the screams and roars, Xie Yanchuan and Xie Zhenye looked up at the same time, their gazes drawn as if by instinct to the direction where Yu Jiao was hiding.
Hidden by layers of leaves, Yu Jiao held her breath. After the two of them relaxed, she was about to make a quiet exit, doing a good deed without leaving a name, when a familiar, ominous “Ding!” sounded in her ear.
[Law of Causality]: As the female lead of an otome game, you are the favorite of fate.
At that moment, the one-time-use [Fire Bow] in her hand should have dissipated into tiny, transparent particles. But instead, it suddenly began to glow with an unscientific, rainbow-colored light.
It was incredibly conspicuous in the dark of night.
It might as well have been holding a megaphone, shouting, ‘I’m over here! I’m over here!’
Yu Jiao: “…”
Good news: The Xie family head and the minions were distracted by the strange fire and hadn’t noticed the anomaly over here.
Bad news: Xie Yanchuan and Xie Zhenye had already reacted and were quickly approaching.
Yu Jiao fled without hesitation, but the two of them were like ghosts, relentlessly pursuing her, impossible to shake.
They were incredibly sharp and agile. Yu Jiao had no choice. As she rounded a corner, she climbed a pipe, picked a nearby dark room, and desperately pushed open the window to hide inside.
She crouched beneath the window, holding her breath, and heard their footsteps pause, then split up and move away.
She had escaped.
Yu Jiao let out a sigh of relief. She pulled her focus back from outside, only to realize with a jolt: there was a gaze in the room, one with an extremely strong presence, pinned directly on her.
Her heart began to pound. She slowly raised her head.
There, in the pitch-black room, a young man was leaning elegantly against the headboard of the bed.
He had a tall, slender frame. A bathrobe hung loosely on his body, exposing a large expanse of a pale, jade-like chest, the muscle definition as beautiful as a meticulously carved classical marble statue.
He was propping his head up with one hand, watching her with a leisurely air.
Xue Zhu.
Xue Zhu again.
What was this?
Out of the dragon’s den and into the tiger’s lair???
A look of delighted surprise shone in the tiger’s eyes. He smiled. “Hmm? Last night you leaped into my sight, and tonight you leap directly into my room?”
Yu Jiao: “…”
Her luck was terrible.
Tonight was really not a good night to be out.