Chapter 33: The Vampire’s Prey (33)
“What do you plan to do next?”
.
After her bath, Yu Jiao sipped her hot tea while a pair of large, well-defined hands gently dried her hair with a towel.
In the midst of this incredibly warm atmosphere, Wei Changlin asked his question.
Yu Jiao caressed her teacup, silent.
His movements slowed. “I can send you out of the academy,” he said slowly. “I can help you forge a new identity, break away from the vampire families completely, and live the life of an ordinary person.”
As his words fell, he lowered his eyes and quietly gazed at her profile.
In the lamplight, the young woman’s face was serene and composed.
She slowly and firmly shook her head.
“I’m not leaving.”
—Of course not. How am I supposed to do the mission if I leave?
After successfully escaping the twins’ little black room, her mission progress, which had been stagnant, finally rose from 60% to 65%.
It seemed the mission’s completion was not based on survival time, but on the {Events} she experienced.
“My analysis is correct, isn’t it, System?” Yu Jiao asked in her mind.
【…】
【Sorry, host. Please explore on your own.】
“Explore on my own? Fine. Then I’ll explore right now.”
Yu Jiao replied slowly and deliberately.
“You keep emphasizing ‘capture’, but you don’t show specific affection values. The blackening level is also vague.”
She narrowed her eyes, her grey pupils glistening with a cool light.
“I have reason to believe that you, as a system, are fundamentally unable to detect the true thoughts and emotional leanings of these capture targets.”
【!】
The system let out a brief, static-filled buzz, which quickly subsided.
【Player, please do not make excessive assumptions.】
The system’s reaction was enough to prove her point.
Yu Jiao smiled triumphantly and said in a gentle tone, “Alright, no assumptions. I’ll present my evidence.”
“It’s precisely because you can’t detect affection levels that an otome game would have such an incongruous main quest: ‘Be selected as prey by the Secret Society and survive for one week’? Tch. Isn’t it just that you want to see if these men will turn on me in such an extreme situation?”
“In a life-or-death crisis, through their attitudes and reactions, you can naturally determine who holds a higher affection for me.”
“So, to complete the mission, I must actively participate, and even escalate the conflicts, to create noteworthy {Events}. Hmm? Am I right?”
【…】
Yu Jiao tapped her lips and smiled silently.
“Of course, you must have a deeper purpose. Hmm, let me guess. Is it to make these bastards kill each other? Or to make them so engrossed in love that they stop causing trouble? Don’t worry—I won’t… make… excessive… assumptions. As long as you keep your promise after I clear the game and let me return to the real world with my life, that’s all that matters.”
【…】
The system was silent for a long moment before finally saying a dry, “Alright.”
Although this internal dialogue had only lasted a few seconds, it was clear that her silence had led Wei Changlin to a misunderstanding.
He paused, his long fingers running through her still-damp hair, gently combing it.
“What? You don’t want to leave? Still want to see your dear brothers and fiancé?” he asked, his tone casual.
Yu Jiao tilted her head up and, pretending to sniff the air, asked with a puzzled look, “Who knocked over the vinegar jar? Why does it smell so sour?”
Meeting the light, teasing smile in her eyes, Wei Changlin looked away and, as if in a fit of pique, threw the towel over her face.
“Who’s jealous? You’re flattering yourself.”
Her vision was blocked.
Yu Jiao didn’t rush to remove the towel. Instead, she reached out her arms and hooked them around his neck, pulling him down.
“…What are you doing?”
Yu Jiao didn’t answer. She fumbled, her hands on his face.
She carefully distinguished and felt his features.
Deep-set eyes, a high and straight nose, full and soft lips that curved naturally even when he wasn’t smiling.
This should be a handsome and amorous face.
—The same as the one she had touched in the secret passage.
“This is your real face, isn’t it?”
“…”
She couldn’t see his expression, only felt him pause for a moment, his gaze deep. After a long while, he hummed in agreement.
With the towel still blocking her view, Yu Jiao looked up at him.
“Is this what you lost after gaining the ability to disguise yourself?”
To never be able to show your true face.
“You win some, you lose some,” he answered with a light laugh, his tone as roguish as ever.
“Then can I know your real name?”
“…”
Silence.
After a moment, Yu Jiao nodded. “Alright.”
“…I’m sorry.”
His voice was low and soft, yet it carried a strange weight.
Yu Jiao shook her head.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. At least—”
She lifted her head, her slender, pale arms still hooked around his neck, and pulled him down again, kissing him accurately.
Through the soft towel, their lips merely touched. It was a gentle kiss, without a trace of desire.
She pulled back slightly, her forehead resting against his.
“—I can still kiss the real you.”
“…”
The hanging towel perfectly concealed her cool, glistening eyes and the slight curve of her lips.
—Even without an affection meter, she knew that this guy was head over heels for her right now.
Just as she’d expected, a pair of large, warm hands wrapped around her waist, and he leaned down, pulling her tightly into his embrace.
Pressed against his broad chest, she could hear his heavy, rapid heartbeat.
So she lifted her legs and wrapped them around his firm, lean waist.
“Now, I’ll allow you to touch me.”
…
…
Yu Jiao knew that once a man had been softened up, his mouth wouldn’t be so hard either. It was a good time to make some slightly more outrageous requests.
She propped her head on her hand and traced circles on his firm back with her slender, pale fingers. “It’s not that I don’t want to leave,” she explained. “I just don’t want to leave like an abandoned dog.”
He was lying on the bed, his face buried in his arms. Hearing her words, he revealed a pair of red-rimmed, peach-blossom eyes and looked over at her, his voice husky.
“What do you plan to do?”
He paused, then added, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Yu Jiao caressed his ear and looked at him calmly.
“I want to awaken. To shed the identity of prey, to have a status equal to Xue Zhu, and the chance to trample those ‘chosen ones’ who treat human life like grass under my feet.”
—Among these bastards, the pervert Xue Zhu is the most unstable right now. Even if his affection level is high, it’s a pathological, destructive kind. If I keep playing this hunting game with him, I’ll be done for sooner or later.
I have to obtain the power of the blood race, to give the pervert a sense of novelty, and then reset the rules of the game… If I can get rid of him, that would be for the best.
After she made her request, Wei Changlin paused, his expression complicated as he looked at her.
“In your heart… he really is special, isn’t he.”
His unreadable whisper made her blink in confusion. Before she could react, he buried his head in his arms again and said in a muffled voice:
“Besides the normal and evil methods of awakening, there’s only a short-term solution. It’s not as permanent as the sacrifice, but it’s much safer. However, the effect will only last for three days at most.”
Yu Jiao: “Three days? That’s enough.”
After all, her game time limit was only four days.
Wei Changlin sighed. “Since you’ve already decided…”
He propped himself up and leaned in to sniff the side of her neck.
“You have the heart’s blood and essence blood of a powerful blood-race member on you. That’s just what’s needed to complete this short-term awakening ritual.”
As he spoke, he paused and lifted his cool, dark peach-blossom eyes, a fake smile on his face. “You have quite a few special marks on you.”
Yu Jiao: “…No.”
Under his sour gaze, Yu Jiao guiltily shifted the blame. “Ahem, the essence blood in the pendant is Xie Zhenye’s surveillance. The essence blood in my body is Xie Yanchuan’s control. And I was tricked into drinking the heart’s blood by Xue Zhu as prey. By the way, do you know what the Holy Blood is?”
Wei Changlin stared at her for a long moment, then snorted. “Holy Blood? It’s an evil technique for ‘immortality’ that the old fool of the Xue family came up with.”
Yu Jiao was surprised.
She had only been trying to change the subject, but she had unexpectedly stumbled upon a secret.
Wei Changlin nonchalantly twirled a strand of her long hair. “It’s said that the ancestor of the Xue family dug out his heart and passed it down from generation to generation like a family heirloom.”
He curled his lip coolly and said, “Every heir of the Xue family is just a vessel to nourish the heart.”
“…What?”
Yu Jiao was shaken, staring at him, speechless.
In her memory, Xue Zhu’s strange words and actions flashed through her mind, one after another.
As if seeing her shock, Wei Changlin moved over her, bracing his strong arms on either side of her, trapping her in his presence.
He looked at her heavily. “So, what’s in your fiancé’s chest is a piece of decaying, rotten flesh, a precious scepter. In short, it will never beat for you.”
He blocked the light, his expression hidden in the shadows. He sounded like a parent, warning their child about a bad person, his words an alarmist tale.
Yu Jiao’s eyes curved. She hooked her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him.
“I know, little vinegar jar.”
“…”
Wei Changlin shot her a resentful glare. His once-dark eyes were now like a spring lake, the hard ice melted into a glistening, watery light.
He pressed down on her.
Yu Jiao pushed back, half-heartedly. “Not too late. I plan to go back to the academy for class tomorrow.”
***
The next day.
Yu Jiao, fully dressed, appeared on campus as if nothing had happened.
During her absence, various rumors had been flying around the academy, each more outrageous than the last.
The most common theory was that she had been tortured and killed by the hateful Xie twins, her body long since gone.
Under the various shocked gazes, Yu Jiao walked straight to a certain classroom as if no one else were there—it was the privilege of the president of the Secret Society, a whole floor at the top of the teaching building, used as a lounge.
She pushed open the heavy, ornate door and met a pair of dark, heavy eyes, as murky as a bottomless, poisonous fog.
“Ah.”
The owner of the eyes had a cigarette between his lips. He slowly curved them into a bewitching smile.
“Long time no see, my fiancée.”
Remembering the secret Wei Changlin had told her, Yu Jiao’s probing gaze fell on his chest. She chuckled.
“It’s been so long. Do you still feel a flutter in your heart, hmm? Fiancé?”