Chapter 42: The Vampire’s Prey (42p1)
Standing amidst the numerous shocked gazes, Yu Jiao crossed her arms, a sarcastic smile playing at the corners of her eyes and lips.
Seeing her like this, the enraged old man immediately realized: This woman is deliberately provoking me!
“You want a member of the Xue family to be your concubine? We’ll see if you have the life for it!” The old man suppressed his anger and said coldly, “Pass the trials first.”
Just then, Xue Zhu slowly blinked his phoenix eyes, as slow as a young maiden who had just been verbally harassed by a hooligan, a mixture of budding affection and sullenness.
He pressed his lips together, suppressing an indefinable, restless emotion, and asked, “Grandfather, what kind of trials did you have in mind?”
The old man gave a sinister smile. “Just because she has awakened, she cannot escape the status of prey. So, the first trial is to survive the school-wide hunt tonight.”
—It overlaps with the main quest?
Yu Jiao held back the twins, who were about to step forward and argue, and gave them a reassuring look. Then she turned to the old man. “Is that all?”
“This hunt is not as simple as your previous ‘games’…”
The old man raised his voice. “Butler Li, take Miss Yu down to prepare.”
The middle-aged man with the kind smile complied and walked over to her, bowing. “Please, Miss Yu.”
She followed him out of the conference room. Suddenly, she heard the old man say again, “The two young masters of the Xie family, please stay.”
She looked back and saw the twins being blocked by several blood-race guards, separated from her.
Xie Zhenye raised his hand and twisted the guard’s thick arm, pushing him away.
Xie Yanchuan’s voice was cold. “Old Master Xue, what is the meaning of this?”
The old man said, “If you two are to participate in the hunt, then of course you cannot be too intimate with the ‘prey’ before the game begins. If you are not participating in the hunt, then you naturally have no right to be in the same room as the ‘prey’.”
With that, he ignored the twins’ dark faces and commanded:
“Butler Li, remember to count how many people want to hunt this… Miss Yu, who carries a high concentration of Holy Blood.”
His cold, dark voice echoed in the conference room.
Yu Jiao stood in the dim corridor and watched as the heavy door slowly closed, hiding the faces with their various ulterior motives.
Just as the door was about to close, she heard the old voice, once again, make a decision from a superior height:
“Zhu’er, you will be the first hunter tonight.”
Xue Zhu’s head shot up. “Grandfather?”
A soft click.
The door closed, and all sounds and sights were cut off. The ornate, high door was as black as a closed curtain, signaling that a thrilling drama was about to begin.
***
Click.
Yu Jiao opened the bathroom door.
She walked barefoot to the bed and looked at the long uniform dress, which was spread out on the mattress.
Butler Li’s words were still ringing in her ears: “This hunt will follow the ancient traditions of the blood race. After bathing, you will need to wear a special long dress.”
At the time, she had frowned. “This isn’t convenient for fighting.”
Butler Li had smiled. “I’m very sorry. The records state that long ago, the sacrificed prey had no ability or right to resist. But times are changing. We understand that your situation is special. We suggest you wear a pair of trousers under the dress.”
“…”
With a sour look on her face, she put on the long dress and trousers and tied her long, white hair in a high ponytail.
The outfit was a bit strange, but it softened the femininity of the dress, giving her a surprisingly valiant air.
The fabric of the dress was smooth and form-fitting, with a pearly sheen. It exposed a large expanse of her shoulders, back, and chest, but it came with a lace and satin ribbon choker, which covered most of her neck and arteries.
After putting on the choker, she suddenly paused. She felt an invisible current of air blocking her throat. She opened her lips, but not a single sound came out.
Her face darkened. She tried to take off the strange choker, but failed.
It seemed to be blocked by an invisible array.
She furiously walked out of the room and, facing the smiling Butler Li, pointed to the choker on her neck.
“?”
Butler Li exclaimed, “Oh my, Miss Yu, you are truly a celestial beauty!”
Her face was blank.
He smiled. “This little thing will only prevent you from making a sound. I’m sure it won’t affect your strength at all.”
She knew it wasn’t that simple, but it was clearly pointless to argue here. She would have to deal with it as it came.
With a cold face, she followed him and was escorted to the main door.
He bowed. “Good luck. May the Progenitor bless you.”
Under his strange, ceremonial gaze, she pushed open the glass door and entered the dark, silent academy alone, as if she were being swallowed by a swamp.
The night was cold and dark, the moon hidden by clouds.
She walked on the empty academy road, feeling as if a vampire could jump out of the swaying bushes at any moment.
Under the unknown sense of urgency and danger, she found a crowbar, weighed it in her hand, and felt a little more at ease.
“Bzzzt—”
The speaker overhead let out a burst of static, and then, a flat, female announcer’s voice sounded:
“Attention, all students. Due to the presence of a wild beast on campus, which has resulted in the death of one student, the school board has decided to dispatch 127 beast hunters to deal with the threat tonight. Please remain in your dormitories and do not go outside, to avoid being accidentally injured.”
…What a clumsy excuse.
The beast hunters must be the 127 blood-race members participating in the hunt. Tsk, a bit troublesome.
She decided to focus on hiding. After all, the academy was so big, she didn’t have to face 127 of them head-on. As she was thinking this, she suddenly heard—
Rustle, rustle.
The sound of heavy footsteps, accompanied by the rustling of leaves, approached. A tall, strong figure emerged from the bushes at the corner.
Her expression grew grave. She lowered her center of gravity and entered a battle stance.
The person walked into the dim light of a streetlight, their face illuminated.
A wide, white blindfold covered their eyes, but it couldn’t hide their fierce expression.
…The pattern and design of the blindfold were identical to her choker.
He couldn’t see anything. His nostrils flared dramatically, and from time to time, a chilling, teeth-grinding sound was heard. Suddenly, he turned his head and, facing her directly, bared his sharp fangs.
His muscles bulged, like a beast, ready to pounce.
But, as if wary of something, he did not immediately rush over to hunt.
The two of them faced off silently from a distance.
She felt that this person’s state was clearly not right. She couldn’t decide whether to fight to gather information or to flee to conserve her strength.
Just as the atmosphere was growing tense, a window to the side suddenly opened, and a small figure jumped out, landing right in front of the blood-race member.
She seemed to be surprised. She looked up blankly as the ‘behemoth’ in front of her lunged.
Yu Jiao’s pupils constricted. She immediately threw the crowbar, trying to stop him.
Thump!
The crowbar hit its mark.
The tall, strong vampire fell, landing on top of the small girl.
She ran over in a few steps and pushed the unconscious man off. The next moment, her breath caught.
A startling amount of blood.
The strange girl looked at her, her dark eyes filled with pain.
—The sharp fangs had bitten down, almost piercing her slender neck. It was a bloody mess, as if a beast had torn at her, and a large amount of blood was gushing out.
She immediately tore a strip from her skirt and pressed it against the girl’s bleeding neck, trying to stop the flow.
The girl lifted a small hand and weakly pushed her away. She shook her head slightly, her pale lips moving, silently saying: Run.
Just then, the sound of a door being pounded came from the room the girl had just jumped out of, interspersed with bloodthirsty roars.
It seemed she had been cornered and had desperately jumped out the window to escape… only to find that she had just left the dragon’s den and entered the tiger’s lair.
Looking at the girl’s pearl-white uniform dress, stained with blood, and smelling the same faint, post-bath fragrance as her own.
She understood everything.
Amidst the increasingly urgent pounding and roaring, she soothingly stroked the girl’s cheek and mouthed: Don’t be afraid.
She stood up, picked up the crowbar, and jumped into the room through the open window. She yanked open the teetering door and swung the crowbar down.
Thump.
The muffled sound of a body hitting the floor.
She jumped out the window.
Seeing her come out safely, the girl let out a sigh of relief and slowly closed her eyes, her faint breathing stopping.
She slept a long sleep, covered in blood.
“…”
The dim streetlight outlined her slender, desolate figure.
“Bzzzt—”
The speaker crackled to life:
“Announcement: There are an estimated 20 beasts in total. Just now, one beast was killed by a beast hunter. There are now 19 remaining.”
The night wind, carrying the scent of blood, brushed past, making the hair on her arms stand on end.
She took a deep breath.
A few seconds later, she opened her cold, dark red eyes, bent down, and lifted the limp girl, hiding her in an iron cabinet in the room.
Then she rummaged around and found a few coils of rope, tied up the two unconscious vampires, and threw them into the women’s restroom, then blocked and locked the door.
After all this was done.
She returned to the spot, looked at the pool of blood on the ground for a while, then suddenly looked up, her cold gaze fixed on the camera next to the speaker.
***