Chapter 49: The Vampire’s Prey (49)
The system, of course, refused to admit it, stammering and using the excuse of ‘obtaining the capture target’s most cherished thing’ to prevaricate. But Yu Jiao had already gotten the answer she wanted from its stuttering.
As Yu Jiao formulated a plan to clear the game, she retraced her steps. Just as she was nearing her room, she deactivated the [Concealment] effect. The moment Yu Jiao gripped the doorknob, the door was unexpectedly pulled open from the inside. Yu Jiao stumbled and fell into a hot embrace.
“Jiao Jiao?”
Yu Jiao looked up and met a pair of cold, clear eyes.
Xie Zhenye’s expression was anxious. Xie Zhenye gripped her shoulders, his worried gaze like an X-ray, scanning her up and down. Seeing that Yu Jiao was unharmed, Xie Zhenye let out a slow sigh of relief.
“I was just about to look for you… Where did you go?”
Xie Zhenye was still holding her shoulders, his long fingers stiffly bent, but he had subconsciously lessened his grip, afraid of hurting Yu Jiao.
—The cold, hard Second Young Master of the Xie family had finally learned to be gentle.
A glint flashed in Yu Jiao’s eyes. The plan she had just formulated came to mind.
“…”
Yu Jiao shook her head. The lingering fear from her near-fall made her face even paler, like an insignificant snowflake in winter, about to vanish.
“I went out for a walk.”
Yu Jiao turned her head and looked out the window, her gaze clear and soft. “Every blade of grass, every tree in the academy seems to be connected to a memory. I want to engrave them in my mind, so that I don’t…”
Her unfinished words made Xie Zhenye’s heart ache. The fingers on her shoulders curled. Xie Zhenye felt that the delicate bones beneath his palm were strangely sharp, impossible to hold.
“Alright, let’s not talk about that anymore.”
Yu Jiao gave a bright, cloudless smile. “Where’s Yanchuan?”
Xie Zhenye froze.
“…What are you looking for him for?”
Yu Jiao pretended not to know about their argument. “It’s just something… you could call it a bucket list.”
As Yu Jiao spoke, she winked playfully. Hidden beneath the joke was a moving, sorrowful quality.
But Xie Zhenye couldn’t laugh, and he was speechless. He couldn’t bring himself to be jealous, nor could he say anything to spoil the mood, though the dull ache in his heart was like a chronic, old wound.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. As if admitting defeat, Xie Zhenye sighed softly. “He should be in the lounge—I’ll take you to him.”
This time, with Xie Zhenye’s careful support, Yu Jiao walked past the guards openly. When they reached the closed door, Xie Zhenye suddenly stopped.
Yu Jiao looked up, puzzled.
The tall young man’s eyes were lowered, avoiding her gaze. Xie Zhenye asked nonchalantly, “So… is there a bucket list item that has to do with me?”
Like a dog, neglected by its master.
“…”
“No,” Yu Jiao said softly.
He paused.
In that moment, it was as if Xie Zhenye had forgotten how to breathe, the desolation around him almost palpable.
Yu Jiao burst out laughing, breaking the stagnant air.
“Because—”
Yu Jiao raised her hands and pulled at the corners of his tense lips. “—I have no regrets with you.”
The young woman’s voice was light and fast, like a sweet, poisoned wine.
Looking at her smiling face, the sourness in Xie Zhenye’s heart did not lessen. He forced a smile. “…Alright.”
Xie Zhenye considerately pushed the door open for her and watched as she, almost joyfully, entered the room.
Thump.
The door closed.
Not another sound, as silent as if it had been forgotten in a crack in time.
The tall young man was like a rusted iron statue, his back against the heavy door. Xie Zhenye wanted to leave, but he couldn’t move. His keen sense of hearing, on its own accord, caught the movements inside.
Listening to the faint sounds, Xie Zhenye closed his eyes, his mind seemingly able to reconstruct their every interaction.
Not long ago, in this very room, Xie Zhenye had had a huge fight with his closest family. Now, he had personally sent his most cherished person in, and he didn’t dare to show the slightest unwillingness.
He let out a bitter laugh.
You’ve really lost, Xie Zhenye…
***
Inside the room.
The moment Yu Jiao pushed the door open, she saw Xie Yanchuan leaning back in his chair, his long legs propped up on the table in a very unrefined manner. The lazy posture was a far cry from his usual, cold, noble young master image.
There was not a sliver of light in the room. Xie Yanchuan opened his eyes, and his pale irises were like sapphires, covered in a layer of dust.
“Why are you here?”
His voice was a little hoarse.
Yu Jiao had never seen him look so dejected.
Xie Yanchuan just leaned back in his chair, his gaze distant as he looked at her. He suddenly raised his hand and, through the dimness and the not-so-close distance, traced her silhouette.
As if he were yearning for a dream that would shatter at a touch.
Yu Jiao walked forward slowly and took his cold hand, her eyes curving. “To pass the time.”
With that, Yu Jiao knelt and sat on the thick carpet, her arms crossed and resting on his lap.
Xie Yanchuan lowered his eyes, his well-defined hands running through her hair, stroking it, on and off.
The two of them just sat there, in silence.
Yu Jiao knew that for a proud person like Xie Yanchuan, it was rare for him to show such a pathetic side. He would never confide in her.
—But it didn’t matter. She would confide in him.
“Yanchuan…”
Yu Jiao buried her face in her arms. Her hair fell, revealing a section of her pale neck, a very dependent posture.
“Hmm?”
“Do I look very haggard when I’m sick? Am I ugly?” Yu Jiao’s voice was low and muffled.
His hand, which had been stroking her hair, paused. Xie Yanchuan gently lifted her chin.
“Why would you think that?”
Yu Jiao tilted her head up, her soft, tender face nuzzling his large hand. Her delicate brow was furrowed, like a spring pond, wrinkled by the wind. She was like a willow, swaying in the wind. Even though Yu Jiao was pale and sickly, even though she was filled with sorrow, even in such dim light, she was still beautiful and lovely.
She was nothing like the haggard and ugly person she had described.
Xie Yanchuan reached out a long arm and pulled her up from the ground. She took the opportunity to sit on his lap.
The two were very close, their breaths mingling, their eyes only on each other.
Her long eyelashes trembled, her breathing slightly chaotic. Yu Jiao subconsciously pushed him away, at a loss.
Xie Yanchuan’s gaze deepened. He held her waist tightly, pulling her even closer. With his other hand, he tipped her chin up, capturing her evasive gaze.
“You’re beautiful.”
Yu Jiao’s expression was dazed for a moment. Her eyes suddenly filled with tears, and she murmured, “Really?”
Yu Jiao clutched his shirt and looked at him, as if seeking confirmation, as if with affection, as if with reluctance, as if…
She were seeing another person through him.
“…”
Xie Yanchuan understood almost instantly the thoughts she had hidden behind her words and her expression, thoughts that she herself might not have been aware of.
He suddenly wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t lift the corners of his lips.
The sound of soft sobs came from his side, a fear of death and the unknown.
Xie Yanchuan closed his eyes.
His knuckles were a little stiff. He gently covered her eyes, which were filled with affection and tears.
“…He would think you’re beautiful too.”
Xie Yanchuan heard himself answer.
Yu Jiao threw herself into his arms, her tears soaking his wrinkled shirt. A sliver of coolness seeped into his chest, like a merciless, sharp weapon, instantly seizing his heart.
…
The next few days, Yu Jiao was in this two-faced mode—being intimate with Xie Yanchuan in front of Xie Zhenye, and when she was with Xie Yanchuan, not mentioning Xie Zhenye, but everything was about him.
Until the two of them grew more and more silent, like a taut string. Yu Jiao knew that the time had come. It was time for the next step.
“Cough, cough!”
She coughed painfully for a while, as if she were about to cough up her internal organs. A bloodstain fell on her pale lips, making her look even more gaunt.
The blood servant who was waiting on her hurried to get a tissue and water. By the time he clumsily handed them to her, Yu Jiao was almost coughing to death. She panted and waved her hand, then suddenly paused. Her deep, dark gaze fell on him.
The blood servant didn’t dare to move, not knowing how he had attracted the noble’s attention. As he was feeling anxious, he heard the young woman’s cool voice—
“Where’s 011?”
The blood servant was taken aback and answered cautiously, “I haven’t seen him recently. He probably… passed away in the chaos.”
The noble’s fingers, which had been tapping on the table, paused. The blood servant’s heart pounded.
“…”
When the rhythmic tapping sounded again, it was followed by a cool, commanding voice:
“Alright, you can go. Stand guard at the door. Don’t let anyone in. If the two young masters ask, just say I want to rest and don’t want to be disturbed.”
The blood servant complied, lowered his head, and left, standing guard outside the room as instructed. He heard another heart-wrenching cough from inside.
Inside the room.
Yu Jiao wiped the blood from her lips with a blank face. Her slender, pale fingertips held the blood-stained tissue and handkerchief and brought them to the candlelight, lighting them one by one.
Her eyes were lowered, her long, thick eyelashes like a mist, blurring the emotion in them. The warm firelight danced on her almost transparent cheeks, adding a touch of a struggling vitality.
Yu Jiao calmly watched as the flames licked the tissues and handkerchiefs, burning them to ashes.
After destroying these items, which were stained with ‘Holy Blood’, Yu Jiao stood up, patted the ash from her clothes, and then activated [Concealment], leaving the room with the help of a wall-phasing item.
The blood servant was standing dutifully outside the door. He suddenly twitched his nose.
…The smell of something burning?
As a trusted aide, he knew that the Second Young Master had a special person collect and burn the blood-stained items every day, to prevent the news of the ‘Holy Blood’ from leaking.
But, it wasn’t time for the burning yet, was it? Had the time been changed?
The blood servant scratched his head, puzzled.
***
That night.
Yu Jiao wrapped her thick clothes around herself and walked through the patrolling followers and blood servants.
As she headed towards the west campus, the number of followers in white robes clearly increased. At a corner, Yu Jiao deactivated [Concealment], deliberately made a sound, and attracted the attention of the followers.
“Who’s there?!”
A blinding flashlight beam shot over. The white-haired, red-eyed young woman raised a hand to shield her eyes. Her slender figure was nestled in her soft clothes, and her red eyes blinked nervously. She looked like a harmless rabbit.
“I… I’m looking for the Archbishop.”
The followers looked at each other. They all knew the prophecy of the ‘Son of God’ and immediately sent someone to report to the Archbishop.
Three minutes later.
Yu Jiao was sitting in a warm room, sipping hot tea. She looked up and met a pair of eyes, hiding malice and greed.
The Archbishop gave a “friendly” smile and filled the ‘walking fame and fortune’s’ cup, asking nonchalantly, “I wonder what brings Miss Yu here in the middle of the night?”
He looked at her with a probing gaze.
The young woman bit her lower lip, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes. Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz. “I want to know… about him.”
“Him?”
Yu Jiao seemed to have mustered up her courage. Her beautiful red eyes looked directly at him, filled with a sorrowful light, as if she were about to cry.
“The one who was undercover at the academy in disguise.”
Her heartbroken look was impeccably real, extremely moving.
The Archbishop let out a long “oh,” his gaze meaningful, like a hunter with a gun, who had discovered that a rabbit, hiding in the grass, had accidentally revealed its tail.
—He remembered. On that day, the moment the young woman had come out of the illusion, she had stumbled to the auditorium and had stood there, dazed, for a long time.
Meeting Yu Jiao’s eager gaze, the Archbishop’s fingers caressed the side of his cup, over and over, then he held the small teacup firmly.
His voice was familiar.
“You mean the Tree Lizard.”
“What?”
“His codename. Tree Lizard.”