Chapter 39: The Vampire’s Prey (39)
The massive wolf’s head drew near.
Fluffy fur brushed against her smooth skin, a wet nose occasionally nuzzling her, its hot breath washing over her.
All of this made her spine tense.
—Although she didn’t know why it had suddenly attacked, the defensive item she had equipped hadn’t been activated, which meant it had no killing intent.
Struggling rashly might anger it. Yu Jiao decided to wait and see.
It twitched its nose.
“…”
It was sniffing.
Yu Jiao paused.
She remembered the wound on her forearm, from her fight with Lin Wei during the day. Although her physique had been greatly enhanced after awakening, the small wound had been unable to heal, a bit like a symptom of hemophilia.
According to Wei Changlin, it might be because of the unorthodox method of her awakening, or perhaps some unknown bloodline tradition. After all, the famous vampire Count Dracula was, in fact, a hemophiliac.
Though it didn’t hurt, she couldn’t just let the wound bleed. As a last resort, Wei Changlin had bandaged it with a special material, which had barely managed to stop the bleeding.
Logically, the bandage was airtight and shouldn’t leak the scent of blood, but a wolf’s sense of smell was very keen. Could it be… it had smelled it?
As she frowned in thought, she saw the werewolf, as expected, raise a sharp claw and tear the bandage.
Her pale white forearm was exposed to the air. It flinched slightly. A finger-length, dark red wound lay across it, the flesh torn. The moment it was exposed, it began to bleed profusely.
The golden, beast-like eyes looked at her, like a roiling heatwave from a blazing sun, filled with emotion.
As if asking her if it hurt.
“It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt— Mmph!”
Her eyes flew open in shock as she watched it bring its long, slender muzzle close and, with a pale red tongue, gently lick her wound.
The rough tongue brushed against her delicate skin, a hot, wet touch, over and over, gently licking away the beads of blood, soothing the stinging pain.
Though it was licking the wound on her forearm, she had the strange feeling of being licked from her tailbone to her neck.
A dangerous yet solid warmth, a very contradictory feeling.
It made the hair on her arms stand on end.
“Don’t…”
She tried to push the furry head away, but a large beast’s claw pinned her down, the force gentle yet unyielding.
It lifted its eyes, as if to say, ‘Be good.’
Then, it lowered its head again.
It was so large that, held in its embrace, she was like she was submerged in a hot, stuffy cage.
Its rough tongue was not small either. When it licked, it almost covered the inside of her forearm. A tingling, numbing itch came from the tender wound.
A beast’s tongue had a different heat and texture from a human’s. The strange sensation was like a fine electric current, spreading from the wound and covering her entire upper body.
If she didn’t feel the wound beginning to heal, she would have bared her fangs and bitten it to make it retreat.
It was too strange…
Her face was tense. Before she could lose her patience and tell it to stop, she suddenly felt a coolness on her forearm. The heat source was gone—it had pulled its muzzle away and lifted its head. Its bright golden, beast-like eyes had turned a dark gold, and they were looking at her, wetly.
Obedient and innocent.
Her reprimand was stuck in her throat.
And her forearm was as smooth as before, without a trace of the un-healing wound.
“…Thank you. You can let me go now.”
It didn’t move, still looking at her, wetly, and let out a low whimper.
She sat in its embrace, looking up at it. After a moment, she hesitantly reached out and stroked its soft, wolfish head.
“Thank you?”
It cooperatively lowered its head and narrowed its eyes. Its fluffy tail behind it began to wag.
“Awoo!”
The howl was both soft and clear, as if it had broken through the damp darkness of the dungeon. The echo spread. It froze, its eyes flew open, and it quickly released her, stood up, lowered its head, and pushed open the dark door.
A silent urging.
It didn’t look at her, its tail wagging furiously.
Yu Jiao’s expression was peculiar.
She walked towards the dark door. As she brushed past it, a wicked smile curved her lips, and, with a quick hand, she grabbed its fluffy tail.
“!”
Its fur stood on end.
The culprit had already slipped into the dark room.
***
After a narrow passage, it finally opened up.
This was an extremely cold room.
She raised her eyebrows in surprise. A scene she had never imagined came into view.
There, several single-person cages were arranged in neat rows. In each cage was a human. They were all pale, their eyes closed, barely breathing. And all of them were wearing the uniform of a specially-admitted student!
They were all standing straight in the cages, like zombies from a horror story…
Her expression grew grave. She moved closer and saw that their cheeks were sunken, and a pair of sharp fangs rested on their lower lips.
The features of a vampire.
A flash of insight.
She reached into a cage and pulled aside one person’s collar. As expected… there were two small, black puncture marks on their neck.
Swoosh.
The tightly closed eyes suddenly flew open.
The empty eyes were fixed on her. The person was grinding their teeth, frantically reaching out to grab her.
Like a zombie, having lost all reason, craving flesh and blood.
Fortunately, she pulled her hand back in time, avoiding the fate of being gnawed on like a chicken foot.
The ‘zombie’ in front of her was still frantically reaching for her, its pale face contorted by the bars of the cage. As it struggled, the sound of cold, hard collisions echoed.
Following its eager gaze, she looked down and saw a dried drop of blood on her sleeve. It must have been from when the werewolf was licking her wound. It seemed this person had been awakened by the scent of blood.
—No wonder it had insisted on licking the wound clean.
She looked around. The room was extremely cold and dark. Combined with these unconscious… people, it made one think of ‘hibernation’.
She carefully checked a few more ‘people’ and confirmed that they all had the same wounds on their necks.
“They’ve all been bitten,” she murmured.
A high-purity blood-race member could turn an ordinary person into a vampire. But the awakened blood-race students now had thinner and thinner bloodlines. They clearly couldn’t succeed in ‘developing their downline’.
They could only turn ordinary people into a lower class of blood-race, neither human nor ghost…
She sighed and continued deeper into the room. She found a few boxes of blood bags, all of them animal blood.
It seemed Wei Changlin was taking care of these lower-class blood-race members.
Suddenly, she stopped.
In a dark corner of the room, a few long chains were hanging, like dog leashes, attached to the necks of a few figures. They were—
A few young masters and ladies from vampire families!
They were no longer glamorous. Now, they were disheveled, their eyes closed. On a table not far away were various bloody experimental tools.
A glint flashed in her eyes.
She thought she knew his secret.
…
Just as she had slipped out of the passage, she met a pair of bright, golden, beast-like eyes.
“I…”
She had just opened her lips, wanting to ask about him, when it suddenly pricked up its ears, immediately pulled her into its embrace, and wrapped her up tightly, a furry beast’s paw clamped over her mouth.
Seeing its vigilant posture, she blinked and listened carefully.
A faint sound, like rustling insects, came from afar, gradually approaching.
Soon, it became more obvious.
Click. Clack. Click. Clack.
Lazy footsteps echoed into the dungeon.
“…”
A cold, hard collision sounded, as if someone were nonchalantly playing with some iron tool.
Then, a dissatisfied click of the tongue.
“Hey, how did you break the lock again?”
—Wei Changlin.
Perhaps because she had just discovered his secret research, in her eyes, he was now a perverted mad scientist. She felt that if she were exposed, he would dissect her.
She shrank into the werewolf’s embrace, completely hidden. She looked up and met its golden, beast-like eyes. It looked at her calmly.
The beast’s claw around her waist moved slightly, as if to soothe her.
The werewolf had its back to him. It said without turning its head, “Awoo—!”
He snorted. “I know it’s just for show. You don’t need to remind me. But can’t you have a little bit of contract spirit?”
Werewolf: “Grrr?”
He: “Fine, fine, I know. But it’s very troublesome for me when you come and go as you please. I can’t sleep well at night. Who knows if you’ll just swipe me with your claw.”
Werewolf: “Awoo awoo!”
He grumbled, “Tsk, why are you playing the sympathy card now? Alright, alright, I won’t argue with you.”
Werewolf: “Awoo awoo awoo!”
“Say that again?” he said in shock. “Grilled fish? Where am I supposed to get you a grilled fish in the middle of the night!”
Yu Jiao listened to their unimpeded conversation with a strange expression, until they began a long tug-of-war over the grilled fish.
“…”
After a long while.
Nestled in the warm embrace, her initial nervousness and novelty faded, and she grew a little bored.
She was pressed against its broad, firm chest. Remembering the fluffy feeling when she had stroked its head earlier, her hand itched. While the werewolf was focused on arguing with him, she secretly reached out and stroked its soft belly fur—
“Awoo— ooh~”
The deep, guttural howl suddenly rose in pitch, as coquettish as a puppy, showing its belly.
“…”
A dead silence fell in the dungeon.
Wei Changlin was strangely silent for a long moment, then said, “Fine. I’ll buy it for you.”
Impatient footsteps left. As he walked, he grumbled, “Why are you acting so cute? It’s so cringey.”
Werewolf: “…”
It slowly lowered its head.
Its golden, beast-like eyes were wide, staring blankly at the young woman in its arms. And she, innocently, blinked and, defying the odds, stroked it twice more.
It feels so good.
Thwack!
Its wolf tail slammed on the ground and began to sweep back and forth frantically.
“Looks like the crisis is over.”
Yu Jiao’s lips curved. “There’s no grilled fish in the middle of nowhere. He won’t be back for a while—”
As she spoke, she extended her long, slender, demonic claws and approached with a smile.
Werewolf: “!”
…
After petting the wolf, she was satisfied. When she returned to the Xie Manor, covered in wolf fur, it was already late at night.
She tiptoed upstairs and, turning, headed towards the servants’ quarters.
She walked on the thick carpet, past the neatly numbered rooms, past the closed doors. She stopped silently and looked up at the room number.
[011]
Knock, knock, knock.
The moment the light knock sounded, the door was opened from the inside.
As if he had been waiting right behind it.
The tall man’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He stepped aside. “Miss.”
She glanced at him and entered the room.
A black, white, and grey color scheme, a boring layout, but clean. The bed was neatly made, and even the trash can was empty.
It seemed he had carefully cleaned and arranged it.
Click.
The door was gently closed.
She turned, crossed her arms, and looked at him coldly.
He was wearing his mask even in his bedroom, but his hot gaze was not blocked at all. It was like a quietly burning fire, fixed on her.
Like he was craving a single thread from her.
“I am very dissatisfied with your work this time.”
As if a basin of water had been poured over him, his eager gaze froze. His rich, deep voice sounded, “I did as you said…”
“As I said?” She lifted her chin slightly. “I told you to contact that person using the old method and to stall him. But you? How long did it take for him to get away? I was almost discovered because of you.”
The tall man froze.
She said with a half-smile:
“Tell me, how should I punish you? Hmm?”