Chapter 6: The Vampire’s Prey (06)
An unfamiliar presence enveloped her. Yu Jiao went rigid, her nose catching the faint scent of blood.
The next second, the white beam of a flashlight swept over them.
“Over there!”
The Vice President and his men were closing in.
The strange girl pressed her body against Yu Jiao’s.
By the flashlight’s beam, Yu Jiao could see that the girl had a handsome, striking face. Her entire being radiated a sharp, fierce aura, and her pair of peach-blossom eyes were exceptionally bright in the darkness.
Her eyes held a threat. “Cooperate with me.”
A cool dagger pressed against Yu Jiao’s waist. Yu Jiao quickly blinked her eyes in agreement.
The girl frowned, an expression of disgust on her face as she pressed her lips to Yu Jiao’s neck.
“…”
The blush-inducing sucking sounds seemed to stain the empty, silent night with a tint of lust.
The approaching footsteps of the pursuers came to an awkward, shuffling halt.
“H-Hey! Who are you two? What are you doing in the middle of the night!” the Vice President shouted, taking the lead in breaking up the tryst.
The girl’s lips and tongue lingered on Yu Jiao’s neck for a moment before she pulled away slightly. Without turning her head, she snapped, “Do you have any idea who I am? Get lost! Don’t ruin my fun!”
Her voice was spoiled and clear, yet it was not the same tone she had used to whisper in Yu Jiao’s ear.
Yu Jiao was stunned.
She’s perfectly imitating Xie Ning’s voice!
Xie Ning’s name was clearly well-known. The group of men immediately began to apologize awkwardly.
They didn’t question why Xie Ning, whom they had just seen in Xie Yanchuan’s room, would now be here with a strange boy. After all, it wasn’t the first time the young miss had engaged in outrageous behavior.
With Xue Zhu absent, the Vice President truly didn’t dare to provoke this young lady of the Xie family. But remembering Xue Zhu’s orders… he finally braced himself and said, “Miss Xie, please don’t be angry. You know that a vampire hunter has snuck into the school recently and has injured many of our kind. Didn’t President Xue make a bet with the two young masters of your family over who could catch him first? We’re just following orders.”
The girl snorted. “What, are you suspecting me?”
“Oh, heavens no! How could we dare!” the Vice President said with a sycophantic smile. “It’s just… this friend of yours…” Wearing a hat in the middle of the night was suspicious, no matter how you looked at it.
The men’s gazes were hostile, but unfortunately, most of the figure was blocked by ‘Xie Ning’, so they couldn’t be sure.
“Miss Xie, if you’d just let us have a look, we can rule him out as a suspect…”
‘Xie Ning’s’ voice turned sinister. “You think I don’t know the background of my own people? Do I need you to suspect them?”
The Vice President wiped away a cold sweat, inwardly furious, but then he heard ‘Xie Ning’ say, “Take your look and then get the hell out!”
With that, she turned slightly to the side, revealing the young man she had been blocking.
A few of them wanted to step forward for a closer look but were stopped by ‘Xie Ning’s’ cold bark. “I give you an inch and you take a mile, is that it? Look from where you are.”
They had no choice but to stop, peering from a distance.
In the harsh glare of the flashlight, the young man turned his head, revealing a sharp jawline. His lips were pressed tightly together, and his delicate, refined features were cast in shadow by the beret. A lurid love bite bloomed on his long, fair neck.
His frame was slender, and he was wearing a middle school uniform. From the intricate pattern on the collar alone, they could tell he must be one of the academy’s most elite young masters.
“Boss, that vampire hunter is tall and muscular. He’s definitely not the same person as this pretty boy.”
The Vice President smacked his subordinate on the head. “I’m not blind! And who the hell are you calling a pretty boy?! That’s Miss Xie’s companion!”
After his tirade, he turned back to Yu Jiao and the girl, bowing and scraping. “It was our mistake. We apologize for interrupting your… fun. Please, continue, continue…”
Once the Vice President and his group had departed dejectedly, the girl shoved Yu Jiao away without a shred of courtesy.
Yu Jiao stumbled back two steps. She lowered her head, her mind racing:
Based on what just happened, this mysterious person must be the so-called vampire hunter. She’s highly skilled, possesses some strange ability for disguise, her true identity and gender are a mystery, and she harbors extreme malice towards the noble students of this vampire academy.
Very dangerous.
A smile played on the mysterious person’s lips. She strode leisurely forward, backing Yu Jiao into a corner.
Although ‘her’ appearance was female and she seemed to be about the same height as Yu Jiao, she now braced her hands on the wall on either side of Yu Jiao, caging her in. Her gaze was heavy and dark, creating an overwhelming sense of pressure.
“Kid. You know what you should and shouldn’t say, right?”
‘She’ leaned in close to Yu Jiao’s ear, her cold breath just inches away.
Yu Jiao’s back was pressed against the rough wall. She frowned and turned her face away, forcing a muffled, “Mhm,” from her throat.
In the dim light of the night, Yu Jiao’s expression was hard to discern. The mysterious person could only see her lips, pressed into a firm line.
She looked proud and unyielding, like a noble young master enduring humiliation. It was a look that made one want to drag her down and trample her into the mud.
The mysterious person gave a cold laugh, grabbed Yu Jiao’s chin, and forced her face to turn back.
“Louder—”
The impatient reprimand cut off abruptly.
Under the cool moonlight, Yu Jiao’s face was veiled in a hazy glow. Delicate eyebrows, cat-like eyes, a perfect nose, and crimson lips—flushed and glistening from the humiliation, she looked all the more exquisitely beautiful.
Like peach blossoms scattered upon the surface of a spring stream.
The mysterious person’s breath caught, and their heart gave a heavy thump. But the next second, as if they had touched something filthy, ‘she’ abruptly let go.
“I didn’t even do anything to you. We’re both men. Why are you suddenly making that disgusting face?”
Both men?
‘She’—or rather, he—stood far away now, his eyes filled with genuine, unadulterated disgust.
A muscle in Yu Jiao’s eye twitched. Only then did she remember the BUFF she was currently under.
[Plausibility of Cross-Dressing]: When the player is dressed in men’s clothing and at risk of their identity being exposed, this BUFF will trigger, causing NPCs to become blind and foolish, ignoring all illogical gender-specific traits of the player.
Her entire performance just now had been, in a word, casting pearls before swine.
Yu Jiao gritted her teeth and said to the System, “Turn off the BUFF.”
The System mumbled quietly: 【According to the rules of otome games, a cross-dressing protagonist must go through a series of comical events with the capture target before their identity can be revealed.】
Yu Jiao closed her eyes. “I’m afraid I won’t live long enough for that to happen.”
Shing—
The sound of a blade being unsheathed pulled Yu Jiao’s attention back to the present.
The mysterious person was toying with a dagger. He tilted his head slightly, a flippant smile on his lips, but not a trace of humor in his eyes.
He hated the feeling of losing control.
“You disgust me. There’s no longer any need for you to exist.”
The blade reflected an ice-cold light.
Yu Jiao took a deep, imperceptible breath and quickly calmed herself.
‘Piquing his interest by revealing my identity as a woman’ is no longer a viable path. I need to adjust my strategy.
The mysterious person slowly approached, a malicious smile on his face. “If you kneel and beg me right now, maybe I’ll show some mercy.”
He spoke of mercy, but his eyes were brimming with killing intent. His dark pupils reflected the slender, cold figure of the young man before him.
He licked his lips, as if he could already see the pathetic image of the lofty young noble kneeling on the ground, weeping and wailing.
But he waited for a long while, and the little young master simply kept his head down, silently wiping at the spot on his neck that had been kissed. She used all her strength, the rough fabric of her sleeve rubbing the delicate skin of her neck raw.
“Hey. Didn’t you hear me talking to you?”
The mysterious person’s expression grew annoyed. He lightly tapped the young master’s cheek with the flat of his blade.
The young master didn’t flinch or dodge. Instead, she abruptly straightened her neck and tilted her head, pressing it against the blade. The sharp edge indented her delicate skin, drawing a thin line of blood.
Her reckless, life-or-death posture actually made the mysterious person pause, and he subconsciously pulled the blade back slightly.
When he came to his senses, he narrowed his eyes.
Yu Jiao met the mysterious person’s gaze without an ounce of fear. Her slightly rounded cat-like eyes were glaring, fierce yet adorable at the same time. The rims of her eyes were red, making her look like a young beast baring its fangs.
“Go on and kill me. Being insulted by a low-life of unknown origin like you is disgusting. I’d rather be silenced forever than live on to keep your secret!”
She delivered the lines with impressive bravado, but the tremble at the end of her words betrayed her fear.
“Oh? You said it yourself. That suits me just fine,” the mysterious person said, raising an eyebrow with amusement.
He moved closer, using the tip of his dagger to nudge the brim of Yu Jiao’s beret upwards. Moonlight spilled in, making her eyes appear as if they had been washed clean by its light, so clear they looked as if they might spill over with tears at any moment.
The mysterious person met her gaze, his pair of charming, amorous peach-blossom eyes ensnaring her own.
He whispered to her as a lover would, “You know, what I like most is to ‘paint’ on the delicate skin of little young masters like you with my knife. I’ll blindfold you, gag you, and then slice you, one cut after another. By the time the sun rises, you’ll have bled dry. And finally, I’ll strip you naked and leave you on a busy road for all your friends to come and admire my artwork. Hmm? How does that sound?”
He described the scene word by word, his tone gentle and lingering.
Hearing this, the little young master’s face turned so pale it was almost translucent. She bit her lip until the tender flesh turned white, leaving only her eyes and the tip of her nose flushed with a faint, frightened red.
“You… you! How dare you?” she stammered, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
“What wouldn’t I dare?” the mysterious person replied, a smile curving his lips.
Yu Jiao swallowed hard, her voice fierce but her courage failing. “Don’t get cocky too soon.” As if to bolster her own spirits, her voice turned vicious, even as large tears began to well up and stream down her face. “Even if you torture me to death, I’ll hang on to my last breath and write your name in my own blood to identify you!”
Having said her piece, she squeezed her eyes shut and lifted her chin high, presenting her neck as if ready for execution.
The mysterious person’s gaze gradually deepened.
The little young master’s eyelashes were wet with tears and trembled uneasily. A single, precarious teardrop clung to her sharp chin. Yet her back was ramrod straight, her only betrayal the way her fingernails were digging deep into her own flesh.
She was like a meticulously cared-for, priceless flower, or perhaps the heroic protagonist in a play, bravely facing martyrdom.
What nauseating innocence.
To simply snap the flower’s stem would be to grant it a noble end. It would be far better to grind it into the dirt, crush it into dust.
“I’ve changed my mind.”
The mysterious person sheathed his dagger.
Yu Jiao cautiously cracked open an eyelid. “…What?”
He smiled brightly. “I’m not going to kill you anymore.”
The little young master’s eyes were filled with suspicion, still reeling from the shock. She forced a brave front, her voice brittle. “Y-You’ve made the smart choice—”
Before she could finish, the mysterious person suddenly seized her chin. A small pill was forced into her mouth, dissolving the instant it touched her tongue.
“What did you make me eat?!” Yu Jiao doubled over, coughing, trying to spit the medicine out.
The mysterious person crossed his arms, watching her struggle with a cold detachment. Once he had enjoyed the show long enough, he smiled maliciously. “What was it? Just a little something to make you listen to my every word.”
Yu Jiao’s head shot up. “What do you mean?”
The mysterious person didn’t answer. With a few nimble leaps, he was atop the surrounding wall. He stood there, looking down at her coolly, the night wind whipping his clothes about him.
He curled his lip. “Go on. Identify me to your heart’s content.”
His voice was scattered by the wind as his figure vanished into the moonlight.
Yu Jiao felt a searing pain blaze through her chest. Thankfully, it only lasted for a few seconds before disappearing completely. Exhausted, she collapsed to the ground. A cool breeze made her shiver, and only then did she realize her back was soaked through with a cold sweat.
Yu Jiao lowered her eyes and let out a quiet, imperceptible sigh of relief.
My life is safe… for now.