He probably wanted to say something, but hesitated and kept it to himself, only raising a hand to ruffle Pei Yun’s hair twice. “We’ll handle it. Don’t look at the exaggerated news on Weibo.”
Lu Que left quickly.
Pei Yun went upstairs alone, inserted the room card into the power slot, and after a moment of thought, lowered his head to open his phone, turned off all notification pushes, and uninstalled Weibo.
“What’s going on?”
Lu Que pulled on his white coat and hurried toward the modification plant, with Zhang Liangshen following closely behind.
“Unclear. She suddenly went out of control. I happened to be in the adjacent laboratory, and by the time I rushed over, she had already broken free from almost all the tubes, covered in blood with extremely strong aggression.”
Lu Que asked, “Has the news been sent out?”
“Not yet,” Zhang Liangshen said. “The higher-ups want to suppress it because, judging from the previous two times, leaking such news would hinder the progress of the modifications to a certain extent.”
He paused, then added, “Personally, I wish it couldn’t be suppressed. It would be best if someone live-streamed it so everyone could see what those light-sounding blood modifications are actually like. With enough public pressure, maybe the modifications would finally stop.”
But wishing was just wishing. Before entering the institute, everyone had signed a confidentiality agreement without exception.
Lu Que noted, “Wanting to completely suppress it is probably unrealistic.”
Zhang Liangshen suggested, “Then we just downplay it: claim dead people are still alive, and report that everything is fine when there’s a pool of blood.”
Lu Que’s footsteps stalled. “Dead?”
Zhang Liangshen nodded heavily. “Mn, she didn’t last long.”
From a distance, the modification plant blazed with lights; many people had already arrived before them.
When Lu Que entered, the corpse had mostly been dealt with. It was a young girl no older than fifteen or sixteen, with a slender figure and clean features.
If one ignored the various-sized puncture holes on her body and the un-washable blood stains on her clothes, she looked as though she were simply sleeping.
Lu Que glanced at her once, then averted his gaze with a darkened expression.
The blood stains inside the modification vat had not yet been cleaned up. According to procedure, vampires who died from sudden accidents needed to be sent to the laboratory for various tests to trace the cause of the loss of control.
Although previous results had all shown no abnormalities, the basic procedure still had to be run.
While waiting for the instrument test results, Zhang Liangshen mulled it over several times before pulling Lu Que aside. “Let me tell you something. When the incident happened, I wasn’t the first one to arrive, right? At that time, I thought I smelled a very strange odor.”
Lu Que frowned. “What kind of odor?”
“Hard to say,” Zhang Liangshen recalled. “It was a smell I had never encountered before—neither pleasant nor unpleasant. But it disappeared too fast; before I could even identify it carefully, it had completely dissipated.”
Lu Que tapped his fingertips lightly against the table beside him. “It never appeared before, only this time?”
Zhang Liangshen answered, “I didn’t smell it previously, but I’m not sure if it was there or not. Maybe it was just because I didn’t arrive in time and the scent had already scattered.”
Lu Que asked, “You suspect this smell is related to the vampire losing control?”
Zhang Liangshen admitted, “To be honest, a bit. Besides, after failing to find the cause for so many years, we finally have a breakthrough. Even a blind shot is worth a try—what if we stumble upon other clues?”
Lu Que agreed, “We can, but we need to find the source of this scent first.”
Zhang Liangshen sighed, “Sounds pretty difficult. The timeframe was too short, and now I can barely remember what it smelled like, nor can I describe it… Anyway, I’ll do my best.”
Alone in the big hotel bed, Pei Yun accomplished a major feat.
He had successfully exchanged secret signals with another vampire.
The origin of the event was that he couldn’t find anyone to play games with, and playing alone was boring, so he drifted over to a live-streaming platform to watch a broadcast.
By sheer coincidence, he ran into that Zhou Yiyi again.
Some time had passed, and his follower count had multiplied severalfold. Clicking into a stream titled “Yiyi’s Secret Garden,” the screen was filled with a dazzling array of gifts.
And the person on camera was already about to end the broadcast.
Unlike other streamers who promoted their chat rooms or chattered endlessly asking for subscriptions, he simply sprawled lazily in his chair, chatting idly and joking around with the audience, before tossing out a final line saying he checked all direct messages in the background and cutting the feed.
Direct messages in the background would be checked…
Pei Yun still remembered his theory about “negotiating with your food.” At the time, being ignorant, he just found it hilarious, but thinking back now, it was full of subtle hints everywhere.
If it wasn’t a coincidence, then there was only one explanation.
Either this streamer was a vampire, or someone close to him was a vampire.
Pei Yun felt a bit eager to try; after all, this might be his only chance to find a kindred spirit.
However, he wasn’t reckless enough to ask directly. Fearing the other party might be a different kind of fishing account, he obscurely used “food” as a secret code and cautiously tossed over a direct message.
He had assumed that as a big streamer with millions of followers, even if the guy replied, it would take at least a week. To his surprise, within barely two minutes, a reply landed.
Zhou Yiyi: [Got it?]
Beating the Little Monster: [!!!]
Beating the Little Monster: [Do you have three heads and six arms? How do you reply so fast?!]
Zhou Yiyi: [Hahahahaha I filtered for key words, you little dummy hahahahaha.]
Pei Yun lacked worldly experience and didn’t know the app background had such a function.
Zhou Yiyi: [Get to the point, did you get it or not?]
Beating the Little Monster: [Got it]
Beating the Little Monster: [Who is that person to you? Friend? Family? Or a partner? Are you sure it’s safe?]
Pei Yun could confirm it definitely not a coincidence.
Feeling quite excited yet maintaining his vigilance, he didn’t reply right away.
At that moment, the other side sent a flash photo directly.
The boy who had just been streaming was in the kitchen pouring fruit juice, showing red eyes, an open mouth, and a pair of fangs glowing clearly at the corners of his lips.
Zhou Yiyi: [Don’t worry, I’m a vampire too. We’re the same kind.]
Beating the Little Monster: [!!!]
Pei Yun’s brain stalled. Was he really being this direct?
Beating the Little Monster: [You’re just telling me like that? Aren’t you afraid I’m setting a trap?]
Zhou Yiyi: [Well, are you?]
Beating the Little Monster: [Of course not!]
Zhou Yiyi: [Then there you go.]
Beating the Little Monster: [……]
It sounded logical, but somehow something still felt off.
Zhou Yiyi: [You haven’t told me yet, who’s your blood donor? Are you sure they’re trustworthy?]
Beating the Little Monster: [It’s my little uncle. As trustworthy as it gets.
Zhou Yiyi: [Family, huh? That’s nice.]
Beating the Little Monster: [What about you?]
Zhou Yiyi: [A friend.]
Beating the Little Monster: [That’s also very nice.]
Zhou Yiyi: [Not really. He’s planning to find a girlfriend recently. Having a partner makes it inappropriate for him to keep acting as my mobile blood bank, so I need to hustle and find a backup.]
Both of them were fast talkers who warmed up instantly. After chatting for nearly two hours, they were practically ready to become sworn brothers.
Once Zhou Yiyi learned that Pei Yun had originally noticed him because of his good gaming skills, he happily logged into the game to add him as a friend, arranging to hang out and goof off together.
It wasn’t until late into the night when Pei Yun could no longer stay awake that their daily “brothers joining hands on an island tour” finally came to an end.
With all this distraction, Pei Yun completely pushed the vampire incident to the back of his mind.
The feeling of escaping loneliness to find one’s own kind was too wonderful. If time and conditions permitted, he would have loved to fly over to the Second Ring Road and run thirty laps right then and there.
When Lu Que returned to the hotel, only the wall lamp was left on in the room, and a quiet lump was huddled on the bed, long asleep.
He switched his phone to silent, placed it on the table, and tiptoed into the bathroom. When he came out after showering, he happened to receive the digital document of the test report sent by Zhang Liangshen.
After tapping it open to skim through, he replied with a [Received], set his phone down again, and turned to get into bed.
Pei Yun apparently really liked hugging something when he slept.
Initially clutching the quilt, the moment he sensed someone lying down beside him, he immediately rolled over, leaned in, and sniffed around like an identifier. Confirming it was Lu Que, he decisively grabbed hold of him.
Lu Que maintained his usual indulgent attitude.
Tucking the quilt in behind the boy, he wrapped an arm around him to adjust him into a comfortable sleeping posture before closing his eyes to sleep.
Thinking tonight’s busyness had come to an end, deep in the night, he was nevertheless woken up by the constant fidgeting of the person in his arms.
Whether having a nightmare or something else, Pei Yun kept whimpering and gasping against his chin.
Lu Que turned on the warm-yellow bedside wall lamp, propped himself up on one elbow, and shook Pei Yun awake. “Xiaoyun, what’s wrong? Is anything hurting?”
Opening his eyes in a daze for a few seconds, Pei Yun was quickly struck blind by tears of pain from a sensation in his mouth.
Clutching one side of his jaw, sleepy and hurting, he spoke in a hoarse voice that sounded both irritable and aggrieved: “Little Uncle, my tooth hurts so much!”
Lu Que leaned closer to support his chin. “Take your hand away, let me see.”
Drawing in a couple more sharp breaths, Pei Yun slowly relaxed his hand.
Lu Que asked, “Which tooth hurts?”
Pei Yun answered, “The canine.”
Lu Que fell silent.
Because in the exact spot where his canine teeth used to be, there were now only two fangs.
Leaning over Pei Yun, he carefully observed whether his gums showed any signs of swelling. As he drew near, a waft of fragrance drifted into Pei Yun’s nostrils.
This scent wasn’t unfamiliar; he had already smelled it twice on Lu Que. The difference was that today’s fragrance felt much richer than any of the previous ones.
It wasn’t the scent of blood, yet it held the exact same allure for him.
Guided by this aroma, he even momentarily forgot about his toothache, climbed onto Lu Que’s shoulder, and raised his head to sniff closely at the side of his neck.
“Wow, Little Uncle.”
He mumbled in admiration, “You smell so good.”
The skin on the side of the neck was sensitive, and the hot breath sprayed across it felt completely different from the pain of a simple bite—as if that entire patch of skin was faintly tingling.
Lu Que’s gaze flickered.
Before he could react, Pei Yun let out a hiss and collapsed back onto the bed, his expression pained and his face scrunched up.
It hurt too much.
Wisdom teeth shouldn’t grow in that spot, should they?
Turning his head sideways, he couldn’t help wanting to press his palm against it to ease the agony. The moment he exerted force with the heel of his palm, he heard a faint “click” from inside his mouth.
Pei Yun froze.
Hesitatingly, he took something out of his mouth; under the lamplight, it emitted a porcelain-white glow.
Seeing clearly what it was, even Lu Que was stunned.
Pei Yun jolted awake instantly.
What the hell…
What the hell ! ! ! !
Why did his fang fall out?!
“What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?”
Panicking and helpless, he held his own tooth and rapid-fired questions at Lu Que, even feeling like he was whistling through a gap when he spoke.
“Did I shed teeth at age twenty? That’s not supposed to happen!”
“What kind of tooth is this supposed to be anyway?”
“Will I only have one usable tooth for biting people from now on?!”
“Should, should I go get a fake tooth installed—a canine or a fang?!”
Lu Que wasn’t sure about these questions either. He had to go wake up Zhang Liangshen in the middle of the night, asking around in detail for a long time before finally arriving at the conclusion that “a small minority of vampires indeed undergo tooth replacement during their early awakening phase.”
Pei Yun’s inner world collapsed even further. He never imagined he would experience a second round of teething at this age: “Then how long until the new teeth grow out?”
Lu Que relayed Zhang Liangshen’s words: “Quickly.”
Pei Yun refused to give up: “How quickly is quickly?”
Short-term he could pretend his mouth hurt and keep quiet to muddle through, but if it took too long and his classmates especially Du Jian found out, he’d definitely be mocked for a whole year!
“Unclear.”
Lu Que knitted his brows, also finding the situation rather tricky. “Everyone is different; it depends on the specific circumstances.”
Pei Yun felt a bit despairing.
With his kind of gloomy luck, whenever he ran into matters that “depended on specific circumstances,” he always managed to precisely collide with the worst possible outcome.
With this inexplicably annoying burden added to his plate, Pei Yun spent the rest of his sleep in an extraordinarily heavy frame of mind.
And because his “anxiety” ran so deep, he even had a bizarrely surreal dream: he dreamed that when he woke up, all the teeth in his mouth had loosened.
Every time he tried to eat something, one would drop out until not a single one was left, leaving him unable to speak clearly and whistling air through a full set of missing teeth.
Then he woke up in a fright.
Bolting upright in bed, his heart pounding wildly, he used his tongue to check his teeth.
Phew, still there.
He hadn’t turned into an old man.
Wait!
No, how come… not a single one was missing?
His Adam’s apple rolled nervously, and the tip of his tongue carefully swept past the left canine position once more.
Then he quickly flipped back the quilt, jumped out of bed, and sprinted into the bathroom to bare his teeth at the mirror.
None missing, truly.
He turned his eyes red and extended his fangs over his upper lip—exactly two, neither more nor less, very white and very healthy.
He began to doubt whether last night’s lost tooth had just been a dream.
However, returning to the room and seeing that tooth resting peacefully on the cabinet, he knew it wasn’t.
So that was what “quickly” meant.
Truly fast!
Just as he thought about sharing this joyful news with the little uncle who had stayed up with him all night, he discovered the room was completely empty except for himself, Lu Que was nowhere to be seen.
Could he have had something to do and already gone home first?
He fished his phone out from under the pillow, busy dealing with a heavy backlog of unread messages first, before opening his contacts to dial Lu Que.
However, the sound of the door opening rang out right before he pressed the call button.
Lu Que walked back in carrying breakfast.
“Awake? Come eat breakfast, we’ll head back once you’re done.”
“Oh, right.”
Pei Yun marveled at his little uncle’s insane biological clock how could someone who slept so late last night still manage to wake up on time?
He spun around and dived into the bathroom, finishing his morning routine at top speed before hurrying over to squat by the coffee table and tear open the food packaging.
Seeing the bland seafood porridge inside, he raised his face: “Oh right, Little Uncle, sharing some good news my teeth grew back.”
As he spoke, he pulled at the corner of his mouth with his hand. “Look.”
Lu Que raised an eyebrow in surprise; that really was fast.
In a great mood, Pei Yun sat cross-legged on the carpet, sipping his porridge while scrolling through Weibo.
Lu Que walked over to the window. His phone vibrated—the person he had disturbed all night had just woken up and rushed over at the earliest opportunity to demand an explanation.
[There’s no special reason, just a random flash of inspiration to guess.]
Zhang Liangshen: [Then your guess was remarkably accurate. Anyone else would rack their brains and never think vampires have a teething phase like that.]
[That’s why not everyone can be a professor.]
Zhang Liangshen: [……]
Zhang Liangshen: [Anyway, I still think you’re acting abnormal. You definitely have something you’re hiding from me.]
[No.]
Lu Que sent those two words out. Over by the coffee table, Pei Yun seemed to have spotted something hilarious; laughing halfway through, he choked a bit and thumped his chest while coughing straight.
Watching him for a moment, Lu Que suddenly thought of something.
…: [There is actually one thing I wanted to ask you, and it’s true.]
Zhang Liangshen: [What is it? Don’t tell me it’s about vampires again?]
…: [Mn.]
…: [After a vampire drinks their blood donor’s blood, do they tend to become a bit more clingy?]
Zhang Liangshen: [Mn… saying it like that isn’t wrong. But more specifically, after feeding on their donor’s blood, vampires experience a strong short-term reliance on the donor both physically and psychologically. They might not realize it themselves, but staying by the donor’s side gives them a sense of security.]
So that’s how it was. No wonder.
Zhang Liangshen: [Wait, did you ask this on a whim too?]
…: [You knew and you still asked.]
Zhang Liangshen: [!!!]
Zhang Liangshen: [If you ever ask me anything next time, just see if I bother answering you!]
The following days passed in an orderly routine.
Lu Que changed the door lock to a fingerprint scanner, and Pei Yun took time out of his schedule to swap all his contact lenses at the optical shop back to black colored ones with a prescription.
They say you learn from your mistakes; after stumbling twice, even if he didn’t believe in superstitions, he knew when to compromise.
Everything around him was going smoothly. The only unpleasant part was that he had to juggle classes, finalize his thesis topic, and write a year-end study report all at once. Even with his little uncle’s help, he was still far too busy to squeeze out any time for gaming.
Zhou Yiyi had secretly hit him up to play countless times.
On the day he finally nailed down his thesis topic, he felt like half the weight on his shoulders had lifted.
Walking back after class, he wanted to discuss with his little uncle whether they could go eat hotpot to celebrate for dinner. Unfortunately, another call came in from the Research Institute, asking Lu Que to attend an academic seminar meeting.
It looked like they couldn’t have dinner together tonight.
Pei Yun felt a bit disappointed.
“I’ll drop you off first, eat dinner by yourself and don’t wait for me,” Lu Que said.
Pei Yun nodded.
The car pulled over by the entrance of the residential complex. He pushed open the door and hopped out, but for some reason, his movements slowed down again as he closed the door.
Thinking he had something else on his mind, Lu Que asked, “What is it?”
Pei Yun leaned against the car door, hesitated for a second, and asked, “Can I go with you?”
Lu Que paused for a few seconds, his voice low: “Do you know where I’m going?”
Pei Yun nodded: “I know, the Research Institute, right? So can I go with you?”
Lu Que looked at him, his fingers resting on the steering wheel gently rubbing back and forth as if weighing the options.
Twenty minutes later, Pei Yun successfully entered the lobby of the Research Institute’s scientific research building by pulling rank on the “professor’s relative” card.
Lu Que asked, “Wait for me in the office?”
Pei Yun asked, “Is it just your private office?”
Lu Que said it wasn’t: “A shared office, two other professors are also forget it,”