Although Wen Si was the food, Shi Yu always had the illusion that he was the prey lured into a trap.
If possible, Shi Yu would have loved to have a hearty meal.
Unfortunately, reality did not allow it.
Whether it was the people from the Blood Hunter Academy who were about to arrive, or his own strength which had not yet fully recovered, both stood in the way.
Wen Si’s deep eyes were exceptionally striking, resembling the obsidian Shi Yu treasured in his vault, with a crystal-clear texture that gleamed brilliantly under the light.
The lingering aftertaste of blood still remained on the tip of his tongue. Perhaps due to this small gesture of goodwill, he found Wen Si much more pleasing to the eye.
Wen Si’s hand was still pinched on Shi Yu’s jaw. There was no sense of brute force, yet it exuded ultimate control. The pad of his thumb had a layer of calluses, which brushed against the delicate lips and sent a tingling, numbing sensation rippling through them.
Wen Si asked, “Is it good?”
“Mm.” Shi Yu hesitated for a second before nodding.
At this moment, he could not bring himself to say anything against his conscience.
Just like a chef who makes a dish for a guest to taste, they naturally want to receive positive feedback from the customer.
Even though the puppy chef gave him his own blood to taste, it was understandable that he wanted some feedback.
Shi Yu thought about it and figured that since he had eaten someone’s food, he should at least say a few words.
His lips moved slightly, but before the words could escape, his mouth was sealed.
Stopped by Wen Si’s thumb.
The young man’s light pink lips were stained with a crimson blood-red, alluring and exquisite beyond compare, stunningly gorgeous.
“Shh” Wen Si curved the corners of his mouth toward him, smiling arrogantly. The dark, intrigued glint in his eyes grew even more intense, resembling a lost child who had finally found a toy. “They are coming.”
“My dear, it’s time for your performance.”
My dear…
Shi Yu: “?”
A moment ago the younger brother had turned into a baby, and now he had become “my dear.”
Shi Yu felt that if he allowed himself to be bewitched ever again, he would truly be a dog.
Originally, he still had a few words of praise for the puppy, but it turned out he was the one being plotted against.
The gloomy alley emanated a damp moisture, awaiting the chaotic, disorganized approach of footsteps.
The timing was just right; while the leading blood hunters who had fled were left half-dead, they brought reinforcements along with them.
Shi Yu exercised his not-so-broad imagination, blindly guessing that eight out of ten times, these blood hunters didn’t truly want the man to live a comfortable life either.
Foot-soldiers who abandoned their boss and ran at the first sign of danger—did they really expect that once the man recovered safely, he wouldn’t make things difficult for them behind the scenes?
Therefore, the best option for their own safety was to change bosses, preferably by having the man dead.
“R-Right here.”
“Hurry up, those little brutes have gone mad, the boss can’t handle them alone!”
While eagerly shouting for others to hurry up, they themselves stood firmly at the very back of the group.
Shi Yu once again expressed his admiration for the unity within the blood clan, sincerely and from the bottom of his heart.
The number of people who rushed over was quite large, crowding the entrance of the alley so tightly that nobody could squeeze through.
The few blood hunters who had fled earlier emerged from the crowd. Each of their faces was deathly pale. Just a moment ago they had been clamoring noisily, but the moment they saw the man lying on the ground, they were utterly speechless.
They looked at each other in dismay, unable to squeeze out even half a word.
Compared to their previous thoroughly terrified appearance, when they looked at the man on the ground—who had more air going out than coming in and looked as though he might snap his neck and croak any second now—they were actually doing quite well.
The blood hunters who had gathered in the back to rubberneck didn’t expect the scene to be so bloody either. Their eagerness to watch the spectacle instantly vanished, and they all grew visibly uncomfortable.
Amidst pushing and shoving, someone finally stepped forward to speak.
Shi Yu understood instantly.
It was time for his performance.
The person who stepped forward was a woman. To be precise, she didn’t look like she belonged to the profession of a blood hunter at all.
Standing in stark contrast to the generally wheat-complexioned blood hunters, the woman possessed a striking, vibrant appearance with fair skin, while her scarlet lips looked bright and captivating.
She didn’t look like a high-ranking blood hunter; instead, she resembled a fashionable modern woman.
The blood hunters all around were still murmuring in low voices. Frowning, the woman spoke in a cold voice, “All of you shut up. Whoever speaks up again can go try the new potion too.”
The moment her voice fell, the blood hunters instantly fell silent.
Unexpectedly, they all obeyed her words.
There were very few women among blood hunters, let alone ones who could attain a position among the blood hunter high command.
“You lot, one of you step forward and explain clearly what just happened.” The woman cast a sidelong glance toward the fleeing blood hunters, seemingly implying: Exactly how did the man surnamed Wu die?
So the man from earlier was surnamed Wu.
Among the few blood hunters, a representative was finally pushed forward. He was extremely reluctant, having been shoved out by the other cowardly bastards. Who knows how fiercely he was cursing those scumbags in his heart, but his expression was as foul as death.
“President…”
The woman held the position of the student union president of the Blood Hunter Academy.
Everyone was waiting for what he had to say next. The blood hunter’s gaze darted around frantically, his mind a chaotic mess. He lowered his head, not daring to make eye contact with the woman. How on earth was he supposed to explain this? They had run away the moment danger struck, which was why the man surnamed Wu had died so quickly; otherwise, there might have been a sliver of a chance of survival.
Suddenly, he caught sight of hope.
Wen Si and Shi Yu were still standing right there.
“It’s them!” The blood hunter failed to control his expression for a moment, letting slip a look of ecstatic joy at having found a scapegoat. “When the boss ran into trouble earlier, they were the ones present at the scene.”
He pointed his finger directly at Shi Yu, struggling frantically to shift the blame onto the young man while stumbling incoherently, “It was him! He demanded the most basic blood hunter test, which forced the boss to let us use the newly developed potion.”
“That’s right, President!” The others also wanted to cover up their tracks and quickly chimed in.
Once someone started, others naturally followed blindly without using their brains.
“They must be up to no good! How come those little brutes only targeted the boss and didn’t attack them at all? If you ask me, this whole incident was eight out of ten times their doing!”
“President, we were the ones who went out to find people to save the boss right away.”
Listening to the blood hunters desperately babbling away in an effort to make him the scapegoat, Shi Yu felt a headache coming on from the noise, and he let out a sigh.
You have to hand it to them; their analysis sounded reasonable in every aspect, and they had accidentally stumbled upon the truth.
In his heart, Shi Yu applauded them.
Though he felt more like lighting a mourning candle for them.
To make him take the fall, these blood hunters had truly racked their brains and exhausted every trick in the book.
If he didn’t show some reaction, it would seem as though he didn’t appreciate the fruits of other people’s hard work.
Hearing the accusations from the blood hunters, everyone present turned their gazes toward the silent young man.
Shi Yu’s lips were very pale. At this moment, he bit his lower lip helplessly, his eyebrows lowered in a silence of resigned obedience.
His quiet appearance always aroused pity; he ought to have felt wronged and aggrieved by such accusations.
Sometimes, certain visuals are far more effective than endlessly begging others to believe you.
He didn’t offer any extra defense for himself. Instead, those petty villains kept talking endlessly just to clear their own names.
“This little brother, what should I call you?” The woman suddenly called out to him.
The young man raised his head in surprise, amber eyes seemingly veiled with an unshakeable layer of moisture, his lips trembling slightly: “Are you talking to me?”
The woman nodded, looking straight at him. Her pupils held a sharp, aggressive light that sliced directly toward him.
However, Shi Yu felt no particular panic or unease.
After all, it was all an act.
The woman wanted to test him, but he had no need to tremble like a sieve. Over-acting would only arouse suspicion instead of achieving the effect he wanted.
The young man took a deep breath, trying hard to rein in the watery sheen at the corners of his eyes, yet several eyelashes remained glued together by the moisture, hanging down wetly.
“My name is Shi Yu.”
“Alright. You’ve heard everything those fellows just said. You all know best in your hearts whether it’s true or false. I won’t blindly listen to just one side, so I’d like to hear what you have to refute?”
“I…” Shi Yu opened his mouth, his tear-stained eyes shimmering in the sunlight with a heart-wrenching radiance. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but the moment his gaze brushed past the blood hunters, the flicker of hope in his eyes was instantly snuffed out.
Shi Yu shook his head, replying to the woman with aggrieved obedience: “Nothing.”
Saying “nothing” and admitting that everything the blood hunters claimed was true produced the exact opposite effect.
As the saying goes, the eyes of the masses are discerning. Talking too much leads to mistakes, and that blood hunter’s desperate attempt to shift the blame was already highly suspicious.
“Um… little brother, don’t be afraid. If something happened, you still need to speak up.”
“That’s right, the President came here precisely to handle this matter. Don’t panic and just admit to things that aren’t your fault.”
“Why are you looking at those cowards? If you have something to say, just spit it out. Don’t be afraid of them, everyone is right here…”
Voices in the crowd grew louder and louder, and the topic drifted further off-course, yet every step hit precisely the effect Shi Yu wanted to achieve.
Innocence and pity.
This was the theatrical effect he required.
Before long, people in the crowd were already whispering that those blood hunters were bullying others with power and were undeniably tied to the incident.
The blood hunter looked incredulous, his eyes splitting with rage: “Are you all blind?! The kid already admitted to it!”
The man who had been trembling before the woman now acted arrogant and domineering toward the other blood hunters, refusing to back down until he won the argument.
Carrying on like this was pointless.
Shi Yu understood, and he believed the person the blood hunters called “President” understood as well.
“Enough. All this talking is just nonsense. Shut your traps, all of you!” the woman said coldly. “Don’t waste my time with the stupid things you do behind my back.”
The number of words Shi Yu had spoken could be counted on one hand, so it was unmistakably clear whom the woman was referring to.
“Since you guys were the ones who came to fetch help, don’t just stand there. Can’t you see how long your boss has been lying on the ground? Carry the guy surnamed Wu back to the academy.”
“Wait, President…” The blood hunter who had been speaking looked extremely unwilling. “Boss Wu ended up like this entirely because of this kid. You can’t just side with him just because he looks like a sissy.”
A sissy.
Shi Yu: “…”
His appearance wasn’t feminine at all; it was just that his current body was weak, lacking blood flow in his face which made his skin appear even whiter, giving his entire aura a somewhat sickly and frail quality.
Tsk, the urge to slash someone could simply not be contained, even while Shi Yu was fully immersed in his “obedient and easily manipulated” persona.
The woman’s red lips curved slightly, showing zero mercy: “Did you honestly think I believed your BS? And you still dare to run your mouth here?”
A chilly, biting draft crept up the man’s spine as the woman’s contemptuous tone packed far too much information.
It was as if she had known all along about them ditching their boss and running away.
The reversal happened too fast; the arrogant and domineering blood hunter was instantly struck dumbfounded.
The few blood hunters behind him were also panicked beyond measure, shoving one another until it finally evolved into several grown men nervously hoisting the person off the ground and bolting away.
Their boss was covered from head to toe in blood, countless wounds bouncing along with the “thoughtful” jolting of his good little underlings, sending blood spurting out like bubbling springs.
A whole massive block of a bloody human.
As for what the woman meant by “carrying him back to the academy,” it certainly didn’t imply giving the man any treatment.
With injuries this severe, it wasn’t just physical trauma. Shi Yu hadn’t held back when controlling the little fellows, and the man’s neck had been bitten quite a few times.
He was still hanging onto a single breath not to keep him alive.
It was to ensure he didn’t die too easily, so he could peacefully enjoy the ultimate agony.
When a person begins to crave death yet realizes they cannot attain it, that is the ultimate punishment.
“Those of you responsible for developing the potion, don’t just stand there hurry up and follow.”
The woman spoke to a few individuals in the back of the crowd, and upon hearing her command, the potion developers scrambled off to chase after the blood hunters carrying the body.
Not daring to delay for even a second.
Shi Yu: “…!”
While the young man maintained a completely placid surface, internally he couldn’t help uttering a mental holy cow.
This blood hunter president was even more ruthless than he had imagined purely walking manifestation of “don’t mess with this big sister, she’s fierce.”
You thought she came here to pick a fight, but it turned out she looked more like she came to harvest stray test subjects.
Picking up a ready-made failed experimental specimen to take back and study precisely why the potion failed and where things went wrong.