Ren Siyi sat at the bus stop, anxiously waiting for Li Er.
Her phone was being bombarded with messages from Shen Du—
Sd: "Sisi bao, I'm sorry. [Crying]"
Sd: "Don't be scared, I won't hurt you, I'm a good person."
Sd: "[Red packet][Red packet][Red packet]"
…
Ren Siyi didn't accept his red packets. She loved money more than anything, but right now she only wanted to keep her life—there was no way she'd dare take his money.
She blocked him outright.
Saying he was a good person—what kind of good person sneaks into her room in the middle of the night to secretly suck her blood?
No matter how well he disguised himself, Ren Siyi would never be fooled by his sweet talk again.
If anything, his brother Shen Shen really hadn't touched her—he'd even saved her.
Pfft. Birds of a feather flock together.
And here she'd actually thought fairly highly of him.
Half an hour later, Li Er rode his little electric scooter up to the bus stop where Ren Siyi was waiting. He took off his helmet, glanced around warily to make sure no one was watching them, then said to her, "Get on."
Ren Siyi looked at his sky-blue little e-bike—it had an adorable cartoon design that actually suited his vibe.
She walked up to Li Er, reached out, and touched his face, pinching his cheek.
Li Er flinched at the cold touch of her fingertips and quickly leaned back. "What are you doing?"
"Checking if you're a vampire."
"…"
Next time, could you give me a heads-up before touching?
This bro has never been touched by a woman before.
He let out a light scoff. "One hundred percent genuine human."
Indeed, his skin was warm.
Ren Siyi breathed a sigh of relief, swung her leg over the e-bike, and gripped the fabric at his waist. "Where are we going now?"
"My place," Li Er said. "You'll stay there tonight. Any objections?"
"But we don't even know each other that well."
"Were you that close with your last employer?"
"Not really either, and that almost got me killed." Ren Siyi said warily. "How do I know you're not a bad guy?"
"If you thought I was a bad guy, you wouldn't have come to me." Li Er smiled. "Trust your instincts, okay?"
He was pretty perceptive.
Ren Siyi had no other options left. Li Er looked about her age, smiled with sunny brightness, and seemed like he didn't have much of a scheming bone in his body.
Besides trusting him, she had nowhere else to go.
At least he was human—her own kind. Even if he was a bad guy, it probably wouldn't cost her her life.
Li Er lived in a high-rise in the most ordinary budget residential complex in the city center—32nd floor. As the elevator went up, Ren Siyi felt a bit of vertigo.
There were six units per floor. Ren Siyi followed Li Er to his door.
The neighbor's shoe rack had neatly arranged shoes, but on Li Er's side, sneakers, leather shoes, sandals, and slippers were all piled haphazardly in front of the door—zero tidiness.
He punched in the passcode and opened the door, and Ren Siyi followed him inside.
The room was a mess too. The coffee table was covered with all kinds of snacks, beer cans, and tarot cards. By the door were stacks of unopened delivery boxes, and the sofa was piled with clothes.
"It's a bit messy. Just find a place to sit."
Ren Siyi felt like there was nowhere to even stand—everything was covered in stuff, and even the dining chair had a cat litter box on it.
A black cat let out a "meow," darted down from the sofa, and came to Li Er's feet, arching its back and raising its tail to rub against him.
Li Er ignored the little cat, urgently clearing a small space on the sofa for Ren Siyi to sit, then pulled a bottle of C'estbon mineral water from a box by the door and handed it to her.
Ren Siyi surveyed the chaotic room, feeling a bit hopeless.
Because this guy—no matter how she looked at him—didn't seem like some kind of "master." Could he really help her?
Li Er noticed the mosquito bite on her neck and said, "Your employer finally opened his mouth at you?"
Ren Siyi nodded, which counted as confirmation.
"You said before that my blood had a problem—that it attracted mosquitoes. You knew from the very beginning?"
"Yeah." Li Er admitted. "I've been dealing with mosquitoes since I was a kid. I know what kind of blood they like."
"What exactly is wrong with my blood?"
"Some people just have sweet, fragrant blood." Li Er explained it in terms Ren Siyi could understand. "Like type O blood attracts more mosquitoes—that's a normal phenomenon."
Ren Siyi let out a mournful sigh. She could only chalk it up to bad luck.
"I still can't believe vampires actually exist in this world. That's something that only happens in movies." Ren Siyi's worldview had been completely turned upside down, and she kept asking him, "How can it be real?"
"It's perfectly normal. The species humans have discovered so far account for less than one-tenth of the species that exist on Earth. You can think of them as a new species that most humans haven't yet recognized or accepted." Li Er explained. "The vampire legends in European history exist because the vampires there are generally more flashy, but domestically…"
Li Er thought of the old bastard he'd been dealing with all along and let out a cold scoff. "The one here in China… is too patient and cunning."
"So how did you know about all this?" Ren Siyi asked again.
Li Er knew she must have a ton of questions, so he tore open a bag of Lang Wei Xian on the table and handed it to her.
Ren Siyi waved it away—she was in no mood for snacks right now.
"I'm a Hunter." Li Er crunched on his chips. "A hunter who takes commissions to hunt mosquitoes."
The line sounded pretty intimidating.
But looking at him, Ren Siyi couldn't see any resemblance to those cool Demon Hunters from the movies. He just seemed like an ordinary, clean-cut college guy.
"You… can do magic?" she asked, puzzled.
"Who the hell knows that stuff!" Li Er looked offended. "I'm just a regular human, not Harry Potter, okay!"
"Then how do you hunt vampires?" Ren Siyi found it absurd. "The two vampires I ran into could both use magic—especially that Shen Shen. One flick of his hand and he could send someone flying."
"Not all vampires have power." Li Er explained patiently. "You got lucky—you ran straight into a Vampire Progenitor on your first try. Even his younger brother is far weaker than him. Most vampires living among humans have no power at all. Aside from being slightly stronger than humans and having lower body temperatures, they're basically no different."
Ren Siyi stared at him in disbelief. "You're saying that Shen Shen… he's a Vampire Progenitor!"
"He's lived for a thousand years. One of the highest-ranking vampires in existence today. In China, no one can match him. Abroad, there might be a few, but it's hard to say who's stronger. In short, within my knowledge, he's the strongest—practically a legend."
Ren Siyi ran her hands through her messy hair and let out a long sigh. "God help me."
How unlucky could she be—to provoke someone that powerful on her first encounter?
"You don't need to be too anxious." Li Er unscrewed a bottle of water and handed it to her. "Vampires are inherently unnatural beings, so nature has plenty of things that are their natural enemies—sunlight, mugwort, peach wood… We Hunters may be ordinary humans without magic, but our Hunters' Association has been passed down for a thousand years. We have many ancient Formations that harness the power of nature to put them to death."
Ren Siyi looked up at him, a glimmer of hope finally returning to her eyes—
"Can you kill that Vampire Progenitor?"
"No." Li Er said honestly. "Who the hell would be tired of living and go after him? We all avoid him like the plague."
"…"
Ren Siyi was in despair.
"Don't make that face." Li Er smiled. "Ever heard the old saying—the most dangerous place is the safest place?"
"What do you mean?"
"Shen Shen is like a godfather figure among the Blood Clan. No vampire dares defy him. He's set two rules: first, no taking human lives (except in self-defense); second, feeding must never be noticed by humans. These two rules have ensured the vampire race's safe survival in this country, allowing them to blend into human society for so many years without being discovered. So he won't break his own principles to take your life."
Li Er looked at her steadily. "Being by his side is safer than being anywhere else."
Ren Siyi shook her head vigorously. There was no way she was going back to that terrifying villa. She wouldn't go back even for a million!
"I think I'm pretty safe here with you." Ren Siyi started acting a bit spoiled, hugging a plush toy from the couch. "I'm not leaving. I don't believe vampires would dare come to a Hunter's house to feed."
Li Er looked at her and let out a soft sigh. "To be honest, I can't protect you. Without a Formation, I'm really just an ordinary college student. With just my physical body, even the weakest low-ranking mosquito could knock me flat."
"Then set up a Formation."
"It's not that simple. Setting up a Formation requires feng shui arrangement, the right time, place, and conditions, and choosing a location… Our method is to lure mosquitoes into the Formation, not to carry one around and run out into the streets to kill them anytime, anywhere. Do you understand?"
Ren Siyi understood what he was saying.
He meant that they couldn't win against vampires in a direct fight, and they couldn't protect her either.
"Don't you think it's weird," Ren Siyi furrowed her brows, "that Shen Shen would keep me by his side without drinking my blood, and even protect me? He's not a philanthropist."
"But he's a leader."
Li Er said with conviction. "I told you, your blood is sweet and fragrant. Any vampire who catches a whiff would swarm to it. If anyone loses control and takes your life at any moment, it would break his rules. As a leader, he would never let that happen, so he will definitely protect you."
Even so, Ren Siyi still shook her head. "I'm not going back. I barely escaped…"
Li Er wasn't anxious and didn't push her. He just said with slight regret, "Then get some rest first. We can talk about everything tomorrow."
After saying this, he went to the door, locked it, and slid the deadbolt into place.
Then he checked every window in the house, locking them all from the inside—even the bathroom window was shut.
Ren Siyi didn't know if he was doing this deliberately for her benefit, to make her realize that while she couldn't even protect herself, she was also bringing danger to him.
It was essentially a dismissal.
Maybe she was overthinking it—she had always been an overly sensitive person.
……