With Cen Jin’s back turned to him, the man couldn’t see his expression.
From his vantage point, he could only see a short section of Cen Jin’s neck just below the collar. The edge of the collar revealed a protruding bone that seemed as though it might pierce the thin skin, both exquisite and fragile.
His platinum-blonde hair made his complexion appear even fairer. As sunlight streamed through the hollowed-out wooden beams of the clock tower, the petite-figured boy looked almost as if he were glowing.
Squatting down in front of Cen Jin, the man observed him closely.
Mist-veiled eyes blinked slightly. A single droplet of water, lingering on Cen Jin’s eyelashes, broke free and fell, crystal-clear. It struck the man’s palm, shattering into a tear that splashed a tiny droplet right onto the man’s lips.
He licked it away, it tasted sweet.
A hazy mist seemed to cloud Cen Jin’s vision. Though he couldn’t clearly make out what was in front of him, he knew the person was right there.
He didn’t want to cry in front of someone who was bullying him.
These are just physiological tears, I can’t help it, Cen Jin told himself inwardly.
The strange man simply squatted before him, falling silent and still, making no further move.
Cen Jin wanted to leave, but he had no idea where he currently was, nor did he know the way back.
How annoying.
With his brow slightly furrowed and air trapped inside his cheeks, Cen Jin puffed them out back and forth.
The man didn’t speak, and neither did Cen Jin. It was as if whoever spoke first would somehow lose.
Cen Jin assumed he looked rather unapproachable right now, but to the person squatting in front of him, those violently trembling eyelashes and eyes brimming with boundless mist looked endlessly pitiful.
Who knew what he was even carrying in that schoolbag, lugged around day after day; the narrow leather straps dug into his shoulders, and the creases in the shirt pressed beneath the straps made it obvious just how slender the boy really was.
The man didn’t just stop at looking, he reached out, too.
When Cen Jin’s shoulder was abruptly poked, he reacted fiercely, slapping the offending hand away.
Following that gesture, the tears that Cen Jin had been holding back finally began to stream down uncontrollably.
“Crying already?”
Catching Cen Jin by the arm to prevent him from backing away, the man finally forced him into a direct eye-contact.
The tears flowed down his face like a broken dam. His long, damp eyelashes stuck together in clumps, the tip of his nose was flushed red, and a bright flush bloomed across his cheeks whether from anger or embarrassment was impossible to tell.
Cen Jin cried without making a sound, save for the occasional, gentle hitch of a sob.
Desperate to wrench his arm free, Cen Jin tried twisting every which way, but after attempting multiple angles, it achieved nothing except adding a few red friction marks to where he was being held.
Giving up, he simply stood stock-still, pulling his arm as straight as it could go to keep as much distance between them as possible.
“What are you crying for?” the man asked.
Cen Jin glared at him, though his current tear-streaked, miserable visage carried zero intimidation factor.
“Did I bully you?”
Asking the obvious.
Intentionally teasing him and noting Cen Jin’s silence, the man pressed on, “Speak up, cat got your tongue?”
He gave Cen Jin’s arm another slight tug toward himself, but Cen Jin merely swayed his upper body before planting his feet firmly in place.
“Want to know why I came looking for you?”
“Don’t care,” Cen Jin snapped back.
Only, his voice had been softened by the tear-soaked air, sounding unbearably soft with a slight tremor lingering at the tail end.
Catching the sound of his own voice, he angrily bit down on his lower lip and clamped his mouth shut.
“Come closer and I’ll tell you.”
“…”
“Fine. If you won’t come over, I’ll come to you.” With that, the man flashed a grin he evidently thought looked dashing.
I hate him so much.
A flash of crimson bled into Cen Jin’s eyes. The moment the man placed a hand on his shoulder, Cen Jin raised his foot and kicked out viciously toward the man’s groin.
Caught completely off guard, the man’s smug smile froze instantly. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he slowly doubled over.
“I’ve always been curious, how can a vampire as weak as you manage to get close to those hunter boys?”
“Could it be that because you’re so utterly feeble, they didn’t even bother to take you seriously?”
“Their social circle is fiercely exclusive, and without exception, every single one of them is a hunter. Yet you managed to become the sole exception.”
“Why is that? You haven’t known each other for long, have you?”
“They don’t know what you are, do they? Tell me, if I were to reveal to them that you’re a vampire and the descendant of the city’s largest vampire lineage, at that what do you think they’d do?”
“Do you suppose they’d think your approach was entirely driven by ulterior motives?”
“To punish you, do you think they’d use a dagger to carve open your stomach, or press a pistol barrel right against your temple and pull the trigger, letting a silver bullet pierce through your skull and out the other side?”
“Just like this—”
The voice cut off abruptly.
A cotton ball soaked in yellowish-brown iodine was tossed straight at the corner of the man’s mouth. His face jerked to the side as the cotton ball rolled down, leaving behind a distinct stain of antiseptic right by his lips.
“You talk too much.” Shifting his gaze evasively, lacking the courage to look the man directly in the eye, Cen Jin maintained an entirely unyielding attitude.
He was like a kitten that was easy to domesticate; when facing strangers, the moment anyone drew close, it would bare its sharp little claws. Yet the second it realized that stranger posed no threat, it would climb right up onto your chest and bat at your face with soft, pillowy paw pads.
Occasionally, it might even unsheathe its tiny claws to scratch someone, though by the time it actually landed a scratch, it would be practically exhausted from the effort.
Just give it a tiny treat, and it would immediately roll over to expose its belly for anyone to pet.
Such a trait wasn’t entirely beneficial, seeing as it made him remarkably easy to trick.
Inside a shabby little room, the man leaned against a desk, watching Cen Jin, who sat cross-legged on the hard wooden bed, unceremoniously pressing his shoe-clad feet right onto the mattress.
Despite the man’s lengthy monologue earlier, Cen Jin had chosen to ignore him completely, giving the man a rare, long-overdue sense of mental exhaustion.
A newly unsealed bottle of liquid antiseptic and two packets of cotton swabs lay on the bed, though Cen Jin’s method of tending to his own wounds was remarkably clumsy. Pinching a soaked cotton swab, he poked tentatively at the cuts bit by bit, his pinky finger sticking out in an unconscious curl.
Even after nearly exhausting both packets of swabs, his scraped knees and palms still looked an absolute mess.
Walking over and sitting down on the bed, the man snatched the cotton swab straight out of Cen Jin’s hand.
Taken by surprise, Cen Jin’s hand jerked forward with the man’s abrupt movement.
Frowning, he moved to snatch it back.
“Tch,” the man muttered, casting a exasperated look at him.
Silently, Cen Jin withdrew his hand.
“Hmph.” Seeing Cen Jin pull back, the man who had been feeling somewhat irritated just moments before instantly shifted his mood, finding the spare amusement to poke fun at him. “A bully to the weak, submissive to the strong.”
Cen Jin genuinely wanted to splash the entire bottle of iodine right across his face; if it weren’t for the fact that his wounds were still untreated, he would have actually done it.
With a sharp glint in his eye, the man pointed the cotton swab directly at Cen Jin’s hand. “Give me your hand.”
Cen Jin obediently lowered the iodine bottle.
So obedient.
A sudden wave of softness washed over the man, and his motions grew considerably gentler as he dabbed the disinfectant over the scrapes.
“My name is Xzianus.”
After Xzianus finished speaking, Cen Jin offered zero reaction.
“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” Xzianus asked.
“My name? Don’t you already know it?”
Spurred by a petty desire for retaliation, Cen Jin had no intention of conversing pleasantly with him.
“Cen Jin, right?”
The corners of Xzianus’s lips curled upward as he wrapped a layer of gauze around Cen Jin’s injuries.
“No need for that,” Cen Jin muttered, trying to push his hand away.
The bulky gauze made walking awkward; originally minor scrapes suddenly looked as though he had survived a catastrophic disaster after being wrapped up like this.
Consequently, Xzianus swapped the gauze out for adhesive bandages instead.
His original plan had been simple: directly threaten Cen Jin into doing his bidding, resorting to physical coercion if the boy resisted. There was zero need to waste time on superfluous gestures.
Yet somehow, for reasons unknown even to himself, Xzianus had naturally ended up doing just that.
I need you to handle a task for me. That was what Xzianus had originally intended to say, but the moment the words reached the tip of his tongue, he altered them to: “Let’s cooperate.”
Suddenly, Cen Jin’s interest was piqued.
However, lacking any knowledge of Xzianus’s background, he didn’t give a rash acceptance.
Unfazed by the hesitation, Xzianus leisurely tidied up his supplies while explaining, “I know you currently have the closest relationship with Talon, but I want you to get close to Weixin ideally, to the point where he drops his guard around you.”
“And then?”
“Then just do whatever I say.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cen Jin frowned, uncomprehending.
“It means—”
Leaning in close to Cen Jin’s ear, Xzianus lowered his gaze just enough to catch sight of the delicate patch of skin shadowed right behind the boy’s ear. Inhaling deeply, his nostrils filled with a sweet, alluring fragrance.
Tickled by the warm breath ghosting against his ear, Cen Jin reached out to shove Xzianus away.
Instead of budging, the hand Cen Jin pressed against Xzianus’s chest was promptly caught.
Straightening back up, Xzianus brought Cen Jin’s captured hand up to his nose, cupping his own face with the soft, uncalloused palm, and closed his eyes to take another slow inhale.
“You smell so good.”
Cen Jin slapped him across the face, though he didn’t put much real force behind it.
“Don’t you know that vampires can smell each other’s scent?”
“I didn’t know.” Pulling his hand back, Cen Jin awkwardly rubbed the spot that had just been touched.
“Nobody taught you?” Pondering this, Xzianus muttered to himself, “Or maybe you just haven’t run into any before.”
“What do you mean?” Cen Jin asked, his patience wearing thin with this guessing-game style of conversation.
“Do you know how vampires find their partners? They rely on—”
Xzianus plucked a stray, slightly disheveled strand of hair from beside Cen Jin’s temple.
“—scent.”
With a flick of Xzianus’s fingers, the soft lock of hair slipped freely back down past his fingertips.
When Cen Jin swatted his hand away, Xzianus smoothly caught him by the wrist instead. Before Cen Jin could flare up again, Xzianus released him with a chuckle.
It was just like teasing a cat.
Extremely annoyed by the man yet forced to rely on him to decipher what he meant, Cen Jin demanded, “What did you mean by what you said earlier?”
“Just get familiar with Weixin, create opportunities to be alone with him, and keep him away from Talon and those others. I’ll handle the rest.”
Though Cen Jin had no idea what Xzianus’s ultimate goal or conspiracy was, at least a portion of the man’s objectives overlapped with his own system tasks.
The real question was: what did Cen Jin stand to gain by cooperating with him?
“Your benefit is simple, you get to drink my blood.”
“No thanks,” Cen Jin said, his face darkening.
“Are you sure? I’m quite exceptional, you know.”
At this point, Xzianus looked remarkably like someone desperately trying to hard-sell a product.
The harder Xzianus tried to pitch it, the less inclined Cen Jin was to believe him.