Mo Yidong spoke as his gaze flickered toward Xia Yu.
The silver hair complemented his pale skin far better than black hair ever could.
Upon closer inspection, his face had even slimmed down a bit.
“Don’t dye it. Silver suits you better.”
“No way. If I don’t dye it black, Bald Qiang will shave me into a crew cut.”
Xia Yu decisively rejected Mo Yidong’s suggestion.
“I’m not about to stoop to the level of those early lovers.”
“Just tell the teacher your hair color is natural.”
“That means redoing the Genetic Certification. Too much hassle, I’m not going.”
When Xia Yu entered school, his bloodline was only ten percent vampiric.
Fifty percent was the cutoff, and anything below that was generally considered human.
Back then, he dyed his hair whenever he could.
Now that it’s impossible, he had no choice but to wear a wig.
“I can go with you.”
Redoing the certification would also help Mo Yidong better understand exactly how much vampiric essence remained in Xia Yu’s body.
Seeing Xia Yu sitting there with a reluctant expression, it seemed like the idea of recertification was a dead end.
“Forget it then.”
“So… why do you wear a wig?”
“My hair won’t take dye… my family’s tried multiple times, but it’s no use.”
“If your hair won’t dye, then what next?”
“I’ll just keep wearing the wig.”
The two spoke in unison.
Xia Yu froze for a few seconds, then suddenly realized that Mo Yidong had thrown his wig in the trash.
Seeing Mo Yidong had long since turned back to pretending to take notes seriously, Xia Yu began to suspect it was deliberate!
“You little—did you throw away my wig on purpose?”
“No.”
Mo Yidong lowered his head and seriously studied his textbook, whispering in a voice low enough to avoid the physics teacher overhearing:
“I just didn’t know how to explain that I found some black seaweed in the pool.”
Xia Yu clenched his fist, itching to punch Mo Yidong right then and there.
Forget it… worst case, he’d just buy another wig in the same city.
“Have you ever had this kind of situation before?”
It seemed some subtle change was quietly taking place, unbeknownst to Xia Yu.
Xia Yu had many reasons not to become a girl, but ultimately, it was only a matter of time.
Mo Yidong’s job was to carefully observe every little change in Xia Yu to better understand vampiric traits.
“No.”
This time, Xia Yu answered honestly.
Mo Yidong thought that if it hadn’t been for this accidental discovery caught by him, Xia Yu probably wouldn’t have said anything.
“Did you take your medication today?”
“Yes. Why do you ask? Let me make it clear—I won’t change at all this month.”
To avoid turning into a girl in front of Mo Yidong, Xia Yu took his meds on time, even setting a phone alarm to remind himself.
Like a doctor interrogating a patient, Mo Yidong’s questions made Xia Yu uncomfortable all over.
“If you decide, I can go with you to redo the certification. My limiter has some issues anyway; I can get it fixed then.”
Without answering, Xia Yu rested his cheek on his hand, staring out the window at the dimming sunset—brilliant yet full of confusion.
Xia Yu once tried to show himself without dyeing his hair.
He tried, but he couldn’t do it.
The silver short hair in the mirror always gave him the illusion that through it, he saw his long-haired self—broken and fragile.
The days as a girl were filled with nothing but bad memories he didn’t want to mention.
Only the days in the sanatorium during his girl phase were precious memories.
He refused to reveal his other identity and gender to anyone.
The only one who could protect her was Xia Yu as a boy.
Xia Yu would never let her suffer harm again.
After school, Mo Yidong packed up his books and saw Xia Yu looking downcast.
Since it seemed no recertification was planned, he changed the subject.
“Zhang Wenshan is hosting a welcome party for new students tonight. Want to go?”
“No. I have class tonight. I’ll treat you all another day.”
Xia Yu didn’t like noisy, crowded places, but Zhang Wenshan and Mo Yidong had helped him out during swimming class today.
Not going felt a bit rude.
“The same restaurant?”
“No, I’m going to help move stuff.”
He didn’t work at the restaurant daily.
His class’s part-time job was mostly weekends, except for especially busy days when he did odd jobs elsewhere during the week.
After all, he had to pay rent and buy medicine; subsidies alone wouldn’t cut it.
“What time do you finish?”
“Depends on how much there is. Why? Want to come?”
“If I finish early, maybe I can come eat.”
“I’ll try.”
In the end, the moving job stretched from 6 PM to 9 PM.
Xia Yu was drenched in sweat, panting heavily, standing in place.
This wasn’t right…
Usually, Xia Yu could carry loads back and forth five or six times without getting winded, but now after three trips he was soaked and exhausted.
“Xia Yu, what’s wrong today?”
“Maybe it’s the heavy workload, I got tired.”
“Sorry for making everyone work late.”
The other movers were all strong, sturdy middle-aged and young men who often did heavy labor.
The boss had hired Xia Yu temporarily because he was stronger than most guys his age.
Xia Yu stared down at his fingers, which were rubbed raw.
He really tried hard today—harder than ever before.
After settling the pay, Xia Yu stopped by a convenience store on the way home to buy several bottles of water.
Even after drinking, his throat felt dry.
Standing listlessly at the store’s entrance, Xia Yu noticed through the glass that his eyes shone brighter than usual during the day.
Opening his mouth in surprise, he saw four small fangs had appeared.
No…
He touched the hair tie holding the braid at the back of his head—it was still there.
His body showed no other changes.
He had to get home…
He worried about suddenly turning into a girl outside, with ill-fitting clothes and shoes that would draw unwanted attention.
He had to hurry home.
Though it wasn’t transformation day, his body was awakening vampiric traits.
He definitely needed to redo the certification.
If his vampiric genes had strengthened, he might have to buy a new limiter.
In his current state, staying outside was dangerous; he had to rush home.
Xia Yu hurried so much that he accidentally bumped into a street-smart young man wearing a gold chain and a cropped shirt, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
“Hey, punk! You bump into people, you say sorry, got it!?”
“Sorry.”
The cigarette was knocked out of the young man’s mouth by the silver-haired boy’s careless collision, making him furious.
He stomped out the cigarette with his foot, clenched his fists, and swung a punch at the back of Xia Yu’s head.
But Xia Yu, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, easily dodged the attack.
He gently turned, stepped forward, and swung his elbow, striking the young man’s nose.
If someone hit him, Xia Yu never hesitated to fight back.
“I said sorry, didn’t I…”
Xia Yu touched the blood on his elbow.
His cold red eyes looked especially striking in the shadows as he stared down at the man lying on the ground, blood dripping from his nose.
“Not as tough as a senior in grade twelve. Smoke less, exercise more.”
Raising his right hand, Xia Yu licked the blood off his fingertip, then spat it out immediately.
“Ugh… you taste awful.”