After Feng Ling finished her complaints, she placed the black wooden box back in its original spot, then picked up the small bottle labeled “Original Blood Seal Remover” and stared at it for a long time.
The two characters for “Original Blood” were so clear they practically stabbed her eyes.
Original blood—that was the drop of Ling Yue’s blood inside her that ensured she could never escape.
So, if this thing could really break the Original Blood Seal…
Just then, a sound suddenly came from the corridor.
Within 0.9 seconds of hearing that sound, Feng Ling shoved the bottle back onto the shelf, pushed the wooden box back into place, and shot out of the studio faster than she’d ever moved in her life.
She was even leaving afterimages on the third-floor corridor.
That wasn’t a metaphor—it was literal.
She was moving so fast her image lingered on the retina.
By the time she reached the top of the stairs, she didn’t even bother stepping on them.
She planted one hand on the railing, flipped over, and jumped directly from the third floor down to the second-floor hallway.
Her toes slipped on the stone floor on landing, so she used the momentum to roll forward once, then stood up right in front of her own bedroom door.
The whole sequence was smooth as water.
If this were a parkour game, the screen would probably flash “Perfect Stealth x1.”
She pulled open the door, slipped inside, jumped onto the bed, grabbed her Switch, turned it on, loaded her save file, and saw Link standing in front of a shrine on the screen.
Then she steadied her breathing, making it look like she’d never left.
The very next second, Sister Ling Yue pushed the door open and walked in.
“Xiao Fengling, I’m back~”
“Ah, Sister Ling Yue, that was fast.”
Feng Ling said without looking up.
Her thumb moved steadily over the controller.
On the screen, Mr. Link was furiously slashing at poor little grass.
Ling Yue set the things in her hand down on the table, then sat next to Feng Ling, gazing at her with a gentle expression.
The moment that look appeared, Feng Ling knew what she had to do.
So she quickly pressed pause, looked up, and rubbed her eyes.
Then she noticed a small patch of dark red on Ling Yue’s sleeve.
That wasn’t her blood.
The smell and color weren’t right.
“How’s it outside? Are those rats still there?”
Feng Ling asked softly.
“It was really quiet today—didn’t see a single one.”
Ling Yue rubbed the back of her hand over the dark red patch on her sleeve.
When it didn’t come off after two tries, she simply ignored it.
“Mhm~ Maybe they got scared after I beat them up yesterday.”
“Or maybe they’re gathering forces for the next wave.”
Ling Yue tilted her head to look at her, and said:
“Xiao Fengling, you’ve been playing too many games~”
“Real life isn’t a dungeon raid—there aren’t that many phase transitions, you know.”
“You said last time that there are new footprints outside the barrier every day.”
“Footprints and gathering forces are two different things… Okay, okay, don’t think too much. Your big sister bought a bunch of new stuff. I’ll make you a big dinner tonight.”
Ling Yue patted her hair and stood up.
Feng Ling quickly turned her gaze back to the screen.
Ling Yue didn’t want her to ask a single question about what was going on outside.
Every time the topic came up, she’d try to distract her with something.
How many times had she used that trick?
At least dozens.
But this time, Feng Ling wasn’t planning to press.
Because she already knew what was hidden in the studio on the third floor.
Original Blood Seal Remover…
Whether or not it could actually break the seal, at least she had another card in her hand now.
“Oh, right—I bought you something else too~”
Ling Yue pulled a flat box out of the shopping bag and handed it to her.
Feng Ling took it, opened it, and found a dark red silk ribbon inside.
It was almost identical to the one that had been used to tie her up in the wedding chamber last time, but this one was a bit wider, and the edges were embroidered with golden runes.
“This is the upgraded version~ The last one could only suppress your self-healing ability, but this one changes color based on your body temperature… So I can tell what state you’re in from the ribbon’s color. For example, dark red when you’re nervous, bright red when you’re excited, and when you’re feeling good…”
“Enough, enough, enough!”
Feng Ling quickly closed the box.
“Don’t explain it in such detail!”
“Oh? Why not? I think it’s a very thoughtful design~”
“Thoughtful my ass! It’s just a monitoring device with a different skin!”
Then Ling Yue laughed and carried the shopping bag into the wedding chamber.
Feng Ling, sitting on the sofa, put the box containing the ribbon on the coffee table and stared at it for a long time.
Temperature-sensing ribbon, huh…
If Ling Yue put her creativity to use in legitimate fields, she might even win a Blood Clan Technology Innovation Award.
But she chose to use all that talent on how to torment her more thoroughly.
Feng Ling shoved the box to the very back of the coffee table drawer, then covered it with two magazines…
Out of sight, out of mind.
She knew that in a few days, Ling Yue would still pull that ribbon out of the drawer and use it on her.
But for now, she could delay it a little longer.
This was the most important survival skill she’d learned in this castle.
Delaying Ling Yue’s sadistic urges—even if only for nine hours, it counted as a win.
The next two days were relatively calm.
Feng Ling figured it was probably because the last time she bit Ling Yue, she’d really gone hard.
The teeth marks on Ling Yue’s wrist took a full two days to completely disappear.
If she could slow down even a Progenitor’s self-healing ability, it meant her teeth were no longer just “kinda sharp”…
They were seriously dangerous.
Thinking about that made Feng Ling feel slightly better.
Even though she still couldn’t beat Ling Yue…
Even though she still couldn’t escape this castle…
At least her teeth could leave marks on Ling Yue’s wrist for two days.
That counted as progress, right?
Probably?
During those two days, she used her daily right of refusal once.
It happened when Ling Yue took out that new set of silver clips.
Mainly because those clips were a whole size bigger than any she’d used before.
Just looking at them made it obvious how much they would hurt.
“I don’t want this.”
She said firmly.
Ling Yue glanced at her, then put the clips back.
But she replaced them with a silver needle and asked softly:
“Then what about this?”
Feng Ling stared at the needle for several seconds.
She’d used up her quota!
She couldn’t refuse anymore.
“Fine, just this…”
She said, defeated.
Then Feng Ling spent the next two hours biting her pillow.
When Ling Yue finally pulled out the needle and turned her over, the bedsheet was full of holes she’d torn with her fingers, and the pillow was completely ruined from her biting.
Those needles vibrated slightly with her body temperature, and the runes etched on them made every vibration drill along her nerves deep into her body.
But they never quite reached the very core.
They just hung there, midway, stuck—forcing her to beg Ling Yue for help to end it.
And when she finally did beg.
The price she paid was greater than the silver needles themselves.
After it was all over, she lay limp on the soaked bedsheet staring at the ceiling, her mind blank.
Ling Yue lay beside her, stroking her back with one hand.
Her fingers slid slowly down between her shoulder blades, all the way to her tailbone, then back up again.
The touch was light, as light as petting a cat that had just been bathed.
“Next time, we can try a combination of silver needles and the ribbon~”
“Do you have a special notebook where you write down all these combination plans?”
Then Feng Ling buried her face in the pillow.
She hated herself because she knew the answer wasn’t just one notebook.
When Ling Yue said “try a combination next time,” her body reacted before her brain did.
And Ling Yue definitely felt it.
She absolutely noticed!
“I’ll think about it next time.”
Feng Ling said sullenly.
Day three.
Feng Ling was awakened from her sleep by a familiar sting.
Ling Yue was lying on top of her, her fangs sunk into the side of her neck.
Feng Ling groggily reached up and touched the back of Ling Yue’s head, threading her fingers through her hair, then sliding down to her nape.
“Is it morning already? Now?”
Feng Ling asked with a hoarse voice.
But Ling Yue just pinched the side of Feng Ling’s waist—harder than usual—making her jerk completely.
That was the answer.
It wasn’t dawn yet.
But Ling Yue was thirsty.
Feng Ling let go of her nape and pulled her hand back under the covers.
She no longer struggled when being bitten in her sleep.
Because her body had learned to relax its muscles when her neck was pierced.
Since not relaxing hurt even more.
That was a lesson she’d learned from many nights of bruises.
Ling Yue drank for a while, then lifted her head.
In the darkness, her eyes glowed with a faint dark red light, beautiful to look at.
But if you stared too long, you felt like something was pulling you in from outside your eye sockets.
“Xiao Fengling, your blood is a little sweeter today than yesterday~”
Ling Yue pressed her finger beside the fresh puncture wound, pressing down gently.
“There’s a trace of residual magic from yesterday’s silver needles inside… It means your body is converting that magic into your own. That’s much faster than I expected.”
“So the silver needles aren’t just painful—they’re giving me experience points?”
“Exactly. That’s the logic of games~ The more damage you take, the more experience you get~”
“What kind of forced setting is that, just for the sake of justifying torment…”
“Got caught, huh~”
Ling Yue lowered her head and kissed her on the forehead, then got up and left the room.
Her footsteps were light on the way to the kitchen.
But when she passed through the living room, she paused for a few seconds.
Feng Ling naturally knew what those few seconds meant.
Ling Yue was sensing the outer barrier.
Because the outside world had indeed become about ninety times more dangerous than last month.
Feng Ling stayed in bed for a while.
She silently counted Ling Yue’s steps from the kitchen to the dining room.
Then she heard the refrigerator door open and close, followed by the sound of blood being poured…
Normally, pouring blood took about ten seconds.
This time it took nearly half a minute.
Ling Yue was pouring herself an extra portion?
That meant she’d have a big expenditure today.
And once she reached that conclusion, Feng Ling knew what was coming next.
After breakfast, Ling Yue would drag her to the wedding chamber or training ground and torment her until she was completely exhausted.
That itself wasn’t surprising.
It had been like that for a while.
But what she needed today wasn’t the wedding chamber.
Even if it was just less than an hour.
She needed time when Ling Yue would leave the castle.