Ling Yue was clearing the breakfast dishes when she suddenly said,
“Xiao Fengling, we’re having a guest today.”
Feng Ling was curled up on the sofa playing a game.
At those words, her fingers paused on the buttons.
The word “guest” coming from Ling Yue’s mouth felt as incongruous as someone who never eats vegetables suddenly saying they want to eat more.
She quickly paused the game as her character got slashed by a monster, then looked up at Ling Yue, who was leisurely sipping a glass of blood.
“Guest? What guest? Did those Blood Prison guys finally learn how to ring the doorbell?”
“An old acquaintance of mine. She used to be human, now she’s sort of half a vampire.”
“Huh? Half a vampire? What does that mean? Is she a vampire but only the upper half?”
Feng Ling tilted her head in confusion.
“Hehehe, Xiao Fengling, what kind of thinking is that~ What I mean is, she is a pure-blood vampire, but her job is a vampire hunter—she specializes in hunting down wanted vampires… You can think of her as a vampire bounty hunter.”
Ling Yue gently swirled the glass in her hand.
Feng Ling set the controller on her lap, her expression shifting from confusion to alertness.
“Wait, wait, wait! You’re saying a vampire hunter is coming to our house? You’re letting someone who kills vampires into the castle? Did you drink too much of my blood this morning and get your blood alcohol level too high?”
Ling Yue was amused by her description.
She said, “It’s fine, I’ve known her for many years… She’s just coming to see me, and to drop off something.”
“What something?”
Feng Ling asked curiously.
Ling Yue picked up the glass, finished the last mouthful of blood, leaving a thin red trail on the rim, and walked away, leaving a bewildered Feng Ling behind.
Feng Ling stared at her back as she disappeared into the kitchen, her mind racing.
There was something very subtle in Ling Yue’s tone when she called that hunter “half a vampire.”
She said “now she’s sort of half a vampire,” not “she’s half-human, half-vampire.”
A human who was transformed into a vampire, but ended up becoming a vampire hunter who hunts down her own kind…
There must be a story behind that.
By afternoon, three rhythmic knocks echoed from the mountain cavern tunnel.
They sounded like they were hitting the barrier nodes used for detection.
The knocks bounced around the tunnel three or four times, followed by a lively voice that was still recognizable despite being weakened by sixty or seventy percent from the barrier.
“Ling Yue—I’m—here——”
Feng Ling was curled up in the corner of the sofa, ears perked up.
The voice was that of a girl, with a spirited upward lilt at the end, the casual tone used when greeting a good friend.
Ling Yue came out of the kitchen, dried her hands, walked to the main door, and pressed a spot on the door panel.
The glow of the rune shifted from gold to grayish-white.
The castle main door that Feng Ling had been dreaming about swung open.
From the tunnel came the crisp sound of high-heeled leather boots on stone, and then a small girl jumped out of the shadows.
She was about 5’2″ or so, not much taller than Feng Ling.
She wore a black overcoat that fell past her knees, the hem flapping with her steps, revealing a black skirt underneath.
On her head was a black cowboy hat, pulled low, but it couldn’t hide the light golden eyes beneath.
That was a remnant left by the vampire transformation—a thin ring of blood-red at the edge of her pupils.
The girl was dressed entirely in black from boots to hat, with only the row of silver short knives hanging from her belt reflecting a glint of light.
Before Feng Ling could even jump off the sofa, the cowboy hat had already spotted her.
Those golden eyes swept over with undisguised curiosity.
The girl quickened her pace, ran to the sofa, bent down, and met Feng Ling’s eyes as she huddled in the corner.
The distance was too close…
So close that Feng Ling could see the intricate silver embroidery on the hat brim, and the tiny pointed fang at the corner of her mouth.
“Wow wow wow! It’s really just like Ling Yue said! So tiny! So cute! Such pale skin! And such red eyes! Oh! And the fangs are so sharp too!”
With each exclamation, she leaned another inch closer to Feng Ling.
By the last sentence, her hat brim was almost touching Feng Ling’s forehead.
Feng Ling held up a cushion to her chest and scooted half a step back, asking,
“Sister Ling Yue, what’s going on? Is this friend of yours a fan or something?”
Ling Yue, leaning against the corridor wall with her arms crossed, wore an expression somewhere between indifference and helplessness.
She said softly, “She’s always been like this.”
“What do you mean ‘always been like this’! Ling Yue, you’re so cold! It’s been years since we’ve seen each other, and I came all this way just to see you, and this is how you treat me?”
The girl straightened up and shook her fist in Ling Yue’s direction.
Feng Ling looked up and noticed that her fist was covered in a fingerless leather glove, with a few small holy silver runes engraved on the back.
Ling Yue had said those were seals specifically used for hunting vampires.
Seeing that Ling Yue had no intention of responding, the girl turned back, extended her hand to Feng Ling, and introduced herself,
“My name is Tiancan Lili! Vampire bounty hunter, and Ling Yue’s childhood friend from when she was human! What’s your name?”
“Xu Fengling. I used to be human, now I’m a little golden canary.”
Feng Ling reached out and shook her hand.
“Golden canary? That’s such a great metaphor! So you’re the kind of bird locked in a castle? Does Ling Yue have a swing in your cage for you? Or one of those little basins for birds to bathe in? Or did she buy you a whole set of handheld game consoles for you to play with by the cage?”
Lili asked with a serious expression.
“Isn’t your focus a bit off…?”
Feng Ling said helplessly.
“I’m not off at all~ I’m totally supportive of Sister Ling Yue finding a partner! She used to tell me that when she found the right one, she’d bring her home! Looks like she found her now~ Hmm, high impression score—small, beautiful eyes, nice voice… Oh, oh, what blood type do you usually drink? O-type or AB-type? I know a blood dealer who specializes in rare blood types. I’ll hook you up with a batch later, how about that?”
“You… hold on. Are you saying she specifically mentioned to you that she wanted to bring someone home, and she told you before she even brought anyone?”
Feng Ling finished speaking and turned her head to look at Sister Ling Yue beside her.
The latter averted her eyes to the ceiling.
Lili, completely unconcerned, continued,
“Exactly! She used to write to me every now and then.”
The letters said things like: ‘I’ve noticed a very interesting person recently. Today he confessed to me on the rooftop. I want to turn him into mine…’ and so on!
“Then later, the letters suddenly stopped. I thought she’d gotten bored again. But last time she sent a letter, she said she’d already brought the person home.”
“That’s you, right? You’re the one who confessed on the rooftop and then got turned into a vampire, aren’t you?”
At that moment, Feng Ling really wanted to find a crack in the floor to crawl into.
No, more like she wanted to shove Ling Yue into one.
“She… she wrote all that in her letters to you? Even the rooftop confession? That alone is a motive for the crime!”
“Motive for the crime? What crime motive?”
Lili tilted her head, the hat brim tilting with the movement, her face full of confusion.
“Um… nothing, forget I said anything.”
Feng Ling quickly pulled the cushion back to her chest.
She had almost forgotten—this lively, cute little girl was a vampire hunter who specialized in killing vampires.
Even if she was Ling Yue’s childhood friend, if Feng Ling accidentally let slip her escape plans…
The consequences could be very, very serious.
After all, this was one of Ling Yue’s friends.
Chances were, she was just another kind of secret pervert, just with a different flavor of creepiness.