"Hmm, can you give him to me?" the young dragon asked, swallowing a gulp of saliva.
She fell silent for a moment, "But you need to eat a bit cleaner, or it might leave my traces."
"Don't worry, neither you nor I want to be caught by humans..."
As the young dragon spoke, it crawled over, lifted the corpse with its claws, and slowly dragged it into the corner.
Bai Ziling blinked those blood-red pupils, hugging her knees and sitting on the ground, staring at it for a while. She was still curious, why was there a dragon here?
But she was afraid her mother would check her room and find her missing, so she patted her buttocks, climbed up the ladder hanging from the wall, and stepped onto the iron plate holding an air conditioning unit.
Then with a light jump, she leaped onto the roof of the residential building.
Once on the roof, Bai Ziling turned back, casting her eyes down at the young dragon crouched in the shadows.
It seemed the dragon didn't want her to see it eating, so it just crouched like a cat on the ground, raising its head, quietly waiting for her to leave.
Human and dragon, a pair of red eyes met in the dark night.
In the moonlight, she whispered softly,
"Dragons and vampires alike, everyone hates us."
The young dragon stared blankly for a moment.
Having said that, Bai Ziling slowly turned around, her hands behind her, and walked along the edge of the roof as if she were walking a zebra crossing on the road.
Gradually, her figure merged into the night.
The young dragon, lifting its head, gazed blankly at the empty night sky for a long time, then placed its claws on the corpse and began to eat silently.
Much later, a dense pool of blood flowed out from the shadows; the corpse was no longer there.
It sighed deeply, flapped its still undeveloped short wings, and flew towards the night sky, hiding on the rooftop of an apartment building.
Huddled in a corner of the rooftop, the young dragon's body gradually changed, taking the form of a human boy.
Ke Yongzhu, embracing his naked body, curled up in a corner of the rooftop. He spaced out for a while, mumbling, "Yes, sister, we are both monsters."
This wasn't the first time he had seen Bai Ziling drink blood, but... this was the first time he had mustered the courage to transform into a dragon form to say a word to her.
Usually, he would always hide his presence, stealthily following behind her, silently hiding in a corner.
At those times, he would think, it turns out it's not just me who's a freak in the family; sister is too.
"Oh well, she has gone home, I should go home too."
Ke Yongzhu sighed, picked up the clothes he had removed before transforming, put them on, and then strolled across several rooftops.
Following Bai Ziling's scent, he walked toward his home.
Shortly after he left, the color of the shadow on the ground in the alley he had left slowly grew darker, and a figure emerged from within the shadows.
It was a young man, his features so delicate they were nearly feminine, who watched expressionlessly the pool of blood on the ground.
After a long while, the youth murmured softly.
"Indeed, the descendant of the Calamity Dragon has emerged..."
He took out a scroll-bearing green bird and a brush from the sleeve of his clothes. Opening the scroll carried by the bird, he used the brush to write:
"Report to the Ninja Sect, the descendant of the Calamity Dragon is in Huanjing. From the remaining traces, it is still in its juvenile form. It's not too late to find it now. Requesting reinforcements."
Having done all this, the youth closed the scroll, secured it to the back of the bird, and let it fly from his palm. It flapped its wings rapidly and soon disappeared into the moonlight with the scroll.
The young man's figure once again turned into a mass of ink, melting into the shadows under his feet.
Soon after, the youth emerged once again from a pool of shadows, appearing in front of a residential building, with no one around.
He looked up at the sign of the building "Old Jingmai Street Unit 1 Phase 5 Building 1201," then entered the staircase and took the elevator to the ninth floor.
The elevator doors slowly closed, and just at the moment they were about to shut, a young hand reached in, wedged in the middle of the elevator doors...
Watching this eerie scene, the youth was first stunned, then slightly focused.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead. Thinking, from such a distance, could the Calamity Dragon possibly have detected his scent? No, he couldn't be sure yet.
With a hand wedged in the middle of the elevator doors, they slowly opened to each side.
Under the flickering lights at the hallway entrance, a boy dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt stood at the entrance.
He withdrew his hand that had been blocking the elevator door and expressionlessly looked at the nervous young man standing inside.
The two exchanged a glance, and one of them spoke.
"Second brother?"
Ke Yongzhu looked at his face, slightly stunned, and spoke first. He thought to himself that he had just finished consuming someone and happened to run into his second brother returning from outside.
Ke Xiaomo also paused slightly.
Then, looking at that familiar, kindly face, he relaxed deeply. He thought to himself that he had really been too paranoid, given that earlier, in the alley and from such a distance, using the utmost stealth methods and focusing on consuming the disaster dragon, how could it possibly have noticed his presence?
So stupid...
Ke Xiaomo chuckled as though laughing at himself.
"Little brother, long time no see," he said.
Ke Yongzhu, with his hands in his pockets, walked into the elevator, looked back at him, and asked curiously, "Uh, why didn't you say you were coming back? Mingye said you were still at university and would be back in a couple of days?"
"Something came up, so I came back early," Ke Xiaomo answered.
Accompanied by their lukewarm conversation, the elevator doors closed smoothly this time. With a faint hum, the elevator began to ascend slowly.
Ke Xiaomo reached out and ruffled his hair, asking, "You must be in sixth grade by now, right? How has it been at school lately? You haven't been bullying any classmates, have you?"
"Hey, whether I bully classmates or not is another matter, but brother, stop touching my head; it'll make me not grow taller."
Ke Yongzhu brushed away his hand, complaining.
Ke Xiaomo just smiled and remained silent.
Soon, the elevator doors slowly opened. He glanced at the elevator indicator; it was the ninth floor, no mistake. Thus, he and Ke Yongzhu stepped out of the elevator together and pressed the doorbell next to the apartment door.
The door slowly opened, revealing their mother's face in the light; she quickly looked surprised.
Bai Wenna looked at him: "Eh, isn't that Xiaomo? Why did you come back so early?"
Ke Xiaomo scratched the bridge of his nose and explained, "A friend here made plans with me, so I came back from university two days early. Just now, I even ran into my little brother on the way back."
Hearing this, Bai Wenna put her hands on her hips and glared at Ke Yongzhu, "This rascal, you said you were going to the supermarket downstairs to get some Coke, and it took you so long."
"Can't I walk around a bit after buying the drinks?"
Ke Yongzhu, looking down, said this a bit guiltily while wiping the corner of his mouth, thinking he had used the disaster dragon's abilities to eliminate the blood scent, hoping it wouldn't be detected.
Speaking of which, how does our third sister manage to remove the scent of blood? She goes out to suck blood every once in a while, yet no one notices. He thought again.
"Mom, don't be too strict with them; it's just a walk."
Ke Xiaomo smiled gently, hugging the visibly annoyed Ke Yongzhu as they walked into the house.
He stopped in the familiar living room and suddenly sensed a covert, strange gaze, causing him to suddenly look up and follow the staircase toward the entrance on the second floor.
There, a youth stood by the railing of the second-floor staircase, his head lowered, emotionlessly playing with his phone.
Ke Xiaomo, looking up, blurted out a name.
"Ming...ye?"
While calling his brother's name, he felt it strange. He had clearly sensed someone watching him, and that gaze had lasted a solid two seconds.
Undoubtedly, with a ninja's intuition, he could feel that it was a stare full of hostility, as if looking at a stranger.
But when he looked up, all he saw was Ke Mingye playing on his phone, appearing as if he hadn't even noticed him.
At that moment, having heard the noise, Ke Mingye looked up from his phone and glanced downstairs at Ke Xiaomo, his expression somewhat surprised.
He raised his eyebrows and said, "Brother, when did you get back? Weren't you supposed to come back in a couple of days? Are you fooling me with your phone?"
Ke Xiaomo, staring expressionlessly at Ke Mingye, met his gaze.
At the same time, a thought crossed his mind: his brother... seemed somewhat strange.