"Huh? What's this?" Tao Yi stared at his left hand, which was holding his phone. He was surprised to find that something seemed to be drawn on his palm. After looking closely, he realized, "A moon?! Huh? How did…?"
It was a silver moon pattern. Tao Yi was astonished. He was baffled as to why a pattern would appear on his hand out of nowhere. But what surprised him more was that the moon pattern was identical to the purplish-red moon he had just seen on Zi Yue's hand! The only difference was the color!
"No way, did that crazy woman bite me?!" He touched his neck. But there were no wounds…
Could it be that, like the legends say, vampire bites can heal on their own?!
With that thought, Tao Yi foolishly put his finger into his mouth…
"Ow! It hurts... it hurts! Huh? Why doesn't it hurt? There's blood, so why doesn't it hurt?!"
Blood kept flowing, clearly showing that Tao Yi did not have such a self-healing ability. However, he was surprised to find that he did not feel any pain at all!
"What exactly is going on…? This is unbelievable! Could all the legends about vampires be false? Are real vampires just immune to pain?"
Tao Yi was utterly shocked. How could this be? Nothing made sense. Could he have been poisoned? Had he lost his sense of touch?
He touched his face — he could still feel it! After touching his hands, feet, neck, and legs one by one, Tao Yi confirmed that he still had his sense of touch.
"What is happening?" Tao Yi frowned and pinched his face hard. A gentle pinch felt normal, but a harder pinch didn't feel like anything at all.
"Could it be... could it be that there's something in my brain? Suppressing my pain nerve endings?... What a load of nonsense…" he guessed wildly, suddenly shouting, "Oh no!!"
"Bathroom, bathroom!" Tao Yi panicked. At that moment, all he wanted was to find a restroom.
Why was he so desperate to find a bathroom?
Because Tao Yi had suddenly thought of an extremely important personal issue — one that, on a small scale, could determine whether his future love life would bear fruit, and on a large scale, could affect the normal reproduction of the human race!!
In fact...
He simply wanted to check whether his "little brother" was still functioning properly. It would be fine if he had only lost the sense of pain, but if…
The consequences would be unimaginable!!
Having already missed his first class, Tao Yi was sprinting toward the antique shop where he worked, desperately searching for a bathroom…
Tao Yi's problem, after all, was minor. His finger was cut, but it wouldn't cause him any pain. A single bandage was enough to stop the bleeding, and in reality, his "little brother" was still quite healthy…
However, something strange was happening in Tao Yi's home, involving none other than the beautiful vampire Zi Yue.
"Oh…"
Zi Yue suddenly felt a sharp pain in her left index finger, and a wound inexplicably appeared. Blood began to flow continuously. As she looked at her finger, Zi Yue gritted her teeth angrily. "Idiot! How could you hurt yourself for no reason… really…"
Although Zi Yue was looking at her bleeding finger, there was no sign in her eyes that she intended to stop the bleeding. She just waited quietly.
Suddenly, Zi Yue's face turned cold! She shouted angrily, "Who pinched my face?!"
At that moment, Zi Yue was furious. She knew that there was only one situation in which she could lose her self-healing ability and get hurt — when that man, Tao Yi, was injured!
What exactly was going on? Even Zi Yue herself couldn't figure it out. Her memory was a mess, like tangled threads — fragments upon fragments. She didn't even know her real name.
Zi Yue recalled that last night, she seemed to be performing some great ritual, one that would make her the greatest and most powerful vampire in history…
However, a rift in space disrupted everything. When she woke up again, she, along with the amethyst coffin used for the ritual, had arrived at this unfamiliar place.
Upon waking up, Zi Yue found herself lying in that sacred crystal coffin with a lowly human — Tao Yi! Enraged, she decided to kill him!
But as soon as her hand touched Tao Yi's neck, she abandoned the idea of crushing it. Zi Yue was surprised to find that she could actually feel that pressure vividly!
She wanted to kill Tao Yi, but she could clearly sense his pain herself!
To put it simply, although the force required to kill Tao Yi wasn't enough to cause any harm to Zi Yue, there seemed to be a mysterious connection between the two of them that somehow amplified the effect of any transferred force onto Zi Yue. In other words—whatever injury Tao Yi suffered, Zi Yue would receive a proportionately amplified injury. If Tao Yi died, Zi Yue would die as well!
Zi Yue confirmed her suspicion. That was why she decided that if she couldn't kill him, she wouldn't try. Additionally, when she looked out the window, she noticed that this place had nothing in common with the fragmented pieces of memory she could recall.
Where was this place? Although she had gotten an answer from Tao Yi, Zi Yue was still hesitant to believe it. Why? Because she, a noble vampire, had suddenly and inexplicably formed a connection with a human. This was an affront to her pride. "Is he really just an ordinary, low-level human? Why would I be connected to him?"
As for those fragments of memory, Zi Yue struggled to arrange them, but still felt that many pieces were missing.
With a light sigh, she raised her right hand and gazed at the moon pattern on the back of her hand. "What exactly is going on?"
Zi Yue vaguely remembered that there had never been any pattern on the back of her hand before. Why was that? Suddenly, Zi Yue recalled a brown ring with a purple moon pattern that seemed to be recorded in those fragmented memories.
Yes! It was definitely that ring!
Unfortunately, even though Zi Yue knew that the moon pattern was related to the ring she once had, it was impossible to uncover the secret, as the fragmented memories were too few and too vague…
The bleeding from her finger stopped, and Zi Yue decided not to dwell on those headache-inducing fragments.
She began to carefully observe Tao Yi's house, as there were many things she had never seen before.
But… just at that moment.
Zi Yue's face suddenly flushed red, her icy expression so intense it could have ushered in another Ice Age, or maybe even affected the temperature of the sun if she tried harder.
She looked at the area below her stomach and above her legs. "Ah!!"
There was nothing she could do but shout in anger.
It was indeed a strange situation. Tao Yi testing his "little brother" for sensations was reasonable since that was something he had since birth.
But as for Zi Yue, where exactly did she feel the pain?
Only she knew…
While Zi Yue was at home with nowhere to vent her frustration, Tao Yi had already reached a spot not far from the antique shop.
Tao Yi had just tested himself in the school's bathroom because he couldn't wait any longer, his anxiety surpassing everything else. Fortunately, the results were reassuring. Apart from the intense pain, everything else was normal.
There was still some distance to the antique shop, but Tao Yi stopped in his tracks because the shop owner, his boss, an old man in his seventies, was glaring at him with such intensity that it seemed like he could turn Tao Yi to ashes.
Tao Yi was stunned.
He was at a loss as to what was going on. Why was Mr. Qian, who usually had such a kind demeanor, looking at him like this today? Could it be that he found out about Tao Yi closing the shop early last night? That would be too much of a coincidence, but even so, it shouldn't make him this angry.
While he was lost in thought, Tao Yi walked up to Mr. Qian. "Haha, good morning, Mr. Qian! Why are you standing outside and not going in? Haha…"
Tao Yi looked at Mr. Qian. The old man, who usually had a youthful spirit despite his age, looked like a dying ember today. Moreover, the more Tao Yi spoke, the more the fire of anger in Mr. Qian's eyes seemed to burn brighter!
"Why am I not going inside?! Fine… Tao Yi, don't you often say that your life is like a horror movie? Today, I'll change the genre for you—from a horror flick to an extreme bloody action film! Let you experience what real 'heavy taste' means!!" Mr. Qian rolled up his sleeves, his eyes widened so much that the wrinkles at the corners were smoothed out. He grabbed Tao Yi's collar fiercely. "What were you up to last night, you brat?!"
"I… I went home. What happened to you today, Mr. Qian? Could it be… could it be that the old lover you mentioned last time got remarried?" Tao Yi was even more confused. Why was the usually kind old man so furious today? In the past, he had left early a few times, but he never received such a reaction.
"Remarried?! Marry your ancestors!!" Mr. Qian shouted angrily.
Tao Yi chuckled awkwardly. "Well, that… that would be rather embarrassing…"
"Bah!" Mr. Qian spat in Tao Yi's face.
After a while, Tao Yi finally learned the reason.
"What did I do? How dare you ask! I don't know what kind of sins I committed in my past life!" Mr. Qian released Tao Yi's collar and shook his hand, seemingly straining it with the previous force. After a brief pause, he continued, "Last night, I went home early and decided to go out for a drink. Just as I finished, I got back home and realized I had forgotten my keys. That was no big deal; I checked the time, and you hadn't left yet. So, I came back to the shop, but you… you had already run off! I was angry, but I endured! I decided to call you, but my phone was dead. No problem, I could endure that too. I looked through all my pockets and found a single fifty-cent coin. I had to run quite a distance to find a supermarket where I could use it to make a call! So, I called you, and you didn't answer! I could bear that too. But when you finally answered, you didn't listen to what I had to say and just hung up! That, I couldn't endure! Damn it, that was the only fifty cents I had!"
"..." Tao Yi was speechless. This old man had some seriously bad luck. Even he had never had it this rough. So he casually said, "Well, Mr. Qian, you're really lucky. So… why didn't you go to my place?"
"Damn it! If I knew where you lived, would I have spent the night outside?!" At this, the old man's anger flared up again, and he grabbed Tao Yi's collar once more. "Today, if you don't give me an explanation, you… you're finished today!"
Seeing Mr. Qian's relentless fury, Tao Yi's expression grew serious. He decided to tell Mr. Qian everything that had happened with Zheng Meixuan the previous night. Though Tao Yi was reluctant to share this matter with others, Mr. Qian was different. Living alone in the city, far from his parents, Tao Yi considered Mr. Qian and Zheng Meixuan the only two people who had treated him well.
Thinking about these things, Tao Yi's emotions became more intense, and he spoke even more passionately.
As a result, the old man's anger was mostly soothed, and he comforted Tao Yi, "It's alright, Tao Yi. You've got a bright future ahead of you. Stick with me, and see how lively I am. I'll probably live to be ninety, no worries!"
"Mm, thank you, Mr. Qian. I'm fine. And how could you live only to ninety? You're guaranteed to make it past a hundred! Haha."
"You're a smooth talker, kid, haha." The old man's anger had completely subsided. Then, as if remembering something, he said to Tao Yi, "Oh, I almost forgot. If I hadn't been locked out and unable to sleep last night, I wouldn't have seen such a wondrous sight!"
"A wondrous sight? What was it?" Tao Yi's curiosity was piqued.
"The moon! You were upset last night and went to rest early, so you didn't notice. But I bet today's news will mention it. I've never heard of the moon turning red like that. What an astronomical marvel!"
"The moon turned red?!" Tao Yi blinked. Although Mr. Qian said so, he found it hard to believe. How could the moon turn red for no reason?
Seeing Tao Yi's incredulous expression, Mr. Qian sneered, "You better believe it! Come on, let me give you a detailed description!"
However, although Mr. Qian was ready to speak, Tao Yi remained motionless. Mr. Qian asked in confusion, "Why aren't you coming?"
"Um… Mr. Qian, you might want to brace yourself. There's one more thing I haven't told you, and it's quite shocking…" Tao Yi stammered.
"What is it?"
"Actually… actually, my key is also locked inside…"
"Tao Yi! I'm going to dock your pay! I'm going to make you work unpaid overtime!!"
...