Yup, Teacher Ai was definitely doing her job.

"What are you doing?"

I jumped when I heard a familiar voice behind me. Turning around, I caught sight of Nan Gong Zhao Yan, who frowned in disapproval.

"Eavesdropping is rude."

"You say that, but you're here too," I pointed out slyly. Zhao Yan blushed slightly and avoided her gaze, folding her arms in a defensive manner.

"I'm…I'm just concerned about my sister! Isn't it only natural?"

"Yeah, well…why are you concerned about her? What happened?"

At my question, Zhao Yan hesitated, and I decided to probe a bit further.

"Did it have anything to do with her changing your answer on your test paper?"

"How do you know that?!" Zhao Yan demanded, her eyes narrowed. "You weren't in our cla.s.s! Don't tell me…I see. I told you that eavesdropping is rude!"

"Actually, I was the one who informed Teacher Ai Qing about Ji Yan's cheating yesterday. I was in the staff room, helping Teacher Einsberg carry the test papers to the staff room, and I caught sight of her changing the answer in your test paper. So I told Teacher Ai about it." I lowered my head in feigned shame. "Sorry for being a snitch…but what can I do? What Ji Yan did wasn't right. I couldn't just keep quiet about it!"

"Oh, no. I don't blame you for that."

Zhao Yan shook her head frantically. She bit her lip – obviously she was feeling conflicted, since it was her sister who had gotten into trouble, and she didn't like seeing Ji Yan get punished. On the other hand, she was more troubled by the fact that her sister got caught in such a blatant act of cheating by me of all people. Objectively speaking, I did the right thing. Even though many people would criticize me for being a snitch, I stood by what I did. What, should I just let Zhao Yan suffer ths consequences of Ji Yan's cheating? How was that fair to Zhao Yan? I detested such nonsense. Okay, I would admit to being biased toward Zhao Yan and having a strong dislike for Ji Yan, but at least that made me more honest than the readers who were condemning me for snitching right now.

"But even so…"

"I understand." I wasn't expecting any thanks either. Not that I did it in order to get Zhao Yan's grat.i.tude, or because I wanted to deliberately get Ji Yan into trouble. But I understood that Zhao Yan wouldn't be very pleased with my actions either. "I was just here because I felt guilty over snitching on Ji Yan."

"You shouldn't." Yay, my reverse psychology was working like a charm. Zhao Yan quickly shook her head and a.s.sured me that I shouldn't feel guilty. "It's not your fault. You've done nothing wrong at all."

"Thanks." I took a deep breath and turned to leave. "Well, I don't think Ji Yan would want to see me. I'll leave her to you then. She might need some encouragement."

Inwardly, I doubted that. Zhao Yan was probably the last person Ji Yan wanted to see right now. I bet she was acc.u.mulating a ton of resentment toward her sister, which would eventually erupt like a volcano explosion. I hated to see what would happen to Zhao Yan when that happened, but what could I do? Tell her to leave Ji Yan alone?

"Yeah…" Zhao Yan was about to go after her sister, but then she stopped. At first, I was confused and wondered why, but then I saw the reason. Someone had already beaten Zhao Yan to it.

Xu Wu Cheng had arrived. At first Ji Yan glared at him, and lashed out, but he caught her hand, leaned in and whispered into her ear. Her eyes widened, and she sagged. Xu Wu Cheng then released her hand and then lowered his head.

"I apologize, but I can a.s.sure you that I wasn't the one who told Teacher Ai anything."

Of course you weren't. I was the one who did, after all.

Ji Yan scowled, but didn't say anything. Instead, she turned away with a huff and folded her arms. Xu Wu Cheng smiled.

"I'll make it up to you."

"Just leave me alone!"

"Are you sure about that?" he leaned over and whispered into her ear again. Ji Yan stiffened, but didn't say anything. Xu Wu Cheng then withdrew and waved. "I'll see you after school then."

JI Yan didn't reply, instead balling her hands into fists and glaring at his departing figure. Zhao Yan hurried over, but she stomped away.

"Sorry, Zhao Yan. I want to be alone for now."

"Ji Yan…" Zhao Yan began, but was helpless to do anything as her sister stalked off. I felt sorry for her, and in some way I knew that I should do something because I was responsible for this whole mess in the first place.

However, Xu Wu Cheng's words caught my attention. He still intended to see Ji Yan after school today. I wondered why.

After school, I couldn't believe that I was making my way to Room 5 as well. That was the meeting place that Xu Wu Cheng had specified yesterday, after all, and I doubted he had altered his plans.

Yeah, I was being a busybody, but something told me that I couldn't just let Ji Yan be alone with Xu Wu Cheng. I was also partly responsible for her predicament, and after seeing Zhao Yan, I couldn't just leave Ji Yan to the wolves. She might be a jealous, backstabbing b.i.t.c.h who probably caused an accident to get her sister Yue Jian scarred for life (of course, judging from Yue Jian's perfectly normal and healthy face, that didn't happen…at least in this universe), but I had a feeling that Xu Wu Cheng was much worse.

I mean, he could be a vampire who sucked people's blood and was planning on turning Ji Yan into a vampire and his blood servant, right? Nah…I had obviously been reading way too many shoujo web manhua…

Room 5 was an abandoned cla.s.sroom on the highest level of the main high school building. n.o.body came here, at least not anyone I knew of. Perhaps giggling couples flirted here, out of sight from everyone or did…you know, that in the abandoned cla.s.sroom because they were so sure that no one else could see them. Obviously I didn't want to know the details.

I doubted Xu Wu Cheng would go as far as raping Ji Yan, but having read too many CEO stories on Webnovel, I couldn't rule out the possibility. Also, thanks to reading too much ero-manga, I had also gotten paranoid to the extent where I believed he would resort to rape and become this NTR villain who filmed the whole thing so that he could continue blackmailing Ji Yan into sleeping with him (and if such archetypes held true, he would eventually invite all of his friends for a g.a.n.g.b.a.n.g session) for the rest of the series. Even Ji Yan didn't deserve such a horrible fate.

Or maybe she did. I hadn't decided yet.

Admittedly, my imagination was running wild here. I mean, this story had no s.e.xual content tags, so there shouldn't be rape and stuff in this kid-friendly story. Right? …right?

"He's coming."

Ji Yan was there even earlier than I was. I kept to the shadows, concealing my presence as much as I could, and relied on Corvus to conduct surveillance from outside the window rather than sneak into the cla.s.sroom to witness everything. There was no place to hide in Cla.s.s 5 anyway, so I stuck to the shadows outside the cla.s.sroom. In this way, I was able to avoid detection when Xu Wu Cheng arrived.

"Hey!"

The b.a.s.t.a.r.d threw a greeting as he flung the door open, waving at her in a friendly manner. He grinned as he approached Ji Yan.

"You're on time…"

"Tell me your conditions!" As usual, Ji Yan was straight to the point, refusing to waste any time and cutting right into the heart of the matter.

"Oh?" Xu Wu Cheng, however, merely sounded amused. Grabbing her hand and leaning close – to the point I almost thought he was going to pull a kabe-don on her, he smirked. "Do you think you have the right to negotiate with me, Ji Yan?"

Uh, she wasn't exactly negotiating with you, she only asked you for what you wanted. Man, these bishounen dudes were so bad at flirting in real life. Seriously, if any guy tried to do that to a girl in reality, she would scream molest and he would get into trouble for s.e.xual a.s.sault.

"But I've an interest in your blood…"

Stroking her face with his smooth fingers, Xu Wu Cheng moved his hand lower to gently touch Ji Yan's neck.

"I wonder if the pure mana of the Nan Gong clan courses strongly through your veins…"

Ji Yan's eyes widened as she struggled to repress her panic. "Don't tell me…you're a vampire?"

I knew it. Just as I suspected, Xu Wu Cheng was a vampire. By the way vampires were often fallen mages who practiced the forbidden blood techniques and ended up acquiring an unquenchable thirst for blood. In exchange for bestowing upon them tremendous power and accelerated regenerative abilities, it was the only way for them to progress with their blood magic.

Blood magic also granted the user great strength and durability, while retaining high speed, agility and reflexes. While being cursed with an insatiable thirst for blood might seem detrimental, drinking blood would greatly enhance their prowess and increase their high-speed regenerative capabilities, making them a far deadlier foe than when they were deprived of blood.

This wasn't good.

Before Ji Yan could get away, Xu Wu Cheng grabbed hold of her firmly, refusing to let go. Gleefully taunting her, he leaned in with a sweet whisper.

"So what if I am? My condition for today is…"

He ran his mouth along the nape of Ji Yan's neck, causing her to tremble fearfully.

"…let me drink your blood."

Ji Yan's movements were so fast I almost didn't register them. From her pocket, she drew a silver knife, thrusting it back to stab Xu Wu Cheng in the heart…but he seized her arm to stop her before she could land a fatal blow.

Yes, a silver knife. What? Were you expecting her to wield a screwdriver like in some stupid manhua or something? As if a girl would walk around with a screwdriver…wait, where would she get one in the first place? I mean, she was a hunter, right? Of course she would have access to better weapons such as the silver knife designed against vampires, and not some weird screwdriver from out of nowhere!

"You're really different from normal people, as expected of a mage affiliated with the Hunter a.s.sociation, huh."

Xu Wu Cheng tightened his grip, causing Ji Yan to cry out painfully and drop the silver knife. The two struggled as Xu Wu Cheng pushed himself on Ji Yan, causing both of them to topple onto a table.

"Get off me!" Ji Yan screamed as she flailed wildly but futilely, only for Xu Wu Cheng to overpower her. But it was useless. The vampire sank his teeth into her neck…or would have if he wasn't forced to dodge.

"Hey, hey, it's not nice to take a bite out of others," I said as I sailed past him, my swords having missed his throat. "I know Nan Gong Ji Yan is sticking her neck out for you, so you should treat her a little better than this."

Xu Wu Cheng frowned as he stared at me as I landed on the ground. The both of us began circling the cla.s.sroom, wary of each other.

"Who are you?"

"Who I am is not important. I don't go announcing my name like certain shoujo manhua characters because I'm not a trashy bishounen like you, and I don't go around spewing supposedly romantic lines that actually come across as pretty cheesy."

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talkig about."

"You don't need to know. I'm taking her with me."

I gestured toward Ji Yan while standing between them. Boy, oh boy. And here I was thinking that my imagination was running wild when I suspected Xu Wu Cheng to be a vampire. I mean, that only happened in manga and anime! This was getting ridiculous.

Except that I forgot that a version of vampires existed in this universe as well. Whoops, so my suspicions were not as far-fetched as I imagined them to be. Wait…really?! HOW WAS THIS HAPPENING?!

Anyway, I had to put a stop to this ridiculous situation or Ji Yan would be turned into a vampire and blackmailed into betraying the Hunter's a.s.sociation…

"Huh, it doesn't matter who you are. But I need that girl. Anyone who gets in my way…will die."

At least he wasn't yelling the standard "courting death!" that Chinese manhua characters loved to spout.

The demonic mana around Xu Wu Cheng flared brightly, an ugly blood-red that took on a life of its own, writhing and extending its ravenous tendrils out, as if to grab hold of something. His bloodl.u.s.t was overwhelming, and the sheer amount of mana he exuded sent chills down my spine. His power level was reminiscent of the Black Swordsman, who I had barely managed to defeat a few months ago with the help of my friends. Of course he was a lot weaker than that monster, which was a relief, but even so…

This guy was going to be a troublesome opponent. I knew there was no such thing as a guaranteed victory in reality, but I could feel my chances of winning plummet further when I saw how strong this guy truly was.

What was he, some kind of vampire prince or something? Wait, this wasn't fair! Normally you would only have a random encounter with a vampire underling or low-level crony b.u.mbling around in a cla.s.sroom, but this instance was like me running straight into a boss battle right from the start! No, no, no. There was no way I could survive this.

Swallowing my fear, I watched as the blood-red mana condense sharply around Xu Wu Cheng to form a protective aura before he lunged at me, deadly blood blades extending from his hands to puncture my flesh…

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