I was on my own.

Fortunately, as I said, there were no other fatalities or serious injuries that occurred over the next week or so. But there was a near miss that caused some concern a few days later when I visited the library.

This time, it was really a coincidence. Even Miura couldn't accuse me of stalkerish behavior because I had completely stopped keeping track of Ji Yan's location and went off to do my own things (training or studying). But that didn't stop me from occasionally running into her and Yi Tai, and on that particular day, they also happened to be in the library when I was looking for a book.

What book, you ask? Books on ice magic, of course. The whole reason why I was in Teacher Einsberg's cla.s.s was to improve my ice magic, and right now I was currently seeking a way to weave my ice magic with my Constellation spirits.

Anyway, for some obscure reason, Yi Tai and Ji Yan were positioned just behind a shelf in a remote area of the library. If they were a normal couple, I would have dismissed them as a guy and girl flirting in a secret, shadowy area to do ecchi things. I mean, high school students were pretty bold these days. Actually, high school students had always been bold even a thousand years ago, during my previous life, and it seemed that hadn't changed across the millennium. It was widely known that several couples flirted in the dark recesses of the library, doing stuff that I had best left to your imagination.

However, Yi Tai and Ji Yan were not an ordinary couple.

Yi Tai was leaning against a bookshelf, his arms crossed as he impatiently waited for Ji Yan's information. She had been feeding him details about the Guang Zhi Yi Sect and Hunter's a.s.sociation, apparently, but as those details had nothing to do with me, I didn't pay much attention. I was probably going to leave them alone now because they weren't doing anything that would bother me. Ji Yan was faking normal behavior by taking a book out of the shelf.

Before she could pull the book out, though, Xu Wu Cheng suddenly grabbed her hand and pressed his body against her back in that flirty manner that shoujo manhua fans would absolutely love, but wouldn't make any sense in reality. h.e.l.l, Ji Yan could probably file a complaint against Yi Tai for s.e.xual hara.s.sment, but with him being a typical flawless bishounen character, he was going to get away with such outrageous behavior. b.l.o.o.d.y f.u.c.ker.

If I were to do the same thing to a girl (except Miura), I bet I would end up locked in prison for outrage of modesty. These double standards p.i.s.sed me off.

Yi Tai asked something that I couldn't be bothered to listen to, while Ji Yan meekly answered with a "no, not yet." At her negative response, Yi Tai huffed angrily.

"How useless!"

Yeah? How about you try and get the information yourself then, if you think you were not as useless?

However, Xu Wu Cheng's rage was replaced with mischief and he taunted Ji Yan in a sweet voice. "You must be punished."

"No…my teacher and friends are on the other side."

Ji Yan panicked, her cheeks flushed red as she protested. I frowned and turned around, almost jumping in fright when I saw Ji Yan's teacher and friends nearby. When did they…?! At least have some proper foreshadowing or something! Don't have random, nameless characters whose names would never be known because they would never show up again pop up all of a sudden just for the sake of plot development and to show how evil Yi Tai was!

Wait…what the h.e.l.l?! What was wron with their faces?! I almost blanched when I saw that their faces weren't drawn at all. Was the artist so lazy as to completely give their faces a skip when drawing them? I knew they were insignificant characters, but this wasn't the right way to tell a story!

Before I could rush over with a marker and draw natural features such as eyes and noses on their blank faces (which only sported mouths), the teacher spoke up.

"Ji Yan, have you finished reading books yet?"

…huh? Did you think Ji Yan was reading a book behind a shelf? There were rows of chairs and benches right next to the shelves for students to sit down and read. And if she knew you were waiting for her, she should just grab a book and proceed to one of those benches to read, right? Why would you ever think she was reading a book behind a shelf right now? I get that it was possible that she was browsing, and many people did browse behind a shelf, but that was because they were unsure whether this was the book they wanted to read or borrow. Wouldn't a more logical question be, "have you managed to find your book?"

Jeez, the lack of logic and common sense in this scene was making me bury my face in my palm. I had best seek out the original author and yell out the fixes. Did no one edit Vampire Sphere or proofread it before actually publis.h.i.+ng it?!

"Um…give me a few minutes and I'll be done!"

With no other recourse, Ji Yan tried to stall for time before her teacher and friends reached her position and see what was happening. As for me, I wanted them to discover Xu Wu Cheng's true nature, so I wordlessly encouraged them to go over and see him sucking her blood. Obviously I couldn't tell them aloud what was going on or Xu Wu Cheng would be forewarned, stop and pretend that he was flirting intimately with Ji Yan. So I just waved them over. The three of them stared at me curiously when I gestured toward where Ji Yan was, but decided to hasten their steps.

"What's taking you so long?"

Well…you thought she was reading, right? Being a teacher, you should be the one most familiar with how time consuming reading was. What kind of stupid question was that? Now, if she had asked earlier if Ji Yan had found the book she was looking for, the present question would have made a lot more sense. This indicated a severe lack of planning or outlining on the original author's part.

"We're coming!" Ji Yan called out, fl.u.s.tered, trying to do anything to delay their approach as Xu Wu Cheng continued to suck her blood. Huh? "We"? So did the trio already know that Xu Wu Cheng was with her?

At that moment, Xu Wu Cheng lifted his head from Ji Yan's neck, blood still trickling from his mouth. I stifled a groan, disappointed that the trio wouldn't catch him in the act of drinking blood now. That would have saved me a lot of trouble.

However, I suddenly had a bad feeling about the situation.

As if irritated that the teacher and cla.s.smates were coming over to interrupt his blood-drinking session and spoil his fun, Yi Tai/Xu Wu Cheng decided to take revenge by…pus.h.i.+ng the bookshelf over so that it would fall on them.

Except that the bookshelf missed the trio entirely.

Well, duh? I didn't know what Xu Wu Cheng was trying to pull, but he had to be really stupid if he thought the teacher and friends would be right in front of the bookshelf. They were walking down the aisle between bookshelves to get to Ji Yan's position. Only in a poorly written webcomic would the bookshelf unnaturally land on the trio because…quite frankly, if you had them walking toward Ji Yan, they would be in the aisle, not in front of the bookshelf! Not unless the webcomic artist decided to magically teleport the three of them from the aisle and into right in front of the bookshelf!

As it turned out, I was the one in most danger because I happened to be grabbing a book from the shelf. I quickly jumped out from between the shelf and stumbled into the aisle just as the bookshelf toppled over, only for it to knock the one in front of it and cause a domino effect where all the bookshelves in the same row fell over. As the wooden frames all collapsed one after another, Xu Wu Cheng and Ji Yan were exposed to the stunned sights of the teacher and cla.s.smates.

Xu Wu Cheng had the expression of someone whose plans had just failed big-time, which made me want to roll on the floor laughing. What, let me guess, you were intending to call the ambulance and pretend to be the hero who saved them while hogging all the credit and basking in the limelight while the girls heaped praises upon you? Dream on, you were not some shoujo manhua character…well, maybe you were the product of one. It was just too bad that you were in reality instead of a story, bro!

"Are you all right?" Xu Wu Cheng feigned concern, but it was too late. His hand had been raised, as if poised to push the bookshelves…which he did, of course, but he attempted to salvage the situation. The teacher stared at his hand, which he quickly lowered, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. It was just an accident, or so she told herself. Of couse the whole thing was an "accident!" There was no way the perfect Xu Wu Cheng could have pushed the bookshelves over on purpose!

…disgusting.

"Yes…it's fortunate that no one got hurt."

Well, I almost got injured! Had everyone simply forgotten about my presence?

"I'll send these two to the infirmary," the teacher said, realizing that the two students beside her were in shock. They were staring at the collapsed bookshelves in horror, still in a daze as their minds were unable to wrap around what had just happened. There were other students in the library as well, but none of them had been in the vicinity when the "accident" happened. How incredibly lucky. The teacher glanced around to make sure the other students were all right before she focused on the girl beside Xu Wu Cheng. "You look pale too, Ji Yan. You should follow us."

"N…no, I'm fine." One reason why Ji Yan was so pale was because she just had her blood sucked, but the teacher obviously did not know that. I could tell her, but the teacher would probably send me to the infirmary and request that I get treated for psychological shock or something. Ji Yan continued, "Please go on ahead. I'll see what I can do to help with the mess."

"All right, but don't overdo it."

As soon as the three left for the infirmary, Ji Yan turned to Yi Tai, horrified.

"They didn't do anything, so why…?"

Xu Wu Cheng smiled at her before turning away uncaringly. "Who cares about them? They're going to die anyway." When Ji Yan stared at him in horror, he continued mercilessly. "If you can't find *whatever random thing*, the Crimson Blood Tribe will drain the whole school's blood very soon."

I felt a chill when I heard that. It was clear that Yi Tai didn't even place me in his eyes, given how he made that declaration despite knowing that I was nearby. I had even recorded his words and was determined to expose him, but if he was that confident, it meant he knew how to cover it all up.

d.a.m.n it…what could I do to prevent that, if n.o.body believed me?!

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