After Being Marked by the Top Celebrity Childhood Friend [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 3

Not Scary

“Hmm?”

Lin Que froze.

Lu Ling was also stunned.

What kind of reaction is this?

Is my reaction wrong?

Then how should I be reacting?

“Lin Que?”

“Ah!”

Lin Que let out a cry, as if startled by her, and in the next second, she suddenly grabbed Lu Ling’s wrist.

Snap—

With a flick of her fingers, Jia Jia collapsed to the ground.

?!!

Lin Que released her wrist, seemingly talking to herself: “Why are you still awake? You should be like her.”

“…”

What now?

Should she apologize for this?

Lu Ling looked at the person slumped on the ground, then back at Lin Que, and said tentatively: “Then… should I lie down and sleep for a bit too?”

Lin Que: “…”

Lu Ling accurately grasped the main point. “Just now… you did that to make me forget you, so you really are a vampire?”

Lin Que glanced at her and sat down on the bed, adopting an attitude of “since things have come to this, I might as well give up.” Hearing this, she nodded: “Yes.”

“Last night—” Before Lu Ling could finish, Lin Que nodded first, giving an affirmative answer.

Her posture was open, carrying a sense of “the cat’s out of the bag anyway.”

“Then will I—”

“No.”

Lu Ling paused—actually, the facts had already answered for Lin Que. She was still human, without any changes; even the mark on her neck had faded in color. But she still instinctively asked why.

On the wall, the shadows of the two women intertwined.

Lin Que shifted her gaze. The edge of the sunlight cut across her eyes, and her pupils transformed into a pale, nearly golden color—just like last night.

Lu Ling unconsciously lowered her head.

—”Urban legends really do lead people astray.”

Lin Que stood up, her finger tilting Lu Ling’s chin up, forcing their eyes to meet.

“Vampires are not all the same. The kind you know about, who seem to have an infectious bloodlust—if they exist, their main area of activity probably isn’t around here,” Lin Que said. “I don’t even know if they exist because I’m not a professor of vampire demographics, nor have I seen them alive. The difference between me and them is like the difference between you and Chang’e (the Moon Goddess). Understand?”

Lu Ling stared at her, her eyes flickering and blinking. Lin Que froze: Did my tone scare her?

Lin Que sat back down, silently lowering her hand, her voice softening: “In short—”

Before she could finish, Lu Ling looked at her and said, almost to herself: “Then, why do you exist?”

Lin Que: “Hmm?”

“The prototype for vampires is the Porphyria patients of Medieval Europe. What about you?” Lu Ling gazed at her, her eyes calm. “Why do you exist?”

Why do you exist?

This was a proposition that had troubled humanity for millennia.

Lin Que’s hand in her pocket tightened and then relaxed. Dust motes teased the golden beams of light, falling together into the puddle of water standing between them.

“Because of the ocean.”

Lin Que looked at her and spoke.

—Because of rebellion, because of the ocean.

In Western legends, civilization originated from Atlantis, which disappeared into the sea; modern science confirms that the origin of life was marine organisms—water gives birth to all things.

Why did Lin Que enter the ocean?

Just as Lu Ling wanted to ask more, Lin Que had already stood up and walked past her to Jia Jia’s side.

“Will she not recognize you when she wakes up?” Lu Ling’s attention shifted back to a moment ago. “Or rather, can you selectively make her forget? But why did you have to make her sleep—”

“Stop!”

Lin Que raised her hand and lightly rubbed her temples, her voice weary and lingering: “You have so many questions.”

Lu Ling fell silent, but her peripheral vision couldn’t help but drift toward Lin Que.

Beautiful.

For thousands of years, humans have had an obsession with beauty that they aren’t even aware of. Beauty is tied to the background of the times, and since historical records began, the standards for a woman’s beauty have been largely similar, with “softness” and “charm” being key.

Lin Que possessed both of these qualities, yet also had a beauty that did not seem human.

When Lu Ling scrolled through Weibo, she discovered that among Lin Que’s massive fan base, more than half were former haters turned fans. The turning point for most was seeing her in person.

She was too beautiful; that face was flawlessly stunning.

Lu Ling was lost in thought when suddenly, that beautiful, perfect face zoomed in close—Snap.

“Hmm?”

Lu Ling snapped back to reality and looked at her.

“Tsk, how could it fail?” Lin Que said to herself.

“Do all vampires have this skill?”

Lin Que looked at her. Lu Ling weighed her words and added: “This kind of… supernatural skill?”

“No,”

Lin Que smiled brilliantly: “Only I can do it.”

“Then—”

“Silly child,” Lin Que interrupted before she could finish, as if they shared a psychic connection. “Of course, I’m not the only one,”

She paused, tilting her head slightly, her tone carrying a hint of novelty, “Vampire.”

Lu Ling gave a bitter smile: “That doesn’t sound like good news.”

Lin Que acted as if she hadn’t heard and moved Jia Jia to a wooden chair by the coffee table.

“—Snap”

Jia Jia slowly opened her eyes, looking around blankly. When her gaze landed on Lu Ling, she suddenly jolted awake: “You… you’re Lu Ling, right?! You… why am I here?”

Lin Que pressed a hand to her forehead: “This is her house.”

“Huh?! Then why are we here?”

Lu Ling looked at Lin Que.

Lin Que swept her index finger across the tip of her nose. Instead of answering, she glanced at her with an expression of speechless exasperation: “Exactly. Why did I come here?”

A counter-question replaced the answer, making herself the innocent party.

Jia Jia looked at Lin Que innocently and pitifully.

Lin Que nonchalantly toyed with her fingernails; silence spoke louder than a thousand words.

Lu Ling couldn’t bear to see Jia Jia being tormented by Lin Que like this and took the initiative to smooth things over: “Sister Jia, I will report for work on time tomorrow.”

The moment she finished speaking, Lu Ling felt Lin Que’s gaze fall upon her.

Jia Jia looked at Lu Ling with half-belief. Was she here just to notify her of the reporting time?

Lin Que didn’t give her time to figure it out. She put on her mask and walked straight out, as if she were speechless with anger at Jia Jia’s absurd behavior.

“Ah, okay,” Jia Jia’s eyes followed Lin Que as she ran out. “Sister!”

The door wasn’t closed tightly, leaving a slight gap.

Lu Ling stood frozen for a long time before coming to her senses.

Slap!

It hurt.

Well, it’s not a dream, Lu Ling thought.

Inside the nanny van, the only sound was the slight hum of the air conditioning. Lin Que sat quietly with her eyes closed.

Jia Jia didn’t know Lu Ling well, nor did she fully understand Lin Que, but she knew herself—she wouldn’t waste her time on an industry newcomer like Lu Ling.

Managing an artist, especially one of Lin Que’s caliber, meant there was no need to meet a new assistant a day early.

Even if this person was someone Lin Que had seemingly brought up herself.

Jia Jia looked at Lin Que through the rearview mirror.

Before she could recall the events of the interview day, the phone rang. Lin Que’s hoarse voice drifted lightly from the back seat: “Shen Yuchu?”

Lin Que took the phone. The moment she pressed the answer button, Shen Yuchu’s voice rushed impatiently into her ear: “What was the situation last night? You—”

“I’m fine.”

Lin Que’s eyes softened, her finger unconsciously twining around the end of her waist tie. “I’ve been managing my weight lately, and there were all sorts of situations at the event site last night… In short, I caused you trouble.”

The person on the other end of the line cursed rudely: “Go to hell!”

“Are you trying to disgust me on purpose?”

Lin Que wasn’t annoyed at being scolded; she became completely relaxed and gentle.

Last night was a New Year’s star-studded gala for a certain brand, and the atmosphere had been explosive right from the red carpet.

Whether the event organizers did it for hype or it was just a blunder by a newcomer, Artist A and Artist B discovered they were both girlfriends of Artist C at the same time. The two of them rushed fiercely into Artist C’s dressing room, and the three of them staged a real battle. As luck would have it, the “battlefield” was right next to Lin Que.

Like humans, vampires have lived through thousands of years of history. They live within human society, doing the same jobs as humans; they exist at the pinnacle of every industry, including scientific research.

Vampires still need blood, but they have long had a mature blood supplement industry. Vampire parents also give their children supplements from a young age, teaching them that they cannot just bite any human’s neck.

Therefore, fresh human blood was a temptation for them, but it was no longer like a “living aphrodisiac”—except in cases of extreme weakness or particularly large emotional fluctuations.

To fit the image of the sickly strategist Shen Jie in the movie Long Night, Lin Que had reduced her weight and muscle from 175cm and 62.5kg down to 47.5kg. Extreme hunger combined with a noisy environment led to a total loss of control.

She fled using her last shred of sanity, and the phrase “Famous actress plays the big shot again” hit the number one spot on the trending search list.

“I’ve already handled the trending searches,” Shen Yuchu sighed. “When do you join the crew? How long is the shoot this time?”

“Tomorrow or the day after—”

Jia Jia corrected: “Sister, you join the crew the day after tomorrow. It’ll be about two months, two and a half at most. Although Long Night is the comeback of a famous director, it’s not a big production—Director Chen is old, after all.”

Being old, he’d just put his name on it and, at most, film a few key scenes.

Lin Que nodded and repeated to Shen Yuchu: “Joining the crew the day after tomorrow, about two or two and a half months.”

Jia Jia’s eyes remained on her, nearly causing her to run a red light.

Lin Que hung up the phone and glanced at her without saying much.

Before Jia Jia could get the first syllable of an apology out, the sound of an Alipay deposit notification rang.

“Just now, I even fainted from low blood sugar at someone’s house,” Lin Que closed her eyes, hiding half her face in a blanket. “I almost thought I was really workplace bullying you.”

“Sister~~”

“Stop,” Lin Que closed her eyes. “Great love is silent. Shut up.”

“Okay!”

The light turned green, and the car started smoothly.

Lin Que didn’t see the smile that quickly vanished from Jia Jia’s face, nor the flash of loneliness in her eyes.

After arriving at the hotel parking lot, she looked at Lin Que, having made some sort of resolution.

As Lin Que unbuckled her seatbelt and prepared to get out of the car, Jia Jia turned around with a normal smile: “Sister, we only have one brand appearance tomorrow from 2 PM to 5 PM. You might need to wake up a bit early.”

“Mhm,” Lin Que said, pulling on her hat.

“There’s one more thing.”

Jia Jia looked at Lin Que tentatively, her tone sounding as if she herself were in a difficult position: “On the production side, the director said he wants to have dinner with the actors tomorrow night to get familiar with everyone.”

“Hmm?” Lin Que frowned.

Jia Jia braved the situation and continued: “Sister, it’s time for you to have a cheat meal too. You really gave me a scare last night.”

Lin Que usually never participated in these kinds of dinner gatherings.

She wanted to refuse this time as well, but seeing Jia Jia’s hand gripping her sleeve, she eventually nodded.

“Fine.”