Embrace That Vampire - Chapter 6

Pei Siyue was dumbfounded. “Son, is your bite strength really that good?”

Wen Xingchuan, sitting opposite him, said nothing, but his eyes said it all.

Pei Yun spat out the remains of the spoon, which hit the ceramic bowl with a crisp clink. He lowered the bare handle in slow motion, falling into a state of self-doubt: Is it true? Snapping metal with a mere mouth—have I evolved?

Wen Xingchuan handed over a fresh small spoon. “Xiao Yun, if it’s broken, just toss it. Use this one—”

Pei Yun bolted upright. Not daring to look at Lu Que, he spoke with frantic speed, “No need, Dad! I’m full. I promised my classmates I’d play games with them tonight. Going back to my room now!”

With that, he turned and vanished upstairs in a flash.

Pei Siyue and Wen Xingchuan stared at each other. Lu Que withdrew his gaze, his eyes falling on the broken spoon with a pensive look.

“Xiao Yun looks like he’s lost some weight,” Wen Xingchuan remarked as he served a bowl of soup for Pei Siyue.

“Right?” Pei Siyue rested her chin on her hand. “He barely had any meat on his bones to begin with. I was planning to lecture him about it later, but he ran off so fast.”

She let out a “tsk” and asked Lu Que on a whim, “Xiao Que, do you think Xiao Yun skips meals at school?”

Before Lu Que could speak, Wen Xingchuan laughed. “Xiao Que is busy with work. They’re just professor and student; they aren’t even in the same area most of the time. How would he know that?”

Professor Lu—who had recently caught a certain student red-handed for fainting in his class due to hypoglycemia from not eating all day—tapped his fingertip lightly against the table, neither confirming nor denying.

Pei Siyue sighed. “True. He’s such a big kid now, yet he still doesn’t know how to take care of himself at school…”

“If Xiao Yun is willing, he can move in with me,” Lu Que said suddenly.

Pei Siyue was stunned. “Move in where?” She was tempted, yet hesitant. “But… won’t that be a lot of trouble for you?”

“It won’t,” Lu Que replied.

While he didn’t have experience looking after children, Pei Yun was already twenty years old. Raising a grown young man… it shouldn’t be too difficult.

In the bathroom, Pei Yun was intently observing his supposedly “evolved” canines.

He leaned close to the mirror, pulling at the corners of his mouth to look closely. They were very white, with a normal level of sharpness. He tapped them with his index finger; they felt very healthy.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

So, it wasn’t that his bite was too strong; it must have been that the spoon was old and needed replacing anyway.

He took a shower and went out to find his phone. Tossing himself onto the bed to sprawl out on his back, he began to gloat in his group chat:

Beating Up Little Monsters: 【You guys probably won’t believe this, but I actually bit a spoon in half while eating just now. A metal one. /smirk /smirk】

Dorm Head: 【/thumbs_up Be careful not to chip a tooth.】

An Lan: 【?】

Du Jian: 【Really? I don’t believe it unless you bite another one right now and send me a video!】

Beating Up Little Monsters: 【I’m already back in my room. Next time, for sure. /fist】

Du Jian: 【According to you, if you’re biting iron spoons today, are you eating steelyard weights tomorrow?】

Beating Up Little Monsters: 【Yeah, and after the weights, I’ll eat you.】

Du Jian: 【…】

Du Jian: 【Fucking idiot.】

Pei Yun laughed until he nearly wheezed. He felt for a lollipop on the nightstand and tore open the wrapper, only realizing after he’d popped it into his mouth that he had already brushed his teeth.

Whatever. He easily crunched the candy to pieces and tossed the stick away.

I’ll just brush again in a bit.

An Lan: 【Serious news: Yu Nian has been recommended for postgraduate studies.】

Du Jian: 【Σ(ﾟдﾟlll)】

Dorm Head: 【How is it so fast? Isn’t there still half a semester until senior year?】

An Lan: 【Not sure. Probably because his grades are exceptional, so they made an exception.】

Yu Nian was in their class, but he had a bit of a temper and was rather silent and withdrawn. Despite being classmates for nearly three years, Pei Yun had never become close with him.

Beating Up Little Monsters: 【Why mention him all of a sudden?】

An Lan: 【Because his supervisor is Professor Sheng.】

Beating Up Little Monsters: 【Sheng Hui?】

An Lan: 【Mhm.】

Du Jian: 【That famously strict, stubborn, grumpy old professor who makes Professor Lu look incredibly adorable by comparison??? Yu Nian is that brave?】

An Lan: 【Mhm.】

Du Jian: 【A truly elite madman. But isn’t Professor Sheng also one of the lead professors at the IUPR? Does Yu Nian want to join them?】

An Lan: 【Highly likely. Yu Nian has always shown a great interest in blood research.】

Pei Yun did not like this Professor Sheng.

He had never taken a class with the man, but he had encountered him a few times during lectures. He was a very closed-minded, old-school professor; particularly, his stubborn views on vampires were truly unappealing.

Finding the topic stifling, Pei Yun changed the subject:

Beating Up Little Monsters: 【Anyone for a rank climb? My mechanics are feeling especially sharp right now!】

An Lan: 【+1】

Du Jian: 【/I’m_already_online.jpg】

Pei Yun grew sleepy very quickly. He didn’t even know when he’d drifted off. When he woke up, he found it was nearly midnight, and his phone was still on the “Defeat” screen of his game.

Exiting to the main menu, he saw a red dot on the mail icon—he had been reported by a random teammate for being AFK, resulting in a five-point deduction to his credibility score.

The WeChat group was filled with a string of @ mentions and two missed voice calls.

Watching Du Jian transition from disbelief to gradual irritability and finally to hopeless resignation in his rants, Pei Yun couldn’t help but laugh. But the force of the laugh triggered a sharp pang in his stomach.

Rubbing his belly, he realized belatedly that he was starving.

So, he had been woken up by hunger.

Strange. He had clearly eaten his fill at dinner; how could he be hungry again so fast?

Full of confusion, Pei Yun got up and threw on a jacket, planning to go downstairs to find something to fill his stomach. The hunger was becoming unbearable.

At this hour, everyone else had gone to bed. The house was pin-drop quiet, making the subtle sound of his footsteps on the wooden floor exceptionally noticeable.

That familiar fragrance appeared again.

He wasn’t sure if his sense of smell was malfunctioning, but he felt this fragrance was much more potent than the previous two times.

It felt… like the scent of a liquid.

It didn’t match the smell of any food he had ever eaten, yet there was a mysterious sense of familiarity. He felt he should recognize it, but he couldn’t put a name to it.

What exactly is it…?

“Meow—”

A lazy cry from a stray cat in the yard jolted Pei Yun out of his daze.

He stared at the closed door in front of him for two seconds before realizing where he was.

Wasn’t I going downstairs for food? How did I end up standing outside my Small Uncle’s door in a daze?

The sensation of sleepwalking while awake gave Pei Yun a fright. He slapped his own forehead hard and quickly turned around, thumping back downstairs. He ducked into the kitchen, his hand just touching the refrigerator when he suddenly realized something—

He had forgotten to turn on the lights.

Looking back, both upstairs and downstairs were pitch black. He had run all the way down here without a single light on, yet he hadn’t stumbled once.

What the hell?

Dumbfounded, Pei Yun pulled open the fridge. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t figure it out. He looked back several more times until his stomach let out an agonizing growl, forcing him to focus on finding food.

The family didn’t have a habit of eating leftovers; everything from dinner had been tossed. A quick glance inside the fridge revealed only fresh fruits and vegetables.

Blast with cold air, Pei Yun first grabbed a bottle of yogurt and inserted a straw, flipping through things as he drank.

He had already decided that if there really was nothing to eat, he would just gnaw on the two cucumbers on the top shelf. To his surprise, he actually found a small box of macaron cakes.

Pei Yun’s eyes lit up. Just as he reached out, he heard someone call his name from behind. “Xiao Yun.”

The voice wasn’t loud, but in the silence of the night, it sounded even deeper. The intonation was slightly raised, carrying a hint of confusion.

Pei Yun jumped in fright.

Still clutching the straw in his teeth, he whipped around. Lu Que was standing by the doorway, quietly watching him.

“Small Uncle, it’s you.”

Pei Yun let out a long breath and patted his chest. “You scared the life out of me. Did you come down for a midnight snack too? Want some cake?”

“No,” Lu Que replied. “I just came for a glass of water.”

“Oh, alright then. I’ll eat it by myself.” Pei Yun grinned and turned back to grab the cake.

Behind him, Lu Que—having confirmed it was indeed him—did not relax like Pei Yun. Instead, his brow furrowed even deeper.

If he hadn’t seen wrong, at the very moment Pei Yun turned around, his eyes were… red.