The Vampire Tycoon Secretly Loves Me - Chapter 15

“Buzz, buzz—”

Ye Linghan felt a vibration in his palm. He looked down to check his phone; a message had arrived from the black profile frame.

YC: “Where are you?”

This was… just two simple words. Ye Linghan couldn’t fathom his thoughts.

“Alright, comrades, head upstairs and get a bit of sleep. We start work as soon as it’s light,” Su Mo said, encouraging the team.

“Um…” Ye Linghan slowly raised his hand. “Can I go home for a bit?”

Su Mo looked puzzled. He checked his watch and turned around; Yao Qingluan also looked over curiously. “Is there something going on at home?”

Because he couldn’t give a specific reason, Ye Linghan could only answer vaguely. “Yeah, a little something.”

Su Mo didn’t press further. “Do you need me to drop you off?”

Ye Linghan shook his head hurriedly. “No, no, it’s not far from my place. I can make it back on my own. You guys get some rest.”

Whether it was actually far or not, he didn’t really know. He was just afraid that if Yin Chen happened to be nearby, he might miss his chance to catch a ride.

Fortunately, Su Mo didn’t insist. He simply nodded. “Alright then, stay safe. Since you’re an intern and it’s quite late, you don’t have to force yourself to come in early tomorrow. Prioritize your sleep quality, but try not to be late.”

“Okay,” Ye Linghan responded. He opened the car door and stepped out. At this hour, the streets were very quiet. Neon lights mingled with starlight, spilling onto the road in a rare moment of peace and tranquility while the rest of the world was immersed in dreams.

A flash of silver-gray by the roadside caught Ye Linghan’s eye.

He hadn’t guessed wrong; Yin Chen had indeed come.

The driver standing by the car saw Ye Linghan’s figure. He leaned down and whispered something toward the half-open window. The window slowly rolled up, sealing everything inside away from the world.

As Ye Linghan approached, the driver bowed his head. “The Young Master is waiting for you inside.”

“Okay,” he replied with a smile.

The moment he opened the door, Ye Linghan immediately adjusted his emotions, trying his best to appear calm and collected so he could answer Yin Chen’s questions without panic.

“Young Master, aren’t you resting yet?” Ye Linghan took the initiative to strike.

He stole a glance at Yin Chen, only to see him leaning against the back of the seat with his eyes closed. His chin was slightly raised, revealing a slender, elegant neck.

Looking at Yin Chen, Ye Linghan’s Adam’s apple bobbed involuntarily. He admitted it—he was a sucker for a pretty face.

“How much longer do you plan on staring?”

The sound of the car starting broke Ye Linghan’s fantasy.

“No, I wasn’t…”

“If you don’t want to look at me, who else do you want to look at?”

“No, it’s not that.”

Oh boy, Ye Linghan was on the verge of a breakdown. This Young Master really acted on every whim.

“Have you forgotten what day it is today?” Yin Chen asked him, finally stopping the unreasonable teasing.

Huh? Ye Linghan’s heart skipped a beat. What day was today? He mentally went through every holiday he could remember from top to bottom, even thinking back to the first time he went to the Yin family home, but nothing matched this date.

After racking his brain for a long time without reaching a conclusion, he confessed honestly, “May I ask, Young Master… what day is it today?”

But he waited the entire way, and Yin Chen never spoke again.

It wasn’t until the car stopped at Ye Linghan’s residence that Yin Chen finally spoke. He reached out an index finger and tapped lightly on the back of the driver’s seat. The driver, confused, turned around and said respectfully, “Boss.”

“Raise the partition.”

“Yes, sir.”

To the driver, these words were like a bolt from the blue. He hadn’t realized that because he had been groggily woken up by Yin Chen to drive, he had forgotten to raise the partition in his haze. He only prayed Yin Chen would be merciful and not dock his pay.

Luckily, Yin Chen didn’t seem to care.

Just as Ye Linghan was about to move to help open the door for Yin Chen, he was pinned down by the thigh. “Don’t move.” The coldness of the palm sent a shiver through his heart.

Is this man’s body temperature like a chameleon’s? It changes whenever he wants…

The door beside him was pulled open. Before Ye Linghan could even get one leg out, Yin Chen leaned over and swept him up into a horizontal carry.

“You…” Fearing he might fall, Ye Linghan instinctively hooked his arms around Yin Chen’s neck, burying his face against the side of his throat.

His feelings toward Yin Chen were becoming increasingly blurred. He wasn’t sure if it was because of his own internal changes affecting his judgment, but he felt that lately, their relationship was no longer “pure.” It had taken on a bit of color.

Yin Chen carried Ye Linghan steadily all the way into the bedroom and placed him on the bed. Then, without a word, he pressed his body down over him.

“You…” Ye Linghan was a bit flustered. He felt that Yin Chen’s cryptic behavior was leading up to something big. However, one of his hands was braced against Yin Chen’s chest in a gesture of “refusal” that felt more like an invitation—feigning a retreat to better lure the predator.

“At least tell me what day it is first, right?” Since he couldn’t remember, he might as well ask clearly. It wasn’t too late to mend the fold; he could treat it as preparation for the next time Yin Chen asked a random question.

“A day for recharging…” Yin Chen suppressed the restlessness in his heart and gave a perfunctory answer.

“Huh? Mmph…” Facing Yin Chen’s assault, Ye Linghan could no longer hold back. He arched his neck and surrendered to the sensation.

At eight o’clock the next morning, Ye Linghan dragged his exhausted body into the Investigation Bureau. He bumped right into Su Mo, who was eating breakfast, and Yao Qingluan, who was nearby organizing files.

“Whoa! Look at those dark circles. Didn’t sleep well?” Su Mo looked at him.

Ye Linghan nodded haphazardly. “Yeah. I had sleep paralysis… felt like a ghost was pinning me down.”

“Oh~” The two of them nodded meaningfully, though it was unclear if they actually understood or were just playing along.

“This is your workstation over here,” Su Mo pointed to the side.

By the window sat a wooden desk that had been neatly tidied.

“Want some breakfast?” Yao Qingluan asked, holding up a bag of buns.

Ye Linghan didn’t stand on ceremony; he nodded and took them. “I’ll have some, thanks.”

After waking up this morning, Yin Chen had originally asked the chef to prepare breakfast for him, but he felt it would take too long and feared being late for work, so he hurried out the door without eating.

As the three of them ate breakfast, they discussed the case. With an extra person, the human touch in the room felt much stronger.

Yao Qingluan looked at the report in her hand. “Judging from the appraisal report that just came in, this matter isn’t simple.”

“How so?” Ye Linghan asked.

Yao Qingluan handed the report over. Ye Linghan took it, and his eyes swept across it quickly, scanning from top to bottom. “Zhao Xingjian died of excessive blood loss?” He looked up at Yao Qingluan in disbelief.

The report clearly stated: Died three days ago due to hallucinations caused by excessive blood loss; subsequently, he locked himself in the car and died. Preliminary ruling: Suicide.

“Wasn’t it said to be the work of the Blood Tribe?”

Su Mo curled his lip and shrugged helplessly. “Nothing we can do. The police have limited resources. However, we should only treat their report as a secondary reference. We have to do the real investigation ourselves.”

“So the case won’t be closed directly?”

“Of course not.”

“Why?” Ye Linghan asked.

“Because I don’t want to close it. My intuition tells me this isn’t that simple,” Su Mo said firmly.

Ye Linghan froze for a moment, then spoke slowly, “You solve cases based on… intuition?” That seemed a bit too flippant.

Su Mo shook his head and explained, “It’s not that I solve cases based on intuition; I just trust my intuition. Besides, it doesn’t just come out of thin air, does it?”

Trust your intuition…

Then Yin Chen…

He took a frustrated bite of the now-cold bun, pushing those thoughts out of his mind.

“This Zhao Xingjian was so old. I don’t know which vampire has such bad taste that they’d go for him. And he could actually die from blood loss?” Ye Linghan frowned and set the report down in disgust. From the photos, this man was indeed the taxi driver from the previous time.

Perhaps this was karma—having the life to take the money but not to spend it. Although Ye Linghan had a bad impression of him—even loathed him—the man didn’t deserve to die.

“Pfft, maybe they have special preferences,” Yao Qingluan laughed.

Su Mo handed a stack of photos to Ye Linghan. “What do you think of these?”

Ye Linghan took the photos. There were shots of Zhao Xingjian from various angles. One close-up photo was of the side of his neck; there were two distinct blood holes, and the skin around the teeth marks was tinged with white.

Could the vampire who bit him be a sadist? There was something off about these teeth marks, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“Have you ever heard of the Abnormal Trace Research Department?” Su Mo asked Ye Linghan.

He was all too familiar with it. His best friend, Zhao Tang, worked there. That department was a very special existence; they only recruited once every three years, taking only two people each time. Zhao Tang was one of the lucky ones.

However, since he only knew about it because a friend worked there, he didn’t fully understand the inner workings. So, Ye Linghan simply nodded. “I’ve heard of it.”

“Then your information is quite well-informed.” Su Mo wasn’t surprised by the answer. “I heard they have the top equipment and technology. Anything others can’t detect, they can. But if they can’t detect it, everyone else is just wasting their time.”

In his memory, back when they were in school, Zhao Tang was often so busy he couldn’t even return to the dorm to sleep, spending every day in the lab. Hearing this, it certainly fit the style of the Research Department.

Since they were so capable, wouldn’t it be easy to solve the case if they asked for help? “Why don’t we just contact them?” Instead of taking the long way around and circling for answers, a shortcut would save time and effort.

Su Mo leaned his head on his hand and gave a bitter smile. “If it were really that simple, why do you think I haven’t gone?”

He lightly tapped a few other organized files against Ye Linghan’s chest. “Unless you’re the son or grandson of that stubborn old professor, there probably isn’t a hope in hell of getting a connection.”

“Though… looking at your age, being the son is out. Being a grandson might be possible.”

Finally, on his first day as a corporate slave, he had experienced workplace “bullying.”

“Get lost,” Ye Linghan laughed and cursed.

After the two of them exchanged a few more quips, the atmosphere felt noticeably more harmonious. The Investigation Bureau, which had been cold for a long time, gained a bit of human warmth thanks to Ye Linghan’s arrival.

“Brother, this is the newly provided and organized case file from the police side. I’ve printed it out,” Yao Qingluan said, placing a copy in front of each of them.

It had to be said that more people really did get things done faster. While the police side might lack a bit of “human touch,” their efficiency was indeed high.

“By the way, Qingluan, is there a detection report for the cigarette butt?”

“There should be.” Because Yao Qingluan had just received the report, she wasn’t entirely sure.

Ye Linghan looked down to check and actually found it. However, the content written on it was: [Composition: No abnormalities found]

Is there really no problem? Ye Linghan thought to himself.

Perhaps, as Su Mo said, the police equipment wasn’t capable of detecting all substances.

Fortunately, while at the scene, Ye Linghan had found a cigarette butt in a crevice of the car. He would find an opportunity to give it to Zhao Tang for testing.

But Ye Linghan didn’t plan on telling Su Mo or Yao Qingluan about this just yet.

“Is there a problem?” Yao Qingluan asked.

“I just feel that based on the style of the cigarette butt, it doesn’t look like a common brand on the market. How could a taxi driver like him afford high-end goods?”

“I just looked at his background. There aren’t many valuable clues, so let’s finish eating quickly. We need to do a field visit to make any progress,” Su Mo added.

Zhao Xingjian’s house was a considerable distance from the Investigation Bureau, so they had to drive. Yao Qingluan had woken up early and, coupled with the bumpy ride, was starting to feel drowsy.

Ye Linghan wasn’t exactly wide awake either, but he wanted to learn more, so he forced himself to stay conscious and flipped through the files.

The records said that Zhao Xingjian’s father had died of illness when he was young, and his mother had gone missing when he was twelve. He had never gone to school and had relied on himself his whole life. Because of his lack of education, he never married or had children, living as a loner for most of his life.

His life was considered unfortunate, yet his actions made it hard to feel sorry for him.

The car made several turns before arriving at an old-fashioned residential building with a garden. The paint on the walls had long since peeled and cracked, and the surface was covered in a thick layer of Boston Ivy. The bottom layers were a withered yellow, while the top layers were fresh, vibrant green—generations of growth that no one had ever cleared.

Ye Linghan followed Su Mo and Yao Qingluan out of the car. As soon as he came into contact with the air, he keenly sensed something strange.

“What’s that smell? Did you guys smell it?” The odor irritated Ye Linghan, making him uncomfortable. He frowned and sniffed; he couldn’t quite describe it—there was a fishy stench mixed with something sour and the scent of crushed greenery.

In short, the mixture was not friendly to the human sense of smell.

Hearing what Ye Linghan said, Yao Qingluan sniffed seriously. It was unclear if Ye Linghan’s sense of smell was too sensitive or if hers was underdeveloped; although she felt the air wasn’t fresh, it wasn’t enough to cause a strong reaction like his.

“It’s okay, though it definitely doesn’t smell good.”

“Yeah, feels like something spoiled, or maybe someone on the first floor is growing vegetables and used fertilizer,” Su Mo looked around, searching for the entrance.

“But it looks like this garden has been abandoned for quite a while,” Ye Linghan observed as she looked at the courtyard surrounded by a fence.

When they first got out of the car, they had been misled by appearances. It turned out the lush green atmosphere of the courtyard came entirely from the dense Boston Ivy.

The vines were racing to break through the soil to see the light.

Strange… why does the life force of the ivy here seem so powerful?

Ye Linghan narrowed his eyes and looked toward another small courtyard. He could clearly feel that, comparing the two courtyards, even though both were filled with greenery, the one in front of him was significantly more overgrown than the one in the distance.