The Vampire Tycoon Secretly Loves Me - Chapter 16

Zhao Xingjian’s home was located on the second floor. Vines crawled across the window, hanging down like curtains of greenery. This made the corridor dark even during the day. Likely due to a lack of cleaning, the floor was sticky with unidentified, years-old grime, and the walls were covered in patches of green and black mold.

“Can people really live here?” Yao Qingluan fanned the air around her nose, then covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve, tiptoeing to avoid the sticky, mysterious substances on the ground.

“For many ordinary people for whom survival is a struggle, having a place to shield them from wind and rain is already good enough.”

If he hadn’t met Yin Chen when he was young, his life might have been even worse than living here.

Ye Linghan thought to himself.

He took two pairs of shoe covers from his bag and handed them to Yao Qingluan and Su Mo. “Here, put these on. We’ll have to wear them inside anyway.”

This dilapidated residential area had no property management. The locks used by the residents were the old-fashioned large-head padlocks hung on the outside. Since they hadn’t seen Zhao Xingjian’s keys at the scene the night before, and the police hadn’t collected them either, their only options for entering to search for clues were to find a spare key or pick the lock.

They looked around the area near Zhao Xingjian’s door. There was no doormat or potted plants—it was empty, with no place to hide a spare key.

The soundproofing in these old, small apartments was poor, so calling a locksmith would likely disturb the other residents.

Thus, they didn’t consider that option.

And clearly, none of them were “straight-laced” people; they naturally wouldn’t choose a formal way to enter.

“Which one will work?” Su Mo muttered softly, examining the shape of the lock cylinder while rummaging through a toolbox for a matching tool.

Because he hadn’t tried this before, he wasn’t particularly skilled at it.

Click—

“It’s open?” Su Mo had just found a mold that looked about right and was preparing to try it when he saw the padlock, which had been firmly locked to the latch, now lying flat in Ye Linghan’s hand.

“How did you do that?” Su Mo was in shock.

Yao Qingluan’s hand, holding her tools, froze in mid-air as she looked at Ye Linghan in bewilderment.

The latter held up a piece of wire. “With this. I used to open locks all the time when I was bored as a kid.”

He tucked the wire into a hidden compartment in his backpack and pulled open the heavy iron door.

Creak— The door was a bit rusty, and the hinges weren’t smooth; Ye Linghan had to use some force to pull it open.

Su Mo stared blankly at Ye Linghan. “Why didn’t you say you knew how to pick locks earlier?”

Ye Linghan smiled. “You didn’t ask me.”

“Ahem.” Su Mo gave a feigned cough. “Well, you can’t use those skills to do bad things, okay?”

His tone seemed gentle, but it was laden with a warning.

“Don’t worry,” Ye Linghan responded.

The three of them entered the house. What met their eyes was trash scattered all over the floor. Yellowed tissues were stained with unknown liquids that had dried hard against the ground. Dust mixed with sand and grit was caked onto the floor; it clearly didn’t look like a place fit for human habitation. Even masks couldn’t block out the pungent odor inside the room.

“Ugh—” The moment Yao Qingluan entered, she couldn’t hold it back. She rushed out of the room and gripped the doorframe, dry-heaving.

“I’ll go check on her.” Seeing this, Su Mo hurried out to comfort her.

Ye Linghan wasn’t feeling much better than they were, but for the sake of his pride, he was forcing himself to endure it.

He silently pulled out another mask, layering them for double protection.

It helped a bit, but not much.

This person looked quite decent on the surface; how could his home be so unbearable? Ye Linghan suppressed the urge to gag and walked a few steps further in.

The room was very dark. The windows were blocked by the Boston ivy, allowing little light through—only a small portion flickered onto the floor near the window.

The low-quality, old wooden flooring creaked loudly with every step, and some parts were uneven, appearing as though they had been warped by water.

There wasn’t much furniture—only the most basic sofa and a TV cabinet, along with some small odds and ends.

The area of the apartment wasn’t large. Besides the living room, there was only one bedroom and a bathroom. Even the dining area was just a simple setup built on the balcony connected to the living room.

Ye Linghan was about to pull open a drawer to see if he could find any useful clues, but when he saw the thick layer of dust on the table, he frowned in disgust and pulled his finger back. He took another pair of gloves from his bag for double insurance.

Why is there no sign of life at all? Ye Linghan looked at the four empty drawers he had pulled open; there was absolutely nothing inside. Had it been ransacked beforehand?

“Has someone been here before?” Ye Linghan turned back to Su Mo, who had just returned after accompanying Yao Qingluan through her round of vomiting, and voiced his doubt.

Su Mo supported the pale-faced Yao Qingluan and glanced at the empty drawers. He also felt it was a bit too empty—it looked more like a place someone had moved out of rather than a normal living environment.

“Maybe. But since we’re here, let’s look for clues first.”

“I’ll check the bedroom; let’s split up.” Yao Qingluan was gradually adapting to the foul air. She pulled away from Su Mo’s support and headed straight for the bedroom. She was wearing two layers of masks, making her voice sound muffled, and she even found it a bit hard to breathe herself.

“Are you okay?” Su Mo’s face was full of worry.

Yao Qingluan felt too miserable to speak; she simply nodded and, with her back to Su Mo, raised her hand to give an “OK” gesture.

Ye Linghan walked to the window. The window was an old-fashioned iron-framed style that needed to be pushed outward. The stems of the ivy were very tough, and since the window frame was somewhat rusted, it took several shoves before he managed to push it open. He looked down from the window and felt that the growth pattern of the ivy was very subtle.

The place where the ivy flourished ended exactly on the second floor where Zhao Xingjian lived. Further up, it became abruptly sparse. The inner ledge of the window was quite high from the floor, so even if Ye Linghan leaned out, his movements were restricted, and he couldn’t see more details.

He made a rough estimate. The ceiling height of these old buildings was shorter than that of modern ones. For him, it was a safe height.

“Su…” Ye Linghan wanted to go out onto the external window ledge to take a look and intended to ask Su Mo to give him a hand, but when he turned around, he was met with the helpless feeling of “there’s no one behind you.”

It seemed Su Mo was staying near Yao Qingluan to help with her search.

In that case…

Ye Linghan leaned out to check the height.

It’s fine. I shouldn’t die from the fall.

He pressed his hands onto the balcony, pushing down hard to feel its stability. Feeling it was sturdy enough, he switched to a single hand, exerted sudden force with his core, and with one swift motion, he was standing on the windowsill.

Immediately after, Ye Linghan gripped the window frame. Out of caution, he gave it a hard shake. Once he was sure it was fine, he prepared to climb out.

However, this time, he miscalculated.

The seemingly sturdy external ledge had long since become brittle and decayed through the passage of time. While the wall looked solid on the outside, the interior was rotten, and because it was an old building with cheap materials, it couldn’t support Ye Linghan’s weight at all.

As his other leg made contact with the edge of the outer ledge, the joint between the bricks suddenly gave way, causing one of his feet to lose its footing. His body plummeted, and his adrenaline surged violently.

Holy crap! Ye Linghan lost his voice instantly; his scream caught in his throat.

The wind whistled past his ears. He felt his heart beating ferociously, and his arms suddenly lost strength from the impact. A sensation of weightlessness washed over him as his body fell rapidly toward the ground.

I can’t possibly file for workers’ comp on my very first day, can I?

At least I checked the height; it won’t kill me.

Ye Linghan endured the pain of his body hitting the wall and instinctively reached back to grab the stems of the ivy, hoping to use the friction to lessen the impact of the fall.

Just as he braced himself for the pain of hitting the ground, the expected agony did not come. Instead, he fell into an embrace.

Ye Linghan kept his eyes closed, trembling with the lingering fear of his narrow escape. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw a familiar face before him.

“Master, why are you here?”

Yin Chen retracted his wings and set Ye Linghan on the ground, supporting him. “If I didn’t come, was I supposed to just let you fall? I told you a long time ago that you shouldn’t come here.”

“I measured it; I shouldn’t have died,” Ye Linghan muttered under his breath.

Yin Chen raised an eyebrow and looked at him meaningfully. “What did you say?”

Ye Linghan quickly forced a smile. “Nothing, nothing. Thankfully, you arrived in time, Master, or I’d be facing a month-long tour of the hospital.”

In the grand scheme of things, the debt of saving a life was the greatest of all.

“Linghan!” Su Mo’s shout came from above. The noise from Ye Linghan’s fall was too loud; Su Mo had heard it from the inner room and rushed to the window. He had wanted to grab him when he saw him falling, but he was a step too late.

However, seeing Ye Linghan standing safely beside Yin Chen—whom he had met once before—he felt relieved, though still shaken by the close call.

“I’m fine, I’ll be up in a moment.” Ye Linghan clutched his arm, enduring the pain as he stood next to Yin Chen.

Even though Yin Chen had cushioned his fall at the end, the scrapes from the initial descent were still there.

Yin Chen folded his arms, looking down at Ye Linghan from his height. “Are you hurt?”

“A small injury, nothing serious. It’ll be fine in a couple of days…”

Before he could finish, a cold sensation spread across his arm, merging with the stinging pain and greatly easing his suffering.

Yin Chen’s palm was lightly pressed against the injured area, healing him.

“Better?”

Ye Linghan nodded honestly. “Yes, much better.”

“Is there anything you need my help with?” Yin Chen’s hand didn’t stop moving; the cooling sensation continued to ripple over Ye Linghan’s wound.

For a moment, two voices fought a fierce battle in his mind. On one hand, he truly needed the help; on the other hand, he held the principle that case details shouldn’t be revealed to outsiders—especially since the person was a leader of the Vampires, which felt somewhat inappropriate.

But if there was a need for a “cheat code,” it wasn’t impossible to use it. Ye Linghan thought, There is one small favor; I wonder if you could help, Master?

“Let’s hear it.” Yin Chen didn’t agree immediately.

Ye Linghan pondered for a moment and asked sincerely, “If I ask for your help, is there a price?”

The “price” he spoke of wasn’t some bloody collateral like a lost limb; it was nothing more than spending a few more nights with him and contributing himself.

Anyway, he’d just treat it as donating blood.

After all, given Yin Chen’s status, one night wouldn’t be cheap.

“I’ll put it on your tab for now.” Yin Chen seemed to be in a good mood and wanted to tease Ye Linghan. Like slowly boiling a frog, he didn’t state his demand immediately, deliberately keeping the other in suspense.

But with the case needing to be solved urgently, Ye Linghan didn’t care about that much. After all, Yin Chen had raised him since he was a child—he certainly wouldn’t screw him over. Besides, Yin Chen relied on his blood to get through those difficult days, so Ye Linghan wasn’t worried about this point.

“Could you carry me up to look at the ivy vines on the windowsill?”

Ye Linghan tilted his head up to look at Yin Chen. The man was a full 1.95 meters tall, more than half a head taller than himself. Every time they stood together, it was a struggle to look at him.

“You certainly have a taste for the finer things. If you like it, we can plant some at home.”

“It’s not for decoration, of course,” Ye Linghan said in a low voice. “I just feel… I feel like there’s something wrong with the way these vines are growing.”

But he also firmly believed that if he truly said he liked them, Yin Chen would definitely provide them.

After being treated by Yin Chen, his body didn’t feel as uncomfortable as it had at the start, though he still felt a lingering unease due to the psychological shock.

Yin Chen didn’t say a word after hearing this. Instead, he wrapped an arm around Ye Linghan’s waist, pulling him into his embrace, and a pair of black wings suddenly sprouted from his back.

Ye Linghan felt his feet leave the ground, and in an instant, he was carried into the air by Yin Chen.

Once they were closer, Ye Linghan observed the ivy. Upon seeing the direction of the root system, a strange sensation welled up within him.

As expected, there’s a problem…