The Vampire Tycoon Secretly Loves Me - Chapter 17

Yin Chen cast a barrier around the perimeter to prevent nearby residents from seeing them.

Once they were airborne, their field of vision widened significantly.

“Ling Han, have you discovered anything?” Su Mo asked, standing by the window.

Although he couldn’t say he knew Yin Chen well, since the man could be of help, Su Mo tacitly accepted his involvement.

“Don’t you think the growth of this vegetation is very strange?” Ye Linghan said calmly. Suddenly remembering something, he looked up at the helpless Su Mo and let out a laugh. “Sorry, I forgot you probably can’t see it.”

He had chosen to come outside precisely because his range of observation had been limited from within the room.

“Pass me the camera; I’ll take some photos.”

Yao Qingluan handed the camera over.

Ye Linghan observed the path of the Boston ivy’s stems. On the section of the wall between the first and second floors, there were only a few sparse stems rooted into the wall for stability. However, upon reaching the second floor, a multitude of branches erupted from the main trunk. It was as if there were abundant nutrients inside the wall, causing those branches to scramble to root themselves inward.

Even though some had fallen off when he grabbed the vines for leverage during his earlier fall, the contrast remained stark.

Ye Linghan reached out to push aside the tangled stems; most of the roots were burrowed beneath the windowsill of Zhao Xingjian’s home.

“Can you lower me a bit?” Ye Linghan placed one hand on Yin Chen’s arm, his back pressed tightly against the other man’s chest.

Yin Chen complied and descended.

Ye Linghan took photos from different angles and brought them back inside. Yin Chen followed closely behind him.

“Young Master, why did you suddenly come here?” Ye Linghan knew Yin Chen’s earlier remark was just teasing; there had to be a reason for his presence.

“To find Zhao Xingjian.”

Yin Chen was actually involved in this matter as well. Alarm bells rang in Ye Linghan’s head; he couldn’t imagine what grievance existed between these two, as he had never seen Yin Chen and Zhao Xingjian in the same frame before.

Su Mo shifted his gaze rapidly toward Yin Chen, staring at him as he asked, “What are you looking for him for?”

Yin Chen remained unbothered. “He is my younger brother’s driver, but he hasn’t been seen for some days. Fearing something might have happened, I came to help search for him.”

“Yin Ste?” Ye Linghan asked.

Yin Chen nodded. “Yes.”

“Then why didn’t he come?” Ye Linghan was puzzled. Usually, the person whose driver is missing is the one responsible for finding them. Besides, for a mere driver, it seemed like a lot of fuss to have the big boss help—where were the subordinates?

“Is there something urgent? Something that requires you to show up personally to find him?” Ye Linghan looked at Yin Chen with an unreadable expression.

To the side, Su Mo and Yao Qingluan turned their heads back and forth, watching the psychological chess match between the two.

Yin Chen crossed his arms, his expression flat. “He stole confidential company documents. As for me… I am here because I heard you were here.”

“Oh, alright.” Ye Linghan was momentarily choked up. Faced with these suddenly sweet words, he didn’t know how to respond for a moment.

Yin Chen’s cold eyes flickered toward Ye Linghan, a trace of a faint smile playing on his lips. “Don’t overthink it.” Stopping halfway, Yin Chen leaned down and whispered into Ye Linghan’s ear: “I’m just afraid that if something happens to you, no one will be left to warm my bed.”

Who’s overthinking! In an instant, Ye Linghan looked like a miffed young bride, giving him a harsh glare. What was so good about a cold, dull vampire anyway? He was so freezing that one would wake up from the cold while hugging him. Moreover, one might be swallowed whole one day, dying without even needing cremation—just turning into a sheet of dry skin and a skeleton.

Ye Linghan was magnanimous enough not to bicker. He shrugged and tilted his head. “A pity you came late. He’s been gone for a while.”

“Yes, I know,” Yin Chen replied nonchalantly, acting as if it had nothing to do with him.

True, what could Yin Chen not know? If he wanted to, he would always get first-hand information.

No wonder Zhao Xingjian could afford to smoke cigarettes worth four thousand yuan a piece. Based on the current analysis, there were two possibilities: first, as Yin Ste’s driver, having money wasn’t necessarily strange; second, he could have made a lot of money selling stolen data to a competitor.

“Then do you know any other useful information?” Ye Linghan figured it was better to use what was available, so he decided to ask for more clues while he could.

“Asking for help with such an attitude?” Yin Chen teased him intentionally.

“You—”

Ye Linghan was about to retort, but Yin Chen didn’t give him the chance.

“Zhao Xingjian did not die at the hands of the Blood Clan. I saw the pictures; the bite marks were thick and deep, looking more like something someone did intentionally.”

“How do you know?” Su Mo asked.

Yin Chen arched an eyebrow. Although he was answering Su Mo, his eyes were fixed on Ye Linghan. “Because there will always be a living person who has experienced it.”

Is something wrong with him! Has he been possessed by a ghost these past few days? Ye Linghan glared at him indignantly. If he didn’t know how to speak, he should stay quiet; no one would take him for a mute.

He could naturally hear the underlying meaning in Yin Chen’s words.

Upon hearing this, Su Mo and Yao Qingluan looked at Ye Linghan with a hint of concern, their heads turning in unison as if to say—Please, tell us your story.

Ye Linghan didn’t dare receive their signals at all, doing his best to avoid eye contact. While his subtle relationship with Yin Chen was no secret to those two, it was a matter of “see it but don’t say it.” If he were suddenly forced to say it himself, it would be somewhat shameful.

He can forget about having anyone warm his bed ever again. If he gets an ‘urge,’ he can just hold it in, Ye Linghan swore silently. He couldn’t let this mischievous person drink another drop of his blood!

However, returning to the matter of Zhao Xingjian, what Yin Chen said was indeed a fact. Ye Linghan thought back carefully; whenever he was bitten by Yin Chen, although there was discomfort, the wound’s shape was at least aesthetic.

Furthermore, the saliva of the Blood Clan possessed healing properties. During the licking process, the wound would inevitably be coated. Even if it didn’t heal instantly, it certainly wouldn’t end up looking like that.

Moreover, even when Yin Chen had lost his mind in a frenzy and bitten him, there had never been such terrifyingly deep punctures.

“That’s true,” Ye Linghan murmured.

“You mean Zhao Xingjian’s death wasn’t actually the work of the Blood Clan, so it should be handed back to the police?” Su Mo’s face was full of worry as he stood to the side, leaning his head on his hand, clearly dazed by the twists and turns.

Ye Linghan glanced at Yin Chen and instantly understood. He spoke up to counter: “Of course not. The wound might not have been caused by a vampire’s bite, but that doesn’t guarantee the cause of death wasn’t related to the Blood Clan. Therefore, the Blood Clan cannot be completely exonerated from this whole affair.”

Su Mo felt a bit depressed; he had thought he could toss this hot potato away, but his dream was shattered too quickly.

“By the way.” Ye Linghan took the camera from Yin Chen and handed it to Yao Qingluan. “I just discovered that the climbing plants near Zhao Xingjian’s house are growing particularly lush, and their stems are much thicker.”

As he spoke, he handed the evidence bags to Su Mo and Yao Qingluan, respectively.

Su Mo compared the two samples. Indeed, just as Ye Linghan said, the stems of the Boston ivy closer to Zhao Xingjian’s house were sturdier, as if they had absorbed more nutrients. “So there’s something wrong with his house?” He tapped the floor with his toe, making a “da, da” sound.

“That’s what I’m thinking. However, it’s not realistic for us to pry up all the floorboards. Let’s look for clues first, and once we have a lead, we can solve it all at once.”

They did their best to maintain the scene while not missing a single corner in their investigation.

Ye Linghan circled the living room. When he reached the sofa, he hadn’t intended to pay much attention, but for some reason, a strong sensation suddenly rose in his heart, as if it were guiding him.

Just as Su Mo said, he chose to believe this feeling didn’t appear out of thin air. Thus, he specifically took note of the area around the sofa. Sure enough, he almost missed a tiny trace.

At the part where the bottom of the sofa touched the floor, a floorboard was slightly bulging. If one didn’t look closely, it was impossible to see, and the dust on the ground showed clear signs of dragging.

But it was only a tiny drag mark of about one centimeter, very difficult to find beneath the scattered clutter.

Ye Linghan crouched down and pressed the bulging floorboard with his hand.

“There seems to be something here.”

Hearing this, Su Mo and Yao Qingluan hurried over. Yao Qingluan used the camera to take photos from various angles for evidence, and then Ye Linghan assisted Su Mo in moving the sofa.

Looking at the large area of scratches under the sofa, they were even more certain that this place had been tampered with.

Wearing gloves, Ye Linghan fiddled with the gap between two floorboards. It was loose; it felt like it could be lifted.

He turned back and asked Su Mo, “Pry it open?”

Su Mo nodded. “I’ll help you.”

“Wait a moment.” Yin Chen, who had been silent to the side, suddenly spoke and walked over.

He raised his hand, and a barrier was instantly draped over the three of them. For a moment, it felt like water flowing down from above before turning invisible.

Watching this process, Ye Linghan asked, “What is this?”

“A precaution. It can protect you for a certain amount of time, isolating harmful gases and minor injuries. But if it’s something particularly powerful, you’ll just have to look out for yourselves.”

Yin Chen was always like this—clearly helping out of kindness, yet always having to say something unpleasant at the end.

“Thank you,” Su Mo thanked him stiffly.

The two boys did the physical labor while Yao Qingluan stood by, recording the process with her camera.

Initially, through observing the path of the ivy outside the window, Ye Linghan guessed that there might be plant roots under the floorboards. After all, the house was so dirty and messy that it wasn’t fit for humans, but it wasn’t necessarily unfit for plants.

But when the sofa was moved, he killed that thought deep inside. Only the floorboards under the sofa were pushed up, while the surrounding ones were flat. If it were plant roots, how could they skip the distance between the window and the sofa to reach directly underneath it?

Carrying a sense of curiosity, when the two men pried the floorboards open one by one, a bizarre and terrifying scene appeared before everyone.

“Ah!” Yao Qingluan, who was recording to the side, almost lost her voice as she screamed. She covered her mouth, her eyes widening in sheer disbelief.

Hearing the cry, Yin Chen, who had probably lived long enough to keep his emotions stable, walked over.

But Ye Linghan and Su Mo, who were closest, weren’t so lucky. They took the hit head-on. Upon seeing the image before them, their pupils shrank instantly, and both retreated simultaneously.

“Holy crap!” Su Mo’s brain short-circuited for a moment, and he couldn’t help but curse. As he instinctively backed away, he tripped and sat directly on the floor.

But he instinctively thought of Yao Qingluan; he struggled to his feet to stand in front of her, tremblingly covering her eyes. Even though he was terrified himself, he still comforted her softly, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid…”

Ye Linghan fared slightly better; when he dodged, his back hit Yin Chen’s leg, allowing him to barely steady himself without falling.

Before their eyes, appearing beneath the floorboards, were indeed dense plant roots—but entangled within them were the grim, shattered fragments of countless tiny pieces of human bone.