Chapter Twenty-Three: The Vampire’s Lair

The pale, gaunt-faced man wore a baseball cap, its brim casting a shadow over his eyes as he sat reading a magazine. The coffee on the table before him had grown cold after sitting there for ages, untouched.

Cheng Feng immediately recognized him as a vampire—he could smell it. He possessed the ability to discern the unique scent of the blood race. He hadn’t noticed it upon entering the café, but now he sensed the subtle, unnatural odor emanating from the man; it was likely masked by perfume or something similar.

“Careful, don’t let him notice us,” Liu Shiyu whispered, her head lowered as she stirred her American coffee with a spoon. “Those female students who’ve gone missing in the news lately are his handiwork. The intelligence unit of the Association has him under surveillance. Our target today is to eliminate him.”

“He targets female students?” Cheng Feng’s mood flared with righteous indignation.

“Don’t rush,” Liu Shiyu cautioned, worried that Cheng Feng’s temper would get the better of him. “Be careful not to alert the target.”

“He looks thin and weak—should be easy to take down with one punch, right?” Cheng Feng scoffed at their target. “Why bother with all these complications? Let’s just knock him out when he leaves.”

Liu Shiyu found his idea naive. “If it were really that simple, the task wouldn’t have been entrusted to an elite member like me—it would’ve gone to an intern.”

Cheng Feng understood. “So, is he one of those who seem weak but are actually strong?”

“No,” Liu Shiyu corrected. “He really is weak. But our main objective this time is to capture them all in one sweep.”

“He has accomplices?”

As they whispered together, the man at table number two with the baseball cap moved. His pocket rang; he set down his magazine, took out his phone, and answered the call, chattering away in a low voice.

While he was on the phone, Cheng Feng and Liu Shiyu immediately stopped their conversation, focusing intently. Cheng Feng relied on his enhanced hearing, a gift of his blood race constitution, to eavesdrop on the call.

But it was futile. The man was highly vigilant, speaking in a whisper that was nearly impossible to make out.

He soon ended the call, ignored his cold coffee, and went to the counter to pay—clearly preparing to leave.

Seeing their target about to slip away, Liu Shiyu looked at Cheng Feng. “Well?”

“I couldn’t catch much. From a few snippets, it sounds like he’s meeting someone.”

“As expected, he has accomplices,” Liu Shiyu had anticipated this. “Let’s follow him.”

They finished their coffees in one gulp and headed to the counter. Liu Shiyu kept her distance, trailing the man outside, while Cheng Feng went to pay, carrying a discount coupon Liu Shiyu had given him.

The maid behind the counter announced the total. Just as Cheng Feng was about to pay, a middle-aged man approached. “Please wait a moment, sir.”

“The manager?” the maid asked, puzzled.

Was he the manager? Cheng Feng looked at the newcomer with curiosity.

His hair was graying, his expression kindly, exuding an aura of peace and familiarity—he resembled an old gentleman.

The manager smiled warmly. “No need, the coffees are on me today.”

Cheng Feng found this sudden generosity odd. “Is there some kind of promotion?”

“No, I just sense a connection with you, young man. I hope you’ll visit our café often.”

“Thanks,” Cheng Feng replied, though still puzzled. But Liu Shiyu had already followed the target, and he couldn’t afford to delay. He nodded, accepted the kindness, and hurried after her.

The old manager watched the high schooler leave through the glass door, his expression calm and peaceful.

From the kitchen, Cat Xiaoju poked her head out, a little concerned. “Manager, are you sure it’s alright to let him go? What if…”

“He won’t say anything,” the manager shook his head gently. “He’s not an ordinary person—he has the constitution of the blood race, but the body of a human. In all my years, I’ve never seen such a thing.”

“Really?” Cat Xiaoju ran out, peering curiously outside at Cheng Feng as if he were a rare creature. “How strange—so half-humans really exist!”

“That’s right. At least this way, he won’t report to the Disaster Association,” the manager nodded. “Demon hunters don’t spare any monsters. As a half-human, he would be seen as one, too.”

“Is that so?” Cat Xiaoju blinked innocently. “The girl drinking coffee with him is Liu Shiyu, the famous demon-hunting maiden from the Disaster Association.”

The manager’s peaceful expression froze instantly.

…

After leaving the café, the man in the baseball cap met with a man in sunglasses who had been waiting. The two spoke briefly, then got into a black car together.

Liu Shiyu, discreetly following, watched all this unfold and brought Cheng Feng to their own car. She started the engine and gently pressed the accelerator, trailing the black vehicle.

“Where are they headed?” Cheng Feng asked.

“Probably back to their lair. If we follow, we can catch them all at once,” Liu Shiyu kept the blue sedan at a distance of two or three hundred meters from the black car—too close, and they’d risk being noticed.

Cheng Feng now possessed three level-1 superpowers: Blood Race Constitution, Super Strength, and X-ray Vision.

X-ray Vision had been left unused, but now it was time to put it to work. Cheng Feng used it from a distance, attempting to see if there were weapons in the black car’s trunk.

To his surprise, his vision pierced the trunk and revealed an unconscious girl in a school uniform from Qingye First High.

Noticing Cheng Feng’s sudden frown, Liu Shiyu asked while steering, “Did you find something?”

“There’s someone in the trunk—probably a captive taken by his accomplice. What should we do?” Cheng Feng was troubled.

Their original plan had been simple: tail them to their lair, then strike and slaughter them all. No matter how many vampires there were or how strong, with Liu Shiyu—the formidable monster-slaying machine—by his side, Cheng Feng was confident of victory.

He might even seize a few kills himself, awakening more of the system’s superpowers.

But now, with a hostage involved, direct action was out of the question.

Liu Shiyu had no solution either. “We’ll just have to follow and see what happens.”

They tailed the car for nearly two hours. Worried about being detected, Liu Shiyu slowed down, widening the gap to over seven hundred meters.

They relied on Cheng Feng’s ability to track the vampires’ scent. The baseball cap man’s scent was disguised by perfume, but his companion’s was not; the strong blood race scent gave Cheng Feng the edge.

Unwittingly, they had left the bustling city and entered a sparsely populated suburb. All around were abandoned buildings and dilapidated structures—a long-deserted area.

In this monster-ridden world, most suburbs were devoid of human presence, becoming territory or hunting grounds for monsters. The official government rarely sent demon hunters here, so no humans dared venture out—it was courting death.

The black car stopped before a particularly large, decrepit wooden house. The two vampires got out, dragging the unconscious girl from the trunk.

Liu Shiyu parked their car by the roadside, and together with Cheng Feng, crept through the grass and trees to observe the wooden house.

Thanks to his blood race constitution, Cheng Feng’s eyesight was sharp and clear.

When he saw the girl’s face, his eyes widened in surprise—he knew her.

ps: Sincere thanks to Coffee Filling for the generous reward, and to Shallow Sea's Fountain Pen for the monthly ticket. Or2