Chapter Three: Xia Qingyao

"I apologize for my words and actions earlier." Liu Shiyu lowered her gaze, bowed slightly to Cheng Feng, and spoke with sincere tone. "I was acting for the safety of the citizens. I hope you understand."

Cheng Feng hadn’t expected her to be so straightforward; her demeanor and words seemed far too mature for a high school student. With her having apologized, he, as a grown man, felt it inappropriate to fault her any further.

So he simply waved his hand in a polite gesture. "No problem. Such a trivial matter isn’t worth fussing over. Just settle the mental compensation fee for me."

Liu Shiyu was temporarily speechless.

Her eyes drifted toward the owl-shaped clock hanging on the wall. "Um, aren’t you about to be late?"

Cheng Feng glanced at the clock as well. Her interruption had made the time slip by; eight o’clock had long passed. Even if he flew to school now, he’d never make it on time.

"Consider yourself lucky. I’ll remember this." Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, Cheng Feng headed out the door, only to hear the girl’s voice behind him again. "Wait a moment."

"What’s up? Want my WeChat?" Cheng Feng pretended to pull out his phone.

"Why would I want your WeChat—no, that’s not it." Liu Shiyu, following him outside, nearly got sidetracked by his question. She rubbed her temples and steered the conversation back. "Aren’t you worried about running into that vampire again at school? She’s in your class, isn’t she?"

In her investigation over the past two days, Liu Shiyu had uncovered that Jiang Qian had masqueraded as a transfer student, infiltrating Qingye First High several days ago to prey on male students.

Cheng Feng had fallen victim the previous night; heading back now would be walking straight into the trap.

"That’s none of your concern." Cheng Feng couldn’t be bothered with her. He locked the door and left.

He intended to get his own revenge. While not a pure vampire himself, he possessed the bloodline’s physique and, moreover, the ability of Super Strength.

Liu Shiyu’s voice rose behind him. "Do you need help? My responsibility is to eliminate monsters, and I planned to act today. I can assist you!"

Cheng Feng didn’t even turn his head as he walked away, leaving Liu Shiyu feeling somewhat vexed.

In the Disaster Association, countless teammates wanted to partner with her. This was the first time she’d ever taken the initiative, only to be met with such treatment.

Yet she couldn’t find the words to protest, and could only watch Cheng Feng walk away.

"Beep beep!"

Her phone rang from her pocket. Liu Shiyu quickly regained her composure, pulled it out, and pressed to answer, holding it to her ear. "President, what is it?"

"Shiyu, did you find the boy you saved last night?"

"I did."

"How is he?"

"Probably just an ordinary person."

"That’s not the point. You haven’t made a move yet, have you?"

"No, President, are you worried I’ll get hurt? Don’t you know my strength?"

"As long as you haven’t acted. Listen carefully: your task now is to win him over..."

Liu Shiyu’s eyes widened in disbelief.

...

Bathed in the morning sunlight, Cheng Feng felt perfectly at ease as he walked. Vampires were said to fear four things: sunlight, crosses, silver, and garlic.

He wasn’t sure about crosses and silver yet, but the previous night he’d gone to the kitchen to sniff some garlic and found nothing repulsive about it.

It seemed, then, that his passive skill—Bloodline Physique—had merely preserved the vampire’s healing and special powers, while the gene and element for bloodsucking had been entirely removed.

Qingye First High.

At the school gate, the security guard didn’t stop Cheng Feng, treating his tardiness as nothing unusual.

In Class One, the teacher was writing on the blackboard with chalk.

Cheng Feng slipped in quietly through the back door, immediately glancing at Jiang Qian’s seat. It was empty; she was nowhere to be seen.

The female monster hadn’t come.

"Teacher, I have something to report!"

Just as Cheng Feng was about to quietly return to his seat while the teacher wasn’t looking, the class monitor raised her hand with righteous fervor in front of the whole class. "Cheng Feng is late!"

Cheng Feng turned to look at her in disbelief. Did they really have such a grudge?

Setting down the chalk, the teacher glanced back from the podium. "Cheng Feng, be on time next time."

"Okay."

Cheng Feng sat at the last seat by the window on the left side.

From the memories he’d inherited, the original Cheng Feng didn’t have a great reputation in the class, often getting into fights with neighboring classes or students from other schools.

Most of the time, his intentions had been good—often standing up for the underclassmen—which meant no one in his class ever dared provoke him.

Many of the boys even wanted to be his friends.

But—

There was one exception!

The class monitor, Xia Qingyao, was the only one in the entire class brave enough to stand up to him.

She exuded a big-sister aura, was fiercely intolerant of wrongdoings, had an intense sense of responsibility, and was meticulous in all she did.

As the teacher’s model student—excellent in both conduct and academics—she outshone everyone in the class. She even had an infuriating nickname:

The child other parents wish for.

She pursued fairness and reason in everything, protected the class’s interests, and was stricter than the homeroom teacher herself!

To her, Cheng Feng was the troublemaker most in need of correction.

Feeling her sharp gaze, Cheng Feng couldn’t help but glance at her. "Why are you staring at me? I know I’m devastatingly handsome, but please wipe your drool."

"How vain." Xia Qingyao looked away, clearly itching to ask something but stubbornly refusing to speak.

Cheng Feng withdrew his gaze, his brow furrowing. He was puzzled as to why Jiang Qian hadn’t shown up to school.

When the bell rang for break, a male classmate approached Cheng Feng’s desk with a teasing grin. "Hey, Brother Cheng, I thought you wouldn’t make it today either."

“Either?”

"What do you mean by that?" Cheng Feng looked up.

This classmate was Chen Yue, one of the original Cheng Feng’s troublemaking friends—always joking about risqué topics and racing through conversations, getting along perfectly with Cheng Feng, frequently flirting with girls and getting beaten up in return.

"Hehe, still pretending?"

Chen Yue leaned down, whispering with a sly smile. "Didn’t you go to a hotel with your girlfriend last night? She didn’t show up today, so how amazing are you that she couldn’t even come to class?"

Hotel?

That sparked Cheng Feng’s memory. Last night, the original Cheng Feng had been killed by Jiang Qian in a dark alley behind a hotel—probably spotted on his way there.

He hadn’t actually gone inside; Jiang Qian had led him into the alley for a most brutal humiliation!

Suddenly, a crisp snap came from the direction of the class monitor.

Cheng Feng covertly glanced over and saw that Xia Qingyao, who had been working on her assignments, had frozen in place—and her pencil had snapped in her hand.

She heard that?!

Pretending not to notice, Cheng Feng turned his attention back to Chen Yue. "How many people know about this?"

"Not many, don’t worry."

"Ah." Cheng Feng quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"The entire class knows!"

"..."

Cheng Feng wanted to punch him.

"Alright, I’m heading to the restroom."

Certain Chen Yue was distracted by lewd thoughts again, Cheng Feng left the classroom, not bothering with him.

After finishing his business, he returned to find a tall figure with a ponytail standing by the classroom door.

Xia Qingyao was waiting there, as if for someone.

He intended to ignore her and walk in, but Xia Qingyao’s dark, shining eyes locked onto him, her tone as cold as ever.

"You were late this morning."