Dinner time arrived. Looking at the lavish spread of dishes laid out on the tablecloth, Ke Bu gained a whole new respect for Zhou Xin He. That woman became a completely different person when she cooked. The timid girl turned utterly confident, transforming a jumble of ingredients into dish after delicious dish. It looked like this group’s one worthwhile achievement was recruiting Zhou Xin He.
Gong Zhu sat down beside Zhi Li and thoughtfully handed him a bowl and chopsticks. “It feels like I’ve never really spent time with Lord Zhi Li like this before.” Gong Zhu smiled, showing a row of white teeth.
“Is that so?”
Amid all the noise, Ke Bu could hear only the two of them talking. He ate as though he could not care less.
“Come to think of it, Lord Zhi Li probably doesn’t even know who I am. We’ve hardly ever spoken.” Gong Zhu looked at Zhi Li uneasily.
“I know you.” The moment those words left Zhi Li’s mouth, a strange restlessness stirred in Ke Bu’s chest. Gong Zhu’s face flushed because of that single sentence. Amid the chatter, Zhi Li calmly continued, as though merely stating a fact. “You like men.” The bombshell silenced the entire group. Ying Xiu Jie’s chopsticks dropped to the ground, and Chu Hao Yu stared with his mouth hanging open. Gong Zhu’s face turned even redder. “Why would Lord Zhi Li say that?”
The orange glow of the campfire made Zhi Li’s handsome face look even more captivating. Such a beautiful face was saying something so blunt and frightening. “The way you look at me is strange.” The atmosphere became indescribably awkward. Ke Bu racked his brains for something to say to break the tension, while Zhi Li looked at the petrified group and innocently asked, “What’s wrong with all of you?”
“Is that really what you should be asking right now?! Do you even know what you just said?!” Ke Bu accused him.
“Oh. I was joking.”
“Does that face of yours look like you’re joking?!” There it was again. This impossible-to-read bastard was not getting away with brushing things off in a single sentence. Gong Zhu laughed along. “Lord Zhi Li really gave me a fright.”
“So it was just a joke. Your sense of humor is seriously strange.” The others gradually returned to normal. They really had let him brush it aside with one sentence!! Ke Bu was not that easy to fool. Of everyone in the group, only Su You Yan and he could really be counted among the smarter ones, yet Su You Yan herself was an impossible woman to figure out. Ke Bu eyed Zhi Li suspiciously. Did this guy truly know nothing, or did he know everything? Was that naturally slow, handsome exterior hiding some scheming, high-IQ devil? Ke Bu gave a dry laugh at his own thought. Impossible. He had known Zhi Li for so many years. There was no way his inner workings were that complicated. He really was overthinking things.
In the middle of the night, Ying Xiu Jie shoved the sleeping Ke Bu awake. Ke Bu rolled over. “What?”
“Get up. It’s time to do something manly.”
“What exactly counts as something manly?”
“I heard a girl once hanged herself in these woods. Chu Hao Yu wants us to go find the tree she hanged herself from. A real man faces ghosts head-on.”
“Do you think a woman in a white dress is suddenly going to appear while we’re walking through the woods? Or a long-tongued woman will ride on your shoulders? Or your blanket will suddenly bulge, and when you lift it there’ll be a child lying on top of you? Stop dreaming. There’s nothing that unscientific in this world. I’m not wasting energy on something this pointless. You guys go yourselves.” Ke Bu was the type who avoided moving whenever he possibly could.
Ying Xiu Jie grabbed Ke Bu by the collar and dragged him outside. Zhou Xin He, Gong Zhu, and Chu Hao Yu were already there. Ke Bu narrowed his eyes and looked around. “Where are Zhi Li and Su You Yan?”
“Zhi Li’s tent is a demon’s lair. It feels like something terrible will happen if you go inside. I only opened the flap and looked in. It was pitch-black, and all I could hear was breathing, so… I backed off,” Chu Hao Yu said. Well, Ke Bu could not exactly say he failed to understand the feeling.
Zhou Xin He stammered, “Um… there are thumbtacks all over the ground in front of You Yan’s tent. There’s no way to get close. Can I not go?”
“It’s fine. I’m here,” Chu Hao Yu said. So this was his real objective: get the girls to throw themselves into his arms and rub their breasts against his arm. What a vulgar bastard. His brain contained nothing but breasts and asses. Not long after they entered the woods, everyone got separated. Only Ying Xiu Jie remained behind Ke Bu. Ke Bu idly swept his flashlight around while Ying Xiu Jie stayed on full alert. A little later, Ke Bu turned around and found Ying Xiu Jie gone too. What was wrong with these people, vanishing one after another? The pitch-black trees swayed into frightening shapes in the wind. Ke Bu yawned. So boring. He might as well go back.
Suddenly, a white figure flashed past Ke Bu’s eyes. His heart jumped, and he shone the flashlight in that direction. “Who’s there? Stop pretending to be a ghost and come out.” Clearly, Ke Bu’s realistic brain had no room for ghosts or spirits whatsoever. Zhou Xin He’s scream rang out in the distance and startled him so badly that the flashlight slipped from his hand and rolled into the woods. Seriously, why scream for no reason? Now my flashlight’s gone. In the lonely forest, Ke Bu sensed another person breathing besides himself. The sound drew closer and closer, right behind him. He turned and saw Zhi Li’s face by moonlight.
“So it’s you. Why are you here? Have you seen Ying Xiu Jie?”
“Disposed of him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ke Bu, do you believe in ghosts?” Zhi Li did not answer his question.
“No. Hanging ghosts, water ghosts, vampires, they’re all made up. I only believe what I see with my own eyes.”
“Oh?” Zhi Li’s expression turned subtly meaningful.
“Don’t answer me with that weird attitude!! And if you’re going to lie, at least come up with a better story.”
“Lie?” Zhi Li lightly touched Ke Bu’s temple with one finger. “Use that clever brain of yours and think about one simple question again. Why do I dislike strong sunlight?” Ke Bu studied Zhi Li’s flawless face. His gaze was so clear it seemed incapable of holding even a trace of malice. Cold sweat gathered on Ke Bu’s forehead. What does he mean? C-could Zhi Li be a vampire?!! Vampires were said to possess incomparable aristocratic beauty, and that certainly fit. He really did hate the scorching sun, he often vanished without warning, and nobody could understand his drawings. Maybe he was drawing the world as vampires saw it. Impossible. Something this far beyond reality… Then when he said Ying Xiu Jie had been “disposed of,” could he mean…
“N-no way. Something like that can’t be real. Don’t think I’ll believe you just because you casually say a few things. I believe in science. Right. There are no vampires. None.” Ke Bu sounded unconvinced even to himself. He backed away again and again until his back hit a tree and there was nowhere left to go. His face went pale. Zhi Li leaned closer and parted his lips slightly. The instant Ke Bu saw two alluring fangs, he squeezed his eyes shut. Is this where my life comes to an end? Zhi Li leaned to his ear. “I’ll bury your body somewhere you like.”
“I’d rather stay alive and go somewhere I like!!” Ke Bu’s voice trembled.
Zhi Li’s teeth moved to Ke Bu’s slender neck and bit down lightly. A warm shiver ran through the spot he touched, and Ke Bu’s thoughts grew hazy. Being this close to Zhi Li… being bitten so lightly by Zhi Li… why does it feel so… He mentally slapped himself. I’m about to die. This is not the time to be moved.
Ke Bu finally abandoned his pride and clutched Zhi Li’s sleeve, almost begging. “Everything before was my fault. Give me one chance to become a decent person again, please. I won’t tell anyone. Don’t, don’t turn me into a vampire. I don’t want to sleep in a coffin.” Zhi Li finally lifted his head. Wearing that harmless expression again, he took the fake fangs out of his mouth and tossed them onto the ground. “You really believed it.” That one short sentence left Ke Bu speechless. Could anything possibly be more humiliating than this? Veins nearly bulged from his forehead as he forced the words viciously through his teeth. “Zhi~~~ Li~~~~”
A flashlight beam swept over. Ke Bu squinted against the light, and Gong Zhu’s voice came from nearby. “So you two are here.”
Chu Hao Yu, Ying Xiu Jie, and Zhou Xin He were there too. Chu Hao Yu asked, “What are you two doing here?”
“Ke Bu begged me not to turn him into a vampire.”
Chu Hao Yu and Ying Xiu Jie looked at Ke Bu’s ashen face and burst out laughing. “Hahaha, I’m dying. What era is this? Ke Bu, you actually believed something like that? Hahahaha, you’re even more naïve than I thought.” Go on, laugh. Laugh all you want. Ke Bu had lost every shred of face and did not even have the energy to argue back. Zhi Li had already drained all his strength. He only wanted to flee, crawl into some cave where nobody could see him, and spend the rest of his life there. Su You Yan appeared too, wearing a white dress, startling everyone.
“Why are you here too?”
“Taking a walk,” Su You Yan answered briefly.
“Who goes for a walk in a place like this in the middle of the night wearing a white dress?!!!”
After all that commotion, Ke Bu weakly crawled beneath his blanket and pressed a palm to his neck. The warmth Zhi Li had left there was still present. Faint, shallow, almost imperceptible, yet tugging at the edges of his reason.