"…"

Tangxue scooped up the humped bundle on the bed like lifting a sack of leaves, then dropped it onto the floor pallet like a puff of snow.

She dusted her hands with a crisp patter, moonlight-calm, and pulled a fresh quilt from her storage space, laying it out like a new layer of frost.

For someone with a mild obsession for clean lines and neat edges, a stranger on her bed felt like mud on white silk, even if the stranger was a freshly bathed little girl.

Qianyue poked out a tiny head from the floor mat like a sprout after rain, cheeks puffed, eyes round, and shot Tangxue a wounded glare.

Staaare—

Staaare—

Zzz…

Stare—?

Tangxue slid onto the bed and simply ignored her, sleep taking her the way dusk swallows the last red cloud.

That whole “I can’t sleep without a hug pillow” thing was clearly a lie; when your bones ache like wet wood, who still fusses over rituals?

"…"

"Big Sis…"

Qianyue wanted to curl in and act spoiled to Qingsheng Tangxue, soft as a cat to cream, but the weariness on Tangxue’s face made her pause like a hand in midair.

In the end she leaned close, brushed her hair against Tangxue’s shoulder like a feathered fan, then tugged the quilt up with the care of setting a lantern.

"Good night~"

Next morning.

"Big Sis, it’s dawn, time to get up…" Qianyue climbed onto Tangxue’s bed like a cautious fawn, and nudged the sleeping girl with a breeze-light touch.

It was month’s end, one of the City of Woe’s rare white mornings, a pale sun like a coin under ash.

Truth was, Qianyue didn’t want to go out at all; her heart wanted to doze by Big Sis like a kitten in a beam of sun.

But if she didn’t wake her now, the inn’s staff would knock like woodpeckers on a hollow door, and Qianyue was bad at facing such people.

"Big Siiis~"

"Five more minutes…" murmured the “pink bundle” on the wooden bed, her voice lazy as warm syrup.

Qianyue couldn’t help poking the pink bundle, her finger sinking in like a thumbprint on fresh mochi.

So soft…and that scent, sweet as spun sugar, made her teeth itch like a fox before grapes.

Her gentle nudges grew smaller, like ripples calming on a pond.

Sensing something off, Tangxue’s fog of sleep burned away like mist in sunlight.

"Qian—yue!" She suddenly rolled, hand snapping to the back of Qianyue’s neck like a clamp of cold iron.

Tangxue sat up, eyes flaring like flint, but they softened the instant she saw the hunger-mad glaze in Qianyue’s gaze.

Vampire instinct tugged like a tide toward blood, yet the last thread of reason held like a lone kite string in wind.

"Sigh… iced breakfast will give you a stomachache, you know?" Her voice dropped, gentle as rain on reeds.

"If you’re hungry, I’ll order breakfast." She smoothed Qianyue’s hair, pressing down the cowlick like taming a stray breeze.

"Qianyue, breathe… don’t let desire steer your body; people can want things, but don’t be a slave to the wanting; calm down, good girl…"

Her murmur carried a Merfolk lilt, soft as a shell-song, and Qianyue’s ragged breaths steadied like waves falling back into rhythm.

"Phew…" Watching Qianyue drift toward sleep, Tangxue let her breath go like a drawn bow unstringing.

She’d expected this, raising a Vampire was like keeping a lit brazier in a silk tent, yet one thing was firm—Qianyue mustn’t drink her blood.

After soothing Qianyue, Tangxue ordered breakfast as planned, then sat at the table and picked up the cup she’d worked on yesterday, the rim cold as a ring of ice.

Come on, water—come on, water… She swirled the empty cup, and water climbed the glass like dew filling a leaf, until she stopped it at half.

She stared at the cup for a quiet beat, then bit her index finger like making a vow in red.

A drop of strange blood fell with a tear, twin beads like ruby and pearl, and the clear water froze in an instant like winter seizing a pond.

She could only smile wryly at the small miracle, a wilted flower of a grin.

No matter how she diluted it, her blood turned water to ice; if Qianyue had really bitten her, death would’ve come like a guillotine.

Unless she were as monstrous as Qianya, a hurricane in human skin…

"Forget it… what if I just heat it?" The thought rooted like bamboo and shot up before she could prune it.

Her blood held too much magic, a storm in a thimble, more than she herself could tame; a single drop could feed that little girl for a month—if she could even swallow it.

If she warmed it, maybe Qianyue could drink, like thawing sap for easy flow.

So Tangxue actually set the cup over fire, the flame a small sun licking the glass.

By the time the waitress brought breakfast, the ice had melted, water loosening like thawed silk.

"I really am a genius! Hehe~" Her smile blossomed like a peony in late spring.

"Miss, your breakfast…" The waitress stood at the door with a cart, caught by Tangxue’s silly grin like a moth by lamplight.

"Breakfast, right… leave it there. My little sister’s asleep—don’t wake her." Tangxue’s voice was soft as a blanket.

"I see~ I’ll leave it at your door then, sorry to disturb." The waitress nodded and withdrew like a shadow at noon.

"…" That doting-aunt grin of hers felt weirdly greasy, like too much oil on soup.

Tangxue shook her head to clear the fog, capped the cup like sealing a talisman, and stowed it away.

Let’s hope we never need that.

"Qianyue, up for breakfast~"

You scratched me while I slept; now…it’s my turn, right?

Tangxue’s smile turned fox-bright, and her hands slid into Qianyue’s ribs like fish through reeds…

The waitress, not yet far, heard odd sounds rising from Room 634 like birds trapped behind a screen…

(The following has been tactfully omitted—)

Because their bed “exercise” had gotten a bit too intense, by the time Qianyue finished breakfast, the sun sat high like a white coin.

"Qianyue, get changed; we’ve got to go," Tangxue said, satisfied as a cat, wiping the corner of her mouth and popping a pastry like a cloud into her cheek.

"Big Sis… I already changed once," Qianyue muttered, shooting Tangxue a glare that sparked like flint as she kept nibbling.

She swore today’s breakfast tasted sweeter than yesterday, like honey edged with frost.

"Don’t fuss over details~ It’s daytime, okay? What you wore won’t work; I’m pre-screening for you," Tangxue said, light as a fan flick.

"Big Sis, we’re going out today too? It’s daytime…" Qianyue glanced at the window, worry like a veil.

"Yeah. Daylight in the City of Woe helps us make miles," Tangxue said, missing Qianyue’s odd tone, voice even as a metronome. "You can’t stay in the sun long, so change first; we’ll carry a parasol, and we’re fine."

"Mm…" Doubt still shadowed Qianyue’s face like mist. "Big Sis, do we even have a parasol?"

"We do!" Tangxue drew a light parasol from her storage space, violet blossoms scattered on the canopy like petals on snow.

"I brought it from home for… uh, anyway, it’s better for you now; I won’t need it."

"It’s so pretty… can I really use it?" Qianyue’s mouth opened a little, disbelief like a spark in the dark.

"Of course~ I’ve got no use for it now; consider it a gift," Tangxue said, stretching like a cat under sun.

"If you’re full, let’s go; we’ve got a long list today."

"Mm~!" Qianyue beamed and nodded, bright as a morning star.

Tangxue reached forward, took Qianyue’s hand like catching a trailing ribbon, and together they stepped out under the parasol like two koi under a lotus leaf.

Moments later, they stood where they had parted last night.

The center of the Dark Abyss Zone.

By day, the Zone felt normal—so normal it rang hollow, like a stage set with painted doors.

"Qianyue, careful; someone’s watching," Tangxue said, her voice sharpening like a blade drawn.

"…Sis?" Qianyue stared, disbelief trembling like a leaf, fingers white on the floral handle.

"Ah! I just remembered, I forgot something; let’s head back," Tangxue blurted, grabbing Qianyue’s left hand like a lifeline.

"Since you’re here, why rush off? Two lovely ladies… why not come play with us?" The empty edges around them curdled, and a pile of rumpled thugs bled out of the shadows like oil.

"Don’t be scared…" Tangxue squeezed Qianyue’s trembling left hand, her whisper a warm wind. "As long as I’m here, you won’t get hurt."

"Big Sis, look out!"

Qianyue shoved Tangxue aside with a burst like a breaking wave, and an invisible pressure of wind sheared past them like a scythe.

"!?"

"What the hell— I didn’t sense anyone around…" Tangxue’s eyes flashed like struck steel.

"Sis, the shadows…" Qianyue’s voice frayed, and she pointed at the ground where their shade lay like ink.

"Shadows…" Tangxue’s gaze cut around the ring, and she saw them—men leaking from darkness like worms from rotten wood.

"Shadow fiends?!"