"I mean, this thing is really sturdy," said Bai Xin, rubbing her still-damp hair. She was wrapped only in a white bathrobe, droplets of water sliding down her fair skin tinged with a faint pink. "It survived a direct hit from my Stardust Flash!"
Cold Night Feather rolled her eyes at Bai Xin. "Your energy blast was completely unformed and had no killing power. What little force it had was entirely blocked by the billboard, and the remainder hit that low-level vampire. You should know, flashy but useless things are the most detested."
Bai Xin pouted and muttered under her breath, "Hmph, sooner or later, I'll unleash a Stardust Flash as powerful as that night when I was attacked!"
Cold Night Feather didn't continue clowning around with Bai Xin. Instead, she channeled a trace of energy into the invitation.
"Huh? Isn't this invitation meant to be read directly? It has words on it!" Bai Xin exclaimed in surprise, watching the card in Cold Night Feather's hand grow brighter.
"That's just an illusion," Cold Night Feather explained while continuing her work. "The real message is encrypted with a simple Seal Barrier. Hmm, it's magically encrypted. Doesn't look like the work of an Ability User."
White Feather jumped onto the table, sniffed the card, then licked his paw. "Hmm, it's vampire magic! This time, it seems we've caught a big fish. Only vampires with high bloodline purity can use such magic—nothing like that low-level vampire from before."
"I mean, Ye Yu, aren't you super strong? How can a small card take you so long?" Bai Xin said while hanging the towel on the rack and taking out the hair dryer to dry her hair.
Cold Night Feather replied expressionlessly, "Obviously, this is a new power system for me. I need to understand the basic sequence of this artificial magic. Who knows if it has a self-destruct system? I also have to simulate the energy properties needed to activate it. Ah, done."
After the golden card in Cold Night Feather's palm was enveloped by a faint red energy released from her hand, it let out a "ding" sound, as if a system had been activated. A tech-looking light screen popped out from the card.
"Oh? It looks like a projection, but can such a thin card really project? ... What kind of black tech is this?" Bai Xin was clearly more interested in how it worked than in the content on the screen.
"Silly girl, why try to explain magic-side creations with technology-side theories?" White Feather rolled his eyes at Bai Xin and jumped onto the table beside Cold Night Feather. "So, boss! What's written on it?"
Cold Night Feather frowned, staring at the garbled code flowing on the screen, adjusting the energy output from her palm. "Wait, let me debug this. It seems to have secondary encryption."
"Hmm, I think we should increase the energy output to this rune."
"Ah, I agree."
"This engraving seems to have hidden mechanisms too!"
The human and the cat engaged in a heated academic discussion. Bai Xin, who couldn't understand a word, finished drying her hair and sat idly playing with her phone.
『Your friend "Bai Wuxin" is now online.
Lancelot: Hey, anyone living in Donglin City? I heard there was a terrorist attack in the west part of the city just now! A large billboard from a store was blown down!
Northwest: Huh? Really? How many casualties? How many terrorists?
Lancelot: Uh, reportedly no casualties. The billboard just fell suddenly. Someone confidently claimed they saw the culprits were a group of people with white face cloths!
Northwest: Huh? Really?』
Bai Xin's face twitched as she watched the screen... These guys were talking about the trouble she had caused earlier. And this guy named Lancelot was reportedly a captain at the city police department. He probably just finished investigating the scene.
『Lancelot: By the way, Wuxin, I remember you also live in Donglin, right?
Bai Wuxin: Ah yes, but about this incident, aren't there surveillance cameras?
Lazy Cat: Yeah yeah! Pull up the surveillance footage and the truth will come out!
Lancelot: It's not that simple. We pulled up all surveillance from the surrounding areas, but all cameras were jammed during that time. We saw nothing.
Northwest: Hah? A group of terrorists with heavy weapons, jamming surveillance in the area, just to blow up a billboard? That's not funny at all!』
Bai Xin sighed in relief, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead. It was best that she wasn't caught!
"Okay! Decryption complete!" Cold Night Feather's relieved voice came. Bai Xin immediately put her phone on the table and stood up to walk beside Cold Night Feather.
"How is it? What's the decrypted message?" Truth be told, Bai Xin wasn't really interested in the mysterious invitation found on a vampire, nor did she care about the hidden message. But the thing was, she had worked hard to kill that vampire to get it! Even if it was just a low-level vampire... Anyway! This was Bai Xin's trophy!
"Be patient. Let me make the system in this card run as planned," Cold Night Feather said, the red light in her palm shining brighter.
The screen, previously full of garbled code, now displayed a short message in Chinese:
"Dear Li Ge,
My Lord's resurrection is nearly complete. We sincerely invite you to our coven to witness His revival! The return of the Dark King!
by Blood Night"
After reading this Chinese text, their confusion only deepened instead of being resolved. So Cold Night Feather patiently continued the process.
The screen flickered again, changing to a photo of a serene-looking café. It was a standard Western-style coffee shop. Clean, transparent glass sparkled in the sunlight, with wind chimes hanging on the glass door. Inside, all-white tables and chairs were occupied by customers sipping coffee or other drinks, with plates of pastries in front of them. They peacefully slept or read in the afternoon sun, smiles on every face. In the corner, a piano stood, with someone sitting at it playing. A waiter wiped a glass cup, his face bearing the same cheerful smile as the others.
"Welcome to enjoy an unforgettable night at our café. You will witness my Lord's return. Of course, you can choose not to come, continue living in this city, and be crushed to dust by us!
If you decide to come, then come to 72 Central Street, Sunshine Café, at 11 PM on June 11th."
Cold Night Feather snorted coldly. "Heh, a vampire's business named after sunshine? How ironic!"
White Feather curled up beside Cold Night Feather's hand and sneered. "Those pretentious noble bats love doing this. I often see high-level vampires running around with blessed silver crosses."
Bai Xin was stunned for a while before blurting out, "Ah... this place doesn't look like a vampire's business. I think it's a nice spot for afternoon tea!"
Cold Night Feather patted Bai Xin's head. "Don't always judge by appearances. Do you think these vampires would paint their café black and red, show their fangs to pull passersby in, and then hold a blood feast inside? If they did that, Wang Jun would have already brought the army and Ability Users to turn this café into ruins."
Bai Xin thought carefully. Hmm, that actually made sense.
"Ah, right!" Bai Xin suddenly exclaimed as if remembering something. "Why do you always mention that Wang Jun? Are you close to him?"
Cold Night Feather chuckled lightly and patted Bai Xin's head again. "What's up? Are you jealous, little girl?"
Bai Xin's face turned red as she retorted, "I... I'm not! I'm just curious why you keep mentioning that traitor!" As she said this, Wang Jun's face popped into her mind—his young face with heavy dark circles, messy hair like a bird's nest, and scruffy stubble.
("Yawn!" Wang Jun, who was grooming himself in front of a mirror, suddenly sneezed. "WTF? How can an A-Rank Ability User like me sneeze? Is a beautiful woman thinking of me?"
At this thought, Wang Jun flashed an annoyingly smug smile at the mirror. He saw a young man with dark circles and stubble gone, his messy hair styled like a Korean drama lead. "Ah! As expected! I'm super handsome!")
"Ah ha, because he's the one who disburses my payments now!" Cold Night Feather smiled, pulling out a golden bank card that dazzled Bai Xin's eyes. "They said it's a Citibank-guaranteed gold card, with a limit of about 300,000? The military initially deposited 1 million for me, and after this Heavenly Mandate incident, they added another 200,000!"
At this, dollar signs appeared in Bai Xin's sapphire-blue eyes. Drooling, she knelt down, hugged Cold Night Feather's smooth thigh, and rubbed against it while shouting, "Ah! Cold Night Feather, big tycoon, please keep me!"
Cold Night Feather smiled, not taking Bai Xin's joking words seriously. But heaven and earth knew! Bai Xin was completely serious!
"Alright, June 11th? That's this Saturday," Cold Night Feather mused, stroking her chin. "Hmm, this is our only lead. We can't let it go..." She finished, looking at Bai Xin who was still hugging her thigh.
Hearing Cold Night Feather's words, Bai Xin crawled away to a spot far from her, trying to act nonchalant (in her own mind). Then she said, "I... I mean, I don't want to get involved in this mess! How can a weak girl like me survive among a bunch of vampires?! No way!"
Cold Night Feather gave a ridiculously cool, arrogant, bewitching (or so she thought) CEO-style smile. "Heh heh, by then, it won't be up to you whether you go or not!"
With that, she left Bai Xin shivering on the carpet and went to discuss the principles of the golden card with White Feather.
