Su Yue quietly shrank back into the alley.

If Lucifer was telling the truth, then everything Su Yue had gone through these past few days made sense.

Back at the park, the Moonlit Duo had attacked her because she was an ownerless non-human. Their goal was probably to kill her.

Later, when Su Yue went to the pedestrian street and took off her hood, the passersby didn't react much. They probably thought she was a non-human with a master, just out shopping on her own.

Then, when she entered the chain convenience store, an alarm suddenly went off above the door. The clerk immediately wanted to call the police. That meant there was probably some kind of device at the entrance that could detect whether a non-human had an owner.

The Moonlit Duo probably carried something similar too.

“How do they tell?” Su Yue muttered to herself.

Judging from how the pedestrians reacted, it wasn't something you could identify by appearance alone. Maybe it was some kind of implanted chip. But in a world where technology and supernatural powers coexisted, it could also be some kind of mark.

“This is bad.” Su Yue scratched her hair in frustration. If she couldn't crack the key to non-human identity recognition, then she wouldn't be able to move around the streets freely.

Of course, there was something even more important right now. According to Lucifer, vampires living among humans should only drink their master's blood, with no other source of blood.

“I’m so screwed.” Even if Su Yue threw away her pride and became someone’s pet vampire, no one would casually take in a suspicious non-human with an unknown background. More likely, she'd be sent straight to the Supernatural Investigation Bureau.

Feeling the violent hunger in her stomach growing stronger and stronger, Su Yue’s heart gradually sank.

“Lucifer said that if I go too long without drinking blood, I might die.” Su Yue crouched down against the wall.

She was someone who feared death a lot. Otherwise, she wouldn't have cultivated in her sect for over a thousand years without joining a single dangerous expedition.

“No. I can’t attack random people. At least not while I’m still conscious.” Su Yue made up her mind.

It wasn't because she had some lofty moral standard and couldn't bear to hurt innocent people... well, alright, Miss Su Yue’s kindness did play a small part.

But the bigger reason was simple. She knew that once she drank blood, there was a very high chance she'd be caught by the Supernatural Investigation Bureau. If she kept enduring it, maybe she could survive a few more days.

For Su Yue, a miserable life was still better than a good death. If she could live one more day, then that was one more day.

While Su Yue was lost in wild thoughts, the sky, which had been fairly bright, suddenly darkened. Thick masses of dark clouds swallowed the heavens, and the rumbling thunder warned her that rain was coming.

When the people on the street saw the weather turning, they all hurried indoors. The rich scent of blood in the air faded at once, and Su Yue’s body felt a little better.

Drip.

A few raindrops fell into the alley where Su Yue was hiding. There was no cover overhead, which meant she would definitely get soaked if she stayed here.

She sprang to her feet, ran to a large cardboard box, crawled inside, and then tightly covered herself with her coat.

Then the rain finally came down in a rush.

The black coat over the box couldn't block much rain at all. Very quickly, it was completely soaked through. The rain seeped down and dampened the cardboard box too.

Su Yue simply sat up inside the box and held the coat over her head.

A fierce gust of wind howled into the alley. In the narrow space, it grew even more unrestrained. It carried sheets of rain and slapped them straight into Su Yue’s face.

The icy rain hit her, and her whole body shuddered. Then she began trembling uncontrollably.

At that moment, the bloodthirst she had been trying so hard to suppress finally erupted completely.

Her vision turned blood-red. Her heart pounded like mad, and her emotions grew violent and restless.

Su Yue wrapped both arms tightly around her legs. Her nails dug into her flesh until blood seeped out. She fought with everything she had to control her body and not let instinct take over.

Her body turned burning hot. When raindrops struck her skin, wisps of white steam rose up.

For a Bloodkin, whose body temperature was naturally low, this was extremely abnormal.

Inside Su Yue’s dantian, that dark red little sphere kept contracting over and over, as if it wanted to draw something in. But there was nothing around it.

It felt like a raging fever. Su Yue’s mind gradually blurred.

Her skin felt as if it were being roasted over an open fire, yet deep in her bones was a suffocating cold. Su Yue bit down hard on her own thigh, and tears streamed uncontrollably from her eyes.

Every second, she endured immense pain. Before long, she lost all sense of time.

She didn't know how much time had passed. She only knew that the sky had gone completely dark.

The rain had gradually weakened, and the wild wind that had been pouring into the alley was gone too. Su Yue still sat curled up in the completely soaked cardboard box, hugging her knees.

The coat draped over her body had turned cold and heavy, constantly stealing away her warmth. Her drenched hair dripped water little by little.

Her body kept trembling. The burning heat was gone now. All that remained was a cold that pierced to the bone.

Su Yue felt as if she had fallen into an ice pit. She wanted to pull off the freezing coat on her body, but she couldn't control herself enough to move.

“I’m... going to die here...”

Scenes like a lantern reel flashed through Su Yue’s mind. In her fading consciousness, a thousand years passed in a blink.

There had been no thrilling adventures, no moving love story. Su Yue’s life had been plain and uneventful.

“What a worthless life,” Su Yue mocked herself.

Just then, a steady set of footsteps echoed through the narrow passage, approaching her at an unhurried pace.

Who is it? Su Yue thought. But she no longer had the strength to lift her head and look.

No matter who it is, I’ll probably end up being taken away by the Supernatural Investigation Bureau and killed anyway.

Su Yue had already accepted her fate.

“So this is where you were.”

A familiar man’s voice rang out.

“Wh-Who...?” Su Yue struggled desperately to see his face. For some reason, a sudden sense of relief welled up in her heart.

The moment her tightly stretched nerves loosened even a little, her whole body went limp, and her consciousness sank into darkness.

Holding a black umbrella and dressed in a perfectly tailored suit, Chen Yan looked at the tiny silver-haired Vampire Princess curled up inside the cardboard box.

Ever since that night, when he had stopped the Moonlit Duo and saved Su Yue, he had been searching for her.

As for why, one reason was that a vampire who used Celestial Arts talismans was incredibly unusual.

The other reason was simple.

Su Yue was really cute.

When he had helped remove the leaf from her hair, that startled, wary expression of hers had hit him right in the soft spot. In all his twenty-some years of life, it was the first time Chen Yan had ever felt that way.

When Su Yue said she was carrying out her master’s task, Chen Yan had known she was lying. Even so, he still felt a wave of disappointment.

This kid definitely has a master.

An ownerless non-human could hardly ever appear in a human city.

After leaving in disappointment, it wasn't long before he heard the sounds of Su Yue fighting the Moonlit Duo nearby. His instincts told him that the cute Little Vampire might be in danger.

So he rushed back to the park and arrived just in time to save Su Yue.

He beat the Moonlit Duo unconscious, and the Supernatural Investigation Bureau launched a search centered around the park.

But Su Yue had flown away.

So Chen Yan followed the direction she had fled in and searched for her.

And since Su Yue didn't have a master...

Then maybe... just maybe...

That thought filled his heart with anticipation.